Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged, but he was quite delighted by this reaction.
It was quite clear that this Golden Lightning Bamboo was even more precious than he'd originally thought.
But then again, even though he'd already mastered the Lightningwield Technique, he still couldn't help but feel that there seemed to be something else hidden within the Golden Lightning Bamboo. Otherwise, the demon monarchs of the earth abyss wouldn't have been so wary of this Divine Devilbane Lightning.
Unfortunately, the demon monarchs were merely using him as a tool at the time, so even if the Golden Lightning Bamboo were harboring some other secrets, they naturally wouldn't tell him about it.
Han Li had searched through the Flying Spirit Race and Cloud City, but there weren't many tomes that he could find that were related to the Golden Lightning Bamboo and Divine Devilbane Lightning. As such, he could only give up in his search for now and hope that an answer would present itself to him later on.
Just as these thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, bidding had already begun on the Golden Lightning Bamboo.
All of a sudden, a holy race being on the upper level made a staggering bid of 250,000,000 spirit stones, effectively scaring off many prospective bidders.
However, that holy race being definitely wasn't the only one with a massive budget.
Almost immediately thereafter, bids of 260,000,000 and 270,000,000 were made by two other holy race beings on the upper level.
The voice of one of the bidders was rather familiar to Han Li, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he realized that it was Qian Jizi.
This elder of the Myriad Ancient Race had also set his sights on that section of Golden Lightning Bamboo.
As for the other bidder, it was the man with the Lie surname who had raised his skepticism toward the flawed Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid earlier.
These two beings made one bid after another, and all of the other prospective bidders could only look on in disappointment and yearning toward the Golden Lightning Bamboo on the stage.
All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the auction hall became a little tense and oppressive.
"300,000,000!"
After a brief silence, the holy race being who had earlier made the bid of 250,000,000 finally placed another bid, and Han Li's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this astonishing price.
This time, Qian Jizi heaved a forlorn sigh and remained silent.
"310,000,000! Fellow Daoist Jing, you're the one bidding against me, right? This section of Golden Lightning Bamboo is extremely important to me, so I hope that you can relinquish it to me." The man with the Lie surname made another after a brief hesitation before directing a polite request toward the other bidder.
However, the man with the Jing surname had no intention of giving up, and he chuckled, "I don't think so, Brother Lie. The Golden Lightning Bamboo is also extremely important to me, which is why I'm willing to place such a high bid for it. I won't be handing it over to anyone. 320,000,000!"
"Alright, in that case, I'll hand over the Golden Lightning Bamboo to you, Brother Jing." The man with the Lie surname seemed to be aware of how wealthy his competitor was, so he also gave up following a wistful sigh.
"Hehe, you have my thanks, Brother Lie!" the man with the Jing surname replied in a triumphant voice, but he was quickly stumped by the scenes that unfolded next.
"330,000,000!" A bid was made by someone on the lower level.
This was a pleasant female voice, and many people faltered upon hearing this before turning toward that direction, only to find that the bidder was none other than the same woman who had purchased the Infernal Earth Battle Carriage.
Everyone was quite stunned to see this, including Han Li.
She had already spent such a massive sum of spirit stones earlier, yet she was still able to make such an astronomical bid; that was insane!
Of course, this didn't truly indicate that her wealth exceeded that of a holy race being, but at the very least, she possessed far more spirit stones than the average holy race being.
"340,000,000!" the man with the Jing surname continued in a dark voice.
"350,000,000!" the woman countered in an unhurried manner.
The man with the Jing surname fell silent once again, but after a brief moment, he made another bid in a frosty voice. "360,000,000! If anyone can make a higher bid than this, then even I won't be able to keep up."
As soon as his voice fell, the woman made another bid in an extremely calm manner. "370,000,000!"
A burst of enraged and incredulous laughter rang out from the cabin that the man with the Jing surname was situated in.
"Good! Seeing as you're so intent on securing this Golden Lightning Bamboo, then I can only wish you a safe trip when you depart from Cloud City!"
After being provoked over and over again by an upper race being, this holy race being finally couldn't repress his fury any longer, and delivered a barely-concealed threat.
However, the woman completely ignored him as if she hadn't even heard what was being said. After Xiao Buyi announced that she had successfully placed the final bid for the auction item, she made her way onto the stage in an unhurried manner, then issued the required spirit stones in exchange for the Golden Lightning Bamboo before returning to her seat.
The fearlessness being displayed by the woman evoked a sense of wariness in the heart of the man with the Jing surname, and he merely chuckled coldly before falling silent.
"Alright, we have now reached the grand finale of the auction, so allow me to present our most precious auction item. Hehe, I'm sure all of you know what it is already. The final auction item is a vial of 13 Myriad Wonder Pills. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate much on the extraordinary effects of Myriad Wonder Pills; not only are they ideal for breakthroughs to the holy race, consumption of the pill can cleanse one's essence and enhance one's constitution. In the past, Myriad Wonder Pills have been sold during prior auctions, but they've never been sold in batches of more than three or four at once. In all honesty, even I was quite stunned that the elders of the Crystal Race were willing to offer so many Myriad Wonder Pills to be sold during this auction. If it weren't for the fact that I'm hosting this auction, perhaps I would participate in the bidding as well. I won't be able to use them for myself, but these pills would be more than ideal for a junior or disciple of mine," Xiao Buyi said with a forlorn look on his face.
After that, he accepted a faint silver vial from one of the armored beings on the stage, then raised it high above his head.
The holy race beings on the upper level may not have been overly tempted by these pills, but the beings on the lower and middle levels were all staring intently at the silver vial in Xiao Buyi's hand with scorching desire in their eyes.
All of them either wore solemn expressions, or ones of unbridled excitement or anxiety.
"Alright, that's enough rambling from me. Without further ado, the starting price for this vial of Myriad Wonder Pills is 300,000,000!" Xiao Buyi announced with a smile.
After hearing this starting price, Han Li stroked his chin and crossing his arms, then leaned back into his seat expressionlessly before closing his eyes.
At this moment, Han Li's mind had completely drifted away from the vial of Myriad Wonder Pills before offered on the stage. Instead, he was contemplating how he could get his hands on its refinement method.
If the ingredients used were all plant-based items, then he could refine countless such pills for himself. If these Myriad Wonder Pills really were as extraordinary as everyone proclaimed, then with the assistance of the true spirit bloods within his body, there was a very good chance that he'd be able break through to the Body Integration Stage through consuming these pills.
Thus, Han Li fell into deep thought…
Close to a day later, within the secret chamber of his cave abode on Dreamcloud Mountain, Han Li sat in a cross-legged manner with a faint blue pouch in one hand, and a small white vial in the other.
He bounced the pouch up and down in his hand as a faint smile appeared on his face.
This pouch naturally contained the top-grade spirit stones that he'd received from the Four Races Auction, and they were most likely sufficient to cover close to half of the costs incurred by using the super teleportation formation. If Cai Liuying really were willing to issue the other half of the costs, then he'd most likely be able to gather the remaining sum of spirit stones quite easily.
The last time he'd attended an auction was back in Deep Heaven City of the human race, and he'd clearly underestimated just how wealthy foreign beings from other continents were. Thus, the costs required to use the super teleportation formation were no longer a problem to him.
All he had to next was to travel to the Vast Glacial Realm, gather the tool refinement material for the Stone Cocoon Race, secure the designated treasures for Cai Liuying and Duan Tianren, and he'd be able to teleport back to the Tian Yuan Continent thereafter.
On top of that, his trip to the Vast Glacial Realm would be a brilliant opportunity for him to break through a bottleneck. As such, it would be very much in his best interest to cultivate to the pinnacle of the early-Spatial Tempering Stage. In that case, he'd be able to use the vast abundance of spiritual Qi in the Vast Glacial Realm to facilitate a breakthrough to the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage.
These thoughts raced rapidly through Han Li's mind, and he carefully re-evaluated his plan before finally heaving a long sigh after ascertaining that there were no issues with his projected course of action.
Spiritual light then flashed from one of his hands, and the pouch of spirit stones instantly disappeared.
After that, Han Li turned his gaze toward the small white vial. This was naturally the vial that contained the flawed Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid.
Compared to the auction items that had been reserved for the finale, this spirit liquid had been a lot cheaper. However, Qing Yuanzi had promised him some Divine Infernal River Elixir, so Han Li had been extremely diligent when it came to gathering the items on Qing Yuanzi's list.
This spiritual liquid was flawed, yet Xiao Buyi proclaimed that it still possessed all of the abilities of a perfectly refined batch of the same spirit liquid, just to a significantly lesser degree.
Of course, Han Li wasn't going to just take his word for it; he naturally had to conduct an examination for himself to verify if this was indeed the case.
Otherwise, if he were to present something to Qing Yuanzi that was completely useless, then the latter certainly wasn't going to be happy.
Thus, Han Li appraised the jade vial in his hand in deep thought before suddenly opening his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.
The ball of silver flames revolved around Han Li before a crisp cry rang out, and it transformed into a silver Fire Raven.
Han Li then immediately tossed the jade vial into the air, then pointed a finger toward it.
A dull thump rang out as the runes on the surface of the vial's lid flashed, following which it flew off of its own accord.
All of a sudden, brilliant red light flashed from the opening of the vial, and a pillar of crimson flames erupted from within. At the same time, a ball of red liquid slowly hovered out of the vial.
The entire secret chamber was immediately illuminated by red light, and scorching heatwaves rolled directly toward Han Li, making him feel as if he'd been thrown directly into a furnace!
At this moment, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven suddenly became extremely excited at the sight of the ball of red liquid, and it let loose an elated cry before spreading its wings and flying toward it before Han Li had even given it any instructions.
