darknovel Chapter 1114 Stars
Chapter 1114 Stars
Chen Yuan and Ding Yu followed the woman through a winding passage and arrived at an elegantly furnished hall on the seventy-ninth floor.
All around were tightly closed wooden doors, emanating a faint spiritual light. Several beautiful women, also dressed in light blue standard dharma robes, stood around and greeted them with graceful bows.
The woman who led Chen Yuan and Ding Yu into the hall stepped forward and quietly revealed Chen Yuan's identity.
"The auction has not yet started, Elder, please wait here for a moment..."
A woman stepped forward from the crowd, a gentle smile on her face, and gestured with her hand.
"Thank you for your trouble," Chen Yuan nodded slightly and said.
They were all disciples of the Tai Xuan Sect who had received missions from their sect. Even if they were to serve a Nascent Soul cultivator, no Core Formation cultivator would be willing to do such a thing.
These female disciples of the Tai Xuan Sect are different from the female rogue cultivators in Donghua City. Even if they are at the Integration Stage, they cannot do whatever they want. They merely serve and guide the Integration Stage cultivators who are participating in the auction.
If it weren't for the concern that the female cultivators recruited from Donghua City might make mistakes and displease the Nascent Soul stage experts, Duobao Pavilion wouldn't have issued a sect mission to make the Taixuan Sect disciples do the work of maids.
Chen Yuan and Ding Yu followed the woman toward a quiet room, but they could faintly hear laughter behind them, which sounded somewhat familiar.
Chen Yuan paused, not wanting to casually spread his divine sense in this treasure pavilion. He carefully discerned the surroundings, then stopped and turned around.
The woman and Ding Yu found it strange, but neither dared to say anything. They stopped and looked at Chen Yuan with slight doubt.
Chen Yuan didn't explain, but turned around and looked at the entrance of the hall.
A moment later, the two entered, led by a female disciple of the Tai Xuan Sect.
One of them paused for a moment when he saw Chen Yuan, then strode forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Chen is here too. I, Wei, am honored to meet you."
The newcomer was none other than Wei Wushang, the head of the Wei family. Chen Yuan returned the greeting with clasped hands: "I vaguely heard Fellow Daoist Wei talking, but I was not sure, so I waited here. Sure enough, it was true."
Wei Wushang smiled and said, "It's a coincidence that I arrived one after the other. Oh, let me introduce you. This is True Man Mingwei, who comes from the Shenling Domain of the Tianjue Continent. He is a good friend of mine from my early years. His cultivation is even higher than mine, and his Daoist arts are profound."
“Fellow Daoist Mingwei, this is Elder Chen Yuan of the Tai Xuan Sect. He cultivates both Dharma and physical body. Although his cultivation level is only at the peak of the Refinement of Void stage, his physical body is no less than that of a Demon Saint. His strength is unfathomable, and we have a deep friendship.”
Chen Yuan looked at the Mingwei True Man, who was in the middle stage of the Integration Realm. This man was dressed in a Taoist robe with wide sleeves. He looked to be in his forties or fifties. He had a long beard that reached his chest and smooth, fair skin like a baby. He looked quite like a Taoist master.
"Fellow Daoist Mingwei has come from afar, adding even more splendor to the Donghua Auction. If our disciples have failed in their hospitality, we hope you will forgive us." Chen Yuan clasped his hands in a bow, his words filled with humility.
Master Mingwei bowed slightly, his expression somewhat indifferent: "Elder Chen, you flatter me. I have long admired the grandeur of the Donghua Auction, and seeing it today, I can confirm that its reputation is well-deserved."
The two exchanged a few more words, both being extremely polite. However, Chen Yuan was very perceptive and noticed a hint of disdain in Mingwei Zhenren's eyes, as if he looked down on Chen Yuan's cultivation level of the Perfected Void Refinement Realm.
Chen Yuan smiled, not annoyed at all. He exchanged a few more words with Wei Wushang, then took his leave and followed the female disciple of the Tai Xuan Sect into the quiet room.
Wei Wushang and Mingwei Zhenren also entered the two quiet rooms respectively. The doors closed, and spiritual light flashed, blocking divine sense from probing.
The woman served Chen Yuan a cup of spiritual tea. Ding Yu stood behind Chen Yuan, hands clasped, his expression respectful.
Chen Yuan sat at the table, sipping the spiritual tea. The tea had a subtle aroma, but its taste was superb. It contained a wisp of pure spiritual energy, which, after being drunk, traveled through his meridians, nourishing his soul and body. It was like soaking in a hot spring, with the pores of his limbs opening up, making him feel comfortable and at ease.
Chen Yuan glanced at the teacup. This was no ordinary tea; it was produced by at least a ten-thousand-year-old tea tree and mixed with at least eight kinds of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, carefully prepared.
Chen Yuan put down his teacup, glanced at Ding Yu, and said calmly, "Pour him a cup too."
The woman was taken aback, but then did as she was told, serving Ding Yu a cup of spiritual tea.
Ding Yu was startled and somewhat at a loss, but since it was Elder Chen's order, he dared not disobey. He quickly bowed to Chen Yuan and said, "Thank you for the reward, Elder!"
"Thank you, senior sister." He took the teacup from the woman's hands and thanked her in a low voice.
The woman smiled, lowered her head, and stepped aside. A few strands of her black hair fell to her fair neck. Her eyes were gentle, and Ding Yu was stunned by her beauty.
Before joining the Tai Xuan Sect, he farmed in the countryside. After joining, he either secluded himself for arduous cultivation or completed sect missions. He dared not slack off for a single day, let alone squander spirit stones for pleasure. When had he ever seen such a scene?
But he quickly composed himself, carefully holding the teacup, not daring to drink too fast for fear of being impolite in front of Elder Chen, and not daring to make any sound.
The first sip of the spiritual tea transformed into a wisp of spiritual energy, flowing through Ding Yu's meridians.
The warmth seeped into Ding Yu's limbs and even into his soul, making him almost groan with pleasure.
Ding Yu forcibly suppressed this feeling and continued to sip the spiritual tea, the fatigue from seven years of hard training vanished.
He had endured the impact of the violent spiritual energy in the Body Tempering Pill for many years, but lacking a foundation in physical cultivation, his physical body and meridians were inevitably damaged. Now, under the nourishment of this wisp of spiritual energy, he was rapidly recovering.
After Ding Yu established his foundation, he focused on tempering his physical body, but his cultivation level remained almost stagnant.
But now, nourished by spiritual energy, the true essence lake in his dantian rose rapidly, and he crossed the bottleneck without any hindrance, reaching the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.
Ding Yu looked inward at himself, his divine sense sweeping across his dantian, where the true essence in the true essence lake was solid and pure.
His cultivation level rose by a small realm in a short period of time, but his foundation was incredibly solid, even more so than what he had cultivated on his own.
Ding Yu slowly put down his teacup and bowed to Chen Yuan again to express his gratitude: "Thank you for your generous gift, Elder!"
Chen Yuan said calmly, "This spiritual tea is produced by a ten-thousand-year-old tea tree and mixed with several kinds of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. Although it is pure and mild, your cultivation level is still too low. You can only drink one cup. Any more will be harmful rather than beneficial."
Ding Yu quickly replied, "This disciple dares not be greedy; one cup of spiritual tea is enough."
Chen Yuan nodded slightly: "You must remember that although the opportunity is good, cultivation ultimately depends on your own gradual accumulation and improvement, which is the right path."
Ding Yu's expression turned solemn: "This disciple has remembered."
He had originally hoped that Elder Chen would bestow two more cups of spiritual tea, but at this moment he completely dispelled such thoughts. When he looked at the teapot on the table, he no longer had the slightest bit of greed.
Chen Yuan nodded secretly. He had cultivated for nearly eight hundred years and had seen all kinds of cultivators and demons. He could tell what Ding Yu was thinking just by looking at him.
Chen Yuan intended to mentor Ding Yu, so he couldn't watch him go astray and that's why he spoke up to remind him.
Ding Yu's Dao heart is indeed resilient enough. He can quickly calm down in the face of the temptation of rapid improvement in cultivation. He is worth cultivating.
Chen Yuan drank the spiritual tea cup after cup. This spiritual tea was no longer of much use to him, after all, it was only used by the Treasure Pavilion to entertain Nascent Soul cultivators, and it would not have the effect of a 30,000-year-old spiritual pill.
However, he only has the cultivation level of Refining Emptiness. Although he has the status of a Body Integration cultivator, he does not have the cultivation level of the Body Integration realm. Drinking more spiritual tea can still make his true essence slightly purer.
Before attempting to merge with the body, the purer the true essence, the better. Although this trace is better than nothing, Chen Yuan wouldn't miss any opportunity to cultivate since he had nothing else to do.
Chen Yuan waited in the quiet room for three hours. Seven pots of spiritual tea had already been drunk. The smiles of the women serving him were somewhat stiff, and Ding Yu behind him was completely stunned.
This teapot looks ordinary on the outside, but it is actually a spatial magic treasure that can hold ten catties of spiritual tea inside.
Chen Yuan drank seven pots of spiritual tea, which is seventy catties, equivalent to consuming several ten-thousand-year-old spiritual pills.
In other words, Chen Yuan cultivates both his physical body and spiritual energy, making his physical body stronger and allowing him to absorb spiritual energy at a faster rate.
If it were any other cultivator at the Integration stage, they would only drink four or five pots of spiritual tea at most, and not many Integration stage cultivators would gulp it down like that.
Chen Yuan had no shortage of ten-thousand-year-old elixirs, but these pills would still be of great use at the auction.
His cultivation had reached its limit and he would no longer waste pills, but now that he had encountered this spiritual tea, he would not let it go.
As the woman brought the eighth pot of spiritual tea, the door to the quiet room suddenly flickered a few times, and a melodious bell rang out, seemingly from a very distant place.
The woman secretly breathed a sigh of relief, placed the teapot on the table, and gave Chen Yuan a graceful bow: "The auction is about to begin, please come in, Elder."
Chen Yuan stood up and went to the door. The spiritual light on the door flickered a few more times and then slowly opened.
The room outside wasn't the main hall, but another quiet room.
Chen Yuan was not surprised at all and stepped inside. Ding Yu hesitated for a moment, then followed him in.
The door closed slowly, and the woman's figure disappeared behind it.
The furnishings of this quiet room are almost identical to the previous one, the only difference being that one wall has been transformed into a transparent array, allowing a clear view of the scene outside.
This was an incredibly vast space. Through the array screen, tiny stars, each several meters in size, floated in the hazy sky, shimmering with various colors of spiritual light. At a rough glance, there were thousands of them, and more tiny stars continued to rise from below.
A sky full of stars surrounded a huge stone platform, on which stood a person, none other than Ling Jiuque, who was in charge of the Treasure Pavilion.
Ding Yu stared blankly at the magnificent scene outside the array screen. This was the eighty-first floor of the Treasure Pavilion (note), the venue for the Donghua Auction.
Chen Yuan sat down at the table, where a huge bronze mirror stood. Ripples spread across the mirror's surface, revealing the scene on the distant stone platform. Ling Jiuque appeared in the center of the mirror, his every move clearly visible.
Chen Yuan looked up at the starry sky outside the array. Even though he had heard Elder Yuan mention it before, he was still quite shocked when he saw it for the first time.
The 81st floor of the Treasure Pavilion is a space personally created by Master Fu, specifically for holding the Donghua Auction.
All cultivators participating in the auction must not gather together. Regardless of their cultivation level, they must enter a miniature star. No one knows their identities, nor does anyone know who bought which treasure.
This allows those participating in the auction to bid without worrying about personal relationships or offending any high-level cultivators.
The Donghua Auction House was once renowned throughout the Spirit Realm, not only for the exceptional rarity of its treasures but also for its unique auction method. Other sects, however, could not replicate it. The Lingxiao Auction House held by Tianrui Palace offered even more and rarer treasures than the Donghua Auction House, and enjoyed greater fame, yet it lacked this secretive auction format.
Looking at the starry sky around him, Chen Yuan knew that Fu Zhenren's mastery of the laws of space had reached an inconceivable level, no less than that of any true spirit born from the laws of space.
When no more stars rose into the sky, Ling Jiuque bowed deeply and finally spoke: "I am Ling Jiuque, an elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, in charge of the Treasure Pavilion. Welcome fellow Daoists to the Donghua Auction."
"I assure you all that no one knows your identities, so you can participate in the bidding with peace of mind."
"Furthermore, fellow Daoists, please note that you may only participate in the bidding through the designated market. You must not reveal your identity, communicate with others, or damage the formation. Otherwise, you will be immediately expelled from the auction."
"Finally, I wish all fellow cultivators success in acquiring their desired treasures."
Ling Jiuque bowed again, and his figure slowly disappeared.
After he finished speaking, the auction rules appeared on the bronze mirror in front of Chen Yuan.
Chen Yuan only needs to inject his divine sense into the bronze mirror, and the star where it is located will light up and the price will appear. The higher the bid, the brighter the star will be.
At this moment, another figure appeared on the stone platform. It was Wei Feng, whom Chen Yuan had seen in the Treasure Pavilion before.
He made a four-sided bow and said with a smile, "My name is Wei Feng, and I am in charge of hosting this Donghua Auction."
"The first item up for auction is three bottles of Spring Dew Pills, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation elixir. The quality is excellent. The starting price is fifty mid-grade immortal spirit stones, and each bid must be at least one mid-grade immortal spirit stone higher!"
Without any hesitation, Wei Feng took out three jade bottles made of ten-thousand-year-old spirit jade, poured out a Spring Grass Pill, and could clearly see the details of the pill through the bronze mirror, no flaw could escape his notice.
Of course, it is very easy to fake a perfect treasure or elixir in appearance.
Donghua Auction House has built up a good reputation over thousands of years. All the treasures sold in the past have been carefully inspected and there has never been any mistake.
With a Mahayana sect backing it up, no one doubts the quality of the treasures appearing at the Donghua Auction.
Wei Feng said the pills were of excellent quality, so these three bottles of Spring Grass Pills must be of excellent quality.
"You never have to worry about encountering cold when cultivating elixirs," Wei Feng said. As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yuan saw through the transparent array screen that several stars had become brighter.
The surfaces of these miniature stars are interwoven with light to form the large characters "fifty-one pieces", "fifty-two pieces", and "fifty-three pieces", which are extremely eye-catching.
Don't worry about cultivators bidding recklessly; after bidding on a treasure, you'll need to pay with spirit stones.
If they cannot produce the necessary documents, they will be immediately expelled from this space and will never be allowed to participate in the Donghua Auction again.
The spirit stones they paid for entry will be completely deducted, and if they have a sect or family behind them, they will also be punished by the Tai Xuan Sect.
The Donghua Auction is not something anyone can just attend. At least one must have the cultivation level of Nascent Soul. Depending on the cultivation level, a different amount of spirit stones must be paid, which is beyond the reach of cultivators with limited resources.
The spirit stone will be fully refunded after the auction, or used to offset part of the spirit stones bid during the auction.
However, this is the rule for cultivators from other sects. As an elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, Chen Yuan does not need to pay spirit stones to participate in the Donghua Auction and can also view the list of treasures in advance.
Each Donghua Auction lasts for half a month and features tens of thousands of items.
Ninety percent of them are treasures for Nascent Soul and Void Refinement stages, but there are also quite a few treasures that can be used by Integration stage cultivators, numbering in the hundreds, and occasionally even Mahayana treasures will appear.
Before the auction begins, Duobao Pavilion will spare no effort in promoting it to attract cultivators to participate and allow them to make ample preparations in advance, especially for auctions involving barter.
However, the most influential area of the Treasure Pavilion is the Xuanling Domain. In addition, it has branch pavilions in other spiritual domains of the Star Ruins Continent, but it is not powerful enough to reach other continents.
Moreover, not everyone will send their items in advance. Many cultivators come to the Donghua Auction and bring their treasures to the auction.
There were even cultivators who didn't have enough spirit stones to offer at the auction halfway through.
As a result, Duobaoge no longer has time to promote itself, and unexpected treasures will always appear, sometimes even rare gems, catching people off guard.
A year ago, Chen Yuan personally visited Ling Jiuque at Yanheng Peak.
This disciple of Master Fu, of course, knew how much his master valued Chen Yuan. He took out a list of treasures for Chen Yuan to look through, but also admitted that there might be new treasures to be offered at the auction.
Chen Yuan had no choice. The treasure he needed was of a very high grade. According to custom, it was usually done through barter, so he needed to prepare in advance and couldn't delay too long.
He found his target among tens of thousands of treasures, toured Donghua City, and then traveled to other spiritual realms of the Star Ruins Continent before finally returning to Tongtian Island two months later.
Thanks to the spiritual herbs that Jing Wuji gave him, otherwise he would never have been able to gather the treasures he needed.
Three days ago, he visited Ling Jiuque at Yanheng Peak again, and the list of treasures had changed.
Several newly discovered treasures greatly tempted Chen Yuan, but the requirements were also extremely demanding. He simply couldn't afford them and didn't have time to prepare, so he had no choice but to give up.
……
The three bottles of Spring Grass Pills were eventually bought for an astonishing price of 159 mid-grade immortal spirit stones, an astronomical figure for cultivators below the Integration Realm.
However, those are mid-stage Nascent Soul pills, treasures even rarer than mid-grade immortal spirit stones. Three bottles of these pills are enough to save a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator thousands of years of arduous cultivation. Only at the Donghua Auction would three bottles appear at once.
After the Spring Grass Pill was sold, a Mustard Seed Ring appeared out of thin air in front of Wei Feng. He took the Mustard Seed Ring into his hand, probed it with his divine sense, and then threw out the three bottles of Spring Grass Pill in his hand.
The three jade bottles flew a distance and then suddenly disappeared.
The star that captured the Spring Grass Pill, which was originally dazzling, suddenly dimmed its light, sank down, and disappeared among the other stars.
At the same time, Wei Feng's voice once again traveled through the bronze mirror to the ears of thousands of cultivators participating in the auction.
"The second item, the First-Grade Spiritual Treasure, the Cold Mountain Mace, is crafted primarily from the core and spine of a mid-stage Nascent Soul Demon Saint, the Cold Crocodile, and infused with five kinds of top-grade ice-elemental spiritual materials. It has been meticulously cultivated for three thousand years and contains a trace of the power of the Law of Frost. It can condense a phantom of the Cold Crocodile to defend against enemies. It is considered a superior-grade First-Grade Spiritual Treasure. The starting price is one hundred mid-grade immortal spirit stones, and each bid must be at least one mid-grade immortal spirit stone higher..."
Wei Feng took out a frosty white four-sided iron mace and slowly spun it. Drops of white frost fell, and a dark blue phantom of a ferocious crocodile appeared above the mace. It roared to the sky, and its thick tail swept fiercely, shaking out ice shards in the void, revealing its ferocious nature.
As he spoke, the countless stars began to slowly rotate, and by the time he finished speaking, the star that had bought the three bottles of Spring Grass Pill could no longer be found.
The bidding for a first-grade spiritual treasure was even more intense than that for the Spring Dew Pill. After all, one can cultivate without pills and slowly work hard, but a first-grade spiritual treasure is something that can only be encountered by chance.
Chen Yuan had no interest in this treasure and quietly watched as the miniature stars outside the transparent array lit up one after another.
Ding Yu was in awe after entering the quiet room. He stared intently at the menacing four-sided iron mace reflected in the bronze mirror, his eyes filled with amazement.
His cultivation level was too low, so he had no concept of first-grade spiritual treasures and immortal spiritual stones, but he clearly heard the words "demon saint".
That was a demon saint comparable to a cultivator at the Spirit Realm Integration Stage, yet it had been refined into an iron mace, completely exceeding his expectations.
But seeing Elder Chen's calm demeanor, unmoved by the Cold Mountain Mace, Ding Yu was also inspired and gradually calmed down.
After a fierce bidding war, the Cold Mountain Mace was sold for 320 mid-grade immortal spirit stones, almost double the price of three bottles of Spring Grass Pills.
Only then did Chen Yuan realize the value of the Cangming Halberd in his hand. The Kunyu Demon King who led the demon army to invade the human world must have an extraordinary status in the Kunyu Sacred Clan. He was able to wield a first-grade spiritual treasure weapon with his cultivation at the early stage of the Void Refinement Realm.
Moreover, the Cangming Halberd is not an ordinary first-grade spiritual treasure weapon; it is among the top first-grade spiritual treasures. The Peng bird spirit is so agile that it is only one step away from becoming a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure. If it were to appear at the Donghua Auction, its transaction price would definitely be far higher than that of the Cold Mountain Mace.
There is also the Xuan Yin Armor, which has been repaired. The damaged Xuan Yin Armor is a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure. Now that it has been repaired, its supernatural powers are even more profound. It is likely that it will cause a frenzy among all the Nascent Soul cultivators present.
Chen Yuan possessed extraordinary strength and had traveled to multiple realms, venturing into dangerous places several times and annihilating several royal families in the lower realms. He possessed either ancient treasures or supreme treasures passed down for tens of thousands of years, thus he was not lacking in spiritual treasures.
Besides the Cangming Halberd and the Xuanyin Armor, he also possesses the Guanghan Bow, which can draw upon the power of the stars in the heavens. Although it is only a second-grade spiritual treasure, its profound mysteries are comparable to those of a first-grade spiritual treasure.
But for other cultivators, even a single spiritual treasure is incredibly precious, let alone a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.
It should be noted that many cultivators in the early and middle stages of the Integration Realm only use first-grade spiritual treasures, while cultivators in the Refinement Realm mostly use second-grade spiritual treasures.
Back then, the Wood-Eating Demon King had already reached the pinnacle of the Void Refinement realm. However, upon seeing that the Cangming Halberd in Chen Yuan's hand resembled a first-grade spiritual treasure, he was overjoyed and offered a substantial reward.
Following the Cold Mountain Mace was a demon core from a mid-stage Nascent Soul demon saint, which was also bid on with mid-grade immortal spirit stones.
Three treasures in a row were all from the Nascent Soul stage, which is a common practice at the Donghua Auction House. They first put out three supreme treasures that were auctioned with spirit stones to ignite the enthusiasm of cultivators for bidding.
But the following items were unremarkable, quickly falling into the category of Nascent Soul stage treasures.
After dozens of Nascent Soul stage treasures, there was only one Void Refinement stage treasure mixed in.
The bids dropped from mid-grade immortal spirit stones to low-grade immortal spirit stones and top-grade spirit stones, but the number of miniature stars participating in the bidding increased more than tenfold.
Only a minority of cultivators can afford treasures at the Nascent Soul stage; the vast majority of cultivators participating in the auction are at the Nascent Soul or Void Refinement stages, and these treasures are their real targets.
These treasures were no longer of any use to Chen Yuan, but many of them were strange and unusual things that Chen Yuan had never heard of before. Today, he was greatly amazed and gained a lot of knowledge.
After auctioning off treasures for the Void Refining and Divine Transformation stages for several days in a row, Wei Feng would then bring out a few treasures for the Integration stage so that Integration stage cultivators wouldn't have to wait too long. However, Chen Yuan still hadn't gotten what he wanted.
On the eighth day of the auction, after more than 6,000 treasures had been sold, Wei Feng took out another item.
"Next is the 6,553rd item, a crystallized skeleton of the Void Beast, the Serpent of Emptiness, which is extremely well preserved."
"According to our investigation, this Void Serpent was equivalent to a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator in life. Its crystallized remains are among the best spatial spiritual materials. The seller's requirement is three and a half catties of Glazed Pure Sky Sand, the more the better!" (End of Chapter)