71: Raised a bottomless pit

One hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones!

That was worth over ten million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

At such a price, it was no longer something an ordinary Sect could afford.

The currency circulating in the Canglang Plane was primarily Low Grade and Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

High Grade and even Top-Grade Spirit Stones were mostly items kept by Cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage and above.

They were almost only brought out during combat crises to accelerate the recovery of mana.

If one wanted to exchange Mid-Grade Spirit Stones for High-Grade Spirit Stones, no one would be willing to make the trade.

Normally, for a Soul Transformation true disciple of a great Sect like Li Xiuyuan, having ten thousand or so High-Grade Spirit Stones in his pocket would already be considered quite wealthy.

One hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones—even for Li Xiuyuan, he would have to request permission from his Sect before he could possibly produce them.

Furthermore, this was only a Spirit Treasure fragment.

Loose Cultivators had little experience and thought that the aura of Law contained within a single fragment could allow a Body Integration Stage Cultivator to catch a glimpse of the True Immortal realm.

In reality, it was not that easy.

However, Li Xiuyuan still bid without hesitation, "One hundred thousand!"

After a moment, that Peak Nascent Soul from the Xiao Family gritted his teeth and called out a price, "One hundred and one thousand..."

"One hundred and ten thousand!"

Li Xiuyuan didn't bother with any pleasantries and raised the price by ten thousand.

The Xiao Family Nascent Soul and the several other Soul Transformation stage experts all smiled bitterly.

Among the people present, perhaps only Li Xiuyuan was qualified to win the bid.

No one expected that after a Low Grade Soul-Suppressing Spiritual Artifact, the Myriad Treasures Pavilion would actually throw out such a world-shaking bombshell.

That was a Spirit Treasure!

So what if it was a fragment?

The Fire Law aura contained within it was enough to greatly benefit a Body Integration Stage Cultivator with a matching attribute.

Unfortunately, the Cultivation Techniques of the various cultivation Families and Sects in the Yaoxing Sea were mostly based on Water, Wood, Earth, and Ice attributes.

Even if one possessed a Fire Spiritual Root, without a matching Cultivation Technique, it would be difficult to reach the Body Integration Stage.

Let alone reaching the Peak Body Integration Stage and comprehending the Law to knock on the Immortal Gate.

Only a great Sect like the Azure Wave Sect could possess a Fire-attribute Body Integration Stage Cultivator.

The appearance of this fire-attribute Spirit Treasure fragment was likely aimed at the Azure Wave Sect from the very beginning.

Venerable Xuan Jian, as the chief auctioneer of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion's Thousand Star City branch, was well aware of this situation.

Seeing that no one else was bidding, he immediately struck the jade hammer. "Congratulations, Senior Li. This Spirit Treasure fragment belongs to you."

Xuan Jian slowly flew in front of Li Xiuyuan and presented the fragment with both hands.

“I don’t have that many High-Grade Spirit Stones on me either.”

Li Xiuyuan carefully picked up the fragment and said indifferently, “But rest assured, my Sect Elder has already headed to your pavilion's headquarters to complete the handover.”

“This Junior understands.”

Xuan Jian bowed slightly and then turned to fly back to the center of the high platform.

The Myriad Treasures Pavilion's shops were spread across the Canglang Plane; it was originally founded by a True Immortal.

He had a deep friendship with the True Immortal powerhouses of the Azure Wave Sect, and there were many collaborations between them, so he wasn't worried at all that Li Xiuyuan would default on the debt.

“This auction is now concluded!”

“I wish all Fellow Daoists a long life on the Immortal Path. Three years from now, this old man will be here awaiting your grand arrival!”

Xuan Jian cupped his hands in greeting and turned to walk away... This auction, which had lasted for several hours, truly opened Su Ling's eyes.

At the same time, it confirmed for him that his own net worth was indeed somewhat exaggerated.

Not to mention those self-sealed, dormant Medium Grade Spirit Treasure azure roc wings, which could almost be described as priceless.

Just the yin gui fungus and the 10,000-year Fire Spirit Marrow alone were worth millions of Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

If he were truly short on Spirit Stones, putting one of them up for auction could alleviate his plight.

Since he didn't win the Lightning Falcon essence blood, he naturally didn't need to go to the Treasure Pavilion to sell Talismans anymore.

Su Ling still had seventy thousand Spirit Stones left. Returning to the Immortal Cave rental office, he directly rented a Medium Grade Immortal Cave.

Compared to Low Grade Immortal Caves, a Medium Grade Immortal Cave also included an Artifact Refining Room, a Spirit Beast Room, and a soaking pool fed by a spirit spring.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of the Medium Grade Spirit Gathering Formation increased the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the Immortal Cave by forty percent.

After checking the facilities within the Immortal Cave, Su Ling began setting up the Medium Grade Illusory Mist Five Elements Array he had purchased three months ago.

As a Medium Grade Formation Plate, compared to the Illusionary Concealment Formation which focused on illusions and stealth, the Illusory Mist Five Elements Array also possessed the powerful defensive effect of shielding against Divine Sense probes from anyone below Soul Transformation and withstanding attacks from the Core Formation Stage.

However, the daily energy consumption of the Illusory Mist Five Elements Array was fully three times that of the Illusionary Concealment Formation.

If it encountered an attack, one would have to continuously pour in Spirit Stones to maintain the Formation.

Su Ling had spent several thousand Spirit Stones to buy this Formation Plate from the Treasure Pavilion to replace the Illusionary Concealment Formation.

As the mist gradually rose within the Immortal Cave, exerting its effect of shielding Divine Sense,

Su Ling then went to the Artifact Refining Room and waved his hand to float the dimly gleaming azure roc wings in front of him.

“Fourth-tier essence blood that cost sixty thousand Spirit Stones... I hope it can be of some use...”

Opening the jade bottle, he used mana to extract a glob of yao blood emitting a golden glow. Following his previous method, Su Ling carefully smeared it along the bone patterns of the azure roc wings.

In just a few breaths, a full hundred drops of Golden Scale Python essence blood were completely absorbed by the azure roc wings.

For the past half year, Su Ling had been nurturing the azure roc wings with his mana every day.

In the fifth month, he had finally managed to carve his Divine Sense mark into the azure roc wings.

He could now store them in his Dantian Qi Sea for continuous nurturing.

However, the so-called Artifact Spirit had never shown any reaction.

But now, after absorbing just a hundred drops of Golden Scale Python essence blood, an imperceptible yet hunger-filled emotion suddenly transmitted into Su Ling's mind.

“The Artifact Spirit reacted!”

Su Ling was overjoyed and unhesitatingly smeared the remaining four hundred drops of Golden Scale Python essence blood onto them.

Soon, the essence blood that had cost sixty thousand Spirit Stones was completely consumed.

Yet that hungry emotion still persisted.

The only change was that the gold threads on the azure roc wings seemed to brighten a bit more.

After a moment, that emotion, receiving no response, gradually fell silent with a deep sense of disappointment.

While Su Ling was happy, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly.

This thing is way too greedy!

Five hundred drops of Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast essence blood only managed to produce a single, imperceptible emotion.

He didn't know how many more Spirit Stones he would have to spend to activate the Artifact Spirit.

For a moment, Su Ling couldn't help but have the illusion that he was raising a bottomless pit.

But on second thought, this was a Medium Grade Spirit Treasure!

In the auction just now, just a single Low Grade Spirit Treasure fragment had fetched the astronomical price of one hundred and ten thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones.

Converted to Low-Grade Spirit Stones, even without counting the premium, that was 1.1 billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

With that many Spirit Stones in hand, Su Ling felt he could just lie down and coast all the way to the Body Integration Stage.

“Sigh, it's all because I'm poor.”

Su Ling sighed softly and took the azure roc wings back into his body.

In his past life as a top Dark Walker, any random job could earn him several million or even ten million US dollars.

Su Ling had truly never lived a poor life.

Who would have thought that after transmigrating to a cultivation world, he would actually experience the feeling of being destitute.

“Perhaps I should switch to a Metal or Lightning attribute Cultivation Technique.”

Activating the azure roc wings required a large amount of Metal and Lightning spiritual energy. Su Ling possessed Metal, Wood, and Lightning Spiritual Roots, so he was naturally more suited to Cultivate techniques of these three attributes.

The remnant volume of the Nine Nether Secret Record pointed directly to the Golden Core Dao and could be Cultivated up to the Peak Core Formation Stage.

If he were to switch techniques, at least one at the Nascent Soul level would be appropriate.

But a Nascent Soul-level Cultivation Technique would cost at least several million Spirit Stones.

To gather that many Spirit Stones, at Su Ling's current rate of earning, would take at least a dozen years!

Moreover, the Nine Nether Secret Record was extraordinarily strange; the quality of the mana it condensed was exceptionally high, and his Qi Sea capacity far exceeded those of the same stage.

Unless absolutely necessary, Su Ling really didn't want to switch his Cultivation Technique.

Besides the mana Cultivated by the Cultivator themselves, there were many other ways to provide Metal and Lightning spiritual energy.

The simplest was none other than finding a mountain Peak where lightning gathered year-round and channeling the power of heavenly thunder.

Alternatively, he could look for some Metal or Lightning attribute Spirit Stones.

However, such attribute-specific Spirit Stones were invariably High Grade or even Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

Their value was so high that it wasn't as cost-effective as buying Demonic Beast essence blood.

Another option was to find some Metal or Lightning attribute Formation Plates and use a Formation to condense spiritual energy to feed the azure roc wings.

Setting aside his thoughts, Su Ling returned to his bed and began his daily Cultivation.