Auction House, White Dragon Jade Pillar

White Dragon Hill lay slightly west of the center of the Northern Heavens Continent and enjoyed considerable renown across the continent.

It was said that this place had once been a battlefield several centuries ago, where countless powerful experts had fallen in a world-shaking war.

There were even rumors that Sovereign-level experts had been among the fallen.

When these experts died, they had buried their lifelong accumulations beneath this land.

Over the years, countless treasure hunters had gathered here and turned White Dragon Hill upside down countless times.

Some fortunate people had indeed gained exceedingly rich rewards from it.

Others had obtained the inheritances of powerful experts, rising from obscurity in a single leap and making names for themselves across the Northern Heavens Continent.

As these stories spread, White Dragon Hill's reputation grew ever greater.

Furthermore, White Dragon Hill covered a vast area, teemed with spirit beasts, and produced all manner of rare heavenly treasures.

Thus, while this region was not known by every single person on the Northern Heavens Continent, it was still an exceptionally popular destination.

Not far from White Dragon Hill, several streaks of light suddenly flashed across the sky.

"We'll be arriving at White Dragon City soon."

"This city is the largest city in the White Dragon Hill region."

"The area within several hundred miles of White Dragon City is all governed by the White Dragon City Lord."

"It is said that he possesses Heaven Transformation Realm strength and can be considered a minor overlord of this region."

As they sped toward the distant city, Su Xuan's gentle voice rang beside Futu Yun and the others.

The Northern Heavens Continent was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Though the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy was the strongest force here, it had never dominated the continent.

Perhaps that did not align with its founding purpose.

After all, its main purpose was to nurture students.

From a certain perspective, the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy even needed the merciless trial ground that was the Northern Heavens Continent.

Everyone understood that students who only hid in the academy and cultivated in peace would never become true powerhouses.

Only those who had endured countless trials of blood and fire could forge the most resilient hearts.

Many factions likely understood this as well.

Therefore, even though the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy was enormously powerful, they did not fear it too greatly.

Every year, quite a few young students were buried on this continent.

That did not mean the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy ignored the deaths of its students. Whenever a student met with misfortune, the academy would immediately investigate thoroughly.

Once the culprit was found, it would issue a bounty mission and hunt them down until there was no road to heaven and no door to earth.

Yet every year, many students still met with misfortune for various reasons while training on the Northern Heavens Continent.

For some of them, the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy could still avenge them, but many others could only die in vain.

Thus, one had to be extremely cautious while training on the Northern Heavens Continent.

Once one stepped out of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, one was no longer bound by the academy's rules.

But one also lost the academy's protection. To gain a foothold on the Northern Heavens Continent, one had to rely entirely on one's own abilities.

Earlier, both Su Xuan and Su Ling'er had been startled by Futu Yun's intelligence.

However, fortune was sought amid danger, so Su Xuan still planned to continue this mission.

If this truly was the Heaven-reaching Spirit Treasury, they would compete for the core opportunity.

If it was a Sovereign Spiritual Treasury, they would pick up scraps around the outskirts. Their gains might not necessarily be less than the core opportunity of the Heaven-reaching Spirit Treasury.

"Let's settle down in White Dragon City first, then gather intelligence."

"Whenever a spiritual treasury emerges, there will inevitably be unusual disturbances."

"We need to find out exactly which factions have arrived and need to be guarded against."

Su Xuan was clearly highly experienced with such missions, and she acted cleanly and decisively.

At this moment, a constant stream of people poured through the enormous city gates. The bustling voices showed just how lively the city was.

"Let's head into the city as well." Su Xuan lightly waved her jade-like hand and led everyone into the city along with the crowd.

"Let's find a place to stay first, then head to the city's trading district."

"That is where information flows most freely, and it also holds the largest auction in this region."

"We can prepare the supplies needed to explore the spiritual treasury there."

Su Xuan first led everyone to find lodging, then immediately headed for the trading district in the city center.

This area was the most prosperous part of all White Dragon City.

All kinds of spirit artifacts, essence souls, and Spiritual Arts were available there.

As long as one paid enough, anything one set one's eyes on could become one's own.

Su Ling'er still had the temperament of a young girl. The moment she saw the dazzling array of goods, she became excited, only for Su Xuan to pull her back.

Futu Yun cut in, "Most of the goods here are ordinary."

"There is an auction house at the very end of the trading district. That is where we can find the good stuff."

Only then did Su Ling'er nod reluctantly and allow Su Xuan to lead her deeper into the trading district.

The group quickly crossed the trading district and finally stopped at its deepest section.

A massive hall stood there, with heavily armed guards stationed at its entrance.

To enter this auction house, the ticket alone cost tens of thousands of spirit coins per person.

At a glance, its standards far surpassed those of the trading stalls outside.

Su Xuan casually paid the entrance fees for all five people and led the other four into the hall.

As soon as the group stepped inside, their view abruptly widened.

After passing through a corridor, a huge auction hall appeared before them.

This auction house was operated by the Nine Xia Merchant Association.

The Nine Xia Merchant Association was one of the three strongest merchant associations on the Northern Heavens Continent.

A local tyrant like White Dragon City might be considered a regional overlord within White Dragon Hill.

But compared with the Nine Xia Merchant Association, its strength was far inferior.

However, the auction items were much the same as those recorded in the original work. One of them was a Spiritual Array Seed.

But Futu Yun was not Mu Chen. He had never studied Spirit Formations, so naturally, he would not buy such an item.

Besides, even if he had studied Spirit Formations, he would not think much of this item.

The finale item of the auction was still that jade pillar, roughly two inches long.

A soaring white dragon seemed to be engraved upon its surface.

The white dragon coiled around the jade pillar, and at its head, one could faintly see a blurred human figure seated in meditation.

The moment the White Dragon Jade Pillar appeared, it gave off a humming sound. As light burst forth, a deep dragon's roar resounded throughout the hall.

An indescribable pressure slowly rippled outward like water.

This pressure soon spread throughout the entire auction house.

Countless people immediately turned pale, feeling as though the spiritual energy within their bodies had stopped flowing.

The pressure filled them with fear from the depths of their hearts.

The many strange phenomena deep within White Dragon Hill had already been noticed by quite a few people recently.

Although everyone had guessed that a spiritual treasury was about to emerge, most had only taken it for an ordinary spiritual treasury and had not paid much attention to it.

They merely thought that if a treasure really appeared, they would try their luck.

After all, several spiritual treasuries had appeared in White Dragon Hill over the years, and most had only been ordinary spiritual treasuries.

But now that this White Dragon Jade Pillar had appeared.

It meant that the spiritual treasury emerging this time was highly likely to be the Sovereign Spiritual Treasury left behind by the White Dragon Sovereign!

Su Xuan slightly furrowed her delicate brows as well. "It seems Ye Yun's intelligence was correct. Things are going to be troublesome now."

If it were merely a Heaven-reaching Spirit Treasury, things should have gone smoothly. But if it was a Sovereign Spiritual Treasury, it would likely attract countless powerful experts.

Although the five of them were not weak, they were ultimately too few in number.

Facing these local tyrants with only five people would be quite troublesome.

Moreover, White Dragon Hill had quite a few powerful adventurer groups, and none of those people were easy to deal with.