The First Immortal of Destiny

The auction trip went exceptionally well!

The Suanni Armor was auctioned at a sky-high price of three thousand low-grade Spirit Stones! This was nearly twelve hundred Spirit Stones more than what magic artifact and inner armor merchants offered.

Even though it was a profound-level middle-grade magic artifact, in the Defense Division's Treasure Hall, it could be placed alongside the Nine-Extreme Crystal Sand and Flawless Dharma Eye—two profound-level high-grade magic artifacts. This demonstrated that its power and value were not inferior to high-grade armor.

The buyer of the Suanni Armor was a late-stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator who had practiced a powerful external cultivation method. He did not hide his identity and turned out to be an Elder from Gold Toad Tower, a small immortal sect.

Their sect's external magic, "Gold Toad Body Forging Mantra," is a profound-level high-grade cultivation method. It's highly effective in Body Tempering. It's said that when practiced to a deep level, the physical body could compare to a demonic beast of the same class.

Shen Mo estimated that this Elder from the Gold Toad Tower had cultivated this external magic to achieve the Perfection Realm, equivalent to the 'Integration' level in the Destiny Panel. Even without utilizing any other magic skills, merely with his diamond-hard body, he could hold his own against a late-stage Class II demonic beast.

His vitality was a bit superior to Shen Mo's 'Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body' in the Dragon Body Realm. With this Suanni Armor, he could fight a Class II peak demonic beast! He would likely even win.

Shen Mo found such opponents bothersome. If a real fight broke out, without using the Soul Refining Flag, he could only set up The Big Dipper Array, trapping his opponent. Then, he would rely on the intense Sword Light to gradually wear down the power of the Suanni Armor. Once the armor was shattered, he could fully unleash the killing power of the Sword Array, hoping to kill his opponent with one strike. Of course, without using the Soul Refining Flag, his chances of winning with his current strength were not high. However, Shen Mo had no grudges against this Elder from the Gold Toad Tower, so he wouldn't fight him to the death. This was purely an instinctive consideration of how to deal with similar powerhouses!

Apart from Shen Mo's consigned Suanni Armor, a Grade IV Forgemaster had also consigned a profound-level high-grade Flying Sword. Shen Mo was instantly attracted to this sword!

The reason was that this high-grade Flying Sword, named "Demon Slaying," didn't have any fanciful special effects. All its ore materials, inscribed runes, and casting methods revolved around emphasizing the magic sword's own characteristics of "Mana-infusion," "Toughness," and "Sharpness."

"Mana-infusion" refers to a magic artifact's capacity and tolerance for a cultivator's Mana! Take a profound-level low-grade Flying Sword, for example; it can't withstand excessively strong or violent Mana. Using it for swordplay wouldn't fully bring out the original power of the combat skill, and after only a few fights, it would shatter into pieces like the fire-elemental Flying Sword and Dragon Sparrow Sword that Shen Mo had used!

Toughness and sharpness needed no further explanation. Almost every Flying Sword considered these two characteristics; the only difference was the quality. But to reach the level of this Demon Slaying Sword, most were top-grade profound-level Flying Swords.

For those cultivators who had not comprehended sword intent, this sword was doubtlessly useless. In their hands, its killing power might be even less than that of a profound-level middle-grade Flying Sword with its own sword intent. But as Shen Mo had comprehended the "Carefree" sword intent, this Flying Sword was perfectly suitable for him.

After several rounds of intense bidding, Shen Mo obtained it at the price of three thousand five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones!

The Suanni Armor sold and the Demon Slaying Sword bought. After deducting three hundred Spirit Stones for consignment fees, Shen Mo only paid five hundred Spirit Stones.

"Demon Slaying... It seems this Grade IV Forgemaster is also aware of the Heavenly Demon Channel. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given such a straightforward name to this sword!"

Shen Mo stroked the cold blade, feeling a prickling sensation on the skin of his fingertips, which ordinary magic artifacts usually struggled to injure. His heart filled with joy!

As the auction neared its end, Shen Mo received another pleasant surprise. The final treasure presented was the Gold-thunder Demon Pearl he had long sought! And there were five of them.

Like the Water-Thunder Demon Pearl, the Gold-thunder Demon Pearl was filled with an extreme element. The former carried the essence of extreme water; the latter, naturally, held the essence of extreme gold.

Such high-grade Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were ideal for crafting top-grade magic artifacts and cultivating Gold-type cultivation methods. If there were a Gold Spiritual Body at the auction, they would go all out, selling everything they had, to buy these five Gold-thunder Demon Pearls!

As for someone like Master Hong Jue, who would throw around Water-Thunder Demon Pearls, using terrifying thunder-fiend energy to destroy Sword Array prisons, it was akin to using jewels to mend a leaky roof—a sheer waste of precious resources.

At the auction, there was no shortage of cultivators with discerning eyes and ample wealth. These five Gold-thunder Demon Pearls, after rounds of bidding, quickly reached a price of four thousand five hundred Spirit Stones. After this, the number of bidders thinned. When the price reached six thousand Spirit Stones, only Shen Mo and one other cultivator remained in contention.

If it truly exceeded his financial abilities, he even considered resorting to misdeeds like robbery and murder for treasure. But he soon discovered that his competitor was a Spirit Sea Realm cultivator, making such plans impossible. Moreover, robbery and murder were just fleeting thoughts, the methods of evil cultivators; in truth, he couldn't bring himself to do such things!

His only option was to grit his teeth and raise the bid to six thousand five hundred Spirit Stones, hoping to win by outspending his rival!

That rogue Spirit Sea Realm cultivator seemed surprised that a mere Qi Gathering Realm Layer III cultivator would dare to compete with him for the Gold-thunder Demon Pearls. After a cold scoff, he stopped bidding. From the cultivator's undisguised expression, Shen Mo knew he had been targeted.

This man was surely plotting to rob him. If he were somewhat compassionate, Shen Mo might lose the Gold-thunder Demon Pearls but keep his life. If he were ruthless, it would be a blatant act of robbery and murder, just as Shen Mo had briefly imagined!

"Examine!"

Shen Mo quietly sacrificed a middle-grade Spirit Stone to inspect the rogue cultivator's details.

[Human: Lou Feng]

[Realm: Spirit Sea Realm Layer I]

[Summary: This cultivator is a resident of Qing State in the Red Flame Country. As a youth, he accidentally consumed a Jade Leaf Ginseng and, surviving by chance, attained enormous benefits. Due to his exceptional Talent, he was accepted as a disciple by a wandering cultivator and embarked on the path of cultivation. In a cave mansion on Mount Tian Ku, he received the legacy of an ancient cultivator's Divine Sense imprint, mastering several Gold-type magic arts to Senior and Perfection stages. This cultivator's main Gold-type cultivation method, the 'Gold Sand Pagoda Magic,' has reached the Senior stage but not yet Perfection, requiring the collection of various Gold-type spiritual materials to assist in cultivation.]

[Weakness: Due to many years of cultivating Gold-type magic and cultivation methods, his body has become extremely heavy, making him unskilled at Sword Escape. One could potentially deal with him by relying on superior agility, waiting for his Mana to deplete and expose a weakness, then seizing the opportunity to strike him down.]

No wonder he wanted to compete with me for the Gold-thunder Demon Pearls! Turns out he wants to use this spiritual item to cultivate his 'Gold Sand Pagoda Magic' to Perfection.

The 'Gold Sand Pagoda Magic' alluded to the concept of building a pagoda from sand—constantly stacking grain upon grain of gold sand until a supreme pagoda was formed. It was a fairly decent Gold-type cultivation method. The drawback was the same as Shen Mo's 'Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body': it consumed a lot of cultivation resources.

Luckily, I have the Special Destiny 'Insight into All Beings.' If I fought him without understanding these details, it would be unwise. The Mana within a Spirit Sea Realm cultivator is immeasurably greater than mine. I wouldn't be able to hold on long enough for his Mana to deplete. The moment the auction ends, I'll immediately fly to the sect on my sword. I bet he won't be able to catch me!