Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

Shopkeeper Chang waved his hand, and a flying sword rose into the air. Then he slowly injected spiritual power into the flying sword. The flying sword emitted a dazzling light, and a powerful aura came towards him.

"A top-grade magic weapon!" The participants below exclaimed in surprise. Such a good thing was brought out at the beginning. It seemed that they had come to the right place this time, and they were even more looking forward to the auction items later.

"That's right, a top-grade flying sword. The starting price is five hundred spirit stones, and the bid increases by fifty each time." Chang Qing was very satisfied with everyone's reaction. It seemed that the strategy of taking out the top-grade product first was wise to whet everyone's appetite.

"Five hundred and fifty!"

"Six hundred!"

"Six hundred and fifty!"

As soon as Shopkeeper Chang finished speaking, some people below couldn't wait to start quoting prices. The place instantly became lively, with waves of quotes coming one after another.

Liu Xing did not participate in the auction. He had no shortage of top-grade flying swords, but he was very excited and looked forward to the following auction items.

"One thousand one hundred yuan!" Suddenly someone made a big bid, and finally no one else raised the price.

"One thousand and one hundred yuan, anyone else want to bid further?" Shopkeeper Chang continued to tempt everyone. However, everyone present was eager to pay. The price of a top-grade magical weapon was between eight hundred and one thousand yuan, and one thousand and one hundred yuan was already slightly overpriced, so no one raised the price. After half a minute of silence, Shopkeeper Chang finally announced the ownership of the flying sword: "Congratulations, fellow Taoist! Please come up to the stage and hand it over!" A cultivator in the early stages of foundation building happily stepped up to the stage and bid one thousand and one hundred spirit stones for the top-grade flying sword. Although this had cost him a fortune, nearly bankrupting him, the top-grade magical weapon gave him a little more confidence in his fights. Money was only a superficial possession, and naturally, it was not as important as a magical weapon that could save his life.

Shopkeeper Chang was also quite happy. The first magic weapon exceeded the market price, so he immediately started the auction of the next item.

"Two kilograms of copper essence, a precious material for refining tools. The starting price is two hundred, and the price can be increased by twenty each time." Copper essence is an important precious material for refining high-grade magical tools. It is extremely difficult to mine, and it is rare to see such a large piece. Therefore, there was another round of competition and bidding, and finally it was bought by a red-faced man for four hundred spirit stones.

"A piece of two hundred year old blood mulberry wood, starting price two hundred yuan, increment of twenty yuan each time." Shopkeeper Chang quickly took out another piece of precious material and started the auction.

Then, they brought out precious medicinal herbs such as 500-year-old Ganoderma lucidum and 600-year-old blood ginseng for auction, causing a sensation in the audience. Liu Xing didn't bid, but he watched with great interest, which was considered an eye-opener.

"Next, a set of puppets will be auctioned." Chang Qing produced five palm-sized puppets. After casting a spell, the puppets grew larger and landed on the ground. One was ape-shaped, and four were lizard-shaped, each half the height of a human. The puppets had been pre-installed with spirit stones. The monkeys performed somersaults, and the lizards spit out blue balls of light, their attack power at the level of Qi training at the seventh or eighth level. However, these puppets were clearly incomplete: the monkey was missing an arm, and one of the lizards had a broken tail, and their movements seemed a bit choppy.

"These puppets were obtained from an unknown cave. They are all a bit damaged and their power has been greatly reduced. If they can be repaired successfully, they can have the power of the Foundation Establishment Stage and will be a good helper in fighting and self-defense. The starting price is 500, and the price will increase by 50 each time." Chang Qing finished the display and began to introduce the products. Although his voice was still seductive this time, he seemed a little unsure.

"Such a rotten piece of wood is sold at such a high price. Is Tongda Chamber of Commerce crazy?" Everyone present was a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage. The power of these puppets was too low. They were too useless to them and they had no interest in them. So some people shouted in dissatisfaction.

"That's right, that's right. It's so weak, what use is it to us? Take it away quickly and replace it with another auction item." Others started to make a fuss. No one was a fool. Who would be willing to buy a few pieces of junk?

"Change quickly, don't waste everyone's time."

"Change it quickly, no one wants it."

"My fellow Taoists, please be patient. If no one is willing to bid within half a minute, we will immediately switch to another auction item." Chang Qing was also a little embarrassed and said unnaturally.

"Five hundred, I want them." A voice suddenly rang out from the second-floor private room. Everyone fell silent. Someone had truly been fooled. Suspiciously, everyone carefully examined the puppet beasts, but found nothing unusual. Liu Xing flew out of the private room and approached the podium. He handed over five hundred spirit stones, and with a wave of his hand, the five mechanical puppet beasts were put away.

"So you're Dongfang Keqing. Thank you for your generosity." Chang Qing recognized Liu Xing and sent a voice message to express his gratitude. He thought Liu Xing was there to save the situation and relieve his embarrassment. He was grateful and felt a little more favorable towards Liu Xing. Liu Xing nodded to him and returned to his box without saying anything else.

In fact, Liu Xing's eyes lit up the moment the mechanical puppet beast was presented, and he vowed to acquire it. He'd expected fierce competition and was prepared to pay a price, but he'd never expected such an easy acquisition. After reading numerous books and case studies, he concluded that puppets were the best companions on the path to immortal cultivation. They were absolutely loyal and incapable of betrayal, making them more reliable than any spiritual pet, or even a disciple or family member. They were powered by external forces like spirit stones, requiring no mana, making them far less troublesome than any magical instrument. Puppets were controlled by spiritual consciousness; the stronger the spiritual consciousness, the more and stronger the puppets one could control. Cultivators who employed puppets possessed powerful spiritual consciousness, but cultivation techniques that could enhance it were few and far between, and cultivators naturally endowed with strong spiritual consciousness were even rarer. This resulted in a shortage of cultivators dedicated to the study of mechanical puppets. The puppets they crafted were too weak to be of any use, and creating too many puppets was difficult for them to control. Gradually, fewer and fewer people pursued the path of puppetry.

Liu Xing had long been interested in the art of puppetry, but had never had the opportunity to learn the relevant techniques. His only acquisition was a book on "Mechanical Puppetry," purchased from the West District's Scripture Library, but he hadn't yet begun studying it. This time, he had acquired five more puppet beasts, and he would definitely study them thoroughly when he got back. Scarcity makes things valuable, and Liu Xing deeply understood this principle. The rarer and harder to find a puppet-making method, the more valuable it proved. The less attention was paid to a field, the more likely it was to unexpectedly achieve great success. Therefore, Liu Xing paid close attention to information related to puppetry, and whenever he came across it, he would not let it go. So, when he bought the puppets, it wasn't really to help Chang Qing, but entirely for himself. He hadn't expected everyone to treat these damaged puppets so poorly. After a moment's surprise, he finally paid a very small price to buy them, which was beyond his expectations. He currently sat in his private room, caressing the puppets, unable to let go. He felt as if everyone else was blind, truly sober while everyone else was drunk, clear while everyone else was muddy.