Chapter 1508 - Qilin Blood Essence

A single voice shattered the rhythm and threw the hall into chaos.

"It's the Heavenly Dragon Sect!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect had stepped in at the critical moment, lifting the bid by fifty thousand and paying for Liu Wuxie's impulse. It met their expectations, yet it still turned out to be the last thing anyone expected.

The move made sense because Liu Wuxie had created the trouble, and someone had to step forward to clean up his mess.

Liu Wuxie had tried to fool the Divine Alchemy Sect, only to tumble into the hole he dug for himself, and the Heavenly Dragon Sect could only step out to clean up after him. The Starfall Jade was worth around one million, so the Heavenly Dragon Sect swallowed a loss of fifty thousand astral crystals to buy it because they had no choice.

No one continued bidding for the Starfall Jade, not even the Grand Unity Sect. Unless someone had a screw loose, raising the price now would only mean snatching the hot potato straight out of the Heavenly Dragon Sect's hands.

Elder Wu Hen counted down, and with no further bids, the Heavenly Dragon Sect bought the Starfall Jade for 1,050,000 astral crystals. When the Starfall Jade arrived in the Heavenly Dragon Sect's private room, Hua Feiyu immediately had the woman deliver it to the Heavenly Dao Society's private room instead, because the Heavenly Dragon Sect had bought it on Liu Wuxie's behalf.

However, that also meant the Heavenly Dao Society would have to repay the full amount of 1,050,000 astral crystals.

The auction continued, and after the fortieth item was sold, they got another fifteen-minute break before the next batch. The various sects used that lull to reshuffle their plans.

First, the Heavenly Dao Society had effectively lost the right to compete if it couldn't even produce one million astral crystals. Second, the Heavenly Dragon Sect had just bought something "useless" for Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie might use the Starfall Jade to repair the Heavenly Deity Monument, but it held no value to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. After all, the Heavenly Dragon Sect already possessed an actual immortal artifact.

Achiel studied Liu Wuxie with an odd gaze. He couldn't comprehend why Liu Wuxie would bid when he had no astral crystals left. Mu Tianli and the others felt the same confusion, yet they trusted Liu Wuxie had his reasons.

Everyone held a rough sense of each sect's limits. For giants like the Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Grand Unity Sect, five to six million astral crystals represented their upper limit, and they couldn't afford reckless spending.

Second-tier sects could only scrape together about two million astral crystals, and it would already be an astonishing feat if they managed to buy one or two treasures.

When Elder Wu Hen stepped out again, the ten women behind him advanced with trays in their hands, and the opening remarks stayed brief to save everyone's time.

When the ten items appeared before the crowd, the seventh tray displayed a strange porcelain bottle, and Fiery woke up the instant it appeared. It had lingered at the eighth-level Earth Immortal Realm for a long time, only one step away from the ninth.

"Qilin blood essence!" Liu Wuxie narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected the seventh item to be a droplet of qilin blood essence.

If Fiery refined it, it could break through to the ninth-level Earth Immortal Realm. After that, it could use the Form Transformation Pill to take on a human form, and it wouldn't need to keep hiding in the beast pouch anymore.

A terrifying surge of divine beast aura threatened to burst out of the porcelain bottle, and the phantom of a qilin rose above it and roared. In an instant, countless gazes locked onto the droplet of qilin blood essence.

"We're taking that qilin blood essence no matter what and no matter how many astral crystals it costs!" Many sects began rubbing their hands, eyes blazing with certainty.

Liu Wuxie's expression didn't change, and that calm made Mu Tianli and the others sigh. They all knew Fiery existed, and they understood that buying the blood essence would let Fiery grow stronger.

However, the Heavenly Dao Society had too few astral crystals left, so they couldn't join the competition. The Heavenly Dragon Sect couldn't keep helping them either, because if it continued to cover for them, the other elders would start voicing objections.

Since the qilin blood essence ranked seventh in line, there was still time before bidding. That didn't mean the other items were inferior; each was priceless, but each suited only specific buyers.

The auction formally resumed, and the first-tier sects began stirring restlessly. The first item opened at 300,000 astral crystals, and bidders had to raise by 50,000 each time.

The price climbed steadily until the Scarlet Cloud Gate bought it for nine hundred thousand astral crystals. The fifth item arrived not long after, and it looked noticeably smaller than the porcelain bottle.

"This is a tear drop of the Giant Spirit Beast, and I won't explain its wonders in detail. You should all understand that if a cultivator at the Heaven Gaze Realm refined it, it can allow the user to sharpen their mind and comprehend a higher cultivation," Elder Wu Hen said, pointing to the porcelain bottle as he opened the bidding.

The starting bid for this item was 300,000 astral crystals, and each increment had to be no less than fifty thousand.

The bidding erupted the moment he finished speaking, and the Nine Palace Manor's manor lord struck first with a 500,000 astral crystals bid.

The Giant Spirit Beast was a rare astral beast whose tears resembled gemstones. The moment a tear hit the ground, it would explode unless someone caught it, dissolving into the laws of heaven and earth. Once stored in a porcelain bottle, it would melt into a liquid.

Cultivators in the Heaven Gaze Realm who wanted to break through to the Quasi-Immortal Realm needed to grasp the depths of heaven and earth. If they refined the Great Spirit Beast's tear, it would sharpen their minds, allowing them to see the world more clearly and better comprehend the Quasi-Immortal Realm.

Many cultivators at the Heaven Gaze Realm began to stir, but none of them hurried to strike.

"700,000!" The Nine Dragon Palace entered the bidding.

"800,000!" The Azure Profound Gate followed immediately.

"900,000!" The Comet Temple joined as well.

If a sect obtained the Great Spirit Beast's teardrop, it had a high chance to nurture another expert at the Quasi-Immortal Realm, so no one wanted to miss this opportunity.

The competition sharpened, and more sects joined, thickening the pressure and intensifying the clash.

"One million!" The Grand Unity Sect finally broke its silence.

"1,050,000!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect joined right after. Other sects raised the price by one hundred thousand at a time, yet the Heavenly Dragon Sect only added fifty thousand, signaling to everyone that their astral crystals were running low.

"1,100,000!" The Grand Unity Sect bid again.

"1,150,000!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect followed soon after.

Strangely, the other sects stopped bidding the moment these two joined. None of them wanted to get caught between the two, and they all shared the same understanding: when giants fought, everyone else stayed on the sidelines.

"1,200,000!" The Grand Unity Sect raised the bid again.

"1,250,000!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect followed.

That escalation baffled everyone, because the Giant Spirit Beast's teardrop was only worth one million astral crystals at best. It made everyone wonder if the two sects had gone insane. After all, they didn't lack experts at the Quasi-Immortal Realm or the Heaven Gaze Realm, so this kind of competition made no sense on the surface.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect had already spent 1,050,000 astral crystals to cover Liu Wuxie's earlier mistake. If they kept competing for the teardrop, too, it would be the same as surrendering the treasures in the later batches.

"1,300,000!" The Grand Unity Sect refused to back down.

"1,350,000!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect countered immediately.

"1,450,000!" The Grand Unity Sect added one hundred thousand this time.

"1,500,000!" The Heavenly Dragon Sect answered with another fifty thousand.

The bidding slammed into a deadlock, and Elder Wu Hen shifted his gaze back and forth between the Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Grand Unity Sect's private rooms.

The price had soared far beyond the teardrop's value, and pride now drove the contest more than reason.

In the end, the Grand Unity Sect finally stopped bidding.

"The Grand Unity Sect is doing this on purpose to screw the Heavenly Dragon Sect over by forcing them to pay a high price for the Giant Spirit Beast's teardrop!" Everyone finally realized, remembering how Liu Wuxie had used the same tactic against the Divine Alchemy Sect earlier.

Back then, the Divine Alchemy Sect hadn't taken the bait, but now the Grand Unity Sect had used the same method to jack up the price again and again, exhausting the Heavenly Dragon Sect's reserves.

That meant the Heavenly Dragon Sect could only mobilize about three million astral crystals now, and it would leave them at a disadvantage in later bids.

"Liu Wuxie made the first move, and the Grand Unity Sect followed. They both used the same tactic, but one failed, and the other succeeded." Many people sighed, and many even grew indignant on the Heavenly Dragon Sect's behalf. If it weren't for Liu Wuxie, the Heavenly Dragon Sect wouldn't have suffered so severely.

The murmurs grew louder, and the situation looked worse and worse for the Heavenly Dragon Sect. After losing so many astral crystals, the Heavenly Dragon Sect would get eliminated early, because the treasures would only become more precious as the auction went on. If they fell out early, it would be a brutal blow.

"Sect Master!" Zhuge Ming and the other elders turned to Hua Feiyu, confusion written all over their faces.

They couldn't comprehend what Hua Feiyu intended to accomplish.

However, before the auction had begun, Liu Wuxie had visited Hua Feiyu for a long private talk, and no one knew what they had discussed, not even Sun Xiao and the others.

"Don't ask. Just keep watching," Hua Feiyu said. The auction wasn't over yet, and the real show hadn't yet unfolded.

Zhuge Ming didn't doubt Liu Wuxie, because everyone knew Liu Wuxie's wits were unmatched. Yet no one could see through his planning, and no one understood what he aimed for by draining the Heavenly Dragon Sect's reserves like this.

In the end, the Giant Spirit Beast's teardrop fell into the Heavenly Dragon Sect's hands. Hua Feiyu opened the window and sent out 1,500,000 astral crystals that flew toward Elder Wu Hen, including the 1,050,000 astral crystals from before.

The auction continued, moving ever closer to the qilin blood essence.

After waiting for about two hours, the seventh item finally arrived.

The moment the porcelain bottle opened, boundless power swept through the auction hall.

Everyone froze in shock. "It's a qilin divine beast comparable to the Heaven Gaze Realm!" They had assumed the blood only rivaled the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, yet this blood essence was far stronger than anyone had imagined.

"Sect Master, Liu Wuxie has a qilin, and he'll definitely fight for it," Bai Ran said to Sheng Yuan.

"Don't worry about it. The Heavenly Dao Society has already lost the right to compete," an elder of the Divine Alchemy Sect said. They had personally witnessed Liu Wuxie's embarrassment earlier.

"We will now begin the auction. The starting bid will be 300,000 astral crystals, with each increment no less than fifty thousand," Elder Wu Hen said, seeing no need to explain the wonders of the qilin blood essence.

"350,000!" The Divine Alchemy Sect immediately bid, making their intent clear: they wanted to insult Liu Wuxie and tell everyone outright that the Heavenly Dao Society could only watch.

"One million astral crystals!" Liu Wuxie disregarded the Divine Alchemy Sect and immediately raised the price.

Sharp hisses sliced through the hall because everyone reeled at Liu Wuxie's boldness. He couldn't even produce one million astral crystals earlier, and yet he still dared to bid again.