Wind Rises

"Yes, three mid-level divine artifacts! But you need to find someone." Zhang Xingfeng said with a smile. This bounty was not just for the Jiao Family. He planned to announce the bounty to the world when the mid-level divine artifacts were auctioned at the end of the month.

Jiao Jian was extremely excited and immediately said, "Senior Carefree King, who does the medal belong to? With the power of my Jiao Family, we are confident we can find someone!"

Zhang Xingfeng took a deep breath and said seriously, "Yuwen Rou is a woman. However, she should currently belong to the Ghost Spirit Faction. If she is in this realm, then her cultivation time should be less than a thousand years!"

Jiao Jian immediately made a bitter face and exclaimed, "Ah, senior, please don't say that Yuwen Rou is a name from a previous life?"

Zhang Xingfeng nodded and said, "Yes, Yuwen Rou is indeed her name from her previous life. What? Isn't this a clue?"

Jiao Jian explained helplessly, "It seems that you are not clear about this, senior. Every new ghost spirit comes to this world through a process of birth. This is what is called the birth of a spirit. Newly born ghost spirits are like infants and have no memory. Only experts who have reached the King Tier can break through the memory seal and learn about everything in the past."

Zhang Xingfeng was stunned and listened to everything in disbelief.

"You mean... all that I know is completely useless in finding out who Yuwen Rou is?" Zhang Xingfeng simply couldn't accept this result.

Jiao Jian nodded and said, "Yes, according to what you said, she is just a ghost spirit less than a thousand years old. Her power could not possibly reach the King Tier, so she will not regain her memories. Moreover, no one in the entire Spirit Realm knows anything about her. How are you going to find her?" Jiao Jian sighed.

"How is that possible? Nobody knows her past life, so how can I find her? Besides, she's like a new person now, with no memory of her past. Even if we were face to face, she might not recognize me!" Zhang Xingfeng felt a headache coming on; it was just too painful...

Jiao Jian, and he said, "Oh, right, not everyone in the Spirit Realm is unable to know the past life of a newly born ghost spirit."

Zhang Xingfeng immediately grasped at this last straw and anxiously asked, "Who? Who could know the previous life of the newly born Ghost Spirit?"

Jiao Jian said, "Of the three Spirit Venerables, only experts at the Spirit Venerable level can reach the pinnacle of the Spirit Appraisal Technique and investigate the past lives of other spirit beings!"

Zhang Xingfeng immediately exclaimed with delight, "Ah, in that case, I'll ask the Spirit Lord to help me investigate and observe carefully, won't that be enough?"

Jiao Jian shook his head dejectedly and said, "Senior, I'm not trying to discourage you, but the peak of this Spirit Appraisal Technique consumes a considerable amount of spiritual energy. Moreover, not everyone likes having their past life seen by others. Most importantly... what kind of people are the Three Great Spirit Venerables? Why would they bother to investigate other people? Perhaps they would only take the rare step of observing their disciples and relatives!"

Zhang Xingfeng's head started to ache again. "Ah, doesn't this mean that the three great spirit lords only observe a few individuals? But there are countless ghosts and spirits in the entire Spirit Realm. The number of those who have actually been observed by the spirit lords is probably pitifully small. Is it really possible that Rou is among the relatives and disciples of those spirit lords?"

Zhang Xingfeng sighed and waved to Jiao Jian, saying, "Young Master Qiao, you go first. But please keep an eye out for me and find out which ghost spirits have cultivated for hundreds of years!"

"Senior Carefree King, please rest assured, I will definitely collect some information on the spirits of the ghosts from the past few hundred years, and then you can select and examine them! Alright, this junior will take his leave now!" Jiao Jian, cupping his hands. He was indeed somewhat troubled. The number of spirit beings born every day was frighteningly high, and the number of spirit beings who had descended upon the past thousand years was an even more terrifying number. Even for the Jiao Family, collecting a list would be extremely difficult for Xiu Ang.

Zhang Xingfeng waved his hand dismissively, not seeing the young master of the Jiao Family off. His mind was entirely on Yuwen Rou at that moment!

Snowy Night City, the Jiao Family Mansion.

"Haha... Father, Father, I succeeded, I succeeded!" Jiao Jian's loud laughter rang out outside the door of the Jiao Family patriarch's room.

Upon hearing this, the head of the Jiao Family immediately opened the door and rushed out. Seeing Jiao Jian, he immediately asked, "Did you succeed? How many low-level divine artifacts did you buy? One? Two? How does the price compare to the price Vermilion Bird Clan? Isn't it ridiculously expensive?"

With a smile, Jiao Jian reported, "Our harvest this time has been enormous. I have bought all five low-level divine artifacts that Senior Carefree King gave us, and the price was only 10,000 shi. The doubts haven't increased much! Five low-level divine artifacts—this is something the Jiao Family can only get once every 50,000 years. I never expected to get them in one day."

Upon hearing this, the head of the Jiao Family beamed with excitement and said, "Great! Over the years, the Five Great Families have been engaged in fierce competition, destroying countless divine artifacts, especially low-level ones, which are often destroyed by mid-level and top-level artifacts. Acquiring more divine artifacts will be very beneficial to us!"

Jiao Jian nodded and said, "Yes, ever since the Vermilion Bird Clan began forging divine artifacts a hundred million years ago, the Sheng Family has always possessed half of the ten, and their power far surpasses ours. In the past hundred million years, the Vermilion Bird Clan has produced nearly one hundred thousand divine artifacts. Over the years of fighting, many low-level and mid-level divine artifacts have been destroyed. During the Divine Tribulation, resisting the Divine Tribulation also destroyed most of the top-level divine artifacts. Now, the Five Great Families combined only have about twenty thousand divine artifacts, and my Jiao Family only has about two thousand left!"

Upon hearing this, the head of the Jiao Family sighed, "Indeed, top-tier artifacts are usually not destroyed in battles, but during the Divine Tribulation, many top-tier artifacts were destroyed. It's truly a pity. Now, the Lineage only has three top-tier artifacts and about twenty mid-tier artifacts left. The rest are low-tier artifacts! This is the culmination of so many years of accumulation for my Jiao Family!"

In fact, it's not that the Vermilion Bird royal family's Phoenix didn't want to forge top-tier divine artifacts, but forging them was simply too difficult. They could probably forge a thousand artifacts, and only one of them would be a top-tier divine artifact. They could forge a hundred artifacts, and only one of them would be a mid-tier divine artifact, with the rest being mostly low-tier artifacts!

Zhang Xingfeng was even more frustrated than them, as he had never managed to forge a single top-tier divine artifact!

Zhang Xingfeng knew that he hadn't yet mastered the divine fire, since low-grade and mid-grade divine artifacts could be forged using Qi Cauldron. However, top-grade divine artifacts required the divine fire to succeed!

"By the way, Father, Senior Carefree King has been selling divine artifacts every month lately, five pieces each month. Most importantly, at the end of the month, he'll also auction off a mid-grade divine artifact!" Jiao Jian told his father another piece of news.

Upon hearing this, the head of the Jiao Family was overjoyed and said, "Great! I thought it was just once. I never expected it to happen every month. Alright, I'll put you in charge of this for a while. Make sure you buy as many as possible. Also, intermediate-level divine artifacts are very precious in every Lineage, so you must win the auction!"

"Yes, Father, please rest assured! I will definitely not let you down!" Jiao Jian with full confidence.

When the news first spread that the Lan Mansion had divine artifacts for sale, many people didn't believe it. But when it was announced that the Jiao Family had already bought five low-level divine artifacts, the other Lineage were quite annoyed and secretly furious.

They couldn't believe it either, since only the Phoenix in the Vermilion Bird Clan could forge such a divine artifact, how could the Lan Mansion possess it?

But now that the Jiao Family has bought it, it proves that the Lan Mansion does indeed possess top-tier divine artifacts!

However... the most frantic and frustrated were not the other Lineage! Rather, they were some other powerful forces. Although these forces were not as powerful as the Five Great Families, they were still quite large. However, the divine artifacts that appeared once every ten thousand years were monopolized by the Five Great Families, and even if they had a lot of spirit stones, they could not buy them!

This time, the Lan family is selling it openly. No matter who it is, it's 10,000 gold stones, first come, first served!

This news left these forces both frustrated and excited! Frustrated that their five low-level artifacts had been bought by someone else, but excited that there would be another chance!

While low-level artifacts are precious to the Five Great Families, they are not too important because the Five Great Families already possess many low-level artifacts. However, for ordinary forces that do not possess a single low-level artifact, low-level artifacts are extremely precious!

"Bastards, you bastards, bastards! You're all bastards! What am I feeding you for? Five low-level divine artifacts! Last time I spent nearly 150,000 gold stones to get just one low-level divine artifact from a master of the Yan family! Bastards, did you hear that? 150,000 gold stones! This time it's only 10,000 gold stones, and it's five artifacts! And you guys still think this is a joke!" An old man roared angrily at the crowd below.

The first man muttered under his breath, "How can you blame us? Isn't this divine artifact exclusive to the Vermilion Bird Clan? Who would believe the Lan family would have it?"

The old man immediately roared, "You unfilial son, you little rascal! Don't you know that there's no smoke without fire? Do you think this news would just spread out of nowhere? Why don't you send someone to the Lan family to check? It wouldn't take you much time. Ah, it's all because you're lazy! My five low-level divine artifacts!" The old man was frustrated, in pain, and heartbroken!

How could he not be in pain? To obtain a low-level divine artifact, he had to pull strings, offer bribes, and spend nearly 150,000 gold stones! And now, five low-level divine artifacts had slipped through his fingers like this!

The old man's son, the same man who had just been muttering, looked up mysteriously and said, "Father, hehe, I've got some news. The Lan family will be holding an auction at the end of this month to auction off a mid-level divine artifact!"

The old man was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed excitedly, "You mean... a mid-level divine artifact? Ah, a mid-level divine artifact???"

How could the old man not be excited? Even the Jiao Family, one of the Five Great Families, only had about twenty such mid-level artifacts. These mid-level artifacts were the most precious treasures of the Lineage and would never be passed on to outsiders! Now, a mid-level artifact was placed in front of him. How could the old man not be excited?

Haha... Alright, I've prepared enough spirit stones this time. Hmph, I'm determined to get this mid-grade divine artifact! Definitely! A burning light shone in the old man's eyes...

This is one of the major forces outside of the Five Great Families. This old man is none other than the Hundred Yuan Spirit Emperor, a remarkable figure in the Spirit Realm. However, just because he is not from one of the Five Great Families, he spent 150,000 Yuan Stones on a low-level divine artifact.

It wasn't just the Hundred Yuan Spirit Emperor; almost every force was ambitious, especially some powerful forces that were only below the Five Great Families. They were determined to compete for this intermediate-level artifact!

However, the Five Great Families also wanted to obtain this intermediate-level artifact, since intermediate-level artifacts were extremely precious among the Five Great Families!

Dark Devour Star, the stronghold of the Dark Devour Cult in the Spirit Realm!

The Dark Devour Cult is the number one Dark Forces in the Spirit Realm. Although it is suppressed by the Five Great Families, it has always survived well. They are very smart and never fight with the Five Great Families because they know how powerful the Five Great Families are. Their divine artifacts alone are beyond their reach.

Inside the Dark Demon Hall. "Reporting to the Sect Master, the news that old fellow Lan Hai Tian is selling divine artifacts is true. The Jiao Family has already purchased five low-grade divine artifacts, and at the end of this month, the Lan Mansion will hold an auction for a mid-grade divine artifact!"

Dark Thorn Protector, one of the four protectors of the Dark Devour Cult, respectfully reported to the Dark Devour Cult Master.

Perhaps only those within the Dark Devour Cult know the true terror of the Dark Devour Cult!

Each of the four guardians of the Dark Devour Cult has reached the intermediate level of the Divine Realm, while the sect leader has reached a terrifying level of alertness. The four guardians are no match for the sect leader. What is most surprising is that even the three Spirit Venerables have never discovered any new Spirit Venerables in the Spirit Realm. This means that... the Dark Devour Cult Master's power has not reached the Spirit Venerable level, or the Dark Devour Cult Master's power is even greater than that of the three Spirit Venerables!

However, no one knows the answer, but all the members of the Dark Devour Cult know one thing: anyone who opposes the Dark Devour Cult Master is dead! "Oh, selling divine artifacts? It seems that Lan Hai Tian is quite powerful. Well, we don't need to compete with others for this intermediate-level divine artifact. Those Hundred Yuan Spirit Emperor and the like are probably all fighting desperately for it. As for divine artifacts, I don't care!" The Dark Devour Cult Master's deep voice made Dark Thorn feel a chill in his heart.

The Dark Devour Cult Master immediately laughed, "Who exactly provided this divine artifact? It's impossible for the Vermilion Bird Clan to give away her own divine artifact. Since this guy possesses one, ah, things seem quite interesting..." Then, the Dark Devour Cult Master vanished...

End of the month.

At this moment, heavyweight figures from various powerful factions of the Lan Mansion made their appearance one by one, because the auction for a mid-level divine artifact was about to begin.