After buying a decorative art that was actually a calligraphy holding the sharp sword intent of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, a rare herb that was mislabeled and sold for cheap, and a Starmetal Alloy being sold as Scrap metal, he finally returned to his usual Auction House to auction off these items and buy a few others that interested him.
Either he was lucky or… oh, who was he kidding. It was definitely his fortune at work, because he learned that the Auction would be selling a Foundation Establishment Pill today. And he decided to acquire it for his mother.
Yes, the empire had promised ten Foundation Establishment Pills to his family. But who knows how long it'll take for them to arrive. Maybe a few months, or maybe even a few years.
His mother has already wasted a few years stuck at the peak of Qi Condensation Realm. And he didn't want her to stay stuck at that place any longer than strictly necessary.
Despite having used most of his Spirit Stones in upgrading his Spirit Lake, a process that was still ongoing, he still had over 40,000 spirit stones left over in his pocket. Which should hopefully be enough to buy that Foundation Establishment Pill.
He sat down in his usual place within the private VIP room overlooking the central stage and waited for the seats to fill up so that the auction may finally begin.
Till then, he took out a thick bound manuscript from his storage ring that he'd gained from the Fallen Prince of the Beast God Empire. He wanted to see if there was knowledge about any pill within the book that could increase a cultivator's lifespan. The name of the thick tome was:
Compendium of Beast-Derived Elixirs.
Usually, he would not even harbour such a thought. But these books belonged to the royal library of a fallen empire. So he felt that there was a slight possibility that there might be something in here.
Below him, the crowd started to gather and eventually the auction finally came to a start.
He had little to no interest in the first few items. Mid-tier artefacts, rare talismans, weapon manuals and such items. Even the spirit herb he had given to the auction house was sold in the first wave of items, priced at over 1,200 Spirit Stones.
After seeing how much his own item sold for, a part of him became thoughtful.
Ever since he transmigrated in this world, he had held a certain dislike for the Nine Peak Sect. Mostly because their negligence allowed for the murder of the original Li Yuan.
But because that incident had coloured his judgement, he had only focused on the negatives of the situation, and hadn't given much thought to the positives. The positives namely being the huge amount of opportunities in this place.
Back in Redleaf Prefecture, an auction like this would only happen once a year. But here, auctions like these happened every day. Sometimes multiple times a day, and across multiple auction houses.
Yes, this place was dangerous but it also held immense wealth and opportunities. Something that he was only now starting to feel grateful for now that it was time for him to return back home.
'Have I been too ungrateful toward the sect?' He wondered but then shook his head. While there were indeed great opportunities here, it can also be argued that his own feelings toward the sect were not wrong because the Outer Sect area was indeed being mismanaged. And severely so.
He eventually decided not to think much of this topic and returned back to his book. He turned pages methodically, scanning pill and ingredient lists. Most were nothing special. Enhancement pills, marrow fortifiers, Qi-boosting draughts and the like. Then he read the name of a certain pill and froze.
Ten-Thousand Vitality Reversion Pill.
His gaze sharpened as he read the detailed description.
To refine it, one required three vitality-aligned spirit beasts at the same cultivation level as the intended recipient. If the pill were meant for a Golden Core cultivator, then the beasts must also be 3rd-Grade as well.
Thankfully, his grandfather had only been at Foundation Establishment, so 2nd-Grade Vitality aligned spirit beasts will do.
From each beast, you needed to harvest:
- The Beast core.
- The heart blood.
- The bone marrow essence.
These were to be refined together with a stabilising life herb like Heavenroot Lingzhi or Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng variant to anchor the violent vitality surge.
The result was a pill capable of extending lifespan by 15 to 60 years, depending on the beasts' rank and purity.
Li Yuan leaned back slowly, looking thoughtful. Even if his grandfather only gains 15 additional years of life, that was still a lot of time. Enough for him to perhaps help his grandfather reach Golden Core, where his lifespan would increase by 120+ years.
But it required hunting three 2nd-Tier beasts with great vitality and they can only be found in the Outer Belt. He remembered seeing such beasts in his last visit to that place. Azureback Tortoises near the marsh basin and Evergreen Horned Stags deeper within the forest interior.
He already had the Heavenroot Lingzhi herb, so that was not a problem. Meaning that once he had hunted down three of those 2nd Tier beasts, the only setback would be…
Alchemy.
The pill's refinement was not trivial. And he doubted that anything less than a 2nd Tier Alchemy master would be able to create such a pill. Except, even if he could find such an Alchemy Master in the backwater Redleaf Province, it's not like he could entrust the recipe to someone outside his family. That would be too dangerous.
No. There was only one choice for him here. And that was to become a 2nd Tier Alchemist and create that pill himself.
Well, considering how he had gathered all the necessary herbs to create a Foundation Establishment Pill, he was going to become an Alchemist eventually. This just meant that the timeline for that was preponed. Nothing more, nothing less.
A surge of noise from below drew his attention back to the stage. He noticed that the next item had been unveiled and his fist clenched in preparedness.
Below, the auctioneer's voice rose clearly. "The next item is a Foundation Establishment Pill. One unit. Verified by Imperial Appraisers. Bidding will start at 20,000 spirit stones, with the lowest bid being 500 spirit stones. Begin!"
The hall stirred immediately as hands rose and voices called out number sin excitement. The price for the pill rose swiftly, going from 20,000 to 25,000 to 28,000 and finally crossing 30,000.
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Li Yuan waited, and when the price crossed the 30,000 mark, he joined in on the bidding by pressing the bidding formation plate before him.
"32,000 spirit stones." He said.
His words caused a brief pause in the auction hall. After all, the price of a Foundation Establishment pill usually fluctuated between 20,000 to 40,000. So, it was usually assumed that if the price of the pill goes higher than 30,000 it is counted as being sold expensively.
After a brief pause though, someone countered. "33,000"
"34,000." He bid almost immediately after.
Another pause, and then, that same voice rang out once again. "35,000."
He didn't hesitate to raise the price again. "36,000."
His words were met with silence. And the moment stretched as the auctioneer glanced around, waiting for another challenger. None came, and the gavel finally struck.
"Sold!"
Li Yuan exhaled slowly. Yes, he had bought the pill a bit expensively, but as long as it helped his mother breakthrough to Foundation Establishment realm, that price would be more than worth it.
Add a bottle of Heavy Spirit Water and her ascension will be all but guaranteed.
To his great surprise, the last item of the auction wasn't the Foundation Establishment but the Sword Intent Calligraphy of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, which eventually sold for a total of 126,000 spirit stones. Returning him more than triple the amount of spirit stones he had spent in this auction.
'To think that a single calligraphy from a Nascent Soul cultivator would sell for this much.' He thought in amazement. 'It's true what they say about the rich becoming richer while the poor lose what little they have left.'
He closed the Alchemy book and placed it within his spatial ring as a Manager approached to finalise the transaction, handing him a Foundation Establishment Pill along with over 117,000 Spirit Stones.
It was nice to be rich.
—————
Li Yuan moved through the Outer Belt of the Forbidden Forest without leaving any scent, sound, or footsteps behind. His entire presence having been erased by the Veil of Borrowed Heaven.
With even few steps, he activated the Spirit Residue Following Technique and followed the residue left behind by the herd of Evergreen Horned Stags until half a day later, he finally arrived atop a hill, and on the other side… he saw his target.
A herd of Evergreen Horned Stags grazed in the clearing below, their coats a deep forest green that blended almost perfectly with the tall grass. Their brown antlers arched upward like living branches, faint strands of emerald energy threading along their length.
Each time one lowered its head to feed, the surrounding grass seemed to brighten subtly, nourished by the life energy that radiated from their bodies. Except for the young fawns, the entire herd consisted of 2nd Grade Spirit Beasts.
Li Yuan remained still, studying them carefully, looking for any weakness in the herd that he could exploit.
Two mature stags stood apart from the rest, alert, ears flicking toward the slightest rustle. The others fed in slow rotation, never clustering too tightly. Hunting even one of them was not going to be easy, let alone three of them.
Creating a 2nd-Tier Formation would let him hunt them easily. But constructing a 2nd-Tier formation was not as easy as contracting a 1st-Tier formation. Doing so will take hours of time, and he would have to do so while masking the Qi fluctuations so the herd would not sense the disturbance.
The worst part of it all was that by the time he completed the formation, the herd of Evergreen Horned Stags might've moved on to somewhere else. After all, these spirit beasts were migratory in nature, drifting toward areas thick with vitality before moving on.
'What to do?' He thought. Not having any better idea, he decided to set up a formation some distance away from the herd.
Luring them to the formation was going to be another problem. But he believed that if he captured a young fawn, then he could lure a few of them within the formation. But if too many of them pursued then even his 2nd-Tier formation might overload and fail.
The entire thing will have to depend on luck and chance. Which… is probably a good thing in his case. As he had plenty of good fortune to spend.
He was setting up the Formation Plate when the Halo above his head suddenly became light grey.
'Huh… did I fail the hunt after all?' He wondered as he gazed at his halo with a frown. Then, as he focused, a vision expanded.
——
To his surprise, he saw himself succeeding in the hunt. Taking down two Mature stags within the formation before the others decided to cut their losses and escaped.
He saw himself starting to harvest the corpses when the scene suddenly darkened. Mist rolled in from the treeline as two Mistfang Direwolves burst into the clearing, making a beeline toward him.
Before he could activate the Formation, a bolt of lightning fell upon the Formation Plate and damaged it beyond repair.
Without his Formation, he could not win a direct fight against two Mistfang Direwolves and had no choice but to use his Veil of Borrowed Heaven to hide and escape.
After that, he could only watch helplessly, as the two Mistfang Direwolves took the corpses of his prey and escaped. But just as they were turning around, he saw something that made his eyes narrow in anger.
Because sitting atop one of the Mistfang Direwolf, was a human. One wearing the Inner Sect Robe of the Nine Peak Sect. With the Insignia of the Beast Peak.
That explained the lightning bolt which damaged his formation plate. The bastard must've used a Talisman or some sort of artefact. It also explained why the ambush seemed so calculated.
It seemed that he wasn't truly attacked by a pack of Mistfang Direwolves, but an Inner sect disciple of the Beast Peak who was controlling two of those Direwolves.
As he watched the two dire wolves and the rider escape into the treeline with his prey, the vision finally came to an end.
——
Li Yuan glanced at the formation plate he was on the process of setting up and paused. Then, he looked around discreetly. With his eyes, he was not able to see anyone. But when he used Spirit Residue following technique, he saw the Qi Residue of three figures light up in the far distance.
And so, he discreetly took out another Formation Plate and hid it under the first one. Setting a trap for the Inner Sect disciple and his two Direwolves.
If he had not been able to use the Veil of Borrowed Heaven, then he had no doubt that those direwolves would've undoubtedly killed him on the spot. In that case, it's only fair that he repay the favour with interest.
From there, the reality followed as it had in the vision.
Except, this time he had a better idea on how to lure in the Evergreen Horned Stags (thanks to the prior vision), and managed to lure in a total of three of them before using the Illusory Array Formation to trick their senses while he used Mountain Splitting Stillness Sword Technique to kill them.
Finally, he dropped the formation and got to work harvesting the three Stags, when the Mist emerged from the forest once again.
Once again, the Lightning bolt struck the Formation Plate of his Illusory Array Formation, and damaged it, making it unusable until it was repaired. But, the formation plate underneath it remained intact.
And just as those two Mistfang Direwolves rushed in, ready to steal his kill, he activated the secondary Formation.
The Qi Suppression Formation that Mo Ling had used against Rou Lin and he had used against Gu Hao and his two supporters went up once again. And he acted instantly, throwing a Talisman at both the Direwolves. The Talisman turned into Iron ropes mid-air and tightened around the two large figures.
Without their Qi energy, the Direwolves couldn't put up much defence, and were quickly trussed up like helpless chickens.
At that same moment, he jumped up and attacked the Inner Sect disciple with his Mountain Splitting Stillness Sword Technique.
A life saving talisman lit up, and was broken under the assault of his sword technique. Then, two more Defensive Artefacts lit up, and went down just as easily.
Finally, the Inner Sect disciple looked at him in fear. "Junior brother… wait—" He started to say, before his sword fell and the Inner Sect disciple lost his head.
He stared at the corpse for a moment. Then, just as he was about to turn and deal with the two Mistfang Direwolves, he saw two small creatures emerge from the corpse of the Inner Sect disciple.
He frowned, wary of being attacked by some last measure prepared by the disciple. Only for him to see the two tiny figures trying to run away.
He immediately used his Formation to stop them and quickly captured them. And as he looked at the two tiny creatures, his eyes lit up in joy and happiness.
The body of the two tiny creatures was like a flat beetle with a glowing sigil on their back. They were black in colour and shone with a metal like texture.
Having seen an image of them beforehand in a Gu related book, he recognised them instantly.
Iron-Will Binding Gu.
Once refined by a cultivator, they can control a Spirit Beast of the same rank. And any spirit beast controlled by them will become absolutely obedient to the cultivator. Seeing as the two Mistfang Direwolves were 2nd Grade Spirit Beasts, it meant that these Iron-Will Binding Gu must also be 2nd Grade Gu.
How, that disciple got his hands on these Gu, and managed to upgrade them to 2nd Grade, he had no idea. But this was definitely a huge find for him.
He immediately searched the Inner Sect Disciple for anything else of value. But while he was unable to find any more Gu in his corpse, he did managed to find a Hibernation Pouch.
It was basically a spatial pouch but unlike other spatial items, it could be used to place Spirit Beasts inside. Not only is this a very useful artefacts to carry around Pet Spirit Beasts. But while inside, the Spirt Beasts would go into deep hibernation. Ensuring a longer lifespan, as well lowering the requirement to feed them.
He overwrote the Mastery of the Hibernation Pouch, and then placed the two tired up Mistfang Direwolves back into it.
After all, those two Direwolves had already been controlled by these two Iron-Will Binding Gu. So why would he kill them when he could simply use these two Gu to take control of those direwolves once again.
Better yet. Once he's back home and has helped his mother ascend to Foundation Establishment Realm, he can give his parents one Gu each to refine. And once they've done that, they would each have a low-stage 2nd Grade Mistfang Direwolf as a bodyguard.
Considering that a Mistfang Direwolf of that strength could fight off a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. That would be of immense help to not only his parents but also his entire family.
He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he placed the two Iron-Will Binding Gu inside a Jade Box and threw it inside his Ancient Spatial Ring.
Then, he finally returned to harvesting the three Evergreen Horned Stags.
From what he remembered, the Iron Will Binding Gu required the brain of Spirit Beasts of equal rank as them to feed upon. Of course, acquiring the brains of 2nd Grade Spirit Beasts was no easy task. But the good thing was that the Gu only needed to eat once every few years. And those two Gu looked to have been recently fed, so they won't require feeding for another few years.
Still, he'll secure the brain of these three Evergreen Horned Stags and decided to hand them over to his parents to feed the Iron Will Binding Gu the next time they became hungry.
With that done, he collected the Heartblood, extracted the Bone Morrow, and… harvested the Beast Cores of the three Evergreen Horned Stags. And paused, scratching his head in confusion.
From what he knew, finding a Beast Core within a 2nd Grade Spirit Beast was rare. As in, there was 1 in 10 chances that you would find it. Except, till date, he had hunted and killed a total of six 2nd Grade Spirit Beasts. And he found a Beast Core within each one of them.
At this point, he could only assume that it was his fortune working in the background to make such a thing possible. Otherwise, no one is that lucky.
In fact, he felt a bit ashamed that it took him that long to realise such a thing. He should've realised this the first three times he got a Core within the 2nd Grade Beasts he'd hunted.
He looked up at his Halo that was Pristine White in colour and glowing faintly and gave it a genuine smile.
"Thank you. For everything." He said, with genuine gratitude in his heart before he collected the ears and Horns of the three Evergreen Horned Stags, as ears would earn him Merit Points while the Hrones seem to have immense value as Alchemical ingredients.
Finally, with everything of value harvested, he fed three corpses to the Stele. And with that, it was time for him to finally return back to the Sect.