Lady Cultivator

Tong Tianyun immediately clapped his hands once he finished speaking. In the next second, female Aura Refining cultivators walked in, carrying several trays all covered in red cloth.

Because she remembered the rule mentioned by Qin Xi, Mo Tiange didn’t use her divine sense, so she didn’t know what was under the red cloth. Presumably, others were also in the same situation as her. They all fixated their stares on the red cloth in silence.

It was only after the female Aura Refining cultivators put down the trays and withdrew that Tong Tianyun spoke again: “Fellow Daoists, I won’t say much nonsense—everyone knows the customs at our trade fairs. These treasures compose the collection of the largest shop in Kunzhong City, the Building of Ten Thousand Treasures. Everyone may take a look—is there anything you’re interested in?”

Unlike at an auction where the items were shown one by one, Tong Tianyun directly lifted all the red cloths. The items on the three trays were immediately revealed to everyone.

A delicate jade ring, a stone in a flaming red color, and a small jade case. Tong Tianyun opened the jade case. Inside it was actually a several-thousand-year-old Snow Gall Grass.

“This is a magic weapon, the Vajra Ring. Ladies and Gentlemen, you shouldn’t underestimate it. Since it’s part of the Building of Ten Thousand Treasures’ collection, it’s naturally not a common object. This ring is a top-quality magic weapon and can be very powerful. If one can use it proficiently, it isn’t impossible for one to cut mountains and split stones.”

Mo Tiange only took a brief glance at it before shifting her line of sight. Although this magic weapon could be considered pretty good, it was still somewhat inferior to the three magic weapons Lord Daoist Jinghe bestowed to her. Of the Core Formation cultivators present at the scene, most weren’t interested in it. The Foundation Building cultivators, on the other hand, all seemed to be emitting lights from their eyes.

“This is a Fire Patterned Jade. Fellow Daoists must know the value of this, so I believe I don’t need to explain anymore.”

Mo Tiange also read about this in an ancient record once. If this was added while refining a magic weapon with fire attributes, the power of the magic weapon would increase greatly. Recalling that Qin Xi also practiced a fire element cultivation technique, she turned around to look at him. Unexpectedly, he looked completely bored and didn’t even spare a glance at those three things. But upon further thought, she immediately understood—no matter how good this Fire Patterned Jade was, it would still be useless if he couldn’t form his Nascent Soul.

“This is Snow Gall Grass. It’s already three thousand years old. Everyone here is experienced; you must already know how valuable it is, so I won’t say much more about it.”

This was the thing Mo Tiange was most disinterested in. Three-thousand-year-old spiritual plants were everywhere in the Virtual Sky World.

Once Tong Tianyun finished speaking, he swept his gaze over everyone present, immediately distinguishing who was interested and who was disinterested. He then smiled and said, “We never open the starting prices at our trade fairs. Even if this is Fellow Daoists’ first time participating, you should still know the rules. In an incense stick of time, everyone should think carefully about the price you want to offer. Remember, when you offer a price, you mustn’t discuss it with each other. If you do, only one person can bid! Let’s begin!”

Tong Tianyun waved. Immediately afterward, several female Aura Refining cultivators started to distribute jade tablets to everyone. Each person received three tablets, each symbolizing one of the three items.

Mo Tiange was confused, but she soon heard Qin Xi’s voice: “The rule at this trade fair is competitive bidding—everyone will have to mark the jade tablets with the bidding price they’re offering. The highest bidder will get the item.”

This was indeed uncommon. If this was the case, there would be many variables involved and less bidding with evil intentions—it wouldn’t be possible for people to deliberately inflate the prices. Presumably, even ordinary cultivators would be in favor of this method. After all, if the price was inflated, every bidder’s interests would be damaged.

Mo Tiange once again lifted her gaze and looked around. Out of the twenty plus cultivators sitting around the table, some were tweaking their ears and scratching their cheeks, some were contemplating deeply, and some others looked as if they were just spectators.

Mo Tiange noticed that across her was someone who was just like them, not even sparing a glance at the items on the table. The jade tablets given to him were still on the table, untouched. His head was lowered, and he seemed to be keeping his eyes closed and resting. However, this was just a guess since he was one of the people wearing black robes and a bamboo hat; Mo Tiange couldn’t see his expression. Apart from Qin Xi, that person was one of the people with the highest cultivation levels present—he was already in the late stage of the Core Formation realm. Based on his barely noticeable energy, his abilities in fights of magical power shouldn’t be inferior.

She turned her head to glance at Qin Xi, only to see him also fixating his gaze on that person.

Mo Tiange secretly transmitted her voice: “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, is there something amiss with this person?”

Qin Xi lightly shook his head. “He’s just a bit strange.”

Just as she was about to ask what was strange about that person, the one incense stick time limit was over, and Tong Tianyun said loudly, “Fellow Daoists, please stop bidding.”

Upon hearing his instructions, the scene quieted down. Some people looked like they finally made up their mind and quickly wrote down their prices. Soon, the female Aura Refining cultivators stepped forward to collect the jade plates. They handed all of them to Tong Tianyun.

Tong Tianyun then began classifying each one. Most of the people present were watching his movements attentively.

After a while, Tong Tianyun smiled and announced the result: “The Vajra Ring has been purchased by Fellow Daoist Number Five, who bid eight thousand spirit stones for it. The Fire Patterned Jade has been purchased by Fellow Daoist Number Eighteen, who bid five thousand spirit stones for it. As for the three-thousand-year-old Snow Gall Grass, it has been purchased by Fellow Daoist Number Eleven for fifteen thousand spirit stones.”

Mo Tiange was thoroughly dumbfounded to hear these prices. Although she rarely went to market squares, she still knew market prices. The Vajra Ring was a magic weapon after all, so the price of eight thousand spirit stones was indeed slightly cheap. As for the Jade Patterned Jade, she didn’t have a deep understanding of it. Presumably, it wasn’t considered a very rare material, so five thousand spirit stones wasn’t bad. But fifteen thousand spirit stones for a three-thousand-year-old Snow Gall Grass was rather too expensive. Kunwu was located adjacent to a forest, after all. As long as one was brave and went on journeying to the south, spiritual plants couldn’t be considered rare. Besides, this Snow Gall Grass was a common spiritual plant. It was just that it was quite old, nothing more.

Qin Xi, who apparently noticed her perplexion, said under his breath: “After the demonic beast riot last time, none of the cultivation groups in Kunwu has recovered their strength, so the prices for spiritual plants have been inflated. Moreover, this is how bidding goes. Sometimes we can buy something at an extremely cheap price, but other times the price might far exceed the market price.”

Mo Tiange didn’t say anything. From her point of view, as part of the so-called Building of Ten Thousand Treasures’ collection, these three items weren’t up to much. If they were distributed among Foundation Building cultivators, they would naturally be vied for. To Core Formation cultivators, however, they were only ordinary goods; many of the Core Formation cultivators there didn’t even have any intention to bid for them. It seemed… the focus of this trade fair still rested on the word “trade,” while these biddings and auction were just a warm-up.

However, someone had been staring at her all along. Mo Tiange felt uneasy from the staring, so she raised her gaze, only to fail to discover the source of the staring.

After the completion of the auction, Tong Tianyun allowed the maids to approach the successful bidders to collect spirit stones in exchange for the goods. He then sat down and said with a wide smile, “Alright, the auction’s over—our trade fair shall also officially begin. Fellow Daoists, how about we start with me?”

Although he was asking, it was only a perfunctory question. The moment he finished speaking, Tong Tianyun took out a pouch from his lapel then flipped it over, pouring out a pile of bright, multi-colored stones that fell with crashing sounds.

The previously disinterested, bored-looking Core Formation cultivators’ eyes brightened when they saw those stones. The Foundation Building cultivators, on the other hand, looked bewildered; obviously, they didn’t recognize those things.

Mo Tiange was ashamed to discover… that she also didn’t recognize them. It hadn’t been long since she became a Core Formation cultivator; her knowledge came mainly from books or records. If it was something she had never seen before, she naturally wouldn’t know what it was.

Qin Xi once again whispered to her: “These are Crystal Soul Jades. I really don’t know where Old Tong got so many of them from.”

Seeing the slight interest in his gaze made Mo Tiange curious. “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, what are these things used for?”

Qin Xi said, “Crystal Soul Jade is extremely rare. It’s normally used on magic weapons and it can gather spiritual aura automatically. If it’s embedded on a magic weapon, it will automatically absorb spiritual aura, thus making that magic weapon much stronger than ordinary ones.”

Mo Tiange pondered his explanation then said, “This… seems like a characteristic of Crystal Jade from the Distant Past era.”

“You’re right. The so-called Crystal Soul Jade is, in fact, a flawed Crystal Jade. In the Distant Past era, Crystal Jade could be found everywhere in the world. The substandard ones were named Spars, while the defective ones were named Crystal Soul Jades. Nowadays, Crystal Jades have long disappeared from the human world, and these Crystal Soul Jades are also hard to find.”

A thought emerged in Mo Tiange’s mind. Spars? They couldn’t be those spars, right? Those spars used in operating puppets, the spars she read about in the ancient books inside the Virtual Sky World? They were actually substandard Crystal Jades? If that was indeed the case, it was no wonder the Art of Engineering died out. Crystal Jade simply couldn’t be found now, and spars were also similarly extinct. She really wondered if these Crystal Soul Jades could be used.

Tong Tianyun spread the Crystal Soul Jades out on the table, but no longer said anything. Out of the Core Formation cultivators, someone finally couldn’t hold back and said, “Fellow Daoist Tong, what kind of things do you want to exchange these Crystal Soul Jades for?”

Tong Tianyun beamed. The skin on his face was pulled tight from the smile, making him look just like a skeleton.”Fellow Daoist, no need to be impatient. I want to exchange them with some spiritual plants, but the spiritual plants have to be at least ten thousand years old.”

Once he said that, every Core Formation cultivator who wasn’t wearing a bamboo hat had a change of expression. Among them, one man sprang up and shouted, “Ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants? Old Tong, why don’t you just go die? Can we still find five-thousand-year-old spiritual plants or older now? Yet you’re even asking for ten-thousand-year-old ones!”

It wasn’t really a wonder that this cultivator behaved like this. A three-thousand-year-old spiritual plant was already hard to find, much less a ten-thousand-year-old one? In the current world, even five-thousand-year-old spiritual plants had most likely gone extinct!

Tong Tianyun remained smiling, showing his eerie teeth. He then directed his smile towards that cultivator and said, “This is a trade fair… It’s fine as long as both sides are willing to perform a trade. If Fellow Daoist can’t come up with the items I want, it doesn’t mean others can’t either, right?”

That man couldn’t refute. He only let out a heavy “Hmph!” and sat back in his seat.

Someone else said, “Fellow Daoist Tong, your demand is a bit excessive, don’t you think? How valuable is a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant? Are they something we, Core Formation cultivators, have a chance at obtaining? I’m afraid they’ve long been taken by Nascent Soul cultivators.”

Tong Tianyun’s smile remained. “Fellow Daoist, these Crystal Soul Jades of mine are also rare in this world. They’re not like ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants, which are much easier to find.”

Thus, another person was rendered speechless.

“Fellow Daoist Tong.” This time, it was actually Qin Xi who spoke. He said faintly, “If you want a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant, I don’t have it. However, I can offer 100,000 spirit stones and a stump of a five-thousand-year-old spiritual plant in exchange.”

The moment he brought up his offer, not only Mo Tiange, but everyone else directed their eyes towards him. 100,000 spirit stones wasn’t a small amount, even for a Nascent Soul cultivator. Furthermore, just now someone said five-thousand-year-old spiritual plants already couldn’t be found nowadays, yet Qin Xi was able to immediately come up with one.

However, Qin Xi wasn’t hiding his face, was wearing Xuanqing School’s Daoist robes, and also showed his superior cultivation level, so no one dared to doubt him. Even Tong Tianyun also sank into a momentary silence.

All of a sudden, a soft chuckle rang out. It was unexpectedly the person Mo Tiange noticed before, the Core Formation cultivator, whose cultivation level was the highest there apart from Qin Xi. He said hoarsely, “Xuanqing School is indeed rich and overbearing! They can even afford to pay 100,000 spirit stones and a five-thousand-year-old spiritual plant.”

Qin Xi’s expression didn’t change. He still looked as calm as before. “Gentleman, if you can come up with a better offer, you can directly say your offer.”

That person confessed: “I really can’t top your offer. However, whether or not you can trade for Crystal Soul Jades still depends on whether or not Fellow Daoist Tong accepts your offer.”

Everyone’s gaze shifted towards Tong Tianyun. Tong Tianyun’s eerie teeth were once again exposed as he smiled at Qin Xi. “Fellow Daoist Shoujing, I’m very sorry—I’ll only exchange them for a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant. I won’t accept anything else.”

“…” Qin Xi’s expression finally showed some change. He said helplessly, “If that’s the case, there’s nothing else I can do.”

Tong Tianyun sighed then asked again: “Is there any Fellow Daoist who has a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant they want to trade?”

As Mo Tiange looked around, she transmitted her voice to Qin Xi: “Senior Martial Brother Shoujing, are these Crystal Soul Jades really that valuable?”

Qin Xi whispered to her: “Considering how many there are, it ought to be worth it. But ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants are too rare. I’m afraid that aside from a few old monsters, no one else can come up with one in this world now.”

Mo Tiange pondered the matter. A while later, just as Tong Tianyun was about to give up, she suddenly spoke: “Fellow Daoist Tong, I have a stump of a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant, but…”