The Cloud Province Auction House Was Here

Qin Chuan had long known that Pei Xuan and the others would attend this auction. Even without the two spiritual herbs that could regrow severed limbs, he would have come, because Gu Xiran was coming to compete with him for the sword art.

He muttered inwardly, Given what a bastard the Heavenly Dao is, even if I cleaned them out of spirit stones half a year ago, they must have plenty again by now. I need to find another way to screw them over.

Seeing Qin Chuan remain silent, Gu Hao thought he was unconcerned and had not taken his warning to heart. He cautioned him again, "Brother Qin, after you defeated Pei Xuan, he turned his shame into courage. He spent half a year in seclusion and broke through. He's a Nascent Soul cultivator now."

"Thank you for the warning, Brother Gu." Qin Chuan came back to his senses. In the story, Pei Xuan broke through to the Nascent Soul Stage after taking first place in the martial competition. The timing was about the same as in the story now.

Then he smiled and asked Gu Hao, "Brother Gu, what is your relationship with the manager of the Cloud Province Auction House?"

"The manager of the Cloud Province auction is my own eldest uncle. Has something at the auction caught your eye, Brother Qin? As long as it isn't one of the final showcase items, I can decide to give any of them to you." Gu Hao made the promise without hesitation.

"I remember there's a spiritual herb called vitality grass that can regrow severed limbs. If someone urgently needed it, charging a higher price would be reasonable, wouldn't it? And wouldn't having two make vitality grass seem less precious?"

Gu Hao understood Qin Chuan's meaning at once. He had to admit Qin Chuan was devious. With two herbs, Xie An and Jiang Lin could each have one, and the two would remain good fellow disciples.

But if there was only one, only one of them could become a man again. Who knew whether they could still remain good fellow disciples then?

Still, Gu Hao liked this side of Qin Chuan. He wasn't afraid of an ally being ruthless enough to his enemies; he was afraid of his ally being a stupid pig.

"You're right, Brother Qin. I can make that decision. There will only be one vitality grass at the auction in a month. After all, spiritual herbs are hard to preserve, and improper storage can happen from time to time."

Gu Hao was slyly wicked too. He meant to destroy the other vitality grass. In any case, the cost of destroying one was not great.

Although vitality grass was rare, its only effect was to regrow severed limbs. Once cultivators reached Soul Transformation, regrowing a severed limb was merely a little troublesome. So, in the eyes of high-level cultivators, it was not a precious herb, making vitality grass a precious chicken rib.

Yet this chicken-rib spiritual herb was the precious treasure Xie An and Jiang Lin both wanted right now. They were desperate to become real men again.

What was more, they had become eunuchs in front of numerous Pure Void Sect disciples. Even if they recovered later, others would still think of them as neither-man-nor-woman, damned eunuchs. That was how people were: what I didn't see must be false.

I only saw you become a eunuch; I didn't see you recover. So you'll be a neither-man-nor-woman, damned eunuch for life, forever enduring other people's strange looks. You couldn't very well drop your pants and show everyone you met from now on...

But if they won the vitality grass at auction, things would be different. Having it would be the best explanation for becoming a real man again.

"Brother Gu, I have my eye on a sword art on the auction list, the wind-element sword art left behind by that Body Integration cultivator. Could you sell it to me directly?"

Qin Chuan flipped the table outright. To hell with the auction. Who knew what might happen if he fought the female lead for the manual there? He might as well buy it beforehand.

He had already troubled Gu Hao anyway. Once was trouble, and twice was trouble too. When you had enough debts, one more was nothing to worry about.

"The Gale Sword Art?" Gu Hao hesitated.

"Yes. If it's too much trouble, Brother Gu, please don't force yourself." Qin Chuan could see that Gu Hao was in a difficult position.

Gu Hao shook his head. His brows knitted slightly, then quickly relaxed. After a moment's thought, he said, "Brother Qin, it's not that I'm in a difficult position. It's just that someone consigned that sword art to the Wealth and Peace Merchant Guild for auction. It doesn't actually belong to the guild."

"But I've thought of a way. Once I reach the Cloud Province Auction House, I can go with my uncle to find the person who consigned it and ask him to sell it to you. The price might be a little higher, though. Would that be acceptable to you, Brother Qin?"

"The price isn't a problem. Sorry for the trouble, Brother Gu." Qin Chuan thanked him sincerely. He was immensely glad he had formed an alliance with Gu Hao. It made getting things done so much more convenient.

"Wait until I've obtained the manual before thanking me, Brother Qin. Besides, if the seller won't sell it privately, you'll still have to attend the auction." Gu Hao was already eighty percent confident he could obtain the manual, but he disliked making grand promises before things were settled.

After Qin Chuan and Gu Hao chatted a while longer, they parted and entered the cultivation rooms on the flying boat.

Qin Chuan returned to his cultivation room, but instead of cultivating, he began studying the incomplete ancient formation he had received as the prize for taking first place in the formation competition.

"Heavenly Dipper... It's not an offensive formation, nor is it a defensive one. It looks like it should be a support formation."

Qin Chuan went over the incomplete formation recorded in the jade slip again and again before he managed to glean that much. He needed some time to puzzle out the rest.

For the next three days, he continued studying the formation, and at last he gained an understanding. This incomplete ancient formation was indeed a support formation, but it was utterly heaven-defying.

It was called the Heavenly Dipper Nine Revolutions Formation. It could convert the surrounding spiritual energy into power for the person who laid it, greatly increasing that person's strength. Just how much it could increase depended on how much the cultivator could withstand.

As a child, Qin Chuan had been fed pills by a demonic beast to turn him into a medicine person. After Shen Qingyuan saved him, she had gathered various spiritual herbs to nourish his body and even expended her own essence to nourish his meridians. On top of that, his soul had now reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

That made him certain that, with the Heavenly Dipper Nine Revolutions Formation bolstering him, he could slay any cultivator below Soul Transformation.

"Next, I need to think about how to make a prefabricated formation. Otherwise, setting one up every time is too troublesome."

Qin Chuan did not pause for a moment. The pressure from the Heavenly Dao made him afraid to rest, so he raced against every second to strengthen himself.

"Talismans can only store some low-level spells, and they're almost useless after reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, but I can still take some inspiration from them."

"Formation disks... Formation disks can also only store low-level formations. Disks capable of holding powerful formations are difficult to make. With that time, I'd be better off cultivating properly."

"What should I do...?" Qin Chuan pondered, and two hours passed without his noticing.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Brother Qin, we've reached the Cloud Province auction." Gu Hao lightly tapped the door latch outside.

At that moment, an idea flashed through Qin Chuan's mind. He wanted to catch hold of it!

When Gu Hao received no reply, he guessed Qin Chuan must be occupied, so he had Gu Jun take the flying boat straight to the small courtyard specially prepared for Qin Chuan.

The moment the flying boat landed, Qin Chuan sprang to his feet. He had caught the idea.

A formation was built up bit by bit to begin with. Wasn't that just like stacking building blocks? Couldn't he break the whole into parts, build a framework first, then piece it together when he needed it?

He wanted to act as soon as the idea struck him. He still had some materials for setting up a fourth-grade formation, and he could hardly wait to put it into practice.

"Brother Qin, we've reached the Cloud Province Auction House. Are you still in seclusion?" Gu Hao kept his voice low, afraid of disturbing Qin Chuan's seclusion.

Qin Chuan opened the door and walked straight out. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, Brother Gu," he said, a little apologetically.

"It's all right. I called for you earlier, Brother Qin, but you didn't answer, so I had Granduncle bring us straight to the courtyard. You can stay here during this time." Gu Hao led Qin Chuan off the flying boat and into the small courtyard.