Ninth In the World

Dai He was so excited that her voice had become slightly hoarse. “The price is already 180 billion. This is not the first time items obtained from the Fairy Planet are being auctioned, but it is the first time we get a bid of 180 billion. This ring evidently contains a huge secret we are not aware of. I believe the bidder must know about it…”

In an ordinary theater box located at the third level of the auction house, a man wearing a cloak to obscure his face clenched his fist tightly. He was wearing a cloak to the Fairy No. 1 Auction House so that no one could see his face, but he actually stood out even more because of it. Not many people in a cloak were participating in the auction after all.

This was not an issue for him. He did not care what people thought of him; knowing what he was doing was enough for him. In his opinion, no matter how good a disguise was, his cloak would always be the best disguise.

He had pooled together a total of 210 billion specifically for this auction. He had only given up on the three jade slips because of this ring.

As Dai He shouted hoarsely, he unhesitatingly placed a bid of 210 billion. If he did not obtain this ring, he would just seize it. The three jade slips were also a few of the items he wanted to seize.

“Heavens, the price has already reached 210 billion. This generous guest wants to spend 210 billion in one go…”

As Dai He tried her best to promote the ring, Di Jiu could not help but sigh. He had to stop bidding. Although he wanted to, he just did not have that much money. Fortunately, he was not really interested in the ring. He was unfamiliar with it after all. The only reason he had bid on it earlier was because there were a lot of people bidding on it. That was all.

The auction was not going to be over anytime soon, so even if he did not obtain that ring, there could be some better items later on.

Di Jiu had already stopped bidding, when the last call for bids essentially stopped everybody else.

When no one bid for a long time, Dai He stopped shouting. Instead, she suddenly said, “Now there will be an intermission. All guests are kindly requested to head to the cafeteria or order in their meals. The auction will resume in an hour.”

The people who had participated in this kind of auction before knew that the auction house was doing this on purpose. This intermission would allow people to pool money and provide a good opportunity for anyone who wanted this ring but had not brought with enough money. Of course, there were always breaks during auctions so that people could eat lunch.

Di Jiu understood the logic behind letting people pool money. He hesitated a little, but eventually decided not to do it. Actually, if he had wanted to pool money, he would have been able to. He possessed a supreme-grade medicinal liquid that would help increase one’s strength, so people would definitely buy it at a relatively high price if it was sold during the auction.

However, Di Jiu would only sell this liquid as a last resort. Unless he saw a high-grade quality item that he had to obtain, like the three jade slips earlier, selling the medicinal liquid for money would only cause him problems. Despite the fact that he was currently at the third stage of the Qi Refinement realm and had already acquired mental strength, he did not want to be noticed by too many people. He had yet to head to the Fairy Planet after all, and if he was being watched by too many people, going there would be difficult.

It would naturally be impossible to remain invisible if he sold a medicinal liquid that increased one’s strength.

Another reason he didn’t sell it was because he did not think the ring would be of much use. Paying over 200 billion for a mere ring was just ridiculous.

The man in the cloak clenched his fists tightly. Unfortunately, he could only watch as the auction went into intermission so people could pool more money.

An hour passed quickly. When the auction started once again, Dai He began to shout, trying her best to promote the mysterious ring. She was disappointed when no one placed a bid higher than 210 billion. A 210-billion bid was already ridiculous enough. That amount of money was not something anyone could get.

Dai He could not help but call for bids three more times.

When she called out the third time, the man in the cloak breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally gotten his hands on that ring.

The bidding round was over and that ring of unknown purpose had been sold at the shocking price of 210 billion.

The entire auction venue went into an uproar for nearly six minutes before the crowd gradually fell silent once again.

Perhaps the price of the ring was too outrageous. However, Dai He was so excited that she did not use the mallet in her hand to stop the noisy crowd.

She only raised her hand to signal the start of the bidding round for the next item- a deal on a shop at the Fairy Planet Square- when everyone quieted down.

Although a lot of people participated in the bidding, Di Jiu did not show even the slightest interest. Had it not been for the fact that he still had a lot of money on him, he would have considered leaving the auction in search of a place where he could analyze the three jade slips.

Luckily, his theater box was not bad, so he could actually start analyzing the jade slips there.

Di Jiu took out the first jade slip. As expected, the words written on it were in a language he did not recognize. Based on its exterior, the jade slip seemed to be made from common jade. Di Jiu did not see the hidden mysterious element Ceng Donglu had been talking about.

However, he had suspected that the words on the jade slip had been written using mental strength right from the start, so he immediately put the jade slip near his forehead when he did not notice anything on its exterior.

Thanks to his current mental strength, the closer the jade slip was to the space between his eyebrows, the more relaxed he felt.

The few ripples Di Jiu sensed were so weak that they could barely be seen. They were actually very mysterious and esoteric. This was…

Di Jiu was suddenly reminded of Dharma Arrays. The ripples seemed to form the outline of a Dharma Array. Unfortunately, he had not studied Dharma Arrays, so he didn’t know what the hell to do.

When his mental strength permeated the jade slips once again, large amounts of information engulfed him in an overwhelming manner. Di Jiu moved the jade slip away as soon as his head began to ache.

He rested for quite some time before he placed the jade slip against his forehead once more. Now that he had experience, his mental strength permeated the jade slip slowly.

Reading the information the jade slip contained proved quite uneventful. The jade slip contained a language from the Cultivation World, as well as large amounts of information on cultivation, so it had to be written in a language specifically targeted for the cultivators’ use.

Half an hour later, Di Jiu felt dizzy from all the information on the jade slip.

As he put it down, he looked in astonishment at the unassuming jade slip in his hands. He dared not believe that he had actually learned an entire language in under 30 minutes. He was also able to use this language right away. This form of mental strength, which could extend beyond itself, defied the laws of nature. Anything Di Jiu learned seemed to be imprinted in his brain.

Di Jiu knew that this mental strength was not unique. All immortal cultivators possessed mental strength. However, it usually only developed when they reached the fourth stage of the Qi Refinement realm, which was also the middle stage of Qi Refinement. However, he had obtained this mental strength at the third stage of the Qi Refinement realm.

This form of mental strength even had a specific term; it was called Spiritual Sense or Spiritual Force. Spiritual force was born from one’s Spiritual Sea, which came from the Purple Palace. The more powerful one’s cultivation level was, the more powerful they would become.

Spiritual sense and jade slips were great items. Di Jiu also learned about specific terms, such as Dharma treasures, blacksmithing materials, spiritual herbs, cultivation sects and cultivation levels.

Spirit Stones were categorized into low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade and supreme-grade Spirit Stones. The Cultivation World consisted of practitioners of immortal cultivation techniques, alchemists, blacksmiths, array masters, talisman masters and many other people.

There were ranks for all items, including elixirs, Dharma treasures, and talismen.

Di Jiu found all these things acceptable. However, any knowledge on tribulation transcendence, the presence of a Principal Spirit and possession exceeded his understanding.

Still, Di Jiu was most moved by the knowledge that after the creation of a Spiritual Sense, he could use it to control a flying sword and fly in the air. This was not as simple as inertia in the air for 10 seconds, but was truly moving in the air. A flying sword, he had to obtain a flying sword.

The existence of this jade slip had opened the doors to a vast, boundless Cultivation World, something he would not have dared imagine in the past.

“Oh no, this is bad…” Di Jiu suddenly recalled something and stood up abruptly.

The ring. The ring auctioned off earlier must have been a storage ring.

Di Jiu grabbed his hair. Ignorance was scary indeed. If the ring had really been a storage ring, he would have fought to obtain it, no matter how much it cost him. He would have even bought it for 210 billion. If he had not had a sufficient amount of money, he could still have pooled some.

It was too late to regret it now, though. The ring had been bought by someone he did not know.

The three jade slips could not hold a candle to that ring. Who knew how many quality items had been stored inside it? Di Jiu sighed. He knew that he had missed this opportunity.

After a long while, he eventually sat back down. If there had been two objects in front of him—a ring and a jade slip—which one would he have picked? The jade slip had helped him attain cultivation knowledge, but the storage ring could contain a secret item. The bidder who obtained the ring had given up on the jade slips for it. What would he do?

“I chose the jade slips,” Di Jiu muttered, suddenly feeling at peace. If he had failed to bid for it, then the ring did not belong to him.

He had chosen the jade slips because knowledge was priceless. Despite the fact that he could have gained this knowledge later if he had chosen the ring, he might have missed some things of an even greater value. He had let go of the ring because he had been too ignorant, had he not? However, the person who had put the ring up for sale had not known its value either. It all boiled down to one’s lack of knowledge in this particular field.