Yun Fuzhao took out the token from her sleeve.
The taller of the two men reached out and took it, his hands clad in pitch-black leather gloves.
‘These two really are wrapped up tight from head to toe.’
Yun Fuzhao had heard that the origins of this exchange were a mystery and that the factions it involved were extensive.
‘To be able to do business across the Six Realms, the mastermind behind it must be anything but simple.’
The man pressed the token into a groove in the wall, and the large door slowly swung open.
“Please.”
The man returned the token with both hands.
Yun Fuzhao nodded and stepped inside.
It was pitch-black inside, with not a single speck of light.
Just as Yun Fuzhao was feeling puzzled, a man about her height suddenly appeared before her.
“My lord, please follow me.”
‘The man’s footsteps were silent, his breathing even.
To be able to approach me so quietly, his Cultivation must be at the Golden Core realm or above.’
‘Could it be that even the Attendants guiding the way here have reached the Nascent Soul realm?’
He led Yun Fuzhao past a series of private rooms.
Upon reaching the second-to-last one, he pushed the door open and made an inviting gesture.
As the private room door opened, a faint light spilled out.
Yun Fuzhao got a clear look at the man’s face.
It was completely unremarkable—the kind you wouldn’t be able to pick out of a crowd.
“The Projection Stone is on the wooden table in the center.
My lord, you can use it by placing your token against it.
We have prepared wine and refreshments.
If you need anything, just call for me.
I hope my lord will be successful in bidding for a desired item at Wanbao Pavilion.”
After speaking, the man gave her a bow and left.
Ambergris was burning in the room, its elegant, fresh fragrance soothing the senses.
The table was laden with fruits from various lands.
Among them, some fist-sized, crimson fruits even emanated a pure Spiritual Energy.
Yun Fuzhao had never seen this type of fruit before, but she could tell from its quality that it was expensive.
‘This Wanbao Pavilion really reeks of money everywhere.’
Yun Fuzhao pressed her token against the piece of jade in the center.
The emerald-green Memory Stone lit up, quickly projecting an image onto the wall.
It was a place resembling a stage, where a man in a purple Dark Flower Moon Palace Victory Pattern Robe slowly walked out from behind a curtain.
Yun Fuzhao took out her Purple Sandalwood Beauty Couch.
The moment it touched the floor, it transformed into a seat resembling a boss’s chair.
She plopped down on it with great satisfaction.
Taking off her mask, Yun Fuzhao leisurely tossed fruits into her mouth one by one.
[Wanbao Pavilion…
this old man hasn’t been here for many years…]
[I once bid on quite a few elixirs here.]
The man on the screen was still making some irrelevant opening remarks, so Yun Fuzhao started chatting with the Great Powers.
Yun Fuzhao: [Hey big shots, do you know who the faction behind this Wanbao Pavilion is?]
[Wanbao Pavilion operates across the Six Realms.
There are many conflicting rumors about its true master.]
[Yun Family Team 2 You Ziqian: Most people speculate it’s related to the Rebirth Hall.]
[Yun Family Team 1 Hong Ziqing: A lot of people also guess it’s the Ghost Realm.
After all, they love wearing those big black robes.]
The names they mentioned were completely foreign to Yun Fuzhao; they were barely mentioned in the original plot.
“Let’s take a look at our first collectible of the day.”
On the screen, two beautiful women wheeled in a large, square object.
It was covered with a crimson cloth, completely concealing it.
“I wonder what could be inside?” The man deliberately built up the suspense.
Once he had teased their appetites enough, he slowly pulled a corner of the red cloth to unveil it.
Inside a glass case, a pitch-black longsword hovered, wreathed in plumes of inky energy.
The dark energy was like a bound Fierce Beast, clawing and thrashing against the glass.
Yun Fuzhao heard piercing wails.
“This is the first collectible of the day.
Its origins are unknown, and it is extremely difficult to control.
Starting bid: one hundred Mid grade Spirit Stones.”
Yun Fuzhao stared at the pitch-black longsword on the screen.
Her heart inexplicably clenched, and it felt as if something was trying to burst out of her chest.
[Yun Family Team 2 You Ziqian: Hold your breath and focus your mind.
This sword can bewitch the heart.]
Reading this sentence, Yun Fuzhao circulated her Spiritual Energy.
The Spirit Root in her Dantian began to operate, slowly calming her agitated emotions.
Yun Fuzhao touched her chest; the strange feeling still lingered.
‘This sword is just too demonic.
No wonder it’s the first item up for auction.
You have to understand, the biggest taboo for Cultivators is an unstable Dao heart.
Many Cultivators fall into demonic cultivation because a Heart Demon emerges during a breakthrough.’
Demon Cultivators are different from the Demon Clan.
Members of the Demon Clan are born as demons, and their power grows with age.
Demon Cultivators, on the other hand, are more like a mongrel creation.
They have no reason and are nothing but merciless killing machines.
As such, they are hunted down by the Six Realms.
No Cultivator would be willing to form a contract with a sword that looks so sinister; that would undoubtedly be gambling with their own Cultivation.
Perhaps only the Demon Clan would be interested in something like this.
But the members of the Demon Clan are weapons themselves; they don’t care for such flashy things.
The auction feed fell silent.
“Two hundred Mid grade Spirit Stones.”
Yun Fuzhao heard a voice that had been specially distorted.
After the first bidder, a few more sporadic bids appeared.
In the end, the longsword was sold for three hundred and twenty Mid grade Spirit Stones.
Yun Fuzhao wasn’t interested in the next few collectibles, simply listening as people on the screen kept calling out bids.
“Next up is our fifth collectible of the day: a Beast Core from a Sixth Rank Green-eyed Spirit Cat.
Starting bid: fifty top grade spiritual stones.”
Yun Fuzhao sat up straight.
A Sixth Rank Spiritual Beast.
If it were alive, she truly wouldn’t be able to kill it with her current strength, so she could only buy a ready-made one.
‘A Sixth Rank core…
If I feed this to Jiao Yu, it won’t turn its nose up at it this time, right?’
“Seventy top grade spiritual stones.”
Yun Fuzhao noticed that the voice she called out with had also been distorted in tone.
Another voice rang out, “One hundred top grade spiritual stones.”
Yun Fuzhao immediately followed, “One hundred and fifty top grade spiritual stones.”
“One hundred and seventy.”
Gritting her teeth, Yun Fuzhao said, “Two hundred.”
The feed went silent.
Although a Sixth grade Beast Core was rare, it came from a dead spirit beast.
Most Cultivators would just buy it to feed their own spirit beasts.
Spending two hundred top grade spiritual stones on a single Beast Core was a bit of a waste.
In the end, Yun Fuzhao won the Sixth grade Beast Core.
After that expenditure, she was left with only fifty Mid grade Spirit Stones.
With so little, she probably couldn’t even afford the red cloth covering the collectibles.
Not that Yun Fuzhao had intended to spend money on the Fox Clan Young Master anyway.
He was the finale item and was guaranteed to cost a fortune.
[Hong Ziqing has gifted top grade spiritual stones x500]
[Wei Heyu has gifted top grade spiritual stones x500]
[…]
A few other unfamiliar Great Powers also gifted some, and suddenly, Yun Fuzhao’s pocket held one thousand nine hundred top grade spiritual stones.
Yun Fuzhao blissfully lay back down.
‘I almost forgot about this heaven-defying cheat of mine.’
‘With the Great Powers here, maybe I really do have a chance of buying the Fox Clan Young Master outright.’
“And now, for our sixth collectible of the day,” the man said with a curl of his lip, slowly pulling back the red cloth.
“An ancient and mysterious scroll fragment…”