Even after the Wing-Splitting Fish, spirit beasts were occasionally brought up, and they were sold at high prices. Jaekyung memorized them all. When he returned to Black Flood Dragon, he planned to have Hyeon-gu immediately check if such aquatic spirit beasts existed in their water territory.
If he could find even one or two types, it would be a great help in earning spirit stones in the future. Jaekyung, lost in happy thoughts, suddenly narrowed his eyes. Jwa Yu-min was just introducing another item, and it was one of the things Jaekyung had his heart set on.
"This is the Precious Jade Elixir. It is effective in increasing the spiritual power of Foundation Establishment cultivators. While the effect is greatest in the early stage, even mid-stage cultivators can see some benefit. Furthermore, unlike other spiritual pills and objects, this item has a pure nature, so there is no need to worry about resistance or toxins. One only needs to consume it, making it the finest spiritual object for cultivation for early to mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators."
Jwa Yu-min's voice, which he had not paid much attention to before, was now incredibly grating. With every embellished word she added, the price of the item would rise. If he could, he felt like shutting that chattering mouth right away.
Gulp, gulp.
To calm his heart, Jaekyung emptied another gourd and quietly watched the bidding that had just begun. Thanks to the generous swig of spirit wine, he had regained his composure. The Precious Jade Elixir was an item he had coveted early on, so he naturally planned to bid.
However, if the price went too high, he was prepared to give it up cleanly. After all, the spirit stones he possessed were limited, and there were several other items he had his eye on later, so he had to allocate his funds well.
"Twenty medium-grade spirit stones!"
"Twenty-four medium-grade spirit stones!"
The price rose endlessly. Foundation Establishment cultivators, thirsty for cultivation progress, had begun to earnestly open their purses. Although Jwa Yu-min's lengthy explanation earlier had a touch of exaggeration, it was not wrong overall.
The Precious Jade Elixir could enhance a cultivator's spiritual power without any particular side effects or dangers, and its effects could be felt even by mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Spiritual objects for cultivation that possessed both stability and versatility were rare; it was a classic case of an item you couldn't buy not because you lacked spirit stones, but because the item itself was unavailable.
"Forty medium-grade spirit stones!"
Jaekyung, who had been quietly watching the flow, placed his first bid. As he raised the price by five all at once from the previous thirty-five, a brief silence fell over the hall. But that too was momentary.
Those who could not give up on the Precious Jade Elixir gritted their teeth and continued the bidding war.
"Forty-one medium-grade spirit stones!"
"Forty-two medium-grade spirit stones!"
A few showed their determination for the Precious Jade Elixir, but the price did not rise smoothly. It could not be helped. Forty medium-grade spirit stones was already not a small price, and they too knew that the auction was far from over.
Of course, the Precious Jade Elixir was a precious spiritual object for cultivation. If an opportunity to obtain this spiritual object arose outside, they would have rushed for it with fire in their eyes. But it was a different story at an auction.
Here, rare items seldom seen outside came up one after another to find their owners, so even a spiritual object that would have made their eyes burn outside was now evaluated with a rational assessment of its value. The efficacy of the Precious Jade Elixir was as Jwa Yu-min had described.
Its nature was pure, so any early to mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator could benefit from it. Considered on its own, the Precious Jade Elixir was undoubtedly a high-grade spiritual object for cultivation. But how did it compare when placed alongside other spiritual objects of the same class?
Most cultivators prefer speed in their cultivation and greater effects. Spiritual objects were no exception; there was a tendency to prefer those with greater effects, even if they came with some flaws and burdens. Take the Dao of Alchemy for instance.
Wasn't the very essence of alchemy to combine various medicinal herbs to create medicinal pills, reducing the burdens and enhancing the effects? In that sense, the Precious Jade Elixir was somewhat less attractive compared to its peers.
As a single spiritual object with a complete nature, it could not be used as an ingredient for medicinal pills; one could only consume it as is.
Cultivators whose pockets were not deep might not have a choice, but wouldn't wealthy cultivators who could afford spiritual objects of the same class prefer to obtain other spiritual objects and refine them into medicinal pills before consumption? A significant number of the Foundation Establishment cultivators participating in the auction were of the latter group.
Their purses were not overflowing, but they were not thin either, and forty medium-grade spirit stones was not a huge burden. However, they did not aggressively raise the price, considering the items that would appear later. They were engaged in a battle of wits, trying to gauge if they could acquire the Precious Jade Elixir at a cheap price.
"Fifty medium-grade spirit stones!"
But Jaekyung did not tolerate their shallow calculations. The voice that echoed softly from the esteemed guest room forced them to make a decision. Fifty medium-grade spirit stones.
It was an amount that was beginning to feel burdensome.
"Fifty-one medium-grade spirit stones!"
It was someone's timid resistance. At the same time, it was a ploy to test his intentions.
"Sixty medium-grade spirit stones!"
Jaekyung did not try to calculate. He had set a maximum price of seventy medium-grade spirit stones for the Precious Jade Elixir. If he could win it for under seventy, he would bid; otherwise, he would give up without hesitation.
"Sixty medium-grade spirit stones! Any more?"
Jwa Yu-min called out in her gentle voice. Her gaze swept over a few cultivators who showed signs of hesitation, but no one else raised the price.
"Sixty medium-grade spirit stones! Sold!"
Listening to Jwa Yu-min's shout, which had once again become pleasant to the ear, Jaekyung in the esteemed guest room sipped his spirit wine.
"Seventy-two medium-grade spirit stones! Sold!"
Having won the bid for the Vermilion Great Toad, Jaekyung's lips curled up in satisfaction once more. 'This is going even better than I thought.' Jaekyung's auction strategy this time was simple.
From the beginning, he had paid no mind to the 'good items' that appeared in the latter half of the auction. Everyone coveted such items, so even if he poured in his entire fortune, he would be lucky to get one or two. Jaekyung was pragmatic.
He was sitting in an esteemed guest room thanks to his relationship with the Prosperous Treasure Guild, not because his pockets were deep. 'My competitors are not the ones in the other esteemed guest rooms, but those down below.'
His spirit stones were insufficient to compete with the true esteemed guests, but they were more than enough to overwhelm those below. Jaekyung won one spiritual object after another that he had his eye on, bidding as if he would spend all his spirit stones in the middle part of the auction.
Including the Vermilion Great Toad he had just purchased, he had already bought four spiritual objects, and the spirit stones in his possession had dwindled to a third. 'I can probably get one more at most.' He had spent almost all the wealth he had accumulated over ten years in less than three hours, but he felt exceptionally refreshed.
No matter how many spirit stones one had, they were just spirit stones. Only when they were converted into resources, and further into cultivation, could they be said to have fulfilled their value.
"Dao Friend Jaekyung. You've obtained another fine item. Congratulations."
As Jaekyung smiled with satisfaction, Yeon Jung-hyeok offered his congratulations. But inwardly, he thought he could not understand Jaekyung. 'Isn't it better to buy one proper spiritual object rather than four mediocre ones?'
It was a thought that any human cultivator would have. In their common sense, one high-grade spiritual object was better than ten medium-to-low-grade spiritual objects. This was because even if they had ten medium-to-low-grade spiritual objects, they could not digest them all.
They would be lucky to be able to digest two or three at most. Of course, if they took their time and consumed them slowly, they could digest not just ten but even twenty, but they did not have that kind of time. That was why they preferred quality over quantity.
But Jaekyung was different. He was of the demon race, a Great Spirit Beast at that, and among Great Spirit Beasts, he possessed an incredibly sturdy body and spiritual nature. Naturally, he could digest far more external materials than human cultivators.
On top of that, he was not short on time, so his preference was naturally different from that of human cultivators. Quality over quantity? No, for him it was quantity over quality.
"One hundred twenty-seven medium-grade spirit stones! Sold!"
With the Purple Flame Treasure Flower as the last, Jaekyung's cost-effective auction came to an end. A few spirit stones remained, but with this amount, he would have a hard time even bidding on the items that would come later.
"Are you leaving already?"
"Since I have no spirit stones left, what is the point of watching any longer?"
At first, he had considered staying a bit longer to broaden his horizons, but he soon changed his mind. There was no point in looking at things he could not have; it would only be frustrating, so it was better to leave quickly.
"Could I borrow a boat for the return trip?"
"Of course. Just say the word whenever you need it."
Jaekyung was the one who requested the boat, yet it was Yang Yo-hyeon and Yeon Jung-hyeok who seemed pleased. They were anxious to send this sensitive esteemed guest back as soon as possible, so when Jaekyung expressed his intention to leave, they nodded as if they had been waiting for it.
Leaving the auction house, Jaekyung immediately boarded a ship with Yang Yo-hyeon and left Star Rock Island.
"It seems faster than when we came."
"Yes. We've unloaded all the cargo, and we gave those fellows a proper feast while we were at Star Rock Island."
At those words, Jaekyung stared blankly at the vigorously swimming ship-towing sharks. For some reason, they seemed to have put on more weight than the last time he saw them, and it was not his imagination.
"At this speed, we should be able to arrive within ten days."
Yang Yo-hyeon acted as if he had achieved some great feat, as if expecting praise, but Jaekyung felt nothing. Yang Yo-hyeon seemed to think the speed of the ship pulled by ship-towing sharks was extremely fast, but by Jaekyung's standards, it was not at all.
He was confident that if he changed into his original form and moved at full speed, he could arrive in five days. Nevertheless, the reason he borrowed this slow guild ship was for safety, not speed.
More than half of the sea route from Star Rock Island to Black Flood Dragon Island was within human territories, so it was burdensome to travel in his original form.
"Hm?"
On the sixth day after leaving Star Rock Island. Jaekyung sensed a group of people approaching quickly from behind and frowned. 'Foundation Establishment cultivators?'
There were four approaching, and judging by their energy, they seemed to be Foundation Establishment cultivators.
"Dao Friend Yang. Someone is approaching quickly from behind."
"Pardon?"
Hearing Jaekyung's words, Yang Yo-hyeon spread his divine sense with all his might, but he could not detect anything.
"Are you sure? I don't feel anything."
"There are four of them. It looks like three are following one. They don't seem to be a single group... it looks like someone is being chased."
Yang Yo-hyeon was half in doubt, but it was not long before he too could detect the people Jaekyung had mentioned. 'This man's divine sense is far stronger than mine.' For a moment, Yang Yo-hyeon looked at Jaekyung with a complex expression, but he did not forget his duties in the meantime.
"Activate the Ship-Protecting Formation!"
The light of the formation instantly enveloped the ship, and the crew gathered on deck, each assuming a battle stance. And a moment later. A single cultivator riding a flying sword appeared in the distance.
His face was pale without a trace of blood, and dark blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Dao Friends of the Prosperous Treasure Guild! Help me!"
Upon spotting the guild's ship, his eyes lit up, and he desperately shouted as he approached at full speed.