Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Should we...sell the other one?" Yan Zaizen’s eyes darted towards Tao.

"..." Bai Lufeng was astonished by such a question. If the pill was valued at this much, then it most definitely was difficult as all hell to obtain. Who in their right mind would give away this pill?

"No." Tao mechanically answered. Not even willing to cater to the possibility any longer. One day, he may very well be in these people shoes, needing that little pill, and how would he feel if he didn’t have it? Cry to his deathbed. The intensity of the auction caused Tao to forget that many have broken through to the True Essence Realm without this pill. Only those who were desperate or in an urgent need to increase their chances wanted this pill, because there was no guarantee they would breakthrough in their lifetime.

"I see..."

No one added a bid, many crushed transmission talismans, but only got responses which left them feeling hopeless. If they did an empty bid, it would be pointless. The moment you bid, your wealth would be verified, if you can’t produce the sufficient amount, the auction would simply restart again without you.

There was literally no point.

Ming Qi’s eyes were suffused with a trace of pain. Even for the Earthly Fortune Palace, 31.2 Billion was essentially all they could bid on the item. A single million more, and they’ll have to start digging into their non-liquid assets. With this, their funds for the year and their reserve gathered over the centuries were gone just like that.

Not to mention, if the Earthly Fortune Palace were to bid on an item, they can’t take the 5% processing fee. Moreover, who would accept them taking a processing fee? That’d be the truly shady bullshit.

"No other bids?" Ming Qi probed but received zero response. Even the Dong Wei, the Imperial Protector of Presba, was silent. That bid exceeded his upper limits, how could he contest? Same went for everyone, but the Dark Mist Vice Palace Master’s eyes filled with madness. Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything close to that bid. His limit was hit at 9.7 billion.

"Then, the winner of the bid is Ming Shen! I must congratulate you, and hope for your success!"

In comparison to this bidding war, the other two bids — Heretical Lightning Skyship & Aurora Manifestation Pill — was exceptionally weak in comparison. The skyship was immediately bought by Yan Zaizen for 2.3 Billion after a slightly fierce battle, but the Aurora Manifestation Pill was irrelevant to Yan Zaizen - he already had one.

Several hours after the auction officially ended, Yan Zaizen, Tao and Bai Lufeng, waited within a luxury room filled with heavenly fruit, delicious wine, and comfy chairs that far exceeded the Ying Clan’s. Yan Zaizen did not have a disguise on. This was essentially telling them who he was, and the consequences of offending him.

It was highly unlikely for them to not know who he was at this point with a few hours of information gathering. A full 31.2 Billion plus his other gains from the auction. Nearly 32 Billion in wealth gained just like that, and only 2.3 billion spent on the skyship.

Ming Yen, Palace Master of the Earthly Fortune Palace, entered with a slight smile. However, Yan Zaizen stayed seated, while the others did the same. If Yan Zaizen wasn’t there, they would stand and immediately bow in respectful greeting, but if their Young Lord made no move to do so, why would they?

All Yan Zaizen had was a slight smile on his face filled with confidence, and eyes suffused with greed. The Palace Master didn’t mind this, immediately walking up and placing a golden spatial ring on the table, slowly pushing it towards Yan Zaizen.

Tao immediately reached to grab the ring, scanned the contents and after a while, nodded in confirmation. Yan Zaizen got up, not even greeting the Palace Master, directly taking his leave. Typically, a spatial ring couldn’t hold a skyship, but similar to a True Essence Realm corpse, special talismans could do so. He had already obtained that and thus, there was no longer a need for him to remain.

They left without a word exchanged between them.

A light flickered within Ming Yan’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Others may not know what happened, but how could he not when Mei, a member of his force, was there? The person before him may be a youth, but his soul prowess was soul-shaking. He wasn’t sure of his background or full strength, therefore, it was enough to not offend him.

Six days drifted by quickly, the events of the Auction slowly subsided in excitement. There were countless individuals who stayed around the Heavenly Platform with rapt attention. Their hopes of a grand battle due to the purchasing of the True Essence Sublimation Pill were high, but alas, they had to leave with unfulfilled dreams.

At the Earthly Fortune Palace, a grand formation was erected. It loomed over the territory like a bird of prey, constantly looking outwards for enemies while in preparation for any sort of mounted offense. The peak initial-True Essence Realm Palace Master, Ming Yen, sent word that his son, Ming Shen, will be undergoing closed door cultivation for the next two decades. Ming Yen will personally be acting as his Dharma Protector.

At this news, very few were surprised. With Ming Shen’s talent and resources at his disposal, it’s highly possible for him to ascend to the True Essence Realm with the pill, if anything, he’ll reach the half-step True Essence Realm. His future was potentially limitless.

Yan Zaizen was leisurely relaxing in a cotton-cushioned couch, his posture was the epitome of laziness. There was a wine flagon in his right hand and a bowl of grapes that gave off a faint emerald luster. After the auction, he decided to stay in the Grand Bless Inn for the week. Its services were impeccable. The food, furniture, and formations completely satisfied his desires.

Neither Bai Lufeng or Tao was located within his room. They were located elsewhere, handling whatever types of business on the outside, and gathering information. Initially, Yan Zaizen intended to continue sightseeing, but with some convincing from Tao, he decided to just use his spiritual sense to inspect all places possible.

It was definitely a lazy type of sightseeing, but it was exciting. Currently, Yan Zaizen was spectating two individuals who were having an argument over a woman. It seemed she was playing them both, but with their pride, how could they find fault with her? They obviously took fault in the other man, as if they specifically had the intention of snatching their woman.

They started coming to blows, erupting with their somewhat even cultivation base and fought viciously. Initially, it was only a slight sparring of dominance, but after some sly words from the woman and insults being thrown later, they started to fight with the intent to kill.

To his surprise, as both of the men were near the end of their rope, about to concede for the day, the woman and another man had taken this opportunity to besiege both with strikes. In their moment of weakness, they were both slain with shocked expressions. The man and woman kissed each other over their corpses, quickly robbing them of their spatial objects to even their shoes and burning their bodies to leave no evidence.

"Tch. This place truly is vicious." Yan Zaizen commented. It’s been only six days and he’d seen a myriad of schemes be created and executed. Some of them failed, some of them succeeded, but they were all revealing of human nature. It’s a wonder what people will do when they believe no one’s watching. However, recalling the Deep Mines, the murder and suicides that happened there, it wasn’t much better.

In there, individuals killed for an extra day of life.

In there, they killed themselves for peace.

A soft resplendent light emanated from Yan Zaizen’s spatial ring, the sign of a transmission being received by others. Yan Zaizen found it intriguing that spatial rings have their own specific relay signal, as long as someone is given the appropriate signal, they can crush a transmission talisman to send a one-way message.

However, if one buys a special talisman, they can communicate two-way without crushing, but depending on the distance, the delay for the message would extend in duration. How could he know of these miraculous things and not instantly buy them?

He checked his message, "Young Lord Zai, the spatial platform is ready. We leave in five minutes." The voice came from Bai Lufeng.

"It’s about time!" Stretching rather lazily, Yan Zaizen took a step forward, slowly merging with the surroundings as an indiscernible popping sound resounded. His proficiency in Infinite Chaotic Immersion Art was being enhanced, not only in the ease of usage, but also how it could be used. Before, Yan Zaizen required his spiritual sense to exist outside, roaming about, and helping to determine his exit point. Now, however, he could feel faint characteristics of his immediate surroundings without spiritual sense within chaotic space.

This may seem like a small step, but it was enormous. This removed the possibilities of his spiritual sense being distinguished beforehand, and someone predicting his exit point, immediately striking to eliminate him as a result. There still, however, was a vital weakness.

Distance.

With this method, he consumed a lot of his qi-essence to gain knowledge of the outside within chaotic space. His qi cultivation base truly was too shallow for such an advanced application of spatial manipulation. This would likely continue until he ascends to the Origin Core Realm.

"I wonder...what will be my bloodline?" His mind was slowly distracted as he arrived within a dark area of chaotic space that seemed indistinguishable from the rest. However, to Yan Zaizen, he could feel his spiritual sense aura emanating from Tao and Bai Lufeng’s transmission talismans. A single step forward.

Pop.

Casually appearing beside Tao like a ghost, Yan Zaizen looked at his surroundings. The continental spatial platform was exceptionally large, about the base of an actual mountain, and the people surrounding it was as numerous as ants in a colony. Tao, acting as if Yan Zaizen was always beside him, explained, "Our departure time to the Dead Soul Desert in Xiantu Continent is in a few minutes."

Yan Zaizen nodded, his eyes suffused with excitement.

"Finally, the myriad realms awaits!"