Lin Sheng's gaze remained fixed upon the incomplete Rank 4 formation plate.
At first glance, the remaining formation patterns appeared chaotic, several sections had been damaged beyond recognition, and even some of the surviving spiritual lines were so faint that they seemed to disappear whenever the formation plate absorbed a trace of spiritual energy. To an ordinary cultivator, this was little more than a damaged Rank 4 formation whose original purpose could only be guessed.
But Lin Sheng was a Rank 4 Formation Grandmaster.
More importantly, he had spent years experimenting with a formation that almost nobody else in the cultivation world would have considered practical.
His own body.
Formations were generally divided into several broad categories, offensive formations, defensive formations, supportive formations and specific formations, each serving a different purpose. Offensive formations were designed to release destructive power, defensive formations focused on protection, supportive formations enhanced cultivation or strengthened certain abilities, while specific formations were considerably more unusual because they were designed around the characteristics of a particular cultivator.
Such formations were extremely difficult to create.
A cultivator's cultivation method, physique, meridians, spiritual roots, acupoints and even their unique Dao comprehension could influence the structure required.
That meant a specific formation couldn't simply be copied and handed to another person.
Even if two cultivators possessed the same cultivation realm, their bodies were still different enough that forcing the same formation into them could result in failure, or worse, backlash.
As a result, when an incomplete specific formation appeared in the cultivation world, there was usually only one explanation.
Its original owner was either dead, or the inheritance had survived from an ancient cultivator.
Lin Sheng's eyes gradually narrowed.
The moment his divine sense touched the surviving formation patterns, he felt a faint sense of familiarity.
Not enough to identify the formation completely.
But enough to tell him that it wasn't ordinary.
He immediately focused his perception.
The formation patterns appeared to rearrange themselves within his mind, and Lin Sheng silently compared them with the formation structure he had been developing inside his own body.
His Acupoint Formation.
Several years ago, he had begun experimenting with using his opened acupoints as formation nodes.
The idea had originally seemed almost absurd.
Ordinary formations required external formation flags, formation plates, spiritual stones or naturally occurring spiritual veins to serve as their foundation, but Lin Sheng wanted to construct something different, a formation that existed entirely within his own body.
His acupoints would become the nodes.
His meridians would become the formation pathways.
His Qi would become the energy circulating through the formation.
And his body itself would become the formation base.
The advantages were obvious.
Once completed, he wouldn't need to arrange formation flags before activating it, nor would he need to carry a formation plate everywhere he went.
The formation would exist inside him permanently.
But the difficulty was equally obvious.
The human body was extraordinarily complicated.
Every acupoint was connected to multiple meridians, every meridian influenced the circulation of Qi, and a single mistake could cause the formation's energy to interfere with his cultivation.
Lin Sheng had therefore proceeded extremely carefully.
Over the years, he had gradually increased the number of acupoints being used as formation nodes.
Thirty-six..forty-nine..Sixty-four and eventually, seventy-two.
Seventy-two acupoints had now been incorporated into his Acupoint Formation.
The formation had already produced tangible results.
His cultivation speed had increased.
The circulation of Astral Qi had become smoother.
Most importantly, the formation had reduced the amount of time he needed to reach the peak of Astral Gang.
But there was a problem.
The acceleration had stalled.
Lin Sheng had already tried several methods to improve the formation, adding new nodes, changing the circulation routes, adjusting the relationship between different acupoints and even experimenting with different formation principles.
Yet every attempt eventually encountered the same limitation.
The formation could still operate.
It could still provide assistance.
But the improvement had reached a bottleneck.
Lin Sheng had begun suspecting that the existing formation structure simply wasn't optimal.
And now, this incomplete Rank 4 formation plate had appeared before him.
His perception slowly followed one surviving formation line.
Then another.
His eyes became increasingly serious.
"That's..."
He recognised the principle.
The formation wasn't directly related to his Acupoint Formation, but there were similarities in how it handled the interaction between different nodes.
More importantly, several of its surviving structures seemed designed to reduce the loss of energy during circulation.
That was exactly what his Acupoint Formation lacked.
The formation within his body could already accelerate his cultivation, but some of the energy produced during circulation was inevitably lost because the seventy-two nodes weren't perfectly coordinated.
This incomplete formation seemed to contain a method for solving that problem.
It wouldn't allow him to immediately transform his Acupoint Formation into something completely different.
But it could potentially help him optimise it.
Lin Sheng's eyes flickered.
The bidding below had already begun slowing.
"Eight thousand."
"Eight thousand five hundred."
"Nine thousand."
Another voice followed.
"Nine thousand five hundred."
Silence followed.
Several Golden Core cultivators had already withdrawn from the competition.
The formation was incomplete, and even if they obtained it, they would still need a Formation Grandmaster to study it and reconstruct its missing sections.
For most people, that wasn't worth paying an enormous price for.
Lin Sheng didn't have that problem.
He could study it himself.
And he already had a specific purpose in mind.
The moment he saw that the bidding was beginning to slow, Lin Sheng finally raised his hand.
"Ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones."
His voice wasn't particularly loud.
Yet the entire auction hall heard it.
Silence descended.
The previous bidders immediately stopped.
Even the host paused for a moment.
Ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones.
The price wasn't outrageously high compared with the value of a complete Rank 4 formation, but considering that this was an incomplete formation plate whose exact purpose was still unknown, it was an extremely bold bid.
More importantly, everyone had assumed that the Golden Core cultivators would be the final competitors.
Nobody had expected another person to suddenly enter the bidding with such confidence.
The host glanced towards Lin Sheng's private room.
A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.
Clearly, even the Myriad Dao Pavilion had not expected this particular guest to value the damaged formation plate so highly.
However, the price had already exceeded what most of the remaining bidders were willing to pay.
Nobody responded.
The host waited several breaths.
"Ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones."
"Going once."
Silence.
"Going twice."
Still nothing.
The host raised his hand.
"Sold."
The attendant immediately brought the formation plate towards Lin Sheng's private room.
Lin Sheng handed over the Spirit Stones and accepted the formation plate.
The instant it entered his hand, his mental sense swept across it again.
The feeling became even clearer.
There really was something useful here.
He couldn't determine the original owner's cultivation method from the surviving formation alone, nor could he reconstruct the entire formation without further study, but the similarities between several of its circulation principles and his Acupoint Formation were undeniable.
Lin Sheng carefully put the formation plate away.
At that moment, he sensed several powerful divine senses briefly passing over his private room.
Golden Core cultivators.
They didn't probe deeply.
Nobody wanted to openly offend another Golden Core cultivator at the Centennial Auction, especially when the person's identity remained unknown.
But they were curious.
Someone willing to spend ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones on an incomplete Rank 4 formation plate clearly had a reason.
Lin Sheng ignored them.
His attention had already returned to the auction platform.
The host had begun preparing the next item.
Judging from the atmosphere, this item was clearly far more valuable than the previous one.
Two attendants walked onto the stage.
One carried a small jade box.
The other carried nothing.
The host's expression became solemn.
"Everyone, the next item is the third major special item of today's auction."
The jade box was slowly placed upon the table.
The host didn't open it immediately.
Instead, he looked across the entire auction hall.
Then he spoke.
"One pill."
The simple statement caused several cultivators to frown.
One pill?
After the incomplete Rank 4 formation plate, many people had expected another extraordinary treasure.
Why was the next item merely a pill?
The host smiled faintly.
"I believe everyone here has heard of its name."
His hand rested upon the jade box.
"Heart Clarity Pill."
The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere changed.
Several Purple Palace cultivators immediately sat upright.
Some of the older cultivators who had previously looked indifferent suddenly revealed expressions of disbelief.
Even among the Golden Core cultivators, several divine senses swept towards the stage.
A Heart Clarity Pill.
There were many pills in the cultivation world.
There were also countless pills that claimed to assist breakthroughs.
But there were very few pills capable of directly influencing the mental and spiritual condition of a cultivator attempting to form a Golden Core.
And everyone who had reached the Purple Palace Realm understood why.
The Golden Core breakthrough wasn't merely a matter of accumulating spiritual energy.
The cultivator needed to survive the tribulations.
The Lightning Tribulation could be prepared for.
A cultivator could strengthen their physical body, prepare defensive treasures, arrange formations, gather medicinal pills and choose an advantageous location for the breakthrough.
With sufficient preparation and a strong enough foundation, the Lightning Tribulation could be endured.
But there was another tribulation.
The Heart Demon Tribulation.
The host's voice became slower.
"Everyone here knows that the greatest obstacle to forming a Golden Core isn't necessarily the Lightning Tribulation."
He paused.
"It is the Heart Demon Tribulation."
The hall became completely silent.
"The Heart Demon Tribulation attacks the cultivator directly through the mind and spirit. Unlike lightning, which descends from the heavens and can be resisted with a sufficiently powerful body, treasure or formation, the Heart Demon Tribulation enters through the cultivator's own weaknesses."
A Purple Palace cultivator swallowed quietly.
The host continued.
"Some cultivators will face their deepest fears. Some will be forced to experience the regrets they have buried for decades. Some will see people they have killed, people they have lost, or people they have betrayed. Others may be trapped within illusions so convincing that they cannot distinguish reality from deception."
His expression became solemn.
"And for the most dangerous cases, the Heart Demon can even manifest into physical form."
The auction hall seemed to become colder.
A manifested Devil.
That was something every Purple Palace cultivator feared.
The Heart Demon itself was already terrifying because it attacked from within, but when the accumulated negative emotions, obsessions and weaknesses of the cultivator reached a sufficient level, the Heart Demon could sometimes condense into a tangible existence.
At that point, the cultivator would no longer be merely fighting an illusion.
They would be fighting a genuine enemy while their consciousness remained trapped within the tribulation.
The body outside would be almost completely defenceless.
If nobody protected them, death was entirely possible.
And even if someone did protect them, there was no guarantee they could survive.
The host raised the jade box.
"The Heart Demon Tribulation can be overcome through a sufficiently strong Dao Heart and will. A cultivator who possesses a firm enough conviction can resist the Heart Demon and break through its illusions."
He opened the box.
A faint fragrance immediately spread throughout the auction hall.
Inside was a single pill.
It was white.
There were no dazzling spiritual patterns, no terrifying fluctuations and no overwhelming medicinal aura.
Yet the moment the pill appeared, the expressions of the cultivators changed.
The host carefully lifted it.
"This is the Heart Clarity Pill."
"The pill can soothe the mind, strengthen the spirit, clear distracting thoughts and stabilise the cultivator's consciousness. More importantly, it can temporarily strengthen the cultivator's resistance to external spiritual interference, allowing them to maintain clarity while facing their deepest obsessions and fears."
His eyes swept across the audience.
"For a cultivator preparing to form a Golden Core, this effect is extremely valuable."
The hall was silent.
The implications were obvious.
A sufficiently powerful Heart Clarity Pill could dramatically increase the chances of surviving the Heart Demon Tribulation.
And because the Heart Demon Tribulation was one of the greatest obstacles preventing Purple Palace cultivators from forming Golden Cores, the value of such a pill couldn't be measured by the medicinal materials alone.
The host's next sentence made the entire auction hall erupt.
"In other words, with adequate preparation and a sufficiently strong cultivation foundation, this single Heart Clarity Pill can almost certainly produce a Golden Core cultivator."
BOOM!
The auction hall exploded.
The reactions were immediate.
Some Purple Palace cultivators stood up.
Others exchanged frantic glances.
A few older cultivators clenched their fists beneath their sleeves.
Almost certainly produce a Golden Core cultivator.
Those words were worth more than countless ordinary Rank 3 pills.
For a Rank 3 force, the difference between having no Golden Core cultivator and having one Golden Core cultivator was enormous.
A Golden Core expert could establish a Rank 4 force.
They could protect the sect from neighbouring powers, occupy better cultivation resources, obtain access to higher-level inheritances and establish connections with forces that would never even acknowledge a Rank 3 cultivator.
For some Rank 3 forces, a single Golden Core cultivator could change their destiny.
Several sect representatives were already transmitting messages.
Their expressions were filled with urgency.
But then the host announced the starting price.
"One million five hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones."
The hall abruptly became quiet.
The excitement disappeared almost instantly.
One million five hundred thousand.
For the ordinary Purple Palace cultivators present, that number was terrifying.
Even some Rank 3 forces couldn't casually produce such wealth.
The host smiled.
"And every subsequent bid must increase the price by at least one hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones."
The atmosphere became strange.
A moment earlier, countless people had been dreaming about obtaining the pill.
Now, many could only watch.
"One million six hundred thousand."
A voice finally came from a private room.
The entire hall became silent.
"One million seven hundred thousand."
Another voice immediately followed.
The bidding had begun.
And this time, the competitors weren't ordinary Purple Palace cultivators.
They were the representatives of powerful Rank 3 forces, wealthy Golden Core cultivators, and forces that had already begun calculating just how much a future Golden Core expert was worth.
Lin Sheng sat quietly inside his private room.
His expression hadn't changed.
He looked at the Heart Clarity Pill for several breaths.
Then his eyes narrowed slightly.
He had no use for it.
At his current level, a Heart Demon Tribulation associated with forming a Golden Core was irrelevant to him.
But the price being pushed upward so rapidly told him something else.
The cultivation world placed far more value on Golden Core cultivators than ordinary cultivators could imagine.
Lin Sheng leaned back in his chair.
The bidding continued.
"Two million!"
"Two million one hundred thousand!"
"Two million three hundred thousand!"
"Two million five hundred thousand!"
The voices became increasingly tense.
The Heart Clarity Pill had only just begun its auction.
Yet its price had already reached a level that would make even many Rank 3 forces hesitate.