At the end of the tree-lined alley in the south of the city is a three-room courtyard gate with a glazed tile roof, unicorns and auspicious beasts on the left and right, and a gilt plaque reading "Yixinzhai".
The admission fee for the auction is five hundred spiritual stones, and the cultivation level must be at least Dacheng Daqi.
Xue Tong reached the threshold, and the guards in black collected the spirit stones and let him go. Xue Tong noticed that the leader of the guards was wearing blue brocade with a golden Luan bird pattern embroidered on his chest.
"Isn't Tianfeng the territory of Zhanxing Pavilion? What does the Luan bird logo represent?"
"In the middle period of the day after tomorrow, the leader has such a strong gatekeeper. Judging from his temperament, he doesn't look like someone from Yixinzhai."
"The admission fee of five hundred is too exaggerated. You can't even look down on it to watch the excitement!"
Xue Tong made up his mind not to cause trouble. He would refine the elixir as long as he could, and if he couldn't, he would not be in a hurry. He would plant the medicine first and then talk about it.
The auction hall is magnificent. The semi-enclosed seats on the ground floor do not interfere with each other. The private rooms on the second and third floors are wrapped in colorful fabrics. The whole place gives people a luxurious and extravagant feeling.
An old man who described himself as old came on stage and announced the start of the auction.
"Welcome fellow Taoists, there are seventeen items in the auction today, including items from our collection as well as exquisite items commissioned by distinguished guests."
After the old man explained the rules, he left, and two charming women came on stage to display the first auction item.
"She's not as pretty as Fan Ruyu. The scene at Yixinzhai was quite big, but the beautiful auctioneer was not so good." Xue Tong recalled the enchanting scene in Songpo Town.
"A set of Tuoluo spiritual bones and Qihuang blood essence, the starting price is fifty thousand."
Xue Tong's expression moved slightly. This set of spiritual materials was used when refining corpses. Three to five sets were needed to upgrade Wei Geng's bronze corpse to a silver corpse.
Khotan gathered guests from all over, and there was no shortage of corpse refiners. The auction immediately attracted six or seven people to bid.
Xue Tong closed his eyes slightly, it had nothing to do with him, he just looked at the excitement.
A set of spiritual materials was finally sold for 85,000.
…
The auctioneer's white arms held the golden plate and walked around the stage to display the fifteenth lot.
"Master Gaotong entrusted us to auction two treasures. What you see are eight kinds of elixirs: Steamed Xiacao, Zhuzelan, Rockthorn, Longjuncao, Burning Sunflower, Patterned Palm Bamboo, Pingling Guo, and Ji Wuxin. Young plants, twenty of each kind, will be auctioned together.”
The gold plate is covered with red silk, and eight transparent crystal boxes are arranged in two rows, with the young seedlings stacked inside them vaguely visible.
The eight elixirs are all the main ingredients in third- and fourth-grade elixir recipes. Although they are seedlings, so many of them are auctioned at once. Yixinzhai claims that this is the first time in thirty years.
The age of the medicinal materials required for alchemy depends on the grade of the elixir. The third and fourth grade medicinal strains sold by Great Alchemist Gaotong cannot be used for elixirs for hundreds of years.
Hundreds of years of cultivating medicine is too long even for the sect. Fortunately, there are various methods of ripening elixirs in the mysterious world, and they can be used with ease.
Wuhua Ye can mature these rare medicinal seedlings in twenty years, and the expensive Ten Extracts of Dew can even reduce the time by half.
"One hundred thousand!"
The voice came from the private room on the third floor. It was a simple sentence, but it suddenly silenced the whole audience. Xue Tong felt like a spring breeze, soothing like a dry throat flowing through a clear spring. The voice was so pleasant and charming.
"Immortal envoy?"
Xue Tong secretly praised: "If you hear the immortal voice, you are worthy of being an immortal envoy."
The immortal envoy was the first to make an offer, seemingly shouldering the mission of the immortal palace and determined to win.
Xue Tong grinned and thought: "It's good, but I won't get involved."
It was unwise to offend Xiangong and the other bidding warriors. Xue Tong firmly believed in not causing trouble and never quoted a price since the beginning of the auction.
"One hundred and ten thousand" came the hoarse voice from the box on the second floor.
After more than ten rounds of bidding, the people from Quexian Palace got their wish and won it for 230,000 yuan.
…
As soon as the sixteenth lot was launched, it immediately caused an uproar.
"Two Kuizhidan pills refined by Master Gaotong, the quality is impeccable."
"Wow, there are Kui Zhi Dan in the auction. Two of them at a time will almost definitely break the level."
Xue Tong was shocked. He would upgrade to the acquired level sooner or later. If he took the Kui Zhi Dan, the early to mid-acquired level would become a piece of cake.
He suppressed his inner desire, "In life, you need to know how to make choices and weigh the pros and cons. It's unreasonable for me to join in the fun as a martial arts disciple. I will definitely get into trouble!"
The competition in the field was extremely fierce. The fairy's soft melody remained consistent, while the rest's tone fluctuated, showing the anxiety and uneasiness in their hearts.
"Five hundred and eighty thousand!"
The latest round of quotations from Quexian Palace finally silenced everyone, and Xue Tong heard the sound of things being thrown in the private room.
The Immortal Envoy of Immortal Palace used the power of the sect to defeat all opponents and had the last laugh.
"The Immortal Envoy represents the Immortal Palace, where is the Zhanxing Pavilion? Why don't we see anyone coming?!" Xue Tong wondered secretly.
…
"The three-goat medicinal cauldron is a medium-grade magical weapon. The cauldron is the final treasure. Don't miss it." The auctioneer's sweet voice reminded everyone present.
The three-layer medicine cauldron has a five-foot bronze cauldron body, engraved with fantastic and simple spiritual patterns; the second layer is a ring-shaped medicine box, about two inches high, with circular holes carved into it; the top layer of the cauldron has a lid with patterns of flowers and exotic herbs. A majestic ram echoes the two sheep with tripod ears, making them a perfect match.
"What a three-goat medicinal cauldron!"
At the Khotan Feng Medicinal Materials Festival, most of the visitors were related to alchemy. How could everyone not know the goods?
As soon as the medicinal cauldron appeared, it aroused admiration.
The bidding price of the medicine tripod skyrocketed, and Xue Tong was itching to endure it until the end.
The medicine cauldron was sold for 520,000 spirit stones and was bought by a highly accomplished warrior.
"It's finally over!" Xue Tong wiped the sweat from his palms. If he could choose from the seventeen lots, he would at least be interested in buying thirteen.
Xue Tong was about to get up and leave, but found that the people in the auction hall had no intention of leaving.
The old man came back on stage and said: "Yixinzhai has carefully organized this auction and invited all distinguished guests. As usual, after the auction, fellow Taoists are welcome to sell spiritual materials and spiritual objects. You can go to the back hall to discuss the details."
"No wonder" Xue Tong understood. Yi Xin Zhai's auction had a few more tricks up its sleeve.
He was pacing outside the house, "The auction house collects all kinds of treasures. Maybe there are alchemy techniques to sell? Shall I talk to the treasure appraiser?"
When I looked up while thinking, I saw a man walking over in a hurry, holding a stone egg in his hand and looking very angry.
"Brother, if you stay, Yixinzhai won't accept Taoist friend's treasure?" Xue Tong accosted him.
"Yes, you are really blind. Let me try my luck at Jinluan Trading Company." The man said angrily.
Xue Tong thought, "Jinluan Trading Company?"
He thought of the warrior in blue when he entered.
Xue Tong grabbed the man who failed to sell the goods and stuffed a medium-grade spiritual stone into his palm.
"I'm sorry for my ignorance, but what does Jinluan Trading Company do?"
The man took a look at the quality of the spirit stone and stopped to chat with Xue Tong for a few words.
From what he said, he learned that Jinluan Trading Company was a mysterious trading company located all over Chongguang. It only bought and sold rare items. The trading company's influence was spread all over the mainland, and it even had branches in barbarian territories.
The business of Jinluan Trading Company is highly confidential. Where the headquarters is located and who is the leader is unknown to the outside world. Some of Yi Xin Zhai's lots today were most likely from a trading house. The warriors in blue were probably assisting in viewing the auction. At the same time, they made their identities known to warn those with evil intentions not to move.
"Then brother, why don't you go to the trading company and try it?"
"You will have to hand over a thousand spiritual stones upon entering the merchant house. I have to think about it."
"Where is the trading house?"
"West Seventh Street"
Xue Tong found important information and returned home satisfied.
…
Three days later, West 7th Street.
The door of Jinluan Trading Company is not very eye-catching, with a golden Luan bird engraved on the plaque and no other symbols.
Xue Tong explained his purpose of coming, and the steward of the courtyard received a thousand spiritual stones from him and introduced him to a brick and wood hut with green tiles and red walls in the courtyard.
"The guests sit down first, and I'll go and invite them."
Xue Tong looked at his surroundings. There were ten brick and wooden houses in the courtyard. Sure enough, there was a one-to-one transaction, and the confidentiality of the transaction was extremely high.
After a while, an old man with gray beard and hair entered the room. He had a good temperament and a slightly hunched back. He was in the middle stage of acquired cultivation.
"Does the guest want to buy something or sell something?" the old man asked.
"Buy or buy, sell or sell!"
"Jinluan Trading Company likes customers like this the most. Let's take a look at the customer's things first."
Xue Tong took out a dark metal ring.
"Oh" the old man picked up the ring and started to figure it out.
"This pattern is a bit unique..."
"I am the one with the broken ring..." As soon as Xue Tong said this, the old man suddenly raised his head and immediately interrupted him.
"Don't tell me where the broken ring came from. The business doesn't care about the origin of the things, nor does it care about who the things sold are given to. If you dare to talk nonsense, get out!" The old man seemed to be quite angry and warned sternly.
"Yes, yes, I understand." Xue Tong was overjoyed when he heard this. Jinluan Trading Company's business rules were exactly what he wanted. It was a blessing from God!
"It looks like a fifth-level French language, allowing me to shine for a moment." The old man's expression changed, and he stared at the broken ring pattern, as if he was completely immersed in the artistic conception of the graphic.
The broken ring is the Wuyi golden ring that Xue Tong copied in the past in Donglai Town.
Xue Tong prepared two spiritual objects. It would be best if the ring could be sold for money. If not, it would be better to replace it with colorful lingzhi. As the deputy bishop of Dayue, Dou Jingdu had a hard time finding it. Jinluan Trading Company had no stock even if he wanted to, so he had to buy it. His Ganoderma lucidum.
"I'm 40-50 sure that it's fifth-level French. Can you tell me how much you plan to sell it for?"
"Ten French coins, three hundred thousand!"
"Thirty thousand yuan a piece, so it's not expensive, but I can't be sure of its authenticity, so I can only buy it at a 30% discount, making it into hundreds of thousands."
"The 30% discount is too cheap. Can someone else take a look?" Xue Tong asked unwillingly.
"Impossible, unless the guest comes back another day, and if by chance he meets me again, the price will still be the same."
Xue Tong thought for a moment and said, "One hundred thousand, just one hundred thousand."
"Okay, what do you want to buy?" The old man still spoke in such an unhurried manner.
"I want to buy a set of alchemy techniques, the art of refining alchemy."
"Oh, what price does the customer want to buy?" the old man asked in a calm voice.
When things came to a close, Xue Tong hesitated.
Naturally, the more sophisticated the alchemy is, the better, but the high-end price is too shocking, will it scare the business?
He sold the ring as a test. The merchant was willing to spend 100,000 yuan to buy a piece of tatters that was not sure whether it was authentically stamped in French or not, which greatly boosted his confidence.
Xue Tong's thoughts raced, and he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Elixir worth eight hundred thousand."
"Oh" a light flashed in the old man's eyes, showing a little surprise for the first time.
"Okay!" The old man's voice returned to calmness.
He turned and left, and after a while he brought three pieces of jade.
