Chapter 173: The Entrance to the Defeated Sage Dojo
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read more at Nineheavens.org
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The entire Middle Province boiled with a strange excitement.
As if a festival had been held.
The reason?
It was because the secret realms monopolized by the Sacred City were opened.
There were currently a total of eight secret realms whose exact locations were revealed due to problems with their formations, and the impact was by no means light.
For instance, the castles close to the secret realms and the castles decided to host the Great Auction exploded in population density by at least four or five times.
It was because even cultivators from other regions, not just the Middle Province, flocked there.
‘There are truly incredibly many.’
The fourth floor of the auction house.
Jin So-myeong, who was guided to the VIP room, clicked his tongue in amazement.
The VIP room had an open window, allowing him to overlook the entire auction house at a glance; looking down at the first-floor plaza, a truly colossal number of people could be seen.
The first floor was filled with low-grade cultivators who did not qualify to enter the VIP room, and even a rough count easily exceeded ten thousand people.
Was not the expression ‘crowd of people’ commonly used?
It meant a wave of people, and he felt as if he had only truly realized what that meant today.
Looking at the teeming crowd, he turned his gaze to the side this time.
There were a total of twenty VIP rooms on the fourth floor, and all of them were packed.
Assuming there were Nascent Soul-stage cultivators in each VIP room, it meant at least twenty Nascent Soul-stage cultivators had come to this auction house alone.
‘Did they all come aiming for the secret realms?’
If the secret realm was a system where one had to defeat competitors, a lot of blood would truly flow.
To the point that the blood pooling on the ground would not be enough even if it became a river.
“……”
Why did so many people risk the danger of death and devote their lives to cultivation?
Was the Great Dao of Longevity that attractive?
Or was it the instinct of a living creature wishing to become a more superior existence?
Memories of him cultivating while risking even his life, having done his best more than anyone else, flashed through his mind.
At that moment when he was chewing on the question that had suddenly arrived.
“Everyone who came to the auction hosted by our Heavenly Canopy Merchant Guild, thank you all.”
A young man with a neat impression stepped onto the platform set up on the first floor.
“You may or may not know, but rumors circulated that items needed in the secret realms would appear in this auction. To speak straightforwardly…”
After a moment of silence,
the youth, who smiled broadly, admitted it so cleanly it was refreshing.
“The rumors are true. The closest secret realm to Cloud Dragon Immortal City here is the Defeated Sage Dojo. We have prepared an antidote absolutely necessary for that place, so we hope for a lot of support.”
Antidote.
What kind of poison was in the Defeated Sage Dojo that an antidote was a necessity?
“Ah, for your information, the antidote will appear as a core product in the middle part of the auction.”
At the words that continued straight without holding anything back, countless people swallowed their saliva.
Amidst an atmosphere that seemed ready to explode if ignited, the first auction item came up.
“Cloud-Fragrance Deer-Crying Grass. Burning this incense during cultivation can prevent heart demons and increase cultivation efficiency. We guarantee it has effects up to the early Nascent Soul stage. The starting bid will begin at ten extreme-grade spirit stones.”
“Twenty extreme-grade spirit stones!”
“Forty!”
An incense that increased cultivation efficiency was interesting, but he did not participate in the bidding.
His cultivation resources were sufficient.
Combining all the storage pouches he had obtained recently, he could use them for at least ten years.
“Next is a Rank 4 low-grade spirit treasure, the Ink-Scale White-Light Shield. As a shield that can easily block a strike of the mid Nascent Soul stage…”
Jin So-myeong, who was looking at the shield made of large black scales bigger than a human’s upper body, shook his head.
Likewise, he did not need spirit treasures either.
Even the Myriad Thunders Chaos Sky Saber and the Starlight Afterimage Sword he currently possessed were overwhelming to handle properly due to a lack of spiritual power.
The only thing he had to target in this auction was the antidote said to be essential in the Defeated Sage Dojo.
He had thought so, but…
“Heaven-Breaking Spirit-Cleaving Talisman. It is a talisman that can sweep a radius of a hundred zhang by bursting Nascent Soul stage-grade Sword Qi in all directions.”
There were more usable items than he had thought.
To the point that he wanted to buy one and keep it on hand.
“Taiji Dao Plate. Its rank is Rank 4 mid-grade, and one can draw and use spiritual power stored during normal times in combat. We will receive bids starting from ten thousand extreme-grade spirit stones.”
Jin So-myeong, who was listening casually, paused.
He closely examined the pentagonal treasure talisman painted with a Taiji pattern that came onto the platform.
So… did it mean that treasure talisman was a spiritual power reservoir?
‘To think such a spirit treasure existed.’
Since he was in a difficult spot due to a lack of spiritual power anyway, he really coveted it.
“Fifteen thousand!”
Calculating the wealth accumulated in his sub-space, he called as high a price as possible.
However,
“Twenty thousand.”
“…Thirty thousand.”
“Thirty-three thousand.”
The price of fifteen thousand that he called was instantly buried by the voices emanating from the surrounding VIP rooms.
‘…It’s regrettable.’
For the first time in a truly long time, he keenly felt the lack of wealth.
Although Jin So-myeong was very wealthy for an individual, compared to the forces that had settled and accumulated wealth in the Middle Province for over a thousand years, he was bound to fall short.
The regret he felt while watching the Taiji Dao Plate being sold to some nameless person was also brief.
“Rank 2 Blood-Burning Pill. Upon consumption, it can amplify spiritual power for one quarter of an hour. The side effects are…”
“I will buy it! Three hundred mid-grade spirit stones!”
The auction continued.
Apart from the Nascent Soul stage, items useful to low-grade cultivators also came out occasionally.
At that moment when he was looking down at the auction house filled with heat as if watching a performance,
“Thank you for waiting long. The antidote absolutely necessary in the Defeated Sage Dojo, the Pure Cleansing Pill.”
A bustling commotion was heard in the first-floor plaza, and medicine bottles shaped like ceramics began to pile up like a mountain on the platform.
“Pure Cleansing Pill is an antidote effective for Nascent Soul-stage cultivators. The antidote for Golden Cores is prepared separately, so please wait.”
“For your information, the Pure Cleansing Pills we prepared are a total of 500 bottles, which is an amount that can last for 500 years in the Defeated Sage Dojo. It means a year’s worth of antidote is contained in each medicine bottle.”
Counting quickly using his Divine Sense, indeed, the medicine bottles piled on the platform were exactly 500.
“According to what we have found out, no one can endure for more than ten years in the Defeated Sage Dojo. It is useless to buy many antidotes, so please purchase only as much as each of you needs.”
At the words that a maximum of ten bottles per person was needed, the boiling atmosphere calmed down a bit.
Of course, it was still hot.
“Pure Cleansing Pills will be sold divided one bottle at a time. Is there anyone who will purchase at four thousand extreme-grade spirit stones?”
“I will buy a hundred bottles.”
Along with the cold voice of a woman that felt chilly, a hundred medicine bottles that were on the platform vanished.
“Is there no one else? Very well. Is there anyone who will purchase at three thousand five hundred per bottle?”
“I will buy fifty bottles.”
“Thirty bottles.”
“Give me seventy.”
Those presumed to be giant forces purchased the medicine bottles in bulk, and the Pure Cleansing Pills piled like a mountain began to disappear in an instant.
As half vanished at once, impatience could not help but arise naturally.
“Is there anyone who will purchase at three thousand per bottle?”
“Give me ten bottles!”
“Please give me ten bottles as well!”
As even those wishing to enter the Defeated Sage Dojo as individuals rather than forces purchased them, before long only a small quantity of less than a hundred bottles remained on the stage.
“Will you purchase at two thousand five hundred…”
Before the words even fell, voices shouted from here and there.
“Seven bottles!”
“Give me three bottles!”
Jin So-myeong also scraped his entire fortune and barely managed to obtain a ten-year supply of the antidote.
“Senior, here are the ten bottles of Pure Cleansing Pills you purchased.”
Receiving the antidote politely handed over by a certain Foundation Establishment cultivator, Jin So-myeong paid the spirit stones.
‘Phew…’
A bitter smile emerged naturally along with a sigh of relief.
The spirit stones mined from the Secret Realm of the Mind over the past year, the spirit stones prepared by disposing of the trivial items piled in his sub-space, and so on.
He had truly spent all of it.
His pockets were completely empty.
If it were not for the spirit stones steadily coming in through the Secret Realm of the Mind, he had become poor enough to worry about his cave dwelling’s rent right away.
‘…Is it because I have only been inside the city lately? Robbers aren’t seeking me out.’
It was regrettable.
Lately, there were no kind guests coming to give him presents.
It would nice if guests like the young master of the Mok Clan became common.
Would it be different once he entered the secret realm?
Falling into various idle thoughts, he closely examined the Pure Cleansing Pill with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye divine ability.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any problem.’
He checked it multiple times just in case, but no trickery was felt.
It was indeed a properly made antidote.
In fact, the probability that there was a trick in the antidote provided by the Sacred City was very low.
How many skilled elixir refiners would there be in the vast Middle Province?
So many people that it was difficult to count them one by one would persistently examine the antidote sold by the Sacred City.
To see if there was a problem or not.
Since it was almost impossible to pull a trick and not get detected, there was a high possibility that there was no problem with the antidote.
‘But why are they selling the antidote in the first place? I don’t understand.’
Could it be the tolerance worthy of the Middle Province’s ruler?
Simple goodwill?
Or did it mean not to die too vainly?
If the cultivators who entered the secret realm all died, the Middle Province would become empty, and since that would also be troublesome for the Sacred City, did they distribute the antidote?
From the perspective of a farmer cultivating a vegetable garden, it was at least understandable.
“Next is the antidote effective for Golden Cores. For your information, since the poison of the Defeated Sage Dojo requires different antidotes depending on the realm, it will not be of much use to Nascent Soul stage fellow Daoists.”
While he was having various thoughts, the auction restarted.
“Rank 4 Soul-Chasing Blood-Oath Talisman. It is a talisman that can track an opponent using a piece of their soul or True Blood. It can respond up to ten thousand li…”
Quite a lot of items that stimulated his desire to purchase also came up, but because he had no spirit stones, he only watched.
Three hours later.
The auction ended completely, and he met with Du Geum-bo, the director of the Myriad Treasures Tower, and gave him the answer to the proposal he had received in the past.
“I have thought it over, but I think it is better for me to move alone.”
“Ah… That is truly regrettable. If I moved together with someone like Daoist Jin, I would be at ease.”
It was a rejection, but he left some room.
“If the Defeated Sage Dojo is not a structure where we must compete with each other, I will cooperate. Though we will have to obtain treasures each according to our own abilities.”
“Very well. Then let’s exchange nameplates. We must at least know each other’s locations to cooperate easily.”
***
Three months later.
The Stormy Heaven Sea Region , a sea famous for having harsh wind and rain that did not cease for even a single moment all year round.
In that place which was already noisy, a youth enveloped in bright yellow lightning appeared.
Could it be due to the dazzling lightning wrapped around his entire body?
The youth did not get even a single hem of his clothes wet in the harsh wind and rain.
Chiiiiiik…!
The fiercely pouring raindrops turned into water vapor.
They evaporated before they could even approach due to the lightning.
The youth who was traversing the void like a stream of meteors,
or rather, Jin So-myeong, who had come here in search of the Defeated Sage Dojo, carefully scanned the surrounding terrain.
‘It should be about time to arrive…’
Though it was just a vast ocean that looked exactly the same when seen with the eyes, he could feel a minute difference when observing with his Divine Sense that reached thirty kilometers.
At that moment when he was flying slowly and sharpening his senses,
a spherical barrier obstructing Divine Sense detection was sensed to the northeast.
‘Found it!’
It was clearly a formation set up at the Defeated Sage Dojo by the Sacred City’s side.
Hurrying over, he carefully checked the surroundings of the formation once more.
‘It’s not a formation with great defensive power… if it’s a trap, I can break it with the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration and escape.’
The moment he entered the barrier,
Swaaaaaahang!
A downpour dozens of times harsher than the outside welcomed him.
Did they gather the wind and rain raging in the vicinity using a formation?
The momentum of the raindrops was so strong that it felt almost like a water-attribute spell.
At the same time as he spread his spiritual power in the shape of a barrier to block the rain, his gaze met with those who had arrived first and settled down.
A person smiling as if glad to see him, eyes scanning him up and down, expressionless faces whose thoughts could not be known…
There were those he knew, like the director of the Myriad Treasures Tower, Du Geum-bo, and there were also many who hid their identities with masks or were unfamiliar.
It felt as if the Nascent Soul-stage cultivators yearning for the Soul Formation stage had flocked here without exception.
‘They also came from the Mok Clan.’
His eyes met a beautiful lady wearing green silk clothes, and she smiled broadly.
Looking at the smile as bright as a flower, he felt like clicking his tongue.
‘I killed Mok Ryu-jin, and she’s smiling?’
Jin So-myeong, who stared at the patriarch of the Mok Family, Mok Ra-yu, who was at the late Nascent Soul stage, turned his gaze.
Somehow, the nameless old man behind her bothered him more.
A leanly built old man who appeared to be at the mid Nascent Soul stage was staring this way, and it was hard to take his eyes off the pupils whose emotions were difficult to read.
‘…Did he hide his realm?’
His intuition, forged through battles traversing life and death, whispered that the old man was indeed a powerhouse.
Aside from the old man, there were many who could be competitors.
Scanning them one by one intently, he closed his eyes as if meditating.
How long had he waited?
A Nascent Soul stage cultivator of the Sacred City’s side appeared, cutting through the wind and rain.
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