A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 801-Chapter 1000)

Ge Tianhao glanced at the old man and calmly said, “Senior Martial Brother Yin Li, I’ve only had you do this to stir him into action. This wasn’t meant to actually find this person. As his abilities are great, we have no method of seeing through his true identity. However, the aggressive manner of this search might fluster him and cause him to break his appearance. Even if he is completely unphased and can keep his disguise up, you don’t need to worry. As the Soaring Tribes and the Heavenly Devil Sect have a bit of friendship between them, Fellow Daoist Lin has already gone to the borrow the Clearsound Mirror from Fellow Daoist Sevenwonders. Unfortunately, he is occupied in his residence and won’t emerge for a few days. As such, our best plan of action would be to continue searching. And even if we can’t find him, he might let his guard down. Then, during the last two days of the auction, we will have the Clearsound Mirror break through his concealment and we’ll be able to quickly capture him.”


The sharp-eyed old man’s face lit up and he excitedly said, “ Given your unrivalled skill in planning, it is impossible that we’d do something of wasted effort. If it's like that, we won’t need to call over the Sect Master and the grand elders. We’ll gain great merit in the sect once we capture him.”

“I hope so.” Ge Tianhao dryly laughed and then glanced in the direction of the Treasureshine Hall.

From how he was being handled, it was clear that they viewed him as a fearsome character. It was only natural considering that he killed their sect’s fourth elder who was at the peak of mid-Nascent Soul stage. It wouldn’t be strange for things to go against their expectations so it was best for them to be careful.

With that in mind, Ge Tianhao unconsciously wore a sullen expression.

...

At that moment, Han Li was standing in front of a huge stone building. There was a layer of rainbow light covering it, giving the building a mysterious aura.

But what surprised him was that there was now another white stone hall floating above the Treasureshine Hall. It was one third the size of the building below but it was still colossal and spanned at least a kilometer in area.

In front of Han Li stood a yellow-robed attendant with Foundation Establishment cultivation. He was giving Han Li an explanation with a respectful tone. At that point, Han Li had ceased concealing his Nascent Soul cultivation. While the auction attendant viewed him with indifference, he didn’t dare to be rude.

In front of the building, there were several other similarly dressed attendants present. They were all accompanying Nascent Soul stage cultivators. As for the Core Formation stage cultivators, they were simply standing in front of a stone tablet that was set up in front of the building gate. They were reading what was carved on it.

After a while, Han Li withdrew his gaze from his surroundings and turned his attention back on the attendant, saying, “The participation fee for the Nascent Soul-stage auction will be a thousand spirit stones, and will take place in the Nine Firmaments Hall. And the Core Formation-grade auction will take place in Treasureshine Hall with a participation fee of a hundred spirit stones. Is that right?”

The attendant smiled and said, “It is exactly as Senior says. There are quite a few more cultivators participating in this auction than expected. As such, we had no choice but to borrow the Nine Firmaments Hall from the Hidden Fortune Pavilion in an emergency. Our spirit stone fees are the same as always, though. They are primarily used to avoid having the auctions from being too crowded, or else anyone could enter, allowing over ten times as many people. However, a senior like yourself shouldn’t view such a small sum of spirit stones with much regard.”

“A thousand spirit stones? Your hall is quite skilled in acquiring riches. But as you said, so long as I am able to grab the items I desire, this amount of spirit stones is of little cost. I have no interest in the Core Formation-grade auction and will only be participating in the Nascent Soul-grade auction.” Han Li waved his hand and tossed ten mid-grade spirit stones towards the yellow-robed attendant.

“Please come in, Senior. The Nascent Soul-grade auction will begin in the late morning. This is an auction badge. You can this to enter the later days of the auction.” The attendant took the spirit stones with a smile and handed over a jade badge over to Han Li.

He accepted the badge and his body wordlessly flickered with azure light. He then flew towards the large hall in the sky in a streak of light, along with other cultivators.

When Han Li arrived at the gate of the Nine Firmaments Hall, he saw that there was no one there apart from a barrier of white light.

His brow stirred and he poured a bit of spiritual power into the jade badge. Suddenly, a beam of red light flew out from the badge and split the barrier.

Without another thought, he flew inside in a blur before the gate sealed itself again.

Four hours later, several hundreds of Nascent Soul-stage cultivators had gathered together in the Nine Firmaments Hall.

With three huge bell strikes, the grand auction convened.





Chapter 951: Ebony Gold


Han Li sat in a desolate corner of the hall and indifferently glanced at a middle-aged man wearing black robes standing at the front three hundred meters away. He held a faint yellow crystal and gave the item a simple introduction.

“Turmeric Crystal, found in the vast deserts of the southwest border of the empire. It is something that can only be found a kilometer deep into the sand. It is an extremely hardy material and outstanding in creating earth-attribute magic treasures as it contains large amounts of earth-attribute spiritual Qi. The minimum bid for this item is eight thousand spirit stones. Each increasing bid must be at least a thousand spirit stones.” The man spoke clearly and didn’t make any excessive attempt to present the item.

Of course, the conductor of the auction possessed Nascent Soul cultivation, and under Han Li’s careful observation, he discovered that he was at the peak of mid-Nascent Soul stage, possessing the greatest cultivation in the hall. Considering that he had an audience of several hundred similar grade cultivators, the overwhelming pressure of their combined spiritual sense would be enough to stupify any lower-grade cultivator. With him presiding over the auction, none would dare to raise any trouble.

As for the Turmeric Crystal, although it was a good material for refining earth attribute techniques, only a sparse few were bidding for it. Eventually, it was acquired by a nameless cultivator for twelve thousand spirit stones. The following items, they were treated with only slight interest.

Han Li watched this as he sat back in his chair with indifference.

Since the auction would go on for several days, the items that would be on display for the first day wouldn’t be particularly great. Although these materials are rare enough to catch some interest from Nascent Soul cultivators that truly required them, they were only there to take up time until enough cultivators gathered at the auction. A few good items will be taken out at the end to the audience interested for the next day’s auction, and these items would be where the bidding wars would take place.

With that thought, Han Li didn’t pay much attention and lazily observed many of the other Nascent Soul cultivators in the hall. Although these were a small portion of the peak cultivators in the Great Jin, they represented the empire’s various powers and factions.

But what most attracted his attention were three large Buddhist monks with glossy foreheads sitting in the hall.

One of the monks was rather lean, while another was somewhat plump, and the third had an amiable appearance and long, white facial hair. The three all wore grey Buddhist robes and had lowered heads.

Since this was the first time Han Li had seen high-grade cultivators from a Buddhist sect, he looked at them for quite a while. The one sitting at the center was the eldest amongst them and met his gaze. Although it appeared warm and peaceful, Han Li couldn’t help but feel his heart tremble at the sight.

The old monk appeared quite sharp, not surprising given that Buddhist sects rival Daoist and Confucian Sects in the Great Jin. As Han Li was unwilling to accidentally arouse any hostility, he immediately withdrew his spiritual sense and maintained a cool appearance.

After the old monk took a look at Han Li, he maintained his original calm demeanor and returned his attention elsewhere.