Chapter 412: Obtaining the Essence Blood

"Master, go straight to a thousand," Tang San’s voice came through.

Zhang Haoxuan's heart skipped a beat—this was a direct increase of two hundred naturae coins! But he knew what had to be done. Taking a deep breath, he entered the bid.

"One thousand naturae coins!" The Blue Fox auctioneer’s voice carried a distinct note of surprise. Such a sudden and significant bid increase usually meant the bidder was determined to win, often deterring other participants.

After a brief pause, another bidder continued to raise the price. "One thousand and ten naturae coins."

"One thousand one hundred naturae coins." A direct increase of one hundred.

This time, the whole arena fell silent. While the Golden Roc essence blood was indeed valuable and considered excellent among second-tier bloodlines, it was still just the essence blood of a ninth-order Golden Roc, not a tenth-order one. The price of 1100 naturae coins exceeded its intrinsic value.

Most of the participants in the bidding had avian bloodlines; the true Golden Roc clan didn’t need the essence blood of their own kin.

Finally, the hammer fell at 1100 naturae coins!

Zhang Haoxuan’s breathing was slightly rapid, but when they finally secured the bid, he felt a sense of relief. They had finally won their first truly significant auction item today. This item was of immense importance, as it opened the path for Cheng Zicheng’s advancement. However, the price paid was also substantial.

The purchasing power of 1100 coins was immense; it was about the annual income of a small clan.

This time, Zhang Haoxuan and Tang San gathered three thousand naturae coins. This was from Zhang Haoxuan, who has been selling array discs over recent days, combined with Tang San's savings and an advance on the payment for array discs delivered to the Aetherhorn Merchant Association.

Three thousand naturae coins seemed substantial before they came to the auction. Neither Tang San nor Zhang Haoxuan believed that even the Redemption Society could earn that much in a year.

Yet, securing just one auction item had cost them more than a third of their funds, leaving them with only 1900 naturae coins.

Despite the high spending, a look of relief spread across Tang San’s face. His goal for this trip to the Ancestral Court was to at least secure bloodline advancement opportunities for two of his companions, and now he had already exceeded that target.

Through the Hell Garden, he and Du Bai had advanced their Celestial Fox Transformation to the seventh order, which was an unexpected bonus. Now, the bloodline advancements for Gu Li and Cheng Zicheng were also settled. The mission was more than accomplished.

Moreover, his own divine consciousness had increased by more than a third, and he had acquired tokens from three Demon Emperors. If not for the potential trouble the Crystal Demon Emperor brought, this trip could have been deemed perfect.

The remaining 1900 naturae coins might not be enough to buy items that everyone could see were valuable. They could only hope to find some hidden gems.

And the following good items that appeared truly made Tang San’s eyes light up with envy.

Essence blood didn’t appear often, but when it did, it came in succession.

The second auction item of the afternoon also contained essence blood. But this time, it wasn’t from a demon but from a nymph.

"The next item up for auction is ten drops of ninth-order peak Earth Spirit Tree essence blood. As everyone knows, the Earth Spirit Tree has a second-tier bloodline in the Solstice Empire, but its unique trait is unmatched even by first-tier bloodlines. The Earth Spirit Tree’s innate ability is spiritual communication, allowing it to communicate with any plant. Hence, in the Solstice Empire, it’s known as the Spirit Communicator. The Earth Spirit Tree essence blood can be absorbed directly to enhance similar bloodline strength or be used to act as a Spirit Communicator. Each drop of Earth Spirit Tree essence blood provides a chance to communicate with natural treasures, and I don't need to elaborate on the benefits of that. The starting bid is one thousand naturae coins."

Spirit Communication? Spiritual Communication?

Hearing the Blue Fox clan auctioneer's description, Tang San’s eyes practically lit up with desire.

The reason was simple. His Blue Silver Emperor bloodline was around the third-tier, not particularly strong.

One major issue was its insufficient spiritual energy, completely unbefitting of the sovereign of plants.

In his previous life, his Blue Silver Emperor could communicate with all plants and harness their power to support itself, making it the true emperor of the plant world.

In this world, achieving that was evidently challenging because the nymph clans were too powerful. However, if he could endow the Blue Silver Emperor with abundant spiritual energy, he could manifest domain-like abilities based on his past life’s memories. That would be enough to classify it as a second-tier bloodline.

However, when the starting price for the Earth Spirit Tree was announced, Tang San knew he couldn’t get it. He didn’t have enough money.

If he fought for it with all his might, there might still be a chance. But that would mean giving up on bidding for the extraordinary items later.

It was frustrating to be short on funds!

Tang San clenched his fist. Earth Spirit Tree, Earth Spirit Tree! He committed the name firmly to memory. Although he couldn’t win the bid this time, he could find a way to request this bloodline from the Aetherhorn Merchant Association, using the reason of making array discs.

The Earth Spirit Tree essence blood was sold for a high price of 2900 naturae coins. The appearance of these two types of essence blood instantly reignited the grand auction’s excitement.

Fortunately, Tang San didn’t need the third item. Otherwise, he would have vomited blood in frustration.

Though he knew he couldn’t secure every good item, actually facing such a situation still left him feeling somewhat unwilling.

Tang San chuckled self-deprecatingly and continued watching the auction.

The next few items were expensive but not truly top-tier.

Then, god-level items finally began to appear.

First came god-level materials: bones, skins, tendons, and other body parts of god-level beings. The bodies of these god-level Demon Kings or Nymph Kings appearing in the auction were from species that weren’t particularly strong; otherwise, the sellers would have to consider the implications of putting such items up for sale.

These were naturally excellent items, particularly for forging weapons and equipment or as materials for creating divine artifacts. However, Tang San wasn't very interested in them.

Now, if it were the tail of a Celestial Fox Demon Emperor, that would be different. But the body parts of Demon Emperors, if they appeared at all, would likely be part of the final divine items auction day.

As dusk fell, the day’s auction finally approached its end.

The repeated bidding climaxes had emptied the bidders' wallets and left them mentally exhausted.

Even those who had already spent all their money chose not to leave; generally, they would stay for the entire three days of the auction before departing. After all, this grand event only occurred twice a year, and they had paid a hefty deposit to get in. Watching the auction could enlighten and broaden their horizons even if they were out of funds.

"Next up are the last three items of the day, the grand finale. Those with sufficient means should get ready!" The auctioneer was still a Blue Fox, though now it was a different, stunningly beautiful one.

The mention of the final three items immediately invigorated the many participants. They all knew that items selected for the finale of the three-day auction were the absolute top treasures. These items could only be seen at the grand auction of the Ancestral Court. Records were often broken during these moments.

The three days of auction were on different levels in terms of money invested, but they had one thing in common: the final items were all bound to be extraordinary. In fact, even these three items presented during the spiritual item day were likely to be on the level of divine items.

Tang San also sat up straighter, awaiting the unveiling of the last three items.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A cart was slowly pushed into the arena. As the cart entered, Tang San felt that the overwhelming aura of misfortune and slaughter in the arena seemed to dim slightly.