Fire Rock Beast

A day passed quickly. At the hour of the Rat, the night was like water, and Yunmeng Mountain was brightly lit.

A five-story cyan pavilion stood there, with the three golden characters "Yaming Pavilion" inscribed on its plaque.

The main hall was spacious and bright. A young man in a blue shirt with ordinary features sat in a corner, quietly drinking tea; he was none other than Shen Long, who had altered his appearance.

An elderly man in a green robe with a ruddy complexion stood behind the counter, flipping through an account book.

The underground auction had many good items, but their origins were questionable; they could be stolen goods or spoils from murder and robbery.

Shen Long did not know what kind of treasures he might encounter, so he had deliberately changed his appearance.

He had arrived at Yaming Pavilion long ago and observed for over an hour. Several Qi Refining cultivators had exchanged voice transmissions with the green-robed old man before walking into the backyard.

Shen Long walked over and transmitted his voice: "Shopkeeper, I heard an auction is being held here?"

"Go to the backyard yourself, fellow Daoist! The entrance is in the backyard."

The green-robed old man said without even lifting his head.

Shen Long nodded and strode toward the backyard.

The backyard was not large, containing a simple cyan wooden house with a burly man in a gold shirt standing at the entrance.

Shen Long walked over and asked politely: "Fellow Daoist, where is the entrance?"

The gold-shirted man pushed open the door. The room was small, and in the bottom left corner was a set of cyan stone steps leading underground, from which a faint clamor could be heard.

"Go in yourself!"

The gold-shirted man said.

Shen Long thanked him and walked down the cyan stone steps. Not long after, he reached the bottom, walked a dozen paces, and emerged into an underground cavern about three acres in size.

Over a hundred cultivators were gathered here, mostly at the Qi Refining stage, though there were a few Foundation Establishment cultivators as well.

In the center of the cavern stood a circular platform over ten feet wide, upon which sat a cyan wooden table and a cyan wooden stool.

Shen Long found a seat near the front and waited quietly.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a loud bell rang out. A pot-bellied man in a gold shirt walked onto the circular platform; judging by his aura, he was only at the Qi Refining stage.

"I am Wu Shan, and I will be hosting this auction. The highest bidder wins. If you lack spirit stones, you may offer items as collateral. The bidding begins now."

The gold-shirted man gave a brief introduction, took out three golden porcelain bottles, and said: "First-grade Purple Jade Pill, excellent for detoxification. Starting price is twenty spirit stones, with each increment no less than two."

"Twenty-two!"

"Twenty-four!"

"Twenty-six!"

······

The price climbed steadily, but Shen Long did not join the bidding.

The Purple Jade Pill was not a rare medicine; many pill shops sold pills with similar effects.

Wu Shan quickly auctioned off the three bottles of Purple Jade Pill and took out two cyan porcelain bottles, saying: "Golden Spear Unfailing Pill. After taking it, satisfying five women in one night is a breeze. Starting price is twenty spirit stones, with each increment no less than five."

"Twenty!"

"Twenty-five!"

"Thirty!"

······

Wu Shan brought out one auction item after another—pills, refining materials, spiritual herbs, beast hides, and more—all fetching high prices.

Shen Long did not speak up. It wasn't that he looked down on them, but rather that these items were not necessities for him.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, following the sale of a high-grade magical tool, Wu Shan took out a blue jade box. Upon opening it, a blue pill was revealed, emitting a peculiar fragrance.

"Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Someone recognized the origin of the pill.

As soon as these words were spoken, the Qi Refining cultivators present stirred, their gazes turning fervent, especially those who had failed their previous assessments.

"One Foundation Establishment Pill. Starting price is twenty thousand spirit stones, with each increment no less than two thousand."

Wu Shan announced loudly.

"Twenty thousand!"

"Twenty-two thousand!"

"Twenty-four thousand!"

······

The competition was fierce, and Shen Long could not produce that many spirit stones.

After multiple rounds of bidding, the Foundation Establishment Pill was finally sold for the high price of forty-six thousand spirit stones.

A man of medium build in a yellow shirt strode onto the circular platform and exchanged voice transmissions with Wu Shan, who nodded.

"This fellow Daoist does not have enough spirit stones and intends to sell some items. We only provide the venue and are not responsible for their authenticity."

Wu Shan finished speaking and stepped aside.

The man in the yellow shirt took out over twenty different items, and a red spirit beast egg caught the attention of Shen Long.

Shen Long walked onto the circular platform and picked up the red spirit beast egg, feeling as if his hands were gripping a ball of raging flames; it was incredibly scorching, yet the vitality within the egg was extremely faint.

"What kind of spirit beast egg is this?"

Shen Long asked curiously.

"I don't know either. I found it in a dormant volcano. If you are interested, fellow Daoist, I will sell it to you for five hundred spirit stones."

The man in the yellow shirt said.

"Five hundred spirit stones? The vitality is so weak that it is uncertain whether it can even hatch. Otherwise, you could have hatched it yourself to sell. One hundred spirit stones."

Shen Long bargained.

"Three hundred at the very least. Many people have offered high prices to buy it from me."

The man in the yellow shirt said.

"One hundred and fifty. If you don't want to, forget it."

Shen Long put down the spirit beast egg and prepared to leave.

The man in the yellow shirt hurriedly called out to stop Shen Long and agreed to the deal.

He had possessed this spirit beast egg for many years and had never been able to hatch it; otherwise, he would have hatched it and sold it for a much higher price.

Shen Long paid the spirit stones and put away the spirit beast egg.

Others had also noticed this spirit beast egg, but because its vitality was so weak, the difficulty of hatching it was very high.

The man in the yellow shirt sold quite a few items, even selling two Mid-grade Magical Tools, barely scraping together enough spirit stones to buy the Foundation Establishment Pill.

He left the venue in a hurry, and several cultivators wanted to follow him out but were stopped.

"According to the rules, others can only leave after he has been gone for a short quarter of an hour. We do this for the sake of the bidders."

Wu Shan said.

Hearing this, those few cultivators returned to their original seats.

After the Foundation Establishment Pill was auctioned off, Wu Shan took out three blue porcelain bottles and said, "Black Moon Spirit Water has a similar effect to the Foundation Establishment Pill. Of course, the efficacy is certainly not as good as the Foundation Establishment Pill, but it can be taken together with the Foundation Establishment Pill to increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment. They will be auctioned separately, with a starting price of ten thousand spirit stones, and each increment must be no less than one thousand."

Shen Long was not interested; he had a Spirit Control Token and could exchange it for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Using the Spirit Control Token to join the Spirit Control Sect would grant him a Foundation Establishment Pill, but passing the assessment to become a disciple of the Spirit Control Sect was only the entry; to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, one would need a large amount of contribution points.

He kept the Spirit Control Token for a greater purpose, though he had no use for it at the moment.

"Ten thousand!"

"Eleven thousand!"

"Twelve thousand!"

The competition was particularly intense, and all three bottles of Black Moon Spirit Water were auctioned off at high prices, with the lowest transaction price being twenty-five thousand spirit stones.

"This auction concludes here. Next time, we will prepare even better auction items."

Wu Shan said.

The cultivators present left the venue one after another, while Shen Long had only bought one spirit beast egg.

He wandered around the streets for a while before returning to the Gathering Immortals Inn.

Back in his room, Shen Long activated the restrictions within the house and entered the Spirit Control Tower.