Chapter 141: Spirit-Gathering Pill

"My husband! Where did you get the money to dare challenge Vander? Don't you know that if he had stopped bidding when you called out seven hundred thousand, wouldn't you have suffered a huge loss?!" The auction continued, and Princess Huofeng could not help asking out of curiosity.

Everyone nearby turned their attention to Dulong, eager to know what he was thinking. For many of them, eighty thousand gold coins—let alone eight hundred thousand—was an astronomical figure. None of them would ever dare to gamble such a fortune just to save face.

"Hehe! It's precisely because I didn't have the money that I added a provoking remark right after my bid! There's no way I believed that the dignified Vander clan, right in front of countless people, wouldn't dare to accept a challenge from a kid like me! Even if he wanted to trap me, he'd have to follow the bid for at least one or two rounds for it to count!" Dulong replied with a confident smile.

"Not bad! Young man, you're not only decisive in your actions, but you can also calmly exploit your opponent's psychology without losing your composure!" Su Dabao looked at Dulong with a smile and sighed with genuine admiration. "It's just that I still don't understand why you believed that strange saber was worth over a million gold coins?"

"To tell you the truth, Uncle Su, the number one artisan in the world today, Ou Yezi, resides within my territory. This old brother is particularly fond of rare and bizarre weapon materials. I believe he will be more than happy to study the structure of this saber wholeheartedly!" Dulong casually fabricated an excuse.

"Oh! So it's old brother Ou Yezi! I'm quite familiar with him. I never expected that the world-renowned master artisan would willingly work within your territory!" Su Dabao said in surprise.

"Hehe! It was pure coincidence that old brother Ou Yezi and I hit it off immediately. Coupled with a few other reasons, he decided to come to my territory to help me forge some special weapons!" Dulong laughed dryly.

As time passed, most of the rare item auctions soon concluded. During this period, Dulong even spent money to purchase two rather unusual medicinal recipe formulas, after which he did not make another move.

Finally, the ultimate grand finale lot was presented before the countless guests. It turned out to be another medicinal pill, but the grade of this pill was extraordinary—it was a top-tier grade-four pill, the Spirit-Gathering Pill!

The Spirit-Gathering Pill, known as a grade-four supreme pill, possessed an effect that drew the eyes of countless people: it could immensely increase the probability of a martial cultivator at the peak of the Astral Dan realm breaking through to the Spirit realm!

The beautiful auctioneer Xi Pei even cited a real-life example, recounting the legend that the esteemed elder Wei Xuan back then had relied on a Spirit-Gathering Pill he won at an auction to comprehend and break through to the Spirit realm on his own, without the aid of a Spirit realm cultivation technique!

Regarding this, the lovely auctioneer Xi Pei specially invited Wei Xuan, who was in the second-floor private suite, to recount his personal experience!

"That's right! It was with the help of the Spirit-Gathering Pill that I truly understood what Spirit realm strength was all about, and that enabled me to create my own cultivation technique to break through to the Spirit realm!" Wei Xuan replied affirmatively, though his tone then shifted as he continued to explain, "However, I would like to remind everyone here that the Spirit-Gathering Pill is, after all, an external force! It has the effect of increasing a cultivator's insight toward the Spirit realm, but it cannot guarantee that you will definitely break through to the Spirit realm! I have said my piece, so those wishing to buy please consider carefully before participating in the bidding!"

Although Wei Xuan gave a final warning for prospective buyers to be careful lest they spend their money yet fail to break through their power limits, few people bothered to quibble over this issue. As long as it could increase the chance of breaking through to the Spirit realm—regardless of how slim the probability—the inherent allure of the Spirit-Gathering Pill itself remained immense to everyone present!

In this world, Spirit realm cultivation techniques were hard to come by, and many people remained stuck at the peak of the Astral Dan realm, making zero further progress!

One had to know that once a person broke through to the Spirit realm, their lifespan would increase by at least five hundred years. Such a feat that simultaneously enhanced one's strength and vastly extended one's life could simply never be measured in mere gold coins!

Therefore, the battle for this Spirit-Gathering Pill was destined to be the grand finale highlight of this auction, and everyone held their breath in anticipation!

Following the introduction and the corroboration by Elder Wei Xuan, the beautiful auctioneer cast a satisfied gaze upon the countless bloodshot eyes in the hall and smiled brightly as she announced, "Very well! The starting bid for the final auction lot, the Spirit-Gathering Pill, is one million gold coins, with each increment no less than ten million—correction, no less than ten hundred thousand—ten thousand gold coins! The auction begins now!"

"One million!"
"One million five hundred thousand!"
"Two million!"
"......"

The minimum bidding increment of ten thousand gold coins set by the organizers was directly ignored by many. During the bidding for the Spirit-Gathering Pill, Dulong was astonished to discover that there were truly hidden dragons and crouching tigers among the countless guests present!

Watching the bidding price instantly skyrocket to five million, Dulong muttered somewhat speechlessly, "They're crazy, everyone's gone completely mad!"

"What's so strange about that? I heard that back then, Elder Wei spent a full thirteen million to win that Spirit-Gathering Pill!" Princess Huofeng mumbled disdainfully.

"This... where on earth did he get so much money?!" Dulong asked in disbelief.

"Actually, most of the people who came to attend the auction today came specifically for this Spirit-Gathering Pill. At every auction, whenever a Spirit-Gathering Pill appears, it's announced in advance so people can prepare as many gold coins as possible! I heard that back then, Elder Wei Xuan practically bankrupted himself just to bid for that pill!" Du Caimini chimed in.

"That's true! However, having existed as a Spirit realm entity for decades, not only did he pay off the debts he owed back then, but he also earned back several times over the money he spent! Old man Wei made a very profitable deal," Huofeng remarked with a touch of emotion.

"Dulong!" The voice of the artifact spirit beauty echoed in his mind once more. "Didn't I promise to give you five million earlier?! It seems I miscalculated. I should say, I am going to give you over ten million gold coins, so you don't always look so dirt-poor!"

"What?! You're giving me over ten million gold coins?!" Dulong exclaimed in shock.

"That's right! Take a quick look at the extra item that just appeared inside the Coiled Serpent Ring space!" the artifact spirit beauty said with a hint of triumph. As her voice trailed off, a jade box abruptly materialized inside the Coiled Serpent Ring's storage space.

With an excited flip of his hand, an exquisite jade box appeared in Dulong's palm. The moment he opened the jade box, everyone was captivated by a refreshing fragrance, and they all turned their heads to gaze at the round, flawless medicinal pill resting inside the box in his hand!

"Eh! My husband, why did you suddenly pull out a medicinal pill? It smells so good!" Princess Huofeng was the first to ask in puzzlement, unable to resist taking a couple of extra sniffs, seemingly utterly infatuated with the aroma.

"Why does this pill look so familiar to me?" Zeng Wan'er wondered aloud.

Reminded by her, Su Jinbao let out an exaggerated gasp. "Holy crap! Isn't this the exact same Spirit-Gathering Pill being auctioned on stage?!"

"It really does look quite a bit like it!" Huofeng said hesitantly.

"What do you mean it looks quite a bit like it?! This is unquestionably a Spirit-Gathering Pill! Dulong, how on earth did you manage to get your hands on such a good thing?! You've struck it rich this time!" Su Jinbao continued to roar in an exaggerated, low voice.

"Jinbao! Mind your manners; young people must learn to stay calm and collected! You should learn more from little brother Dulong in this regard!" Su Dabao glared at his precious son, then turned to Dulong with a smile. "Haha, little brother Dulong, would you mind letting me have a look at this medicinal pill?"

Dulong handed the jade box over to Su Dabao without the slightest hesitation, while everyone else watched curiously as Su Dabao closely inspected the suspected Spirit-Gathering Pill.

"Well! How strange!" After examining it for a long while, Su Dabao muttered to himself in confusion.

"What is it?" Su Jinbao asked nervously.

"This pill definitely possesses the effects of a Spirit-Gathering Pill, but its quality seems even higher than that of a standard Spirit-Gathering Pill. For the moment, I can't quite put my finger on why," Su Dabao said hesitantly.

The artifact spirit beauty spoke timely to Dulong: "This old fatty actually has some real skills to be able to discern the extraordinary nature of this pill. Judging by him, not only has he consumed a Spirit-Gathering Pill before and practiced a Spirit realm cultivation technique, but due to his bottleneck in talent, he's never been able to cross that final threshold. If he takes this pill, there's a seventy or eighty percent chance he will achieve a breakthrough!"

The artifact spirit beauty's nickname and evaluation of Su Dabao caused several black lines to instantly appear on Dulong's forehead. He truly had no idea how to communicate with this willful little beauty and could only choose to ignore her words entirely.

"Uncle Su! I intend to put this pill up for auction. Would it be possible to auction it as a Spirit-Gathering Pill?" Dulong asked hesitantly.

"Of course there's no problem! Young man! If you don't mind, whatever price that Spirit-Gathering Pill fetches down there later, I will buy this pill from you at that exact same price, and the seventy thousand gold coins you borrowed earlier will be written off as well. Are you willing?" Su Dabao's reply caught everyone completely off guard.

At this moment, the Spirit-Gathering Pill being auctioned downstairs had been pushed to a terrifying twelve million gold coins. Everyone was shocked by just how wealthy Su Jinbao's family truly was—one had to remember that was upwards of ten million gold coins, yet the man hadn't even blinked an eye when making such an offer!

"This... Uncle Su! If you wish to buy it, of course I have no objections!" Reasonably and emotionally, Dulong had no reason to refuse him, especially since this man was Su Jinbao's father!

"Dulong!" At this moment, Princess Huofeng, sitting beside Dulong, asked with a puzzled look on her face, "Where on earth did you get this Spirit-Gathering Pill? It couldn't be a fake medicine, could it? If it turns out to be fake and ends up swindling someone, I'd feel terrible!"

Clearly, Princess Huofeng simply did not believe that Dulong could possess such a high-grade and precious pill, which was why she asked the question.

With a smiling glance across the crowd of curious friends, Dulong could only continue to fob them off with his old excuse: "This pill has always been inside my spatial ring. At first, I didn't know its effects or its origins, so I just left it sitting there untouched. It just happened that I saw that Spirit-Gathering Pill earlier, and so..."

"I'm dizzy! Why does every single thing have to be related to this spatial ring you picked up somewhere? Hurry up and tell us how many other treasures are inside it!" Huofeng was clearly dissatisfied with Dulong's answer, casting a coquettish glare filled with exasperation.

"There are none left! Do you really think high-grade pills like that can be picked up by the batch?!" Dulong denied without the slightest hesitation.