The Dark Nether Sword Token

"We've arrived at private room Jia No. 1. I'll take my leave now. Honored guests, if you need anything, simply ring the bronze bell in the room."

The attendant bowed and withdrew.

Ye Wuhen and Ling Shuanghua had come here several times with Cang Wuya, and Feng Zhuo had been accustomed to grand occasions since childhood. The four took their seats at ease.

Just then, the auction officially began.

"Clang-"

A wisp of green smoke rose from a bronze crane-beak incense burner, curling around a jade bell as a clear chime rang against the domed ceiling.

An old man in gray robes stepped onto the jade platform, stroking his goatee. Seven floating lanterns flew from his sleeves, illuminating the three seal-script characters for "Azure Cloud Pavilion" on a vermilion-lacquered pillar.

"I am Xuanweizi. Thanks to Chairman Qingyun's high regard, I was specially invited to oversee this auction."

With a wave of his hand, another twenty-four merfolk-pearl lamps lit up in succession, revealing every minute detail of the coiling-dragon patterns on the display platform. "But first, a word of warning-"

"Those who pry will have their cultivation crippled. Those who cause trouble will lose their hands and feet. Those who bid on credit will be held at the pavilion gates!"

"It's him?!"

Someone below the platform cried out in surprise.

A person nearby asked curiously, "Fellow Daoist, do you know something about this old Daoist's background?"

The man did not keep him in suspense. "I can't claim to know his background. I just happen to know of such a person. Have you heard of the Cloud Cliff Rogue Person, Fellow Daoist?"

"The Cloud Cliff Rogue Person who attained enlightenment at a cliff above the sea of clouds and reached the Spirit Transformation Realm?! Could it be?"

"That's right, it's him! The Cloud Cliff Rogue Person has a lightning-shaped white patch at the outer end of his left eyebrow, and so does that old Daoist on the platform!"

Everyone peered closely. Sure enough, it was true.

"Looking at it that way, the Cloud Cliff Rogue Person must have joined the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce and changed his Daoist name to Xuanweizi!"

On hearing that a Spirit Transformation cultivator was overseeing the event, the cultivators present all reined in their thoughts.

Though some honored guests in the private rooms did not fear a Spirit Transformation Realm Lord, they all maintained their dignity and had no wish to do anything that would tarnish their reputations.

Still, the Azure Cloud Chamber of Commerce had specifically sent a Spirit Transformation Realm Lord to oversee this auction. It seemed the items on offer were quite remarkable.

When the bell fell silent, an alluring woman walked gracefully onto the platform.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, everyone. I am Gu Qinghuan. I'll be introducing today's auction items to you."

Her red lips parted and she clapped her jade-like hands. A wooden sword was brought onto the display platform. "An exceptional-grade Law Artifact, a lightning-struck peachwood sword made from century-old lightning-struck wood!"

"Though it isn't as sharp as a Spirit Artifact,"

Gu Qinghuan flicked the blade with a finger, and tiny sparks of lightning burst from the grain of the peachwood. "It is a handy item for Foundation Establishment Realm fellow Daoists undergoing tribulation. The starting bid is one hundred high-grade Spirit Stones, with each increment no less than five high-grade Spirit Stones."

Spirit Stones came in four grades: low, middle, high, and exceptional. The exchange rate between each adjacent grade was one hundred to one. One hundred high-grade Spirit Stones were equivalent to ten thousand middle-grade Spirit Stones, or one million low-grade Spirit Stones.

"One hundred and ten!"

A woman's voice came from a Yi-designated private room on the third floor.

Not to be outdone, someone in a Bing-designated room across the way called, "One hundred and twenty Spirit Stones!"

"Three hundred Spirit Stones, going once!"

"Three hundred Spirit Stones, going twice! Are there any other guests who wish to bid?"

"Three hundred Spirit Stones, going three times! Good. Let us congratulate the honored guest in Yi No. 3 on successfully bidding for the exceptional-grade Law Artifact, the lightning-struck peachwood sword!"

The hammer fell, sealing the deal.

Leaving his previous life aside, this was Feng Zhuo's first time attending an auction in his present life. The rising and falling bids inevitably made him want to try placing one himself.

But when he remembered the Awakening of Insects in his storage ring, a gift from his junior senior brother, he managed to restrain the urge to bid.

"Eldest senior brother, do exceptional-grade Law Artifacts almost always sell for this much? Three hundred high-grade Spirit Stones?"

Three hundred high-grade Spirit Stones were thirty thousand middle-grade Spirit Stones. Yet that old brute Chixiao, despite being the Pill Peak's Peak Master, had given him only twenty thousand middle-grade Spirit Stones as a welcoming gift?

Such stinginess!

Once again, Feng Zhuo was glad he had stayed away from Crimson Firmament Peak in this life.

"Not necessarily. It's just that the material used for that lightning-struck sword is hard to come by. Century-old lightning-struck peachwood is extremely lethal to sinister and evil things, and it can also help Foundation Establishment cultivators through the Golden Core lightning tribulation. That's why the price was driven up so high."

"Then, junior senior brother, the Awakening of Insects you gave me?"

Feng Zhuo vaguely recalled that lightning often wound across the surface of the Awakening of Insects as well. He had assumed lightning had been sealed inside it during forging, never realizing that the material itself bore lightning.

"Mm."

Cang Wuya finally deigned to shift his gaze from his own sleeve. "It wasn't quite a hundred years old, but it wasn't far off. I'm not an orthodox artifact cultivator, though, so the result was only a high-grade Law sword."

Feng Zhuo understood. His junior senior brother had probably learned artifact refining only to make it easier to forge his life-bound sword later.

For a sword cultivator who wanted to reach the realm of becoming one with the sword in his hand, it was naturally better to forge it himself.

Soon, the second auction item was brought onto the display platform-a piece of soul-nourishing wood the size of a fingernail.

Though its quality was only below average, things capable of nourishing a cultivator's soul were rare. Feng Zhuo successfully bid for it with one thousand high-grade Spirit Stones.

During the auction that followed, Feng Zhuo gradually acquired quite a few rare medicinal herbs, while Cang Wuya concentrated on collecting sword-forging materials.

Ling Shuanghua and Ye Wuhen had already finished what they had come down the mountain to do. They had only come to the auction to join in the excitement, so they did not take part in the bidding.

During this time, Su Ruanruan and her two companions recognized Feng Zhuo's voice and repeatedly drove up his bids out of malice.

But Feng Zhuo had long since developed a physical reaction: the moment he heard Su Ruanruan's voice, he instinctively felt sick. Naturally, there was no way he would take that loss.

Whenever the price of something exceeded its value, Feng Zhuo gave it up. He even pretended to bid on items of little use, only to leave them all to Su Ruanruan once the prices were high enough.

And as the auction went on, the items grew more expensive. Feng Zhuo himself had to think carefully before bidding, and Su Ruanruan and her two companions were even less inclined to speak up again.

At last, the final auction item was about to be presented.

Thinking of that last item, even Gu Qinghuan could hardly conceal the excitement on her face.

She believed that selling "this item" would surely become the proudest moment of her career!

"The final auction item-a Dark Nether Sword Token! The starting bid is one hundred thousand high-grade Spirit Stones, with each increment no less than ten thousand Spirit Stones!"

"A Dark Nether Sword Token?!! It's actually a Dark Nether Sword Token!!!"

The whole hall erupted in shock.

Feng Zhuo and his three companions were equally stunned. The auction had actually obtained a Dark Nether Sword Token as its final item!

Feng Zhuo immediately asked, "Junior senior brother, did you bring enough Spirit Stones? I still have quite a few in my Storage Bag. If you need them, just say the word."

To speak of the Dark Nether Sword Token, one had to mention the Dark Nether Secret Realm.

The Dark Nether Secret Realm opened once every ten thousand years. Within it lay a sword tomb from High Antiquity, known as the Dark Mystery Sword Tomb.

The Dark Nether Sword Token was the pass that granted entry to the sword tomb.

The Dark Nether Secret Realm produced one sword token every thousand years, so there were only ten Dark Nether Sword Tokens in any ten-thousand-year period.

A divine sword existed within the Dark Mystery Sword Tomb, and the sword intent of a mighty figure from High Antiquity still lingered there. For any sword cultivator, it was a place they had to visit.

The Dark Nether Secret Realm had also been mentioned in the storybook.

It was the very secret realm where his junior senior brother Cang Wuya had his bone gouged out by Su Ruanruan.

Yet the story had never recorded the appearance of a Dark Nether Sword Token at this auction, nor had it stated that his junior senior brother had entered the Dark Mystery Sword Tomb with a sword token.

It had only said that not long after Cang Wuya's bone was gouged out, Su Ruanruan came into possession of an incomparably sharp divine sword.

It seemed Su Ruanruan had set her sights on his junior senior brother not only for his sword bone, but also for the divine sword he had obtained. She was truly shameless to the extreme!

Feng Zhuo felt increasingly sickened.

As for telling his junior senior brother not to enter the Dark Nether Secret Realm?

Cultivators pursued immortality by defying the heavens to begin with. When a fortuitous opportunity was within reach, what reason was there to yield it to someone else?

Feng Zhuo had been reborn, and he did not even fear the Heavenly Dao. Why should he fear Su Ruanruan, that "child of destiny" favored by the Heavenly Dao?