Mortal: Starting by looting Han Laomo's entire herb garden

"This scroll was obtained by our alliance from an ancient ruin," Elder Fu said calmly, his gaze sweeping across the audience.

"The text on this scroll has been examined by several senior members of our alliance, but none of them could decipher it. However, one senior member has deciphered a secret technique from this scroll that can temporarily enhance one's spiritual sense by 30%."

A buzz of excitement immediately erupted from the audience.

Elder Fu gestured for him to stop, then continued, "This secret technique has a flaw: it will cause a backlash to one's spiritual sense after use, requiring several months of recuperation to recover. Moreover, the cultivation threshold is extremely high; only cultivators whose spiritual sense has reached the Nascent Soul stage can cultivate it. If one forces cultivation despite insufficient spiritual sense, at best one will suffer mental confusion, and at worst one will die on the spot."

Upon hearing this, the murmurs below the stage subsided considerably. Thirty percent of one's divine sense sounded tempting, but with the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage and the cost of backlash, which of these Core Formation cultivators present could actually afford it?

Elder Fu, somewhat lacking confidence, coughed lightly and said, "Therefore, the starting price for this scroll is five thousand spirit stones, with each bid increasing by at least one hundred. Is there any fellow cultivator interested?"

Quiet.

After a long while, no one made a bid.

Old Fu's smile faltered, and he was about to say something to salvage the situation when Lu Yan's voice rang out from the corner.

"Five thousand five."

Elder Fu's eyes lit up, and his voice immediately rose: "Excellent! This fellow Daoist has bid five thousand five hundred. Is there anyone bidding higher?"

He scanned the room, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces, but no one uttered a sound.

I circled around again, but there was still no one there.

"Five thousand five hundred spirit stones for the first time."

"Five thousand five hundred spirit stones, second time."

"Five thousand five hundred spirit stones, for the third time!"

Master Fu made the final decision, a helpless smile on his face: "This scroll of secret techniques will belong to this fellow Daoist."

Lu Yan sat in the corner, his face expressionless, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was prepared for someone to drive up the price, but he didn't expect that no one would want it.

A moment later, a man who looked like a manager came up to him, holding the scroll in his hands, and respectfully handed it over: "Senior, this is your item for auction."

Lu Yan handed over a storage bag and took the scroll.

Silver Moon's voice echoed in his mind, tinged with curiosity: "Brother Lu, can you understand the writing on it?"

Master Tianfu couldn't help but ask, "In all my years, I've never seen such writing before. What is recorded on it? A technique for cultivating divine sense?"

Lu Yan opened the scroll, glanced at it, then closed it and put it into his storage bag.

"It's not a cultivation technique," he thought to himself. "It's a method for crafting magical artifacts."

"A magic weapon?" Silver Moon perked up. "What kind of magic weapon?"

Lu Yan smiled and said, "This treasure is called the Mind-Nourishing Bead. After use, it can instantly increase one's spiritual power by more than ten times."

"Ten times? There's actually such a heaven-defying magic weapon? Young Lu, you're not lying to this old man, are you?" Tianfu Zhenren's voice changed.

Yin Yue exclaimed in surprise, "Doesn't that mean that if you use it now, Brother Lu, your divine sense can directly surpass that of a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

Lu Yan shook his head: "It's not that simple. Although this magic weapon has incredible power, it also has significant side effects. Every time it's used, it causes a backlash, requiring several months of recovery. Moreover, refining the Mind-Nourishing Bead requires the demon core of a monstrous beast, which is very difficult to find in the human realm."

"A monster?" Master Tianfu racked his brains, but he had never heard of this name before.

Yinyue wanted to help think of something, but she had amnesia and her mind was blank; she couldn't remember anything.

"Stop thinking about it." Lu Yan interrupted their thoughts: "It is indeed difficult to find in the human world, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

He knew in his heart that there was one in the Fallen Demon Valley.

I'll get it done when I go back to Tiannan.

Moreover, due to his experience of tempering his heart in the mortal world during the dream of Nanke, his Great Evolution Technique has broken through to the third level, and his current divine sense has reached the Nascent Soul level.

Add in the prayer beads, and it's unimaginable.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out in the arena.

Lu Yan looked up and saw another item being placed on the stage.

A long golden spear, its shaft shimmering with golden light, gleamed brilliantly in the candlelight.

Lu Yan's eyelids twitched.

The Golden Dragon King's spear.

He remembered the shopkeeper saying he wanted to refine it into materials, so why was he selling it directly? Had they found a way to refine this spear?

He shook his head, deciding not to think about it anymore. It was none of his business anyway.

There wasn't much else to see, so Lu Yan stood up and walked towards the door.

Lu Yan had only taken a few steps when he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"Senior, please wait."

He turned around and saw that it was the steward who had delivered the scroll to him earlier.

The manager quickly stepped forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Senior, the buyer who sold that scroll of secret techniques wants to see you."

Lu Yan frowned: "There's no need."

The manager quickly said, "That senior said he has a great opportunity he would like to discuss with you."

Lu Yan paused, a great opportunity?

Hidden within his sleeve, his hand subtly formed a hand seal, his fingertips twitching slightly as he silently recited: "Water and fire in harmony, yin and yang mutually generating each other, inquire about the fortune or misfortune of this journey."

The upper trigram is Kan (坎), and the lower trigram is Kun (坤), which represents water and earth.

It is auspicious. Although there are obstacles, the main line is in the fifth position, which is in the center and in a proper position, so the danger can be turned into safety.

Lu Yan raised an eyebrow. There was indeed an opportunity, though there was a minor risk, but it wouldn't be fatal.

I'm short on money right now, so it might be a good idea to go and take a look.

He withdrew his hand and said calmly, "Then listen to it first."

The steward breathed a sigh of relief, led him through several corridors to a secluded side room, and bowed as he withdrew.

Lu Yan pushed open the door and entered. Sitting in the room was a young man who looked to be no more than thirty years old. He had a fair complexion, was dressed elegantly, and his aura was at the early stage of Core Formation, but his foundation was solid, clearly indicating that he came from a prestigious family.

Seeing Lu Yan enter, he stood up and cupped his hands in greeting: "My name is Jiang Xingzhou. I apologize for the intrusion of your invitation, fellow Daoist."

"Nie Feng." Lu Yan returned the greeting and sat down opposite him.

"May I ask what business Fellow Daoist Jiang has with me?"

Jiang Xingzhou didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "To be honest, I am one of the leaders of the Fengle Merchant Alliance, and my family also has some businesses on the Twenty-Four Islands. The reason I invited you here today is to invite you to explore a relic in the outer sea together."

Lu Yan frowned: "Why are you looking for me? Given your status in the Fengle Business Alliance, there shouldn't be any need to trouble outsiders, right?"

Jiang Xingzhou continued, "Brother Nie, you may not know this, but the restrictions on that ruin are special, requiring several people with strong spiritual senses to break them. I have been searching for a long time, but I have not been able to gather enough people."

"I brought out that scroll of secret techniques this time hoping to try my luck and see if I could meet a fellow Daoist with a strong enough spiritual sense. I didn't expect to run into Brother Nie."

He smiled, his tone sincere: "Brother Nie chose to bid for that scroll of secret techniques, so your spiritual sense must far surpass that of others of the same level. I have no other intention than to invite you to accompany me. The contents of the ruins will be distributed according to our contributions; I will ensure that Brother Nie is not taken advantage of."

Lu Yan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and remained noncommittal.

Jiang Xingzhou didn't urge him, and waited quietly.

The room was quiet for a while.

Lu Yan put down his teacup and said calmly, "I need to consider this matter."

Seeing that the other party did not refuse, Jiang Xingzhou was overjoyed and cupped his hands, saying, "There's no rush regarding the ruins, Brother Nie can take his time to consider it. If you are interested, we can meet at the Tianxing City teleportation array a month from now."