A few more rounds of auction items passed, all of them medicinal pills, talismans, and the like. Bidding from the audience was sparse, and several lots were even passed over unsold.
Then, a deacon brought up a jade box.
The lid was lifted, revealing a thumb-sized, jade-green crystal resting within. Translucent throughout, it glistened with a moist, watery sheen under the spirit lamps.
The deacon introduced the item as Origin-Condensing Azure Glaze, a water-attribute spirit material that dissolved on contact with water and merged directly into the meridians without needing refinement, making it ideal for cultivators who had just broken through to Foundation Establishment to stabilize their foundation. The starting bid was three hundred and fifty spirit stones.
Lin Zhixue’s gaze fell upon the jade box, her body leaning forward slightly.
Water-attribute, no refinement needed, usable at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Every single aspect seemed tailored specifically for her. Her fingers unconsciously pressed against the storage bag in her sleeve, which held all the spirit stones she had saved over this period.
Just over two hundred—she was still short by more than a hundred.
The deacon on the stage had already begun calling for bids, and someone raised their paddle.
She leaned back against her chair, her fingers releasing her sleeve, and her expression smoothed back into composure. Without enough money, she would simply let it go.
In a corner of a row behind them, a young male cultivator who had been resting with his eyes closed lazily opened them only upon hearing the words “water-attribute.”
His name was Lu Wen, an inner disciple at early Golden Core with a single water spirit root.
His presence at the auction today was purely by chance; he had barely lifted an eyelid during the previous rounds until this item appeared.
Origin-Condensing Azure Glaze.
He had heard of this material before; while considered top-grade among materials used in Foundation Establishment, its grade was a bit low for him and of little practical use.
But the crux was its rarity.
Water-attribute natural treasures were inherently rare, and coming across one was a stroke of luck. Even if he didn’t use it himself, bidding on it to later trade for other water-attribute spiritual items would be a guaranteed win.
His budget was five hundred spirit stones—hardly lavish among Golden Core disciples, but more than sufficient for a small-to-mid-scale auction like this.
He raised his paddle twice, driving the price up to four hundred and twenty spirit stones.
A rogue cultivator in late Foundation Establishment in the front rows bid another round, and he matched it without flinching.
Four hundred and fifty. The rogue cultivator hesitated for a moment before giving up. Lu Wen rested his paddle on his knees, waiting for the deacon’s gavel to drop.
“Four hundred and eighty.”
The voice came from several rows ahead. Lu Wen looked up to see a young man wearing an inner disciple Daoist robe holding up a paddle, his cultivation base merely at mid Foundation Establishment.
He raised an eyebrow slightly. A mid Foundation Establishment cultivator bidding against him, a Golden Core, and raising it so decisively?
“Five hundred,” he bid, raising his paddle.
The mid Foundation Establishment junior brother in front didn’t even turn his head, raising his paddle once more. “Five hundred and twenty.”
Lu Wen sat up a little straighter.
Five hundred and twenty—that was already over his budget.
He glanced at the young man’s back. The other was turning his head to murmur something to his female companion before turning back to keep bidding.
The female companion tugged on his sleeve, seemingly urging him not to bid any further, but he merely shook his head.
“Five hundred and fifty,” Lu Wen raised his paddle again.
This was already considerably over his budget, but if word got out that he had been publicly outbid by a mid Foundation Establishment junior brother, where would he put his face?
The voice in front followed up with almost no pause. Five hundred and eighty.
Lu Wen’s fingers tightened around the paddle, then loosened.
“...Six hundred.” His heart was bleeding as he uttered the number, but the auction wouldn’t give him time to nurse his regret.
“Six hundred and twenty.”
The voice was calm, devoid of any hesitation.
Lu Wen stared at the back of the mid Foundation Establishment junior brother. The other’s shoulders hadn’t even budged, as if those six hundred and twenty spirit stones were merely numbers written on paper, spent without a second thought.
The deacon called the bid three times from the stage before bringing the gavel down to seal the sale.
Lu Wen slammed a palm against his armrest, the impact startling the people nearby into glancing his way.
Without saying a word, he stood up and strode toward the exit.
Spending over six hundred spirit stones on a Foundation Establishment-grade spirit material meant either one had lost their mind or they didn’t treat money as money at all.
Whichever it was, he had no desire to watch any further.
...
Lin Zhixue watched Gu Yanqing stand up from his seat to settle the spirit stones backstage, without offering her a single word of explanation from beginning to end.
She recalled the way he had raised the paddle earlier.
Every time he bid, it was completely nonchalant—a casual lift and lower of his hand. When she tugged his sleeve, he had only looked down at her.
The meaning behind his look wasn’t hard to understand: it was roughly, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle this.”
She had wanted to say she didn’t want it, that six hundred spirit stones was too much, that he should stop bidding.
But he had already turned back to continue bidding, choking all her words back into her throat.
Xiaoyu floated up from her shoulder, its voice bubbling with excitement.
“This is the one! This is too perfect for you, Zhixue!”
“Consume it right after Foundation Establishment, and your foundation will be at least thirty percent more solid!”
“I didn’t expect Gu Yanqing, who’s usually so stingy, to be pretty sensible at crucial moments! He knows to spend spirit stones where it actually counts.”
She followed behind him to the backstage area.
A deacon disciple handed over the jade box. Gu Yanqing took it, counted out the spirit stones to pay in full, and then turned around to present the box to her.
“Take it.”
Lin Zhixue didn’t reach out.
She looked down at the Origin-Condensing Azure Glaze in the box, then looked up at him.
“For me?”
“Yeah.”
“But...” Her fingertips lightly brushed the edge of the jade box, yet she did not take it.
“You spent six hundred and twenty spirit stones.”
“I know.”
“This is useless to you.”
“Yeah.”
Lin Zhixue fell silent.
If he had merely bought it on a whim, she could have offered a simple thank-you.
But six hundred and twenty spirit stones...
She had seen him calculating every detail to compare material prices at the market, and seen him visit extra shops just to save a few spirit stones.
Six hundred and twenty spirit stones was no small sum for him.
What was more, she had clearly tugged his sleeve earlier to make him stop.
He hadn’t listened. Or rather, he had heard her, but had had no intention of listening.
She raised her eyes, looking at him for a while.
“Are you...”
She trailed off halfway. Gu Yanqing raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Lin Zhixue shook her head gently. “Nothing.”
She finally reached out, taking the jade box and holding it in her palm.
The jade box still held the lingering coolness from the display stage, but the jade was warm and smooth, quickly warmed by her body heat.
Only after a moment did she say softly, “Don’t do this again.”
Gu Yanqing was taken aback. “What?”
“Don’t spend so many spirit stones because of me.”
Her voice was earnest.
Gu Yanqing looked at her for a moment.
“You’re overthinking it. It’s useful to you, and I happened to be able to afford it, so I bought it. That’s all.”
Lin Zhixue said nothing, looking down at the jade box in her hands.
Xiaoyu had been holding its tongue this entire time, but now it could no longer contain itself, clutching its head as it spun in midair.
“What do you mean ‘happened to be able to afford it’?! Six hundred and twenty spirit stones! Gu Yanqing, since when did you become so smooth with your words?!”
A faint smile rippled in her eyes.
Without refusing any further, she put the jade box into her storage bag.
“Then I’ll remember this,” she said.
Walking ahead, Gu Yanqing’s footsteps paused slightly as her words landed.
Remember this?
The puzzle circled through his mind, but ultimately he didn’t ask, continuing to walk toward the exit of the market.
Rate on N.U.
