Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 356 - 356 0269 Innate Spirit Treasure Level

Chapter 356: Chapter 0269: Innate Spirit Treasure Level Chapter 356: Chapter 0269: Innate Spirit Treasure Level Chapter 0269 Innate Spirit Treasure Level

Qi Tian was shocked in his heart. He was not sure if he could defeat even a Half-step Gold Core now, let alone Half-step Nascent Soul staged above Gold Core. He really wanted to know what was happening with Huang Liuyan, but he knew more clearly that it would not be good for him to enter Liuyan’s circle right now with his current strength. Moreover, it might not necessarily benefit Huang Liuyan if he did so. Therefore, he had no choice but to suppress his desires for now.

“You may go in now,” said the ticket-checking cultivator as he pointed at Qi Tian.

“Oh, okay,” Qi Tian stepped through the doors of the auction house into a large hall. Contrary to his expectation, he did not directly enter the auction site from here. The wall right opposite the entrance had several other entrances marked with phrases like ‘Qi Cultivation Stage’, ‘Foundation Establishment Stage’, ‘Gold Core Stage’ and ‘Nascent Soul Stage’. Qi Tian walked straight towards the ‘Foundation Establishment Stage’ and stepped through the gateway.

He found himself in an extraordinarily spacious hall, designed somewhat like an amphitheater with a circular auction platform at the center. Subsequent rings of seats risen around the podium.

At first, Qi Tian had thought that the bidders would be seated in one large hall. It wasn’t until he walked into the hall that he discovered that his hall only contained Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, maybe a few Half-step Gold Cores, but not a single person from the Gold Core Stage.

Qi Tian took his seat and discovered that it was ingeniously designed. The seats each had a slot where he could embed a single low-grade Spirit Stone. This action would activate the isolation prohibition, completely separating him from the surrounding world. Then, regardless of any noise he made or action he took within this isolated space, it would remain unnoticed. There was another slot which was part of a miniature teleportation array, using the low-grade spirit stone as power that, after a successful bid, could transport the auctioned goods right to his seat.

Throughout his entry, Qi Tian saw several seats with activated isolation prohibition. When passing by these seats, he had no way of determining the genders of those sitting inside.

Qi Tian’s heart stirred slightly. Once seated, he immediately embedded a low-grade Spirit Stone in the slot to activate the isolation prohibition, thereby cutting off the outside world’s prying eyes.

Some time remained before the auction officially began, and several seats were still unoccupied. At this moment, a manager from Wanjie Commerce stepped on the auction stage, and said loudly, “Sir, thank you all for attending this auction. As per the tradition, before the official start of the auction, we give everyone an opportunity to trade their cultivation resources. If any of you have unnecessary cultivation realms that you feel are valuable, you may auction them here. You may register with me to borrow our auction platform for auctioning at a cost of 100 lower-grade Spirit Stones. So, would anyone like to use it?”

A charge of 100 Low Grade Spirit Stones was by no means a small amount. Many beginners at the Foundation Establishment Stage couldn’t even afford it. However, nearly a hundred cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage approached the auction stage to register their intent to auction, despite the high fee.

The manager didn’t particularly care about what these people planned to auction. He simply charged them 100 Low Grade Spirit Stones for the stage use.

The cultivators, without exception, brought out various peculiar items. Occasionally, someone brought out something fairly decent. Then they’d emulate an auctioneer, displaying their own products. Yet, they weren’t exactly cut out for this kind of business. Introducing their own products in a stuttering manner, sometimes they wouldn’t even cut to the chase, let alone navigate the auction phase.

As a result, after ten-plus people went on stage, not a single item was sold, and each of them had wasted their 100 Low Grade Spirit Stones in vain.

The attendant watched with a smile, without intervening.

Qi Tian was left speechless. Wanjie Commerce really knew how to seize business opportunities, coming up with such a money-making method. More crucially, it was a method for collecting money without offering any service. They watched most people waste their 100 Low Grade Spirit Stones without even bothering to remind them. It was ruthlessly shrewd.

However, Qi Tian didn’t say anything. One could only blame the people who willingly chose to participate in this exploitative exercise. Perhaps the Foundation Establishment cultivators who paid the 100 Low Grade Spirit Stones knew exactly what to expect, but they chose to participate anyway. In that case, they really couldn’t blame anyone but themselves.

Just then, a cultivator walked onto the stage carrying a mirror, and announced, “This is a demon-seeing mirror, crafted following the ancient demon-revealing mirrors. With this mirror on your side during a confrontation, you can detect the true form of any entity up to the Gold Core stage. Sir, would anyone be interested? One price only – 50,000 Low Grade Spirit Stones.”>

No one responded to the cultivator. 50,000 Low Grade Spirit Stones was an astronomical sum. These Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators had limited resources to acquire spirit stones, unless they had powerful backing. Earning Spirit Stones was a tough task for them. Besides, this Demon-Seeing Mirror didn’t possess any distinct features. Even if someone could reveal their opponent’s true form during a confrontation, how would that matter? If they lacked sufficient strength, unveiling the true form would be futile. If they were powerful enough, they did not need this Demon-Seeing Mirror to overpower their opponent.