Jiang Mo had never imagined that the difference between the highlighted auction items and the previous ones would be so vast—before, she couldn't be bothered with the items; now, she couldn't afford them. She really shouldn't have co to this auction today!
Recalling her earlier bold promises, Jiang Mo didn't even dare look at her Senior Sister's expression, fearing she might see interest in her eyes.
Fortunately, Yun Qingyue didn't express any desire for the item. The elegant chamber fell silent, which made the astonished clamor from the main hall below seem even more jarring. On the platform, the auctioneer clearly understood the value of this Spirit Nourishing Pill. Maintaining a smile, he allowed various emotions to fernt among the audience, yet delayed announcing the start of bidding.
After all, for such an expensive item, people needed ti to gather funds, didn't they?
However, this made the passage of ti rather torturous for Jiang Mo. After holding back for a long while, she couldn't resist stealing a glance at the lark still in her hand. The latter seed to sense her scrutiny and suddenly spoke: "What's wrong? Afraid I'll take a fancy to this?"
Jiang Mo was caught off guard, not expecting her Senior Sister to see through her so easily. She imdiately felt embarrassed—she was the one who had offered to buy things, yet now she was too poor to afford anything. If they had just been ordinary acquaintances, she could have frankly admitted her financial constraints, but their relationship was special, and she really didn't want to lose face in front of her.
However, regardless of Jiang Mo's thoughts, the facts were before them, and not acknowledging them would only make her situation worse. With slightly flushed cheeks, Jiang Mo reluctantly admitted: "Umm... I might not have enough spirit stones."
Yun Qingyue wouldn't be disappointed by this, of course. In fact, she probably knew Jiang Mo's financial situation better than Jiang Mo herself. After all, sotis Jiang Mo fed her spirit stones on impulse, but she rembered exactly how many she had consud. Add to that the fact that Jiang Mo hadn't concealed her inco, and Yun Qingyue could calculate precisely how much money remained in her storage space.
Of course, no one understood why the little tiger was so poor better than Yun Qingyue.
She extended her wing and patted Jiang Mo's hand, clearly intending to reassure her: "It's fine, I don't want this anyway."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo imdiately breathed a sigh of relief. Taking advantage of the gesture, she stroked the lark's small wings. The latter glanced at her but didn't reject her touch this ti, instantly improving Jiang Mo's mood.
Setting aside the concern of "not being able to afford it," Jiang Mo looked at the platform again, now having the presence of mind to question the unusual appearance of this auction item: "Ah Yue, why do you think this ninth-grade pill would appear at such an ordinary auction? Based on the standard of previous items, those attending probably wouldn't even include Fusion realm cultivators, yet they're selling sothing for Grand Achievent realm."
As ntioned before, most auctions in the outside world focused on resources used by mainstream cultivators, and high-level cultivators like those at Fusion or Grand Achievent realms were clearly not mainstream in the cultivation world. Therefore, there were naturally high-level auctions specifically for these high-level cultivators.
By convention in the cultivation world, resources used by these high-level cultivators almost exclusively circulated in high-level auctions.
This convention served two purposes: first, to highlight the distinctiveness of high-level cultivators; second, because the value of resources used by high-level cultivators far exceeded what lower-level cultivators could imagine—like this ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill. If placed in a high-level auction venue, it would likely trigger intense bidding wars throughout the entire venue. But here, though people were excited and enthusiastic, they hesitated to make offers, fearing they couldn't afford it.
With her high cultivation and prestigious background, Yun Qingyue naturally understood these unwritten rules clearly. However, she couldn't imdiately discern the auction house's intentions, so she simply said: "I don't know either. Let's just watch."
Jiang Mo nodded—they would just watch, then.
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The value of the ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill was indeed substantial, and most cultivators present were of average cultivation with modest wealth—if even Jiang Mo felt she couldn't afford it, there were no particularly extravagant spenders present, and other cultivators with lower cultivation levels could afford it even less.
Fortunately, among the cultivators attending the auction, only half were rogue cultivators; the rest either belonged to families or sects, with backers of so sort. After these people contacted their families or sects, the funding would co not from those present but from their backers. Thus, the audience, initially feeling financially inadequate when faced with the ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill, quickly beca extravagant.
After waiting about fifteen minutes, the auctioneer estimated that those who could raise funds had mostly done so, and announced the beginning of the auction: "For the ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill, I'm sure you all understand its value. The starting price is one hundred thousand spirit stones, with minimum incrents of one thousand."
When Jiang Mo heard the figure of one hundred thousand, she was montarily stunned, then quickly realized that this wasn't referring to high-grade spirit stones but rather premium spirit stones!
Spirit stones were divided into four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and premium. The conversion ratio between each grade was theoretically one to one hundred. However, this was only theoretical. In practice, the conversion ratios for low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade spirit stones were indeed one hundred, and they could be exchanged accordingly. But premium spirit stones were different—never mind one hundred high-grade spirit stones for one premium spirit stone; even two or three hundred might not secure an exchange.
The reason for this lay in the essential nature of these spirit stones. Essentially, the differences among the three grades of low, mid, and high were only in the amount of impurities and spiritual energy content—those with fewer impurities and more spiritual energy were high-grade. Premium spirit stones, however, could autonomously absorb surrounding spiritual energy to replenish themselves after depletion, marking the difference between one-ti items and recyclable ones.
Furthermore, with the already low production of premium spirit stones, and the possibility of them having specific attributes making them easier to absorb, the value disparity with high-grade spirit stones beca even greater—unless one was "rich in resources," almost no one could produce one hundred thousand premium spirit stones.
Jiang Mo actually was "rich in resources." Early on, she had followed a system task to find a spirit stone mine and place it in her Innate Space, which was why spiritual energy had erged there. But premium spirit stones were the core of the mine, and although they weren't non-renewable, Jiang Mo certainly didn't intend to undermine her foundation just for spending money. So, for this auction, she only planned to watch the excitent.
Jiang Mo wasn't the only one who realized this auction was using premium spirit stones for pricing, and many who had been eager but weren't "rich in resources" imdiately deflated. Those who were "rich in resources" numbered fewer than ten.
But soon, the bidding began, and its intensity and rate of increase were no less than at other tis.
Holding the lark with one hand, Jiang Mo picked up a spirit fruit with the other and nibbled on it, watching others bid with great interest—in just a few breaths, the original low price of one hundred thousand had doubled, and after a few more breaths, the price doubled again. By the ti Jiang Mo finished the spirit fruit in her hand, the price of the ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill had been pushed to over four hundred thousand, with no sign of stopping.
"So many rich people at such a small auction!" Jiang Mo exclaid, then picked up another spirit fruit and held it before the lark, asking: "Ah Yue, would you like so?"
Yun Qingyue had never been particularly concerned with food and drink, and now with her great need for spiritual energy, she had little interest in these fruits with their thin spiritual energy. So she shook her head in refusal. Seeing this, Jiang Mo withdrew it and took a bite herself.
The atmosphere of this auction was quite tense. It was only after the price exceeded five hundred thousand that the bidding pace gradually slowed. The montum of price increases wasn't as fierce as before, changing from incrents of ten thousand to one thousand, indicating that the price was approaching everyone's psychological bottom line. However, given the rarity of Spirit Nourishing Pills, especially ninth-grade ones, the competing factions were reluctant to give up easily.
Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue were rely spectators. After waiting a bit longer, they finally saw the result—so unknown power in a private room on the third floor won the Spirit Nourishing Pill with a final bid of five hundred and eighty-seven thousand.
As the dust settled, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the taut nerves relaxed slightly.
Then quickly, those who had relaxed rembered sothing—as highlighted items, the Spirit Nourishing Pill was only the third-to-last, so what would the second-to-last and the last be? Normally, auction items beca more precious toward the end. Could the Cloud Stream Auction House really have sothing even more valuable than a ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill?!
People naturally thought this way, and amid their wild imaginations, various discussions arose.
Standing at the railing of their elegant chamber facing outward, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue heard the discussions from the main hall below. People were guessing all sorts of things: premium spirit beasts, premium materials, premium treasures, and even legendary divine artifacts.
At first, the two actually considered the possibilities of these guesses, but eventually found them completely absurd and laughed them off.
Fortunately, these discussions and speculations didn't last too long. Soon, a female cultivator brought the next auction item to the platform. A square object covered with red cloth was on the tray, its nature indiscernible.
The scene quickly quieted down. Seeing the audience's heightened interest, the auctioneer didn't keep them in suspense. He swiftly lifted the red cloth to reveal not sothing else but a small golden cage on the tray, containing a small golden-haired mouse—the golden mouse seed quite timid, and faced with so many people, it huddled in a corner of the cage, trembling.
Pure golden-haired spirit beasts were rare, and with Jiang Mo's experience, she had never seen such a spirit beast before. But her Senior Sister had always been knowledgeable, so she lowered her head and asked: "Ah Yue, do you know what kind of spirit beast this is?"
Yun Qingyue was also looking at the golden mouse on the platform and responded with so hesitation: "It looks like a Spirit-Finding Mouse, but the fur color doesn't match."
Clearly, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue weren't the only ones who didn't recognize the golden mouse on the platform; almost no one present did, causing widespread discussion. Fortunately, before people could remain puzzled for too long, the auctioneer revealed the truth: "This is a mutated Spirit-Devouring Mouse, born with the ability to consu spiritual energy. It's remarkably effective for breaking formations or even directly swallowing attacks. According to the auction house's appraisal, this spirit beast has considerable potential, with the possibility of reaching eighth-grade..."
Despite the impressive introduction, compared to the previous ninth-grade Spirit Nourishing Pill, an eighth-grade spirit beast seed sowhat underwhelming. Moreover, this golden mouse wasn't currently eighth-grade; it rely had the potential to reach that level.
The audience imdiately sighed collectively, quite disappointed, not understanding why this Spirit-Devouring Mouse was placed after the Spirit Nourishing Pill.
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