The Desolate Era

The treasure auction was in progress. In order to attract more Daolords, each treasure auction would have a few incredibly rare and valuable items that normally would never be sold and would only be traded for similarly valuable items. During the treasure auctions, however, they could be purchased for chaos nectar. Only, the price would be incredibly high.

“Haha...” Ning couldn’t help but laugh as he watched. “In the end, there’s a limit to how useful magic treasures can be.” There were some unearthly treasures which would allow a Daolord of the First Step to contend against a Daolord of the Fourth Step, but treasures could only help up to a certain point. Treasures that could unleash the power of a Daolord of the Fourth Step were generally worth more than ten million cubes of chaos nectar, and as their power increased their cost would skyrocket.

Ning noticed one insanely powerful and insanely expensive treasure known as the ‘Kingdom Blade’. This was a formation, and anyone who had this formation could spread it across a hundred million kilometers with a single thought. Within the formation, countless streaks of saber-light would appear, and these attacks were so powerful that ordinary Daolords of the Fourth Step would be instantly slain by them. Even Daolords who weren’t killed would still be heavily constrained! Ning estimated that this formation was definitely on par with his own novessence thunder attack.

The bidding for this formation started at the reserve price of eighty million cubes of chaos nectar, and in the end it was sold for 120 million cubes.

“Treasures like these are all external sources of strength.” The nearby Pillsaint nodded sagely. “Artificing and alchemy all have their limits as well. Earlier, I saw a treasure in Plumesoar Hall which could unleash the power of an Eternal Emperor, but treasures like that would never appear in a treasure auction. Without question, they can only be traded for.”

Ning nodded. Treasures could generally be used multiple times, whereas Dao-seals would be consumed after a single use as all they did was unleash the power which had originally been sealed into them. As a result, Dao-seals were much easier to make than magic treasures. The Sword Hegemon’s Dao-seals and the almighty Brightshore Hegemon’s spacetime disc were all single-use items.

......

A few days later, yet another incredible treasure appeared within this treasure auction. Generally speaking, each treasure auction would have ten or so treasures like this.

“Fellow Daoists.” The ancient elder standing before the dais called out in a loud voice, “This treasure is an important item which was personally forged by Emperor Milcloth.”

The many Daolords seated below were all stirred. Even Ning’s eyes lit up as he stared downwards from his private room. Emperor Milcloth was one of the top three artificers of the entire Endless Territories.

Whoosh. A palm-sized black flying vessel suddenly appeared in the air above the elder’s hands. Although the flying vessel was small, it naturally emanated an aura of such terrifying keenness that anyone who saw it knew it had to be incredibly fast.

“This is a flying vessel which is perfectly suited for soaring at high speeds. The Emperor forged it just a short while ago, and has yet to even choose a name for it. The person who purchases it shall have the right to name it.” The elder smiled, but the Daolords didn’t really care about this. What a treasure’s name was didn’t matter; what really mattered was the amount of power it could unleash.

“This magic treasure can move a hundred times the speed of light,” the elder said softly, but his quiet words drove the many Daolords below him into a state of frenzy. “The reserve price is 60 million cubes.”

“60 million cubes.” A deep voice instantly rang out from one of the private rooms up above.

“65 million cubes.” One of the Daolords seated in the corner of the main hall below, a golden-robed man, calmly made his offer.

“68 million cubes.”

This was one of the eight Sacred Cities, after all. It had many Daolords within it. Evasion-type treasures were extremely valuable to begin with, with vessels that could move at ten times the speed of light generally costing more than ten million cubes. Ones which could move at a hundred times the speed of light could generally only be traded for.

Although there were technically a number of master artificers in the Endless Territories who were capable of creating evasion-type treasures that could move at a hundred times the speed of light, the actual creation process was extremely difficult. Powerful Daolords were extremely interested in treasures like this, as there were very few who could move at a hundred times the speed of light. In fact, there weren’t even many Eternal Emperors who could move at that speed.

“Eh?” Ning suddenly rose to his feet within his private room.

“Master?” Pillsaint and Youji both looked towards Ning, but Ning walked towards to the window, then pushed it open. Outside was that female attendant, who had been awaiting his summons this entire time.

“Senior.” Although she had been waiting here for months, she immediately addressed him with respect.

“I wish to use a treasure to trade for that flying vessel which is currently being auctioned off,” Ning said.

The female attendant was startled. That was one of the top ten treasures of this treasure auction! She immediately said, “I’ve already sent your request forwards. A Daolord will arrive shortly.”

Whoosh. Just as she finished saying this, a figure suddenly materialized directly in front of Ning. It was the silver-robed Daolord who Ning had interacted with just a few months ago.

“Fellow Daoist, you truly do business on a grand scale.” The silver-robed Daolord smiled, quite amazed by the white-robed youth in front of him. The man looked like a Daolord of the Second Step, but he was able to kill Daolords of the Third Step as easily as crushing an ant. He had already brought forty million cubes worth of business to Plumesoar Hall. Now, he was planning to acquire that flying vessel?

“Come inside and chat,” Ning said.

“Wait outside,” the silver-robed Daolord instructed the female attendant, then followed Ning into the private room and shut the door.

Within the private room. The silver-robed Daolord walked to the windows as well. He glanced downwards, then said merrily, “That flying vessel can move at a hundred times the limits of the Heavenly Daos. That’s the maximum speed any flying vessel can obtain, and they are generally only exchanged for goods of similar value, never sold. When they do appear during our treasure auctions... the price has already reached seventy million cubes, but I wager it’ll at least hit ninety million cubes. Plumesoar Hall will never engage in a losing business transaction, no matter what.”

Ning nodded. He also felt certain that the final price would be at least ninety million cubes. “I know that Plumesoar Hall has more than a single flying vessel that can move that fast,” Ning said. “I wish to trade for one.”

“Trade?” The silver-robed Daolord’s eyes lit up. He delighted in engaging in this type of trade. Flying vessels of this quality were generally only traded for similarly valuable treasures, as only the most valuable of items could possess such amazing properties.

“Ordinary treasures won’t cut it,” the silver-robed Daolord reminded softly.

“Take a look for yourself,” Ning said, then waved his hand, causing a golden pearl with a flowing surface to appear within it.

“Deluxe hellgold?” The silver-robed Daolord’s eyes lit up. This was a core for creating a golem equivalent to a Daolord of the Fourth Step. Items like this could only be hoped for, not hunted down. “But a single pearl won’t be enough.” The silver-robed Daolord shook his head.

Ning waved his hand again. This time, a small, light green jade bottle appeared within it. A single blood-red fruit that looked like an actual drop of blood flew out from the jade bottle and hung there in the air.

“I-is that...” The silver-robed Daolord’s face began to turn pale as he stared at the item. A sacred bloodfruit? A skyjewel bloodfruit? This thing was even rarer than the deluxe hellgold, because sacred bloodfruit trees were generally controlled by the ancient, truly supreme powers of the Endless Territories. Even Hegemons would fight over such trees! Thus, the sacred bloodfruit which came from these trees would generally fall into the hands of Hegemon-level individuals. Although every single major organization was willing to spend roughly twenty million cubes to purchase a single sacred bloodfruit, those ancient powers who owned them cared little for chaos nectar and would generally only exchange them for other valuable treasures.

“These two treasures combined are still a bit lacking.” The silver-robed Daolord looked closely at Ning.

“A pearl of deluxe hellgold and a skyjewel bloodfruit, if sold on the treasure auction, should have a reserve price of at least sixty million cubes of chaos nectar,” Ning said. “Tell me, what do you think the final price would be?”

The silver-robed Daolord was startled by the question.

“Although flying vessels that can move at a hunndred times the speed of light are rare, there are a number that are available for sale,” Ning said. “If you aren’t happy with my offer, I’ll go take it somewhere else.

“Y-you are seriously such a...” The silver-robed Daolord laughed helplessly. The deluxe hellgold and the skyjewel bloodfruit were indeed quite intriguing, but a flying vessel that could move at a hundred times the speed of light was also extremely valuable. The two really were worth roughly the same.

“Fine. Plumesoar Hall is willing to enter this deal with you.” The silver-robed Daolord nodded, then glanced downwards. By now, the bidding war had already reached a price of 90 million cubes, but the bids were clearly slowing down.

“95 million cubes,” the silver-robed Daolord called out.

“95.5 million cubes,” a different Daolord gritted his teeth and called out.

“98 million cubes.” The silver-robed Daolord wasn’t interested in wasting time; he immediately raised the price once more.

Ning, Su Youji, and Pillsaint were all a bit surprised. The silver-robed Daolord glanced at the three of them, then chuckled. “Making bids on our own treasures is actually quite common. If the real bids on the best treasures aren’t high enough, we’ll just ‘buy’ some of them ourselves.”

Ning and the others couldn’t help but let out startled laughs. It seemed as though Plumesoar Hall really did refuse to lose money on any of these treasure trades.

In truth, to the massively powerful organizations within the Dao Alliance like the Skywood Sect, chaos nectar wasn’t really all that valuable. Deluxe hellgold, sacred bloodfruit, and other similarly rare cosmic treasures were much more worthy of collection. Deluxe hellgold wasn’t that alluring; it was the skyjewel bloodfruit which caused this silver-robed Daolord to agree to this trade, because the Skywood Sect just so happened to need it to go with a number of other valuable ingredients for pill-refining.

In the end, the flying vessel was ‘won’ at the price of 98 million cubes. The deluxe hellgold and the skyjewel bloodfruit was given to the silver-robed Daolord, while the flying vessel entered Ning’s hands.

“If you have other rare items, feel free to bring them to Plumesoar Hall.” The silver-robed Daolord smiled. “We have many precious treasures, including even Dao-seals which mighty Eternal Emperors poured all of their effort into. Those can all be traded for.”

“Not a bad idea.” Ning smiled, then picked up the flying vessel and nodded mentally to himself. Just using the nine novessence arts against Daolord Kongsan probably wouldn’t be enough, as the man was capable of transforming his body into darkness and making it virtually indestructible. But now that Ning had this flying vessel, he would definitely be guaranteed of being able to escape whenever he chose.

Although the deluxe hellgold and the skyjewel bloodfruit were important, one was an artificing ingredient while the other was an alchemical ingredient. Ning neither understood artificing nor specialized in alchemy. Use skyjewel bloodfruit in alchemy? Not even Daolord Allgod would necessarily be qualified to engage in alchemy on such a level.

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