Mist Illusion Mask

"Now, let's begin with the first auction item."

At this moment, a woman in palace attire walked onto the auction stage, holding a long, narrow wooden box with both hands.

Feng Qing took the wooden box, retrieved a fiery red flying sword from it, and introduced it: "This is a top-grade fire-attribute flying sword, the Crimson Flame Sword. It's forged entirely from Li Fire Iron that has been deposited at the bottom of a volcano for thousands of years. It can increase the power of fire-attribute attacks by ten percent."

"Starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones. Each bid must increase by no less than ten Spirit Stones."

As soon as this was said, the audience below immediately became lively. Magic Artifacts that could increase attack power were very rare.

In a cultivator's battle, besides cultivation, the deciding factors were also external items like Magic Artifacts, talismans, formations, and elixirs.

"Five hundred fifty!"

"Six hundred!"

"..."

"Eight hundred ten!"

The price quickly rose to eight hundred Spirit Stones. Wang Hong found it difficult to even control low-grade Magic Artifacts, so a top-grade one would be useless for him at the moment. He didn't participate in the bidding.

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

"The next auction item is..."

The next few auction items were not what Wang Hong needed at the moment. However, it was good to look and gain some knowledge.

"For the next item, please allow me to create some suspense." With that, Feng Qing took a white mask from the tray and put it on his face.

Then, a puff of smoke appeared around his face. After the smoke dissipated, the old man Feng Qing had transformed into a handsome young man. Even Spiritual Sense couldn't detect any abnormalities.

Following another puff of smoke, the old man Feng Qing directly transformed into the appearance of the maid holding the tray beside him, incredibly lifelike.

The old man seemed to be having too much fun. He changed his appearance over ten more times before reluctantly taking off the mask and placing it back on the tray.

This performance greatly piqued the interest of the audience below.

"This Magic Artifact is called the Mist Illusion Mask, personally refined by a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Thousand Illusions Sect. As for its specific functions, I believe I don't need to explain further, do I?

The auction begins now, with a starting bid of one hundred Spirit Stones. Each bid must increase by no less than ten Spirit Stones."

"I bid six hundred."

"I'll take it for seven hundred!"

"Get lost! I bid eight hundred!"

"..."

"One thousand, I'm determined to get it!"

"One thousand one hundred."

Wang Hong also shouted his bid several times amidst the crowd.

Although the current price was unlikely to be the final transaction, he wanted to join in the bidding, create a buzz, and make himself known.

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

He believed that as soon as he left Qingxu City, he would be hunted by the Lin Family. With his current abilities, he wasn't confident he could survive the Lin Family's pursuit.

It was as if he was currently confined to the city by the Lin Family. While it was safe for the short term, it was detrimental to his long-term development. After all, there were many resources outside the city that couldn't be bought with Spirit Stones in Qingxu City.

With the Mist Illusion Mask, he could change his appearance at any time and slip out of the city undetected, breaking free from his current confinement.

"Two thousand one hundred."

"Two thousand two hundred."

"..."

The price continued to rise rapidly, showing no signs of stopping. Eventually, the price reached four thousand Spirit Stones before the rate of increase slowed down.

After all, not everyone absolutely had to buy it. Four thousand Spirit Stones was not a small sum; it could buy four hundred Qi Gathering Pills. Compared to Magic Artifacts, it was an exorbitant price.

Currently, only Wang Hong and two other individuals were participating in the bidding. One was wearing a smiling face mask, and the other was wearing a bear head mask.

"I bid four thousand three hundred fifty," the smiling face mask bidder offered.

The cultivator with the bear head mask hesitated for a moment before saying, "Four thousand four hundred."

Upon hearing the bid, the smiling face cultivator dejectedly sat down, clearly having withdrawn from the bidding.

The bear head cultivator looked somewhat smugly in Wang Hong's direction. With one more competitor out, only he and Wang Hong remained, and he could already see the dawn of victory.

Just as Wang Hong was about to place his bid, a clear, emotionless voice rang out.

"Four thousand five hundred."

The bear head cultivator, who thought victory was within reach, was suddenly interrupted. He angrily looked towards the source of the voice.

He saw a cultivator wearing a butterfly mask looking at him with a calm gaze.

"Four thousand six hundred," the butterfly mask cultivator's voice remained cool and unchanged.

As the bear head cultivator was about to bid again, a nearby cultivator tugged at his arm. The bear head cultivator, realizing something, reluctantly closed his open mouth.

"Five thousand!"

Wang Hong's voice cut through the air. This butterfly-masked cultivator was clearly determined to get it, so he decided to raise the bid significantly.

"Five thousand one."

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

"Six thousand five."

"Seven thousand." Wang Hong was about to bid eight thousand when there was no response for a long time.

He looked up and saw that the butterfly-masked cultivator, who had been so calm before, was no longer so. His eyes were wide and bloodshot as he stared at Wang Hong.

The bear-headed cultivator, seeing this, was delighted. "So he's just all talk and no action! If you don't have the ability, why act so tough!"

Wang Hong also felt that the butterfly-masked cultivator was putting on too much of a show. He had been prepared to spend a fortune.

In the end, Wang Hong acquired the Mist Illusion Mask for seven thousand Spirit Stones. Soon, a maid brought the mask to Wang Hong. Wang Hong handed the maid a storage bag containing spirit herbs worth about eight thousand Spirit Stones.

The auction allowed various spiritual items to be used as payment for Spirit Stones, but they were discounted, deducted at 90% of market price.

Therefore, most cultivators preferred to use Spirit Stones, especially since spiritual items were not easy to collect and they might not have enough for themselves.

Wang Hong was different. As long as he had an opportunity to sell the spirit herbs he possessed, even if he earned 10% less, he would be happy. The spirit herbs in his Mysterious Space grew quickly, and his small shop was currently struggling to keep up with sales. Furthermore, the land in his Mysterious Space was still waiting to be fed Spirit Stones.

The high price for the Mist Illusion Mask propelled the auction into a small climax.

Taking advantage of the momentum, the old man Feng Qing announced, "The next item is a top-grade Magic Artifact. The Yin Yang Mother Child Blades."

"A top-grade Magic Artifact appearing already? Such treasures are rare and hard to come by. This joint auction of ten shops is truly powerful," someone in the audience exclaimed.

"Yeah, and such a treasure isn't even the final item."

Old Man Feng took out two small blade-like Magic Artifacts from a tray and began demonstrating. The two small blades, like two streaks of light, circled and danced around Feng Qing.

"Top-grade Magic Artifact, starting bid is one hundred Spirit Stones. Each bid must be no less than one hundred Spirit Stones."

"Five hundred."

"Six hundred."

Ultimately, this Magic Artifact was sold for a high price of nine thousand Spirit Stones.

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

"The first item is a Barrier Breaking Pill. Qi Refining cultivators face a small bottleneck at the third, sixth, and ninth levels of Qi Refining.

Some cultivators may break through without even noticing, while others may be stuck for life, unable to advance.

The Barrier Breaking Pill, refined with hundred-year Crimson Blood Ginseng as the main ingredient, can break through any bottleneck in the Qi Refining stage. It even offers minor assistance for Foundation Establishment."

"Starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones. Each bid must be no less than fifty Spirit Stones."

"Six hundred."

"Seven hundred."

Since it was extremely difficult to cultivate Crimson Blood Ginseng artificially, only a small portion of the surviving plants could be used. Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators could also benefit from it. Therefore, the Barrier Breaking Pills that appeared publicly in Qingxu City each year never exceeded fifty.

This led to extremely fierce competition, as every Qi Refining cultivator could use it. Even if one had good aptitude, they could still take it during Foundation Establishment to increase their success rate, without relying on the pill's power.

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

Wang Hong sighed inwardly, thinking that alchemy was truly a lucrative profession. The price of such precious elixirs could be more than ten times their cost.

After that, several other rare elixirs were auctioned, all fetching high prices.