Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

"Cloud Fire Root… Sold for 542 Top Grade Spirit Stones!"

"The Ice Needles of the renowned Snow Lake Fairy… 1357 Top Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Earth Flower… Nether Blood Lotus… Moon Lake Formation Classics…"

As the auction continued without a break following the first item being sold off successfully after a bidding war had driven it close to 500 Top Grade Spirit Stones, Xuan Hao felt himself growing increasingly numb as he saw rare and precious artifacts, hard to come by spiritual herbs and other hard to come by cultivation resources, he finally understood that he had still seen far too little of the world.

Only now did he realize that when a wandering cultivator at the Soul Ascension Realm from one of the Core Regions went all in, they could gather between one thousand and two thousand Top Grade Spirit stones. In comparison, Soul Ascension Realm cultivators from outside the core regions of the continent seemed like nothing short of beggars in comparison.

As for the few Dao Seed Realm cultivators in attendance, he had no clue about how many spirit stones they could pull out, but he guessed that his own current wealth wouldn't be that different from them.

Although, it did leave him wondering why the cultivators he had killed in the core regions so far hadn't carried more spirit stones on them.

Was he just unlucky? Or had they left them somewhere before they ran into him?

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't think of a reason and could only guess that he had some terrible luck when it came to seizing treasures from others.

That or it was normal for cultivators in the core regions to leave most of their spirit stones somewhere while out travelling, something that was understandable to some extent, as spirit stones did take up quite a bit of space inside an interspatial ring. Potentially meaning that most cultivators only carried a few of their spirit stones on them. Keeping the space in their interspatial rings free for potential lucky opportunities or life saving artifacts, talismans and potions that could save their lives in case they ran into trouble.

Hm… This does make sense, though it does make one wonder where they leave their spirit stones. Do they dig them into the ground or have some secret hideout where they store them?

Feeling himself growing increasingly curious about this subject and seeing that the things being put up for auction were still mostly for the Soul Ascension Realm and Dao Seed Realm cultivators present, he couldn't help motioning towards Huo Fen to draw his attention away from the auction stage before asking him about it.

Hearing the question, Huo Fen was taken aback for a bit before he calmly answered the question. Describing that most wandering cultivators not backed by any large power or major power that had an established base would indeed hide most of the spirit stones they gathered away in different hideouts they had created over the years in different locations, while those belonging to a force with a territory would store their spirit stones somewhere safe in that territory.

Rarely would a cultivator wander around with all their spirit stones. Only for specific situations, like the auction they were currently participating in, would a cultivator bring along most of their spirit stones.

Because of this, there were also some wandering cultivators who specialized in finding hidden spirit stones throughout the continent, who in turn were also known as the best when it came to finding new spirit stone mines.

Speaking of spirit stone mines, Huo Fen also mentioned that it was suspected by many that most new spirit stone mines discovered throughout the core region of the continent were the left behind spirit stones of fallen cultivators that had been left alone to slowly form a spirit stone mine on their own over the years.

Spirit stone mines created by the left behind hidden spirit stones of long fallen cultivators… Artificially creating a spirit stone mine is possible using a large quantity of spirit stones, it just takes far too long…

Shaking his head as he thought about this to himself, Xuan Hao didn't even dare think about artificially creating a spirit stone mine. After all, just to create the lowest quality spirit stone mine capable of producing low-grade spirit stones, it required hundreds of top-grade spirit stones and tens of thousands of years. Your support at MV^LEMP^YR keeps the series going.

The time could be reduced significantly by using more spirit stones, but at that time the required top-grade spirit stone grew absurd according to Huo Fen. Reaching the hundreds of thousands to create a low-grade spirit stone in less than a hundred years and tens of millions for a high-grade spirit stone mine capable of producing high-grade spirit stones.

As for the requirements for creating a spirit stone mine capable of producing top-grade spirit stones in less than a hundred years? Huo Fen had no clue, as he had no idea if anyone had ever tried it. All he could go off was longer-term attempts to artificially create top grade spirit stone mines. One such attempt from one of the more powerful churches in the Southern Central Region placing the cost of creating a spirit stone mine barely capable of producing a few hundred top-grade spirit stones every decade or so at over a hundred million and the formation of the mine itself requiring a little over 14.000 years.

From this alone, it became clear even without Huo Fen saying anything about it, that the different major powers had most likely given up on trying to create artificial spirit stone mines on their own.

After all, no matter how beneficial a spirit stone mine might be, the cost of creating one was astronomical… And that did not even mention that one would have to ensure the safety and stability of the territory that the spirit stone mine was being created.

In that kind of situation, the only ones capable of creating a spirit stone mine would be the most powerful major powers on the continent or the hidden ancient sect who possessed a terrifying foundation and had cultivators above the Profound Immortal Realm in the past…

Thinking about all of this, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit discouraged as he thought about the current state of the Star Shattering Sect.

Only through comparison did he realize just how shallow the Star Shattering Sect's foundation was compared to a true hidden ancient sect.

They had the ability to bring out tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of top-grade spirit stones, but here he was, with barely a little over twenty thousand top-grade spirit stones to his name…

"Next up is a valuable elixir that was found by a member of the Explorer Union in an old ruin belonging to an old sect whose name we haven't been able to uncover."

Just as he was wallowing in despair over just how broke he was compared to others who had been around for far longer than himself, the man standing at the stage raised his voice above what he had done when introducing past items. Indicating that the importance of the item surpassed those that had come before, while also signaling that the true auction was about to begin.

"The elixir is called Vial of the Life Bearer, it has been determined to be Saint Grade Elixir capable of extending the lifespan of someone in the Earth Immortal Realm (Dao Seed Realm) by up to twenty thousand years, while also greatly increasing one's comprehension of the Dao of Life and the Dao of Nature for ten years. Perfect for breaking through a bottleneck or gaining more time to try and reach the Celestial Immortal Realm.

The starting bid is one hundred thousand top-grade spirit stone. Increasing by a minimum of one thousand with each bid!"

"""…"""

Hearing the introduction of the small vial of green liquid now placed on a small table in the middle of the stage for everyone to see, it wasn't just Xuan Hao that was left speechless by sudden jump in value and price, but also the other cultivators present.

The past highest price had barely surpassed two thousand spirit stones, yet now something that started at over a hundred thousand spirit stones had appeared.

"One hundred and twenty thousand!"

The only ones who seemed to have expected this were the Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators on the third floor, as one of them wasted no time in throwing out the first bid. Increasing the price by a staggering twenty thousand in a single go.

In other words, the other party had thrown out a bid increasing the price by about the same as number of top-grade spirit stones in Xuan Hao's possession.

Let alone stand a chance competing with these Celestial Immortal Realm cultivators, they were essentially leaving him in the dust from the get-go, as he had no clue how to compete with them in this kind of situation…