Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

A massive skeleton appeared on the platform, a hundred feet long, without a trace of flesh or blood. Two long, conspicuous snake fangs stood out, and the skeleton radiated a lustrous sheen, as if it were carved from jade.

The moment the skeleton appeared, Chen Yuan, who had been lazily leaning back in his chair for the past few days, suddenly had a glint in his eyes and slowly sat up straight.

"As we all know, the Void Beasts are extremely large. The skeleton of this Void Serpent is a thousand feet long. Our sect used a secret technique to shrink it to a hundred feet."

"This secret technique can last for a hundred years. Fellow Daoists who bid on this skeleton should prepare the corresponding mustard seed ring in advance."

"This skeleton inherently contains abundant spatial power. If the mustard seed ring is shattered, it will trigger a spatial storm. Our sect will not be responsible for any damage to the skeleton..."

Wei Feng's voice was somewhat serious. Looking through the array, the countless stars that had been revolving around the stone platform were now silent, no longer showing the heated scene of bidding for a third-grade spiritual treasure.

Ding Yu noticed Chen Yuan's change, his spirits lifted, and the slight weariness on his face disappeared. Could it be that Elder Chen was about to make a move?
Suddenly, a miniature star burst forth with dazzling light, overshadowing all the other stars. On its surface, spiritual light intertwined to form several large characters: "Three catties and seven ounces of Pure Sky Sand of Glazed Glass".

With a thought, Chen Yuan channeled his divine sense into the bronze mirror, where several words appeared on its surface: "Three catties and eight ounces of pure crystal sand."

The changes in this miniature star were invisible from the quiet room. At this moment, in the eyes of the other thousands of stars, the miniature star where Chen Yuan and Ding Yu were located suddenly emitted a dazzling light, overshadowing the miniature star that had made the first bid. It stood out from the vast starry sky and rose into the high sky.

Within an inconspicuous miniature star, Zhang Yanwei watched two stars slowly rising outside the transparent array, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes: "Master has made a bid! I wonder which star Master is on?"

Yun Jinyue sat next to Zhang Yanwei. The two of them had attended the Donghua Auction together and had already purchased three treasures, which would greatly benefit their cultivation.

Logically speaking, with their cultivation levels at the early Nascent Soul stage, they should not be qualified to participate in the Donghua Auction.

However, as a true disciple of Lingyun Peak, Zhang Yanwei's status was equivalent to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator, so his participation in the Donghua Auction was not considered a violation of the rules.

They were not short of spirit stones, and had received many gifts at the Dual Cultivation Ceremony. Yun Xubai gave them all without keeping any for himself. Even some Nascent Soul cultivators did not have as much wealth as the two of them.

While participating in the bidding, Zhang Yanwei kept a close eye on the treasures his master wanted.

After reviewing the list of treasures, Chen Yuan realized that almost all of his targets were auction items sold through barter. He then instructed Chen Yuan to gather information first and, once confirmed, to personally purchase the treasures.

Therefore, Zhang Yanwei was fully aware of Chen Yuan's target, and the crystallized skeleton of the Void Serpent was one of them. Now that it had finally appeared at the auction, he couldn't help but feel quite nervous.

Yun Jinyue reached out and grasped Zhang Yanwei's hand, gently squeezing it, and said softly, "You don't need to worry. Master has thought things through carefully and is sure of everything."

Zhang Yanwei breathed a sigh of relief, then grabbed Yun Jinyue's hand with a slightly stronger grip.

Then a third miniature star lit up, its spiritual light intertwining to form large characters: "Three catties and nine ounces of Pure Celestial Sand!"

The first star immediately raised the price: "Four catties of Crystal Pure Sand!"

The second star shone brightly: "Four catties and one ounce of Pure Sky Sand!"

The three stars shone brighter and brighter, rising higher and higher into the sky. Zhang Yanwei became nervous again, gripping Yun Jinyue's hand tightly.

Glazed Pure Sky Sand is an extremely precious spiritual material with both thunder and earth attributes. The earth veins deep in the desert were broken after being bombarded by thunderstorms for a long time, releasing the energy of the earth veins, which mixed with the power of thunder, and then seeped into the top-grade earth element spiritual material.

Over tens of thousands of years, this earth-elemental spiritual material has transformed into grains of glass-like sand. The power of thunder and the energy of the earth veins are perfectly integrated, without distinction. It contains a trace of the power of thunder and a trace of the power of earth elemental laws, and is full of spirituality. It is even above the top-grade spiritual materials and is called "celestial spiritual material". It can be directly used to refine heaven-reaching spiritual treasures.

The quality of a spiritual material depends on the level of spiritual energy it contains.

The lower realm is limited by the laws of heaven and earth, and top-grade spiritual materials are already the limit. However, the upper realm has a deeper spiritual essence and more complete laws of heaven and earth, and has spiritual materials of a higher grade than top-grade spiritual materials, but not as good as the legendary immortal materials, so they are called immortal spiritual materials.

Generally, a Heavenly Treasure is upgraded from a First-Grade Treasure. It requires tens of thousands of years of careful nurturing of a First-Grade Treasure, patient cultivation of its spirituality, and even the efforts of several generations of cultivators before there is even a slight chance of it becoming a Heavenly Treasure.

However, the immortal spiritual materials have been tempered by the laws of heaven and earth for tens of thousands of years, naturally containing a trace of the power of the laws, and are extremely spiritual. They save tens of thousands of years of nurturing and can be used directly to refine the Heavenly Treasure. However, they are far more precious than top-grade spiritual materials, and cultivators below the Integration Stage should not even think about touching them.

This Glazed Pure Sky Sand was obtained by Zhang Yanwei using his master's Tai Xuan Token and through careful investigation at the Cleansing Heart Hall. He learned that a medium-sized sect in the Micro Spirit Domain possessed this kind of spiritual material.

The master then personally intervened, spending several days to finally buy it, and even Zhang Yanwei didn't know the exact weight.

Such precious immortal materials, I didn’t expect there were two people who could take them out and add them up one ounce at a time without the slightest hesitation. It seems that they have plenty of Glazed Pure Heaven Sand in their hands. I wonder if Master can succeed.

The three stars were being bid up to four jin and nine liang, with each side chasing the other and refusing to give way. Suddenly, the second star saw a significant increase in the price: "Five jin and four liang of Glazed Pure Heaven Sand!"

An incredibly dazzling light emanated from the second miniature star, which suddenly rose higher, completely towering above the other two stars and proudly overlooking thousands of other stars.

"This fellow Daoist has offered five catties and four ounces of Glazed Pure Heaven Sand. Is there any fellow Daoist who would offer a higher price?"

Wei Feng spoke loudly, urging the other two stars to continue bidding, but the two stars remained silent for a long time, and their radiance gradually dimmed.

Wei Feng spoke three times in a row, finally stopping his delay, and announced loudly, "Five catties and four ounces of Glazed Pure Heaven Sand, this fellow Daoist has won the bid for the crystallized skeleton of the Void Serpent!"

In the second miniature star, Chen Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, took out the mustard seed ring he had prepared beforehand, and threw it at the bronze mirror.

The mustard seed ring touched the mirror surface, as if falling into water, merging into the mirror in the rippling water, and appearing on the stone platform.

Wei Feng took the Mustard Seed Ring into his hand, scanned it with his divine sense, smiled, raised his sleeve and flicked it to put the huge skeleton of the Void Serpent into another Mustard Seed Ring, which he then threw forward.

The mustard seed ring flew a short distance and disappeared, then emerged from the bronze mirror in front of Chen Yuan and fell into his hand.

Ding Yu stood behind Chen Yuan, and upon seeing this scene, he was stunned, his heart filled with unparalleled shock.

A look of amazement flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes as he reached out and caught the Mustard Seed Ring.

What an ingenious technique! When Master Fu created this space, he left countless tiny spatial channels to connect the stone platform with every miniature star, allowing him to transfer items without using teleportation arrays or going through spatial rifts. It would only cause a very slight spatial fluctuation.

If Chen Yuan hadn't refined the Kunpeng's true blood and comprehended the laws of space several times, his mastery of the laws of space would be comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator who specializes in this path. He wouldn't even have been able to sense this slight spatial fluctuation or see its mysteries.

Chen Yuan probed the mustard seed ring with his divine sense, carefully scanning the crystallized skeleton of the Void Serpent. Finding no problems, he was relieved and stored it in his internal space.

With this crystallized skeleton, it should be enough to upgrade the Cangming Halberd to a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure.

The bones of Void Beasts have always been among the best spatial materials. They retain the spirituality of the Void Beasts and have always roamed in the void and chaos, containing rich and pure spatial power, which can be directly used to refine Heavenly Treasures.

It was worth it for him to spend most of his Refining Spirit Pills to exchange for five catties and four ounces of Glazed Pure Sky Sand to buy this skeleton.

Although immortal materials are valuable, the success rate of directly refining heaven-reaching spiritual treasures is extremely low. Not all sects and cultivators use immortal materials to refine treasures.

The primary use of immortal materials is to comprehend the power of laws within them.

Chen Yuan was also quite lucky. In the sect he traded with, neither of the two Nascent Soul cultivators practiced earth-based techniques and therefore did not need the Glazed Pure Heaven Sand.

Furthermore, due to Chen Yuan's reputation as an elder of the Mahayana sect, they were willing to offer this treasure in exchange for Void Refining Pills from Chen Yuan to enhance the overall strength of their sect.

……

After the crystallized skeleton of the Void Serpent was auctioned off, dozens more treasures from the Nascent Soul and Void Refinement stages appeared one after another, making the bidding scene fierce again.

The miniature star where Chen Yuan and Ding Yu were located had already descended and blended into the starry sky without leaving a trace. No one knew that he had bought the crystallized skeleton.

Then came another long wait. As time slowly passed, Chen Yuan also bought several extremely rare ten-thousand-year-old and eight-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs from the market. Although they could not be used to refine Nascent Soul stage pills, they could be used as auxiliary ingredients for some thirty-thousand-year-old Body Tempering spiritual pills.

Besides exchanging the Refining Void Pill for the Glazed Pure Sky Sand, Chen Yuan also exchanged some low-grade immortal spirit stones and high-grade spirit stones, which came in handy.

In addition, Chen Yuan had been keeping an eye on treasures related to the Blood of True Spirit, but had yet to find any.

When the auction reached the 7,914th item, Chen Yuan finally found his second target.

These are three 30,000-year-old body-tempering spiritual herbs of the same kind. They were auctioned off with low-grade immortal spirit stones, and five stars participated in the bidding, but Chen Yuan won them with a Void Refining Pill.

Aside from individuals like Chen Yuan, whose cultivation has reached its limit or whose progress has stalled for some reason, cultivation pills are far more sought-after than spirit stones for other cultivators.

Treasures that can be bid on with spirit stones can generally also be bought with pills.

It's only because very few people are willing to sell cultivation pills that sellers demand bidding in spirit stones.

When Chen Yuan used the Refining Void Pill as a bid, Wei Feng immediately agreed and converted it into spirit stones.

Sellers usually accept the pills readily. If they don't want the pills, it's exactly what Duobao Pavilion wants. They keep the pills, exchange them for spirit stones, and give them to the seller, making a sure profit.

Chen Yuan's third target was also a spatial immortal material. In order to bid for this immortal material, he even went to other spiritual realms to exchange for a fire-elemental immortal material, but he failed in the bidding.

Those bidding against Chen Yuan were determined to obtain this spatial immortal material. In addition to the fire-element immortal material that the seller needed, they also brought out two bottles of early-stage Nascent Soul pills.

Chen Yuan did have some Nascent Soul stage pills, but he was reluctant to take them out, so he had to give up.

With the crystallized skeleton of the Void Serpent already in the picture, this spatial immortal material was just a backup option. Now that the crystallized skeleton has been acquired, it's enough to upgrade the Azure Sea Halberd to a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure. This immortal material is just icing on the cake, and Chen Yuan naturally wouldn't go bankrupt for it.

After that, Chen Yuan made several more purchases, all of which were rare spiritual herbs that were rarely seen in the market.

These spiritual herbs aren't very old, mostly between five thousand and ten thousand years old, but collecting them is time-consuming and laborious. They can be bought with some spirit stones and pills, which is more cost-effective. Chen Yuan doesn't need anything else. He's not lacking in treasures, and his cultivation technique is among the best in all the heavens and myriad realms. He's already obtained the crystallized bones of the Void Serpent. His only remaining targets are body-tempering elixirs, true spirit blood, and these rare low-grade spiritual herbs.

However, True Spirit Blood has rarely appeared in past Donghua auctions, and Body Tempering Elixirs are also extremely rare. Only these rare low-grade spiritual herbs are worth bidding on by Chen Yuan.

He bought dozens of five-thousand-year-old and eight-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs one after another, and the auction gradually came to its last day.

The quality of the treasures Wei Feng took out was greatly improved; the number of Nascent Soul stage treasures decreased significantly, and they were replaced by Void Refinement stage treasures.

The treasures that had suddenly disappeared during the Integration Stage will reappear in the final moments of the auction.

The vast majority of Nascent Soul stage cultivators were no longer able to participate in the bidding, but none of them left. They were all waiting for the final moment to witness the splendor of those rare treasures.

At this moment, a treasure caught Chen Yuan's attention. It was a ferocious beast statue, about ten feet tall, with a tiger's body and a snake's tail, and eight heads, each with a different appearance: a human face, a night owl, an angry lion, a fierce tiger... Each face showed a sense of pity, making it look extremely eerie.

Wei Feng introduced, "Next is the 9,877th item, a mythical beast statue. By offering blood essence to the statue, one can summon a phantom of the mythical beast to aid in battle. Its strength is equivalent to a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator. The duration of its effect varies depending on the amount of blood essence offered, but it can last at least a quarter of an hour..."

Among the more than nine thousand treasures auctioned, there were at least several hundred magic weapons for those at the Void Refinement stage, making this statue inconspicuous.

Chen Yuan wasn't attracted by the statue's ability to summon strange beasts, but rather by the change in the jade pendant.

When Wei Feng took out the statue, the jade pendant that Chen Yuan had stored in his internal space suddenly emitted a red light and became warm.

This is a sign that the blood of the true spirit has been sensed; there is a trace of the blood of the true spirit within this strange beast statue.

To Chen Yuan's disappointment, the jade pendant was only slightly warm, and the red light it emitted was very dim. The true spirit blood in the beast statue was extremely thin and of low quality.

Regardless, this was true spirit blood, and after Wei Feng finished his introduction, Chen Yuan still participated in the bidding.

The other bidders for the statue were only mid-stage Void Refinement cultivators, who were no match for Chen Yuan.

Moreover, the statue's function is somewhat lackluster, as each summoning of a mythical beast requires consuming essence blood.

Chen Yuan simply took out a bottle of mid-stage Void Refinement pills and bought it.

He threw the elixir into the bronze mirror. After Wei Feng examined it, he put the mythical beast statue into his mustard seed ring and threw it out.

The mustard seed ring passed through the bronze mirror and came into Chen Yuan's hand. He used his divine sense to examine it briefly before storing it in his body space.

The auction continued, and the treasures Wei Feng brought out became more and more precious. Gradually, even treasures for the Void Refinement stage became scarce, and most cultivators withdrew from the bidding. Only a few dozen stars shone brightly.

These must be the Nascent Soul cultivators participating in this auction. Chen Yuan bought another 30,000-year-old Body Tempering Spirit Herb, leaving him with only a few bottles of Void Refining Pills.

Besides the body-tempering herbs, body-tempering pills also appeared at the auction, but the prices were too high, so Chen Yuan didn't make any bids.

The last few dozen treasures were also extremely precious to cultivators at the Integration stage. The value of any one of them was no less than that of the crystallized bones of the Void Serpent. Chen Yuan was also extremely envious of the several immortal spiritual materials among them.

He refined the blood of four kinds of true spirits and mastered the power of four kinds of laws. These immortal materials were all useful to him, but he was powerless to participate in the bidding and could only watch helplessly as they fell into the hands of others.

The final item up for auction was an extraordinary treasure, a rusty bronze halberd, which sparked a frenzied bidding war among dozens of stars.

The bronze halberd was eventually bought for a terrifying price: four pieces of immortal spiritual materials, six bottles of mid-stage Nascent Soul pills, and three hundred mid-grade immortal spiritual stones—enough to bankrupt some small sects with shallow foundations.

This tiny star that bought the Heavenly Treasure sits alone high in the sky, its dazzling starlight illuminating the countless stars and enjoying the admiration of all cultivators.

The auction has now ended. Fifteen days is nothing to cultivators; even a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Ding Yu could easily endure it.

During those fifteen days, he had his eyes opened wide, seeing tens of thousands of treasures that he had never dared to imagine before. From Wei Feng's brief introduction, he saw a magnificent, beautiful and strange world of cultivation, and his heart was filled with shock, which he could not calm down for a long time.

The transparent array suddenly blurred, and the door behind him flickered with spiritual light and slowly opened. Chen Yuan slowly stood up, and Ding Yu came to his senses, took a step back, and made way for him.

Behind the door, the same beautiful woman in a light blue uniform was still waiting. She bowed gracefully to Chen Yuan and said, "The auction has ended. Elder Chen, this way please."

Chen Yuan nodded slightly, stepped out of the meditation room, and went to the meditation room on the seventy-ninth floor. Ding Yu followed behind and quietly bowed to the woman.

Knowing his own cultivation level was too low, he dared not be disrespectful in front of this senior sister.

The woman watched, her red lips slightly pursed, and she nodded gently in response. She opened the door to the quiet room, leading Chen Yuan and Ding Yu out of the quiet room and into the hall on the seventy-ninth floor.

The hall was empty, but the doors of the other quiet rooms were flashing with spiritual light, indicating that the formations were activated and that there were still cultivators inside.

Chen Yuan was somewhat surprised. He stopped and asked, "Where are the other Nascent Soul cultivators who participated in the auction?"

The woman whispered, "Reporting to the elder, some of the senior cultivators who participated in the auction have grudges against each other, and some have even become enemies."

"After the auction, all the senior members left in turn to avoid any potential conflicts if they bumped into each other."

Chen Yuan nodded, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Where is Elder Ling now?"

The woman looked troubled and said in a low voice, "This disciple is not a disciple of Yanheng Peak and does not know Elder Ling's whereabouts..."

Chen Yuan said calmly, "I have important business to discuss with Elder Ling. Please lead me to the Void Refinement Protector in the Treasure Pavilion."

"Yes," the woman agreed.

Chen Yuan turned to Ding Yu and said, "Go back now and cultivate diligently. Don't slack off."

"This disciple will follow the elder's teachings and will certainly not fail the elder's expectations." Ding Yu bowed deeply, his expression solemn.

He knew perfectly well that Elder Chen didn't need him to serve him at all; he was just using this opportunity to broaden his horizons and gain more knowledge.

His ability to join Lingyun Peak was a stroke of luck bestowed by heaven. Elder Chen passed on his cultivation techniques and elixirs, and even bestowed upon him a cup of spiritual tea, helping him break through his bottleneck. The kindness he received was immeasurable and could not be repaid.

Ding Yu made up his mind to cultivate even more diligently than before, improve his cultivation level as soon as possible, serve Elder Chen, and repay the elder's kindness in imparting knowledge and teaching him.

……

Two hours later, Chen Yuan met Ling Jiuque in a quiet room.

Led by the woman, Chen Yuan met a Nascent Soul cultivator, then a Deity Transformation steward, followed by a Void Refinement Guardian from Yanheng Peak, who then reported to Ling Jiuque.

Chen Yuan waited for another hour and a half before finally meeting the elder in charge of the Treasure Pavilion.

Ling Jiuque clasped his hands in a salute, a smile on his face as usual: "I wonder what business Junior Brother Chen has with me?"

Chen Yuan looked apologetic and returned the greeting with clasped hands: "The auction has just ended. I know that Senior Brother Ling has many matters to attend to, but this matter is extremely important to me, so I dare not delay. I hope Senior Brother will forgive me for any inconvenience caused."

Ling Jiuque laughed heartily: "Junior brother, you flatter me. I know you well. You are a prudent person and would not do something so reckless without a reason. There must be a reason."

"Junior brother, please sit down. If I can help, I will certainly not refuse."

Ling Jiuque gestured for Chen Yuan to sit down and personally poured him some spiritual tea.

"I wouldn't dare trouble you, Senior Brother..." Chen Yuan reached out and took the teacup. "To make a long story short, I bought a statue at an auction. Do you know who submitted it to the auction?"

As he spoke, he took out the statue of a strange beast with eight faces, which was several times smaller than the one at the auction, only about a foot tall, and placed it on the table, exuding a fierce aura.

Ling Jiuque glanced at the statue on the table and frowned: "Junior brother should know the rules of the Donghua Auction House; he would never reveal the information of the seller and buyer..."

After taking charge of the Treasure Pavilion, he personally attended to every detail and memorized every item on the treasure list. He recognized the statue at a glance.

Chen Yuan said, "I am naturally aware of the rules of the Donghua Auction House, but I have no ill intentions. I just want to find out some information from the owner of this statue."

"Senior brother, you might as well tell the owner of the statue about this matter, and state my identity and purpose. Whether the information is useful or not, I will offer a generous gift as a reward."

"Donghua Auction has been held many times, so there must be precedents for this. This matter is of great importance to me, so I ask my senior brother for help."

After saying this, he bowed deeply to Ling Jiuque, his expression extremely sincere.

The true spirit blood in this statue is extremely thin and of little use to Chen Yuan, but it is clear that someone mixed it in and refined it.

Its original owner might still possess the blood of the True Spirit, or have information about it, which is worth investigating.

Ling Jiuque pondered for a moment, then finally relented: "Very well, since Junior Brother has said so, it would be unreasonable of me to refuse again."

Chen Yuan's face lit up with joy, and he bowed again: "Thank you for your help, Senior Brother. I owe you a favor."

Ling Jiuque said, "Junior brother, you flatter me. However, this matter is ultimately against the rules of the Donghua Auction House, so I hope you will not publicize it."

Chen Yuan said solemnly, "Senior brother, rest assured, I will never make things difficult for you." (End of this chapter)