Xing Yi was shaking. His heart was beating fast and sweat formed in his palms, which he wiped upon the chair arm rest. He proceeded to take a deep breath. Even with a pair of lungs full of air, he still felt like he was suffocating.

Taking a look around the hall, he saw that no one had moved yet and now was the moment for him to move. He grabbed the leather bag at his side with a tight grip and stood up. As he walked through his aisle in the many rows of seating and out into the main walkway, he mentally went through what he was going to say.

The white light of the stage dyed his figure as he walked up the steep steps that led upward to the stage. He momentarily squinted his eyes in pain in response to the bright light but moved onward, finding a place at the front of the stage. He looked side to side, trying to peer into the crowd but was unable to find anything but black darkness. Xing Yi let out one final deep breath before he pulled out a thick book from the leather bag.

“Greetings, fellow cultivators!” Xing Yi’s voice slightly quivered as he greeted the crowd. The only response was silence. He licked his lips and stroked his hand over the book to relieve himself.

“I am looking to sell this book right here.” Xing Yi gestured to the item as he held it up.

“This book in my hand is written by a Core Formation master, detailing how to correctly prepare for a breakthrough to foundation establishment,” Xing Yi, after saying this, felt as if he was suddenly being paid more attention.

“Foundation establishment is highly coveted by all who have not yet made that step. After all, who doesn’t want to live an extra fifty years? To be respected by all cultivators at vessel cleansing? To be able to instantly join a sect with a single breakthrough-“

Xing Yi paused, forgetting his words. He awkwardly stood in place for a few seconds before he continued. His nerves were really getting to him. Having to stand up in front of a crowd of cultivators in which any one of them could kill him with ease was terrifying. And they were all looking at him.

“-That’s why any cultivator that wishes to reach foundation establishment must have this book. I am willing to sell this book for two spiritual stones and no lower,” Xing Yi finished his speech and waited expectantly for a buyer to speak up.

It was briefly silent for a moment until one person spoke up.

“Two spiritual stones? That’s not a bad price for such valuable information. I’ll gladly take this book out of your hands for that price. However, I would like to briefly flip through the book before I pay as if one were in my position then they would also be uncertain of the facts and would want to confirm it themselves.” A hooded cultivator said.

Xing Yi grinned before he walked off stage to hand him the book.

“Where are you? I couldn’t see you from on the stage,” Xing Yi said as he walked down the stairs and his eyes readjusted to the darkness.

“Here,” The hooded cultivator raised their hand. Though Xing Yi wasn’t purposely trying to, he could see that from under the hood they had the appearance of a middle-aged man with a black beard.

Xing Yi walked over and handed them the book. They proceeded to open the book and flip through the pages. After a few moments, they nodded their head in satisfaction and summoned a few spirit stones into the air just like the other cultivator had done so earlier.

How cultivators did this was through an item called a ‘storage pouch’. They were pouches that held far more space inside them than one would think. The most common pouch that even a vagrant cultivator would possess would be the size of a chest. Meanwhile, the storage pouch of a Core Formation Master would be the size of a large house. As for Nascent Soul Ancestors, they are the size of an entire great hall with sky-high ceilings.

Xing Yi opened his leather pouch, allowing the spirit stones to fly through. He buckled it up with its metal strap. He was satisfied with how the trade went. And very happy that no one had questioned him. No one liked questions. If it wasn’t necessary, they wouldn’t ask. Everyone knew this very well. Despite obviously being a child and having no cultivation, he was able to participate in this auction with not trouble whatsoever.

Xing Yi sat back down in his seat and after him went several other people. Once they were finished, the presenter came back on stage and smiled, “The auction has finished. You may now exit through the right to be teleported to a random location outside the city or to the left to directly exit out of the auction. Farewell!”

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With that, cultivators filed out of their seats and to the right entrance. Very few went to the door on the left. This was because some people, after seeing the item they acquired, would decide to steal it from them. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen, an auction hall would often create a teleportation formation to help the buyer escape and evade any attacks from people with ill intentions. It was quite clever.

Unlike everyone else, exited to the left to the surface. This is for a few reasons. First and foremost, he would have no idea where he was if he teleported out. Cultivators can make use of a minor technique to know which direction is what just like a compass. But he didn’t have this. He could bring a compass too but he had not idea how to navigate and so teleporting out of the city would leave him completely lost.

Additionally, it didn’t seem to the outsider that he had anything worthy to steal. He was merely a small child selling books. He thought that he was not a worthwhile target to steal from.

So, walking through the wooden-archway and up a spiralling set of stairs, he found himself in a tight alleyway with a bustling street visible to his right. The other cultivators were nowhere to be seen and had already disappeared.

Xing Yi walked out onto the street and after mixing into the crowd, he let out a big sigh, thrilled that he had finally made it out of the auction. He couldn’t help but give a big grin at this small victory.

He recalled what he had been thinking a month earlier. He gave his past self a pat on the back for this. During this time, he had been theorising ways to make money and this was one of the only ways that he could make money from. All the other ones had major drawbacks or risks involved and he ended up deciding on one. It wouldn’t make him a great amount of money but he had to do with what he had.

So, Xing Yi decided to copy books from the library and sell them to vagrant cultivators. Two things that Xing Yi discovered himself was that that one, vagrant cultivators existed and two, they didn’t have access to information.

They were without masters and could only exchange information through their small social circles.

The average sect member of a sect knew several dozens of times more about cultivation than the average vagrant cultivator. When a vagrant cultivator meets a sect cultivator, the latter usually views the former as some sort of country bumpkin from out in the sticks. This information disparage between the two leads to a great disadvantage for vagrant cultivators.

With information comes progress, and without, one suffers.

However, if the Bloody Path Sect were to find out that he was copying books and selling it to vagrant cultivators, he would be labelled as a traitor and have his cultivation immediately crippled. Xing Yi wondered how they would cripple his internal cultivation or if they would even try to but he didn’t want to find out. Being kicked out of the sect would be the end of his pathetic attempt at immortality.

Finding his way out of the city, he began in a fast jog to make it back to the sect. After his breakthrough and some testing, he found out that he could sprint at his maximum speed for ten whole minutes before he gassed. And he didn’t just have a lot of stamina, he was incredibly fast. He could outrun any mortal man with ease. Even fit soldiers in the army couldn’t hold a torch to him. Xing Yi couldn’t wait to see what the next layers of external cultivation would have in surprise for him.

Recently, he felt more optimistic about external cultivation. If he could procure enough money, refine enough pills and receive enough opportunities, he could refine all twelve Principal Meridians and breakthrough to Inner Fire and gain strength that rivals that of a Foundation Establishment. It would be like pushing a boulder up against a hill. As of current, his chances were still slim but if he had more time to plan and strategize, Xing Yi would eventually find a way.