A moment later, the red tint in Qi Feng's eyes faded. She took a few short breaths, gently pressing a pale hand to her still-rising chest to steady her breathing before returning to normal.
"Thank you, Senior Hong," Qi Feng said, her cheeks slightly flushed with gratitude.
Just now, she had noticed that many Foundation Establishment cultivators in the hall ignored the female attendants in their arms, letting them suffer injuries from the oppressive aura of the Blood Butchering Banner.
Cultivators like Wei Tu, who showed such thoughtful consideration, were extremely rare.
"Maybe…" A bold thought surfaced in Qi Feng's heart.
However, before she could put this idea into action, the cold indifference on Wei Tu's face immediately made her withdraw and feel uneasy.
Right now, Wei Tu's attention, like that of the others present, was entirely focused on the Blood Butchering Banner resting on the silver-haired elder's tray.
"My Demonic Buddha Bell is also a damaged magical artifact… I wonder which of the two is stronger?" Wei Tu silently compared the two.
He quickly came to a conclusion.
In terms of raw power, the two damaged artifacts were evenly matched—both served as trump cards for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But when it came to control, the Demonic Buddha Bell was far less ferocious than the Blood Butchering Banner and was therefore much easier to refine.
"It's possible the Demonic Buddha Bell was intentionally downgraded by the Heavenly Maiden Sect, weakened and passed to Si Qing to use as a hidden card in the secret realm," Wei Tu speculated.
The Blood Butchering Banner had originally belonged to True Lord Queyue of Mirror Water Pavilion, taken from True Lord Lengfeng after killing him.
One was intentionally degraded.
The other was forcibly reduced in rank.
Naturally, the former was easier to refine, while the latter remained dangerous and difficult to control.
"Each time I use the Demonic Buddha Bell, it drains more than half of my spiritual power. The Blood Butchering Banner… it'll probably consume even more," Wei Tu thought to himself.
To him, the Blood Butchering Banner was a "chicken rib" kind of item—too costly to use effectively. To wield it in battle would require spiritual power on par with a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Yet such cultivators rarely encountered enemies they couldn't handle. Their focus was already shifting to forming a Golden Core, not bolstering combat techniques at the Foundation stage.
—The cost of a damaged magical artifact alone was enough to discourage most Foundation Establishment cultivators.
If you truly faced an unbeatable enemy, relying on a single Blood Butchering Banner wouldn't be enough to reverse your fate.
That was precisely why True Lord Queyue had sold it to the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild and placed it in a private underground auction.
For a cultivator of that level, valuable items would first be offered internally among fellow sect members. Only afterward would they be sold publicly.
As Wei Tu had predicted—
The Blood Butchering Banner, despite being the final auction item, failed to stir any bidding frenzy among the cultivators present.
When the opening price of twelve thousand spirit stones was announced, not a single Foundation Establishment cultivator followed up. All chose silence.
Yet Chai Ping seemed unsurprised by this outcome. She didn't show the slightest disappointment, still smiling graciously.
The Jiu Yun Merchant Guild had already made a guaranteed profit from acquiring the damaged artifact. After all, it had been exchanged for a favor from True Lord Queyue.
Once the news of today's auction spread, every cultivator in Zheng Kingdom's immortal world would recognize that the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild had the power to handle Golden Core-level business.
That recognition alone was worth more than any treasure.
"Unfortunately, the Blood Butchering Banner has become the first item in this auction to go unsold…" Chai Ping said with a touch of regret.
Then she clapped lightly, signaling the silver-haired elder to remove the Blood Butchering Banner from the auction stage.
Immediately afterward, Chai Ping announced the second highlight item.
The second featured treasure was a top-grade second-tier magical weapon—the Swarming Cloud Sword Set.
Although it didn't match the Blood Butchering Banner in sheer destructive force, it had the advantage of being far more manageable in terms of spiritual power consumption, staying within normal limits for a magical weapon. This meant cultivators could use it as a regular combat tool.
The third highlight item was the monster core of a third-tier demonic beast—a Thunderhorn Tiger.
The moment Chai Ping uttered the words "third-tier monster core," every cultivator in the hall turned their attention to her.
Some senior Foundation Establishment cultivators even looked like they could hardly wait, wanting her to skip the formal introduction and jump straight to the bidding.
No one was surprised by this reaction.
It was common knowledge that the Mortal Shedding Pill could improve a cultivator's chances of forming a Golden Core. It was essentially the "Foundation Establishment Pill" of the Foundation Establishment stage—an item many dreamed of obtaining.
And the Azure Flame Pill, refined from a third-tier monster core, was considered the best substitute for the Mortal Shedding Pill.
—Although the Azure Flame Pill only offered half the effectiveness of a Mortal Shedding Pill and wasn't exactly cheap, it had one clear advantage: accessibility. All you needed was a third-tier monster core and some spirit herbs to refine it.
After a short while,
Chai Ping finished explaining the uses of the third-tier monster core and announced a starting price of five thousand spirit stones.
"Eleven thousand spirit stones."
From the crowd, Alchemist Shu's voice rang out, immediately raising the bid by six thousand.
No one was surprised by the offer.
Alchemist Shu was elderly and desperately needed a breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm to extend his lifespan.
This third-tier monster core was his lifeline—there was no way he'd let it go lightly.
Within the time it took to finish a cup of tea,
The price of the third-tier monster core had already climbed to nineteen thousand spirit stones.
"I'm getting old," Alchemist Shu said with a sigh, not placing another bid. "I don't have many years left. Fellow Daoists, please go easy on me just this once. Consider it a favor I'll owe each of you."
Normally, if any cultivator said such a thing, they'd be ridiculed—after all, opportunities to form a Golden Core don't come by often. Miss it once, and it might never come again.
But—
Alchemist Shu was different.
As a second-tier high-grade alchemist, he held considerable reputation among rogue cultivators. Many had benefited from his alchemy over the years.
An elderly alchemist, deeply respected and esteemed, now pleading with everyone for a chance to walk his Dao—his words, while not exactly reasonable, still stirred sympathy.
Some cultivators who heard it felt no displeasure at all. On the contrary, a hint of compassion welled up in their hearts.
Nineteen thousand spirit stones.
That price was already within the normal range for a third-tier monster core. Because of that, the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild did not stop Alchemist Shu's behavior.
Cultivation wasn't just about fighting and killing—it also involved human sentiment and social ties.
Even the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild dared not look down on the network of a second-tier high-grade alchemist.
With those words—
Two or three Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been bidding against him dropped out, leaving only a dark-skinned elder whose face was hidden and a middle-aged female cultivator in red robes still competing.
"If Fellow Daoist Shu lacks spirit stones, my Huang Clan is willing to lend you some," said Huang Changshun, seated next to Alchemist Shu, seizing the opportunity.
He saw this as a perfect chance to win Alchemist Shu's favor.
And if Alchemist Shu managed to refine the Azure Flame Pill from the monster core, there was a chance the Heshan Huang Clan might get a share of the rewards.
If the alchemy succeeded—
There might even be more than one pill produced.
"Many thanks, Clan Leader." Alchemist Shu nodded gratefully and accepted a spirit stone pouch from Huang Changshun.
Then came another round of bidding.
In the end, Alchemist Shu successfully won the third-tier Thunderhorn Tiger's monster core.
…
With the auction over,
The event shifted into the free-trade portion, where cultivators could conduct personal transactions.
After Alchemist Shu and the others finished trading—
Wei Tu stepped onto the auction platform and declared his intention to buy body-tempering elixirs.
"Body-tempering elixirs?" Many cultivators below the stage shook their heads secretly, thinking Wei Tu was being unrealistic.
If those elixirs were easy to obtain, who among them wouldn't want to learn some physical cultivation techniques to increase survivability and raise their chances of forming a Golden Core?
Since ancient times—
Cultivators who succeeded in body refinement either had deep fortune and access to rare tempering elixirs or were heaven-defying talents whose day of training outpaced others' months and years.
"Body-tempering elixirs… I don't have any."
To Wei Tu's surprise, it was Alchemist Shu who responded.
He was sitting below the stage, still wearing a faint smile after winning the third-tier monster core. His demeanor was clearly more uplifted than before.
"But I did hear a rumor once," he said through voice transmission to Wei Tu. "Ten thousand years ago, in the territory of Zheng Kingdom, there was once a sect called the Hongri Sect. They had many body cultivators."
"Although they never produced a Nascent Soul stage physical cultivator like Desolate Mountain Sect, they still managed to cultivate quite a few Golden Core body refiners."
"Within the sect, there might be legacy techniques that accelerate physical cultivation."
"You could follow that lead and look into it—maybe you'll find something."
Alchemist Shu had no idea that the "Fellow Daoist Hong" before him was actually Wei Tu, someone with whom he'd once had a grudge.
Now that his own path looked promising, his mood was good. He simply wanted to help out a younger cultivator. To him, sharing an old rumor wasn't a big deal at all.
"Hongri Sect?" Wei Tu raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear those three words again after so many years.
Back when he was still in the Qi Refinement Realm, he'd obtained the One Qi Pouch Crafting Method from Wei Fei, which had also originated from Hongri Sect.
"That's right!" Wei Tu's eyes lit up. "The One Qi Pouch is a flesh-type artifact. If Hongri Sect could develop such items, then their cultivation methods… might really include physical refinement techniques…"
He had been cultivating his body using crude methods all along. His current early second-tier level in physical cultivation was mostly brute-forced through treasures like Earth Dragon Flesh.
A proper body cultivation sect would be completely different.
They would have specialized techniques for each stage, greatly reducing the time stuck at bottlenecks.
"Thank you, Senior Shu. I'll remember this kindness. If I ever get the chance, I'll surely repay it," Wei Tu said sincerely, gathering his thoughts and bowing in gratitude.
He truly hadn't expected Alchemist Shu to offer him such helpful information.
But after a moment's thought, it made sense.
Alchemist Shu wasn't necessarily a vile man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned such a strong reputation among rogue cultivators.
Wei Tu realized his view of Alchemist Shu as a "villain" stemmed from differing stances and long-held biases.
"Still, when it comes to the Huang Clan, both Alchemist Shu and Yang Xiang's motives can't be that simple. There's no way they'd go to Yunhe Mountain just to be honorary elders." Wei Tu's eyes narrowed.
"No need to be so formal," Alchemist Shu replied with a warm smile, stroking his beard. His eyes rested kindly on Wei Tu, who had shown such gratitude.
After stepping down from the platform,
Wei Tu returned to his seat and gently pulled Qi Feng back into his arms.
"Senior Hong… actually, when it comes to body-tempering elixirs, my Qi family also has…" Qi Feng suddenly said from his embrace.