But since the Unearthly Fire had little significance for ordinary cultivators, and the only thing being
auctioned off was a clue to finding the Dark Bone Gloomy Fire, there were hardly any bidders.
The auctioneer did say earlier that it was only useful for pill refiners and fire cultivators.
So, he was somewhat disappointed over the crowd's lack of enthusiasm.
Just when the auctioneer was starting to think whether the auction of the clue to the Dark Bone Gloomy
Fire was going to be a failure, someone spoke up.
The first bid was announced.
"1 million 100 thousand vital energy crystals!"
"1 million 150 thousand vital energy crystals!" a second one called out.
A few moments later, the highest bid was placed at 1 million 500 thousand vital energy crystals.
The number of bidders dwindled, and the interval between each bid became protracted because they
needed to wait awhile before starting a new bidding.
Finally, when the bid price came up to 1 million and 530 thousand, the bidding stopped after a very long
wait.
When the auctioneer on the crystal stage was about to announce this as the last bid price, Austin finally
decided to make an offer.
As a pill refiner, Austin was well aware of what he could gain by obtaining the Dark Bone Gloomy Fire.
In case he won the clue and found the Unearthly Fire, he could further enhance his pill refining skill.
Although he would only be bidding for information on how to obtain the Unearthly Fire, he still stood a
better chance of finding it than someone who didn't have a clue. It is said gaining wealth involved
taking a risk. Maybe if Austin strove hard enough, he would be successful. After all, Austin never
lacked spirit when it came to fighting.
"1 million 600 thousand vital energy crystals."
He offered the bid price through an audio button in his room, so no one was aware of his identity.
Another bidder made an offer.
Then the auction house remained silent for several minutes.
When Austin spoke through the audio system, someone seated at the corner of the house sneered.
"This voice seems to be from Room No. 63 in the VIP zone. Hmmm. I remember seeing Austin there.
He's quite rich, which was something I didn't expect."
"That's all right. Austin may win the bid for the clue to the Dark Bone Gloomy Fire, but once we kill him,
that will ultimately be ours. Ahhh...this clue is worth more than a million vital energy crystals," another
man said.
Another voice said greedily, "And then we can resell it to others. More than a million vital energy
crystals will be sufficient for the five of us to have fun."
"All right, everyone, I declare that..."
There was silence all around.
In the end, after just one bid by Austin, the clue of the Dark Bone Gloomy Fire finally belonged to him.
After the auction, all Austin got was a tattered cloth with a rather obscure map printed on it. The map
showed mountains and rivers. But Austin had no time to examine the cloth, so he had no idea what it
was.
With a wry smile, he thought, 'I spent more than one million vital energy crystals only to get a shabby
cloth without knowing what it's for.
Am I a bit of a black sheep?
No wonder there weren't many cultivators taking part in this auction. It looks as if the auction of the clue
was only a ploy by the Ganges Auction House."
After pondering this a while, Austin was somewhat regretful. In the end, he stuffed the shabby cloth
inside his Space Ring. 'I'll find time to study it later.
If it is indeed useless, the lesson will have cost me much, ' he thought.
After Austin left the Ganges Auction House, he headed to the inn.
He was deep in thought when he felt something strange.
Instantly, he released his power of spiritual sense.
Once unleashed, the spiritual sense was capable of sensing anything within a range of 400 meters.
Austin felt the presence of five men stalking him. With the power of spiritual sense, he saw the distinct
human figures in his mind.
"Master, there are five men tailing you," Violet warned.
Her voice was so clear in Austin's head.
"Yes, Violet, I know. So, you noticed them, too. It seems that there's been a great improvement in your
spiritual sense power. The five men are some 400 meters behind me, so I can pick up their scents.
But you can also sense them, which is good.
What this is telling me is that your power of spiritual sense is almost comparable to mine."
The young cultivator was slightly surprised. Initially, his power of spiritual sense was stronger than
Violet's. But after obtaining the powerful crystals from Cloud Cave, he sent half of them to Violet.
Once the crystals were in her possession, Violet hid in the Illusion Bead and trained with the powerful
crystals day and night. After only twenty days of cultivation, her power of spiritual sense grew as strong
as Austin's.
Everyone was aware that the power of spiritual sense was extraordinary, and was even harder to
cultivate than the vital energy.
So, it was quite impressive that Violet improved so quickly in terms of the power of the spiritual sense.
And it seemed she was right about the powerful crystals being so useful in the cultivation of the power
of the spiritual sense.
This revelation made Austin quite eager to immediately start training to improve his power of spiritual
sense with the powerful crystals.
As Austin communicated with Violet through his mind, five stalkers sneaked up from behind. Now
Austin could get a clearer idea of them with his power of spiritual sense.
"Violet, the five stalkers are not weak. One of them is at preliminary stage of Earth Realm, while the
rest are medium-stage of Earth Realm cultivators.
Each one is known to have a rich fighting experience, and their vital energy forces have been
compacted inside their bodies making them powerful fighters.
I assume that they all belong to the Blood Wolf Team.
So, they will be tough to deal with. I'm afraid I can't do this alone.
While it may not be hard to get rid of them, I am telling you it will not be simple if I want to kill them all.
"Humph! With this never-ending battle with the Blood Wolf Team, I'm certain they want me dead, but I
want to kill them even more!"
After saying this, Austin pondered about their situation.
"Hahaha! Master, you can certainly try. We have a premium stage of Earth Realm cultivator, as well as
a medium stage of Earth Realm cultivator. Since you're not weak and have several trump cards on
hand, there are few opponent in your realm who was able to fight you. Perhaps, we can kill five people
altogether."
"A premium stage and medium stage of Earth Realm cultivators?" Austin mumbled.
Although stunned, Austin immediately understood the implication.
"Violet, do you mean to say that you've made a breakthrough?
And your strength is equivalent to a medium stage Earth Realm cultivator?"
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