He Yuan

Over the past three years, several more shops had heard of him and sought him out to supply them.

Naturally, he reluctantly agreed to them all. Being able to safely and swiftly turn resources into Spirit Stones—only a fool would refuse.

To that end, he had even fabricated a powerful, mysterious force—the Immortal Dao Trading Company. He himself was merely an insignificant lackey within this trading company.

Besides the major sects, the cultivation world naturally had all manner of other forces.

There were the great cultivation Lineages, various chambers of commerce and trading companies, as well as hidden assassination organizations, intelligence organizations, and countless other factions.

Although Qingxu City lay within Qingxu Sect's sphere of influence and had countless intertwined ties with Qingxu Sect, strictly speaking, it too counted as a force of its own.

Thus, Wang Hong's explanation did not arouse any suspicion. There were innumerable forces in the cultivation world, tangled together like roots and vines. It was perfectly normal for them not to have known of it before.

After all, only a major force could steadily supply such quantities of spiritual items over the long term.

He had now developed five shops, supplying them with spiritual pills and spiritual herbs.

These five were all small shops opened by minor cultivation Lineages or individuals, without any significant backing.

Major forces would not notice shops as insignificant as these. Nor did he dare provoke those major forces now; if he cooperated with them carelessly, not even his bones would remain.

His current plan was to cooperate with these inconspicuous small merchants. These small merchants posed no danger to him.

There were many such small merchants, and most lacked a steady supply of goods, often going hungry one meal and full the next. To them, Wang Hong was timely rain.

Wang Hong was not strong enough yet, so he planned to expand quietly among these small merchants and make his fortune in silence.

He intended to gradually turn his fabricated Immortal Dao Trading Company from fiction into reality, expanding it into every city in the cultivation world.

Of course, that was only a long-term plan. Rice had to be eaten one bite at a time, and roads had to be walked one step at a time.

In a few months, the sect's once-in-ten-years mission assignments would be released. As a result, prices in Qingxu City had risen somewhat, with talismans, magical artifacts, pills, spiritual wine, and the like all increasing by twenty to thirty percent.

Therefore, this year's Ten-Store Joint Auction was held with exceptional grandeur. It was said that every major shop had brought out treasures from the bottom of their chests for the auction.

Wang Hong also planned to attend the auction, hoping to obtain one or two useful treasures.

This time, he had also submitted two Barrier Breaking Pills, a small bottle of Spirit Bee Royal Jelly, and ten bottles of spiritual wine for auction in advance.

The spiritual wine was his first-tier high-grade Spirit Fruit wine, though it had already been stored in the space for more than a hundred years. Its effects were not as good as second-tier spiritual wine, but the difference was not too great.

In addition, he had put up two mutated three-hundred-year-old Solomon's Seal plants for auction. He did not recognize them himself and wanted to see whether anyone could identify them.

There were clearly far more attendees at this auction, and many cultivators who had arrived too late to secure seats were standing in the back rows.

The Ten-Store Joint Auction still maintained its customary practice of having no VIP seats.

This was to show that everyone participated in bidding equally; regardless of cultivation, identity, or status, the highest bidder won.

The host of this auction was still the immortal-looking old man Feng Qing.

Feng Qing stepped onto the auction platform and briefly introduced himself.

Then he went straight to the point, drawing out his voice as he called, "Now, please welcome the first auction item—the Wind Sailing Boat."

Then two burly men carried a small wooden boat onto the auction platform. This boat was only five feet long and two feet wide, and even with just one person sitting inside, it looked somewhat cramped.

"I imagine many fellow Daoists have dreamed of soaring through the blue heavens. Alas, only Foundation Establishment seniors can accomplish that. We Qi Refinement cultivators can only envy them from the ground," old man Feng Qing said in a seductive tone.

"And among Qi Refinement cultivators, fewer than one in a thousand can cultivate to Foundation Establishment. If one cannot reach Foundation Establishment, one will never fulfill that dream of flying through the skies and burrowing through the earth."

"This flying magical artifact is called the Wind Sailing Boat. It was refined from wind-attributed spiritual wood and engraved with Wind Formation and Levitation Formation. So long as one pours spiritual power into the boat, even a Qi Refinement cultivator can gain the ability to fly."

After saying this, old man Feng personally jumped into the wooden boat to demonstrate. As he infused it with spiritual power, the boat slowly rose about twenty feet into the air and flew a circle around the auction platform.

"As everyone has seen, the Wind Sailing Boat is simple to control. Even Qi Refinement cultivators can master it with ease." As he spoke, Feng Qing leaped down from the Wind Sailing Boat.

"Old Feng, how fast is this Wind Sailing Boat? And what about its spiritual power consumption?" a burly middle-aged man asked at this point.

"This fellow Daoist has asked at just the right time. I was about to explain. The Wind Sailing Boat's flying speed is roughly comparable to a Qi Refinement cultivator using the Wind Riding Technique. As for spiritual power consumption, a fifth-level Qi Refinement cultivator can sustain it for around a quarter of an hour," Feng Qing said, stroking his long beard.

The moment those words were spoken, much of the enthusiasm he had just stirred up was extinguished.

The main issue was that it was too slow. Whether used to pursue enemies or flee for one's life, it was far too slow.

Buying such an artifact would only satisfy one's craving for flight. It was too slow for combat and consumed too much spiritual power for travel, so it could only be collected as a plaything.

"The Wind Sailing Boat's starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones. Each increase must be no less than ten Spirit Stones."

"I bid five hundred!"

"I bid five hundred and ten!"

"Five hundred and fifty!" Wang Hong joined the bidding as well. If it was not too expensive, he could consider buying it. Though it had its flaws, it could still be useful for crossing certain obstacles.

In the end, Wang Hong raised the price from nine hundred by six hundred in one go, bringing it to one thousand five hundred Spirit Stones. No one competed with him after that.

After all, a high-grade magical artifact only cost around one thousand Spirit Stones. Clearly, not many were willing to spend too many Spirit Stones on an artifact that was not particularly useful.

"Good! Congratulations to this fellow Daoist for obtaining a rare flying magical artifact."

"The next auction item is the high-grade magical artifact, the Cold Ice Sword. Its entire body was refined from extremely cold ice crystal, making it the best choice for cultivators with ice or water spiritual roots. The starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones..."

Seeing that the first item had sold for a satisfying price, Feng Qing immediately struck while the iron was hot and announced the next item.

Amid a chorus of bids, a maid delivered Wang Hong's auction proceeds. After confirming everything was correct, he took out several jade boxes containing second-tier spiritual herbs and handed them to the maid.

Since the maid could not judge the value of second-tier spiritual herbs, she could only have a dedicated appraiser assess them. In the end, they were accepted at a ten percent discount against the price, and Wang Hong was also given two hundred Spirit Stones in change.

The auction continued. Since nothing particularly interested Wang Hong, he did not make another bid.

Only when the spiritual herb auction segment began did his interest rise again, and he purchased several spiritual herbs he did not yet possess.

"The next items are two mutated spiritual herbs. The appraiser has determined that these two herbs are three hundred years old, possess the effect of greatly replenishing essence and blood, and are second-tier spiritual herbs. Any among you familiar with their medicinal properties may come up to inspect them."

As soon as these words fell, more than a dozen cultivators walked onto the platform. A mutated new variety was quite appealing to alchemists.

Even if they did not buy it, inspecting it would not cost any Spirit Stones. Who knew whether they might encounter the same thing elsewhere someday?

The dozen or so people each leaned close and carefully inspected the herbs with their Spiritual Sense. Then a maid cut off more than a dozen tiny rootlets and handed one to each person.

An elderly man with white hair and beard, wearing a monkey mask, sniffed the small section of rootlet, then placed it in his mouth and carefully chewed it. A trace of excitement appeared in his eyes before he quickly concealed it.

This man's true age was actually only a little over fifty. For a Qi Refinement cultivator with a lifespan of one hundred years, he was not particularly old. He had possessed outstanding aptitude and had reached late-stage Qi Refinement in his twenties, with hope of Foundation Establishment, so he had been highly valued within his Lineage.

But during one expedition, he had encountered a swarm of blood-devouring bats and had his essence and blood drained dry, nearly losing his life. The depleted essence and blood had never been replenished, leaving him with no further hope of Foundation Establishment.

He could sense that if he obtained these two spiritual herbs, his essence and blood would certainly be restored completely. He would once again have hope of advancing further and achieving Foundation Establishment.

"After personally identifying them, I trust that everyone now has some understanding of these two spiritual herbs. Bidding now begins. The starting bid is five hundred..."

"I bid one thousand!" the old man in the monkey mask roared.

"One thousand two hundred!"

"One thousand three hundred!"

The old man in the monkey mask's bid was quickly drowned beneath the rising and falling cries of competing bids.

"Fifteen thousand!"

"Fifteen thousand one hundred!"

"Sixteen thousand!" The old man in the monkey mask named his entire fortune. Decades of accumulation as a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator—everything on his person combined was worth only that much.

Yet the bidding did not pause because of this. The price climbed all the way upward and quickly broke through twenty thousand.

The old man in the monkey mask slumped helplessly into his chair. Hope had been right before his eyes, yet it slipped through his fingers because he lacked enough Spirit Stones, filling his heart with unwillingness. His eyes vacant, he watched cultivators from every direction eagerly drive the price higher and higher, while he could do nothing.

In the end, the two spiritual herbs were bought by a cultivator in crimson robes for fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

Suddenly, determination appeared in the old man in the monkey mask's eyes. He had made a decision.

The old man abruptly stood up, removed the mask from his face, and cupped his hands toward the crimson-robed cultivator from afar.

"This fellow Daoist, I am He Yuan. These two spiritual herbs are extremely important to me. Could you perhaps part with them and yield them to me? I am willing to compensate you with twenty thousand Spirit Stones and sign a Blood Pact to serve you for ten years."

The instant those words were spoken, the entire venue was shocked into silence, and everyone raised their eyes to look.

One had to know that a Blood Pact would be imprinted upon one's Primordial Spirit. Once signed, it could not be regretted, and one would be controlled by another. Unless forced into a desperate situation, ordinary cultivators would never enter into a Blood Pact with someone.

The crimson-robed cultivator looked He Yuan over, then slowly said, "Thirty thousand Spirit Stones for the loyalty of a tenth-level Qi Refinement cultivator for ten years is indeed quite a bargain. Unfortunately, these two spiritual herbs are equally important to me." As he finished speaking, the crimson-robed cultivator faintly revealed a trace of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's aura.

The crimson-robed cultivator inwardly lamented the pity. If he had not previously used a secret life-saving technique that consumed a great deal of essence and blood, requiring at least five years of normal recuperation to recover, he truly would have been happy to take in a tenth-level Qi Refinement subordinate.

He Yuan slumped back down again in dejection. The auction continued, and no one paid him much further attention.

Suddenly, his ears twitched. Delight appeared on his face as he looked around in all directions. Unfortunately, he could not find the person he was seeking among the crowd.