Starry Sky Professional Directory 44
Chapter 44: Foundation Establishment (Monthly Vote Request at the Beginning of the Month)
“‘Danqing Sword,’ starting bid, one hundred low-grade spirit stones!”
Hearing Zheng Yuan’ao’s bid, Fang Xing’s heart immediately turned cold. Even though he was relatively good at making money, he currently only had a few dozen spirit stones at most. For a post-innate martial artist, this was already quite a significant amount. Bidding for the ‘Danqing Sword’ would likely attract trouble.
‘Besides… I don’t need such a good sword now that I’m not leaving the city…’
Just as Fang Xing finished thinking this, he saw an innate martial artist excitedly stand up: “One hundred spirit stones!”
“One hundred and one!”
Other martial artists also began to compete.
A blood-refined weapon! For innate martial artists, if they cultivated to the peak of the innate realm and obtained a blood-refined weapon, their status would be almost equivalent to a Qi Condensation mid-stage cultivator. This was the limit for secular martial artists! Unfortunately, martial artists were all poor, and the price of this ‘Danqing Sword’ was rising very slowly.
“One hundred and twenty spirit stones!”
A voice rang out, causing Fang Xing to slightly move, and he looked towards the square. The speaker was cloaked in black, their demeanor calm and composed, but lacking the masculine aura of innate martial artists.
“It’s a cultivator!”
“A cultivator, why are they competing for a blood-refined weapon with us?”
“Probably for their descendants or servants.”
A group of innate martial artists secretly cursed in their hearts. But Fang Xing recognized the owner of the voice: “It’s him? Chen Yi, the leader of the Azure Mountain Five Virtues! He’s also here, no, why would he buy a blood-refined weapon?”
“One hundred and thirty spirit stones! Hehe, Chen Dao you finally appeared, hiding your head and tail, did you think I wouldn’t recognize you?”
At this moment, from a private box, an arrogant voice sounded: “Why are you buying a blood-refined weapon? Do you still want to renew your relationship with those brothers? Unfortunately, two of your brothers seem to be dead, and the two women left don’t want to associate with you…”
“It’s him? Fu Qing?”
Fang Xing’s heart stirred. He didn’t quite understand why Chen Yi initially partnered with Fu Qing to ambush Wanfeng Forest, then turned against him.
‘Only profit could cause cultivators to turn against each other! Could it be… that there is some secret in that nameless desolate valley?’
“One hundred and forty spirit stones! Old man’s business, I don’t need to explain it to you!” After being discovered, Chen Yi didn’t bother pretending anymore, directly pulling off his veil, revealing his aged face. He seemed to have grown much more haggard in this period of time.
“One hundred and fifty spirit stones! Old man, come out of the market if you dare!”
Fu Qing seemed to hate Chen Yi, but due to the market rules, he dared not act. His words were full of reservations, which made Fang Xing thoughtful.
“Alright, this is Zheng’s auction, please don’t bring your personal grievances here…”
Zheng Yuan’ao suddenly spoke. The deterrence of a Foundation Establishment family was still present, and Chen Yi immediately fell silent.
“One hundred and fifty spirit stones, the Danqing Sword goes to the guest in Box number sixteen!”
With Zheng Yuan’ao’s voice, this small commotion subsided. But Fang Xing, looking at Chen Yi, suddenly felt that the other party had deliberately exposed themselves.
‘Not only did he not conceal his voice, but he also openly clashed with the Black Tiger Gang… Was he fishing? Or… attracting a major player? Whether he successfully bids or not is completely unimportant…’
‘Forget it, it doesn’t concern me anyway, let’s watch the show…’
Fang Xing looked relaxed, leaning back in his chair. But soon, he couldn’t remain so relaxed.
“Dragon Blood Pill, refined using the essence and marrow of ‘Azure Blood Dragon Carp’ as the main ingredients. Although the ‘Azure Blood Dragon Carp’ is not of high rank, legend has it that it is a dragon species, carrying a trace of Jiao Dragon bloodline. Therefore, the Dragon Blood Pill contains dragon power, which can help martial artists or cultivators refine their physique…”
Zheng Yuan’ao held a jade bottle, his voice calm: “Because our Zheng family exterminated a group of ‘Azure Blood Dragon Carp,’ this pill will be sold in Zheng family’s pharmacy in the future. Ten bottles are being auctioned now, each with a starting price of fifty spirit stones! You can bid secretly, and the ten with the highest final bids will win…”
For the Zheng family, this was a small game during the auction’s intermission, a way to promote their own pills. After all, after exterminating the ‘Azure Blood Dragon Carp,’ they kept some fry, and are trying to cultivate them, eventually expanding it into an industry chain.
“Jiao Dragon bloodline?”
Fang Xing became interested.
“My ‘Great Dragon Stake’ has progressed slowly since reaching the mastery level… I wonder if this pill will have any effect?”
“The Great Dragon Stake only simulates a dragon, but this Dragon Blood Pill might actually contain a trace of Jiao Dragon blood? Even the aura would be good… at the very least, it’s definitely suitable for me to comprehend the ‘Dragon’s Intent Realm’!”
What is a dragon? If you haven’t even seen a Jiao Dragon, and you say you want to comprehend the ‘Dragon’s Intent Realm,’ isn’t that a joke?
He thought for a moment, and dropped a note into the tray the servant girl brought, writing down the maximum number of spirit stones he could afford and his seat number. If he won, he could go to the transaction point with his seat number.
Soon, Zheng Yuan’ao smiled, taking a slip of paper: “Congratulations to the following ten friends who won the ‘Dragon Blood Pill,’ seat number twenty-seven, seat number sixty-five…”
“Not bad, I actually won.”
Fang Xing below nodded slightly, then sighed inwardly: ‘Sixty-seven spirit stones, even more expensive than the Innate Pill, if it’s useless, I’ll have lost big…’
‘But the Innate Pill only allows one to advance to the Innate stage, while the Dragon Blood Pill might allow one to comprehend an Intent Realm, which is the ability of the fourth realm… So if it’s effective, it’s still a gain.’
He continued watching, seeing one precious item after another. From Qi Condensation stage breakthrough pills, to puppets, spirit plants… everything was included. Unfortunately, most of them were only suitable for cultivators.
“Next, are the three final auction items of this auction!”
Suddenly, Zheng Yuan’ao’s voice became serious, with a hint of excitement, instructing a servant girl to present a grayish small pouch.
“One low-grade storage pouch, containing three cubic spaces for storage, but cannot store living things… starting bid, three thousand low-grade spirit stones!”
Before he could finish, the auction hall became noisy:
“Storage pouch? It’s actually a storage pouch?”
“So expensive, such a treasure, probably only Foundation Establishment cultivators, and few Qi Condensation cultivators are qualified to own…”
…
“Spatial item?”
Fang Xing’s eyes lit up. Blue Star Federation’s spatial technology was actually quite ordinary, until those extra-dimensional evil gods invaded from the imaginary space, forcing them to catch up, but they still couldn’t intercept all attacks one hundred percent. This kind of small spatial item, perhaps even the Federation’s Martial Saints, Martial Gods… might not be qualified to possess!
“More importantly… this represents another civilization’s interpretation of the spatial Dao… if I sell it to a top consortium or laboratory, even tens of billions of Star Coins would be commonplace… alright, I dare not!”
Fang Xing shook his head, listening with interest to Zheng Yuan’ao’s introduction. He learned that this ‘storage pouch’ was an extremely special artifact, made from the tanned leather of a certain void attribute demonic beast, difficult to damage by ordinary artifacts, but the key was… it still requires mana or spiritual sense to use!
“I feel the malice of the world, this cultivator world is too unfriendly to me…”
He complained in his heart, watching the price of the storage pouch slowly rise, finally being taken by a cultivator in a private box for six thousand eight hundred spirit stones.
…
“The second to last final auction item… is a contract, someone wants to resell a shop in the market, the original ‘Qingyun Small Shop,’ starting price, four thousand five hundred spirit stones…”
Zheng Yuan’ao said with a smile.
“It’s actually a land deed? This kind of thing is only useful to large forces, right?”
Fang Xing shook his head, watching the large forces in the boxes compete, finally bidding an astronomical price. Although the price seemed high, large forces were passed down through generations, and obtaining a shop in the market, this kind of hen that lays golden eggs, they could ultimately earn it back. This inevitably reminded Fang Xing of those infrastructure projects, all high-input high-return, just needing a longer time frame.
“Hmm? Why does the atmosphere feel a bit off?”
Fang Xing was about to watch the fun, but he noticed that the auction hall atmosphere was a bit strange. In the void, there seemed to be an inexplicable pressure. It even made him feel as if a fierce beast was beside him, constantly staring at him!
“It’s a Foundation Establishment cultivator!”
“The Zheng family ancestor has arrived, it seems the rumors are true… It seems the owner of Qingyun Small Shop is selling their assets for this last item…”
Fang Xing heard two cultivators talking nearby, his heart stirred.
Buzz!
On the auction stage, array patterns appeared, converging into a silver, translucent large bowl, inverted to cover the entire platform. Then, Zheng Yuan’ao looked extremely solemn, personally holding a tray forward:
“The last item, a Foundation Establishment Spirit Treasure—a bottle of Qianyuan Fire Restriction!”
In the tray, there was only a jade bottle, inside seemed to be a viscous crimson liquid, streaks of crimson light shone through the bottle, penetrating to the outside, with scorching currents of air…
“It’s actually a Foundation Establishment Spirit Treasure!”
“This auction actually has a Foundation Establishment opportunity?”
The cultivators present seemed to go crazy, especially those at the late Qi Condensation and peak Qi Condensation stages, all staring intently at Zheng Yuan’ao on the high platform, or rather… the jade bottle in Zheng Yuan’ao’s hand. If it weren’t for the Zheng family ancestor deliberately leaking their aura to deter them, and the existence of the array, someone would have already rushed up to snatch it!
Foundation Establishment! This was the lifelong pursuit of all Qi Condensation cultivators. Once successful, they could live over two hundred years, fly with their bodies, and lord it over others! But breakthrough to Foundation Establishment was extremely difficult. Without the aid of Foundation Establishment opportunities, it was almost a one in a hundred chance of success, and failure could even lead to death!
Among the Foundation Establishment opportunities, the best was naturally the Foundation Establishment Pill, which is said to increase the success rate by two to three percent. Next, were various Foundation Establishment Spirit Treasures that were beneficial for the three stages of Foundation Establishment.
Zheng Yuan’ao’s voice trembled slightly, it was unknown how much effort it took for him to move his eyes away from the ‘Qianyuan Fire Restriction’: “Qianyuan Fire Restriction, can refine the body and mana, greatly beneficial for overcoming the ‘physical body stage’ among the three stages of Foundation Establishment, and slightly beneficial to the ‘mana stage’… overall, it can increase the probability of peak Qi Condensation cultivators practicing fire attribute cultivation methods breaking through to Foundation Establishment by half a percent to one percent, starting price… ten thousand low-grade spirit stones!”
(End of Chapter)
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