Chapter 1513 - Dao Comprehension Stone

The Azure Profound Gate's sudden intervention struck like a spark in dry tinder, and the atmosphere grew taut.

Liu Wuxie didn't look the least bit surprised by the Azure Profound Gate's move. The Heavenly Dao Society had already crippled the Divine Alchemy Sect, and the Grand Unity Sect could no longer put up a real fight, so only the Azure Profound Gate still had any chance of slowing them now.

He had chosen this moment to bid to confirm whether the Azure Profound Gate and the Grand Unity Sect had formed an alliance. Now that he watched them react, he saw it clearly that the two sects had long been in cahoots.

"1,200,000!" Liu Wuxie raised the price without hesitation, determined to seize the Great Dao of Metal's fragment no matter what it cost.

"1,300,000!" The Azure Profound Gate answered immediately.

There was no way the Azure Profound Gate hadn't heard what had happened at the Nine Dragon Palace. Liu Wuxie had visited the Nine Dragon Palace, and soon after, someone had wiped out every traitor; news like that never stayed buried.

"1,500,000!" Liu Wuxie said coldly. He had no shortage of astral crystals, but he still refused to waste them.

"You can continue to follow, and I can give up in the worst-case scenario. There are plenty of treasures ahead. I'll see how long you can keep up with me," Liu Wuxie said with a chuckle, letting the threat land as he raised the bid.

If the Azure Profound Gate wanted to play, then he would play with them. The auction still held plenty of treasures, and he wanted to see exactly how far they could chase him before their reserves ran dry.

The Azure Profound Gate could only mobilize about five million astral stones at best, which meant they could only keep up for three items or so, and the auction had only just crossed the halfway mark.

Liu Wuxie’s words shut the Azure Profound Gate down. Arrogant as his tone was, the logic was undeniable; no sect present could resist the combined force of the Heavenly Dao Society and the Heavenly Dragon Sect.

They could let them snatch a single item, strip them of every astral crystal, and then make them sit there powerless. At the same time, the Heavenly Dao Society and the Heavenly Dragon Sect dominated the rest of the auction.

If the Divine Alchemy Sect hadn't been crippled and the Grand Unity Sect hadn't lost its reserves, the Heavenly Dao Society wouldn't have found it so easy to stand against them all at once.

The Azure Profound Gate didn't dare to follow any longer, because Hua Feiyu had just shown everyone the price of reckless pursuit. If they kept raising the bid and the Heavenly Dao Society suddenly gave up, the Azure Profound Gate would fall into the pit instead and watch their astral crystals get drained away.

The Great Dao of Metal's fragment held value against cultivators at the Earth Immortal Realm, but it offered little to those at the Heaven Gaze Realm. With the bid already at 1,500,000 astral crystals, the amount had far exceeded the market price.

Even so, Liu Wuxie was willing to pay any amount if it meant securing his breakthrough to the ninth-level Void Realm.

In the end, Elder Wu Hen called the countdown, and the fragment fell into Liu Wuxie's hands.

A long sigh drifted out from the Grand Unity Sect's private room. They had only reached an agreement with the Azure Profound Gate, and they couldn't command them. It was nothing more than a tactical alliance, not a merger between the two sects, which meant the Azure Profound Gate would never go all out and risk harming its interests tied to the Grand Unity Sect.

Everyone in the Grand Unity Sect understood it as well. The Azure Profound Gate could only try to humiliate Liu Wuxie a little, but by now, the Heavenly Dao Society's rise had already become unstoppable.

The instant the fragment of the Great Dao of Metal arrived, Liu Wuxie stepped into the Heavenly Deity Monument. Without slowing time in the auction hall, he entered the eternal world, hurled the fragment into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, and began refining it at once.

Only a single breath passed outside, yet a hundred years flowed inside the eternal world. The Great Dao of Metal's fragment was twice the size of the Great Dao of Wood's fragment, and the metal-attribute energy nearly tore Liu Wuxie apart from within.

As a frightening power flooded the desolate world, Liu Wuxie's cultivation climbed in a steady surge. Golden liquid poured out and condensed into a divine sword.

The five elements began to circulate with three elemental fragments already gathered. Once Liu Wuxie collected the final two fragments, the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art would undergo a drastic transformation, perhaps even evolving into an immortal art.

Liu Wuxie looked forward to that future because he only had the Divine Eternal Fist as his trump card, and that wasn't enough. He could unleash it only once before his true essence drained out completely.

As the Desolate Devouring Art circulated, the immortal energy in the eternal world poured into the cauldron, thickening until it neared one-third density. Upon reaching half the density, he would no longer suffer any side effects when using the Divine Eternal Fist.

Another few hundred years slipped by, and the gateway to the ninth-level Void Realm finally revealed itself. True essence fused with immortal energy and manifested two dragons: one yin and one yang before they charged straight into the gateway.

Liu Wuxie’s physique surged as well, with the most dramatic change occurring in his True Dragon Physique. It had already reached its peak, and pushing it any further should have been nearly impossible.

Dragon scales spread across the surface of Liu Wuxie's body. He tilted back his head and roared, then transformed into a divine dragon and soared through the skies. This wasn't a dragon conjured by true essence—he had become an actual divine dragon.

As his bones transformed, a terrifying ancient aura swept across the eternal world. The shock left him momentarily stunned, because he hadn't expected the True Dragon Physique, once cultivated to its limit, to grant a true dragon form.

With that dragon form in his grasp, his combat strength surged again, and he borrowed that divine dragon power to smash open the gateway to the ninth-level Void Realm.

The moment the gate shattered, power burst outward, and Liu Wuxie's profundity of eternity deepened further. Ordinary people could reach the pinnacle of the Void Realm within a few months, yet Liu Wuxie had spent five hundred years. That in itself was enough to show the purity and density of his true essence.

A trace of a domain began to form behind him, a power commonly comprehended only by Heaven Gaze Realm powerhouses. Yet Liu Wuxie had already grasped a sliver of it at the pinnacle of the Void Realm, which meant that once he broke into the Earth Immortal Realm, he would be able to manifest a domain.

Outside, the auction continued, and Liu Wuxie didn't rush to leave seclusion. He seized the moment to stabilize his cultivation and deepen his comprehension of the Earth Immortal Realm.

He knew heaven-defying treasures would appear next, and with those treasures, he would be able to break into the Earth Immortal Realm. But once he did, Gong Gong would fall into a deep slumber and wake up after reaching the Heavenly Gaze Realm. Even imagining it sent a thrill through Liu Wuxie.

With Gong Gong supporting him, he would advance rapidly toward the Heaven Gaze Realm. Once that happened, he could claim Nightmare City and refine the Heavenly Deity Monument. Then, he wouldn't fear even ordinary immortals.

After another three centuries, Liu Wuxie finally consolidated his cultivation at the pinnacle of the Void Realm, standing only one step away from the Earth Immortal Realm. The distance seemed small, but the breakthrough would never come easily.

Elder Long had been stuck at the pinnacle of the Void Realm, and that alone showed how difficult it was.

At the later stages of cultivation, treasures alone no longer decided everything—state of mind and comprehension weighed just as heavily.

When Liu Wuxie left the Heavenly Deity Monument and returned to the private room, the auction had reached the seventh item, meaning only a few minutes had passed outside.

"You reached the ninth-level Void Realm?" Achiel stared at Liu Wuxie in shock. Only minutes had passed, yet Liu Wuxie had crossed an entire level.

As for the members of the Heavenly Dao Society, they were already familiar with the Heavenly Deity Monument, so they didn't react the same way.

"Let's try to buy the treasures that will come next. The Grand Unity Sect and the Divine Alchemy Sect have suffered heavy losses, and I'm worried that they might act against the Heavenly Dao Society. Thus, it'll be great if we can produce an expert at the Heaven Gaze Realm," Liu Wuxie said as his gaze moved across the room. With the Heavenly Deity Monument in hand, time was never the problem.

The Heavenly Dao Society's biggest weakness was its shallow foundation. When Mu Tianli and the others had arrived in the astral domain, they had only been at the Transcendent Realm. Their accumulation remained thin, and they relied on treasures to fuel their cultivation. If their state of mind couldn't keep pace, they would struggle to climb higher.

That was why the Heavenly Dao Society had been buying treasures so frequently. Liu Wuxie sent Xu Lingxue, Mu Tianli, and the others into the Heavenly Deity Monument, and even if the treasures couldn't push them straight into the Heaven Gaze Realm, he wanted them to comprehend heaven and earth inside.

This year's auction would stretch on for a long time. Two days had already passed, and they had only just sold the sixtieth item.

Everyone took another fifteen-minute rest before the next batch, and time flew as they waited eagerly to see what would appear next.

"This is weird... why hasn't the Primordial Indigo Aura appeared yet?" Liu Wuxie murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The Primordial Indigo Aura was absurdly rare, having existed only at the beginning of the primordial era. People could still find it in the celestial realm, but bringing it into the astral domain remained incredibly difficult.

Perhaps his master had made a mistake. Liu Wuxie didn't dwell on it, and he shifted his attention to the next batch of items. Among the ten, the most eye-catching was an incomplete immortal art, and the moment it appeared, countless people's eyes widened as they fought to get a better look.

Only Liu Wuxie stayed calm, showing no interest at all in an incomplete immortal art. He watched the seventh round unfold from beginning to end. The incomplete immortal art stood seventh in order, and the sects fought over it with everything they had, driving the price higher and higher until the Heavenly Dragon Sect bought it for three million astral crystals.

On the third day, the auction of the eighth batch began, and they displayed another ten items. As the coverings were lifted, Liu Wuxie swept his gaze across them, searching for treasures that could help him reach the Earth Immortal Realm.

"It's the Dao Comprehension Stone! A Dao Comprehension Stone has appeared!" someone exclaimed from the crowd, and excitement surged.

The eighth item was a stone over a meter long and more than half a meter wide. The Dao Comprehension Stone was rare, and anyone who sat upon it could calm their mind and grasp the profundities of heaven and earth more clearly.

"This is a treasure. The Heavenly Dao Society lacks a firm foundation, and everyone is struggling to comprehend the higher realm. With the Dao Comprehension Stone, it can shorten the time drastically," Liu Wuxie said, and joy flickered openly in his eyes.

The members of the Heavenly Dao Society had a state of mind stuck around the Primal Origin Realm. With the Dao Comprehension Stone, their state of mind could surge quickly, and only when it caught up could they truly comprehend the profundities of the Heaven Gaze Realm.

No wonder Liu Wuxie looked so excited; the Dao Comprehension Stone was far more precious to him than most other treasures.

Of course, for ancient beings who had lived tens of thousands of years, the Dao Comprehension Stone meant little, because they had already grasped many profundities long ago.

The auction continued, and the sects acquired the items steadily, especially the first-tier sects.

The Nine Dragon Palace alone bought two items, and the other first-tier sects also left with gains. Even the second-tier sects managed to snatch their share.

Only the Grand Unity Sect and the Divine Alchemy Sect remained as spectators, and the feeling was like being trapped over a furnace, roasted alive while everyone else ate.

As more items passed through the hall, six hours went by, and the Dao Comprehension Stone finally came up for auction.

Liu Wuxie swept his gaze across the venue once more. The competition would be fierce because the second-tier sects would definitely step in for the Dao Comprehension Stone.

"We will now auction the Dao Comprehension Stone. It has drifted in the outer world for countless years. It can assist the comprehension of heaven and earth, and the bid will start at four hundred thousand, with each increment no less than one hundred thousand," Elder Wu Hen said, pointing at the Dao Comprehension Stone as his voice rang out clearly.

"Six hundred thousand!" The Azure Profound Gate called out the bid first.

"Seven hundred thousand!" The Scarlet Cloud Gate followed immediately.

"Eight hundred thousand!" The Nine Palace Manor rose right after, pushing the price higher without hesitation.