Winning the Beast Essence Pill Formula and Building Up the Foundation!

Before long, Shi Jian returned to the small courtyard Sun Bo'an and his party had rented in the market.

Sun Bo'an was leading several clansmen in checking the day's accounts. The Spirit Stones in the shop were piled into a small mountain, their flickering light illuminating their faces.

Shi Jian took the form of an ordinary black bear and lumbered over to lie beneath the old locust tree in the courtyard. Silently regulating his breathing, he meditated and calmed his mind.

"Old Ancestor, you're back."

Sun Bo'an put down the account book and went up to him. "I've bought the entry passes for the auction in a couple of days. Please take a look."

Without raising his head, Shi Jian gave a slight nod, seemingly unconcerned.

"Keep them yourself. If you see any inheritances, Pill Formulas, or formation plates useful to the Lineage at the auction, bid for them. Don't begrudge the money."

"There's no end to the money you can earn. Only when it's spent and turned into the Lineage's foundation does it really count as money."

Sun Bo'an nodded and accepted the order. He didn't dare ask what the White Cloud Temple had invited Shi Jian over for, nor did he want to know. Still less did he want to hear anything that might drive a wedge between them.

Now that the Sun Clan had finally gotten on the right track, Sun Bo'an, who had endured hardship all his life, wanted only to maintain things as they were. That would be more than enough.

Cultivating immortality...

It was a distant dream in the end. The solid, peaceful life they had now was already very, very good. At least they were still well-off and had something to strive for.

Perhaps that was what it meant to know life's warmth and cold for oneself.

Three days later.

The auction pavilion in the inner grounds of the White Cloud Immortal Market.

It was a huge circular building, with a white jade platform at the center and tiers of private rooms and seats all around. Voices filled the air as cultivators gathered from every quarter.

Sun Bo'an sat in a small private room on the second floor, with Sun Changping and Sun Wanqing standing beside him.

The auctioneer was an elderly Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator. He wore the Daoist robes of the White Cloud Temple and had an arrogant expression.

"The first item is a first-tier superior-grade formation plate, the Golden Light Earth-Covering Formation. The starting bid is three hundred Spirit Stones, with increments of no less than fifty!"

Sun Bo'an spoke up at once. "Five hundred."

The hall fell silent for a moment. Five hundred Spirit Stones for a first-tier formation plate was a bit above its value, but it was still a high price...

And the bid had come from someone on the second floor. No one followed, and not many dared to.

The formation plate was naturally his without a hitch.

Over the next hour, Sun Bo'an bid frequently and without holding back.

"Ten seeds of the first-tier superior-grade Spirit Plant Purple Jade Bamboo, two hundred Spirit Stones!"

"A fragment of a first-tier superior-grade talisman inheritance, five hundred Spirit Stones!"

"First-tier superior-grade artifact-refining notes, one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones!"

Sun Changping and Sun Wanqing watched from the side, their hearts pounding in alarm. He was spending money like flowing water, as if he meant to empty out the savings they had put away over the past few years!

Sun Bo'an, however, remained unruffled. His mind was full of the Old Ancestor's words: foundation!

This was the cornerstone of the Sun Clan's rise!

"The next item."

The auctioneer raised a Jade Slip. "A second-tier lower-grade Pill Formula for the Beast Essence Pill. This pill is specifically used to strengthen the foundation and nourish the vitality of spirit beasts and Demon Beasts, and can also purify Demon Power. The starting bid is eight hundred Spirit Stones!"

The response in the hall was lukewarm.

Beast-taming inheritances were scarce in White Cloud Commandery to begin with, and lineages that could afford to raise second-tier spirit beasts were rarer than phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Buying this Pill Formula would be like getting a chicken rib.

Sun Bo'an's eyes lit up.

Their Old Ancestor was a Demon Beast!

And their own Lineage had just started a spirit-pet rat business. This Beast Essence Pill seemed tailor-made for them. Even if no one in the clan could currently refine second-tier pills, keeping it would still give them an exceedingly valuable inheritance.

"Eight hundred and fifty!"

Just after Sun Bo'an bid, a Rogue Cultivator in the first-floor hall tentatively raised the price.

"Nine hundred."

"One thousand!"

Sun Bo'an frowned slightly, but raised the bid by a hundred Spirit Stones without hesitation. Seeing this, the Rogue Cultivator fell silent and didn't dare compete further.

The Pill Formula was naturally secured without a hitch!

The auction gradually entered its latter half, and the atmosphere in the hall grew solemn. Everyone knew the real main event was coming.

The auctioneer slapped his Storage Bag, and an exquisite purple-gold jade box appeared, hovering before him.

The lid sprang open, and a rich medicinal fragrance swept through the entire hall. Inside was a pill the size of a longan, perfectly round, with a faint purple qi flowing over its surface.

"A Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Heavy breathing sounded throughout the hall.

Several powerful fluctuations of Divine Sense also emerged from the private rooms on the second floor.

The dozen or so Qi Refining Peak Stage cultivators in the hall, whether Rogue Cultivators or members of the various lineages, all turned red-eyed!

"I won't waste words."

"One Foundation Establishment Pill, starting at ten thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones, with increments of no less than one hundred Spirit Stones. Let the bidding begin!"

"Ten thousand five hundred!"

"Eleven thousand!"

"Eleven thousand five hundred!"

The price soared. In just over a dozen breaths, it broke past thirteen thousand, which was essentially the limit for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

After that, it came down to who was willing to cut off their own flesh!

Sun Bo'an sat in the private room, coldly watching the cultivators from all sides, their faces twisted.

Once upon a time, he too had been one of them, dreaming of obtaining this pill for the sake of a long life and the power to cross the divide between social classes.

But now, all he felt was a wave of lingering fear.

Fourteen thousand one hundred Spirit Stones!

That price could buy almost the entire Sun Clan. Was it worth losing the family fortune and selling even their pots and pans, all for a less than thirty percent chance of reaching Foundation Establishment?

"Patriarch..."

Beside him, Sun Changping swallowed, his voice trembling.

"Take a good look."

Sun Bo'an spoke calmly. "This is the cruelty of the cultivation world: wagering the lives of the entire clan on an elusive possibility."

"We of the Sun Clan won't take this road to ruin."

"Fourteen thousand five hundred Spirit Stones!" An aged voice rang out from among the large private rooms on the second floor. At a glance, he was clearly an old monster nearing the end of his lifespan.

"I am from the Li Household of Heyang County. I hope everyone will give me some face."

"Old Li, the highest bidder wins at an auction. How much is your face worth? Fifteen thousand!" another rough voice called out.

Sun Bo'an shook his head.

Fifteen thousand Spirit Stones already exceeded the value of the Foundation Establishment Pill itself. Refining one cost only six to eight thousand Spirit Stones.

That price was more than twice the cost of the ingredients for a Foundation Establishment Pill!

In the end, a masked cultivator won the Foundation Establishment Pill for the sky-high price of fifteen thousand five hundred Spirit Stones. It was sheer madness.

The auction came to an end.

Sun Bo'an returned to the small courtyard with a pile of Jade Slips, formation plates, and spirit seeds. He had spent over two thousand Spirit Stones on the trip, using up more than half of the Sun Clan's liquid funds.

Yet he felt more secure than ever before.

"Old Ancestor, I've brought back everything I won." Sun Bo'an presented the Storage Bag with both hands.

Shi Jian swept it with his Divine Sense and nodded in satisfaction.

"Thank you for your hard work these past few days. Pack up. We'll return to Hongtian City first thing tomorrow morning, then develop steadily. Only by keeping your cool can you have a future."

Sun Bo'an accepted the order and withdrew, his eyes more resolute than ever before.

Shi Jian lay beneath the tree, looking up at the night sky.

From the direction of White Cloud Mountain's main peak came faint but extremely powerful fluctuations of Spiritual Qi. Although they were quickly concealed by a formation, Shi Jian's soul was exceptional, and he could faintly sense them.

Can the Golden Core Old Ancestor no longer suppress his injuries?

Shi Jian bared his teeth. Signs of chaos had already appeared in White Cloud Commandery, and the Sun Clan's little boat needed to be reinforced quickly. Otherwise, after only a few comfortable years...

He would have to start planning all over again, and that was a real pain.