The Glazed Mirror facing the auction stage was also clearly different from the one in the previous private room.

This one offered much better privacy. When Lü Zhong tried to probe it with his Divine Sense, he found it was like hitting a wall; he couldn’t penetrate it as he could with ordinary objects.

This way, whatever he did in the private room would go unnoticed by those outside.

He sat down and helped himself to the food and drinks.

Lü Zhong didn’t stand on ceremony. After all, the cost for all this ultimately fell to the customers. The price of a single item he might win would be more than enough to pay for setting up a room like this a hundred times over.

He then suddenly remembered that he still had a Vein Protection Pill. He summoned an attendant and asked if it could be added to the current auction. Since it was worth over ten thousand Spirit Stones, it should theoretically be possible.

He quickly received a confirmation: the auction house was willing to add it to the list of items, but it would be placed at the very end.

Lü Zhong had no objection to this.

They chatted for a while, and he also took the opportunity to help Li Hejun regulate her internal flow. The auction began soon after.

The host who took the stage this time wasn’t the stunning Female Cultivator from before. Instead, it was a refreshingly elegant disciple from the Jade Flower Sect, making Lü Zhong secretly wonder, ’Is this woman one of the goods for sale too?’

The auction items were brought out one after another.

Naturally, Foundation Establishment Pills were among the lots.

But times had changed. Now that Lü Zhong had successfully reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, he had no interest in them whatsoever.

As he was getting bored, a new item was brought to the stage.

"An ingot of Bamboo Patterned Silver Iron, newly produced from the Linnan Valley mine! It can be forged into a Spiritual Artifact Embryo by the hand of a master and is absolutely the finest choice for nurturing your own Spiritual Artifact..."

Lü Zhong’s interest was immediately piqued.

But then he remembered his Spirit Ring. He had yet to nurture it into a full-fledged Spiritual Artifact. Despite pouring a massive amount of Essence into it, there were still no signs of it undergoing a Metamorphosis. He immediately dismissed the idea of bidding.

’Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s better to focus on one thing.’

Besides, not every Foundation Establishment True Cultivator even had a Spiritual Artifact.

Due to the difficulty in nurturing them, the production of Spiritual Artifacts had always been extremely low, making them incredibly hard to acquire. The most common way for True Cultivators to obtain one was to inherit it from their Sect or clan.

This was why some were known as "Heirloom Spiritual Artifacts."

After all, unlike Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts had Spiritual Veins nurtured within them. As long as they weren’t severely damaged, they could be restored through further nurturing. Thus, they weren’t purely consumable items like Magical Artifacts.

While he was lost in thought, the bidding for the Bamboo Patterned Silver Iron Ingot was fiercely driven up to the high price of thirty thousand Spirit Stones.

"Fellow Daoist, I am an Elder of the Jingyang Binhe Yuan Family. Might you show me some face?" A bidder announced his identity, toeing the line of the auction house’s rules against intimidating other bidders in an attempt to deter his competitors.

Unfortunately for him, he had picked the wrong person to mess with.

"Oh, so it’s the Binhe Yuan Family! Excellent! You people from the Yuan Family cry poor every year when it’s time to pay tribute, yet now you somehow have the spare funds to purchase a Bamboo Patterned Silver Iron Ingot? In that case, I think starting next year, the Yuan Family’s tribute will be paid in full!" a gentle voice drifted from one of the private boxes.

This exchange left many in the hall completely baffled.

Then, someone who wasn’t afraid of the Yuan Family’s retaliation revealed the speaker’s identity. It was the Luohua Fairy from the Jade Flower Sect, the one in charge of clan affairs. At this revelation, the entire hall couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

Hearing this from his private box, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but smile as well.

’Talk about lifting a rock only to drop it on your own foot.’

The interlude passed quickly, and the auction resumed. However, the usual attempts to bend the rules were noticeably scarcer than before. Clearly, no one wanted to follow in the Binhe Yuan Family’s footsteps.

Just as Lü Zhong was getting drowsy, the item he had been waiting for finally appeared on stage.

To his surprise, this Spiritual Artifact actually had a connection to his past.

"The Qingyang Mirror. This Spiritual Artifact originally belonged to a small sect in the Lanyue Region. This treasure lay gathering dust for many years until a fated individual discovered it, finally allowing it to see the light of day once more."

Lü Zhong couldn’t help but sneer when he heard this.

’What a nice way of putting it. In reality, didn’t they just rob the grave of Ancestor Qingyang?’

He knew for a fact that this item had originally belonged to Ancestor Qingyang.

After all, back in his years at the Qingliu Ruins, the Qingyang Sect would publicize the Ancestor’s deeds every year on his anniversary, and the Qingyang Mirror was always mentioned.

Jian, after all, was another word for mirror.

At the thought, Lü Zhong mused, ’It seems founding a sect isn’t entirely a good thing. If your disciples and their descendants are unworthy and fail to keep the sect afloat, even the ancestor’s bones, buried for hundreds of years, could be dug up for all to see.’

"...After appraisal, the Qingyang Mirror is a Lower-grade Spiritual Artifact, and it comes with the ’Illusion Breaker’ Divine Technique..."

The host’s words immediately caused a commotion in the hall.

The Illusion-Breaking Divine Technique was certainly one of the most powerful Divine Techniques. As its name suggested, it allowed one to see through falsehoods. While it couldn’t see through *everything*, it was an unparalleled Treasure Artifact for detecting hidden people or dealing with Puzzle and Illusion Arrays. It was an absolutely worthwhile acquisition.

Lü Zhong’s heart pounded with excitement. He wished he could buy it on the spot. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He knew nothing about arrays, and his greatest fear was being trapped by one. If he were to accidentally fall into an Illusion or Puzzle Array, he would be doomed.

With the Qingyang Mirror for protection, that problem would be solved.

After extolling the virtues of the Qingyang Mirror a bit more, the charming female immortal’s tone shifted.

She let out a dramatic sigh, making many cultivators in the audience wish they could pull her into an embrace and comfort her.

"...Unfortunately, due to being eroded by Yin Qi underground for many years, the Qingyang Mirror currently possesses less than a tenth of its original power. It will require a long period of nurturing to be restored to its former glory."

’Heh, so it really was freshly dug up,’ Lü Zhong silently cursed.

’I wonder how the Qingyang Remnant People feel, seeing their ancestor’s relic being auctioned off like this?’

Soon, the charming female immortal announced a number that made Lü Zhong wince.

"The Qingyang Mirror starts at fifty thousand Spirit Stones, with minimum increments of one thousand!"

Hearing this, Lü Zhong sighed.

’Tsk, tsk. No wonder that Kang Shaoqing was so desperate to take my Spirit Ring by force!’

His mind drifted back to his time in the Yanling Mountain Market, and he couldn’t help but think of Huang Shuyuan, an old acquaintance.

’She’s probably not doing too poorly for herself. After all, she’s a Talisman Maker.’

In just a few bids, the price for the Qingyang Mirror soared to seventy-five thousand Spirit Stones. Lü Zhong patted his Storage Bag and gave a bitter smile, lamenting his meager funds.

But he wasn’t discouraged. Everyone currently bidding was from a Sect Clan. The Spirit Stones they were using weren’t their own; they were bidding with the intention of bringing back a treasure to bolster their clan’s foundations.

There wasn’t a single Loose Cultivator like him among the bidders.

This thought made him feel much better about his situation.

He sipped his Spirit Tea, gently kneading her delicate hands.

’Life is full of disappointments. Might as well just drink tea and watch the show.’

Soon, the bidding was over.

To everyone’s surprise, the winner wasn’t from one of the private boxes. Instead, the item was won by a mysterious cultivator sitting in the main hall.

’No way. Could it really be this cliché? Did a Qingyang Remnant actually buy it?’ Lü Zhong nearly spat out his tea. Having been steeped in storybooks since childhood, he had, of course, considered this possibility.

And now, it seemed to be coming true.

’According to the script, the ’murder and treasure-looting’ scene should be next. Should I follow them?’

His fingers tapped lightly on the table. After a moment’s thought, Lü Zhong abandoned the tempting idea.

Killing for treasure was an act of desperation, born from the inability to acquire resources through other means. Who would choose to live so dangerously if they had a choice? Since he could learn the method for making Flying Talismans just by serving as an Honored Guest Elder for five years, there was no need to take such a risk.

’Hmm, I could wait three or five days and use my scene regression ability to see what happened. That’s an option.’

Lü Zhong planned to use this as a chance to test whether his Gray Mist Space had changed at all since his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage. If it had, he needed to find out quickly, to avoid a repeat of what happened at the Little Yuan Valley Mine.