Song Changsheng's gaze was instantly drawn to the stage after all this time, the item he had been waiting for had finally appeared!
With a gentle clap from Xia Wanyun, several attendants emerged, carrying a massive tiger-shaped skeleton into view.
The skeleton stood over three meters tall and stretched several meters long. Every bone was perfectly intact, without a trace of flesh or blood remaining, and there were no visible wounds.
Its bones gleamed with a crystal-like luster, faintly emanating demonic energy clear proof that this was a Tier-2 beast. Once a demon beast reached Tier 2, both its flesh and bones would undergo a dramatic transformation, increasing significantly in strength.
Even just snapping off one of its leg bones would yield a material only slightly inferior to magical artifacts of the same tier. Leg bones, teeth, claws, and tailbones were all premium materials for crafting.
Given its sheer size, even selling it off in pieces would still fetch a good price.
However, Song Changsheng wasn't too worried. In the context of this auction, the white tiger skeleton wasn't considered an extraordinary item. For most attendees, there wasn't much point in bidding for it.
After all, who would buy it just to break it down for materials? That would be a guaranteed way to lose your shirt.
Of course… if someone had a "unique" palate and wanted to make soup with it well, no judgment there.
Back to the point: the only real competition Song Changsheng needed to worry about came from two types of people.
The first was his peer's artifact refiners. Any decent refiner would be tempted by such high-grade materials.
But this group was also the most rational when it came to cost-benefit analysis. If the price exceeded their mental ceiling, they'd typically back off. Song figured the bidding might cap out at around 20,000 spirit stones. Not much to worry about.
The second group, however, was what truly concerned him puppet masters.
Puppet masters were essentially a specialized offshoot of artifact refiners, focused on the study and crafting of various puppets. Their creations came in all shapes and sizes, with countless uses.
Even more troubling, they weren't picky about their materials. Whether living or dead, anything could be refined into a puppet.
A white tiger skeleton in such pristine condition would be an absolute treasure to them perfect for crafting a beastbone puppet comparable in strength to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
That kind of value was far harder to estimate bidding could easily shoot up to several tens of thousands of spirit stones. For Song, with only a modest stash of funds, that possibility was a genuine threat.
"Let's hope I don't run into one of them…" Song thought silently to himself.
At that moment, Xia Wanyun spoke from the stage:
"Fellow Daoists and seniors, this white tiger skeleton is exceptionally well-preserved. Whether for refining artifacts or puppets, it's an excellent choice.
The starting price is 5,000 spirit stones, with a minimum bid increment of 500. Highest bid wins. Let the auction begin."
No sooner had she finished speaking than a chubby, red-faced man on the first floor raised his paddle and shouted,
"6,000 spirit stones!"
A Foundation Establishment cultivator on the second floor quickly followed,
"6,500!"
Just as Song had predicted, the number of interested bidders was low only a handful were going back and forth. After several rounds, the price had only climbed to 10,000.
Then, one of the second-floor cultivators suddenly jumped the bid to 15,000 a move that immediately scared off most of the competition. That was no small amount. Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, not everyone could casually throw around that much.
And even if they could, it all came down to whether the purchase was worth it. The auction was far from over if they spent too freely now, what would happen if a truly vital item came up later and they couldn't afford it?
So, the majority wisely chose to bow out, including the fat man who made the initial bid.
"The Daoist in the private box has offered 15,000 spirit stones. Is there anyone willing to go higher?" Xia Wanyun said sweetly, lightly waving her wooden gavel to signal that she was about to call the bid.
Seeing that the time was right, Song Changsheng decisively spoke up:
"This old man offers 16,000 spirit stones!"
He deliberately made his voice raspy and old-sounding, just to keep the people from Earthfire Sect from recognizing him. Song Changsheng had interacted with Cheng Yufei plenty of times before he could recognize the man by voice alone. And the reverse was just as true. If he spoke in his normal tone, that sly old fox would catch on.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Song had no choice but to disguise his identity this way.
"Seventeen thousand spirit stones." A young cultivator on the second floor, with a dark, gloomy expression and a courtesan in his arms, frowned and raised the bid.
Naturally, Song Changsheng didn't back down and immediately increased the price by another thousand.
The young man instantly grew irritated and snapped, "Twenty thousand!"
Although Song could sense the change in the man's tone, he paid it no mind. He had prepared for this moment for a long time there was no way he was going to back down now.
So he calmly followed up: "Twenty-one thousand."
Bang! The young cultivator slammed the table into splinters in fury and growled coldly, "To the fellow across from me, this tiger skeleton is something I, Wu Luochuan, have my eyes on. If you're willing to withdraw, I promise to craft a puppet for you."
"Wu Luochuan?"
Hearing the man announce his name, Song Changsheng remained composed, but Song Qingluo beside him let out a low gasp.
"He's that famous?" Song asked, frowning. The name didn't ring any bells.
Song Qingluo nodded solemnly. "He's a Tier-2 puppet master with quite a reputation in Luoxia City. Many Foundation Establishment cultivators seek him out to craft puppets."
"Great… exactly the kind of person I didn't want to run into." Song Changsheng frowned deeper. He knew very well how alluring a perfectly preserved skeleton like this was to a puppet master. It looked like today's bidding war would be fierce.
If it were any other item, he might have backed off and taken the opportunity to befriend such a skilled artisan. But not this time. A treasure like this wouldn't come around again.
So he replied in kind: "Fellow Daoist, I also truly need this item. If you're willing to yield, I promise to craft a Tier-2 artifact for you in exchange."
Wu Luochuan's face darkened. "So be it. Let's settle this with our wallets. Twenty-three thousand!"
"No more talk, then. Twenty-four thousand!" Song answered immediately.
The back-and-forth escalated quickly, and soon the price soared to thirty thousand spirit stones. At that point, Song was nearly out of funds. If Wu Luochuan bid again, Song was ready to make an all-in final offer and if that didn't scare him off, then it meant he and the white tiger fang simply weren't meant to be.
On the other side, Wu Luochuan was also feeling stuck. His true goal for today wasn't even this skeleton, but rather a top-grade Tier-2 puppet that was still to come.
He had already spent a significant portion of his funds earlier. If he kept fighting over this skeleton, he might not have enough left for the real prize.
Wu Luochuan brooded for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth and growled, "I yield!"
The white tiger skeleton was valuable, yes but the other puppet meant more to him.
With Wu Luochuan's retreat, Song Changsheng finally let out a long breath of relief. It was his.
With a soft tap of Xia Wanyun's gavel, the skeleton officially belonged to Song Changsheng.
He called in the attendant waiting outside and gave a few quiet instructions. Soon, she returned with a storage pouch and respectfully said,
"This is your item, sir. Please inspect it."
Song checked the contents thoroughly. Confirming it was indeed the tiger skeleton, he reluctantly handed over thirty thousand spirit stones feeling the sting deeply. Now he had barely four thousand left to his name.
Still, even though he'd achieved his goal, he didn't plan to leave just yet. After all, the auction wasn't over, and the fabled treasure and final item had yet to appear he didn't want to miss the show.
The auction continued until the next morning. Along the way, several rare and powerful items appeared, even prompting Purple Mansion cultivators to personally enter the bidding fray.
Eventually, a lower-grade magical treasure finally made its appearance as a flying sword, tightly sealed under layer upon layer of restrictions. Even so, it radiated a fierce sword aura that sent shivers down the spine.
The sword had already developed a spirit consciousness, granting it a degree of autonomy. Even without a wielder, it could unleash terrifying power. Without the suppressive seals, many of the Qi Refining cultivators on the first floor likely wouldn't have made it out alive.
Powerful as it was, the sword came with a steep price. Its starting bid was fifty thousand spirit stones, and several Purple Mansion cultivators entered the bidding. The price soared, forcing most Foundation Establishment cultivators to back out.
In the end, the sword was claimed by the Heavenly Sword Sect for 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones equivalent to 200,000 low-grade stones.
Song Changsheng couldn't help but click his tongue in disbelief. "Two hundred thousand spirit stones… that's more than the Song clan earns in several years."
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for.
"Fellow Daoists, the final item of today's auction is about to be revealed. Please turn your attention this way."
Though Xia Wanyun looked a little tired after presiding over the event for an entire day and night, the excitement in her voice was unmistakable. A faint flush colored her cheeks, making her look even more stunning.
Despite the late hour, not a single seat in the auction house was empty. Even those who didn't intend to bid had no plans of leaving.
Song Changsheng was one of them. He was staying to the very end.
Because everyone wanted to witness firsthand what this mysterious, tightly guarded final auction item was.
At most auctions, the organizers would leak a bit of information about the finale to stir up excitement. But this time, it had been kept completely under wraps no clues, no hints which only fueled the crowd's curiosity even more.
Seeing that all eyes were on her, Xia Wanyun gave a charming smile and solemnly took out an exquisitely crafted jade box. However, she didn't open it. Instead, she simply held it up and made a slow circle, letting everyone get a good look.
A wave of confusion rippled through the crowd was the box itself the final item?
Not.
Then Xia Wanyun spoke in her sweet, lilting voice:
"Fellow Daoists and honored seniors, this jade box contains the final item of today's auction a drop of Essence of Bing Fire."
Her words sent the entire auction house into an uproar. Some were thrilled, others completely bewildered like Song Qingluo, who had never even heard of such a thing.
While this sort of knowledge was basic for members of larger families, Song Qingluo had grown up somewhat isolated and lacked a theoretical foundation. Song Changsheng immediately explained:
"Do you know what a Purple Mansion cultivator needs to break through to the Golden Core stage?"
This was common knowledge, and Song Qingluo quickly answered:
"To break through to the Golden Core realm, a Purple Mansion cultivator must first gather and balance all five elemental forces. Only then can they refine a Golden Core within their Purple Mansion."
Song Changsheng nodded.
"And what's the most difficult part of that process?"
Song Qingluo thought for a moment and replied:
"Since we humans follow the Five-Element Golden Core Path, the hardest part must be completing the five elements. Although we're all born with the five elements in our bodies, some are strong spiritual roots and some are weak, hidden, and unable to absorb spiritual energy.
Unless someone is born with a rare 'variant root,' only cultivators with five-element spiritual roots can attempt a breakthrough without supplementing their missing elements. The rest of us, like me have water, fire, and earth roots must make up for the missing metal and wood to achieve balance."
Indeed, the heavens are fair.
Before the Golden Core realm, the fewer spiritual roots one had, the faster one cultivated. Those with only one root were called "Heavenly Spiritual Roots" and praised as peerless geniuses. But in truth, they were defective in a way.
Such cultivators progressed extremely quickly before the Golden Core stage, facing almost no bottlenecks. But to form a Golden Core, they needed to make up for four missing elements a massive challenge. Variant root cultivators had it even worse: they had to gather all five elements.
Ironically, five-root cultivators who progressed the slowest found the actual breakthrough easiest. Once their cultivation was high enough, they could attempt to form a Golden Core directly.
Everyone knew five-root cultivators had an easier time at the Golden Core stage, but they were still widely seen as talentless. The fewer your roots, the more gifted you were considered especially in low-tier sects and clans.
Was the world just stupid?
Of course not.
It was simply that five-root cultivators progressed so slowly. Reaching the Purple Mansion stage required dozens of times the resources compared to a Heavenly Root cultivator. The risk was immense one wrong step and years of effort would be wasted.
Even large sects couldn't afford to support many five-root cultivators, let alone the small ones.
Thankfully, the world never lacks clever people.
Long ago, someone proposed two solutions.
The first was to abandon the Five-Element Golden Core Path entirely. Since Heavenly Root and variant root cultivators only had one root, why not specialize in it? If they could comprehend the laws of that element, they could still form a Golden Core.
This path was proven viable though far more difficult and became known as the One-Origin Golden Core Path.
The second method was entirely different. Some clever cultivators discovered that certain elemental treasures could be refined into the body, turning hidden roots into active ones. For example, a cultivator with water and wood roots could consume the Essence of Bing Fire to gain a fire root and become a tri-root cultivator.
This method was gentler and faster than the One-Origin path but extremely expensive. Every elemental treasure was a rare, priceless resource.
After this long explanation, Song Qingluo finally understood why everyone was going wild. They were fighting for a chance to break into the Golden Core realm.
While the two of them had been talking, the bidding among the various Purple Mansion cultivators had already gone berserk.
The price had soared to 250,000 spirit stones, surpassing even the magical treasure from earlier and it was still climbing.
Song Changsheng's mouth twitched at the number.
Now he fully understood why those Heavenly Root and variant root cultivators all ended up walking the One-Origin Path.
There was only one reason:
They simply couldn't afford the Five-Element route.
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