Spirit-Nurturing Treasure (Part 1)

Time passed. As treasures were traded one after another, more than an hour soon went by.

During this time, Liang Bo also spent several thousand taels of silver to purchase over a dozen bottles of Essence-Cultivating Pills, a superior medicinal pill for increasing inner energy, with extremely good effects.

Speaking of which, he had not been valued by the clan in the past, so he rarely used pills in his daily cultivation. Now that his status and position had changed drastically, he finally had enough silver to buy them.

Other than the pills, Liang Bo had not taken a fancy to anything else. Liang Wen, on the other hand, had bid on quite a few items during this time, including several decent weapons and a few martial skills. Unfortunately, they were all only of ordinary grade.

That was hardly surprising. After all, ranked cultivation methods and martial skills were far too rare. Even if ordinary people obtained them, they would not put them up for auction. Moreover, the authorities imposed strict restrictions on high-grade cultivation methods and martial skills. This was especially true for cultivation methods—ranked ones rarely circulated outside.

Even if someone joined a top sect and obtained a high-grade cultivation method, they would not dare let others cultivate it, much less put it up for auction.

This was also why a great clan like the Liang Clan could only cultivate ordinary methods.

The martial skills Liang Wen had bought were all of ordinary grade. They held little appeal for Liang Bo, and even less for Liang Wen himself. His purpose in buying them was merely to enrich the clan's foundation.

As he watched the martial artists in the hall below take the stage one after another to display their trade goods, the Human Origin Realm experts from the dozen or so private rooms would soon be taking the stage. Liang Bo could not help asking curiously, "Uncle, what do you plan to bring out for trade this time?"

Liang Wen glanced at him, then suddenly pressed the ring on his left index finger. A sheet of handwritten notes appeared in his hand. "What I plan to auction is a pill formula I happened to acquire. It should be worth several thousand taels of silver."

Liang Bo's eyes lit up. His gaze was not on the handwritten notes, but on the ring on Liang Wen's left hand. "Uncle, is that a storage ring?"

Liang Wen paused, then smiled. "Storage ring is quite a fitting name, but its true name is a Mustard Seed Ring. As the saying goes, a mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru. This tiny ring can hold quite a number of items, making it very convenient to use. However, Mustard Seed Rings are also extremely scarce. Perhaps once you enter the True Martial Sect, you may be able to exchange for one."

Liang Bo nodded. He had been rather curious when he saw Liang Wen attend the trading fair empty-handed. Now, the question in his heart had been answered.

Just then, a middle-aged man in green robes stepped onto the stage below and took out a palm-sized bronze-colored fragment. "Fellow Daoists, I am from the Wang Clan of Ruyin City. What I have brought out for trade this time is this fragment in my hand. I am not entirely certain of its origins. However, one thing is certain: this fragment is absolutely extraordinary. Its edges are incredibly sharp—even a one-inch-thick piece of Scarlet Sun Gold can be easily sliced apart."

"What? It can even cut through Scarlet Sun Gold?" The people in the hall immediately went wild.

Scarlet Sun Gold was a publicly recognized metal of extreme hardness. It was far harder than ordinary steel and iron, making it the finest material for forging high-grade weapons or armor. Its value was immeasurable.

This fragment could actually slice through one-inch-thick Scarlet Sun Gold with ease. One could well imagine just how sharp it was.

The middle-aged man from the Wang Clan said, "Every word I have spoken is true. This fragment is incomparably sharp, and its material is far too hard. I have tried every possible method before, yet none could process this fragment, so I could only preserve its original form. If I were not desperately short of silver lately, I would not have brought this item out for trade. All right, the starting bid is ten thousand taels of silver. Everyone may begin bidding."

The moment his words fell, a voice came from one of the private rooms. "Thirty thousand taels of silver!"

"What?" Everyone present was startled once more.

Though the middle-aged man from the Wang Clan had just boasted about the fragment as if it were something divine, that was only his side of the story, and whether it was truly so still needed to be verified. Furthermore, even if what he said was true, it was ultimately only a fragment, not some divine weapon. No matter how valuable it was, its value had its limits.

Thus, everyone had only put its price at ten-odd thousand taels of silver in their hearts—buy it to study it, perhaps. Any higher, and no one would be willing to bid.

Yet now, someone had opened with thirty thousand taels of silver. Everyone hurriedly turned to look at the private room from which the bid had come.

"The private room of the Liang Clan from Wan City? Could this fragment possess some unusual quality?" Everyone's thoughts stirred.

Someone tried bidding, "Thirty-two thousand taels of silver."

Immediately afterward, a voice came from the Liang Clan's private room. "Forty thousand taels of silver!"

This time, everyone heard it clearly. The voice that had made the earlier bid had indeed come from the Liang Clan's private room, but it was not the Liang Clan's patriarch. It was another voice, one far younger.

"Liang Bo?" Zhao Zhao's thoughts stirred as she recognized the bidder. Then she became puzzled. What did Liang Bo want with this fragment?

That was right. The person who had bid twice in succession was indeed Liang Bo.

The reason he had named such a high price was simple. Just now, when the middle-aged man from the Wang Clan took out the fragment, a notification had suddenly appeared in his mind:

[Spirit-Nurturing Treasure fragment discovered!]

"Spirit-Nurturing Treasure? What is that?" Liang Bo had been greatly startled at the time.

Over the past few days, aside from messages appearing in his mind to prompt him to deduce and upgrade cultivation methods whenever he raised the proficiency of methods and martial skills such as Baoyuan Energy and Purple Lightning Blade to full level, he had never received any other notification.

Yet when that palm-sized bronze-colored fragment appeared, such a message had suddenly surfaced in his mind. How could he not be shocked?

Anything that could make his special ability react was worth buying and studying carefully, no matter how expensive it was.

Therefore, after the middle-aged man finished his introduction, Liang Bo impatiently named a high price. In any case, Clan Head Liang Wen had already promised that he could decide for himself on any item below three hundred thousand taels of silver.

"Forty-five thousand taels of silver!" At that moment, a lazy voice came from a private room opposite them.

Liang Bo said without hesitation, "Fifty thousand!"

"Fifty-two thousand!"

Liang Bo's expression turned cold. Fifty thousand taels of silver was already an extremely high price. He had originally thought that after naming this price, no one would compete with him. Who would have thought that someone still seemed to be deliberately driving up the price against him?