Chapter 1148, Treasure Trove Pavilion
Yang Kai asked this question out of nowhere, but Wu Yi still responded promptly with the names of a few precious pills.
“The Strong Cloud Pill which can repair one’s meridians, the Soul Returning Pill that can patch a wounded Soul, and Wild Rose Pill that Elder Qian Tong brought out last time are all quite valuable, but if I had to name the most expensive pills on Shadowed Star, then it would have to be the Origin Condensing Pill and Origin Nirvana Pill. The latter can be said to be nearly priceless because it can help increase the chances a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master breaks through to the Origin King Realm. On Shadowed Star, there is no such master, but there are many stuck at the Third-Order Origin Realm. Those big forces wouldn’t hesitate to exchange several cities for a single Origin Nirvana Pill,” Wu Yi replied, her breath quickening slightly.
“No need to even consider it then,” Yang Kai shook his head decisively.
The Origin Nirvana Pill was an Origin King Low-Rank pill, forget about Yang Kai not having the appropriate materials, even if had the required ingredients, he couldn’t refine such a high-grade pill. The Origin Condensing Pill, on the other hand, could be refined because it was just an Origin Grade Low-Rank pill.
“Big Brother Yang, why do you ask?” Wu Yi looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“It’s nothing, wait here a moment, I’ll be right back,” Yang Kai said before turning around and returning to his stone room.
Although Yang Yan and Wu Yi were confused, they waited patiently, and roughly half an hour later, Yang Kai emerged once more and nodded, “Let’s go.”
The three of them then flew off towards Heavenly Fate City.
After the previous incident where Qian Tong came over and openly displayed his attitude, Yang Kai believed that no one would come to find trouble with Dragon Cave Mountain, so he could go out with peace of mind.
On the other hand, letting Wu Yi and Yang Yan take two Origin Grade artefacts to participate in the auction worried Yang Kai deeply, naturally, he needed to escort them there and back.
Yang Kai also wanted to know what price these two artefacts would sell for. Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts were worth between thirty thousand and fifty thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals, so an Origin Grade Low-Rank artefact should be sold for between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand, right? Yang Kai vaguely estimated that after selling these two artefacts, they would be able to purchase enough materials to furnish the cave’s Spirit Array.
Along the way, after listening to Wu Yi and Yang Yan talking non-stop, Yang Kai learned that Treasure Trove Pavilion didn’t belong to Shadow Moon Hall at all.
Treasure Trove Pavilion was its own force, one even more powerful than Shadow Moon Hall!
Treasure Trove Pavilion was similar to Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce in that it focused on conducting business. It had branches all across Shadowed Star and everyone once in a while, it would gather together treasures from all over the world and hold a grand auction.
The location of this auction wasn’t fixed and was instead held in turns all over Shadowed Star. This time, Treasure Trove Pavilion was hosting its auction in Heavenly Fate City.
The Treasure Trove Pavilion auction could be considered a grand event for all of Shadowed Star because, before every auction, Treasure Trove Pavilion would widely publicize a number of the precious objects to be auctioned, sending out pamphlets with exquisite illustrations to draw in expectant crowds.
The Treasure Trove Pavilion auction was attended by all the major powers on Shadowed Star and was a pseudo battle of financial resources and heritage. It was a lively occasion each time it was held, and many Heaven defying treasures had appeared over the years. Once, there was even a defensive artefact of Origin King Grade!
Rumour had it that this artefact was auctioned for over five hundred million High-Rank Saint Crystals plus fifteen flourishing cities!
Even the always calm Yang Kai was shocked by this number. Shadowed Star was too backwater so there were very few artefacts above Origin Grade Low-Rank, resulting in such an outrageous price being possible.
Yang Kai believed that on other Cultivation Stars, even if Origin King Grade artefacts were expensive, it was impossible for them to be sold for such a price.
“An Origin Nirvana Pill also appeared once and was apparently bought by a great Senior from Thunder Typhoon Sect. Unfortunately, after taking that Origin Nirvana Pill, that Senior failed to break through to the Origin King Realm and even had his cultivation realm fall as a result of some kind of backlash. I don’t know if that’s true or not though,” Wu Yi sighed softly.
Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent. Although he didn’t say anything, he was basically sure that what Wu Yi said was true.
After all, such pills were only auxiliary means. While such pills could help promote the chances of a cultivator breaking through to the next Great realm, and they were thus extremely expensive, they weren’t guarantees of success. If one’s understanding of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way hadn’t reached the appropriate level, no pill would be able to make them take another step forward.
Conversely, if one’s comprehension of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way were enough to exceed the bottleneck a cultivator was facing, even if they didn’t take an auxiliary pill, when the time came, they could still break through.
Yang Kai fell into the latter category as his understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao always greatly exceeded his current realm. As such, he had never used pills that helped with breaking through to the next realm, saving him a lot of expense.
That Senior from Sir of Thunder Typhoon Sect had definitely not reached the grand accomplishment stage in the use and comprehension of Shi, as such, that precious Origin Nirvana Pill had essentially gone to waste.
Such a treasure wasn’t something that could be refined on Shadowed Star, so obviously it had been obtained through some other means.
After a cultivator fails to break through a bottleneck, they would inevitably suffer some type of backlash; this could range from strength regression like with that Thunder Typhoon Sect Senior, or in more serious cases, even death was possible.
As such, if a cultivator didn’t have enough confidence in their ability to overcome it, even if they reached a bottleneck, they wouldn’t dare attempt to break through to the next realm.
This kind of result was more difficult to see when a cultivator’s strength was low, which was why such cases basically didn’t exist in Tong Xuan Realm. Even in rare cases where failed breakthroughs occurred, the backlash was generally not strong. However, once one’s strength was high enough, such situations were more common.
In fact, it wasn’t until Yang Kai entered the Star Field that he slowly understood this information.
The group of three, while talking and laughing, quickly arrived at the Treasure Trove Pavilion branch in Heavenly Fate City.
Standing in front of the towering palace, Yang Kai realized just how prestigious this place really was! Treasure Trove Pavilion occupied almost half the street of the most prominent area in Heavenly Fate City. There were people coming and going in front of the building in an endless flow, but that could not distract from the giant plague emblazoned with three golden words that was hung above Treasure Trove Pavilion’s doors.
A vigorous and tyrannical aura overflowed from Treasure Trove Pavilion, secretly stunning Yang Kai.
There were at least a hundred Origin Returning Realm masters inside this building. Fortunately, these people were all here to participate in the auction and were not deliberately targeting anyone, allowing Yang Kai to feel less uncomfortable.
In front of Treasure Trove Pavilion, two First Order Origin Returning Realm masters stood tall, their eyes as sharp as eagles as they observed the passing crowds. Yang Kai and his group of three had only just arrived when one of the guards, wearing a light cyan robe, stepped forward and raised his hand, “Guest, please halt, Treasure Trove Pavilion is about to hold its auction, it will not be open for normal business for the time being. If you wish to buy or sell something, please come back tomorrow!”
“We’re here to attend the auction,” Yang Kai said lightly before turning to Wu Yi.
Yang Kai knew that in order to participate in this level of auction, invitations were necessary. The invitation Qian Tong passed them last time was obviously for this and should currently be in Wu Yi’s hands.
Wu Yi seemed to be immersed in the magnificent of Treasure Trove Pavilion though, never before having had the opportunity to participate in this grade of auction. Her heart was filled with excitement and her face flushed a light shade of red. It wasn’t until Yang Kai looked at her that she suddenly remembered about the invitation and began scrambling to find it in her Space Ring.
“Haha, you think a cat or dog can attend Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction?” A laugh rang out nearby, one filled with scorn and derision.
Yang Kai frowned and looked towards the source of this voice, wanting to see who it was that was acting so arrogantly. Being ridiculed as stray cats or dogs for no reason naturally made him unhappy.
A young man in white robes soon walked over, his eyes sharp and seemingly possessed a brilliant light. Although his face was smiling, anyone could see the disdain in his eyes. He had a sturdy, handsome figure that perfectly complemented his shimmering eyes, a young man capable of fascinating thousands of women.
What stunned Yang Kai though wasn’t any of this, but the fact that this young man actually had a Third Order Saint King cultivation and that in front of him, Yang Kai felt a faint sense of oppression. This youth’s aura was no less imposing than Xue Yue of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Behind this young man were two masters who despite perfectly restraining their auras, were obviously of higher strength than the Hong Zhen Yang Kai faced before. These two masters wore black robes embroidered with soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes as well as a single large character.
War!
“Heaven Battling Union!” Wu Yi exclaimed, and quickly gave way.
[So he’s from Heaven Battling Union, no wonder he can have such strength despite not being very old,] Yang Kai thought to himself. He wasn’t to Shadowed Star anymore and had naturally heard about Heaven Battling Union as it was one of the biggest forces.
Among the younger generation of Heaven Battling Union, there was one extremely high aptitude genius named Qu Chang Feng. It was also said that he possessed incredibly piercing eyes.
If Yang Kai wasn’t mistaken, this young man should be that Qu Chang Feng, a talent famous across all of Shadowed Star.
Sure enough, after the guard who had stopped Yang Kai saw this young man, he respectfully cupped his fists and greeted, “Young Lord Qu, please enter!”
“En,” Qu Chang Feng nodded faintly then glancing over at Wu Yi and Yang Yan, pausing for a moment before smiling, “Do you two young ladies want to enter Treasure Trove Pavilion?”
Neither Wu Yi nor Yang Yan answered.
Qu Chang Feng continued talking though, “Entry right now is restricted because the auction is about to take place, these two guards won’t allow anyone inside without an invitation, but if you really want to go in, you can come with me, what do you two young ladies think?”
The smile he wore while offering this invitation seemed innocent and harmless, but Yang Yan and Wu Yi weren’t the types of women who would be fooled by such false humility; they naturally understood Qu Chang Feng’s intentions.
“Qu Chang Feng, I haven’t seen you for a few years but you still like showing off your superiority in front of the weak it seems. Do you really think being able to attend this auction is something noteworthy, or is it your Heaven Battling Union that is so great?” A deep voice sounded, and when Qu Chang Feng, who was still offering an invitation to Wu Yi and Yang Yan heard this voice, he couldn’t help frowning bitterly, as if he’d just swallowed a fly, the spring-like smile on his face disappearing in a flash as he turned his sharp eyes in the direction of this voice.
A short distance away, a young man in simple grey robes was walking over. He wasn’t putting on airs like Qu Chang Feng and instead appeared rather plain and unimpressive, but Qu Chang Feng didn’t dare despise him as a serious light flashed across his sharp eyes.
