Mu Yunxue, Beauty Beyond Mortal Limits

The VIP entrance was on the other side of the building.

It was much quieter here. Only two outer sect stewards stood at the entrance, checking tokens. Cultivators came forward only occasionally to present their tokens before strolling inside.

Lu Yang and Lin Ying followed Qin Nanyue to the VIP entrance.

Qin Nanyue casually took out a pale gold token and handed it to one of the stewards.

The steward took the token and looked down at it. His expression turned respectful, and he bowed slightly before returning it with both hands.

"Senior brother and senior sisters, please come in. An attendant inside will take you to your VIP box."

Qin Nanyue nodded slightly. "Let's go."

Lu Yang followed her, but just as he was about to step over the threshold, he suddenly sensed someone watching him from behind.

He glanced back. The cultivators waiting miserably in line at the main entrance were gazing eagerly in their direction, their eyes full of undisguised envy.

VIPs didn't even have to wait in line, unlike them, who still had to queue up so miserably. Naturally, the cultivators were immensely envious.

He looked away and stepped into the VIP passage.

The light inside was soft. A maid in a plain, clean long dress was already waiting beneath the covered walkway. When she saw the three of them, she bowed respectfully, then turned and led them up the stairs to the second floor.

Closed box doors lined both sides of the corridor, pale gold numbers carved into their spirit wood panels.

The maid opened the door to box fifteen and stepped aside to invite the three of them in.

The box wasn't large, but it was elegantly furnished.

A spirit wood table and chairs stood in the center. The entire wall facing them had been opened up and replaced with a broad, carved railing.

Looking down from the railing, they could see the entire first floor of the auction hall.

Rows of chairs were neatly arranged in the hall below. A square platform stood in the center, empty for now, while the spirit-light formations inlaid around it circulated faintly.

Boxes of various sizes were spread across the second, third, and fourth floors. Some were already occupied, while others remained empty.

Lu Yang glanced around at the boxes.

Inside sat Rogue Cultivators, Aristocratic Clan disciples, and people wearing Golden Rainbow Sword Sect disciple robes just like theirs.

Most of those disciples, however, were not from the outer sect but were inner disciples. A few boxes even held personal disciples.

At the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's regular annual auction, the highest-grade items were only second-tier, suitable for Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. As a result, Golden Core True Persons almost never appeared.

The real grand occasion was the large-scale auction held once every ten years. Even third-tier treasures appeared then, and Golden Core cultivators from across the territory under the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's rule would gather there.

The next large-scale auction, however, was still six years away.

Lu Yang thought that in less than a year, his Spirit Root would rise to the supreme grade.

With a high-level Cultivation Method, medicinal pills, and Spirit Cuisine to go with it, he might be able to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm in six years if he was lucky.

He could come and join the fun then.

An event like that should give him a chance to spend to his heart's content.

He brought his thoughts back to the present.

The future could wait. For now, the most important thing was to make good use of the two Rebate Cards in his hands and get more Spirit Stones back.

The three of them took their seats.

The maid deftly brewed spirit tea for them and set several plates of spirit fruit on the table. Then she bowed and withdrew, closing the door softly behind her.

Lu Yang picked up his teacup and took a sip. The spirit tea tasted crisp and cool, with a lingering sweetness.

He leaned back in his chair and glanced down with some curiosity. "Senior Sister Qin, where did you get that VIP Token? I'd like to get one too."

Qin Nanyue smiled slightly and set her cup back on the table. "Once you've spent more than a hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones in total at the auction, you can get a low-level VIP Token. The sect's upper echelon is a different matter. The elders are issued theirs directly by the sect."

She lifted her chin toward the third and fourth floors. "There are three levels of VIP Token. Spending a hundred thousand gets you a low-level one, a million gets you a mid-level one, and ten million gets you a high-level one. Sect elders have mid-level tokens, and grand elders have high-level ones."

Lin Ying had clearly heard this from Qin Nanyue before, but she still couldn't help exclaiming softly, "Ten million low-grade Spirit Stones... I doubt even quite a few Golden Core True Persons could come up with that much."

Lu Yang was also a little astonished.

Ten million low-grade Spirit Stones!

At his current income of ninety-six a day, he would have to save for nearly three hundred years!

Rebate Cards were much more practical. With a little luck, he might get that much in one go.

Qin Nanyue looked at Lu Yang and said casually, "If you want to attend an auction in the future, you can just use my VIP Token."

Lu Yang raised an eyebrow. He didn't stand on ceremony and said with a smile, "Then I won't hold back."

Inwardly, though, he was already figuring that once this auction was over, he should be able to claim a low-level VIP Token for himself.

A hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones really wasn't much to him at the moment.

Just then, Qin Nanyue's gaze suddenly sharpened. She raised an eyebrow and looked past the railing at a box on the fourth floor opposite them.

"It's Mu Yunxue. She came too?!" Surprise colored Qin Nanyue's voice.

Lu Yang and Lin Ying both froze for a moment and looked up in the direction of her gaze.

The gauze curtain over the fourth-floor box was only half drawn, leaving the people inside in plain view.

A girl in a white dress sat quietly in a chair. She was slender and tall, with picturesque features. There wasn't a trace of unnecessary expression on her face, and she was as aloof and cold as an exquisite doll.

Behind her stood an old man with graying hair and beard, his hands tucked into his sleeves and his eyes half closed. His presence was profound and restrained.

The moment Lu Yang looked at the girl, a panel quietly appeared before his eyes.

[11-point beauty discovered!]

His heart gave a slight jump.

Eleven points—a rating beyond the mortal limit!

He had seen Mu Yunxue once from afar before. All he remembered was that she was an exceptionally beautiful girl, but he hadn't expected the system to rate her so highly.

If he could exchange contact information with her, the reward shouldn't be too bad.

But the moment the thought surfaced, Lu Yang rationally snuffed it out.

The gap between them was too great right now. Forget having anything to do with each other—he couldn't even find a pretext to speak to her.

The old man behind her was plainly a protector. If Lu Yang rashly went up and asked, "Could we exchange voice transmission marks?" he would most likely be slapped into the floor.

Not to mention that Lin Ying and Qin Nanyue were sitting right beside him.

He looked away and turned to the two women beside him.

Lin Ying gazed toward the fourth floor in surprise and said softly, "It really is her. I haven't heard any news of her for years."

Lu Yang asked, "Senior Sister Lin, do you know Mu Yunxue?"

Lin Ying turned to him with a smile. "Of course! She has a Transcendent-Grade Spirit Root. When she joined, she caused a stir throughout the entire sect. She passed the assessment in a single month, breaking the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's record outright. Who in the entire sect hasn't heard her name?"

Qin Nanyue nodded slightly as well. Looking at the aloof girl in white in the box opposite, she said, a trace of envy flashing in her eyes, "That's right. I heard the sect master, a True Lord, personally took her as a disciple. There's been no news of her these past few years, so she must have been in seclusion. It looks like she's come out now."

She paused, a note of curiosity in her voice. "I wonder what realm her cultivation has reached?"

Lu Yang was curious as well.

A Transcendent-Grade Spirit Root was a monstrous talent in itself, second only to the legendary Spirit Physique. With the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect also pouring its resources into nurturing her, he wanted to know just how far Mu Yunxue had come after four years in seclusion.