Azure Spirit Peach

Several more spirit herbs were auctioned next, and Wang Hong conveniently bought a few. Anything that made it to the auction was no ordinary item, not something his little shop or street stall could acquire.

The competition for spirit herbs was nowhere near as fierce as for pills. After all, merely holding a spirit herb would not turn it into a pill; one still had to gather other materials and find an alchemist to refine it.

"Next up for auction is an Azure Spirit Peach. Legend had it that in ancient times, there was a kind of Immortal Peach that bloomed once every three thousand years, bore fruit once every three thousand years, and ripened once every three thousand years. From bloom to fruit to maturity, it took a full nine thousand years. It was said that merely smelling this Immortal Peach granted immortality, while eating one allowed a person to ascend to immortality on the spot.

This Azure Spirit Peach was obtained from an ancient cultivator's cave abode. Research suggested that it was a branch strain of an ancient exotic species. Though its effects fell far short of the Immortal Peach, it still contained immense spiritual qi. Consuming one would allow a Qi Refinement cultivator to ignore bottlenecks and advance one level in cultivation.

"Five hundred."

"Six hundred."

"Three thousand five hundred."

The price quickly rose to ten thousand Spirit Stones. This Azure Spirit Peach was far more effective than a Barrier Breaking Pill, so naturally, more people fought over it.

In the end, Wang Hong spent twelve thousand Spirit Stones to win it.

Several more spiritual items appeared afterward. Though they were all fairly good, none were necessities, so Wang Hong did not make another move.

After the pills and spirit herbs, several rare ores, Cultivation Techniques manuals, and other miscellaneous items were auctioned off.

The two Crimson Blood Ginseng plants Wang Hong had consigned had yet to appear. He wondered if they had been placed among the finale items.

"Next are the finale items. Please welcome the first one." As Feng Qing spoke, he held up a flying sword that glowed with golden light from end to end.

"This is a Spirit Artifact flying sword, a low-grade metal-element Spirit Artifact."

A Spirit Artifact was a grade above a magical artifact, possessing some of the advantages of a Magic Treasure. It was essentially a simplified version of a Magic Treasure.

It was the primary weapon of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators could barely wield a tiny fraction of its power. Yet even that tiny fraction was not something ordinary magical artifacts could withstand.

"This Spirit Artifact flying sword starts at one Spirit Stone. Each bid must increase by no less than one hundred Spirit Stones."

"One thousand."

"Five thousand."

"Ten thousand."

"One hundred twenty-eight thousand."

"One hundred twenty-nine thousand."

In the end, it was bought for one hundred twenty-nine thousand by a cultivator wearing an ox-head mask.

"The next auction item is two three-hundred-year-old Crimson Blood Ginseng plants. They are enough to refine Breakthrough Pills for Foundation Establishment cultivators to break through bottlenecks."

"Two Crimson Blood Ginseng plants, starting bid one Spirit Stone. Each increase must be at least one hundred Spirit Stones."

"I bid five thousand."

When the price climbed to ninety thousand Spirit Stones, a cultivator in the midst of bidding suddenly released the pressure of a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, leaving the cultivators around him unable to breathe.

The several Qi Refinement cultivators who had been competing with him immediately fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to make a sound.

Although this was an auction aimed at Qi Refinement cultivators, a small number of Foundation Establishment cultivators still participated. The organizers would not object on that account.

At that moment, even more powerful pressure erupted simultaneously from the auction platform and several corners of the hall.

Feng Qing slowly said, "Senior, please withdraw your pressure. We junior cultivators are weak and humble; we cannot bear Senior's divine power."

Though he spoke those words, there was not the slightest trace of fear on his face. The Foundation Establishment cultivator took the hint and slowly withdrew his pressure.

At this point, a Foundation Establishment cultivator stepped onto the auction platform and said, "Fellow Daoists, please observe the auction house's rules during the auction. Otherwise, you will be expelled from the venue.

"In this auction house, every item goes to the highest bidder, regardless of cultivation or strength. At the same time, we will ensure your confidentiality. The auction will now continue."

Despite those assurances, the bidding remained much quieter than before.

In the end, the two three-hundred-year-old Crimson Blood Ginseng plants sold for only ninety thousand Spirit Stones. They had sold for at least several tens of thousands less, making Wang Hong curse his rotten luck.

"Now, we will auction the final item. Prepare your Spirit Stones, and get ready to bid like mad!"

"One Foundation Establishment Pill..."

The moment the words "Foundation Establishment Pill" were spoken, the audience below erupted.

Other than those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, any Qi Refinement cultivator who wished to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm needed a Foundation Establishment Pill to assist in Foundation Establishment.

It could be said that the Foundation Establishment Pill was the dream of every Qi Refinement cultivator.

It was said that the spirit herbs needed to refine Foundation Establishment Pills had once been everywhere in ancient times. But as the spiritual qi of the cultivation world grew thinner by the day, many spirit herbs had gradually gone extinct.

The spirit herbs needed to refine Foundation Establishment Pills were also on the brink of extinction. Nowadays, such Medicinal Herbs only grew in secret realms with exceptionally dense spiritual qi.

Several major sects then took the lead in protecting—occupying—these secret realms. There were six great secret realms in total, each opening once every sixty years. In other words, one of the six great secret realms opened in rotation every ten years, each time for three months.

The major sects would dispatch Qi Refinement cultivators to enter the secret realms together and gather spirit herbs.

Furthermore, during every harvest, they took the large and left the small. Spirit herbs that had not yet reached sufficient age were forbidden from being harvested, lest the herbs be picked to extinction.

Upon hearing it was a Foundation Establishment Pill, Wang Hong excitedly joined in for several rounds of bidding. But when the price rose to two hundred thousand, he could no longer keep up.

The only thing of high value he had on hand now was Crimson Blood Ginseng, and even that depended on its scarcity. If he released too much at once, it would naturally cease to be valuable.

Moreover, he was merely a minor Qi Refinement cultivator. If people discovered that he possessed too many rare spirit herbs, he would die without even a place to bury his bones. It would still be easy for the auction house to track him down.

In the end, the Foundation Establishment Pill was bought by a cultivator for three hundred fifty thousand.

With the final item sold, the Ten-Store Joint Auction officially came to an end.

Wang Hong took his wooden token to the side entrance to collect the proceeds from the Crimson Blood Ginseng auction. It had sold for one hundred twenty thousand, and after a ten-percent commission, Wang Hong received one hundred eight thousand Spirit Stones.

Clutching the Spirit Stones, Wang Hong felt that he had truly underestimated the heroes of the world before. He had only had a little over ten thousand Spirit Stones in his storage bag, yet had thought himself a great tycoon. Thinking about it now was truly embarrassing!

Qingxu City had hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of Qi Refinement cultivators, among whom there was no lack of outstanding talents. Even among Rogue Cultivators, many exceptional figures must surely emerge. He had been something of a frog at the bottom of a well before.

After returning to his residence, Wang Hong dumped all the more than one hundred thousand Spirit Stones he had obtained onto the soil in his space. Then he found an empty patch of land and planted the spirit herbs he had bought that day.

His space now had more than nine fen of land, just a little short of one mu. In truth, one mu of land was not very large. Were it not for the twenty-fivefold flow of time, even feeding himself would have been difficult.

After this auction, aside from the Crimson Blood Ginseng, he had already pulled up nearly all the other mature spirit herbs. These mature spirit herbs were what he had accumulated over the past few years.

The remaining spirit herbs were only enough for his own needs. For the time being, he would have no large quantities of spirit herbs to sell. It seemed he had to find another way to earn Spirit Stones.

Wang Hong turned his gaze toward a corner of the space, where a huge pile of wine jars stood. They were over a zhang tall and occupied an area of one fen.

These were the Medicinal Wines he had gradually brewed after his spirit wine business became popular three years ago. They still needed another year to reach the age of the previous batch.

That previous batch of wine had contained only several thousand jin. Even with limited sales, it had not lasted long before selling out completely. Yet it had still earned him several tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

In truth, that had only been the lowest-grade spirit wine, suitable only for early- and middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.

Wang Hong pondered that he should brew some higher-quality spirit wine.

The ingredients for brewing spirit wine fell into several major categories: Spirit Grains, Spirit Fruit, spirit flowers, spirit herbs, and so on.

Different ingredients naturally required different brewing methods.