Chapter 15: The Treasure-Gathering Begins

"Fellow Daoists." With a laugh, a man in a green robe with antlers on his head walked in.

"Brother Tianqingzi, I didn't expect you to come to this treasure-gathering." Dragon God Dao Lord was the most enthusiastic.

"Brother Tianqingzi." The Great Mo Dao Lord and his wife also spoke.

"Mm."

The antlered man smiled and nodded at the Great Mo Dao Lord and his wife, glanced at Dragon God Dao Lord, and finally fixed his gaze on the woman in white. He laughed, "Qianying, I heard you were escorting the treasures this time. My Tianqing Domain is quite close, so I came to see an old friend."

"It has been a long time." The woman in white, Qianying Dao Lord, nodded slightly, a bit more smile appearing on her face.

This was 'Tianqingzi', who could be ranked first in strength among the several great territories around. Tianqingzi was also a great power who had touched the edge of Dao Integration. However, his 'Tianqing Sect' lacked another powerful Dao Lord capable of shouldering the sect. With ample time, Tianqingzi was slowly accumulating through painstaking effort, planning to attempt Dao Integration later.

"Whoosh." A gust of wind blew, then coalesced into a figure.

"Sister Qianying." A short, old man in a short shirt called out with a beaming smile.

"Brother Shuifengzi." The woman in white, who had been relatively cold, immediately stood up upon seeing him, walked directly to the short old man, and grabbed his hand. "Brother Shuifengzi, it's not easy to see you, so I managed to get this assignment to escort treasures to the Great Mo Domain, and sure enough, I met you."

"Haha, your big brother just wanders around idly." Shuifengzi chuckled.

"Shuifengzi, long time no see." Great Mo Dao Lord also smiled.

"Great Mo." Shuifengzi nodded.

In the Great Mo Domain, there were four Dao Lords in total. But Dao Lords were elusive, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, so ordinary Ancestral Gods, Ancestral Immortals, and World Realm cultivators only knew of 'Great Mo Dao Lord' and were unaware of the others.

The four Dao Lords of the Great Mo Domain were Great Mo Dao Lord and his wife, Shuifengzi, and Dongfan Dao Lord. Dongfan Dao Lord was slightly weaker in strength, while Shuifengzi was simply lazy, with no intention of establishing a sect, roaming freely and unrestrained. In terms of strength, he was a formidable figure on par with Great Mo Dao Lord.

Among the five Dao Lords on this top floor,

Tianqingzi was ranked first, Great Mo Dao Lord and Shuifengzi second, Qianying Dao Lord and Dragon God Dao Lord were weaker, and Great Mo Dao Lord's wife was naturally the weakest.

Treasure-gatherings generally did not attract too many Dao Lords; three to five was normal. Because these treasure-gatherings mainly allowed World Realm cultivators to purchase rare treasures... However, each treasure-gathering had some bottom-of-the-barrel items that even Dao Lords coveted, so they came to take a look, hoping to find something they wanted.

"Brother Tianqingzi." Dragon God Dao Lord was very enthusiastic, addressing Tianqingzi as 'Brother' repeatedly.

This made Shuifengzi curl his lip.

If Shuifengzi was carefree and unrestrained, Dragon God Dao Lord was the opposite—smooth and slick, very fond of befriending those truly at the peak of Dao Lords! Dao Lords like Tianqingzi and Tianyi Dao Lord, who stood on the edge of Dao Integration, were extremely intimidating because their strength was overwhelming. Even if they failed Dao Integration, it meant they were doomed to perish.

Before they perished, if they went berserk, everyone would be afraid. Since they were destined to die, who would dare provoke them? Even those who succeeded in Dao Integration and attained eternity were unwilling to provoke those madmen who had failed Dao Integration.

Dragon God Dao Lord liked to befriend the most顶尖 Dao Lords, racking his brains to do so. And indeed, through his diligent efforts to make friends, he did have many good friends! So wherever Dragon God Dao Lord went, other Dao Lords generally gave him face. However, many inwardly proud Dao Lords held him in considerable disdain.

"The treasure-gathering begins." Qianying Dao Lord looked down and said.

...

Inside a private room on the third floor.

Ji Ning, Su Youji, and the Ancestral Dog God also looked down through the window at the great hall below. The hall did not seem large from the outside, but in fact it was ten miles in all directions. Tens of thousands of cultivators sat around the central display platform. Many of these cultivators were World Gods or Chaos Immortals, and some were Ancestral Gods or Ancestral Immortals.

Even for Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals, to enter they had to have at least ten square of chaos nectar. Thus each person's seat was relatively spacious. After all, the area was fully ten miles across. Of course, to them, their eyesight was astonishing; they could clearly see how many legs an ant had from ten miles away.

"Master, it's starting." Su Youji pointed downward.

"Mm." Ji Ning also watched.

Three female Chaos Immortals wearing robes with strange floral patterns walked together onto the central display platform. The leading female Chaos Immortal had skin like ice, and her eyes were silver. The silver-eyed woman stood in the center, while the other two women stood apart on either side.

"Welcome, cultivators from many territories, gathered here. This treasure-gathering auction will be hosted by me." The silver-eyed woman wore a slight smile. "I imagine you are all impatient. I won't say much and will begin the auction directly. The rules are very simple: each treasure has a base price, and each bid must increase by at least one square of chaos nectar."

"Good, let's begin with the first treasure."

The silver-eyed woman extended her right hand, which seemed formed of frozen ice. Above her palm appeared a withered yellow wooden strip. The wooden strip floated up, hovering about ten zhang high, so that cultivators from all directions could see it clearly.

"This is 'One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood.'" The silver-eyed woman smiled. "One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood: simply light it, and it will completely burn into a stream of smoke. Inhale all the smoke... and you will fall into a deep sleep for a thousand years. The 'heart demons' that affect cultivators and make it difficult for them to advance further will become faint and no longer influence you."

"One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood, base price twelve squares of chaos nectar. Begin bidding!"

"Fifteen squares!" The first to bid was an Ancestral Immortal, his eyes full of longing.

"Sixteen squares." A gray-robed Chaos Immortal in another place said calmly. This made the Ancestral Immortal grit his teeth in frustration. He had suddenly added three squares of chaos nectar to intimidate other cultivators, but unfortunately, everyone knew the value of 'One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood.' In terms of wealth, most Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals could not compare to World-level cultivators.

"Seventeen squares."

"Eighteen squares."

...

Ji Ning watched from above and marveled, "One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood? I didn't expect the first item to be such a treasure."

During cultivation, cultivators may develop shadows in their hearts due to certain events, even giving rise to heart demons. These heart demons constantly trouble the cultivator. Although they can be suppressed, they prevent cultivators from truly calming their minds at critical moments of enlightenment, making it difficult to improve their strength. 'One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood' causes the cultivator to sleep for a thousand years. Upon waking, the original shadows and heart demons, as if a very long time had passed, become blurred.

This was a very miraculous oddity. Although its price was comparable to some Dao weapons, it was extremely rare. For example, if one wanted to buy it from the 'Ten Thousand Treasures Palace' at ordinary times, the palace could help obtain it, but the price would be exorbitantly high—at least fifty squares. Sometimes even the Great Mo Territory found it difficult to acquire, making the price even higher.

The items at the treasure-gathering auction, however, had low base prices.

This was also why Dao Lords came to see if they could find bargains.

"Thirty-two squares. Any higher?" The silver-eyed woman looked around. "If not—" As she spoke, the One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood floating above began to slowly descend. When it completely fell into the silver-eyed woman's hand, that signaled the end of bidding.

The One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood flew down into her hand.

"Good, One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood, thirty-two squares." The silver-eyed woman announced. One of the women behind her stepped forward to take the wood, then walked down the display platform toward an Ancestral God who had made the final bid of thirty-two squares.

Treasures like One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood were mostly urgently needed by Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals.

Because the higher one's realm, the stronger one's state of mind generally was. World-level cultivators were rarely troubled by heart demons. Even if they were troubled, some powerful heart demons could not be suppressed by One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood. One-Line Soul-Guiding Wood could usually be bought for fifty or sixty squares. Now at the auction it was cheap, so the Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals were the most eager.

Many World-level cultivators just watched; it was not yet time for them to bid.

Ji Ning also watched from the third floor. For this auction, he had sold many treasures, waiting for some rare and powerful items to appear!