65: Wanbao Auction

Time flew by, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Ling stepped out of his Immortal Cave and stared blankly at the snow-covered Thousand Star City.

A month ago, when he returned from the Thousand Star Market, the sun had been blazing.

Now that a month had passed, it was actually snowing.

In the nearly ten years since his Transmigration, this was the first time he had seen snow in this other world.

However, in his past life, he had been alone with no attachments.

In this life, his predecessor had also been solitary when he left home.

As such, he didn't have many emotional burdens.

Only in that moment when the cold wind brushed his face did a cold and elegant figure flash through his mind.

"With her talent, she should be at Peak Foundation Establishment by now, right?"

A faint trace of nostalgia rose at the corners of his mouth. Dressed in his water-patterned azure robes, Su Ling's Cloud-Stepping Boots glowed with spiritual light as he walked across the snow.

Over the past half year, he had kept his promise and drawn nearly two thousand second-tier Talismans for the Treasure Pavilion.

He had earned a total of over a hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Drawing Talismans hadn't hindered his cultivation; instead, the frequent circulation of his Dharmic power during the process had accelerated its condensation.

His control had also reached a new level.

Not only had his cultivation successfully reached the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, but his entire set of gear had undergone a major upgrade.

In terms of pure combat power, without even using the Ghost Soul Arrow, Su Ling was confident he could easily slay an Early Third-tier Red Jade Crab.

As for a Core Formation Cultivator, that was a different story.

As long as the opponent didn't have a Magic Treasure, Su Ling believed he had a sixty to seventy percent chance of killing a Loose Cultivator at the Core Formation stage.

After all, with the ink abyss brush in hand, the surplus second-tier Talismans he had kept were more than abundant.

Just by spamming Talismans, he could probably bombard a Loose Cultivator at the Core Formation stage to death.

However, what frustrated him most was that after half a year of nurturing the azure roc wings with his Dharmic power and having them absorb quite a bit of second and third-tier gold-thunder attribute yao blood,

the so-called artifact spirit still showed no signs of movement.

The only change was that the color of the azure roc wings and the gold lines on the feathers had brightened slightly.

This led Su Ling to secretly speculate that he would likely need yao blood of the fourth tier or higher.

He hadn't come out for the past two months, only using transmissions to have Qing Ming from the Treasure Pavilion come to his Immortal Cave for handovers.

His main reason for going out this time was to see if there was any fourth-tier Nascent Soul Yao Beast blood for sale in the market.

Upon arriving at the Thousand Star Market, Su Ling first visited the Treasure Pavilion to deliver the Talismans required for this month.

Scanning the room, he saw no sign of Zheng Cheng, so Su Ling looked at Qing Ming, who was attending to him. "Is Manager Zheng Cheng not in?"

"Senior, the Manager went into seclusion half a month ago."

Qing Ming replied respectfully, "He should be about to Breakthrough to Peak Core Formation Stage."

When Su Ling first met Zheng Cheng, his cultivation was at the Late-stage Core Formation.

He hadn't expected him to be breaking through to Peak Core Formation Stage so soon.

"Oh, congratulations are in order then."

Su Ling nodded slightly. His Divine Sense swept over Qing Ming's body, and he casually took out a jade bottle of pills. "It looks like you're about to Breakthrough as well. I'll gift this bottle of pills to you!"

Low Grade spirit gathering pills cost fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones each, with ten in a bottle.

Su Ling had bought these from a Loose Cultivator a while back.

However, once he got used to Medium Grade spirit gathering pills, he had never used this bottle of Low Grade ones.

Over the past half year, Qing Ming had been very respectful to him, and whenever there was gold-thunder attribute third-tier yao blood for sale, he would inform him immediately.

This had indeed saved Su Ling a lot of trouble.

Of course, Zheng Cheng definitely knew about these matters.

To be safe, Su Ling still drew some gold-thunder attribute Talismans and handed them over to the Treasure Pavilion.

"This humble one thanks Senior!"

Qing Ming was overjoyed. He bowed deeply before accepting the jade bottle with both hands.

Ten spirit gathering pills were worth a hundred and fifty Spirit Stones, which was equivalent to half a year of his wages.

The Yaoxing Sea was fraught with danger, and there weren't many places suitable for Qi Refining stage Disciples to hunt.

It was extremely rare to have a stable job to earn Spirit Stones and gradually Cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Stage before going out to hunt.

"By the way, is there any fourth-tier yao blood for sale recently?"

Su Ling paced with his hands behind his back, activating his Immortal Eye of Treasure Appraisal to look over the dazzling array of items on the counter as he asked casually.

"Senior, we don't have any gold-thunder attribute blood for now, but a batch of water-wood attribute blood arrived a week ago."

Qing Ming followed behind and replied softly.

"That's a pity. I wanted to see if I could use fourth-tier yao blood to draw a third-tier Gold Sword Talisman or Shocking Thunder Talisman!"

Su Ling shook his head with a look of regret.

Last month, he had spent five thousand Spirit Stones at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion to buy a copy of the 'Talisman Encyclopedia'.

The encyclopedia covered dozens of third-tier Talisman drawing methods, as well as five fourth-tier ones.

Of course, these were all commonly known Talismans, not some closely guarded secrets.

Otherwise, how could he have bought it for a mere five thousand Spirit Stones?

Su Ling had subsequently purchased a small amount of third-tier Talisman paper to attempt drawing third-tier Talismans.

Unfortunately, because his Dharmic power wasn't condensed enough, he still failed to draw them successfully even with the help of the ink abyss brush.

Hearing this, Qing Ming's heart stirred. He stepped forward and whispered, "If Senior truly needs gold-thunder attribute yao blood, I have a suggestion."

"Oh? You have a way?"

Su Ling looked at him curiously. How could a Utility Disciple at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining have a lead on fourth-tier yao blood?

Qing Ming gave a sheepish grin and said embarrassedly, "I don't have a way myself, I just happen to know some information."

"Tell me."

Su Ling was instantly interested.

"In two days, the Myriad Treasures Pavilion is holding its triennial grand auction. I've heard that even fifth-tier yao blood and yao cores might appear."

Qing Ming smiled. "Senior has been staying indoors lately, so you probably haven't heard the news yet."

"An auction... No wonder I felt like there were many more customers at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion today..."

Su Ling realized. He had found it a bit strange when he arrived.

The entrance to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion was crowded with people; it turned out an auction was about to start.

"The Myriad Treasures Pavilion's regular auctions are held every three months, and the items are only average."

Qing Ming explained, "But the triennial grand auctions are full of top-tier items, with various Heaven And Earth Treasures appearing frequently. Three years ago, a low-grade spirit tool even appeared, causing quite a few Spirit Transformation Cultivators to compete for it!"

Thousand Star Island was the largest island for ten thousand miles around.

But in the context of the entire Yaoxing Sea, it wasn't considered top-tier.

A low-grade spirit tool would be highly sought after even by Spirit Transformation Cultivators.

"Are there any requirements to participate in the auction?"

Su Ling was intrigued. Since it was an auction, there were bound to be many good things.

Qing Ming sighed slightly. "An entry ticket costs one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

That many Spirit Stones would be enough for him to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, yet it was just the price of an entry ticket for the auction.

Su Ling nodded slightly. One thousand Spirit Stones wasn't too expensive.

Normally, a catty of fourth-tier yao blood would have a market price ranging from ten thousand to a hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

If it contained the Bloodline of some Divine Beast, its value would be immeasurable.

Su Ling's expectations weren't high; buying a catty or two of gold-thunder attribute yao blood would be enough.

With this thought, he immediately decided to head to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion to secure an entry ticket first.

Seeing Su Ling turn to leave, Qing Ming hurriedly said, "Senior, if you wish to participate in the auction, you can present our Treasure Pavilion's Guest Elder jade tablet to waive that one thousand Spirit Stone fee."

"Oh? There's such a benefit?"

Su Ling paused and chuckled.

One thousand Spirit Stones was nothing to him, but if he could save it, it was like making a profit for free!

"Although the Treasure Pavilion and Myriad Treasures Pavilion are competitors, they cooperate quite a bit as well."

Knowing Su Ling wanted to go to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, Qing Ming explained as he led him out, "They recognize each other's Guest Elders."

"Thanks for the info, I'll go take a look."

Su Ling cupped his hands and left with a smile.