117: Chapter 117 A copper coin? Senior, are you exchanging it for an Enlightenment Stone?!

"enlightenment stone!"

When these two words fell like a heavenly decree, everything tangible and intangible in the entire auction house was stripped of its sound and brilliance.

A profound silence descended.

The next moment, it was as if earth-fire accumulated over ten thousand years erupted from the depths of every Cultivator's heart!

"Boom—"

The roaring sound waves almost overturned the dome of the Tianji Pavilion!

Every Cultivator, whether they were a Nascent Soul tycoon holding down a region, a Deity Transformation Great Power rarely seen by the world, a Sect Master ruling over billions of lives, or a Sect Master with an ancient Legacy, all burned with the same crimson flame deep in their eyes at this moment.

It was greed, it was desire, it was a madness sufficient to burn their Dao bodies, incinerate their Divine Souls, and gamble away their Sect's Luck and their very lives.

The secret to Immortal Ascension!

These four elusive words were the Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all seekers in the Cangxuan Dao Domain, the barrier that had severed the paths of countless Prodigies, and the phantom dream they pursued their entire lives, exhausting their Lifespan and sitting in dead seclusion.

Under the convergence of countless burning gazes, two Elders with Soul Transformation cultivation, whose auras were as deep as an abyss and whose Divine Soul fluctuations were almost tangible, walked onto the high platform with heavy steps, carrying a jade box wrapped in ninety-nine layers of divine light Restrictions.

Every step they took was extremely steady, yet it felt like they were stepping on the heartbeat of everyone present, making mouths dry and blood boil.

The gray-robed auctioneer stepped forward personally, his expression solemn, devoid of any merchant-like aura. His fingertips danced as he cast complex and profound techniques, sending streaks of spiritual light into the Restrictions of the jade box.

Hum—

The divine light Restrictions bloomed outward like a magnificent ninety-nine-petaled heavenly lotus. A supreme Dao Rhyme, indescribable in words, transcending Spiritual Qi and Law, rushed through the entire venue like a burst dam from the Nine Heavens.

Everyone present, regardless of their cultivation level, experienced an unprecedented purification and sublimation of their Divine Souls under the baptism of this Dao Rhyme.

An Elder stuck at the Middle Stage of Nascent Soul for three hundred years felt a flash of inspiration explode in his mind; the barriers of his Cultivation Technique, painstakingly cultivated for years, showed signs of loosening at this very moment!

A Sword Cultivator stared at his own sword, and in an instant, blessed by a sudden enlightenment, a bottleneck in a sword move that had troubled him for decades suddenly cleared, and his Sword Intent surged out uncontrollably!

Just a wisp of aura escaping during the opening of the Restrictions had such a Heaven-Defying effect! What kind of fortune would it be if one could refine it completely?

The jade box finally opened.

A stone the size of a palm lay quietly on the velvet lining.

It was gray, covered with dense pores and cracks, without any flowing radiance or strange phenomena, as ordinary as a pebble kicked aside by a child on a Mortal mountain path.

But now, no one dared to judge it by its appearance.

Everyone's gaze carried a kind of almost devout piety.

enlightenment stone!

According to legend, at the end of the previous era, a supreme Great Emperor foresaw the coming of a great calamity and passed away on the ancient starry path. Unwilling to let a lifetime of Dao fruit dissipate, he poured all of it into a portable Divine Stone with supreme power, thus forming this forbidden supreme treasure that shocked the past and present!

The auctioneer's voice trembled; it was awe from the depths of his Divine Soul, infected by the aura of the Great Dao.

"The starting price for the enlightenment stone is ten million High-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"It can also be exchanged for equivalent Saint Weapons, Divine Materials, or ten-thousand-year-old medicinal kings!"

"Each bid increase must be no less than one million High-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"The auction... begins!"

The tail end of his desperate roar still echoed in the venue, undissipated.

"Thirty million!"

A deep, resonant voice exploded from an ordinary private box in the Earth character section, directly tripling the base price. The bidder was the Yaoguang Holy Land, one of the immortal Holy Lands of the Central Province!

"Is the Yaoguang Holy Land going all-in?!"

"Hmph, you think you can take away the hope of Immortal Ascension with thirty million? Simply wishful thinking!" In another corner, a more overbearing voice retorted.

"The Dayuan Imperial Dynasty bids fifty million!"

"Eighty million! This item has an affinity with my Butian Sect, it should belong to our Sect!"

"Ninety million! My Zixiao Sect wants it!"

At this moment, the price had lost its significance as currency and turned into a naked war of numbers, a collision of the foundations between cold traditions.

This was no longer a simple competition of financial power, but a life-and-death gamble where major immortal traditions bet the Luck of their next millennium.

In just a few dozen breaths, to the almost numb hearing of the crowd, the price crashed through the one-hundred-million mark with a destructive force.

This figure was enough to buy half the territory of the barren Northern Domain.

Inside the heavenly character no. 2 private box, the Qilin Blood Prince listened to the frenzied roars of the Sect Masters below, a cruel pleasure of controlling everything appearing on his face.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

Waiting for these Mortal Holy Lands struggling in the dust to exhaust their last ounce of strength, only to meet the most thorough despair amidst the highest hope.

"A bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well, daring to compete with the sun and moon above the Nine Heavens?"

He rose slowly, channeling his spiritual power. His voice, infused with the innate pressure of the Primeval Imperial Clan Bloodline, transformed into a mental storm that exploded in everyone's Divine Soul and Sea of Consciousness.

"Two hundred million!"

"This item, my Primeval Imperial Clan, wants it!"

Boom!

The entire auction house was struck into silence by these two short words.

All the frenzied bidding voices stopped abruptly.

It was not a rational abandonment, but a despair born from the heart after all illusions and confidence were crushed by an insurmountable mountain.

Two hundred million High-Grade Spirit Stones already exceeded the limit that a "tradition" could bear; only a behemoth like the Primeval Imperial Clan, which had stood firm since the ancient era with unfathomable foundations, could throw it out so casually.

The Qilin Blood Prince bathed in the complex gazes of awe, fear, and unwillingness from the audience. The humiliation brought by Su Changge earlier was swept away, and an extreme sense of comfort surged from his limbs to his crown.

His gaze turned into tangible arrows, provocatively shooting at the tightly closed door next door.

"What, are you mute?"

"Wasn't your vision very high just now, treating even Saint Weapons as worthless?"

"Two hundred million Spirit Stones, can you... take it out?"

On the auction stage, the gray-robed auctioneer forcibly suppressed the huge shock in his heart and shouted the bid, his voice slightly distorted by excitement.

"The Qilin Blood Prince bids two hundred million High-Grade Spirit Stones! Is there any higher bid?"

"Two hundred million once!"

"Two hundred million twice!"

Dead silence.

Everyone accepted this indisputable outcome by default.

Inside the heavenly character no. 1 private box, Mo Wentian's blood was almost freezing; he could even hear the thumping of his heart in his chest.

He looked at Su Changge. That Senior was still leaning comfortably on his chair, his expression indifferent, as if the struggle outside that could set off a bloody storm in the Dao Domain was just a boring farce unrelated to him.

"Senior... if you are interested, my Tianji Pavilion... is willing to exhaust everything to help you win this item!" Mo Wentian's voice was hoarse; this was betting the future and Luck of the entire Tianji Pavilion.

Su Changge finally moved.

He slowly sat up straight. The movement was not fast, but it had a strange quality that changed the rhythm of space. His gaze fell truly on the enlightenment stone on the high platform for the first time.

【Target locked: A stone containing some fragments of the Great Dao.】

【Evaluation: Passable.】

Su Changge's fingertips tapped lightly on the smooth tabletop.

He ignored Mo Wentian's loyalty, simply reaching into his wide sleeve and fumbling casually.

A moment later, he took something out.

A copper coin.

An old copper coin that was no longer in circulation in the Mortal world, its edges worn smooth by endless time.

It was even stained with dark verdigris that wouldn't wash off, precipitated by the colors of time.

Mo Wentian froze completely.

His pupils contracted, his Divine Soul trembling uncontrollably, his entire mind attracted by the copper coin lying between Su Changge's fingers.

"Se... Senior, this is..."

Su Changge tossed the copper coin onto the table casually.

Ding.

A soft sound, crisp and piercing in the deathly silent private box.

He picked up the teacup again, blowing away the swirling heat from the rim, his voice flat without a ripple, carrying no emotion.

"Barter."

"This item is sufficient."

Mo Wentian was completely lost.

A copper coin used by Mortals to buy steamed buns?

To trade... to trade for an enlightenment stone that could make a Soul Transformation Cultivator go crazy, make a Saint covet, and set off a bloody storm throughout the entire Cangxuan Dao Domain?

"Senior, you..."

He wanted to say "This is too absurd," but when he met Su Changge's eyes, which were as deep as the eternal starry sky, all his doubts and confusion turned into powder in an instant.

That was not a joking look.

That was stating a fact.

An absolute truth that transcended worldly value and Mortal understanding.

There must be a shocking, deep meaning within it that he could not understand or imagine! This copper coin was definitely not an ordinary object! The "Dao" it carried might be older and heavier than the enlightenment stone itself!

At this moment, Mo Wentian felt a light from heaven pouring down upon him, a sudden enlightenment.

He understood! Senior was not bidding; he was "preaching the Dao"! He was using this method to show this group of Mortal Cultivators, blinded by Spirit Stones, what true "value" was!

An inexplicable fanaticism surged into his heart.

He was not just passing a message for Senior; he was... declaring a brand new truth to this Mortal world for Senior!

Mo Wentian turned abruptly and rushed to the sound transmission array in front of the private box window.

At this time, the auctioneer on the stage had already raised the gavel in his hand high.

"Two hundred million, third time! Sold—"

"Wait!"

Mo Wentian's voice, like a divine thunder from the Nine Heavens, exploded accurately and unmistakably throughout the venue just before the gavel fell!

Swish!

Everyone's gaze focused once again on that mysterious heavenly character no. 1 door that had been tightly closed from the beginning.

The smile on the Qilin Blood Prince's face froze, his heart shrinking uncontrollably. Did he really dare to raise the price? What did he have to raise it with?

Only hearing Mo Wentian speak in a tone that was almost an aria, filled with supreme piety and fanaticism, declaring clearly and word for word.

"heavenly room number one, bid..."

He closed his eyes, as if using up all his strength and belief, roaring out the result that was enough to overturn the cognition of the entire Cangxuan Dao Domain and was destined to be recorded in history.

"One copper coin!"