108: Chapter 108 Bloodthirsty Ferocity

Dim light shone upon the black stone circular platform, where the Blood Fiend Bead, exuding a thick stench of blood, pulsed like a beating heart.

"One hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, starting bid."

Old Ghost Mo's murky, single eye swept across the room.

No one answered.

The Loose Cultivators present were no fools.

This was clearly a death warrant.

Gu Shen sat in the shadows at the edge, his breathing barely perceptible, his heartbeat forcibly suppressed to an extremely slow rate by the Bone Refining Art.

"One hundred and ten."

Suddenly, in the front row of the hall, a stooped Loose Cultivator wearing a bamboo hat spoke up.

His voice was laced with greed.

Blood Escape techniques were extremely precious; even a fragmented one was enough to make a desperado take the risk.

The moment this Loose Cultivator spoke, BOOM!

From the central beaded curtain private room above the cavern, a terrifying Spiritual Pressure erupted.

This Spiritual Pressure, like a sea of blood made tangible, instantly swept through the entire underground hall.

The weaker Loose Cultivators all groaned in unison, blood spilling from the corners of their mouths.

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator!"

The hall was filled with horror.

A blood-colored hand several zhang in size reached out from the private room without warning, grabbing the bamboo-hat-wearing Loose Cultivator who had placed the bid.

"Senior, spare—"

The Loose Cultivator's plea for mercy was cut short.

The blood-colored hand lifted him into mid-air, its five fingers clamping down on his crown.

A shrill scream echoed through the cavern as visible blood-red threads instantly pierced the Loose Cultivator's seven orifices.

Soul Searching!

In just three breaths, the Loose Cultivator was like a dried corpse drained of its essence, tossed casually off the circular platform like a tattered sack, crashing onto the stone floor.

"Not this one."

A cold, chilling voice came from the private room, "Continue the auction. I want to see who killed my Blood Fiend Sect's secret guard, stole the item, and still dares to come here to fence the stolen goods."

The entire room was deathly silent.

Even breathing was tightly suppressed.

Gu Shen lowered his eyes, his fingers gripping his folding fan tightening slightly.

"What ruthless methods."

He felt a chill in his heart.

The Blood Fiend Sect's actions were not at all about selling the bead, but rather using Old Ghost Mo's venue to establish their authority, warning all who knew the truth that the Blood Fiend Sect was determined to obtain the contents of that red dart.

On the circular platform, Old Ghost Mo seemed to have anticipated this, his face not twitching in the slightest.

He tapped the stone platform with his bone cane and waved his hand, signaling the maid to remove the Blood Fiend Bead.

"The first lot failed to sell. Bring up the second."

The red cloth was lifted, and this time, the tray held a pile of disorganized items.

There were a few bottles of waste pills with unrecognizable pill patterns, half of a broken Flying Sword, and a palm-sized, jet-black iron-wood box.

"These are the belongings of a Cultivator Bandit who fell in the Poisonous Miasma Forest, sold as a bundle."

Old Ghost Mo's single eye narrowed slightly, "This iron-wood box has natural isolation array patterns, and my Divine Sense cannot penetrate it. Perhaps there is a great treasure inside, or perhaps it is just a box of mud. It all depends on your own judgment. The starting bid is thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

The people in the hall looked at each other.

This kind of blind-box trading was common in the Ghost Market, but nine times out of ten, it was a scam.

Moreover, after experiencing the Blood Fiend Sect's display of power, no one had the heart to hunt for treasures.

In a corner.

"Crab."

Gu Shen thought silently.

"Master, performing microwave perspective scanning."

A faint vibration came from the black iron clasp at his collar.

A few breaths later.

"Master, the material of the wooden box's shell blocks Divine Sense, but it cannot stop physical vibration frequencies. There is no living thing inside, but a mass of high-density, yin-cold matter. Furthermore... its energy fluctuation frequency is extremely similar to the silk of the Nine Nether Silkworm you possess, perhaps even purer."

Gu Shen's heart jumped.

Yin-cold matter of the same origin as the Nine Nether Silkworm?

He had just obtained the Soul-Pulling Threads secret technique and was worried that the three Nether Silkworms lacked the foundation to nurture tough strands of magical power.

If this box truly contained some kind of extreme-yin auxiliary spiritual material, it would be a huge boost to his combat power.

He could not miss this Opportunity.

"Thirty-five Spirit Stones."

Gu Shen lowered his voice, his tone revealing the boredom of a playboy.

People turned back, and seeing a pale-faced, Qi Refining Level 3 Young Master, they all withdrew their gazes.

They just assumed it was some ignorant Young Master from a small noble family looking for amusement.

On the platform, Old Ghost Mo glanced at Gu Shen but said nothing more.

"Thirty-five, sold."

The wooden gavel struck.

A maid brought the tray to Gu Shen.

Gu Shen pretended to be pained as he counted out thirty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his robe and handed them over, sweeping the pile of scrap metal into his Storage Pouch.

One must commit to the act.

For the entire hour of the auction that followed, Gu Shen did not make another bid.

Until the very end.

Old Ghost Mo's expression became very solemn.

He personally lifted the last piece of red cloth.

It was a tattered sheepskin map with edges that had been scorched by terrifying flames.

"The finale item."

Old Ghost Mo took a deep breath, his voice echoing throughout the cavern, "A partial sea chart of the outer ruins of the ancient Puppeteer grand sect, the Qianji Pavilion!"

BOOM!

Once these words were spoken, not only the main hall but also the dozen or so private rooms above instantly erupted with intense fluctuations of magical power.

"In its time, the Qianji Pavilion suppressed the Western Region with its mechanism and Puppet techniques. Its outer ruins must contain a vast amount of Puppet spiritual materials and mechanism diagrams. The starting bid for this sea chart is five hundred Medium Grade Spirit Stones! Each bid must be at least ten more!"

The Loose Cultivators in the hall were completely despairing.

Medium Grade Spirit Stones!

One Medium Grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

This astronomical price was meant for the big figures in the private rooms.

"Six hundred!"

"Seven hundred!"

The private rooms above immediately fell into a frenzy of bidding.

Gu Shen watched coldly, imprinting the outline of the sheepskin map firmly into his mind.

"Qianji Pavilion ruins..."

The Soul-Pulling Threads and the Thousand Mechanisms Spirit Pivot Array Diagram in his Storage Ring were both legacies of the Qianji Pavilion.

Currently, his cultivation was only Late-Stage Qi Refining.

It was definitely not suitable for him to get involved in ruins that could attract countless Foundation Establishment cultivators to slaughter each other.

But he had the Heaven and Earth Furnace, he had the Crab, and he had the endless mechanism fragments from the Wasteland.

As long as he was given time to Cultivate and grow, in due time, he would definitely pay a visit to these Qianji Pavilion ruins!

"Let's go."

Taking advantage of the fact that the entire room's attention was on the partial map, Gu Shen stood up, secretly blended in with a few Loose Cultivators leaving early, and quietly exited the black stone tower.

The night was deep.

Gu Shen did not return to the inn.

Instead, he wound through seven or eight dark alleys in the Black Sand Market, changed his attire three times, and even used the extreme speed of his shadow shoes.

After confirming there were no tails behind him, he quietly slipped into a dilapidated, abandoned temple in the Outer City of the market.

Sitting cross-legged, Gu Shen took the iron-wood box he had just bought out from his sleeve.

A flash of lightning sparked at his fingertip, forcibly erasing the broken Restriction on the box.

Click.

The lid popped open.

An extremely chilling yin wind rushed at his face, even forming a layer of frost on Gu Shen's eyebrows.

Inside the box, it was lined with a thick layer of spirit-sealing soft jade.

In the center of the soft jade lay a fist-sized, thread-like object flowing like silver mercury.

"This is..."

Gu Shen's pupils constricted.

This was not some natural spiritual material at all; it was clearly a remnant embryo of a Magical Artifact that had already been refined into shape but was then forcibly extracted by someone!

"Master."

The Crab's mechanical voice sounded at the right time, "Detected that this substance possesses terrifying cutting power and yin-cold attributes. Its structural arrangement perfectly matches the spiritual power circuits in the Soul-Pulling Threads secret technique in your memory."

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

No wonder it was so similar to the silk of the Nine Nether Silkworm.

This mass of silver thread must be the remnant embryo of a natal Magical Artifact left behind by a Senior who had Cultivated the Qianji Pavilion's silk-control secret technique after they fell!

"The Opportunity has arrived."