"Next up for auction is a residual plant, a Fourth Grade Red Infant Flower. This flower has only the mother root remaining, making cultivation quite difficult. However, succeed just once, and every forty-nine years it blooms, typically yielding five flowers or more each ti. Each flower is a Fourth Grade Spirit dicine, offering a significant profit!"
"Starting price, one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones!"
The mont this price was announced, the entire venue was in an uproar.
In reality, the value of a single Red Infant Flower generally exceeds a thousand!
The reason being, it grows so rapidly that every fifty years approximately five Fourth Grade Spirit dicines can be consistently harvested, making it invaluable!
Yet upon seeing the Red Infant Flower, everyone imdiately understood; it had been reduced to a thumb-sized rhizo.
"It’s impossible to cultivate."
"In its current state, it has so dicinal value, but only comparable to an ordinary Fourth Grade Spirit dicine."
"Indeed..."
So people placed bids, but those who did were treating the Red Infant Flower as a one-ti consumable Spirit dicine.
Li An also tentatively bid; he genuinely liked the item.
"Three hundred and eighty Spirit Stones!"
At this mont, the voice from the second floor who had been competing with Li An for spirit dicines and Creation Jade rang out again.
Li An sighed helplessly; he had no Spirit Stones left.
In the end, it was still taken by that person.
...
The auction concluded.
Xiaoxiao brought the Creation Jade that Li An had purchased, and he paid on the spot, accepted the Creation Jade, and then imdiately departed.
Upon leaving the Coiled Dragon Comrce Association, Li An felt a wave of Divine Sense scanning him. He was displeased, but a kindly-looking fat man approached him and said, "It must be you, a kindred spirit indeed!"
He chuckled as he walked to Li An, "Fellow Daoist, I’ve seized several spirit dicines from you; you’re not resentful, are you?"
Li An was surprised. Was this the person who had snatched the spirit dicines from him multiple tis?
And now he was so bluntly approaching Li An?
"I wonder what business the fellow Daoist has?" Li An asked.
"How about we step aside for a chat?"
The fat man gestured with his hand.
...
In a secret private room at Dragon City Inn.
"I am Gao Tai, a Fourth Grade Alchemist, so I have a high demand for spirit dicines. Recently, I’ve been researching so secret dicines, so I’m gathering all sorts of spirit dicines. Please don’t hold it against , Fellow Daoist."
The fat man introduced himself proactively, "I observed that your aura is extraordinary. You must be the famous Gu Dao from the Evil Spirit Lake?"
This fat man was remarkably perceptive... Li An said, "How did you guess, Fellow Daoist Gao?"
"Heh, who doesn’t know that Gu Dao from the Evil Spirit Lake is powerful, with Array skills that are unparalleled? Also, being able to form a Nascent Soul in such a treacherous place as the Evil Spirit Lake, you must have thods to ward off evil and suppress malicious energy. Therefore, it’s likely you were the one who bid for the Rank Four Creation Jade with Evil Qi."
"Additionally... haha, all the other old Nascent Souls have so savings. If they truly wanted sothing dearly, they wouldn’t be so stingy. You clearly wanted the spirit dicine, but repeatedly gave it up due to lack of Spirit Stones, clearly marking you as a newly advanced Nascent Soul with insufficient funds."
"I guess you ca to this auction with no more than twelve hundred Spirit Stones, am I right?"
Gao Tai smiled warmly, but Li An grew exceedingly wary!
Li An had always been the one to analyze others from the shadows, but now he was the one being thoroughly analyzed by this fat man?
Indeed, those who reached the Nascent Soul stage were truly astute; with just a few simple actions, they could deduce Li An’s identity.
Of course, this was mainly because Li An hadn’t planned to hide his identity in the first place.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator, he would inevitably interact with many other formidable cultivators and powers; attending an auction was nothing to hide.
Moreover, Gu Dao had already exposed so information to the outside world during his attempt to form his Nascent Soul: high proficiency in Arrays, mastery of Beast Taming Skills, and the capability to suppress evil spirits and malicious energy.
His desire for spirit dicines was only natural; as a newly minted Nascent Soul, the craving for Fourth Grade spirit dicines was perfectly normal and aroused no suspicion.
"Fellow Daoist, you’re indeed incredibly insightful. May I ask why you seek Gu?" Li An asked.
"Do you know why I want this Creation Jade? It’s because I need so Evil Qi... This Creation Jade has the most exquisite Evil Qi."
Gao Tai said, "But then I thought, since you dared to bid for this item, you must have a way to cleanse it of Evil Qi, so I let you have the item, only wishing for you to give the refined Evil Qi after cleansing. How about that? This way, you get the Creation Jade, and I get the Evil Qi, a win-win situation!"
"Of course, in return, I offer the spirit dicines I obtained from the auction for you to choose one at will. How about that?"
He laid out the spirit dicines one by one.
Li An pondered for a mont and took away the root of the Red Infant Flower!
"Great choice! This root can itself serve as a Rank Four spirit dicine in alchemy, and compared to other spirit dicines, it holds a slight possibility for propagation, potentially yielding significant returns in the future. For you to choose this, you must have so extraordinary thods."
Gao Tai gave a thumbs-up.
Li An smiled and said, "I just happen to need it. Regarding the Evil Qi you want, I will extract it for you, but I must declare in advance that my thod may not achieve the purity you desire, so I hope you’re prepared for that—"
Gao Tai cupped his fist, "Gu Dao, just do your best—"
"Alright, then we’ll et at the Evil Spirit Lake in two years."
Li An imdiately stood up and left.
Gao Tai was taken aback, "Two years?!"
Li An replied, "Yes, cleansing the Evil Qi from this item is challenging; even two years is considered fast..."
Gao Tai was clearly a little dissatisfied, but having already given the item to Li An, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, "Alright, see you in two years!"
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