Chapter 405 : Spirit Nourishing Pill
Yun Qingyue had recovered her memories and also integrated the memories of the small Swan Goose after nirvana. Perhaps because of the latter, her personality had clearly changed; alongside her rationality, she occasionally displayed small temper tantrums.
Jiang Mo didn't find this unpleasant at all, since she loved both her Senior Sister and the Little Swan Goose—in the past, her Senior Sister would never have quibbled with a mere lark. In the past, her Senior Sister wouldn't have been so petty as to peck at her ear. And now, with her back turned and cheeks puffed up in a grudge, she looked quite adorable, making one want to pick her up and cuddle her.
Of course, Jiang Mo only dared think about it; she didn't have the courage to actually do it.
After apologizing a couple more times, Jiang Mo entered the auction house with the invitation, which caught the attention of the staff. Someone immediately came forward to greet her: "Respected Senior, we have private rooms upstairs. May this junior guide you there?"
Cloud Stream City was a large city, so naturally the auction house was also substantial in scale, with a three-story design. Apart from the auction platform at the front, the first floor was the main hall where eight or nine out of ten guests would gather, though these people also tended to have limited strength and wealth—perhaps nine out of ten couldn't afford much. The second floor featured semi-open elegant chambers, while the third floor contained fully enclosed private rooms. The people in these upper areas were the main buyers.
With Jiang Mo's profound strength, having recently sold materials worth over twenty-three million high-grade spirit stones to the auction house, she was naturally not short of money—at least that's what others thought. In reality, raising a veritable gold-devouring beast, she had already seen one layer of her spirit stone mountain consumed. If the auction had been delayed any longer, she might not have had the confidence to come at all.
Fortunately, Jiang Mo's purse was still reasonably full, so she remained confident. She didn't go to the private rooms on the third floor but chose an elegant chamber on the second floor. This location was less conspicuous and had fewer barriers, allowing her to hear the conversations from the main hall below.
The auction house wouldn't dare treat her casually. Seeing her choose an elegant chamber on the second floor, they hurriedly had someone replace the tea and spirit fruits with better ones.
Jiang Mo paid no attention to this. After dismissing the staff, she turned her head and found that the lark on her shoulder was still upset. She extended her finger to poke her gently, saying softly: "Ah Yue, Senior Sister, are you still angry?"
Yun Qingyue wasn't originally a petty person and wouldn't normally fuss over small matters, but after nirvana, she was deeply influenced by the small Swan Goose's temperament. Unless she deliberately controlled her temper to maintain rationality, she would unknowingly be led astray...
The lark was tiny, only about the size of a fist. Though the one on her shoulder was merely wearing the skin of a lark, the small figure nearly lost its balance from Jiang Mo's sudden push. So she became visibly angrier, her feathers fluffing up in a puff, causing the entire bird to appear round like a ball—looking even more adorable.
Jiang Mo finally couldn't resist and, summoning her courage, grabbed the fluffy ball from her shoulder. Then, when the other was about to peck at her in angry embarrassment, she quickly grabbed a spirit fruit from the plate and stuffed it into the bird's beak.
With a "crunch," juice splattered as the spirit fruit was crushed in the bird's beak.
Jiang Mo took the opportunity to stroke the bird's head but didn't dare go too far, quickly offering another spirit fruit: "The spirit fruits prepared by the auction house aren't bad. Though not high-grade, they taste quite good. Ah Yue, would you like to try another?"
The lark easily broke free from her loosely closed hand, seemingly giving her a white-eyed look, and finally flapped its wings and flew away.
After their little tussle, Yun Qingyue naturally wouldn't leave too far, knowing her limits. She landed directly on the railing in front of the elegant chamber. Though the second floor wasn't high, standing there gave her a panoramic view of the main hall below.
Many people had come to participate in the auction today. Looking around, one could see a sea of heads and hear the clamor of voices. All sorts of people mingled here—graceful young masters, ladies in gorgeous attire, and mysterious figures completely wrapped in cloaks. Perhaps because of the proximity to Linglong City, the proportion of handsome men and beautiful women present was slightly above average.
The lark's bright eyes swept across the crowd below. Jiang Mo had somehow come up behind her, joining in the observation of their surroundings.
After watching for a while, the clamor in the main hall gradually quieted down. The auction was starting.
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Auctions were very common in the cultivation world, just as every city had an auction house, serving as the most common channel for resource exchange. Countless people bought and sold here, and the auctions specially prepared by auction houses featured numerous excellent items that had helped innumerable cultivators enhance their cultivation and break through bottlenecks.
Throughout her cultivation journey, Yun Qingyue had participated in many auctions and was quite familiar with the process. Jiang Mo, however, had only participated in one auction before—the one her Senior Sister had taken her to in Xuanqing City years ago.
Unlike that previous time, when they had intended to participate, now they were mostly here to watch the excitement.
One item after another was brought to the auction platform. Some were priceless, some were rare, and others had extraordinary effects... Unfortunately, these treasures were all somewhat low-grade, of little use to Jiang Mo, so the two didn't pay much attention.
However, they were the only ones not paying attention. From upstairs to downstairs and from left to right, their neighbors were all enthusiastic about this auction—this delayed auction had clearly been meticulously prepared by the auction house. From the first item presented, almost every treasure brought onto the stage caused a stir in the audience. The entire auction proceeded with one climax after another.
Jiang Mo even saw her own ores on the high platform; each piece was sold for much more than when she had originally sold them. However, since the items had already been sold to the auction house, how they were ultimately traded had nothing to do with her anymore.
Seeing the huge price difference, Jiang Mo still felt a bit distressed, but ultimately decided that what she couldn't see wouldn't hurt her.
After some time, as Jiang Mo was leaning against the railing and staring absent-mindedly at the main hall below, her finger was suddenly brushed by feathers. Looking up, she saw Yun Qingyue flapping her wings to remind her: "The final three highlight treasures are about to come on stage. Do you want to take a look?"
The invitation sent by the auction house had already listed the items for this auction, allowing people to prepare mentally, or rather, financially. But an auction was not just about openly doing business, so surprises needed to be prepared. Therefore, following convention, the final three highlight treasures of an auction were often not revealed too early.
Jiang Mo believed that the ores she had picked up were of no low grade, and after being refined by Yun Qingyue's ice flame, they were even more precious. Yet those items she sent were only placed in the latter part of this auction, not as the finale.
This suggested that the finale treasures of this auction must be truly extraordinary, which aroused Jiang Mo's interest.
Her body, previously lazily leaning against the railing, straightened up. As Jiang Mo looked toward the platform, she saw a beautiful female cultivator walking onto the stage with a tray. She glanced at the tray covered with red cloth and said to Yun Qingyue: "Ah Yue, if there's anything you like, let me know."
She still remembered how, long ago, when she first followed her Senior Sister to the auction in Xuanqing City, it was always her Senior Sister buying things for her. Now the tables had turned, and the little tiger unconsciously puffed up her chest thinking about it.
Yun Qingyue didn't think that much about it; her earlier petulance had long since dissipated. She proactively jumped onto Jiang Mo's hand and looked toward the platform with her, equally curious about what was being brought on stage.
Fortunately, as the auction had progressed to this point, the auctioneer no longer kept people in suspense. After saying a few words to stir up the audience's emotions, as was customary, he pulled away the red cloth from the tray—beneath the red cloth was a jade bottle. Anyone with discerning eyes could tell that the next item was a medicinal pill. But for the moment, no one could guess what kind of precious pill it was to be featured at this climactic moment.
The auctioneer soon announced: "This is the one hundred and forty-eighth item prepared by our Cloud Stream Auction House, and the third-to-last item of this auction... a ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire auction venue erupted. Even those who had never heard of the Spirit Nourishing Pill or didn't know its effects could understand how precious this pill was just from hearing the "ninth-grade" prefix.
In the cultivation world, medicinal pills were divided into ten grades, from first-grade to ninth-grade, corresponding to levels from mortal realm to Grand Achievement realm. Beyond these was the heavenly-grade pill, the only one corresponding to the Tribulation Crossing realm. However, each grade of pill required a pill refiner of the same level to create, and the cultivation world hadn't seen a Tribulation Crossing pill refiner for many years, so heavenly-grade pills had long been extinct.
Below the heavenly-grade were ninth-grade pills, but Grand Achievement pill refiners were also few and far between, making ninth-grade pills extremely precious and rare for cultivators. Not to mention this was a Spirit Nourishing Pill. Though ordinary people might not understand its potency, there were always knowledgeable individuals who recognized this pill's rarity—as the name suggested, the Spirit Nourishing Pill was used to nourish and cultivate one's divine soul.
The importance of the divine soul to cultivators was self-evident. When cultivators normally fought, injuries to flesh or even meridians were quite manageable. The most severe and difficult-to-resolve injuries were those to the divine soul.
With damage to the divine soul, at best one's realm would stagnate, unable to advance even a step. At worst, one's cultivation would regress, leading to death and the dissipation of one's dao.
The Spirit Nourishing Pill could heal the divine soul, and this was a ninth-grade pill usable by those at the Grand Achievement realm. One could imagine how precious it was—Jiang Mo even heard someone in the adjacent elegant chamber contacting their family to raise money. She also checked her own financial reserves and realized she probably couldn't afford it.