I clutched the rust-spotted Demon-Demon Suppression Bureau token Old Zhang had given me and stood beneath the towering gate of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. From the outside, this faux-antique structure looked like nothing more than a grand auction house, but it thrummed with an unmistakable pulse of spiritual energy. The two stone lions flanking the entrance had mid-grade spirit stones set into their eyes, radiating the soft glow of a spirit-gathering formation in a steady, unbroken stream.

"Ninth layer of Qi Refinement?" The grey-robed cultivator checking admissions at the door didn't even bother to look up. He skimmed a fingertip across the jade slip I'd bought for a hundred low-grade spirit stones. "Go on in. Third-floor exchange fair. Don't touch what isn't yours."

My heart sank. That seemingly casual brush of his finger had suppressed my ninth-layer Qi Refinement aura by a full third. The old geezer's drowsy voice stirred in my mind: "Even the doormen are mid-stage Foundation Establishment. The Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion really does have Xuanmen backing. No ordinary rogue cultivator would dare make trouble here."

I stepped into the main hall. What washed over me wasn't incense — it was spiritual energy so thick it was nearly syrupy. The scrolls and paintings lining the walls looked ordinary at a glance, but each one was a talisman seal with a low-grade demon beast locked inside. The potted plants in the corners were all spirit flora; one clump of Dewcondensing Grass was dripping spirit liquid drop by drop onto the floor, which made my heart ache. Refined into pills, that stuff would fetch a handsome pile of spirit stones.

"What are you gawking at? Country bumpkin." A young cultivator in a brocade robe shot me a sideways sneer. A Vermilion Bird Hall token hung at his waist. "If you can't afford anything, get lost and stop blocking this young master's view."

I couldn't be bothered with him. I walked straight toward the third floor. The staircase was laid with solid slabs of black jade, and with each step I felt a faint trickle of spiritual energy seeping up through my soles. Loaded, as expected. The third-floor exchange hall was even more lavish — a massive spirit-gathering formation dominated the centre, with attendees seated around its perimeter. Most were Qi Refinement cultivators, though a handful of Foundation Establishment elders and above occupied the VIP seats. One of them was Everett Li of Azure Dragon Hall. He gave me a slight nod, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"System, scan the hall for spirit items," I murmured under my breath.

Ding! Spirit items detected as follows: one hundred and twenty low-grade spirit-gathering stones, three vials of mid-grade Blood-Nourishing Pills, an incomplete Blazing Fire Sword Art jade slip, two stalks of thousand-year spirit ginseng… The System paused. Detected: distinctive Reeking Scale Powder unique to Baizhen Pavilion. Source: third seat to the right of the VIP section — grey-robed elder carrying a White Tiger Hall token.

I glanced over without changing expression. The grey-robed elder was leisurely turning a black scale between his fingers, a faint, cold smile playing at the corner of his mouth. As expected — Baizhen Pavilion and White Tiger Hall had both shown up.

The auction began. The first lot was ten low-grade spirit-gathering stones, opening bid two hundred low-grade spirit stones. I hadn't planned to bid, but the brocade-robed young master from Vermilion Bird Hall suddenly barked a raise to eighty — or rather, three hundred. Something stirred in me. I deliberately raised my paddle and called out: "Three hundred low-grade spirit stones!"

The hall erupted. The brocade-robed young master's face went ashen. "You dare compete with this young master?"

I shrugged. "Highest bid wins. Surely the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion doesn't have some unwritten rule against that?"

The auctioneer gave a polite cough. "This fellow Daoist bids three hundred low-grade spirit stones. Any advance on three hundred?"

The grey-robed elder spoke up without warning: "Three hundred and ten."

I cursed inwardly. This old schemer was obviously trying to drive the price up. The System chimed in: This individual is the Vice Hall Master of White Tiger Hall. Late-stage Foundation Establishment — equivalent to peak ninth layer Foundation Establishment in raw power.

"Three hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones." I kept my expression easy. I still had plenty of spirit stones from the System's rewards — this was as good a chance as any to probe what Baizhen Pavilion was after.

The grey-robed elder fixed me with a long, measured look and did not raise again. The spirit-gathering stones went to me. The brocade-robed young master glared daggers at my back and moved to the other side of the hall.

Over the next round of lots, I won a vial of mid-grade Blood-Nourishing Pills and the incomplete Blazing Fire Sword Art jade slip — not for cultivation, just to get a read on how orthodox Xuanmen techniques were structured. When the thousand-year spirit ginseng appeared, the grey-robed elder and Everett Li moved at the same moment. In the end Everett Li claimed it at a staggering price. The two men's eyes met across the hall, and the air between them crackled.

"See that, rookie?" The System's old voice came with a derisive snort. "This is what the cultivation world of Blue Star looks like — resources so scarce that Core Formation elders come to blows over a single stalk of ginseng. Small wonder the Xuanmen's inner circles are rotten with scheming. For the sake of profit, there's nothing they won't do."

End of Chapter 42: The Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion