Ascending from the mortal realm to become an immortal begins with taking charge of a grotto-heaven.

More than half a year has passed since I helped Lu Ning refine the beauty pill.

This day.

As usual, Zhang Li took a Qi Condensation Pill and began cultivating. After circulating his cultivation technique to refine most of the medicinal power, he suddenly discovered that even if he continued to refine the medicinal power, the mana in his dantian did not increase or improve at all.

He tried to circulate his cultivation technique to its fullest extent and attempted to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining for more than a month, but still showed no sign of breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

At this moment, Zhang Li realized that he was not one of the lucky ones and had encountered a bottleneck when breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

"Even if one cultivates the Root Shaping Technique and increases the proportion of fire element in their spiritual root, it still cannot change the fundamental nature of the four spiritual roots."

As Zhang Li rose from the futon, there was no surprise or disappointment on his face.

Even among cultivators with dual spiritual roots, many are blocked by this bottleneck. Some are lucky enough to break through in a year or two, while others are unlucky enough to be stuck for more than ten years.

It's rare for someone with four spiritual roots to encounter a bottleneck when breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Although he had anticipated this, he had been inquiring about where to buy breakthrough pills, but unfortunately he had not received any definite information.

Given his current cultivation level and status, if he wanted to obtain a breakthrough pill through the sect's channels, he could only ask Wu Feng for help.

However, this was the worst choice in his mind, and Zhang Li would not easily ask Wu Feng for it.

"Let's try our luck at the market again."

Zhang Li spoke softly, a look of certainty flashing in his eyes.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Li boarded the Black Shadow Boat and headed towards the Cloud Glow Market.

At night, the glowing stones in the lanterns hanging along the street illuminate the entire Yunxia Market as bright as day.

An ordinary-looking cultivator with dark skin, rough features, and an unremarkable appearance mingled among the bustling crowd and entered the market.

This person is Zhang Li, who has changed his appearance using the Transformation Technique. After so many years of cultivation, he has achieved a very high level of skill in this technique and is not far from mastering it.

Zhang Li strolled leisurely down the wide street, showing no sign of anxiety about not being able to break through the bottleneck.

After strolling around the streets for a while, Zhang Li entered the Jubao Tower.

Over the years, aside from those he used himself, he sold most of the pills he refined for spirit stones. After deducting the ones he consumed, he accumulated a considerable amount of spirit stones, about two thousand, not including the few mid-grade spirit stones.

These spirit stones were enough to buy several breakthrough pills, but unfortunately, no one wanted to sell them to him.

Several years later, Zhang Li entered Jubaolou again, and this time nothing happened.

There weren't many changes inside the Treasure Pavilion. Just like last time, not long after Zhang Li entered, a beautiful female cultivator came to greet him.

"What would you like to buy, fellow Daoist?"

"Are there any pills that can help you break through to a higher realm? I need one that can help you overcome the bottleneck in the late stage of Qi Refining."

Zhang Li got straight to the point.

The female cultivator nodded slightly upon hearing this, her smile remaining unchanged, and replied truthfully:

"Our Treasure Pavilion has pills that can help break through bottlenecks, but we don't sell them directly."

"Just say what your conditions are; I have no shortage of spirit stones." Zhang Li frowned slightly upon hearing this. Why are there so many cultivators in the cultivation world who like to only say half of what they mean?

After saying that, he took out a storage bag, opened it, and waved it in front of the female cultivator. Inside was about half of his net worth.

Sure enough, upon seeing the spirit stones in the storage bag, the female cultivator immediately and respectfully explained:

"Fellow Daoist, you misunderstand. I did not mean to keep people in suspense."

"It is true that our Jubao Pavilion has pills that can help break through bottlenecks, but these pills are quite rare and are generally not sold directly to the public. They are only auctioned at the auction held once every five years. If you are interested, you can bring this invitation to participate in Jubao Pavilion's auction held once every five years in three months."

Besides the breakthrough pills, the other items at the auction are also rare treasures that will certainly not disappoint you, fellow cultivator.

As they spoke, the female cultivator raised her hand and took out an exquisite jade slip, handing it over.

"I can wait three months," Zhang Li thought to himself, reaching out to take the jade token. "In that case, I will definitely come in two months."

After accepting the invitation, he quickly left the building.

Having received the information he wanted, Zhang Li breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he made up his mind that he would get his hands on the breakthrough pill at the auction two months later, no matter what.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhang Li wandered around the market twice before heading towards a pill shop he had previously worked with.

Just to be on the safe side, he decided to prepare more spirit stones.

In case he also sees other treasures at the auction besides the breakthrough pills, he'll have extra spirit stones to bid on them.

After selling off all the extra Qi Condensation Pills and other miscellaneous items he had, he gained over two thousand spirit stones in wealth.

"Now we just have to wait for the auction to begin."

Zhang Li murmured something and headed towards the Qingxuan Sect.

……

Three months later.

Yunxiafang Market.

The auction hosted by Jubaolou was not deliberately publicized. Those who could participate were regular customers and some cultivators whose wealth had been tested.

Even so, there are nearly a thousand monks qualified to participate in this auction.

The auction was held in a spacious circular hall behind the Jubao Building.

Inside the main hall, around the central jade platform, are rows of seats arranged at varying distances for ordinary attendees to sit and watch the auction, and to bid.

On the second floor of the main hall, there are dozens of private, enclosed rooms. Curtains are drawn to block out the outside world, ensuring a high degree of privacy. Those who can sit in the private rooms on the second floor are either of noble birth or powerful, with a status and background far beyond that of cultivators on the first floor.

Zhang Li was just a Qi Refining cultivator and not a regular customer of Jubaolou, so naturally he wouldn't receive any special treatment.

He still maintained the rough and burly man's disguise from that day, dressed in a gray cloth, blending in unnoticed in the crowd. He deliberately chose a quiet spot at the back to sit down, silently scanning the surrounding crowd with a calm gaze.

Several thousand low-grade spirit stones lay securely in his storage bag, giving Zhang Li a sense of confidence. Even the cultivators sitting in the private rooms on the second floor were not as wealthy as him.

His goal throughout this trip was singular: the breakthrough pill that could break through the shackles of the late-stage Qi Refining realm.

As for the other treasures, let nature take its course. If you have the resources, you can acquire them; if you don't have enough spirit stones, you can give up decisively, depending on the situation.

Apart from a few familiar cultivators chatting in hushed tones, most of the cultivators, like Zhang Li, sat quietly, waiting for the auction to begin.

As time went by, more and more cultivators entered the venue, and the first floor of the main hall gradually filled with them. Soft lights also began to illuminate the private rooms on the second floor.

Those cultivators sitting in the private rooms on the second floor had their own separate entrance for guests, and only Jubaolou knew their true identities.