After their meal, the group traveled along the streets of Polarity City in a leisurely manner. They took a stroll down the busy streets, exploring various stalls and shops.

While Li Lang’s party was enjoying the view, he was deep in thought about whether high-quality food could aid in cultivation and why. At the same time, he was beating himself up for his shallow cultivation. The tofu pudding he had entered into Ruby couldn’t be fully analyzed. It was made from Earth-grade ingredients, which meant the Qi was in the realms of Foundation Establishment. He would have to wait for his breakthrough if he wanted the auto-analyzer to work on the pudding.

Even if it did work, I doubt it will tell me much. It’ll just be like the talismans, giving me just the material composition and Qi signature.

Like that, Li Lang absent-mindedly followed along, entering into store after store as they shopped around.

“Welcome to our treasure pavilion! Everything here is for sale. Just let me know if you need help.”

The treasure pavilion was what this world called pawn shops. It had a myriad of goods, including rare items that were hard to come by. The only caveat was that the rarity was taken into account when setting the price.

“Five orange crystals for a Foundation Pill? That’s a lot more than I thought. That’s like fifty thousand Qi-stones!” Long Yi exclaimed.

“It s-says they only t-take orange Qi crystals.”

“That’s not surprising,” Sima Xue interjected. “These are normally kept within an organization and not spread around. The currency being set is nothing unusual either. It’s set so only people with a certain amount of cultivation or background can buy it.”

Seeing Long Yi’s questioning look, Wei Ping elaborated.

“For e-experts, only Qi stones at their level are u-useful to their cultivation. While the organization sets an e-exchange price for their d-diciples, it’s not so easy in the outside world to attain higher grade Qi crystals.”

Wei Ping continued to explain the intricacies of the economy to a frowning Long Yi. The sects and organizations monopolized the Qi crystal mines, so it was hard for others to come by high-level Qi stones. They had many uses, aiding in cultivation or powering formations. It was a waste for these organizations to trade them out to just anybody.

At the same time, if the sects wanted to trade out a high number of these Qi crystals, they wouldn’t even be able to find buyers who could afford them except those from other organizations. After all, mortal currencies were useless to them.

Normally, the currency one used stayed close to their realm of cultivation. In a way, their economy was separated, with this mechanic acting as a chasm between them. It was the sects and official organizations that helped bridge that gap as renowned experts co-existed with their weaker juniors.

Their shopping trip soon came to an end when they came across a grand hall surrounded by an active crowd. The structure was as large as a castle, likely being able to host thousands within its chambers.

“Here we are. The Grand Hall of Polarity City. This is where the main auction will take place in about a month’s time. It’s also where we can see the schedule for the various auctions taking place all over the city,” Sima Xue explained.

They didn’t have to push through the crowd to be able to see a giant stone tablet hovering in the air by the entrance. It was as tall as the building itself, spanning over fifty feet. Its contents weren’t engraved, but written in an ink that shone for all to see, even during the light of day.

“There’s quite a few auctions taking place, aren’t there?” Li Lang noted as they stared up at the giant stone tablet.

“Oh look, there’s two happening tonight!” Sima Xue said. “Do you want to go for an artifact auction or one with cultivation techniques?”

The tablet had noted down not only the type of items it specialized in but also the grade of the items. Both auctions were for Earth-grade treasures.

Hmm, both are not something we can immediately use. Plus, we’d have to compete against Foundation Establishment to win anything. This means as a spectator, the decision is based on what we find more interesting.

“Which one do you guys find more interesting?” Li Lang asked, turning to his peers.

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“Hmm, shouldn’t we go for the artifacts? We wanted to buy some, right?” Long Yi answered.

“B-boss plans to c-create his own, though. Right?”

Li Lang nodded.

“It’s better to create something to fit our style than to change our style to accommodate for the tool.”

“There could still be defensive or utility artifacts,” Sima Xue chimed in.

This caused the group to quiet down as they fell into deep thought. Upon taking another glance up at the schedule, Li Lang voiced his new plan.

“They’re an hour apart. Let’s just go to both.”

“But they last for three hours at the minimum!” Sima Xue cried.

“We can just leave midway. These items aren’t something we can use now…unless there’s something you want?”

“All artifacts I use must be approved by my master.”

“In that case, we’re all just taking a look, so it won’t matter if we stay until the end or not.”

With the matter settled, the group departed for the first auction on the schedule. The one for cultivation techniques. While Li Lang had access to a colossal collection in his Crucible, they weren’t something he could access at will.

His low cultivation meant he couldn’t alter the laws of his Spirit-grade artifact. He needed to pass the trials properly to unlock the repository. Even if he could access it, Li Lang wouldn’t say no to more techniques. He knew the ones in the Crucible came from another era, and adding modern techniques to his collection wasn’t a waste at all.

The streets were crowded, so it took some time for them to arrive at the venue. Still, there was plenty of time until it started.

They stopped at the door, where a sign informed them they needed to place a deposit of five red crystals per person. Li Lang had more than enough to satisfy the requirement, so they were quickly handed badges to wear in exchange for the crystals. Each of them had a unique number on it.

Walking inside, they found the venue to be similar to a theatre, a stone building with a grand auditorium with tiered seating. At the center was a stage made of white stones. The most noticeable thing was the decorative lanterns floating by the ceiling.

Li Lang could tell it made use of an advanced application of brushweaving, drawing runes onto the air itself to produce the lighting effect. It wasn’t something he was close to accomplishing at this point in time.

The crowd slowly but surely filled in. Every single one of them was in the late stages of Energy Gathering, at the very least. In fact, the majority of them were Foundation Establishment cultivators. There weren’t any Violet Core elders at all, unless they were incognito, hiding their presence.

It wasn’t surprising, considering they wouldn’t waste time on items irrelevant to themselves. Their juniors could take care of themselves. They would likely only show up at the main event, where Saint-grade items could be found.

Li Lang’s group settled into their seats on the main floor and silently took in the atmosphere.

The auction started precisely as scheduled. All the lights dimmed except for the one right above the stage, and a woman in tidy white robes stepped onto the stage.

She wore a soothing smile that earned a positive impression on all those who saw it for the first time. It made even the most temperamental people struggle to flare up at her.

“Welcome everyone to the third cultivation knowledge session for Earth-grade techniques,” she said with a gentle voice that somehow managed to be clearly heard over the bustle of the crowd. “I am honored to be graced by the presence of all you heroes and experts gathered here tonight. I am Xiao Gao Mei, your auctioneer for today.”

Her speech caused the venue to quiet down, but she gave it an extra few seconds for people to settle completely.

“Oh, it’s Fairy Xiao! We’re in luck.”

“Shush, it’s starting.”

The auctioneer resumed her speech and this time; she began going over the rules and etiquette for the session. It was obvious the lines were something she was well versed in, likely having recited it hundreds of times. Auctioneers always had to explain the rules in case there were any newcomers.

“With that out of the way, let us jump straight into it!” she proclaimed.

At the wave of her hand, a white pedestal appeared in the center of the stage. Accompanying it was a worn cultivation manual with a frayed cover.

“Allow me to present the first item up for auction. It is a movement technique found recently in an ancient study. Its name is Whispering Strides. From our appraisal, it is a mid-tier Earth-grade technique rated as a level six technique. Thus, the starting price is fifty red crystals!”

Xiao Gao Mei gave her audience some time to digest. The chatter livened up the room.

“What’s the technique rating about?” Li Lang whispered over to his friend from Nightmoon Valley.

“It’s a simple one-to-ten scale. The higher the rating, the more efficient the technique is believed to be for its complexity. It’s an easy indicator of how refined a technique is but doesn’t tell how powerful it is.”

“Oh, I’ve never heard about it before. How about you?” Li Lang glanced over at Wei Ping.

“Just heard a l-little about it before. O-Only Earth-grade techniques are rated, s-so I hadn’t d-dug too deep.”

“It’s only really ever used in auctions or for organization in large sect libraries,” Sima Xue continued. “It’s something arbitrarily decided by several experts, so it’s not that important usually. Though, as you can see, they care about details like that in an auction.”

The auction proceeded as people began bidding for the item while Li Lang’s group conversed quietly. Things heated up as demonic factions bid against orthodox ones.

It was fine, as they were here as spectators, so they did exactly that. That was until Li Lang heard the description of the next technique.

I want that!