The Twelve Ancestral Witches jumped forward.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Like towering human pillars, they crashed down around Zhunti and Jieyin, completely surrounding them.
The Ancestral Witches were massive in stature.
Only Xuanming and Houtu possessed relatively normal figures.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches rubbed their fists, glaring at Zhunti and Jieyin with ill intent, their murderous intent chilling and their fiendish aura surging!
“Zhunti, Jieyin, are you two looking to cause trouble?”
Dijiang's eyes glared in anger, his deep growl like rolling thunder, shaking the minds of Zhunti and Jieyin.
“N-no, nothing of the sort.”
Zhunti stopped crying; his current expression was actually uglier than a crying face. “Fellow Daoists, we have no intention of causing trouble.”
“Yes, yes,” Jieyin hurriedly chimed in. “My junior brother had a bit too much to drink just now and spoke without thinking.”
“If you're drunk, get lost!” Zhurong said impatiently. “Are you still waiting for Brother Xuanjian to hand out money to you both?”
Being rebuked so mercilessly in public made Zhunti and Jieyin's faces flush red and white. Utterly embarrassed, they cursed the Twelve Ancestral Witches up and down in their hearts, but dared not show it on their faces.
The Ancestral Witches had always been arrogant and vindictive. If the brothers offended them today, there would surely be no end to the trouble in the future!
The peace of the two brothers would be utterly shattered.
How could they then focus on their cultivation?
“Sigh.”
In complete helplessness, Jieyin sighed and brought out some of his treasured collections.
There were Innate divine items, Innate divine ores, and Innate Spiritual Roots. There was even a sapling of the Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Root—the Seven-Emotion Bitter Bamboo!
Rumor had it that Jieyin was transformed from the sorrowful Qi upon the Seven-Emotion Bitter Bamboo, and he later refined the remainder of the bamboo, which lacked that sorrowful Qi, into the Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Six Senses Purifying Bamboo.
This sapling of the Seven-Emotion Bitter Bamboo was an offshoot derived from the original complete plant.
Its upper limit was already set in stone.
It could never grow into a complete Seven-Emotion Bitter Bamboo!
Its value? At most, it was only comparable to a Low-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.
Seeing Jieyin empty his pockets, Zhunti knew that playing victim would not fool this cold-blooded merchant, so he also brought out some of his own treasured possessions.
Among them were three Bodhi Seeds!
Rumor had it that Daoist Zhunti was transformed from the companion Gengjin Qi of the Gengjin Bodhi Tree.
The treasures presented by the two were valued at three thousand Coins of Five Virtues. After auditing the prices, Xuanjian accepted them.
He handed them three thousand Coins of Five Virtues.
“A sapling of the Seven-Emotion Bitter Bamboo? I wonder if planting it in the Chaos Primeval Soil can nurture it into a true Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Root,” Xuanjian thought to himself.
He had not expected Jieyin to actually sell a sapling of a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Root.
Nor had Jieyin expected that anyone would dare dream of nurturing a mere offshoot to the level of its parent plant.
With that, the farce concluded.
The surrounding crowd thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle.
Soon, everyone who wished to exchange for Coins of Five Virtues had finished doing so.
Those who had not done so truly lacked any family assets to exchange.
Stepping aside, Xuanjian gestured with a beaming smile, “Fellow Daoists, please come inside.”
“Excellent.”
“Indeed.”
“Let this Emperor see what this so-called auction is all about,” Dijun said.
Many Innate Sacred Beings nodded in agreement.
They filed into the Treasure Vault Merchant Guild one after another.
The first thing to greet their eyes was the lobby of the Treasure Vault Merchant Guild.
It was magnificent and grand. Everywhere one looked, everything was crafted from celestial gold and divine jade, flowing with brilliant colors and dazzling brightness. Every inch was imbued with pure spiritual rhythm.
Furthermore, just for the green plant decorations in the lobby, Xuanjian had used dozens of Low-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots and tens of thousands of Acquired Spiritual Roots. It was luxurious yet elegant, entirely natural.
The vibrant, creative life-force of these spiritual roots wafted through the air, refreshing the mind and spirit.
Seeing this, many Innate Sacred Beings could not help but marvel in succession. Only those born in top-tier Grottos-Heaven and Blessed Lands, like the Three Purities, Dijun, Taiyi, the Duke of the East, and the Queen Mother of the West, could remain calm, unshaken by the guild's sheer extravagance.
Nevertheless, the scene was spectacular.
One had to realize that this was merely the entrance lobby.
To decorate a mere entrance lobby so extravagantly could only be described as... incredibly wealthy.
Zhunti and Jieyin were practically driven to tears by the sight.
Tears of envy drooled from the corners of their mouths.
Their Western continent had been shattered by Rahu; fiendish energy lay everywhere, turbid Qi lingered, and spiritual energy was completely cut off. Even flying birds had to squeeze their tails as they passed by, devoid of any vitality.
The only place with a shred of life was Mount Xumi.
Yet... even their Mount Xumi was not as good as Xuanjian's single lobby!
How wonderful it would be if these Innate Spiritual Roots were given to them!
They could actually put them to proper use.
Instead of having them sit here as mere ornamental plants.
But no matter how much they drooled, it was useless.
For behind them, the Twelve Ancestral Witches watched them with twelve pairs of glaring eyes.
They did not dare to make the slightest movement.
They did not even dare to pluck a single leaf.
They cried.
This time, Zhunti and Jieyin were truly weeping.
“We have mistakenly barged into the halls of heaven...”
Under Xuanjian's guidance, the thousands of Daluo Golden Immortals were led into the auction room.
The auction room was infinitely vast.
Its internal space would automatically adjust according to the number of people.
Thus, it would never feel too empty or too crowded.
It would always be just right.
Futons materialized one after another.
Everyone chose their seats and sat down.
Xuanjian walked up to the stage and smiled. “Without further ado, let us begin today's auction!”
“First, let us present our very first auction item—tea leaves from the High-Grade Innate Spiritual Root, the Dahongpao Tea Tree! When brewed with spiritual water, drinking it clarifies the mind, reveals one's true nature, and enhances comprehension. It is an indispensable aid for cultivation and Dao-attainment!”
“A lot of one hundred Dahongpao tea leaves! The starting bid is... 100 Coins of Five Virtues, with minimum increments of no less than 10 coins.”
The first item Xuanjian brought out was a specialty of Mount Wuyi.
The Dahongpao tea leaves, famously known as the Lesser Dao-Comprehension Tea Leaves!
Although its effects were inferior to the true Dao-Comprehension Tea, it was still a rare treasure for Daluo Golden Immortals.
Especially now that the path of the Quasi-Saint had been made public, everyone was in desperate need of treasures that could boost comprehension and aid in attaining the Dao.
“110!”
“This Daoist bids 130 Coins of Five Virtues.”
“150!”
“...”
Once Xuanjian announced the specific effects of the Dahongpao tea leaves, several Daluo Golden Immortals began bidding.
These Daluo Golden Immortals belonged to the class with shallow foundations and meager reserves, possessing very few Coins of Five Virtues. They had no hope of bidding on the top-tier treasures, so they prioritized items like these, which were both affordable and highly effective.
Before long, the bidding for the hundred Dahongpao tea leaves reached 200 Coins of Five Virtues.
The room fell quiet.
Xuanjian spoke, “200 Coins of Five Virtues, going once! If there are no higher bids after three calls, this first item will belong to this fellow Daoist.”
No one answered.
The bidder of the high price of 200 Coins of Five Virtues was a mid stage Daluo Golden Immortal.
Wearing a dark black Daoist robe, he had a cold, grim countenance—clearly not someone to be trifled with.
Xuanjian: “200 Coins of Five Virtues, going twice!”
Seeing that no one was bidding against him, the dark-robed cultivator smiled with an air of absolute certainty.
“210 Coins of Five Virtues.”
Just as Xuanjian was about to make the final call, a young, carefree voice rang out.
Hearing this, the dark-robed cultivator grew furious and instantly glared in the direction of the voice. But with just a single glance, he quickly averted his eyes.
This was because the bidder was none other than...
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