13: Chapter 13 The Auction Begins, A Bloody New Year

"Little Golden, come here, Mommy wants a hug." Chen Qiuyu came out of the inner hall. Having failed to catch up to Chen Xuan, she called out to the Golden Roar, which was napping in the courtyard.

Though it was only a three-month-old puppy, it had already grown exceptionally robust.

Chen Xuan once suspected that Chen Qiuyu had fed it some sort of "miracle fertilizer," otherwise, how could it be nearly the same size as the Golden Retrievers from his past life?

It was not as cute as when it was younger, but its fur exuded a sense of majesty, making it look quite formidable.

Ordinary people would know that this beast had an extraordinary Bloodline just by looking at it.

"Woof~" The Golden Roar let out a low growl, wagging its tail as it pounced into Chen Qiuyu's arms, and she scooped it up.

After giving the dog a few good sniffs, Chen Qiuyu put it down and picked up the leash from the side.

When the Golden Roar saw Chen Xuan, it immediately wagged its tail, ran over, and sat at Chen Xuan's feet.

Chen Xuan looked at the Golden Roar and silently called it a "gold-swallowing beast" in his heart.

Although "Mommy" Chen Qiuyu would feed it beast milk and Spirit Beast meat daily,

Chen Xuan would also pick up various First-Stage Spirit Beast cultivation Medicinal Pills whenever he went to the branch of the Pill Hall opened by the Fusheng Sect in the market.

Every month, the cultivation resources for him and the Golden Roar cost at least forty Spirit Stones, and if they used more, it would be over eighty.

To fully tap into the Golden Roar's potential, Chen Xuan even used his connections at the Talisman Workshop to purchase a Spirit Beast Cultivation Manual from the Lingmeng Chamber of Commerce, which was under the Fusheng Sect.

He trained the Golden Roar in three aspects: speed, strength, and Qi and blood.

And feeding it Bloodline Pills constantly gave it a better chance to trigger the Legacy within its Bloodline.

And awaken spells.

As for Divine Ability, he wasn't being so ambitious.

However, after going through this whole process, Chen Xuan realized that the old saying was right.

"If you aren't the head of the household, you don't know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt!"

In the future, the cultivation Medicinal Pills for the Qi Refining Mid-Stage would be even more expensive!

Plus the cost of two Breakthrough pills, Chen Xuan felt like his small treasury was about to hit rock bottom...

Chen Qiuyu walked over slowly, holding the leash.

Biyun Market had clear rules:

All Spirit Beasts must be registered and equipped with a leash.

Those without a leash would be treated as Yao Beasts, and anyone could kill them.

As responsible owners, the two of them would always put the leash on it whenever they took the dog for a walk.

By the time the two of them went out, Market Master Chen had already left.

However, the two had gone out shopping alone many times before, so they immediately went to Wangs Smithy.

Outside the central district was the residential area, and most secondary shops were located there.

Wang Lingxue was now capable of crafting some jewelry; the Dragon-holding Pearl jade hairpin on Chen Qiuyu's head was crafted by Wang Lingxue.

In addition to these exquisite trinkets, Wang Lingxue was also able to handle the preliminary processing of some simple Low Grade Magical Artifacts.

Master Wang was greatly gratified and decided to let her start Artifact Refining early.

Her family was overjoyed to learn that she would be able to perform Artifact Refining in two months.

Upon learning that Chen Xuan had become a direct descendant of the Chen Family Talisman Workshop, the whole family immediately discussed taking gifts to visit Market Master Chen before the New Year.

Mother Chen Ling was so excited that she went around talking to neighbors; while everyone praised her for having a promising child, even her long-standing illness improved.

Everyone was happy.

When the two arrived at the entrance of Wangs Smithy, Wang Lingxue had already come out to meet them.

"Brother." Wang Lingxue waved happily.

"Is Chen Qiuyu here too?"

Chen Qiuyu nodded with a smile.

During their time off, the sisters would always go shopping together, but most of the time, Chen Qiuyu would tag along.

There were too few people of the same age at the Chen Family Talisman Workshop, and there were only these two or three friends they could play with.

The two women walked away arm in arm the moment they met, chatting about the Lantern Festival and the fashionable new clothes in nearby shops.

"This world isn't any different from my past life," Chen Xuan thought to himself.

Chen Xuan, leading the Golden Roar, mused silently.

Women still loved to shop, shop, shop, and then have a lovely meal of Spirit Beast meat outside, spending a bit of Spirit Stone fragments.

However, Chen Qiuyu almost always paid.

He could be considered to be living off a woman.

Even as a Qi Refining Mid-Stage cultivator, Chen Xuan felt his legs go weak.

These two women could shop for too long. Also, because the New Year was approaching, they used the excuse of purchasing their New Year "battle robes," which were two flowing-sleeve immortal skirts.

They were matching sets for sisters, one blue and one red.

By the time they finished shopping for the Lantern Festival, Chen Xuan's Storage Pouch was filled with a pile of lanterns and paper cuttings in addition to their clothes.

This was the superiority of the immortal cultivation world; at least he didn't have to carry bags.

After lunch, the group arrived at the auction house.

This was an auction hosted by the Lingmeng Chamber of Commerce.

Large chambers of commerce basically held one every month.

And it was said that there would be a big one at the end of the year.

Because of the output from the Tunyun Secret Realm, auctions had been held more frequently recently.

This was Chen Xuan's first time here, and the group was stopped outside.

It was only after showing the identity token of the Chen Family Talisman Workshop that they were let in.

This was because the Chen Family Talisman Workshop was also a supplier for the Lingmeng Chamber of Commerce and had ongoing trade relations.

They even had reserved seats in the auction house.

Market Master Chen nodded when he saw his daughter and the Chen siblings, then let the three of them come in, leading the Golden Roar.

The Chen Family Talisman Workshop often participated in auctions, as many Spirit Materials were raw ingredients for Talisman making, especially for some signature Talismans that required rare Materials.

For example, the Golden Light Mantra and the new signature Talisman, the Light-Deriving Escape Talisman.

Both were High Grade First-Stage Talismans, but the Materials used were strange and varied. The former required the Vajra Heart, a First-Stage metal-attribute spiritual plant. Its cultivation conditions were harsh, requiring extremely high temperatures and Spiritual Qi concentration; if anything went wrong, it would die.

As for the Light-Deriving Escape Talisman, it required a special crystal called Shadowless Stone, which was only occasionally produced in refined iron ore veins.

Two hours passed, and as it was almost dusk, the auction began!

Only then did Chen Xuan realize that the two hundred or so Spirit Stones in his pocket were worth nothing!

If he threw them into the auction, he probably wouldn't even make a splash.

Watching Market Master Chen spend nearly five hundred Spirit Stones to purchase Spirit Materials, the Chen siblings were shocked.

Envy and yearning.

And the finale of the auction, the Earth Spirit Qi, sold for the astronomical price of one thousand Spirit Stones!

It was snatched up by the Li Clan Beast Taming Workshop.

One had to know that a foundation establishment pill cost about five thousand Spirit Stones.

And ordinary Foundation Establishment spiritual objects mostly cost around one thousand Spirit Stones.

Although this Earth Spirit Qi was widely rumored to be one of the Materials for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, how difficult was it to gather the Five Elements Spirit Qi for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment?

At least in the history recorded in the [Biyun Market Gazetteer] that Chen Xuan saw in the Talisman Workshop, there were no geniuses who achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

Even geniuses who achieved Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment were few and far between.

Most relied on foundation establishment pills to achieve Human Dao Foundation Establishment, or forced a Breakthrough to achieve Human Dao Foundation Establishment.

The auction ended, and everyone walked home.

Along the way, Market Master Chen chatted casually about household matters.

Suddenly, streaks of light lit up in the distance!

Flying was prohibited in the market!

The group looked over, and the people in the lead were wearing Fusheng Sect robes.

Then it was fine.

But next, blood-soaked figures were being pulled by these people using magic power, flying straight towards the Liu Clinic in the residential area.

Something had happened!

Before the crowd could recover from this scene, they heard a violent shout:

"Fusheng Sect Elder Market Master Liu Yunfei is here!"

"Activate the formation!"

The Second-Stage Market Protection Formation of Biyun Market, which hadn't been activated for nearly a hundred years, was activated!