After a dozen or so breaths, the price of the Crystal Bone Water had astonishingly risen to eighty thousand Spirit Stones. At this point, the several boxes above Li Yan's head fell silent, leaving only the person with the white narcissus cuff in the hall and the occupant of the box with the glowing red rose moon pattern still bidding.
Li Yan had only called out a price once before falling silent. He was waiting, waiting to see the final price before making his move. This kind of round-robin bidding was meaningless, and he didn't have the Spirit Stones for a final, decisive bid. Moreover, he didn't want to casually spend a huge amount of Spirit Stones on a decisive bid.
"One hundred thousand!" said the person with the white narcissus cuff, but anyone could hear the tremble in their voice.
"One hundred and twenty thousand!" the person in the box with the glowing red rose moon pattern said in a deep voice.
Li Yan was dumbfounded. This was only Level 1 Crystal Bone Water. Why had it become so ridiculous? Many people present already felt the atmosphere had become extremely strange. But a portion of them seemed to be in deep thought. Besides its own rarity, the value of a refining material also depended on whether you needed it, and needed it desperately. If this was a special case, it was possible to break through conventional understanding. The abnormal behavior of these two people must mean that the refining materials they possessed were even rarer, so rare that they would not hesitate to spend a huge amount of Spirit Stones to buy a bottle of Level 1 material. This was the thought of many people at the auction.
As the person in the box with the glowing red rose moon pattern spoke, the hall fell silent again. The only person who spoke was Wang Wuzhong. Even with his Golden Core cultivation, he had lost some of his composure. His small eyes had narrowed into a slit from smiling. Even he hadn't expected such a bizarre event to occur in his own auction hall, and he would receive a much larger share because of it.
Seeing that no one else was speaking, Wang Wuzhong cleared his throat. "If no other Fellow Daoist chants, after three breaths, the Crystal Bone Water will belong to the Fellow Daoist in the Red Rose Moon box."
"One hundred and thirty thousand!" Just as his voice fell, another voice sounded. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw a person in the last row of the hall raising their hand. On their cuff was a golden plum blossom. It was Li Yan.
Although this matter was strange through and through, and Li Yan even suspected that these few people were shills for the auction house, deliberately raising the price, he had no choice now. No matter how expensive, he had to buy it. Otherwise, he didn't know when the next opportunity would arise.
"Good! I didn't expect another Fellow Daoist to make a bid. It seems the uses for Crystal Bone Water are still highly sought after. Are there any other Fellow Daoists who wish to chant? Still three breaths. The next time you might encounter Crystal Bone Water will probably be after some time. The countdown begins..." Wang Wuzhong said in a coaxing manner.
Li Yan felt a little uneasy. He looked up at the person with the white narcissus cuff and the box with the glowing red rose moon pattern. It was only these two who had been constantly raising the price, and each time the price they raised was heart-stopping, as if what they were spending were not Spirit Stones, but ordinary rocks.
However, just as the three breaths were about to end, a voice sent Li Yan's heart plunging into a bottomless abyss.
"One hundred and fifty thousand!" The voice came from the box with the glowing red rose moon pattern. The person with the white narcissus cuff did not speak, but many people clearly saw his body tremble, and then he looked up at that box.
As the sun set in the west, Li Yan flew through the sky, his expression blank, even extremely cold. This trip to Yuguan City had ultimately yielded nothing. The final price of one hundred and fifty thousand had completely crushed him. His entire fortune was less than one hundred and sixty thousand. The other party clearly had an air of being determined to win. Even if he added a few thousand more, Li Yan had no doubt that the other party would directly add ten thousand Spirit Stones to the price.
Afterward, Li Yan even had the thought of snatching it from the other party. It was just that the auction house's formations were too powerful, completely blocking Divine Sense, making it impossible to track the other party. As for making a move on the spot, even if you gave Li Yan a few more guts, he wouldn't dare.
In the end, he could only watch as the item he needed was taken away by someone else. Li Yan's mood soured to the extreme. Without waiting for the auction to end, he had gotten up and left.
As he flew, Li Yan calmed down and repeatedly pondered the matter of the Crystal Bone Water. Of course, he wasn't dwelling on the problem of not getting it himself, but on why so many people were willing to spend so much money to bid for the Crystal Bone Water the moment it was brought out. This was completely unreasonable. Although this was his first time attending an auction, he had inquired about the other materials besides the "Infinite Wanderer" tree and knew their approximate prices. But no matter how he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out the reason. In the end, he could only conclude that he had run into bad luck today. It just so happened that several groups of people might have needed this item to melt a certain refining material, and this refining material must also be a rare item, one that could not tolerate the slightest loss. It was very likely that if they failed once, there would be no second chance. Only this could explain it.
Thinking of this, Li Yan shook his head. Helpless, he continued to fly north. He had to get to the Jingtu Sect's "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" as soon as possible to see if he had the opportunity to obtain the "Crimson Mother Essence." That place was not an auction house; it truly depended on one's own luck and strength.
Just as Li Yan was leaving Yuguan City, the two Golden Core Buddhas of the Jingtu Sect in the city had just returned from outside the city. They had searched for more than half a day to no avail, finding not a single clue, and could only return in disappointment.
Li Yan looked at the barren mountains passing beneath his feet, a vast expanse of baldness. He had been flying over this kind of scenery for three days. The further north he went, the more desolate the ground became. Suddenly, Li Yan's expression changed. While flying, he sensed two streaks of light flying rapidly towards him in his Divine Sense.
Li Yan hadn't been pushing the Cloud-Piercing Willow to its fastest speed before. He had been planning his next itinerary in his mind. Yuguan City had a Teleportation Formation, but because Li Yan was in an extremely bad mood, he had just flown away directly, wanting to vent his frustration. It was only after flying for several hours that he remembered from his jade slip map that besides Yuguan City, there were no other major sects with Teleportation Formations nearby. He hurriedly took out the jade slip to confirm, and in the end, he helplessly found that it was indeed so. Moreover, this map jade slip was only detailed around Yuguan City. Further into the Jingtu Sect's territory, there were only some important cities and sects marked. This was re-marked after checking against the Huchen family's map. The Huchen family didn't enter the Jingtu Sect's territory very often; they mainly went to some important cities, usually by teleportation.
Li Yan had been thinking about his route forward. If he flew straight north in his current direction, at full speed with the Cloud-Piercing Willow, it would still take ten days to reach the next city called "Da Ning City." But if he flew east now, it would only take five days to reach a sect that could provide a Teleportation Formation. He couldn't help but slow down to weigh his options. Just as he was thinking, two people had entered his Divine Sense, about a thousand li away. And their flying speed was also extremely fast; they were clearly both at the Golden Core stage. Li Yan glanced coldly behind him, then urged his Magical Treasure, changed direction, and sped away. He deliberately deviated from his original route. He didn't want to have any contact with the two of them. It was clearly a chase, one pursuing and one killing. And with his current cultivation, although he could barely hold his own against an initial-stage Golden Core cultivator for a moment or two, it would surely come at a price. How could he get involved in such muddy waters?
The Cloud-Piercing Willow truly lived up to being a gift from Shuang Qingqing. Under Li Yan's full power, the figures of the two people soon disappeared from his Divine Sense. The direction Li Yan had turned was eastward, so he might as well go find that Teleportation Formation.
After flying for another hour, the sky had darkened. The north wind grew stronger, howling in his ears. Although he had raised a protective shield and couldn't feel a thing, looking at the churning black clouds in the sky, it was a sign that heavy snow was coming. Li Yan's journey had been very dull. He didn't want to fly against the wind and snow for a while. After scanning his surroundings with his Divine Sense, he brought his Magical Treasure down towards the barren mountains. The mountains in the north were either steep and perilous, piercing the clouds, with large patches of rock exposed and little vegetation; or they were low, rolling hills, covered in desolate, withered grass. The place Li Yan was in now was a range of perilous mountains, with patches of black-gray rock exposed. Coupled with the howling north wind, the place felt desolate and bleak.
Li Yan landed on the mountainside of a relatively short peak, surrounded by other, taller, steeper peaks, like a basin. Looking around, Li Yan felt the wind was much lighter here. Without hesitation, he waved his sleeve, and a flying sword appeared in his hand. With a casual swing, the seemingly iron-hard black-brown rocks flew everywhere like tofu. After half an incense stick of time, a small Cave Residence appeared before him.
Looking at the Cave Residence before him, a smile appeared on Li Yan's face. During this period, as he flew alone for longer and longer, when he rested, he would either use abandoned beast lairs or have to carve out his own Cave Residence. Now, he was becoming more and more familiar with this matter. It was just that besides the size being carved according to his wishes, there was no aesthetic sense to speak of. But this was just for his temporary rest, and Li Yan didn't care about it at all.
Next came a set of actions he couldn't be more familiar with: entering the cave, setting up illusion formations, warning formations, etc. Most importantly, Li Yan applied his fragmented poison to these several layers of formations to ensure that if any cultivator invaded, they would be silently poisoned at the first moment.
After everything was done, Li Yan sat cross-legged, holding a Spirit Stone in one hand. He first had to recover the Spirit Power consumed during his journey and return to his peak state as soon as possible. Although the Cloud-Piercing Willow could also be driven by Spirit Stones, it was not possible to increase its speed that way. This was related to the grade of the Spirit Stones. So Li Yan sometimes had to use his own Spirit Power.
After a few breaths, Li Yan entered a state of meditation. But in less than half a cup of tea's time, Li Yan suddenly opened his eyes. In his Divine Sense, someone was actually flying towards this mountain range. While meditating, Li Yan couldn't keep his Divine Sense fully extended at all times; he would only pay attention to the vicinity. He now sensed the Spirit Power fluctuations from afar.
Li Yan quietly extended his Divine Sense. A moment later, his brows furrowed. The person passing by this place had a somewhat familiar aura. It was, impressively, the same two people from an hour ago, one chasing and one fleeing. At this moment, the two of them had already flown over the mountain range where he was. Outside, the sky was already filled with fluttering white snow, whipped about by the howling north wind.
Previously, Li Yan had only briefly sensed someone entering a thousand-li radius with his Divine Sense before retracting it and immediately flying away. Although he had an impression of their auras, he hadn't carefully observed them. But now, Li Yan had a clear view of their faces.
The person being chased in front was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The one chasing from behind was actually a Golden Core cultivator. What surprised Li Yan was that the person being chased had actually managed to escape all the way here. This made Li Yan pay attention to the flying magical treasure under this person's feet. It was a jade hairpin that emitted a faint blue light. It was clearly no ordinary item. Otherwise, they would not have been able to escape for so long under the pursuit of a Golden Core cultivator.
What surprised and shocked Li Yan even more was that he actually knew this Foundation Establishment cultivator.