Here it is, Zhou Xun's spirit lifted.

After purchasing talismans and artifacts that day, Zhou Xun had only seventy-one spirit stones left in his hand.

To be able to bid for the Yin Condensing Grass, Zhou Xun borrowed another twenty spirit stones from a familiar alchemist in the pavilion.

"Forty-one spirit stones!"

As soon as the middle-aged host finished speaking, someone made an offer of forty spirit stones, which was much lower than the market price for the Yin Condensing Grass.

Because of this, someone hoped to take advantage of the situation and, if successful, resell it to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion for a profit.

"Forty-two."

"Forty-three."

...

The price rose one by one very quickly, reaching fifty spirit stones.

At this price, it was the market value of the Yin Condensing Grass.

"Fifty-three!" The price continued to jump up.

But as soon as this price was offered, no one else made a bid.

"Is there any higher bid!" Seeing this, the middle-aged host glanced around with some reluctance in his tone.

Still, no one answered.

"I announce that the Yin Condensing Grass will be..." Just as the middle-aged host was about to announce the result, he was interrupted.

"Sixty spirit stones!"

It was Zhou Xun speaking, increasing by seven spirit stones in one go, hoping to overwhelm potential opponents with momentum, making them retreat in the face of adversity.

"Alright, this fellow cultivator bids sixty spirit stones, is there any higher bid!"

The middle-aged host, though interrupted, showed no sign of anger; instead, he was invigorated and continued to ask with anticipation.

"Sixty-two spirit stones!" The original bidder spoke again, his tone a bit confrontational!

Originally thinking fifty-three would do it, it went nine higher.

"Seventy spirit stones!" Zhou Xun's face was expressionless, his voice calm and steady.

"Good! Good! Good!"

The person said good three times in succession; if this item weren't extremely important to him, he wouldn't have wanted to bid anymore.

"I'll bid seventy-four spirit stones. If the fellow cultivator can bid higher, the Yin Condensing Grass is yours!" he said with an exasperated laugh, his voice turning sharp.

From his words, seventy-four stones appeared to be his limit!

"Seventy-five spirit stones." Zhou Xun smiled slightly and reported a number.

After that, the man indeed did not speak again.

"Although this price slightly exceeds the market value, it's worth it."

For him, there was no distinction between rare or common Tier Two Low-Grade Spirit Medicine so long as the tier was the same.

"Seventy-five spirit stones, is there any higher bid!" The middle-aged host's voice was laced with joy.

This price was close to double the starting price.

Seeing no response for a long time, the middle-aged man nodded and was about to announce.

"One hundred spirit stones!"

A hoarse voice sounded.

Everyone present was taken aback.

This figure already exceeded twice the price of the Yin Condensing Grass.

Everyone turned around to see a middle-aged man in a brown-black robe making the bid, with another similarly dressed person beside him.

Presumably, it was his companion.

An increase of twenty-five spirit stones at once is indeed a bold move.

Still, it was effective.

Zhou Xun really couldn't compete, he didn't have enough spirit stones.

Zhou Xun looked helplessly; one hundred spirit stones, unless he pawned all his treasures, he couldn't gather it together.

However, this person bid so readily, likely having extremely affluent wealth; even if Zhou Xun barely gathered the stones, he might still not defeat him.

Moreover, pawning off artifacts and talismans left him without security when returning to the market, not worth the loss.

"Never mind, better keep saving for a while and buy that spirit medicine from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion!" Zhou Xun thought helplessly and quickly made his choice.

"One hundred spirit stones, the Yin Condensing Grass goes to this fellow cultivator," the middle-aged host confirmed, finalizing the ownership.

After it's set, any further higher bids wouldn't count.

The spirit medicine bought by others, Zhou Xun did not leave, but continued watching.

The treasures at the auction were rarely seen premiums, just right for broadening one's knowledge.

"The twenty-fourth item, Tier One Low-Grade Spirit Beast Gale Horse, starting price ten spirit stones, with each increment no less than ten Spirit Essence."

The auction continued.

...

"The twenty-seventh item, Middle-Grade Spiritual Artifact Light-Passing Mother and Child Blade,"

"This artifact, though middle-grade, its materials and refinement method all follow high-grade artifact standards."

"However, during refinement, something went wrong, causing it to fall to middle-grade!"

"But its power is enormous, exceeding normal middle-grade spiritual artifacts significantly,"

"Yet it has a limitation: refined to high-grade standards, it requires divine sense to drive, otherwise it cannot unleash its true power."

"Starting bid, forty spirit stones, with each increment no less than one spirit stone."

Forty spirit stones, at this price, everyone shook their heads.

"Fifty spirit stones have already surpassed the middle-grade spiritual artifact range; some inferior or flawed high-grade artifacts cost just this much!

The middle-aged host waited for a long time, and no one bid.

Middle-Stage Qi Refining Cultivators lack divine sense and cannot drive this artifact, so naturally, they wouldn't buy it.

Late-Stage cultivators, though having divine sense, would rather buy high-grade artifacts for the same money.

Thus, the artifact found itself in an awkward predicament.

This auction was just trying one's luck, hoping for a miracle.

Just when the middle-aged man thought it would go unsold, Zhou Xun made his move:

"Forty spirit stones!"

Driven by divine sense to fully unleash its power, precisely tailor-made for him.

Aside from Zhou Xun, no one else bid.

Soon, he obtained this artifact at the lowest price.

After purchasing this middle-grade artifact, Zhou Xun spent another 30 spirit stones to win a Tier One High-Grade Flying Talisman.

Then he left the auction venue.

After changing his outfit and applying a Tier One Middle-Grade Light Body Talisman, he sped off in the opposite direction of Red Leaf Square.

He traveled over a hundred miles before finding an uninhabited hill and burrowed in.

Then he chose a tree large enough to need several people to hug, using an artifact to hollow out a space where he couldn't be seen and hid inside.

He stayed there for three days.

During these three days, Zhou Xun took out his newly acquired Light-Passing Mother and Child Blade, successfully planting a divine sense imprint and completely refining it.

On the third day, Zhou Xun emerged from the tree hole.

"The black market's been over for three days; even if there are tribulation cultivators, they should be finished by now!" Zhou Xun mused to himself.

After coming out, Zhou Xun wanted to test the power of the Light-Passing Mother and Child Blade.

So with a sweep of his right hand along his waist, two short blades appeared in his palm.

Slowly injecting mana, the broken blades flashed with black light, hovering in front of Zhou Xun and emitting a faint glow.

Looking at a tree dozens of meters away, Zhou Xun's divine sense moved, directing the flying blades forward.

The two flying blades shot like two black streaks of lightning, instantly traversing the distance and circling around the large tree embraced by the Tree-Man.

Without warning, the tree was sliced into several pieces like assembled blocks, crashing onto the ground in a scattered mess.

"This power is indeed astounding!" Zhou Xun marveled.

Back when he and Shan Xionghai were hunting Golden Spirit Rats, if he had this treasure, he could have killed them all by himself, without such effort.

Putting away the artifact, Zhou Xun was satisfied.

Orienting himself towards Red Leaf Square, he sped off.

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