Chapter 66
The Nameless Pavilion’s grand auction announcement was for items that had long failed to find an owner on the Marketplace Board, left behind as Dead Stock.
An unidentified Cultivator going by the name Nameless Pavilion would personally collect and appraise them before officially putting them up for auction.
The Dao Friends of the Nameless Forum no longer had to gamble on buying items, anxiously worrying about being deceived by scammers' posts and blowing their Spirit Stones.
All items posted under the name of the Nameless Pavilion were genuine goods that had undergone thorough verification.
This was because they even kindly provided the detailed histories and hidden aspects of the items.
“Nameless!!!”
Soon, a desperate scream burst from Baek-Cheong’s mouth.
It was because she remembered the unidentified Five Elements Banner she had bought by blowing 10 High-High-Grade Spirit Stones, driven solely by her firm belief that it was an item belonging to the Five Elements Spirit Root Holder Dao Friend who had ascended just recently.
[I should have waited a few more days and bought it after it was verified by the Nameless Pavilion!]
But it was already spilled water, and she could only resent her own instincts for committing an impulse purchase.
Moreover, the start of the grand auction was right around the corner, and the time limit was strictly restricted to a very short 12 Shijin, so there was no time to delay by dwelling on past mistakes.
[I have to salvage something here at least!]
Clutching her bitter stomach, Baek-Cheong quickly entered the Marketplace Board.
The scenery of the Marketplace Board was distinctly different from usual.
The miscellaneous sales posts from Dao Friends had completely vanished, and only auction posts bearing the Fixed Name of the Nameless Pavilion densely filled the Marketplace Board.
“Let’s see… There are over a hundred.”
The sheer number of items was overwhelming, but the details of the items she checked one by one were astonishing.
“Nameless Pavilion: Nine Nether Obsidian Sword. Starting price 100 High-High-Grade Spirit Stones.”
[A Flying Sword refined from the fragments of a demonic sword used by a Demonic Great Power of the Upper Realm. A single strike can cleave even the Nascent Soul of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.]
“Nameless Pavilion: Ten-Thousand-Year Jade Ginseng. Starting price 300 High-High-Grade Spirit Stones.”
[A spirit herb that has turned into jade after over ten thousand years. One of the materials for a Soul Transformation Breakthrough.]
Most of them were tremendous treasures that Great Cultivators at the Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation stages would covet.
Even their starting prices boasted dozens of High-High-Grade Spirit Stones.
Even so, the moment an auction post went up, hundreds of bidders flocked in, and the asking prices skyrocketed madly into the hundreds.
Even items with relatively manageable starting prices of around one High-Grade Spirit Stone quickly turned into battles of pride among Dao Friends, easily slapping on price tags of dozens of High-High-Grade Spirit Stones in an instant.
[Were there this many Great Cultivator Dao Friends in the Nameless Forum?]
Baek-Cheong unconsciously felt intimidated as she confirmed the presence of the Great Cultivator Dao Friends.
The Nameless Pavilion’s grand auction was essentially a playground for Great Cultivator Dao Friends encompassing the entire Lower Realm.
“I should just look around…”
With the mindset of at least enjoying the sights, she browsed through the auctions of the incredible items.
Occasionally, she found relatively modest items starting from Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, High-Grade Spirit Stone, but even these faced fierce competition, with their asking prices quickly jumping into the High-Grade Spirit Stone range.
While she was interestingly browsing the Marketplace and scrolling down to the next page.
She discovered a single, shabby auction post that was uniquely playing around in the Low-Grade Spirit Stone range.
“Nameless Pavilion: Jinmun Formation Diagram. Starting price 10 Low-Low-Grade Spirit Stones.”
[Formation Introduction Manual.]
“Huh?”
Baek-Cheong tilted her head as she checked the post.
Unlike the auction items she had seen so far, it had a concise description and a trivial price of 10 Low-Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
It was no different from the treatment of something rolling around in an Immortal Village, which was a tier below an Immortal City.
Nevertheless, there were traces of the asking price going back and forth a few times, so the price had slightly risen to 2 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.
[A Formation Introduction Manual… Is it like the basic books scattered around the Hundred Scriptures Pavilion?]
Suddenly, the existence of the Five Elements Banner popped into Baek-Cheong’s mind.
It felt like she would need the help of Formations to figure out the usage of the Five Elements Banner.
Anyway, the Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones she had earned from selling off the Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pills and receiving allowance from her relatives were piled up to the brim on her Storage Platform.
It was a burdenless price, and if it was an item the Nameless Pavilion had specifically included in the grand auction lineup, she had a slight expectation that, unlike its outward appearance, some special substance might be hidden inside.
[Nothing to lose.]
Baek-Cheong pressed bid with a light heart.
[Dao Friend (913.14) has bid.]
[Bid price: 3 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
Just as she completed the bid and was about to leisurely press go back.
[Dao Friend (33.3) has bid.]
[Bid price: 4 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
As soon as Baek-Cheong bid, someone updated the asking price without a hint of hesitation, as if tailing her.
Baek-Cheong felt a slight flare of temper but calmly controlled her emotions and called out another asking price.
[Dao Friend (913.14) has bid.]
[Bid price: 6 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
[Dao Friend (33.3) has bid.]
[Bid price: 7 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
As if waiting for it, the other party raised the asking price by a narrow margin again, overwriting her bid.
A surge of annoyance flared up in Baek-Cheong, and this time she called out a price inflated by double.
[Dao Friend (913.14) has bid.]
[Bid price: 14 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
[Dao Friend (33.3) has bid.]
[Bid price: 15 Mid-Mid-Grade Spirit Stones]
Dao Friend (33.3) still persistently tailed her, adding just one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.
At this point, regardless of the item’s value, she wanted to crush this obnoxious Dao Friend who was grating on her nerves with sheer financial power.
“How dare you!!!”
With fire in her eyes, Baek-Cheong slammed a price into the Bid Price Input Field.
[Dao Friend (913.14) has bid.]
[Bid price: 1 High-Grade Spirit Stone]
In an instant, the price became several times higher.
It was no different from madness to pour that much into a Formation Introduction Manual, but the feeling of superiority was absolute.
Perhaps intimidated by her ruthless capital, Dao Friend (33.3), who had been persistently tailing her, no longer raised the bid price.
The remaining time passed smoothly, and finally, the Auction End Notification popped up.
[Dao Friend (913.14)'s auction has been won.]
[Final Winning Bid Price: 1 High-Grade Spirit Stone.]
“Acting all cocky.”
Baek-Cheong snorted triumphantly, muttering about how a poor Dao Friend dared to arrogantly follow her.
And before checking the Jinmun Formation Diagram that had been transmitted to her Storage Platform, she left the auction post and moved over to the Chat Board to write a post.
At the same time, a post by Dao Friend (33.3) at the very top of the board caught her eye.
“Dao Friend (33.3): Some stupid Sucker Dao Friend bought the Jinmun Formation Diagram for 1 High-Grade Spirit Stone lol.”
[That thing is only a Formation Introduction Manual in name; in reality, it’s just a chart packed with scraps of Ancient Glyphs used in Formations, so it’s incredibly difficult. Even if you memorize them all, it’s hard to grasp the principles that lead to Formations, so it’s an item that’s been floating around the Nameless Forum Marketplace for hundreds of years. A fledgling Dao Friend got baited and made a donation to the Nameless Pavilion lol.]
As soon as Baek-Cheong saw the mockery, her face flushed bright red.
They had deliberately and obnoxiously raised the asking price to bait her and hype it up.
“You… You jerk!”
Furious, Baek-Cheong was about to leave a reply full of profanity right then and there, but she halted her Divine Sense.
With a sliver of hope, she took out the Jinmun Formation Diagram transmitted to her Storage Platform and unrolled it.
Inside the old, thick Parchment Scroll, just as Dao Friend (33.3) had mocked, there wasn’t a single line of explanation or kind commentary written.
There were only thousands of Ancient Glyphs, geometric and esoteric ancient character forms, densely listed.
For example, it was like having only consonants and vowels listed.
Just as knowing consonants and vowels doesn’t immediately allow one to speak a language fluently or understand complex literary works, memorizing this glyph chart by rote to awaken to the Mysteries of Formations was no different from plucking a star from the sky.
“Ah… Just you wait.”
With a despairing expression, Baek-Cheong blankly scanned down the glyph charts of the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
A glyph containing the energy of fire, a glyph that distorts space, a glyph that binds energy, and so on.
Among the characters whose meanings she couldn’t understand, she tried to draw a Formation by combining a few simple-looking glyphs.
However, just like Dao Friend (33.3)'s mockery, it was not an easy task.
The glyphs did not assimilate with the Flow of Qi at all and merely scattered meaninglessly.
[Ugh, I was crazy. Losing my temper over this trash…]
Just as she was about to close the Jinmun Formation Diagram while blaming herself.
A bizarre sense of déjà vu suddenly flashed through her mind.
[But these characters… The way they’re arranged and combined feels incredibly familiar for some reason?]
With a furrowed brow, Baek-Cheong stared intently at the glyphs of the Jinmun Formation Diagram and fell into deep thought.
Thousands of Ancient Glyphs, and the unique properties and powers each character held.
And the principle of combining and weaving the characters to manifest a single, completed phenomenon.
“…Huh?”
Realizing something, Baek-Cheong stood up from her Seat.
Following that, she realized the true nature of the déjà vu and voiced it out loud.
“Ah, the Spell Thousand Character Classic!”
It was similar to an educational comic she had enjoyed reading during her childhood in her past life.
It matched the exact principles of that famous comic where they cast spells by shouting the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese characters.
Though a direct comparison showed they were slightly different in nuance.
“Heheh, then it’s nothing special, right?”
Clutching the Jinmun Formation Diagram, Baek-Cheong couldn’t stop the laughter leaking out.
Because the Jinmun Formation Diagram, which she thought she had been scammed into buying, was no different from child’s play to her.