Eternal Heavenly Emperor

Why say it was to watch, and not to participate?

Because Chu Hao had far too few Star Stones on him.

Right, these Star Stones, if only used for cultivation, would suffice for at least a year without worry. But, when it came to buying something expensive, like a Treasure Artifact or a Cultivation Technique, blowing all of his stash might not even secure him one.

He simply wanted to gain some insight, since he had never attended an auction here before.

Because he possessed the Identity Token of an Inner Sect Disciple of Yunliu Sect, Chu Hao could directly enter without paying a deposit. However, he was just an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple, not a Core Disciple, so he didn't qualify to enter the private boxes on the second floor, and could only sit in the main hall with others.

Soon, the auction began under the guidance of an old man.

Chu Hao couldn't see through the old man's strength, but he felt the man was on par with several deacons of Yunliu Sect. He believed the old man must possess the cultivation of a Martial Sect, which would be considered expert level even within Yunliu Sect.

Here, there were none of the ornaments or jewelry that are nice to look at but useless—there are other auctions for those, and they obviously don't require a Martial Sect to preside over them—everything available was useful to Martial Artists.

Chu Hao watched with envious eyes.

But after calculating, he found that the Star Stones he had on hand were only enough to buy the item with the lowest successful bid.

Money, truly a wonderful thing.

Here, however, money wasn't gold or silver, but had turned into the more practical, inherently high-value Star Stones.

He needed Star Stones, both for cultivation and to purchase what he wanted.

How to earn them?

Actually, there were many ways. The most direct was to complete Sect missions, exchanging points for Star Stones, but doing business with the Sect wasn't very cost-effective since they were essentially the middlemen, and they certainly took a cut.

Another way was to venture into the wild; if one could harvest some Spiritual Medicine, that would immediately turn into a considerable sum of money.

But was Spiritual Medicine so easy to harvest?

A third way was to enter the tombs from ancient times or places left by ancient powerful figures, which could bring even greater profits. If such a figure were a War General or even a War Venerate, then one could make a fortune overnight.

Of course, this might also invite fatal trouble, attracting those who would rob and kill to silence you. Moreover, the lairs left by powerful figures contained dangerous Formations and the majority of people would fall into them, ultimately paying with their lives.

Great rewards came with great risks.

The last option was a more stable and safe path, which was forging weapons.

He had a talent in this area, and a weapon crafted by a famous master could also sell for an astronomical price.

Speaking of which, there was exactly such a weapon for sale now.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the next auction item is a Treasured Saber, crafted by the Great Craftsman Feng Yezi of Tianhe County. There's no need to elaborate on the quality of a weapon made by Master Feng. Let me just introduce the features of this saber."

The auctioneer waved his hand, and immediately a beautiful woman came over with a wooden tray, then placed the tray on the table and quietly stepped back.

The tray was large and obviously held a saber covered with red cloth, only its shape discernible.

"A creation from Master Feng."

"That must be an exceptional Treasure Artifact. I wonder what level and how many meridians it has."

"I'm curious about its properties. If it's a cold blade of the Water Series, I'm definitely going for it."

The crowd immediately burst into discussion, with many itching to bid for the item.

The auctioneer unveiled the cloth, revealing a long saber in its scabbard. As he drew the blade, a chilling light instantly burst forth, as if it could blind those who beheld it.

"This saber, named Earth Element, is forged from Cold Star Iron and weighs only seven pounds and three ounces; it's exceptionally light, almost as to be inconsequential on one's stamina. The blade is inlaid with four inner cores from Martial Sect level ferocious beasts, and coupled with the sharpness of the blade itself, it can easily break the defense of a Fifth Grade Martial Sect."

He displayed the Earth Element Blade around for everyone to see the four inlaid inner cores on the blade, then continued, "The advantage of this blade is that it has no attribute. It uses only the edge of Cold Star Iron and the strength of the ferocious beasts' inner cores to achieve an effect of unstoppable penetration. Therefore, it doesn't require the wielder's own Star Force to activate, allowing the wielder to focus all their strength on the offense."

"Everyone got that? Let's start the bidding."

"Starting bid, ten thousand jin of Fifth Grade Star Stones, each bid increment must not be less than a thousand jin."

Bloody hell, that's expensive.

Chu Hao couldn't help but be astounded. He had been learning blacksmithing from Guo Zhen for several months, and had heard the latter mention that Tool-Forging made good money, but it was only now at the auction that he realized just how lucrative this money-making method could be.

The starting bid was at ten thousand.

His entire fortune amounted to just over a thousand jin. Of course, some of his Star Stones were Fourth Grade, which were far more valuable than Fifth Grade, but even with a ten-to-one exchange rate, he could barely scrape together the starting bid.

Clearly, the starting price wouldn't clinch the Earth Element Blade.

And what was the cost to make such a blade?

Cold Star Iron was roughly a hundred jin of Star Stones per pound; what was expensive were the inner cores of ferocious beasts, with a Martial Sect-level beast's core selling at least for a thousand jin of Fifth Grade Star Stones. Even so, at most the cost could be four thousand jin of Star Stones, leaving room to double the profit even at the starting price.

A truly promising profession.

Chu Hao's eyes sparkled. At that moment, he genuinely considered taking up blacksmithing seriously. Of course, if it took too much time, he would still let it go, for making money was not the ultimate goal, but rather cultivation.

One must never confuse the means with the end.

"Twenty thousand."

"Thirty thousand."

"Fifty thousand."

The sound of bidding rose and fell rapidly, driving up the price as if everyone had gone mad.

"One hundred thousand." At that moment, a strange voice sounded, as if squeezed out of metal, causing everyone's eardrums to throb with pain.

"Eh, isn't that Wu Shitong?"

"Small Absolute Blade, Wu Shitong?"

"That's right, the outstanding successor of Mad Blade Mountain Villa, a standout among the new generation. The moment he made his debut, he confronted the veteran blademaster Xu Wanlin and killed him with just three slashes."

"Hiss, Xu Wanlin was an Eighth Tier Martial Master, who once slaughtered Night Forest Valley in one night. His ferocity is infamous, and he was terribly strong. He was killed in just three slashes?"

"It goes without saying that Wu Shitong is too strong. Now he's known as one of the Seven Stars, alongside Zhu Qi, Feng Buping, Hua Sheng, Qin Gang, Cang Taiyun, and Ao Ping, and is expected to challenge the Four Talented, including Jin Yulin and Cao Jingwen."

"Truly, every generation has its prominent figures."

"Now, it's just a matter of who will be the first to break through to Martial Sect. Whoever does will be Tianhe County's undisputed top genius."

"It's better not to compete with him on pricing. His future achievements may at least reach that of a Warrior. He is not someone to offend."

Firstly, one hundred thousand pounds of fifth-tier Star Stone was already pricey, and secondly, people were wary of Wu Shitong's potential, fearing his future retaliation, especially since nobody knew if he was vengeful. The number of bidders immediately dropped by more than half.

But some were fearless and continued to raise the bid, "One hundred and ten thousand."

The bidder was a man who looked to be over sixty, extremely lean, with a blade hanging at his waist. His entire demeanor was as sharp as a dagger, emanating a powerful murderous aura.

"That's the Blade-Washing Guest, Zhou Yang."

"Eighth Tier Martial Master."

"No, no, no, you're out of date. He broke through to Martial Sect a year ago."

"Although Zhou Yang is a Loose Cultivator, having broken through to Martial Sect, he naturally wouldn't be afraid of Wu Shitong."

Someone recognized the identity of the old man, and the discussions rose again.

In this remote little city, a Martial Sect definitely counted as a top expert—although Zhou Yang had just broken through, a First Tier Martial Sect was an absolute suppressor to an Eighth Tier Martial Master.

"One hundred and twenty thousand."

"One hundred and thirty thousand."

The two blademasters continued to raise their bids, both the old and the young showing their determination to secure the treasured blade. It was only when the price reached one hundred and ninety thousand pounds of Star Stone that Zhou Yang withdrew from the competition, allowing a new owner for the blade.

One hundred and ninety thousand pounds.

Everyone was left in awe, the price having increased nineteen-fold over the starting bid.

Chu Hao was amazed too; even a disciple from Mad Blade Mountain Villa and the Loose Cultivator Zhou Yang could come up with such great fortunes. Compared to them, he truly was pitifully poor.

The Earth Element Blade didn't interest Chu Hao much, as he preferred swords over blades, but the next item up for auction stirred his desire intensely.

It was a Cultivation Technique.

The Quenching Fire Technique, a High-Grade Human Level. Moreover, it consisted of three complete layers of the technique, meaning it could be used to cultivate all the way to the peak of Martial Sect.

The opening bid was forty thousand pounds of Star Stone, and it eventually sold for 250 thousand.

Money, oh money, he really was poor.

Chu Hao shook his head and sighed; the auction had been a profound stir to his emotions, igniting in him a strong desire to make money.

After the auction, Chu Hao planned to return to Yunliu Sect and learn the art of tool-forging from Guo Zhen, maybe earn himself a tidy sum of one hundred thousand or eighty thousand. Then he could come back to the auction and really go on a shopping spree.

However, just as he arrived at the city gates, he ran into a group of people gathering recruits. They were heading to Guyang Lake nearby to salvage a sunken ship, offering a high price for the job—three days for one hundred pounds of fifth-tier Star Stone.

For every day over, an extra fifty pounds of Star Stone.

The payment was exceedingly generous, considering an Inner Sect Disciple like Chu Hao could only get ten pounds of Star Stone from the Sect each month.

Great rewards bring out bold adventurers.

Many people came to sign up. Although Guyang Lake was home to many ferocious beasts, it was said that the strongest among them was no more than an Eighth Tier Peak Martial Master; anyone above the fifth tier would be relatively safe from life-threatening dangers.

Earning one hundred pounds of Star Stone in three days, potentially even more, naturally drew a throng of applicants.

But they only needed ten people.

With that, the competition became fierce. Chu Hao glanced over and saw at least a hundred people crowded around.

He decided to throw his hat in the ring; after all, it was only three days, at most not exceeding ten days.

To fight for those ten slots, a fierce battle broke out, but with him being the highest in cultivation among them, a Fifth Grade Martial Master, Chu Hao naturally was unafraid and secured a spot among the ten.

Once the selection was made, the caravan departed immediately, and within half a day, they arrived at Guyang Lake, where a large boat was already waiting for them.

This was not a Skyship but a real ship—Skyships were not only expensive to make but also consumed a vast amount of Star Stone with a single use. No one typically indulged in such luxury.