Chapter 3617 - The Zhou Clan’s Auction
Chapter 3617: The Zhou Clan's Auction
City was a huge city to the people of Descent Mountain City. It occupied a vast land, unlike Descent Mountain City. The outer city gates alone were five times larger than all the city gates in Descent Mountain City. The city looked as though it had witnessed the vicissitudes of life, exuding an ancient vibe that silently proclaimed its long history.
After flying into Skywind City, Duan Ling Tian did not look for a restaurant to gather information like he did when he first went to Descent Mountain City. Instead, he found an inn to stay in first.
'The most important thing now is for me to find a way to conceal the age of my bones.'
Just like how one could tell the age of a tree through its growth rings, one could tell a person's real age from their bones. Similar to the other realms, one's appearance was not an accurate indicator of one's age. After all, everyone could maintain a youthful appearance if they wished to do so. In fact, they could change their appearances to any age that was of their liking.
Hence, those from the Hidden Fog Academy would check the bone age of those who intended to join the academy.
Duan Ling Tian was only about to reach 700 years old. With his age and his cultivation base, he knew he would cause a stir and likely attract hatred and jealousy from others. At that time, his life would be at the mercy of others. For this reason, he wanted to conceal his age. The threats of revealing his age outweighed the benefits of revealing his age. For all these reasons, the most important thing now was for him to hide his bone age.
When he was still in the Devata Realms, the World Cleansing Divine Water had spoken to him about this as well. It had suggested that he find the Bone Aging Pill after reaching the Realm of Gods to hide his true age.
The Bone Aging Pill was a divine pill and was divided into several grades. The higher the grade, the more it would age one's bones. Apart from that, the pill could only age one's bones; it could not make one's bones younger.
"The Bone Aging Pill isn't rare. In fact, even the Psychic Pill is rarer than it. I should be able to buy it from one of the medicine stores."
Duan Ling Tian wandered the busy streets of Skywind City and discovered all the medicine stores he visited carried Bone Aging Pills. However, they only carried the first three grades. Nevertheless, he found that the middle-grade ones, among the three grades, suited him.
After taking the Bone Aging Pill, the age of his bones would increase by 2,000 years. This meant that his bone age would be 2,700 years old after he consumed the pill. With this, he could only participate in the assessment for Nine Stars and Ten Stars students to enter the Hidden Fog Academy.
If one failed to pass the assessment to become a Ten Stars student when once reached 2,800 years old, one would be immediately expelled from the Hidden Fog Academy.
"Although I should maintain a low profile after joining the Hidden Fog Academy, I can't appear too weak as well. Otherwise, it'd take too long for me to join the Hidden Fog Sect after I leave the Hidden Fog Academy. 2,700 years old is the perfect age for me now. I'd still be able to stand out without attracting too much attention."
At 2,700 years of age, it would not be too mind-blowing if he displayed his strength. He would just be slightly better than the other students. With this kind of ability, he definitely would not attract unwarranted hate and jealousy.
After a moment, Duan Ling Tian sighed when he recalled the price of the Bone Aging Pill. "The Bone Aging Pill is really expensive. Its effect only lasts a month, but it costs 200 taels of divine rocks."
Despite the price, Duan Ling Tian had no choice but to buy them. However, he did not buy them immediately. He returned to the inn first before he found a quiet alley and changed into a black hooded robe. Only then did he buy the pills. This was to ensure nothing would lead back to him in the future. He needed to be as cautious as possible now that he was in an unfamiliar Realm of Gods. He could not die when his wife, Ke'er, was still waiting for him to rescue her.
There were too many powerhouses in the Realms of Gods. Although he had just attained godhood, he was just a rudimentary god. This was the lowest stage after one had attained godhood. At this moment, he was no different from new cultivators in the mundane realms or new celestials in Devata Realms. He still had a long road ahead of him.
In this place, there were too many people who could easily defeat or kill him. If he were not cautious, he could die in just a blink of an eye.
After ingesting the Bone Aging Pill, Duan Ling Tian wandered the streets and visited some stores to see if there was anything worthy of buying.
Currently, not counting his supreme Celestial Crystals, he had 90,000 divine rocks. It was more than enough for him to spend for now. If he were careful with his spending, they might even last him until he became an advanced god.
"I have no need for weapons. Perhaps, I should buy a few Floating Image Pearls that contain recordings of powerhouses who specialize in the law of space. Although I have the Supreme Powerhouse Divinity to help me, I'd be able to gain more insight by watching other people's comprehension and interpretations of the law of space. With that, my comprehension will deepen."
Duan Ling Tian had discovered this when he was in the Devata Realm. When he had comprehended the law of space at the Primeval Cliff in the Heavenly Emperor Palace of the Primeval Heaven, he discovered he had gained a lot despite owning the Supreme Powerhouse Divinity.
"Apart from the Floating Image Pearls, I should buy divine pills and divine fruits that will help with raising my cultivation base. A Spirit Gathering Formation compass will be of great use to my cultivation as well…" Duan Ling Tian muttered to himself.
In the Realms of Gods, formation compasses from Devata Realms naturally did not work. After all, the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy in both realms were vastly different. The Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy in the Realms of Gods were richer and more powerful.
Hence, Duan Ling Tian knew if he tried to use the formation compass from the Devata Realms here, it would only end up getting destroyed by the Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy in the Realms of Gods.
"I have two more months before the Hidden Fog Academy's recruitment begins…"
…
During the past month, Duan Ling Tian had visited most of the medicine stores in Skywind City and purchased a large number of pills to boost his cultivation. However, he had yet to find any divine fruit for sale.
Generally, the effects of divine fruits were better than divine pills'. Apart from that, divine fruits could be used to refine pills so most people would hardly sell them.
At this time, Duan Ling Tian entered yet another medicine store and asked the shopkeeper, "Do you have better pills than these?"
The shopkeeper smiled wryly upon hearing Duan Ling Tian's words. "Sir, even if our store carries better pills, they would've been bought by those from king-rank forces as soon as we put them up for sale. After all, they have a wide network here so they're instantly alerted as soon as good pills appear on the market. The same holds true for divine fruits that you're looking for. In Skywind City, half of the rare divine pills and divine fruits are in the possession of king-rank forces while the other half is in the possession of the Hidden Fog Academy. There's still a chance for you to buy some of them from the king-rank forces as long as you offer a high price. However, it's almost impossible to purchase them from the academy unless you have connections with those who hold high positions in the academy who manage cultivation resources like divine pills and divine fruits."
Duan Ling Tian raised an eyebrow. "I can buy them as long as I offer a high price?"
The shopkeeper nodded. "That's right. Those king-rank forces usually own auction houses. They'll hold an auction every once in a while. Moreover, the items that are on auction are quite good as well."
Duan Ling Tian nodded. He was not surprised by this. Then, he asked the shopkeeper, "Is there an auction coming up soon?"
"There'll be an auction in the Zhou clan's auction house in half a month. You can attend if you're interested," the shopkeeper replied.
"Are there any requirements to participate in the auction?" Duan Ling Tian asked.
"There are no requirements. You only need to pay with some divine rocks before you enter. A seat in the general area costs 10 divine rocks while one of the rooms upstairs costs 1,000 divine rocks," the shopkeeper said. After that, he shook his head before he continued to say, "In fact, every time a king-rank force holds an auction, they earn a lot from entrance fees alone."
Duan Ling Tian thought to himself, 'The Zhou Clan auction will be held in half a month while the recruitment for the Hidden Fog Academy will be held in a month. There's no need for me to visit the stores anymore. I should just wait for the auction and the recruitment to start… For the rest of the time, I should just stay in the inn.'
He only planned to go out twice after this even if he knew after he joined the Hidden Fog Academy, he would be required to stay in the academy. At that time, he would only have a three-day break every month.
…
After Duan Ling Tian returned to the inn, he decided to further stabilize his cultivation base with the divine pills he had recently bought. Although the effects of the pills were not mind-blowing, he had bought a lot of them. As the saying went, 'There's strength in numbers'. Hence, he was confident he would be able to completely stabilize his cultivation base as a rudimentary god in just half a month.
Saying that, he knew he still had a long way to go before he would be able to break through and become an intermediate god.
…
Skywind City remained peaceful.
No one was aware that a rare genius had been staying in Skywind City over the past month.. Moreover, that rare genius was someone that the strongest emperor-rank forces in the Eastern Ridge Mansion would fight to recruit!
