Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 103 The Heavenly Thunder Manual

Soon, under the guidance of the alluring female auctioneer 'Xue Chang', the new Lanting Auction officially began!
However, apart from the 'Energy Tower,' an E-class mechanical race technology weapon used to warm up the auction at the beginning, which was highly sought after and sold for a high price of over a thousand mixed units,

The overall quality of this auction was significantly lower than that of the previous one.

During the nearly ten-day auction, Qi Yuan learned a lot from the female auctioneer's explanations, but there weren't many items that truly tempted him to make a purchase.

Even when the final hundred items were presented, Qi Yuan had only managed to acquire 10 units of Lan Ke Fruit, two 'Bernar' metal lifeforms, and a fifth-tier psychic weapon called 'Yan Dao Disc' that was very suitable for array masters.

Just when everyone thought that was all the good stuff from the auction, one of the last hundred items to be auctioned finally caught Qi Yuan's attention.

"Next item to be auctioned—"

An opportunity to learn the special secret technique "Nine Chapters of Lightning," which can be used to aid in comprehending the laws of lightning!

The woman in the red dress on the auction stage announced loudly,

"Most of you have probably heard of the name 'Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning.' It is a cultivation secret method that is extremely suitable for assisting in comprehending the laws of thunder and lightning. Its creator is an immortal powerhouse with extremely high attainments in the way of thunder and lightning."

He recorded his many insights into the laws of lightning in this "Nine Chapters of Lightning" in an extremely simple and easy-to-understand way, so as to help cultivators more easily comprehend the mysteries of the laws of lightning. The opening section of the "Nine Chapters of Lightning" has now been sent to your token screens. You can try to experience it for yourselves and see if it resonates with you.”

"Money has a price, but secret techniques are priceless! Are you often troubled by the lack of suitable secret techniques to inherit? At this auction, we have joined forces with major companies to offer a batch of precious secret techniques learning opportunities."

"There are 10 learning slots for this 'Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning'. You can use it yourself or give it to your disciples or clansmen, but it can only be used by one person. Moreover, you must register and verify your identity in the virtual universe. It is strictly forbidden to distribute it outside the network."

"Ten slots are available, with a starting bid of 10 Mixed Yuan Units for each slot. Bidding increments must be multiples of Mixed Yuan Units. The top ten bidders will win all slots. Now you can start bidding!"

As the clear voice of the red-dressed auctioneer, Xue Chang, faded away, a slight commotion arose in the auction hall.

The auctioneer, 'Snow Robe,' is right. Money has a price, but secret techniques are priceless.

Secret techniques, the culmination of a lifetime of research by powerful individuals, are something they would never easily pass on to outsiders.

In particular, the legacy created by immortal beings is rarely seen outside the world.

After all, in a vast universe, there are normally only about ten thousand immortals.

Of these ten thousand or so immortals, how many would be willing to pass on the secret techniques they had painstakingly created?

Moreover, even if they were to impart their knowledge, they would inevitably demand a huge reward.

The concept of "sweeping one's own worn-out broom" from the previous life is even more vividly demonstrated in this world.

It's estimated that only core members of behemoth organizations like Virtual Universe Corporation can freely exchange for various secret techniques they desire in the company's treasury.

Moreover, even for them, exchanging for secret techniques requires spending a considerable amount of points.

As for the countless ordinary cultivators outside, they didn't even have the opportunity to exchange for it.

Just like the 10 spots for comprehending "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning" released by the official auction, the starting price is as high as 10 Hunyuan units. Moreover, even if you win the bid, it can only be used by one person and is strictly prohibited from being distributed outside.

This shows how precious and scarce a suitable secret technique is for the vast majority of ordinary cultivators in this world!
Meanwhile, Qi Yuan, seated in his seat, was also filled with great interest as he looked at the opening introduction of "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning" on the token screen.

Currently, his five personal disciples, as well as Yuan Mu, Mi Leiya, Xue Lan Changfeng, and others, all possess considerable talent in array formations and have corresponding "Eight Arrays" manuals for reference and study.

However, the eldest disciple Cang Fan and the second disciple Liao Li lacked the talent in this area and had always lacked a suitable cultivation method.

Judging from the introduction at the beginning, this book, "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning," is quite suitable as a 'learning material' for these two disciples before they reach the Immortal Realm.

"The price for learning these secret techniques must be quite high. I wonder if we have enough money prepared this time."

Qi Yuan looked at the huge screen in the center of the auction stage. After the auctioneer 'Xue Chang' announced the start of the bidding, the numbers on the screen were constantly refreshing at an extremely fast pace.

12 Mixed Units 15 Mixed Units 18 Mixed Units
In the blink of an eye, the number on the screen had already doubled from the starting bid, and it was still rising.

Upon seeing this, Qi Yuan immediately became anxious.

In order to participate in this auction, he not only disposed of most of the spoils from the last annihilation of the Flame Blade Merchant Guild, but also dispersed several 'Life Fruits' through several different channels, which barely allowed him to gather more than thirty Mixed Yuan Units.

If prices keep rising like this, his savings might not be able to cover them.
Fortunately, the upward momentum of the price on the screen gradually slowed down after it exceeded 20 units of mixed energy.

25 Mixed Units 26 Mixed Units 27 Mixed Units
Later on, the price increase on the screen became extremely slow, sometimes only changing once in a long while.

This is not difficult to understand.

After all, a decent ordinary realm lord's entire fortune is only around 10 Chaos Units. This price is far beyond the purchasing power of most ordinary realm lords. As for those top realm lords who truly possess hundreds of Chaos Units or more, they probably already have similar secret techniques and wouldn't have much need for the "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning".

Those who actually participate in the bidding are probably only some realm lords who are 'too picky for high-end positions to accept low-end ones'.
Finally, when the female auctioneer announced the end of this round of bidding, the price on the screen was fixed at 33 Mixed Yuan Units, which just emptied all of Qi Yuan's cash savings!
However, spending 33 Hunyuan in exchange for an excellent secret technique that could help his disciples cultivate faster, Qi Yuan felt it was a very worthwhile investment.

Moreover, his ultimate goal was not just this "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning," but the return reward he would receive as a gift!
After securing a spot in "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning," Qi Yuan's cash reserves were depleted, leaving him with no further opportunities to bid.

While casually watching the auction process of each final item, he was simultaneously inputting the virtual universe number and other information bound to Liao Li's consciousness into the token screen, following the prompts sent to it.

Liao Li, being the disciple with the highest base return rate among Qi Yuan's current lightning-attribute disciples, was naturally the first choice for Qi Yuan to teach the "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning".

Ten days later, in the open space in front of the Red Leaf Star Temple.

A dark red triangular spaceship slowly descended.

As the spaceship's hatch opened, three people in silver uniforms flew out.

When Qi Yuan saw the bald middle-aged man who was the leader of the three, his eyes flickered slightly.

Among the delivery personnel for this Lanting Auction was a powerful Realm Lord leading the escort team.

"Dear guest, the items you purchased at Lanting Auction House have been delivered. However, in addition to verifying your identity, one of the items also requires verification of another person's information. During this process, I will activate virtual universe synchronous transmission to supervise the transaction."

The bald, middle-aged world lord smiled and spoke to Qi Yuan.

"I see."

Qi Yuan nodded with a faint smile.

Liao Li, who was standing next to him, took a few steps forward.

"drop!"

The bald, middle-aged man first scanned Liao Li with a black device, then pointed to a black metal plate about a foot long next to her and said, "Please scan this area with your mental power."

After Liao Li did as instructed, a green light immediately shone on the metal plate.

"Identity verification complete. Here are the items you purchased. Please keep them safe."

The bald, middle-aged world lord smiled and presented several silver-white boxes of varying sizes to Qi Yuan and his companion. "Thank you again for your support of the Lanting Auction House. The goods have been delivered, so we'll be leaving now."

He smiled and gestured to Qi Yuan and the other two, then led his two subordinates back to the triangular spaceship. Immediately afterward, the triangular spaceship soared into the sky and disappeared outside the atmosphere of Red Leaf Star in the blink of an eye.

Qi Yuan waved his hand, storing the metal boxes into his storage space, then smiled slightly at Liao Li:
"follow me."

As he spoke, he took the lead and entered the temple behind.

Liao Li, who had experienced similar scenes many times before, naturally understood what was going to happen next, and hurriedly followed with anticipation.

A moment later, in a quiet room of the Red Leaf Star Temple.

Qi Yuan took out a palm-sized, silver-white metal box. Inside the box, there was only a tiny black metal chip lying quietly.

"The contents of this chip can only be unlocked by logging in with the account bound to your consciousness. Inside is a secret cultivation technique called 'Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning,' which I specially bid a high price for for you at the Lanting Auction. It can help you comprehend the mysteries of the laws of thunder and lightning more easily."

He smiled at Liao Li, "Hehe, I spent all my cash bidding for this secret technique. You must study it carefully and not waste my efforts!"

"Teacher, rest assured, your disciple will definitely cultivate diligently and live up to your high expectations!"

Upon hearing this, Liao Li immediately bowed respectfully in gratitude and carefully took the precious black metal chip into her hand.

At that moment, a crisp notification sound from the system also rang in Qi Yuan's mind—

[Successfully gifting my disciple a copy of the "Nine Chapters of Thunder and Lightning" secret technique!]

[Base return rate 36x, return begins.]

[The gifted item has brought great joy to the disciple, triggering a 60x critical hit reward, with a final return multiplier of 2160x!]

[Reward: One copy of the "Heavenly Thunder Manual"]

The reward has been stored in the system space and can be claimed at any time.

(End of this chapter)