Four Seas Auction, Unexpected Gains (Please Keep Reading, Please Vote Monthly)

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days had gone by.

Yuanzhou City, Moonlight Inn.

Whoosh!

Zhou Qing opened his eyes.

A smile appeared at the corners of his lips.

Over the past ten days, he had accumulated ten Dao Source Points.

Both the Crimson Sun Breathing Technique and the Drip Stone Piercing Art had already been fused into the Primordial Chaos True Art. The abundance of his Primordial Chaos inner force was dozens of times greater than when he had only cultivated the Profound Ice Heart Method.

He could "see" that the Gate of Heaven and Earth within his body was within reach.

However, the Four Seas Pavilion auction was being held today. Gathering the eighth first-rate Internal Art would not be difficult for him. Only after fusing eight first-rate Internal Arts could the Primordial Chaos True Art truly be considered "complete."

Then, blasting open the Gate of Heaven and Earth and stepping into the Xiantian Realm would be as natural as water flowing into a channel.

Zhou Qing rose to his feet, straightened his clothes, and strode out of the room.

At this time, quite a few people had already gathered in the main hall of Moonlight Inn. Or rather, nearly every inn in Yuanzhou City was packed with guests.

These people had all come for the Four Seas Pavilion auction.

Four Seas Pavilion was a top-tier merchant association that had risen to prominence over the past decade or so. Its background was unfathomably mysterious, and it controlled many rare resources.

It held an auction once every three years, and there were often unexpected treasures on offer—first-rate Internal Arts, even Divine Intent Diagrams.

Therefore, whenever Four Seas Pavilion held an auction, there was no need for it to advertise what treasures would be available to draw attention. Countless martial artists naturally gathered there.

Before long.

Zhou Qing arrived at the Four Seas Pavilion auction venue.

It was a massive auction hall capable of accommodating more than ten thousand people.

Outside the auction hall, a large number of Four Seas Pavilion disciples maintained order.

Zhou Qing blended into the crowd and swept his gaze around. There were several entrances leading into the auction hall, but most had long lines and seemed rather crowded.

However, the auction hall also had a premium passage.

Zhou Qing left the crowd and headed toward it.

"Honored guest, please present your invitation!"

Before the premium passage, a martial artist in fitted attire stopped Zhou Qing.

Buzz~~

With a thought, Zhou Qing unleashed his sword momentum.

"This is... sword momentum!" The martial artist's heart jolted. He immediately said respectfully, "Honored guest, please come in!"

To enter the auction hall's premium passage, one normally had to present an invitation. However, first-rate martial artists did not need one and could enter directly.

Moreover, the Four Seas Pavilion auction was divided into an inner hall and an outer hall.

The outer hall was the enormous auction venue that could hold tens of thousands, while those qualified to enter the inner hall were wealthy merchants and influential gentry with invitations, or first-rate martial artists.

Their numbers were usually only a few hundred.

Zhou Qing entered the premium passage. The interior was lavishly decorated, entirely different from the clamor outside, exuding a tranquil elegance.

"Honored guest, this way please!"

A palace-dressed maid immediately came forward and led Zhou Qing into a private room inside.

From the window of the private room, he could see the auction platform below.

"Honored guest, the auction will begin in half an hour." The palace-dressed maid picked up a booklet from the table and handed it to Zhou Qing. "This contains the details of the auction items. Please review it."

Zhou Qing sat upright on the cushioned couch, took the booklet from the maid, and slowly opened it.

The booklet listed every item in detail, from precious medicinal herbs and weapons sharp enough to slice through iron like mud, to all kinds of secret manuals and cultivation arts.

"Thunderclap Art!"

Zhou Qing spotted the first-rate Internal Art listed in the booklet.

A lightning-element Internal Art—this was precisely what he lacked.

He had already fused seven cultivation arts of different attributes. As long as he fused one more, he would be able to blast open the Gate of Heaven and Earth with absolute certainty.

"Nine Character True Word Seal Fragment!"

At that moment, Zhou Qing's eyes lit up.

He saw that a Nine Character True Word Seal Fragment was being auctioned.

He cultivated the Nine Syllable Mantra Seal, so its power went without saying. The value of such a secret art surpassed that of ordinary first-rate cultivation arts.

Unfortunately, he had only obtained three character seals from the Nine Syllable Mantra Seal. He had not expected this auction to actually offer a Nine Character True Word Seal Fragment.

The 'Zhe' Character Inner Lion Seal!

Though it was called a fragment, it contained only a single character seal.

Like the Outer Lion Seal, the Inner Lion Seal stimulated the body's latent potential.

However, the Outer Lion Seal enhanced combat power by burning blood vitality, inner force, and the like; it was outward-facing. The Inner Lion Seal, on the other hand, was inward-facing.

It used a special method to stimulate the body's latent potential, accelerating the regeneration of every cell, boosting metabolism, and allowing injuries to heal rapidly.

It could even reconnect severed meridians and regrow severed limbs.

It was equivalent to a supreme healing art. Not only could it be used on oneself, but it could also heal others by stimulating the life force within their bodies.

Its side effect was the overdrafting of lifespan. Every use shortened one's life. The more serious the injury, the more lifespan would be lost if one wanted a rapid recovery. If one wished to regrow a severed arm, that single use would likely cost several decades of life.

Of course, when stimulating another person's life force, what was consumed was naturally that person's lifespan. For the martial artist using the Inner Lion Seal, only inner force was consumed.

Still, this counted as an unexpected gain for Zhou Qing.

"Divine Intent Diagram?"

Zhou Qing also saw a Divine Intent Diagram in the booklet.

A Divine Intent Diagram was a treasure that many super first-rate forces did not possess. Not only could it help first-rate martial artists quickly cultivate the Power of Momentum to perfection, but long-term cultivation with the aid of a Divine Intent Diagram could, through its tempering, transform perfected Power of Momentum into a Seed of Artistic Conception, or even condense an Embryo of Artistic Conception.

Even masters who had only recently entered the Xiantian Realm could use a Divine Intent Diagram to rapidly transform an Embryo of Artistic Conception into true Artistic Conception power.

One could imagine how fierce the competition would be for the Divine Intent Diagram.

Time passed bit by bit.

Soon, half an hour had gone by.

The auction officially began.

An old man stepped onto the stage and began introducing the first auction item.

Zhou Qing simply closed his eyes to rest.

His targets were the first-rate Internal Art, the Thunderclap Art, and the Nine Character True Word Seal Fragment. The other items would not be of much use to him, so there was no need to waste silver bidding on them.

Time passed.

One auction item after another was brought onto the platform by the auctioneer.

Every treasure had a minimum value of more than ten thousand taels of silver. Anything worth less than ten thousand taels of silver was simply not qualified to enter this inner hall auction.

However, thus far, not a single treasure had caught Zhou Qing's interest.

Just then, the old man on the auction platform suddenly turned solemn and lowered his voice. "The next auction item is the first-rate Internal Art, the Thunderclap Art. I trust everyone knows the value of a first-rate Internal Art, so this old man need not introduce it further. The starting bid for the Thunderclap Art is fifty thousand taels of silver. Each raise must be no less than one thousand taels of silver!"

"I bid sixty thousand taels!"

"Seventy-five thousand taels!"

"Eighty thousand taels!"

"..."

"One hundred thousand taels!"

As the auctioneer's voice fell, bids rose one after another.

Before long, the price of the Thunderclap Art had surpassed one hundred thousand taels.

Zhou Qing sat calmly in the private room, his gaze fixed on the Thunderclap Art on the auction platform as he calculated in secret.

One hundred thousand taels of silver was already an extremely high price, but Zhou Qing knew that it was still far from the Thunderclap Art's true value.

Based on previous auctions, a first-rate Internal Art manual could often fetch a sky-high price of more than one hundred and fifty thousand taels.

Sure enough.

The price soon soared to one hundred and fifty thousand taels.

"One hundred and sixty thousand taels!"

Just as the old man on the auction platform was about to bring down the hammer, Zhou Qing spoke.

"One hundred and sixty thousand taels! Someone has bid one hundred and sixty thousand taels. Any higher bids?"

The old man on the auction platform looked around, a trace of anticipation in his eyes.

Everyone in the hall fell silent. One hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver was already a terrifying price. Even those wealthy sects and factions had to weigh it carefully.

Though they could afford that many banknotes.

There was still the finale, the Divine Intent Diagram, to come.

That was the true main event.