The Doukou Egg!

"'Heavenly Radiance Marrow' came from a Cosmic Secret Realm controlled by the Bone Glow Clan of the Thorn Ring Alliance. It contained the power of the Fire Origin Law and was a precious material for forging Immortal weapons.

"Adding even a single drop to an Immortal weapon could greatly increase the power of Combat Secret Techniques that wielded the Law of Fire..."

The Seven-Colored Avian explained softly from the side.

Jiang Luo suppressed his excitement. "Raise each bid by one Hunyuan Unit over the current twentieth-highest price."

"Yes."

There were twenty drops of Heavenly Radiance Marrow up for auction.

When the bidding ended, the twenty highest bidders would each receive one drop.

After giving the instruction to his intelligent assistant, he no longer needed to concern himself with the specific bids.

The Seven-Colored Avian would ensure his account stayed among the top twenty throughout the dynamic bidding.

Soon, Jiang Luo spotted another material in this batch of items that Burning Technique could fuse with and devour: Molten Flame Crystal Silk!

Molten Flame Crystal Silk could only possibly form in the core of a neutron star.

Even among ten thousand neutron stars, there might not be a single strand of Molten Flame Crystal Silk.

Weapons containing Molten Flame Crystal Silk had a powerful bonus effect against Immortal Divine Bodies, especially those forged from Fire Divine Power.

In the end, Jiang Luo spent 1.7 million Hunyuan Units to win a drop of Heavenly Radiance Marrow and a strand of Molten Flame Crystal Silk.

Each batch of items at the medium-level auction seemed to have something in common.

After the fifth batch, Jiang Luo found no third material that could be used as an Exotic Fire.

Not until the tenth batch went up for auction.

"Qianyi Quicksand?" Jiang Luo's eyes lit up as he read an item's description.

The Seven-Colored Avian explained, "Qianyi Quicksand is an extremely rare special energy lifeform in the universe, created by the Qianyi Star Clan.

"The Qianyi Star Clan can produce Qianyi Quicksand from its Life Crystal Cores, but once a grain of Qianyi Quicksand is formed, the Life Crystal Core collapses, disintegrates, and dies.

"That's why Qianyi Quicksand is exceedingly rare. It's a precious material for refining supreme treasures."

Supreme treasures?

Jiang Luo was startled.

Sure enough, the bidding for Qianyi Quicksand quickly soared past a hundred million Hunyuan Units.

Jiang Luo could only look on helplessly.

This was an item he had no chance of winning.

After the Qianyi Quicksand, Jiang Luo saw several more Exotic Fire materials come up for auction.

However, their final prices all exceeded his available wealth.

Even the cheapest one went for more than twenty million Hunyuan Units.

"Molten Flame Crystal Silk and Heavenly Radiance Marrow will have to do for now. The higher the grade of an Exotic Fire material, the harder it is to fuse with..." Jiang Luo consoled himself.

Even with Burning Technique, he couldn't easily fuse with just any Exotic Fire material.

He would need to cultivate Burning Technique to a higher level before he could fuse with and devour higher-grade materials.

Over the past nine years, he hadn't devoted much effort to cultivating Burning Technique.

Although he had now set aside two avatars to focus entirely on cultivating it, reaching a high level would still take time.

Another batch of items went up for auction.

Jiang Luo browsed through them absentmindedly, then suddenly froze.

A Doukou egg!

Beside the item was a brief description of the Doukou. The words "100 times the life level" were especially eye-catching.

Even the host, the cold and aloof Winged Immortal, made an exception and introduced the item.

Clearly, this Doukou egg had caught the attention of countless Immortal Experts.

Neither the twelve peak bloodlines of the Starry Sky Behemoths nor rare lifeforms like the Mosha Clan and Green Line Devouring Insect could be classified as anything more than Special Lifeforms.

Many people didn't even consider them Special Lifeforms.

But the Doukou was a genuine Special Lifeform!

Its life level was over a hundred times that of an ordinary human.

Special Lifeforms were usually born directly from the Primal Universe under special conditions.

They were born of heaven and earth and couldn't reproduce naturally.

That was why many people felt that even the twelve peak bloodlines of the Starry Sky Behemoths couldn't be considered true Special Lifeforms.

The Doukou egg was, in fact, a green crystal about five meters in diameter, shaped like a many-faceted sphere.

On closer inspection, the green crystal had 10,081 faces.

It wasn't an egg laid by a Doukou, but a crystal formed by the Primal Universe under special conditions.

At its core lay the Life Crystal Core of the Special Lifeform known as the Doukou.

Once the core matured, the many-faceted crystal sphere would shatter.

That was why it was also called a Doukou Crystal Fetus.

"The Doukou is a Special Lifeform somewhere between a flesh-and-blood lifeform and an energy lifeform. Its Life Crystal Core was born in a perilous area of the Wuhua Secret Realm...

"Its body is formed when the Life Crystal Core draws in extremely frigid energy.

"It is beautiful and strangely alluring, has a life level a hundred times that of a human, and cannot reproduce.

"From the beginning of the Primal Universe to the present, the total number of Doukou born is estimated to be between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand. It is an incredibly rare and powerful lifeform!

"This Doukou Crystal Fetus came from the Wuhua Secret Realm.

"According to the rules, I regret that I can't reveal any more details about the Doukou Crystal Fetus's origins..."

Listening to the Winged Immortal, Jiang Luo thought, It was probably stolen by someone. Whoever managed to steal a Doukou Crystal Fetus while it was still forming must have been quite capable.

A trace of helplessness appeared in the Winged Immortal's eyes. "By rights, this treasure shouldn't have appeared at a medium-level auction.

"That's the most unfortunate part.

"This Doukou Crystal Fetus was damaged in battle, leaving cracks on its surface.

"Of course, I can assure you that the Life Crystal Core still forming inside it remains intact..."

At that, Jiang Luo quickly enlarged the virtual image. Sure enough, he spotted several tiny cracks on the crystal's surface. "So that's why..."

Jiang Luo was overjoyed.

"Once a Crystal Fetus is damaged, there's no way to repair it," the Winged Immortal sighed. "And the Life Crystal Core forming inside can no longer continue to develop. It will never fully mature.

"According to our examination, the Life Crystal Core inside the fetus was only a hair's breadth from completing its formation. Under normal circumstances, it would have matured after another era.

"However, some Law Secret Patterns of Water and Space remain on the surface of the core, which can still be of some use for studying the laws..."

Although the Winged Immortal did his best to emphasize the Doukou Crystal Fetus's value, the steep drop in bidding prices proved that most Immortal Experts had lost interest.

Bidders could withdraw their bids during the final hour of the three-day auction period.

Even after its price had plummeted, the bidding still approached two million Hunyuan Units.

Although it was a rather useless item, some Immortal Experts still wanted to study the Doukou Crystal Fetus.

This time, Jiang Luo didn't let his intelligent assistant bid for him. Instead, he entered the bidding himself, his heart pounding with anxiety.

2.5 million Hunyuan... 3.15 million Hunyuan... 4.9 million Hunyuan...

The price of the Doukou Crystal Fetus continued to climb.

But once it passed five million Hunyuan Units, most of the Immortals bidding seemed to give up.

Only two or three Immortal Experts were still locked in a contest with Jiang Luo.

The standoff dragged on until the third day. Jiang Luo gritted his teeth and bid ten million Hunyuan, finally scaring off the other Immortals.

Only 9.7 million Hunyuan Units remained in his five-star account.

Fortunately, five-star accounts came with the privilege of delaying payment for a while. Sometimes, it took time to gather the funds.

He was back to being broke.

But Jiang Luo didn't regret it for a second.

If he missed this chance to acquire a living Special Lifeform with a life level over a hundred times the ordinary, he would truly have to rely on luck to find another.

The fact that the Life Crystal Core hadn't finished forming didn't mean it couldn't be devoured.

It was like the Flame Star Behemoth egg in the Flint Star World's treasure trove. After tens of millions of years in a dormant state, its vitality had grown faint.

But the Flame Star Behemoth egg could recover by drawing on the power of a star and develop into a young one.

The Doukou's Life Crystal Core, however, could no longer mature after the Crystal Fetus was damaged.

And Jiang Luo didn't need the Doukou to mature completely.

Of course, given that the Doukou was a lifeform between flesh-and-blood and energy types, with a rather high Gene Level, he probably couldn't devour it using the modified Mysterious Heaven Skill.

But that didn't mean he lacked other divine techniques to devour it.

He simply didn't yet have enough wish power to manifest one.