But Gu Yuan was unwilling to waste Shang Gong Changqing's good intentions.
To be honest, Gu Yuan didn't have anything he wanted to buy, nor did he think there would be anything at this auction that he would find appealing.
This is a remote town far from the center. The truly good goods should naturally be sent to more central towns, where the cultivators have far greater spending power and discerning taste than those in Wuxin City.
Having a hundred spirit stones' worth of spirit keys in hand is quite a lot.
If you want to buy, you should be able to buy whatever you want. It's unlikely you'll be able to book the entire place, but no one should be able to beat you to a lower price.
I don't know how long Shanggong Changqing had been hoarding them.
This made Gu Yuan a little curious, since Shang Gong Changqing seemed to be impeccable in both talent and personality.
But for some reason...
The Shanggong family's attitude towards Changqing was somewhat ambiguous, and they did not seem to be grooming Changqing as the head of the family. Perhaps it was because they had not had much contact with him that Gu Yuan had this misconception.
Regardless, at least for now, Gu Yuan will not plot against Shanggong Changqing.
If necessary, I can also lend a hand...
The female cultivator standing below, presiding over the auction, is Lin Yueya, the top auctioneer in Wuxin City for many years.
"Thank you to all the chambers of commerce and guests. Tonight marks the tenth anniversary of the Lin Family Auction House's opening. The auction house has prepared a small gift for everyone, wishing you all smooth sailing in the days to come..."
The grand auction officially began with a passionate and moving opening speech by host Lin Yueya.
Gu Yuan listlessly unpacked the gift box that had just been delivered. The contents were nothing more than things imbued with spiritual energy, but far from being cultivation materials.
Generally speaking, such items are given to ordinary people and wealthy merchants, and are rarely given to cultivators.
It seems this auction came quite suddenly; the Lin family didn't seem prepared at all...
Putting aside these things, Gu Yuan watched the auction below in full swing and felt a little itchy to participate.
Speaking of which, Gu Yuan recalled that he had never done anything so extravagant as to spend money like water, whether in his past or present life, which was quite a pity. However, Gu Yuan had no intention of wasting money.
Just think about it in your mind; actually doing it would be such a waste...
Meanwhile, the auction for the third item had already been completed. Normally, the first few items in an auction are "spirit stones".
This spirit stone is not as pure as the salary provided by a family or academy. It contains many impurities. These are minerals containing spiritual power that the caravan accidentally discovered when collecting goods in various mining areas.
After these ores are mined, they are then polished by cultivators. A stone the size of an ox might eventually be polished into a spirit stone the size of a fingernail.
Moreover, it is inevitable that it will contain impurities from other ores.
Such spirit stones contain metal-based spiritual energy or other impurities, so they cannot be considered "pure".
If you're planning for the long term, it's best not to try absorbing this kind of spirit stone if you don't have a metal spiritual root in your body.
Otherwise, the accumulation of various unabsorbable spiritual energies within the body will ultimately cause numerous difficulties for cultivators during their breakthroughs.
These are all attempts; otherwise, the major families would surely have taken these spirit stones first.
Currently, apart from some idle wealthy merchants and cultivators from the Wu and Li families who are attempting to bid, the representatives from the other two families and small sects have no intention of participating.
Without exception, none of them possessed a "golden spiritual root," and naturally, they wouldn't spend a large amount of silver notes to exchange for such a spirit stone.
It wasn't until the seventh item was brought to the auction stage that Gu Yuan finally showed some interest.
That was a first-tier cultivation material.
However, it wasn't obtained from a death row cell, but rather from natural treasures gathered from the mountains and forests.
Tier 1 Earth Material: Light Spirit Soil.
From the outside, it's hard to tell that this stuff is any different from ordinary soil, but in the eyes of a cultivator, this seemingly ordinary handful of yellow earth contains traces of spiritual power.
It is suitable for both increasing the spiritual energy content in a place of cultivation and as an auxiliary material for making earthen Taoist ritual implements.
These items require spirit stones to purchase, far exceeding what can be bought with silver notes.
Gu Yuan had become accustomed to the ever-increasing prices.
But you still have to look very surprised, that's in line with your persona.
Meanwhile, Uemura Changqing also found it somewhat boring.
The first piece of material was bought by a guard from a merchant guild for seven spirit stones.
Unlike other materials that can be directly made into magical artifacts, this pale spiritual soil can only exist as an auxiliary material, so the price is not too expensive.
After that, several more Tier 1 auxiliary materials were put up for auction, but Gu Yuan had no interest in them whatsoever.
However, Gu Yuan still managed to memorize the buyer's characteristics through muscle memory.
Several items ended up in the hands of idle caravan members, except for one item, the Hundred-Patterned Mountain Tiger Blood Bead, which was used to nourish the body and temper the blood and qi, and was purchased by the representative of the Li family.
This made Gu Yuan a little curious, since logically speaking, there shouldn't be any body cultivators in the Li family.
This mountain tiger blood bead is of an extremely strong malevolent nature. If it were used to nourish the body of an elderly and frail cultivator, it would likely have the opposite effect.
After noting this down, Gu Yuan continued to observe.
After the initial auxiliary materials were photographed, several magical artifacts made by independent cultivators were also produced, all of which were first-tier magical artifacts.
Moreover, the effect is quite simple. For example, the first-tier magic weapon on the stage called "Bone-Breaking Golden Knife" sounds imposing, but in reality, it is just a combination of the tooth powder of "Bone-Crushing Dog" and its integration into the magic weapon golden knife, giving it the special effect of "tooth-crushing".
It only has miraculous effects when dealing with "bone products"; otherwise, it's even less effective than a regular golden knife or magical weapon...
A product of a rogue cultivator, a truly exceptional work!
Faced with a triple lack of resources—money, materials, and space—the resulting research from a group of independent cultivators was either rubbish or incredibly difficult...
Gu Yuan was once a member of the independent cultivators, and he had used many of these abstract magical artifacts.
He could be said to have suffered greatly from it, but when Gu Yuan saw some very unique magical artifacts, he still couldn't help but want to collect them, and even find the author to buy the blueprints and formulas, wanting to see how such abstract magical artifacts were made.
"Thirty-two spirit stones once, thirty-two spirit stones twice... three times!"
"Congratulations to the Lin family representative for successfully acquiring this Bone-Breaking Golden Knife!"
Auctioneer Lin Yueya announced the winner of the competing item with a smile, then deliberately kept everyone in suspense.
"The next item in the auction is guaranteed to be a feast for your eyes!"
"This item wasn't originally on the auction list, but a mysterious buyer requested that it be brought out and placed in the middle of the auction!"
Listening to Lin Yueya's introduction, Gu Yuan smiled sarcastically.
They're just making things complicated; what can a small place like Wuxin City possibly do...?
"The next item up for auction is this Tier 3 Crimson Feathered Crow Egg!"
"What?"
Gu Yuan suddenly sat up straight. "Third tier? Crimson Feathered Crow???"