Chapter 48 – Flying Chariot

Lu Ping spent another 300 spirit stones and bought a jade scroll named [Basics to Alchemy].

Since he decided to enter the profession of alchemy, it was only natural that he lay the foundation properly. Although he already had [Sheng Tao’s Book of Alchemy] and the [Elementary Alchemy] that he plundered from Lin Sheng, it was always better to refer to multiple sources of information and learn from the best.

“Ladies and gentlemen, next up, we have a batch of top-grade charms. Not just ordinary charms, but blood charms. But because there are too many of them, the blood charms will be sold in lots.”

“The first lot consists of twenty top-grade blood charms, the opening price starts at 150 spirit stones.” Manager Pang introduced Lu Ping’s blood charms to the crowd.

In the market, a single blood charm was worth somewhere between 8 to 10 spirit stones.

However, top-grade blood charms in the Blood Refining Realm level were rarely found in the market, let alone appeared in batches.

If these 20 top-grade blood charms were used altogether in a surprise attack, their combined power could prove troublesome even to a Blood Condensation Realm expert.

This was something Lu Ping had done before. He had injured the Fourth-Layer Blood Condensation Realm monster sea snake with a large number of top-grade Landmine Charms on the nameless island.

Sure enough, the blood charms attracted a great deal of attention. The lot’s price quickly exceeded 200 spirit stones and eventually sold for 230 spirit stones.

Lu Ping thought the price was acceptable. The blood charms wouldn’t be worth it anymore if the price went up higher than that.

After that, Lu Ping’s blood charms were sold in two more lots, with the second lot containing 30 blood charms and the third lot 50 blood charms. The crowd were especially amazed by the quantity of charms in the last lot.

Whoever was selling these blood charms was either a Blood Condensation Realm cultivator or most likely, a Blood Refining Realm charm-crafting master. After all, it didn’t make much sense for a Blood Condensation Realm charm-crafter to waste his blood essence on Blood Refining Realm charms that were useless to him.

During the auction for his charms, Lu Ping noticed someone in the auction hall looking around for something.

This ‘someone’ was no one else but Hu Lili, who had returned empty-handed from her exploration to Sheng Tao’s cave-dwelling. However, her other two friends were not with her. Instead, she was accompanied by a young cultivator who kept talking. They seemed to be very familiar with each other.

Hu Lili was a little disappointed when she couldn’t find her target in the auction hall. She turned to the talkative young cultivator beside her and gave a reply.

Lu Ping knew she was looking for him. Clearly, she suspected him of crafting these charms. After all, Hu Lili had seen and traded a large number of blood charms from him.

The two lots of blood charms were sold for 380 spirit stones and 720 spirit stones respectively. The prices were within Lu Ping’s expectations.

This gave Lu Ping a little more confidence for the later auctions.

After the blood charms were other charms that had special uses. Most of the charms were sold in lots but none matched the quantity of Lu Ping’s lots. Furthermore, the qualities of the charms were not standardized.

Among which were Lu Ping’s two sets of Parent-Child Warning Charms. Both were placed in the same lot, drawing the eyes of everyone in the crowd.

Once set up and activated, the user of this set of charms would be able to monitor an area of a hundred yards in radius. Although it couldn’t be compared with the divine sense, it still allowed the user to detect an unaware Blood Condensation Realm expert without alerting said expert.

However, the charms were useless if the Blood Condensation Realm expert were to deliberately hide his traces. Furthermore, there was a limited effective time period once the charms were set up. The charms would be invalidated and turn useless after the set period.

Even so, this type of charm was still incredibly impressive. The lot started with an opening price of 200 spirit stones, went all the way up to 400 spirit stones, and eventually sold for 480 spirit stones.

This surprised Lu Ping. Although charms that come in a set were more difficult to craft than individual charms, their prices leaned a bit to the higher side.

As a result, Lu Ping was tempted to sell his Landmine Charms. But they were even more difficult to craft than Warning Charms, and he only had a few sets of Landmine Charms for himself. He still needed to keep them as a hidden trump card.

“Following up, we have a mid-grade flying mystic instrument—Flying Cloud. Not only can this mystic instrument fly at incredible speeds, it is also excellent at stealth.”

“Flying Cloud takes the form of a cloud and changes color according to the weather. Discovering this mystic instrument can be difficult even for a Blood Condensation Realm experts’ divine sense, just as long as they are not too close.”

“The opening price starts at 450 spirit stones, each increment in bid shall not be less than 20 spirit stones.”

As soon as Manager Pang finished saying this, the bids immediately swarmed in.

“500 spirit stones!”

“530 spirit stones!”

“…”

In just a short while, the price exceeded 600 spirit stones, far above the usual price of an ordinary high-grade mystic instrument, and the price was still rising.

Lu Ping was initially interested as well. His current flying mystic instrument was just a low-grade one and it was lacking in speed. He was hoping to get a better one in the auction this time.

However, seeing that the price continued to rise, Lu Ping’s interest in it gradually waned.

Although this mystic instrument was fast and had good stealth capabilities, Lu Ping wasn’t far from breaking through to the Blood Condensation Realm either.

As soon as he entered the Blood Condensation Realm, this mystic instrument wouldn’t be as helpful anymore. Especially its stealth capability, which might not be better than the Blood Condensation Realm’s [Invisibility Spell].

Hence, Lu Ping stopped after bidding for it twice.

The mystic instrument was finally sold for 750 spirit stones to Room 10’s Shi Lingling.

Throughout the auction, Lu Ping made an interesting discovery. Every time Shi Lingling bid for an item, the other rooms would stop bidding for it until someone else from the auction hall bid a higher price than her.

He recalled that during the auction for the Blood Condensing Pellet, the rooms had fought for the pellet but only Shi Lingling’s Room 10 didn’t attract any hostility. Lu Ping touched his chin while mulling it over—it seemed like Shi Lingling’s identity was more than just a talent from a cultivator clan.

After that, Lu Ping’s flying chariot mystic instrument was displayed on stage. But unexpectedly, many Zhen Ling Sect disciples cheered loudly the moment they saw it.

“Isn’t this Xuan Ling Sect’s mid-grade flying mystic instrument, the Nimbus Flying Chariot? Why is it here in our auction?”

Some cultivators began making silly guesses.

“Maybe the Xuan Ling Sect disciples are all addicted to love and relationships, and accidentally spent their fortune elsewhere. Now they’re reduced to selling their mystic instruments for spirit stones, but to save their reputation, they’re selling it here in our auction instead.”

“I don’t think so. I think the Xuan Ling Sect disciples don’t have very good lives in their sect, maybe they’re being abused? So they’re selling this flying chariot to us as proof of their allegiance.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Flying chariots are a symbol of notable disciples in Xuan Ling Sect, how can their lives be terrible, or even get abused in the sect? It doesn’t make sense!”

“Don’t you understand? Obviously it’s about the natural attraction between males and females. Well, it’s not something you can discuss in polite company.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hehehe!”

The auction hall was suddenly filled with pointed laughter.

Meanwhile, Lu Ping was wearing a weird expression on his face. He never expected that selling the flying chariot mystic instrument would cause such a reaction.