Chapter Seventy-Five: Night Invitation at Peach Blossom Pool

  "Since you insist on being polite, I won't argue with you." Dongfang Xiang glanced at Lei Dong lightly and put down her hand.

  The middle-aged cultivator of the Gui Sha Fu looked at Dongfang Xiang and Ding Yuanyan with a scowl, his face turning iron-green for half a day before gradually calming down. His cultivation had gone through thirty years of practice and had already advanced to the twelfth layer of the Lianqi period. However, he couldn't muster up the courage to fight Ding Yuanyan to the death. With that price of 1.5 million, he knew that the foundation-building stage was no longer within his reach. Expressionless, he walked out of the auction hall with a limp.

  The world of cultivation is indeed cruel. Due to the limited resources, it's impossible for everyone to get a fair share. As a result, when competing for various resources, one can only rely on their own abilities. Moreover, this world is where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. For example, someone like Ding Yuanyan can occupy a large amount of resources with her inherent advantages, and with the power accumulated from those resources, she can gain even more resources. This cycle continues endlessly, allowing her to go further on the path of cultivation. As for that middle-aged cultivator in the Ghostly Palace, he's clearly a failure. He spent 30 years accumulating strength, but it's far inferior to Ding Yuanyan's achievements in just 10 years.

  "Then thank you, Dongfang." Ding Yuanyan was also sincerely grateful. Looking around the room, there were only a few people who could compete with her, but Dongfang Xiang was definitely one of them. She was willing to let go and save Ding Yuanyan a lot of money.

  After witnessing Ding Yuanyan's previous forfeit, even if someone wanted to make things difficult for her, they didn't dare to randomly call out prices. After all, for a Foundation Establishment Pill, the price of 150,000 was a bit too high. Moreover, among those present, there were probably very few who could take out more than 150,000. Even for most of the older generation's direct disciples, this was an astronomical sum of money.

  After Gu Lao shouted three times, no one bid a higher price, and the auction ended with Ding Yuanyan finally obtaining the foundation-building pill.

  The foundation-building pill has been sold, which means this auction is over. Among the items that can be used by Foundation Building cultivators, only top-grade artifacts are more valuable than the foundation-building pill. However, it's absolutely impossible for a top-grade artifact to appear in an auction of this level. As expected, Old Gu also announced the end of the auction.

  Ding Wanyan bid farewell to Dongfang Xiang, and they agreed to meet again next time. Since their goal had been achieved, she took Lei Dong and Zuo Chao back to the separate courtyard where the Wan Gui Ku disciples lived.

  The sky had gradually darkened, and the three siblings each returned to their respective rooms to cultivate.

  This is my first time attending this auction, and I have to say that it's a very moving experience. When it comes to cultivation, talent is extremely important, but without spiritual stones, it's simply impossible. The worst-case scenario is someone who lacks both talent and spiritual stones. That would be a tragedy, just like the middle-aged cultivator from today. If he had managed to obtain that Foundation Establishment Pill, he might have had a 30% chance of advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage. But now, it's likely that he'll remain in the Qi Refining stage for the rest of his life. Foundation Establishment Pills aren't something you can easily get your hands on. Sects and clans wouldn't even give them away for free to someone with his level of talent. In fact, not even someone like Ding Wanyan or Dongfang Xiang would be directly given a Foundation Establishment Pill. If they didn't work hard to obtain it themselves, how could they truly appreciate its value?

  Lei Dong was adjusting the internal energy of his body while thinking about some events that happened today. Firstly, there was that enchanting woman from the Yin-Yang Harmony Sect in the market who had cast a spell on him from afar. Lei Dong had some suspicions about her. If it weren't for his consistent practice of the Mind Tempering Technique, even when his cultivation progress wasn't enough, he wouldn't have fallen under her spell unknowingly. Secondly, although East Fragrance's initiative to befriend his master was a good thing, it was equivalent to having climbed up the giant tree that was the Tian Mo Palace, and in the future, if they needed to deal with anything, they could find some powerful allies.

  But as for Dongfang Xiang herself, she didn't understand and had never heard of her personality. There was very little information about her. This matter was either indeed

  She is either eager to make friends with her senior sister, or she has other intentions. After all, in this big comparison, only her senior sister is her true enemy. However, before the situation is clear, Leidong can't say anything. After all, if the other party is really sincere about making friends, it will only make things worse. Two possibilities, fifty-fifty.

  After thinking clearly about some things, Lei Dong began to focus on his cultivation. Although it can be said that this night and the next had no great effect, water dripping through stone, even if it's just adding a thread of progress to one's own cultivation, is still good.

  Time flies quickly, and before long, the sky darkens, as if it's midnight in the blink of an eye.

  Suddenly, I heard two extremely faint knocks on the window, and my eyes snapped open, with all my attention bursting outward. Almost simultaneously, my left hand grasped two dark thunderbolts, while a layer of eerie green light covered my right hand, clearly a precursor to unleashing the Ghostly Claw.

  Although he was practicing qigong in stillness, his habitual cautiousness over the years made it absolutely impossible for him to shut off his six senses. Especially since this wasn't even in his own home.

  Plop~~ Splash~~~

  A faint sound of breaking window paper was heard, followed by a pale blue light arrow shooting towards Lei Dong at a moderate pace, without any killing intent or momentum.

  But Lei Dong still didn't dare to casually reach out with his hand, and his vast divine sense couldn't detect anyone outside. He could only stretch out his right hand, and a dark and terrifying ghost claw broke free from his palm, probing forward. As for the "Ghost Claw" technique, Lei Dong truly liked it very much, its uses were numerous and not to be mentioned, in battle it could produce a considerable controlling effect on the field. It was also because of this that he had thoroughly researched this technique, every day spending a certain amount of time to cultivate it.

  Now, when used, it's not just a matter of pure skill. It's also effortless, whether it's the condensed power of the ghost claws or the speed at which they form, or even the precision of control. All of these have far surpassed what I could do when I first started cultivating.

  The ghostly claw flashed with a hint of spiritual energy, and the pale blue light was enveloped as it advanced. As Lei Dong's palm retracted, the ghostly claw came to a stop in front of him. The five claws opened wide, and to his surprise, what he saw was not a blue arrow, but a pale green jade hairpin.

  When he saw the jade hairpin, Lei Dong was stunned at first, but then smiled bitterly. As his divine sense probed outward, he indeed faintly felt a human figure flashing by, slowly sweeping away into the distance.

  The lightning pushed the door open, and no evil spirits came out. The ghostly shadow was directly unfolded, and the whole body shape in a few feet away from the ground turned into an illusory shadow that seemed to exist and disappear at the same time, moving quietly and swiftly without leaving any trace, yet moving forward at an extremely fast speed. Closely chasing after the vague human figure dozens of meters ahead, which could be sensed by his divine consciousness.

  So you ran and I chased after, for a good half incense stick's time. The figure in front suddenly disappeared, and when Lei Dong rushed to the back, he found that it was a small waterfall under a mountain cliff, with water flowing down into a clear pool, creating a thin layer of mist. Under the moonlight, several fish could be seen swimming slowly. What was even more rare was that there were a few peach blossoms growing beside the pool, which happened to be in full bloom, and the sweet fragrance wafted over repeatedly. Who would have thought that in this eerie and ominous corner of the Yin Sect, there would still be such delicate and elegant scenery?

  He took a glance around, but couldn't see even half a person's shadow. Lei Dong held the pale green jade hairpin in his hand, shook it slightly, and sighed with a bitter smile: "Sister, don't tease your little brother anymore. With my meager cultivation, how could I possibly detect your tracks?"

  "Dummy, did you get angry today?"

  A crisp sound fell on Leidong's ear at the same time, a faint misty aura fluttered and wrapped around Ding Yuanyan's figure, quietly appearing beside the peach tree, her feet off the ground, lightly floating. With Leidong's current eyesight, under the moonlight, he could clearly see the faint flush on her face. However, when he took a closer look, his eyes immediately stiffened, his face turned pale and his breathing quickened, and he almost fell to the ground with a stumble.