"The next auction item is a cultivation art that was once used by a late-Body Integration Senior who possesses a resounding reputation. Perhaps not many of you will know this Senior's name, but I'm sure all of you have heard of the Great Zhou God Vanquishing Needle. This ability has been showcased in brilliant fashion on many occasions during wars with foreign races. Different editions of this cultivation art have been released, and there are even beings from the demon race who have cultivated this secret technique. The edition of the cultivation art on offer is the very first edition that was created by the Five Spirit True Lord himself in ancient times, so I trust that I won't need to elaborate on its immense value. Most importantly, using this cultivation art will allow one to temporarily convert their own magic power into another attribute. However, there are very strict prerequisites that one must satisfy before they can use this cultivation art. Firstly, only those above the Nascent Soul Stage will be able to consider this cultivation art. Secondly, the cultivator must possess a five-elemental spiritual root.

"Of course, there are also some other conditions that must be satisfied, but those hurdles are not insurmountable, so I won't rattle them off one by one. We can guarantee that the cultivation art is complete, and the highest bidder will be able to verify that for themselves. Another thing that I have to remind everyone of is that even though this cultivation art is extremely powerful, among those who have used it, only the Five Spirit True Lord has reached the Body Integration Stage. We're not sure whether the others have simply failed to use the cultivation art properly or encountered other unforeseen troubles. In any case, most of them were didn't progress beyond the Deity Transformation Stage. However, what we do know is that this cultivation art is capable of taking one to greater heights, as evidenced by the might of the Five Spirit True Lord. That's enough talking from me. This cultivation art is known as the Yin Yang Extreme Mantra. Any fellow Daoists who are interested can begin placing bids now. The starting price is 20,000,000 spirit stones, and the minimum incremental jump is 1,000,000 spirit stones once again."

After a fluent introduction from the white-robed elderly man, the middle-aged scholar stepped forward with a smile. He produced a wooden box from his storage bracelet, within which was contained a shimmering golden jade slip. That was quite clearly the cultivation art in question.

The Great Zhou God Vanquishing Needle was truly a vastly renowned ability, and many of the cultivators present were extremely excited to see such a legendary auction item.

As for the prerequisites involved, none of the cultivators present paid them much heed.

After all, only cultivators of the Deity Transformation Stage and above could participate in this auction, so the cultivation base restriction wasn't an issue. As for possessing a five-elemental spiritual root, that was a prerequisite required to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage, so everyone was striving toward that goal already anyway. Of course, only the heavens knew how many of them would succeed in that quest.

However, the white-robed elderly man had made it very clear that this cultivation art was extremely difficult to master, and that very few people were even able to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage while using it, so that discouraged a lot of people from participating in the bidding.

Han Li was one of those people.

The Yin Yang Extreme Mantra was clearly an extremely powerful cultivation art, but the fact that it was so difficult to master immediately made Han Li lose interest in it.

In terms of power, his simultaneous cultivation art for both magic power cultivation and body refinement definitely wouldn't be inferior to the auction item.

Furthermore, 20,000,000 spirit stones as a base price was far too hefty for him to consider purchasing it for novelty purposes.

However, there was no lack of cultivators present who thought themselves to possess exceptional aptitude, and they remained quite interested in this cultivation art. The price of 20,000,000 spirit stones naturally did deter some people from participating in the bidding, but after just two rounds, a cold voice suddenly sounded. "40,000,000!"

Everyone's eyes immediately widened upon hearing this.

The bidder was none other than the man who had been bidding against Han Li for the true spirit scales.

Not only was did his lofty bid leave all of the Deity Transformation cultivators completely dumbfounded, even the Spatial Tempering cultivators who were interested in the cultivation art fell completely silent.

Everyone was wondering just who this person was to possess such incredible wealth. Such a vast quantity of spirit stones was most likely equivalent to the net worth of the average Spatial Tempering cultivator.

Han Li was also feeling rather curious, but this matter didn't have anything to do with him, so he didn't think too much about it.

Seeing as the cultivation art had been sold, the auction naturally drew to a conclusion.

In the instant that the auction concluded, all of the restrictions on the stone cabins were activated. Han Li was teleported out of his cabin amid a flash of white light, and he appeared in a certain corridor outside the auction hall.

Spiritual light flashed in quick succession all along the entire corridor as other cultivators were also teleported there one after the other.

However, everyone was enshrouded in shimmering silver light, so no one could identify anyone else.

Han Li didn't pay any heed to the cultivators around him as he strode directly toward the gate of the Profound Zenith Hall.

The auction was already over, yet he wasn't planning to return to the stone tower. Instead, he was preparing to depart from Deep Heaven City and return to his own cave abode.

There was half a year until he would be deployed on his next bout of patrol duty and during that time, he had to refine some spirit medicines. As a starting point, he had to refine a batch of Clearjade Pills. With a steady supply of those pills, he wouldn't have to worry about his cultivation for the near future.

As for those three true spirit scales, he wasn't going to refine them in any rush.

He was going to conduct some research on them first so they wouldn't go to waste.

After exiting the Profound Zenith Hall, Han Li flew over the tall city walls and traveled toward the barren land in the distance. At this moment, there were two people situated within a secret chamber that was enshrouded under many layers of restrictions in the Profound Zenith Hall.

One of them was a benevolent-looking old man in a set of white robes with his hands clasped behind his back, and a respectful look on his face. He was none other than the elderly man with the Chi surname.

Seated in a casual manner on the stone chair before the elderly man was a handsome young man in a set of purple robes.

There was a vibrant red mole near the corner of his lips that was particularly eye-catching.

The elder man said in a respectful manner, "Don't worry, my lord, even though that person used a secret technique to obscure his features, your lowly servant's Purple Light Spirit Eyes was able to see through the disguise with ease. The one who secured the Yin Yang Extreme Mantra was definitely a female cultivator. However, she looked nothing like the portraits of the women you gave to me. Instead, she was extremely hideous." This vastly renowned tool refinement master of Deep Heaven City was referring to himself as a lowly servant in the face of this young man. If other cultivators in the city were to witness this interaction, their jaws would most likely drop to the ground.

A faint smile appeared on the young man's face upon hearing this.

"There's no need to be confused, Old Man Chi. A female cultivator capable of offering such a vast amount of spirit stones at once to purchase a cultivation art has to be from either the Ye Family or the Gu Family. Like our Long Family, both of these families are obscure true spirit families descended from ancient times, and the true spirit bloodlines being passed down in those two families can only be inherited by women. We have control over the auction houses all over the three human regions, yet they have control over an astonishing number of top-grade spirit stone mines. It's just that neither of those families has many members and very few of them are active in the outside world, so it's always been a secret which true spirit bloodline they've inherited. Now, it looks like one of the families has most likely inherited the heavenly phoenix bloodline, which is one of the most powerful bloodlines in the Spirit Realm, just like our family's true dragon bloodline. It appears we've made the correct gamble this time; the members of those obscure true spirit families really will lurk in Deep Heaven City in disguise for a period of time to train themselves," the young man analyzed in a confident manner.

"You have a brilliant tactical mind, my lord! The Yin Yang Extreme Mantra is of extreme importance to those with the heavenly phoenix bloodline. After all, only top-grade cultivation arts that make use of all five elemental powers can completely activate the bloodline of the heavenly phoenix. How is she supposed to know that this cultivation art is a massive trap that was set in ancient times?" the white-robed elderly man chuckled.

"Hehe, the wisdom of our ancestors is certainly not something we can match. If it weren't for the fact that the true dragon bloodline is far stronger in my body than in our forefathers, those old bastards from our family wouldn't have lent me their support. In order to avoid arousing suspicions from our target, we've even brought out our black Qilin scales and Sea Razing Halberd to be auctioned off. Our scouts also intentionally leaked this information to the members of the true spirit families beforehand. Otherwise, our plan wouldn't have progressed so smoothly. Thankfully, the treasures fetched good prices, and one of them even raked in five myriad year spirit herbs, so we haven't incurred too severe of a loss. By the way, have you figured out the origins of the cultivator that purchased the true spirit scales?" the young man asked.

"My lord, as you know, this lowly servant's Purple Light Spirit Eyes can only be unleashed a total of three times in my life. I wouldn't dare to use the final opportunity on someone else. I could only sense that he wasn't a Spatial Tempering cultivator, and that his cultivation base was only at the Deity Transformation Stage. However, he most likely possesses more than just those five spirit herbs. Could it be that's from the Run family? The bloodline of the Run family isn't all that impressive, but they're truly frontrunners of the human race when it comes to nurturing spirit herbs," the elderly man mused with a serious expression.

"That's indeed a possibility. If that person really from the Run Family, then so be it. The Run Family is a true spirit family with their allegiance pledged to the Heavenly Spirit Sovereign, so we can't afford to mess with them at the moment," the young man said with furrowed brows.

"Indeed, my lord. Even though our family doesn't fear the three emperors, it wouldn't be worth it to make one of them our enemy just for a few spirit herbs," the elderly man chimed in as he nodded emphatically.

A thought suddenly occurred to the young man, and he turned to the elderly man with a benevolent expression as he said, "Using your Purple Light Spirit Eyes must've harmed your cultivation base, right? After I take care of matters here, I'll hold a blood sacrifice ceremony for you to give your cultivation base a boost."

"Thank you for your kindness, my lord!" The elderly man hurriedly extended an overjoyed bow.

The young man nodded with a pleased expression before falling into deep thought about something.

Several days later, Han Li had reached the mountain ranges were his cave abode was situated. Over 500 kilometers away from his cave abode, there were two people locked in a tense showdown with one another.