Mist Illusion Mask

"Now, the first auction item."

At that moment, a woman in palace dress walked onto the auction stage, carrying a long wooden case in both hands.

Feng Qing accepted the wooden case and took out a fiery red flying sword. "A top-grade fire-element flying sword, the Crimson Flame Sword. Its entire body was forged from Li Fire Iron that had accumulated at the bottom of a volcano for thousands of years. It can increase the power of fire-element attacks by ten percent."

"The starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones. Each increase must be no less than ten Spirit Stones."

The moment those words were spoken, the crowd below erupted. Artifacts capable of increasing the power of attacks were exceedingly rare.

When cultivators fought, aside from cultivation, the deciding factors were external tools such as artifacts, talismans, formations, and pills.

"Five hundred fifty!"

"Six hundred!"

"..."

"Eight hundred ten!"

The price swiftly rose to eight hundred Spirit Stones. Wang Hong still struggled to wield even low-grade artifacts, so a top-grade artifact would be useless to him for now. He did not join the bidding.

In the end, the Crimson Flame Sword was purchased for nine hundred Spirit Stones by a cultivator wearing a monkey mask.

"The next auction item is..."

None of the following auction items were things Wang Hong currently needed. Still, it was not bad to watch and broaden his horizons.

"For this next item, allow me to keep you in suspense for a moment." As he spoke, Feng Qing took a white mask from a tray and fastened it over his face.

Then, a cloud of mist appeared around his face. When the mist dispersed, old man Feng Qing had actually turned into a handsome young fellow. Even Spiritual Sense could detect nothing unusual.

After another cloud of mist, old man Feng Qing directly transformed into the maid beside him holding the tray, lifelike in every detail.

The old man seemed to have become addicted to playing around. He changed through more than ten faces in succession before finally taking the mask off with lingering reluctance and placing it back on the tray.

This performance stirred tremendous interest among the audience below.

"This artifact is called the Mist Illusion Mask. It was personally refined by a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Thousand Illusions Sect. As for its exact functions, I trust I need not explain them further, yes?

"The auction now begins. The starting price is one hundred Spirit Stones, and each increase must be no less than ten Spirit Stones."

"I bid six hundred."

"Seven hundred, and it's mine!"

"Scram! I bid eight hundred!"

"..."

"One thousand. I'm taking it no matter what!"

"One thousand one hundred."

Wang Hong also followed the crowd and called out bids several times.

The current price was unlikely to be the final deal anyway. He was merely joining the bids for the excitement, making himself a familiar face.

He was determined to obtain this Mist Illusion Mask, no matter how great the cost.

He believed that the instant he left Qingxu City, the Lin Family would immediately hunt him down. At his current level, he had no confidence that he could survive the Lin Family's pursuit.

It was as though the Lin Family had sealed him inside the city. There was no immediate danger, but it was highly detrimental to his long-term development. After all, there were many resources outside the city that could not be bought in Qingxu City with Spirit Stones.

With the Mist Illusion Mask, he could alter his appearance at any time and slip out of the city without gods knowing or ghosts noticing, breaking this current state of confinement.

"Two thousand one hundred."

"Two thousand two."

"..."

The price continued rising rapidly, showing no intention of stopping. In the end, it reached four thousand Spirit Stones before the pace finally slowed.

After all, not everyone had to buy it at all costs. Four thousand Spirit Stones was no small sum—it could purchase four hundred Qi Gathering Pills. Compared to an artifact, it was already a sky-high price.

Only Wang Hong and two others remained in the bidding. One wore a smiling face mask, while the other wore a bear-head mask.

"I bid four thousand three hundred fifty," the smiling-mask cultivator said.

The bear-head-mask cultivator hesitated for a breath before saying, "Four thousand four hundred."

Upon hearing that bid, the smiling-mask cultivator finally slumped back into his seat, clearly withdrawing.

The bear-head-mask cultivator smugly looked in Wang Hong's direction. Another competitor had dropped out. With only himself and Wang Hong left, he could already see the dawn of victory.

Just as Wang Hong was about to bid, a cold voice devoid of any emotion rang out.

"Four thousand five hundred."

The bear-head-mask cultivator had just felt victory within his grasp when another opponent sprang out halfway down the road. He glared angrily toward the source of the voice.

He saw a cultivator wearing a butterfly mask, looking back at him with calm eyes.

"Four thousand six hundred." This time, the bear-head-mask cultivator did not hesitate and immediately raised the bid.

"Four thousand seven hundred." The butterfly mask's voice remained as cold as ever.

The bear-head-mask cultivator was about to bid again when a cultivator beside him tugged his arm. Only then did he realize what was happening and slowly closed his open mouth with some reluctance.

"Five thousand!"

Wang Hong's voice rang out. This butterfly-mask cultivator was clearly just as determined to get it, so Wang Hong simply raised the price by a larger amount at once.

"Five thousand one hundred."

"Six thousand." Wang Hong was direct and brutal.

"Six thousand five hundred."

"Seven thousand." Wang Hong was preparing to bid eight thousand next, but there was no response for a long while.

Looking over, he saw that the butterfly-mask cultivator had long lost his earlier calmness. The cultivator glared at Wang Hong with bloodshot eyes.

The bear-head-mask cultivator was delighted at the sight. "So you're just a silver spearhead made of wax. If you've got no ability, why pretend to be some big-tailed wolf?"

Wang Hong also felt that this butterfly-mask cultivator had been putting on far too much of an act. He had already prepared himself to bleed heavily.

In the end, Wang Hong obtained the Mist Illusion Mask for seven thousand Spirit Stones. A maid soon delivered it before him. Wang Hong handed her a storage bag filled with spirit herbs worth roughly eight thousand Spirit Stones.

The auction allowed all kinds of spiritual items to be used in place of Spirit Stones, but they were discounted and counted at ninety percent of market value.

Therefore, most cultivators still preferred to use Spirit Stones. Besides, spiritual items were difficult to gather, and they might not even have enough for their own use.

Wang Hong was different. As long as he had a chance to sell off the spirit herbs in his hands, he was more than willing to do so, even if he earned ten percent less. The spirit herbs in his space grew quickly, and his little shop was beginning to struggle to sell them all. Besides, the land in his space was still waiting to devour Spirit Stones.

The Mist Illusion Mask's high selling price pushed the auction into a minor climax.

Seizing the moment while the iron was hot, old man Feng Qing said, "The next auction item is a supreme-grade artifact: the Yin Yang Mother Child Blades."

"A supreme-grade artifact has appeared already? Such a treasure is something one can encounter but never seek. The Ten-Store Joint Auction truly has formidable strength," someone below exclaimed.

"Indeed. Such a treasure is not even the final auction item."

Old man Feng took two small blade artifacts from the tray and demonstrated them on the spot. The two blades circled and danced around Feng Qing like twin streaks of light and shadow.

"A supreme-grade artifact. The starting bid is one hundred Spirit Stones, and each increase must be no less than one hundred Spirit Stones."

"Five hundred."

"Six hundred."

In the end, this artifact sold for the high price of nine thousand Spirit Stones.

Feng Qing stroked his long beard with a smile. "The previous auction items were all artifacts. Now, we enter the next round: the auction of pills and spirit herbs."

"The first auction item is one Barrier Breaking Pill. Qi Refining cultivators encounter a minor bottleneck at the third, sixth, and ninth layers of Qi Refining.

"Some cultivators may break through without sensing the slightest thing, while others remain trapped for life, unable to advance even an inch.

"The Barrier Breaking Pill is refined with hundred-year Crimson Blood Ginseng as its main ingredient. It can break through any bottleneck in the Qi Refining stage. It is even of slight assistance toward Foundation Establishment.

"The starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones, and each increase must be no less than fifty Spirit Stones."

"Six hundred."

"Seven hundred."

Because Crimson Blood Ginseng was extremely difficult to cultivate artificially, with only a small portion of surviving plants remaining, even Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators could use it. Thus, fewer than fifty Barrier Breaking Pills ever appeared openly in Qingxu City each year.

This led to extremely fierce competition. Every Qi Refining cultivator could make use of it. Even if one had good aptitude and did not need the aid of pills, one could still take it during Foundation Establishment to increase the chance of success.

In the end, the Barrier Breaking Pill sold for the high price of ten thousand Spirit Stones.

Wang Hong sighed inwardly. Alchemists truly worked in a wildly profitable trade. The price of such rare pills could exceed their cost by more than tenfold.

After that, several more relatively rare pills were auctioned off, all selling for very high prices.