Chapter 6 In the vast silence, the two people's breaths blended together.
Zhongyuzhou, Luofu Town.
Gu Congxing and Zhong Ming strolled along the street. The vendors on both sides were shouting their wares, and disciples from various sects were weaving among the crowd. The scene was bustling and peaceful.
Zhong Ming looked around excitedly, and soon his eyes were attracted by a tall tower standing in front of him.
"Brother, what is that?"
"Qianfang Tower. It is our destination this time."
Qianfang Tower - the venue for the Qianfang Auction.
Although Luofu Town is some distance away from the Qingxuan Sword Sect, there is also a sect called "Luofu Villa" that provides shelter in the area.
Luofu Villa was only a medium-sized sect before, but after the current leader took office, he took advantage of the convenient transportation in Luofu Town to expand trade routes, and even connected with the intelligence agency "Qianyantang" that claimed to know everything in the world, attracting people with rare treasures to come here and hold an annual auction.
In less than ten years, the scale of the auction has become increasingly larger, and even rare items that are rarely seen in a century have appeared. Now it has become a large-scale event that attracts people from all over the world.
Zhong Ming walked lightly and stopped when he passed a stall selling candied haws.
"Boss, give me two strings of candied haws." Zhong Ming handed over the silver.
"Okay!"
When the boss saw the two people in front of him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes and he smiled eagerly.
Taking the crystal clear candied haws, Zhong Ming smiled and put it to Gu Congxing's mouth.
Gu Congxing wanted to reach out and take it himself, but Zhong Ming took a step back as if to cheat, staring at him expectantly.
“…” Helplessly, Gu Congxing had to open his lips and take a bite.
It’s sweet and sour, and surprisingly delicious.
Seeing that his expression was a little surprised, Zhong Ming handed the string of candied haws to Gu Congxing as if he had succeeded, and then ate the one in his hand.
Well, eating delicious food with my brother makes it twice as delicious.
"Brother, I just saw a lot of cultivators wearing sect disciple uniforms. Are they also here to participate in the auction?"
"It should be. After all, Luofu Town doesn't usually have so many disciples from other sects."
Although it was a town located in the realm of cultivation, not all residents were born with spiritual roots. Normally, Luofu Town was populated by mortals and independent cultivators, with the exception of the cultivators from Luofu Villa.
The two were chatting casually when Gu Congxing suddenly stopped and swept his sharp eyes into the narrow alley on the side.
Zhong Ming also stopped and lowered his voice: "What's wrong, brother?"
"I seemed to sense a hint of evil spirit just now."
Gu Congxing released his spiritual power to investigate, and his brows gradually furrowed.
"No more...was it an illusion?"
He thought for a moment, then withdrew his spiritual power and simply pulled Zhong Ming closer.
"Something might happen at this auction, little brother, don't stay too far away from me."
"yes!"
Zhong Ming smiled and leaned close to Gu Congxing.
***
Gu Congxing and Zhong Ming had already arrived at the private room of the auction. A beautiful little child presented them with spiritual fruits and fine wine, and placed a pearly curtain in front of them.
This curtain also has spiritual energy. People in the private room can see the outside world without being blocked, but others find it difficult to peek into the private room.
The interior of the Thousand Square Tower was dim, with only the large platform in the center emitting an icy blue light. The surrounding walls were occupied by viewing areas. The lower floors had no curtains, and only the highest floor was meticulously decorated and designated as a private room.
It is said that after the auction, there are occasional murders and treasure-stealing incidents. In order to protect the buyers, Qianfang Tower has this arrangement.
Gu Congxing tapped the table slowly, releasing his spiritual power silently.
——I didn’t feel the demonic aura from before.
"Brother, is this auction serious?"
Hearing Zhong Ming's question, Gu Congxing couldn't help but chuckle.
"This is my first time here too, but since it was founded by a righteous sect, I shouldn't lose my composure."
"Hmm... It feels a bit strange that they are so mysterious and can't even see the person's face."
Gu Congxing was about to explain to Zhong Ming when he heard a charming voice coming from below.
"Dear guests, I've been waiting for so long. I apologize for being so rude~"
Everyone fell silent, their eyes fixed on the ice-blue platform.
A graceful figure in red, with graceful lotus steps, walked gracefully to the center of the platform. Her hair was untied, her skin was whiter than snow, her eyes sparkled with passion, and her lips curled in a soft smile.
Everyone's eyes were glued to Lian Ji. She glanced around and looked towards the private room on the top floor, meeting Gu Congxing's gaze.
Gu Congxing was a little surprised. He knew that she couldn't see him, but in that moment he had the illusion that they were looking at each other.
Moreover... this woman's cultivation is higher than his own, it seems that she is a cultivator above the Golden Core stage.
The levels of cultivators are divided into Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Elixir, Nascent Soul, Out-of-Body Stage, Spirit Severing, Mahayana, and Tribulation Overcoming and Ascension.
In the world of cultivation, no one has ascended to the Immortal Realm in a hundred years. Those who have reached the Mahayana stage are all the ancestors of the sects, waiting for the opportunity to transcend the tribulation and ascend. Those who have reached the Spirit Severing stage are already famous and powerful, such as Master Zhuoguang Jianzun.
For first-rate sects like the Qingxuan Sword Sect, only those who have reached the Nascent Soul stage can be ranked as elders. However, for medium-sized sects like the Luofu Villa, Jindan cultivators can be called elders.
Luofu Villa actually attaches so much importance to the auction that even the female host has the cultivation level of an elder?
Gu Congxing stared at Lian Ji with his mind racing, not noticing that Zhong Ming beside him had restrained his smile and his eyes were a little gloomy.
"Brother, this spiritual fruit tastes good, would you like to try it?" He let out a light breath and returned his expression to normal.
"Oh, thank you." Gu Congxing took it and looked away.
At this time, Lian Ji also began to introduce the exhibits. Her voice full of tenderness and sweetness made many monks excited and spend a lot of money. The atmosphere in the whole venue was very hot.
The auction was indeed filled with rare treasures, including all kinds of elixirs, magical weapons and magic weapons, but they were not very attractive to Gu Congxing.
"This next one is a very interesting treasure, it comes from the mysterious Gate of Apocalypse!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the venue was filled with noisy whispers.
"Brother, what is Tianqi Sect?" Zhong Ming was confused.
"The Tianqi Sect is a large sect on Kunlun Mountain. Although it has a small number of members, it is led by a great master in the Mahayana stage, and it has a large collection of secret manuals and magical weapons, and its strength is extraordinary."
Gu Congxing paused and added a little more.
"Two hundred years ago, the disciples of the Qingxuan Sword Sect, Ganyang Sect, and Tianlin Sect were at odds with each other, and it almost turned into a sectarian conflict. The Tianqi Sect couldn't bear to see the peace of the cultivation world disrupted, so it acted as a mediator and mediated between the three sects."
"Ultimately, each of the top-tier families sent one person, and together with the two from the Apocalypse Sect, they formed a Nine-Man Discipline Committee to jointly judge the outcome of this matter, thus avoiding a war. From then on, any disputes between sects in the cultivation world would also go to the Apocalypse Sect, and be judged by the representatives of each sect, the 'Nine Disciplines'."
Zhong Ming said, "This is like a court in the human world, and those nine people have become judges."
Gu Congxing nodded. "That's right. But the people of Tianqimen don't like to show up in public and rarely participate in large-scale activities in the cultivation world. Some people call them the 'uncrowned king' outside of the 'one sect, two factions, and four aristocratic families,' but the people of Tianqimen don't want to bear this title."
"It sounds like they hate disputes and prefer to keep a low profile. They must be very annoyed because they showed up before and were treated as the court of the cultivation world." Zhong Ming said in a narrow-minded tone.
Gu Congxing smiled but said nothing.
Lian Ji on the platform waited until the discussion died down, picked up the storage box, and pulled back the curtain.
"The secret book 'Records of the Great Hexu'! Dear book lovers, don't miss out on this unique and one-of-a-kind book! Starting price: 500 Spiritual Stones~"
The monks around the platform all reacted indifferently, and some even sighed in disappointment.
It's just a book. Even if it contains history, what's the point? They thought it was the secret of the Tianqi Sect's skills.
Gu Congxing leaned forward to take a closer look and confirmed that this was a task required by the system.
After some people intermittently reported a few numbers, and heard that no one bid after one person called out 820 spirit stones, Gu Congxing calmly said: "1,000 spirit stones."
Zhong Ming looked at Gu Congxing in surprise.
The previous bidder obviously regarded Gu Congxing as a sucker and stopped bidding, and Lian Ji also smiled happily.
"One thousand spirit stones once, one thousand spirit stones twice..." Lian Ji banged the hammer, "One thousand spirit stones three times! Congratulations to the guest in Room 6 for winning the 'Record of the Great Hexu Wilderness'!"
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the mission! ]
[Task rewards being checked...]
[Ding! Host's current redemption degree is 10%, mission points are 70 points!]
Sure enough, the rewards for side quests are much less than those for main quests.
The redemption degree only increased by 1%. Is it because there was no direct contact with the target person?
However, Gu Congxing did not feel discouraged. After all, the task was indeed simple and the rewards were obtained without any effort.
"So, senior brother likes ancient books?" Zhong Ming asked curiously.
"...Yeah, I'm somewhat interested."
Naturally, the system couldn't tell him, so Gu Congxing responded casually and took out the ancient book from the treasure box sent by the child from Qianfang Tower.
It is indeed a rare ancient book. The pages are already yellowed. If it were not for the protection of spiritual power, it would probably have broken into pieces when I got it.
Gu Congxing flipped through it and found that it was related to the history of the cultivation world and there was nothing special about it.
……kindness?
His hand stopped at a certain page.
This ancient book surprisingly records the creation myth in detail. Previous versions of the myth only briefly mentioned five mythical beasts, but this volume specifically points out which five they are -
Phoenix, Enlightenment, Heavenly Dog, Drum, and Fu Chu.
Gu Congxing silently read the book about the fight between the five mythical beasts. For some reason, he felt that this mythological story was much more vivid and attractive than he had imagined.
Seeing that Gu Congxing was reading so attentively, Zhong Ming couldn't help but move closer and watch with him, their breathing blending in the silence.
Until turning to the last page, Gu Congxing felt a sense of loss in his heart as he saw that the five divine beasts were all punished by the Heavenly Court. Not only did they lose their thousand-year cultivation, but they were also demoted and exiled.
He closed the book and meditated, not noticing that Zhong Ming was also frowning, as if thinking about something.
By the way, I had wanted to take advantage of this auction to buy some equipment for Zhong Ming, but I forgot about it because of the demonic energy and the mission.
"Junior Brother, if there's anything you want, tell me and I'll buy it for you."
Zhong Ming's eyes rolled around, as if he came back to his senses, and then he slowly shook his head.
"Since I have joined the sect myself, I have also received a monthly stipend of spirit stones. Brother, you don't have to spend money on me anymore."
For some reason, he seemed unhappy.
Gu Congxing was about to ask again when he heard a commotion coming from below, and Lian Ji also cheered.
It turned out that we had already arrived at the finale exhibit.
"Everyone! It's finally time to reveal the exciting finale secret treasure!" Lian Ji raised her arms and said excitedly, "Guess what this year's treasure is?"
"Heavenly-grade magical weapon? Top-grade elixir? Mysterious technique?"
"No! None of them!"
Lian Ji giggled a few times and waved her hand to have a huge cage pushed onto the stage.
Everyone leaned forward, their eyes fixed on the subject.
"The final treasure of this round is—the ancient demon beast cub! Chi!"
The curtain was peeled back with a swish, revealing the bloody figure of the monster in the giant black iron cage.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then burst into a loud cry! Even knocking over tables and chairs, the whole place was in chaos!
It turned out to be the ancient monster Chi!
Gu Congxing was sitting calmly as usual, but when he glanced into the cage, his pupils shrank and he stood up suddenly.
Why! Could it be this?!
——Si Junjian's companion monster, Tiao Tiao?!
The author has something to say:
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A certain attacker will appear in the next chapter, guess who it is?
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