One hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
That starting price alone was enough to make most Golden Core cultivators flinch, but for Xie Zhaolin, this was something she had to get.
Aside from the Soul-Nurturing Wood, a few other items had also caught her attention.
A fist-sized chunk of pitch-black Nether Xuan Iron, one of the top-tier materials used in forging the core components of high-grade puppets.
A vial of millennia-old Stalactite Essence, known for washing marrow, refining bones, and nourishing the body. It'd be a huge help for her cultivation of the Xuanyin Foundation Technique and for tempering her physique.
There was also a fragmented refining manual, said to contain a few ancient puppet-forging methods. It was incomplete, but even fragments like that could offer inspiration.
A wisp of gloomy light flickered, and You You floated out of the You Ming Bracelet, hovering in midair. Curious, she drifted closer to the jade slip and sent out her divine sense to scan through the auction list as well.
After a moment, she curled her lips, her half-transparent face showing obvious disdain.
"Tch… I thought a once-in-a-decade auction would be something impressive," she grumbled, floating back to Xie Zhaolin's side with a pout. "Aside from that Soul-Nurturing Wood, the rest's boring. That Nether Xuan Iron and Stalactite Essence barely pass. Everything else? Just junk!
Not even a single decent soul artifact or a top-tier pill for nourishing the Primordial Soul. What a letdown! And that so-called puppet-forging manual—can it even compare to my inheritance?"
In her current half-soul state, she naturally cared most about treasures that could repair or strengthen her Primordial Soul.
But clearly, other than the Soul-Nurturing Wood, nothing in this auction was worth her attention.
Xie Zhaolin gave her a faint glance. "What's useless to you might still be useful to me."
You You stuck out her tongue but said nothing more, drifting lazily around the room.
Xie Zhaolin continued scanning the item list, silently calculating her bidding strategy and budget.
Meanwhile—
In another, slightly lower-tier Earth-ranked private room on the second floor, the air was heavy.
Yu Xiaotang and Yu Mingxi sat across from each other, their faces equally unpleasant.
Yu Xiaotang held her teacup tightly, her knuckles turning white. Her gaze was fixed on the bustling crowd below, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.
Yu Mingxi's face was dark, his fingers tapping the table rhythmically, the sound dull and cold.
What had happened at the entrance earlier still burned in both their minds like a thorn. As direct disciples of major sects, when had they ever been humiliated like that?
Especially in front of so many people, crushed in both power and status by some nameless loose cultivator!
After a long silence, Yu Mingxi finally broke it, his tone low and sharp.
"Little Sister Yu, did you see who that cloaked person really was?"
Yu Xiaotang snapped out of her thoughts, frowning slightly. "I couldn't tell. That person's concealment was too strong, and her strength… it's likely above ours. And she had a Green Star Card, so she's definitely not some ordinary loose cultivator."
She paused, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in her eyes. "Still, there's something… strangely familiar about her. Especially her eyes. I feel like I've seen them somewhere before, but I can't remember where."
Yu Mingxi let out a cold snort. "Who cares who she is? The humiliation from today, I, Yu Mingxi, won't forget it! Once I find out her background… hmph!"
He was furious, but he wasn't stupid. Whoever that woman was, her power and background weren't things he could afford to provoke rashly.
Yu Xiaotang didn't respond. The unease in her chest only grew stronger. She had a bad feeling—that black-robed woman might become the biggest variable in this entire Tianxing City trip.
She needed to uncover her identity fast.
At that thought, she didn't hesitate anymore. She called out silently in her mind,
"System, can you locate and identify that black-robed woman from earlier?"
[Ding! Request received.]
[Target has left host's visual range. Auction hall formation interference detected.]
[To perform a precise scan covering the entire auction area and bypassing VIP room barriers, 2000 points will be required.]
[Warning: Large-scale scans may cause energy fluctuations, increasing the chance of detection by high-level cultivators.]
Two thousand points?!
Yu Xiaotang's face instantly darkened. Her grip on the teacup tightened until her fingers turned pale.
Two thousand!
That was more than half of her remaining points! This system was daylight robbery!
She swallowed her anger and hid her frustration behind a sip of tea. But that black-robed woman unsettled her too much—the faint familiarity, that cold pressure… it all gnawed at her nerves.
After a few seconds of hesitation, weighing the pros and cons, she gritted her teeth.
"Pay it! Scan now!"
[Points deducted successfully. Commencing large-scale precision scan…]
An almost undetectable wave of energy quietly rippled out from Yu Xiaotang's body, spreading swiftly through the entire auction hall.
It was subtle, so faint that ordinary cultivators wouldn't even notice it.
But the system wasn't reckless—it ignored the crowded lower floors and focused its probe on the sealed VIP rooms on the second floor.
At that moment—
Inside Heavenly Room Three.
Xie Zhaolin was discussing bidding priorities with You You.
"The Soul-Nurturing Wood's the main goal, I must get it. The Nether Xuan Iron and Stalactite Essence come next, and that manual…" she stopped mid-sentence—
Both she and You You froze at the same time.
You You's half-transparent figure suddenly became sharper, her usual lazy expression vanishing. Alarm and confusion filled her eyes.
"Master!" she whispered quickly. "There's a weird probing wave! It's sweeping this way!"
Xie Zhaolin's eyes turned cold. This wasn't an ordinary divine sense scan. The energy pattern was strange, filled with an unfamiliar and eerie fluctuation. And its target… was clearly this room.
Who could it be?
Someone from the auction house? Impossible. The Tianxing Auction House wouldn't ruin its own reputation like that.
Then who? Yu Mingxi?
Or Yu Xiaotang?
In an instant, she already had a guess. Her mind jumped straight to Yu Xiaotang—and that mysterious Xi Tong.
Only that strange thing could emit such an uncanny energy signature. And the more she felt it, the more her instincts screamed. That faint trace within the fluctuation… it was too familiar.
It was almost the same as the energy she'd sensed in her past life, right before she died—when the Heavenly Thunder locked onto her body and her soul was about to be annihilated. Even back then, at the Nascent Soul stage, she could barely perceive that force.
The realization sent a chill down her spine, but it also forced her to calm down instantly. With her current Golden Core cultivation, she should've had no way of noticing a scan like this.
If she reacted—circulating her qi, flaring her aura, or showing the slightest hint of awareness—it'd be as good as telling them, I sensed you.
That would be fatal.
Her thoughts raced, and she made her choice. She couldn't resist. She had to act like she felt nothing. And in this, the advantage of her dual dantians shone through.
With a single thought, she guided her spiritual power to wrap tightly around the pure yinsha qi cultivated through the Xuanyin Foundation Technique, concealing it completely.
Then, just to be safe, she drew a trace of Liu Feng's Primordial Soul aura from their slave contract and used it to mask her own presence.
The next moment—
Buzz!