Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Now fully focused on the small ring that Meng Jie was wearing, it wasn’t that difficult for him to figure out how Huo Fen was planning to escape from the current situation and why he was so confident in being able to escape.

For the spatial fluctuations on the small ring to even slightly surpass his own meant that the one who had crafted the ring was either extremely close to reaching the Origin Realm in the Dao of Space or had already managed to reach the Origin Realm. No matter what, it meant that there were few who would be able to stop this kind of small artifact if it was used for teleportation.

The only real way to stop someone with this kind of spatial artifact in hand would be to kill them before they had a chance to use, but... Given that even he found it difficult to notice, it was unlikely that anyone else at the auction would notice it. Giving Meng Jie a chance to utilize the artifact when her master inevitably ended up courting death when he finally chose to join in on the battle for the Stardusk Essence.

Speaking of which...

”2.199.999 top grade spirit stones!”

The overall price of the Stardusk Essence had already managed to break through two million with no signs of stopping, as the seven Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators were all fully locked into the bidding war. All while the weaker cultivators below were left in a state of utter shock at the terrifying numbers being thrown out by these Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

A few of the Domain Lord Realm cultivators that had managed to get inside even began looking through their interspatial rings at the dozen or so top-grade spirit stones that made up a vast majority of their entire fortune.

In the past, they had no idea how insignificant their wealth was compared to these big shots, but now that they found out, it really hurt them. Especially those who remembered how they had engaged in life and death battles over what was essentially only a few dozen top grade spirit stones worth of cultivation resources.

Of course, this didn’t mean that they would suddenly start valuing spirit stones less, as they were still the universal currency on the continent, it was just that they would probably think a bit more about potentially risking their life for a few top-grade spirit stones.

”Friend, I will give you one last chance to leave, you should know that being close to someone angering someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm won’t bode well for you.”

”Hm?” As Huo Fen called out to him for a second time trying to warn him about the danger of what he was about to do, Xuan Hao just nonchalantly nodded his head followed by a thumbs up. ”No worries, I will be fine.”

”You... I’m... I’m trying to help- Ah! Whatever! I BID 2.500.000 TOP GRADE SPIRIT STONES!” Clearly struggling to comprehend Xuan Hao’s thoughts, Huo Fen stomped his feet in frustration before angrily yelling out a terrifying bid that instantly surpassed the one that had barely been placed by the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

”Huh...? Who was that?”

”Someone not from the third floor joined in on the bid...?”

”That... Does that person have a death wish- No, does that person even have that many spirit stones?”

However, different from past reactions from the crowd when a new bid was placed, everyone was left in complete shock as they all realized that this new bid hadn’t come from one of the private boxes up on the third floor where the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators were staying. Making it clear to them that the person who had just joined in on the bid wasn’t someone in the Celestial Immortal Realm.

In other words, even if this person somehow managed to win the bid and cough up the required spirit stones by the end, they would still end up dead after offending so many Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators.

After all, they were not just offending these Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, but also the major powers that stood behind them. Meaning they were offending more than just the seven Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators present.

As for the reactions of the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators...

”There is actually someone else who wants to try and compete with us? How surprising...”

”Hmph! How dare someone in the Dao Seed Realm compete with me! This little fellow sure has a death wish! Just wait until this auction ends!”

”How can a little Dao Seed Realm cultivator even get their hands on that many spirit stones? I hope the Explorer Union will at the very least verify the other party has the spirit stones and isn’t just raising the price arbitrarily.”

They were mostly taken aback that there was someone in the Dao Seed Realm capable of producing that many spirit stones, while only one of them showed a clear killing intent.

As for finding out about the cultivation base of the two people sitting behind the bold Dao Seed Realm cultivator who had joined in on the bid? None of these Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators bothered to do anything more than a cursory scan of the two with their divine sense. Unexpectedly, this allowed Xuan Hao to successfully evade detection even though he had already prepared himself for his true strength to be revealed.

The only one who did seem to notice his cultivation was the one from the Explorer Union, but that guy didn’t reveal anything and just seemed to give him a silent and solemn nod as if he had been given some kind of hidden mission.

”Everyone, don’t worry, the other party has already been verified as having the required spirit stones ahead of time. None of you need to worry about any of this. The bidding will continue like normal. If you don’t have enough spirit stones to continue bidding, you can always give up!”

Friend, aren’t you misunderstanding something? Why are you suddenly covering for Huo Fen? It’s not intentional that you are the only one to discover my true cultivation base...

Not knowing what to say as he watched the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Explorer Union stand up and defend Huo Fen before continuing the auction like nothing had happened, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if he should just drop the disguise technique he was using to hide his true cultivation base.

But... On second thought, it was far more entertaining listening to the confused Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators as they suddenly found themselves in a bidding war with a Dao Seed Realm cultivator that could rival them in terms of wealth.

At the very least during the auction while the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator of the Explorer Union was around, they wouldn’t dare try anything against Huo Fen out of fear of offending the Explorer Union in the process. Allowing the bidding war to continue with an added eighth participant.

”2.800.000 top grade spirit stones!”

”Damn it all! I’m out, I should have begged the holy land for more spirit stones before leaving...”

”3.100.000 top grade spirit stones!”

”Curse you little Dao Seed Realm cultivator! Just wait! When this auction ends, you are dead!”

Slowly, time flew by as the price of the Stardusk Essence soon soared past the three million spirit stone threshold. Eliminating the first few of the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators from the bidding war.

By the time that the price broke through to three and a half million top grade spirit stones, only three people were still left. The Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Another being the Peak Middle Stage Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator from the Southern Central Region, while the last was none other than Huo Fen.

This kind of unexpected outcome was completely unexpected to everyone present and had long since caused everyone’s attention to focus on a certain small, private box on the second floor- or more specifically a certain person inside the small box.

Huo Fen had truly ended up as the center of attention, as all eyes were focused on him, some filled with killing intent, some with greed and some even respect at the daring act of standing up against so many Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators with his current cultivation realm.

Chomp~

”Hm? This one is quite delicious... No wonder you are so absorbed on these snacks, they are definitely top quality!”

”Mm~ Indeed! Chomp~! They are great! Chomp~! I Can’t get enough of them!”

All the while, the two remaining occupants of the small private room had ended up being completely ignored by everyone as they happily discussed the snacks brought out by the Explorer Union for this auction.

Considering that the Stardusk Essence wasn’t exactly going anywhere for now and he was curious to see how things were going to play out now that his cultivation base ended up remaining a secret, Xuan Hao had ended up deciding to join Huo Fen’s snack obsessed disciple in enjoying the snacks present while watching things play out on their own from the side.