After someone made a bid, Shi Xuan immediately followed suit, offering 1,600 high-grade spirit stones.

This price is not cheap for a pill-making furnace.

With no one else bidding, Shi Xuan visibly breathed a sigh of relief, his tense body relaxing somewhat.

Fan Mingzhu was not about to let her have her way. Didn't she have a lot of spirit stones? Spending 1,600 would be too cheap for her.

Thinking back to how Shi Xuan had always easily fought with her for whatever she wanted, now that it was Shi Xuan's turn to want something, how could she let her get it so easily?

Thinking of this, Fan Mingzhu raised the price: "Eighteen thousand!"

At this moment, it was finally Fan Mingzhu's turn to show a calm smile. Even if you can buy this alchemy furnace today, you will have to pay a much higher price!

Shi Xuan's expression turned serious again. The roles were reversed, and this time she glared at Fan Mingzhu with hatred, gritting her teeth as she raised the price: "Nineteen thousand!"

Fan Mingzhu scoffed, mimicking the casual way Shi Xuan had snatched her things earlier, and said, "Two thousand one!"

Tianjun reminded her in her mind, "Don't forget you still need to make the Breakthrough Pill. This pill furnace is not part of our plan."

“Don’t worry, I don’t want it either. I have a better alchemy furnace,” Fan Mingzhu said. “I just don’t want Shi Xuan to get it too easily.”

As expected, Shi Xuan raised the price: "Two thousand two!"

She started adding more by the hundred, and by now she must have almost used up all her spirit stones from buying slaves and was starting to run out of money.

Fan Mingzhu: "Two thousand four!"

What goes around comes around. Just now she was so arrogant, so contemptuously raising her price. Now is her time to retaliate. Let's see if she can still laugh!

Shi Xuan indeed feigned reluctance, but gritted his teeth and raised the price: "Two thousand five!"

"Two thousand eight!" Fan didn't pause at all. She looked at Shi Xuan triumphantly and raised the price of the alchemy furnace to two thousand eight. If Shi Xuan raised the price again, she would let Shi Xuan get the alchemy furnace. The price was raised from one thousand six to two thousand nine, which would make her feel bad for a while.

Unexpectedly, when Shi Xuan heard her raise the price, he shrugged, relaxed, leaned back, and didn't raise it any further.

? ! ! !

Fan Mingzhu became anxious upon seeing her like this. Why wasn't she adding more?! Just now, she was willing to fight with her for six thousand high-grade spirit stones for a useless slave, and she was willing to offer one thousand two hundred for a completely useless Ice Soul Sword without batting an eye. But now, she wasn't adding more for the alchemy furnace that she could actually use.

Shopkeeper Qin began his final inquiry: "This fairy has offered 2,800 spirit stones. Is there anyone else who wants to bid? If not..." His small hammer struck down with a "thud," sealing the fate of Fan Mingzhu's 2,800 high-grade spirit stones.

Fan Mingzhu turned her head sharply and saw that Shi Xuan had completely lost his tense expression from before. Instead, he was relaxed, chewing on a spiritual fruit and chatting and laughing with Lu Wenxing beside him...

If you were to ask Shi Xuan now why she stopped bidding, she would probably answer: "Because I already have the Heavenly Origin Pill Furnace, and there's not much else I can use."

Fan Mingzhu was completely bewildered. She didn't know where the problem lay, or which of Shi Xuan's expressions were genuine and which were feigned. Which was real, his current relaxed demeanor or his earlier serious tension?

She inexplicably felt as if she had been trapped, like she had been put into a cage, a cage prepared for her by someone else...

There's no turning back now; the auction house's rules dictate that the hammer falls once and for all. If you want to back out, you'll need to pay a 30% fee for any unsold item.

Buying it back with 2,800 high-grade spirit stones, or paying nearly 1,000 in auction fees, is not something Fan Mingzhu wants to see.

The Breakthrough Pill is almost here, and if she closes the alchemy furnace, she won't have any spirit stones left to bid for it.

Although it hurt her wallet, Fan Mingzhu still called over the auction house staff and said she didn't want the alchemy furnace anymore.

After deducting 30% of the penalty for breach of contract, the original 2,800 spirit stones were reduced to less than 2,000 due to a single wrong decision.

Tianjun sighed in her mind, "Why did you do this to yourself!"

After deducting the three thousand high-grade spirit stones she spent when she went out, she now only has less than two thousand left in her pocket. The Breakthrough Pill was never reliable to begin with, and now the hope is even slimmer.

Fan Mingzhu bit her lip tightly and remained silent. Her anger surged, and she had to grit her teeth to control herself and prevent herself from attacking Shi Xuan here.

Thinking about what she had just done outside, I calmed down a little. There's still a long way to go, let's wait and see!

After a few more items were auctioned, it was finally Fan Mingzhu's turn to bid on the long-awaited Breakthrough Pill.

The Breakthrough Pill is a sixth-tier pill, as the name suggests, used by cultivators to pass the "Questioning the Heart" test when breaking through to the next level. Starting from the Nascent Soul stage, there is a "Questioning the Heart" test with each major advancement. If one cannot pass the "Questioning the Heart" test, one may fall into a dream from which one cannot wake up.

For cultivators with pure hearts, the questioning of the heart is relatively easy; it tests their Dao heart, and those who are single-mindedly devoted to the Dao can easily pass it. However, for another group of people, the questioning of the heart is extremely dangerous, such as demonic cultivators.

Demonic cultivators are usually greedy and complex in nature; otherwise, they wouldn't have chosen the path of demonic cultivation. Advancement in demonic cultivation is easy, with few bottlenecks, but when they reach major hurdles like the Nascent Soul or Deity Transformation stages, the questioning of their own heart becomes their tribulation.

The Breakthrough Pill makes the Heart-Questioning Trial much easier. As long as one's inner demons are not too strong, one can pass the Heart-Questioning Trial with the help of the Breakthrough Pill.

Fan Mingzhu has already formed her core, and it would be too late to prepare this breakthrough pill when she tries to form her nascent soul. Therefore, Tianjun instructed her to keep an eye out for it and collect it whenever she encountered it, to use when she broke through to the nascent soul stage.

Manager Qin took out the ornate porcelain bottle containing the Barrier-Breaking Pill, placed it on the table in front of him, and began to explain the effects of the Barrier-Breaking Pill.

"...This is a high-grade Breakthrough Pill. You should know that it is extremely difficult to refine a high-grade pill when it reaches the sixth rank, let alone a Breakthrough Pill. I believe that the immortals are well aware of the value of this pill. Without further ado, let's start the auction. The starting price is one thousand spirit stones."

Fan Mingzhu wanted to bid immediately, but remembering how Shi Xuan had relentlessly followed her bids the previous two times she had made the first one, she held back. She could let others bid first, and then raise her bid.

In Shi Xuan's consciousness, Lu Shenzhi asked, "Can you refine this Breakthrough Pill?"

“Of course,” Shi Xuan said, “Not only can I refine it, but I also have all the materials. I can refine a batch whenever I have free time after I get back.”

"Then refine a batch and keep it for when you advance to the Nascent Soul stage," Lu Shenzhi reminded him.

Shi Xuan readily agreed, even though she felt that she could pass the Heart-Questioning Pill without it, but it was always better to be prepared.

Someone has already made an offer. Breakthrough Pills are invaluable to any cultivator. Gathering all the materials and finding a pill refiner at the Golden Core stage or above who can also refine Breakthrough Pills is no easy task.