After I left the sect, the entire sect knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

Chapter 102 Bah, so hypocritical!
Lin Yan's face was full of mocking smiles: "You speak so righteously, but who knows if you're secretly resenting the sect, or resenting that your third senior brother didn't give you enough spirit stones to make the bidding more exciting!"

"I...I didn't, you...you're talking nonsense!" Tao Zhizhi retorted.

The facts are clear: Tao Zhizhi did bid for the thousand-year-old ginseng. She is not an alchemist and came with the mission of bidding for a repair pill. There is no reason for her to bid for the ginseng if she did not bid intentionally.

“You do! If you have such deep camaraderie with your third senior brother, knowing how important the Repairing Pill is to him, why would you recklessly waste spirit stones to bid against me for the thousand-year-old ginseng?”

Faced with Lin Yan's sharp questioning, Tao Zhizhi had no way to refute it.

Seeing that the other person looked pale, she felt she hadn't said enough and continued, "So, who are you trying to impress by putting on this act of deep affection for your senior brother?"

Tao Zhizhi pursed her lips, momentarily at a loss for words. Finally, as if struck by a sudden inspiration, she seized upon a point to attack. "But if it weren't for you, I would have already purchased the repair pill, and my senior brother could have been saved!"

"I left the sect long ago, and I have no kinship with you. What's wrong with me bidding? On the contrary, you pretended to be so worried about your senior brother, but for your own selfish desires and momentary emotions, you bid for an unimportant thousand-year-old ginseng just to show off to me! Bah, how hypocritical!"

Just as Lin Yan finished speaking, a sudden clapping sound rang out.

Then, the female nun dressed in what appeared to be Miao ethnic clothing, whom we had met at the city gate, walked down the stairs while clapping her hands.

The female cultivator's name was Wu Xixi, and she was the young master of the Twelve Strongholds of the Poisonous Ridge of Bashan. She came to the Richeng Auction because she saw that there were mermaid pearls among the auction items, which is why she traveled a long distance to Richeng.

She had bought the admission ticket in advance using the communication jade disc. She had originally planned to come a few days earlier, but she was delayed on the way and only arrived on the day of the auction.

The journey had already put her in a bad mood, and seeing the scene at the city gate only made her more unhappy.

She spent over ten thousand spirit stones to snatch this healing pill. Besides wanting to provoke that female disciple from the sect, one of her husbands had also been injured by a demonic beast and needed the pill.

“Well said!” Wu Xixi descended into the hall and cast a disdainful glance at Tao Zhizhi, who was leaning weakly against her senior brother. “I hate hypocritical and pretentious people, and I hate even more these cultivators who distort the truth.”

Ji Ye naturally defended his junior sister, "Enough! We know what kind of person our junior sister is. She's so kind, she won't tolerate your slander!"

Wu Xixi gave her a cold glance: "When we women are talking, who gives a man like you the right to interrupt? You have no manners at all! Let her speak for herself."

Seeing that the situation was not going well for her, Tao Zhizhi quickly covered her head and said, "Senior brother, my head hurts a little. Let's go back to our seats."

Just then, a reminder came from the auction house that the break was about to end, and everyone dispersed to return to their seats.

Wu Xixi stood in front of Lin Yan and looked her up and down: "I thought you were someone who would only swallow your anger, but it turns out you can fight back too. You're a rogue cultivator now, right? How about considering joining my stronghold?"

Lin Yan smiled and shook her head: "I feel more comfortable being a rogue cultivator."

"Oh, that's a pity."

Seeing that most of the people had left, Lin Yan smiled and nodded to them, then took out a new veil and put it on before slowly walking back to her seat.

As soon as I sat down back in my seat, Bai Ya came over and said, "Hey, where did you go just now? During the break, there was an argument near the door. Do you know what it was about? I was on the outermost edge and couldn't squeeze in at all, so I didn't hear anything."

Lin Yan felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this. If there were no surprises, she was one of the parties involved in the "dispute" the other party mentioned.

She coughed lightly and said calmly, "I know, I'm one of the people involved." After she finished speaking, the other person's expression froze for a moment, their smile stiffening. Bai Ya was stunned for a while before she recovered, stammering, "Ah? It was you! What... what happened?"

"It's just a small thing."

Gossip is human nature, and even cultivators cannot escape it. Bai Ya was already scratching her head, wondering what had happened because she couldn't squeeze into the crowd, and hearing her say this only fueled her curiosity.

One of the parties involved is right there; how can he just sit there quietly!

"Oh, I really want to know," Bai Ya said cautiously.

Lin Yan thought for a moment and then briefly recounted what had happened. However, she only mentioned the conflict that arose from the auction and didn't mention anything else. Bai Ya, after listening, also assumed that the argument was due to the auction.

The auction continued, and new items were displayed. Bai Ya's attention shifted to the stage, and she was no longer curious about the argument that had just taken place.

The first item in the second half of the auction is a pill formula, an unrecorded one, called the Mind-Stabilizing Pill. This pill can be taken when a cultivator's sea of ​​consciousness is in turmoil, and it is effective in treating such situations. Based on its efficacy, it is classified as a high-grade pill!

After the auctioneer announced the starting price and the bidding began, Lin Yan noticed that the people next to her looked nervous.

"Is this your item?" she asked, turning her head to the side.

Bai Ya nodded, "My ancestor obtained it by chance in the secret realm. However, the recipe only contained the ingredients, not the alchemy steps. Since there were no advanced alchemists in the family, it was put up for auction."

Bai Ya's ancestor, whose cultivation was at the Golden Core stage, had no hope of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. That's why he went to explore the secret realms that were not controlled by sects or other forces, hoping to gain some cultivation resources for future generations.

As the eldest daughter in the family, with decent spiritual root aptitude and experience in auctions, the responsibility of this auction fell on Bai Ya. She was also expected to fetch good prices for her pill formulas in the past, living up to the family's expectations.

The starting bid for the pill formula is 70,000 high-grade spirit stones. If you win the bid and can refine the Mind-Stabilizing Pill, then that pill will be exclusive. As long as you don't share the formula, the profits are considerable.

The starting price at the auction was a bit low for a high-level pill formula, because the formula only contained the ingredients, not the steps, and no one had ever refined it before. Purchasing it would require further investment in research and development.

Each bid increase was at least one hundred high-grade spirit stones, and people would invariably raise the price by one hundred spirit stones at a time. It was a psychological game and a grueling experience.

Lin Yan immediately raised her paddle, "Ninety thousand high-grade spirit stones!"

The moment she finished speaking, the hall fell silent; you could hear a pin drop. She felt many eyes on her from the second floor.

It's no wonder people are curious; none of the cultivators sitting on the first floor have ever offered such a high price! Those who can afford this price are usually on the second floor.

The auctioneer paused for a second, then quickly recovered and said, "My lady, are you sure you didn't call out the wrong price?"

"No!" she replied casually.

Bai Ya, who was sitting next to her, turned her head to look at her, her expression blank.

I didn't check for typos.
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(End of this chapter)