Equal compensation

As Lingyun had anticipated the competition ramped up when the Yin Essense stones went up for auction. He had to buy some not for himself but for his "disciple." While he had his own source of pure yin qi, Linghua didn't and in order to keep up with his cultivation he would need resources as well.

With this in mind, he didn't hold back and offered to buy two thousand Blue Yin stones. Once again he offered a weapon technique and strength-based cultivation technique whose first and second volumes out of seven could be cultivated starting at the profound core mortal realm making it easier to establish a strong foundation for breaking through the following realms.

The value could not be understated. Unfortunately this time the competition was too stiff that they couldn't just allow him to get away with it.

"My master says to nominate someone to try it out." A murmur went through the crowd and many volunteered to be the nominee to practice this technique. It was a common consensus that any technique that had the tree emblem on it was godly.

Lingyun wouldn't just let anyone cultivate the technique, in fact, part of the reason it had been included was that he was targeting Zhangxuan. Linghua pointed him out from the crowd. As a strength-based technique, it would be crucial when they were refining the ore later.

Zhangxuan walked to the front and took the first scroll and his eyebrows rose higher as he read. Eventually, he sat down and after calming himself he began to cultivate according to the technique. It also included and secluding mechanism that eliminated any distraction from around him. So while people were talking in the crowd he might as well be in a seclusion chamber.

At the Peak of the profound core mortal one needed to refine their core with the dao rules that they had gleaned. That was mainly based on the way of life and any comprehension that they had. In blacksmith terms, your comprehension was the fire and the qi you had was the quenching liquid. The more qi and the purer the quality the easier it would be to break through to the Profound seed Realm.

After about an hour of cultivating, Zhangxuan stood up. He wasn't planning on cultivating for long. Regardless of how secluded he felt he was still in front of a crowd and cultivation was still a personal affair. To his surprise, when he stood up he could feel a change in his body.

His muscles felt tighter and overall he felt stronger. The biggest change he felt was that while the quantity had reduced in quantity its quality had increased. He would need let to accomplish much more. He had only cultivated for under an hour but he could feel the changes already if he went into seclusion for a few months ... ideas began to form in his head.

He looked over to Zhangmei and nodded and the sale was declared. By all accounts, Lingyun is now a thousand and four hundred entrance tokens.

Lingyun had achieved his goal for the auction but he was far from done. He called over the girl who was in charge of their booth and told her to deliver a message. The Ling clan was going all in. So far the competition was mostly between the Ling clan, the Blood gods sect, the Ye clan and the City lord's estate.

Each of the major powers was vying for the yin essence stones as well as the entry token. Some were even making their own deals to split the stones and the entry tokens depending on their needs.

Eventually, though people noticed that after the Ling clan had won a few bids for them they stopped bidding aggressively. Did they have fewer items to trade? That was unlikely. It would be detrimental to trade core clan techniques if you were uncertain about the gains you would get from the secret realm.

_A few minutes ago in the Ling clan booth. The elder in charge of secret techniques and the head financial elder were in charge of bidding. So far they had bid for nearly ten thousand Red yang stones, and a thousand Blue Yin stones. This was pretty much equal to the other clans. Unlike the others who traded weapons and cultivation techniques. The Ling Clan mostly traded using battle formations talismans, puppets and some weapons.

A knock came through the door and a young lady entered. According to the description she had been given she walked over to Lingfeng and handed him a piece of paper. On it was a list of items. Most were herbs and pills and below the list were the words, "I offer equal compensation." the paper had a faint white tree emblem on it.

When he showed it to the Matriarch she didn't hesitate to jump at the opportunity. If they could find a way to ally with the "White tree faction" as people had begun to call them that knowledge would be enough to offset the gains that the Zhang clan would have gained today.

Very few had noticed that some Ling clan elders had left the booth and the auction house altogether. The Ling clan sent a few bids from time to time but it was merely to keep up appearances.

Lingyun had figured that finding the ingredients he needed for the Soul nurturing Pill by himself would take too long and would arouse too much suspicion. It would be another thing however if the Ling clan was searching. Their information network was large enough and all he needed was to show them that he had something they needed which was part of the reason why he had put on an elaborate show today.

He got the reply he needed and walked out of the booth. All the stones and entry tokens he had won had been brought to him as soon as the trade had been completed. He had no further business in the auction hall. He and Linghua walked back to the waiting room from earlier. As he had anticipated Matriarch Ling was waiting for him. Alongside her were two core elders and Lingfeng.

"I won't waste my words," he waved his hands and one thousand three hundred entry tokens appeared on the table neatly arranged, "Can you offer equal compensation?"