Setting Out, the Beginning

After eating and drinking their fill, the two lay in bed in each other's arms, feeling each other's presence.

At that moment, Wu Bai realized that a higher cultivation level really did come with plenty of benefits!

His digestion alone was already practically unbeatable. He could eat all sorts of delicious food without feeling bloated, much less getting a stomachache.

Whether it was because of his craving for good food or not, Wu Bai's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds over the next two months, and he soon broke through to two-star Dou Wang.

Once he had adjusted to his newfound strength, Wu Bai worked out the timing, requested leave from an elder, and left the Inner Academy.

Upon reaching the Dou Wang realm, one could break free of gravity's shackles and soar through the sky. It was incredibly convenient, whether for fighting or traveling.

A journey that would take an ordinary person half a month on foot could easily be covered by a Dou Wang expert in little more than half a day's flight.

Wu Bai slipped into Black Seal City unnoticed and found an upper-midrange hotel to stay in.

The Eight Gates' auction was neither a secret nor anything that needed to be hidden, so he had learned its exact date long ago.

There were still five days before the auction began. He had more than enough time.

Wu Bai did not sit idle just because he had arrived early. Instead, he browsed the city's medicinal herb shops.

In the end, he did not buy a single medicinal herb. The prices here were simply daylight robbery!

An herb that sold for twenty thousand gold coins on the regular market could not be bought here for less than fifty thousand.

Yet Wu Bai could get the same herb from the academy's Medicinal Materials Warehouse for just five or six thousand gold coins.

By that reckoning, a single herb cost a full ten times as much here. Only an idiot would buy one.

Unless an herb was exceptionally rare, Wu Bai would rather wait a while longer and buy it elsewhere than throw his gold coins around in this rotten place.

As the date drew closer, Wu Bai considered the fact that he had only three million gold coins on him and put two Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pills up for auction at Black Seal City's auction house as reserve funds.

With the day of the auction nearly upon him, Wu Bai actually grew a little nervous.

"I wonder whether I can revive that person..."

Toying with the Jade VIP Card and a mask in his hands, Wu Bai scratched his head, unusually restless.

But after the Yellow Springs Demon Saint gave him a smack with the Ruler, the brat regained his usual composure and entered a meditation state, sensing his soul's long, gradual transformation.

Two days later, Wu Bai arrived at the auction house entrance wearing the Black Mask, which covered his entire face, and a black robe.

The entrance was a chaotic, deafening mess, with even bloody clashes breaking out.

This was the Black-Corner Region, a land of chaos.

After showing his VIP card, Wu Bai was led by a scantily clad maid to a chair furnished with an exquisite fur cushion.

Wu Bai was among the early arrivals, and there were still few people around.

Covered from head to toe, Wu Bai was in no hurry. He waited patiently for the auction to begin, and for his meeting with that person...

Footsteps passed by now and then. Anywhere else, Wu Bai's outfit would have been incredibly conspicuous. But this was the Black-Corner Region, where a figure in black robes with a hidden face could hardly have been more ordinary.

About a quarter of an hour later, his teacher's voice sounded in Wu Bai's mind:

"That brat's here. He really does have the aura of a five- or six-star Da Dou Shi. And that volcanic flame aura-it really is the Green Lotus Core Flame."

"Tsk, tsk. That brat truly has extraordinary luck. To think a Dou Shi could refine a heavenly flame..."

Even the Yellow Springs Demon Saint found it a little too fantastical.

These were heavenly flames born of heaven and earth, feared even by Dou Huang experts.

Could a mere little Dou Shi like you really refine such a marvel of heaven and earth?

The auction began, and all the lights came on, making the entire auction house look like a crystal palace.

An old man stepped onto the stage and brought out the first item of the auction: a fine sword inlaid with a magic core.

Utterly uninterested, Wu Bai simply narrowed his eyes and waited quietly for the next item.

But the items that followed were all commonplace things, inferior even to that sword.

The others fought tooth and nail over them, but the buyers with truly substantial wealth were all like Wu Bai, patiently waiting for the real treasures to appear.

"This auction item is called the Green Spirit Pill..."

Wu Bai opened his eyes slightly, only to close them again a moment later.

"The Green Spirit Pill may have left you wanting more, but I believe these next two pills will satisfy you all: Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pills."

Wu Bai still did not open his eyes, though he kept track of the price. These were his gold coins, after all!

Before long, the two Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pills were won by someone from the Heavenly Snake Mansion for two million five hundred thousand gold coins.

"Our next item is an exceptionally rare flying Dou technique: Thunder Bat Sky Wings!"

"A flying Dou technique, eh? These things are indeed rather uncommon."

"Uncommon? Teacher, don't you know how to create flying Dou techniques?"

"A flying Dou technique like this is too low-level. I never bothered committing it to memory."

"...I see."

"Heh heh, don't you want to bid on it, brat?"

"Hmm... It would make a decent gift for Yue'er."

Wu Bai suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing the hammer about to fall, he spoke up:

"Two million."

His words stunned many in the room. They all wondered which brave soul actually dared snatch something the Blood Sect's young sect master had his eye on.

Fan Ling sneered and fixed his gaze on Wu Bai, as though he meant to kill him with his eyes.

"Hmph. A skulking coward who won't even show his face dares interfere?"

"You're only a Dou Ling. Your father might have the standing to say that."

Wu Bai lowered his voice slightly, his deep tones ringing out.

At the same time, his utterly emotionless eyes met Fan Ling's gaze.

"Are you threatening me?"

Fan Ling laughed in fury. Who do you think you are?!

"You can take it that way. But it's your turn to bid now."

"Hmph! Then you can have it. I hope you live long enough to use it!"

After sitting down, Fan Ling's expression swiftly regained its calm.

Bang!

The hammer fell, and Wu Bai closed his eyes in satisfaction.

This was a token of his affection for Yue'er. Getting it through robbery would have spoiled it somewhat.

Now that he had the means, he could spare that little bit of money. Otherwise, he would not have been so particular.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this may look like nothing more than a tattered scrap of cloth, but please examine the lines on it carefully. Clearly, this could very well be a treasure map!"

"If fortune smiles on you and you gather the complete treasure map, perhaps you, too, could forge a legend of your own!"

"Now, the bidding price for this treasure map..."

As they listened to the auctioneer heap praise on the tattered scrap with one vague qualifier after another, almost everyone sneered inwardly.

This was the Black-Corner Region. Surviving today did not guarantee a tomorrow. What damn use was bidding on part of a treasure map? They might just end up sewing someone else's wedding gown.

They would never do something like that.

"One hundred and ten thousand."

"One hundred and thirty thousand."

"One hundred and fifty thousand."

"Two hundred thousand."

"Young Sect Master Fan Ling has bid two hundred thousand gold coins. Are there any-"