Lu Yang's proposal quickly won the agreement of the other three. The most valuable part of the Twin Conjoined Lotus was the bloom; the seeds were not worth much.
The seeds could not be used to grow new Twin Conjoined Lotuses. The emergence of such a lotus was purely random; only when an ordinary lotus was blessed with a particular combination of conditions might it develop into a Twin Conjoined Lotus.
In the Immortal Fairy's words, the twin origin lay dormant within all lotuses—the key was figuring out how to draw it out.
"Then it's settled. Senior Brother Lu gets the seeds, and the three of us will sell the lotus and split the spirit stones evenly."
Tao Yaoye dug out the eight lotus seeds and handed them to Lu Yang.
The seeds carried a distinct, refreshing fragrance. Lu Yang sniffed instinctively, finding the scent remarkably pleasant.
***
At the chamber of commerce, an attendant was receiving customers as usual when three figures cloaked in black marched inside, immediately putting him on guard.
"It's me," one of the black-robed men said in a low voice.
"Young Master Meng?" Recognizing the voice, the attendant realized it was the young master of the Meng family.
Then the person beside him had to be a Dao Seeking Sect disciple?
And who was the third black-robed figure?
Standing behind the three cloaked figures, Tao Yaoye felt quite helpless.
The faces of Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Man Gu were now burned into the memory of every late Foundation Establishment cultivator in Demon Quelling Pass. Stepping outside barefaced meant being hunted down on sight.
Out of sheer necessity, the three had masked themselves.
Tao Yaoye, on the other hand, had only ever shown those cultivators her back, so none of them could recognize her. She was entirely free to walk around in broad daylight.
The attendant did not pry into their disguises; whatever Meng Jingzhou and his friends had been up to had no bearing on their business dealings.
He guided the four into a reception room, where Meng Jingzhou produced the Twin Conjoined Lotus. The attendant stared in astonishment, never expecting that the treasure everyone outside was fervently gossiping about had ended up in Meng Jingzhou's hands.
"We want to sell this. How many spirit stones can you offer?"
"Forty thousand spirit stones."
Meng Jingzhou frowned, thinking the price far too low. Buying a single Phoenix Blood Stone had cost him five hundred thousand spirit stones.
Tao Yaoye, however, nodded, considering the offer fair. Meng Jingzhou's complaint stemmed entirely from having too much money and zero practical concept of what spirit stones were worth.
"Young Master Meng, if you feel the price is low, our chamber will soon be hosting an auction," the attendant offered. "It will primarily cater to cultivators in the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages, making it an ideal venue for the Twin Conjoined Lotus. What do you think?"
Meng Jingzhou gave it some thought. "Fine by me. Put it up for auction, then."
It happened to have been quite a while since he had attended an auction anyway.
A day later, the four arrived at the auction house with their entry tokens.
The chamber of commerce had already spread the word that a Twin Conjoined Lotus would be featured, drawing a crowd of late Foundation Establishment and half-step Golden Core cultivators. Looking across the hall, nearly every face was an old acquaintance.
The auction was hosted by an extraordinary beauty who introduced herself as Xiao Yue. Her graceful, alluring figure drew every eye.
To cultivators in Demon Quelling Pass who spent their lives teetering on the edge of life and death, such a sight held immense appeal.
After a brief warm-up, the lovely host introduced the first lot.
"Our first item today is unlike anything we have offered before. In fact, throughout the entire history of auctions in Demon Quelling Pass, it is wholly unprecedented. Even I was stunned for quite a while when I first laid eyes on it."
With a flourish, she pulled away a red cloth to reveal the opening lot—a wig.
"This wig was meticulously crafted by Master Guan over three days and three nights. Wearing it not only allows you to change your hairstyle at will, but even more remarkably, it stimulates hair growth! In other words, as long as you wear it, your hair will grow back within just a few days!
"Furthermore, it is a rare dharma artifact endowed with a degree of defensive power!"
The moment the first item was unveiled, the eyes of the crowd below lit up.
These were the very people Lu Yang had shaved bald. What did they need most right now? A wig!
What a brilliant treasure!
Wig prices in Demon Quelling Pass had been soaring to absurd heights, and those were merely ordinary wigs, nowhere near the quality of the one on display.
Rather than wasting money on a common toupee, why not spend a bit more to get a superior piece?
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou remained entirely unimpressed. They had lost their hair earlier than the rest, and their scalps were already covered in a lush layer of short stubble—hardly bald anymore.
Besides, one glance was enough to tell that the craftsmanship of this wig was far inferior to Li Haoran's work.
"Starting bid: five hundred spirit stones!"
"Five hundred!"
"Six hundred!"
"Eight hundred!"
"One thousand spirit stones!"
The bidding quickly surged to a thousand spirit stones—a figure once unimaginable.
A thousand spirit stones for a single wig was practically the absolute ceiling.
Suddenly, a voice rang out, driving the price to a brand-new peak.
"One thousand five hundred spirit stones!"
The crowd turned toward the sound and saw Duan Hongchen of the Heaven-Questioning Blade—the very first man to take Lu Yang's Arhat Fist!
As a half-step Golden Core cultivator, Duan Hongchen had deep pockets. Fifteen hundred spirit stones for a wig that let him choose any hairstyle he wanted was worth every coin!
"Our second lot is a bottle of pills crafted by Master Wu Ming, an alchemy master of the Dao Seeking Sect!"
"Senior Brother Wu?" Lu Yang froze upon hearing the familiar name. He knew Senior Brother Wu all too well; the Ten-Ox-Strength Pill had come from his hands.
Whether concocting pills or refining poisons, Senior Brother Wu always held his own eccentric philosophies.
A murmur swept through the audience.
"An item from the Dao Seeking Sect?"
"Treasures from the Five Great Immortal Sects almost never circulate outside! It's guaranteed to be extraordinary!"
"I wonder what the pill does."
"How long has it been since something made by the Five Great Immortal Sects surfaced? The last one was from the Five Elements Sect. I hear the Dao Seeking Sect is even stronger than the Five Elements Sect, so this is bound to be remarkable!"
Evidently, most low-level cultivators knew very little about the Dao Seeking Sect.
The lovely host brought out a jade vial containing several grayish-brown pills. Three distinct pill patterns ringed each one, and a rich fragrance wafted out, immediately signaling their superior quality.
"This is a bottle of Fasting Pills."
Groans of disappointment rippled through the hall. The second item was a letdown.
The Dao Seeking Sect might be incredible, but so what? Could they somehow concoct Fasting Pills in different flavors?
The host was not at all surprised by their reaction; it was entirely expected.
Smiling faintly, she explained, "When fellow Daoists hunt demon beasts in the dense forest, the most common tactic is poisoning. Yet beasts possess sharp instincts, able to distinguish safe food from danger, and instinctively steer clear of toxins.
"That is where these Fasting Pills come into play.
"These are no ordinary Fasting Pills. To call them medicine would be less accurate than calling them poison—or rather, they are pills that act with the effect of lethal poison.
"Their potency is several thousand, even tens of thousands of times greater than an ordinary Fasting Pill.
"Just consider what happens when a demon beast swallows one. It is equivalent to consuming tens of millions of Fasting Pills all at once, far exceeding what any beast's body can withstand. It will instantly rupture its stomach—
"Or, in plain terms, it will burst from overeating."
A sharp collective gasp echoed through the room. Not a single soul had imagined Fasting Pills could ever be used like that.
"I bet Senior Brother Wu made a blunder while refining pills, ended up with this weird batch, and put them up for sale just to recoup his losses," Lu Yang deduced reasonably.
"That definitely sounds like something Senior Brother Wu would do."
Unaware of Wu Ming's true reputation, the rest of the bidders assumed this was an ingenious creation crafted with meticulous care by a master alchemist—and backed by the prestige of the Dao Seeking Sect, its quality seemed beyond doubt.
Before long, the bottle of belly-bursting Fasting Pills was auctioned off for six thousand spirit stones, claimed by a Golden Core cultivator.
As disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect, Lu Yang and his companions had seen plenty of wondrous treasures. The next few auction items proved thoroughly mundane, failing to hold their interest.
"Our sixth lot is a strip of red silk. Its era is unknown, and its fabric remains unidentified."
The lovely host displayed the sixth item: a long ribbon of red silk.
"Huh? That looks rather familiar," the Immortal Fairy murmured in surprise.
Chapter 257