Chapter 844: Leisure Feather City
Chapter 844: Leisure Feather City
The descendant of the Azure Emperor just appeared and already got trapped in the Sage Mark Monument. Rumors instantly spread, giving all sorts of possible explanations. The most exaggerated one had Xiao Chen already dead inside the Sage Mark Monument. It was also the most popular version.
When Xiao Chen ate at the inn and heard others talking about this, he found it funny, despite himself.
------
Half a month later, Ying Qiong showed up before Xiao Chen, looking rather fatigued. When she saw that Xiao Chen’s aura had firmed up, she could not help but feel that his improvements were very fast.
“I found a buyer. It is the Kunlun Realm’s holy land for refining Medicinal Pills, the Medicine God Valley. They will pay twenty-five million Astral Coins for five hundred Lunar Cassia Flowers. The price is still quite low, but that’s mainly because of the quantity; it is sufficient to last them ten years.”
Xiao Chen made some mental calculations before raising his head and saying, “That is already a very fair price. You must have put in a lot of effort. When will the deal take place?”
“We will make the deal in Leisure Feather City. We should start making our way over now.” A warm look flashed in Ying Qiong’s eyes. Then, she continued, “The Elder making the trade wants to meet you. Of course, I did not reveal your identity.”
Xiao Chen replied decisively, “Pass. I’m not interested in these people.”
Only Xiao Chen would dare to give such a reply to a grandmaster Alchemist of the Medicine God Valley. Although the Medicine God Valley was not a very strong faction, they had many connections with the various experts of the Kunlun Realm.
Even Martial Emperors would have a time when they needed to ask the Medicine God Valley for a favor to refine Medicinal Pills.
Ying Qiong was not taken aback nor did she find his response odd. This was not her first day of acquaintance with him. She said, “Very well, I’ll help you reject him.”
------
Leisure Feather City sat high in the air. Aside from the main city, five rainbow bridges connected to citadels.
Many people traveled in the air. The city was vast and majestic and bustling. Cultivators of various races gathered in the main city. With one glance, one could see the experts of the Deity Race, Corpse Race, Ghost Race, Fiend Race, and human race flourishing.
This was all the more so because of the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion’s large-scale auction—the reason for Martial Sage experts appearing everywhere in the city today.
The threshold of this auction was very high. If one was not a Martial Sage, one could not enter. This was likely the highest level of auction that could be found in the continent.
If one wanted to find an even higher-level auction, one could only search in the boundless starry heavens, where the auctions of the grandmaster-level Martial Sage were normally held.
Because Xiao Chen needed to be cautious, he wore the Heavenly Sea Cloak. However, he did not stand out in the crowd.
In this place filled up with numerous true inheritors of sects and scions of clans sporting King Grade Secret Treasures, this rather dazzling Secret Treasure did not attract much attention.
After Ying Qiong helped Xiao Chen sell the Lunar Cassia Flowers, she used her Heavenly Honorable status to nab him a VIP booth.
“I’ll meet you again after the auction. If I can get the position of Sage Honorable in this Flourishing Heaven Pavilion, my position as the Ying Clan’s heir will be firm. I still have some things to do at this time, so I’ll take my leave first.”
Seeing two old men lead Ying Qiong away, Xiao Chen entered deep thought. For the first time, he felt the pressure that this girl was under. Becoming a Sage Honorable from being one of the thirty-six Heavenly Honorables would not be easy.
Furthermore, Ying Qiong had to deal with internal sabotage in the clan. The infighting in large clans really made one tremble.
Just as Xiao Chen stepped into the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion, gazes that he did not feel slowly looked away.
“Is that him?”
“It definitely is him. Along the way, Ying Qiong did not meet up with anyone else.”
“Good. For him to be able to sell five hundred Lunar Cassia Flowers in one go, he is sure to have a mature Lunar Cassia Tree. He might even have a peak grade Immortal Spirit Ring. Otherwise, he would not be able to bring the Lunar Cassia Tree to maturity.”
---
The decorations within the VIP booth was luxurious and dazzling, not at all tacky. Xiao Chen looked around carefully and discovered that the glittering decorations were not the gold and jade of the mortal world.
Instead, they were rare metals, each of them all extremely valuable, which added an intangible extravagance to the booth and diluted that trace of tacky lavishness.
Soft fur of high-ranked Spirit Beasts covered the exquisite wooden chairs. Xiao Chen felt very comfortable sitting in one, so he could not help but lean back.
Spirit Fruits from the Kunlun Mountain Range sat on the ebony table beside him. They gave off a faint intoxicating fragrance.
Just from the details, the difference between the level of this auction and the previous ones Xiao Chen had attended was obvious.
The wall in front glittered. The scene of the auction hall appeared on a screen of water before him.
Xiao Chen felt astonished. This display should be due to a formation laid by a Martial Emperor with a water-attributed Cultivation Technique. To such cultivators, this was just small potatoes.
An old man in high spirits walked onto the auction platform. This old man had white hair and eyebrows. His eyes had an invigorating light in them. He had an imposing atmosphere about him as he walked.
Xiao Chen was mildly startled. This old man was actually a Superior Grade Martial Sage. Furthermore, his cultivation was very deep.
“This old man’s family name is Hong. I will be the auctioneer of this Flourishing Heaven Pavilion this time. All of you here are people of great prestige. I believe all of you know the rules of our auction. If there are any conflicts, please settle them outside the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion. You should all know what the consequences of disrupting our auction are without needing this old man to say it.”
After the old man issued his warning, he introduced the first auction item without bothering with palaver.
“The first item is a peak Sage Grade Medicinal Pill—the Rising Dragon Overlord Pill. It contains more than eighteen different sub-dragon bones. It was refined by a grandmaster Alchemist of the Medicine God Valley. Its consumption will raise a cultivator’s aura by thirty percent. If one is lucky, one might even gain a trace of Dragon’s Might.”
After giving a simple introduction of the Medicinal Pill, Old Hong reported the reserve price. “Bidding will begin at one hundred eighty thousand Astral Coins. The minimum bid increment is twenty thousand Astral Coins.”
Xiao Chen raised his eyebrows. They immediately started the auction with a peak Sage Grade Medicinal Pill. This was really bold of them.
Medicinal Pills were normally classified into nine ranks. Above Rank 9 were Sage Grade, then King Grade, then Emperor Grade. Above Emperor Grade might possibly be the rumored Immortal Pill, but its existence was uncertain.
The Rising Dragon Overlord Pill was something that was only slightly inferior to a King Grade Medicinal Pill. It would not be strange if it was used as the highlight of an auction, yet it served only as an opener here.
Xiao Chen felt interested in this Medicinal Pill. He had used the Monarch Blood Grass in the past and gained a trace of an ancient sovereign’s bloodline. If he consumed this Rising Dragon Overlord Pill, it would further upgrade his unparalleled sovereign’s bloodline.
“Two hundred thousand!”
“Two hundred fifty thousand!”
“Three hundred thousand!”
The effect of auras for a cultivator went without saying. Normally, Rank 9 Medicinal Pills that improved a cultivator’s aura would have many people competing for it, so cultivators naturally commenced a hot bidding war over the peak Sage Grade Rising Dragon Overlord Pill.
After selling five hundred Lunar Cassia Flowers, Xiao Chen now had the equivalent of over ninety-two million Astral Coins. His wealth now equaled that of a grandmaster-level Martial Sage.
Xiao Chen had to obtain this Medicinal Pill. However, there were many hidden talents here. He could not let himself stand out too much.
When the bid reached five hundred thousand Astral Coins, he started to increase the bid unhurriedly. He did not raise it by too much or too little but merely followed the trend.
When the bid reached one million five hundred thousand Astral Coins, only one person remained in the bidding war. Xiao Chen tested the waters a few times and verified that only one person was left. So, he suddenly raised the bid by five hundred thousand Astral Coins.
The abrupt increase prevented the other Martial Sage, who had been following up on Xiao Chen’s bid by twenty thousand every time, from continuing.
In the end, Xiao Chen successfully obtained the Rising Dragon Overlord Pill for two million two hundred thousand Astral Coins. After attending several auctions, he already had some experience.
He knew that if he wanted to use a very high bid to scare everyone else away, not only would the auction house object to it, but doing so might also get people who were initially not interested in the item interested. These people might even decide to start a bidding war with him.
Thus, Xiao Chen had to push the price up slowly until he verified that there were only a few people left and what their bottom line was. Only then could he strike decisively and obtain what he wanted.
Of course, nothing was absolute. These were just a few rough techniques, nothing too refined.
Soon, a maidservant brought over the Rising Dragon Overlord Pill. Xiao Chen happily paid up and took the jade bottle containing the Medicinal Pill in his hand.
Pouring out the Medicinal Pill, he glanced at the second auction item but did not take any interest in it. Then, he immediately consumed the Medicinal Pill, using this comparatively boring period to refine it.
“Boom!”
The moment the Medicinal Pill entered his mouth, it melted and separated into eighteen dragon-shaped energy streams. They rampaged inside his body. Instantly, it felt like mountains shattered and seas roared in his body, surging endlessly.
Xiao Chen refined the Medicinal Energy bit by bit. He distinctly felt the sovereign’s bloodline in his blood thicken and gain the sharpness of an absolute overlord.
He clenched his fist and activated the sovereign’s bloodline, and a surging tyrannical aura surged out. It seemed like eighteen berserk dragon roars reverberated endlessly.
The bright light in Xiao Chen’s eyes withdrew. He closed his eyes to feel the sovereign’s bloodline and gained a new awareness of this sovereign’s bloodline that had been unfathomable all this time.
Now, his aura could rival that of a grandmaster-level Martial Sage. He would not fall into a situation where the other party’s aura would suppress his to the point where he could not move.
Ao Jiao thought to herself, Only Xiao Chen would be able to bring out such an effect. The others do not have the accumulations in sovereign’s bloodline. Their improvement in aura would not be this drastic.
Being able to resist a grandmaster-level Martial Sage in aura as an Inferior Grade Martial Sage would shock anyone who heard about it.
The auction continued. Xiao Chen occasionally glanced over and would sometimes buy something that he did not need at all. Ao Jiao found this strange.
No matter how rich he was, he could not squander his money like this.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly but did not give any explanation. Since he was going back, he should bring some stuff back for his friends; he could not return empty-handed.
The auction had many good things. As the end of the auction approached, he won another two Secret Treasures that he was rather satisfied with.
There was a pair of jade-white Absolute Heaven Gloves, a high-quality Sage Grade Secret Treasure that could accelerate the user’s attack speed by twenty percent. Then, there was a pair of shoes that increased speed.
These were slightly inferior to the Secret Treasures that Xiao Chen had selected in the Treasury Hall as backups. However, these were already sufficient. At least their effects would not weaken until he reached grandmaster-level Martial Sage.