Fang Hu crossed into the commercial district within minutes of entering the city. It was probably a good thing that Jiahao was pushing the cart, as Fang Hu was starting to wuss out. He wasn't scared of the people at the auction house or anything, it just felt like he was being rash in his actions. He started to want to not go to the auction house, but he couldn't think of a good reason not to, he was just nervous about new social experiences. That nervousness might've been foolish in his original world, but might be wise to have in Pangea. You could be killed by 'new social experiences' in this cultivator's world. Maybe a little social awkwardness could stop him from flaunting his wealth like a dumbass.

Alas, Fang Hu couldn't find a way to tactfully tell Jiahao he was a pussy. Tell Jiahao about himself being a pussy that is, if Fang Hu ever had cause to tell that to Jiahao, he'd say it straight to his face. Well, he would try to, it would probably come out as some fancy cultivator speak for 'grow a set of balls'.

As it was, Jiahao wheeled his master into the Shining Pavilion Auction House. An attendant walked towards as they entered the compound. Fang Hu could tell that the woman walking up towards them wasn't anything they couldn't handle. Handle in the fighting sense that is, neither himself nor Jiahao had much experience in dealing with women, both of them having had different goals in life than relationships. In both of their old life's that may have been viewed negatively, but it would end up serving them well in the eternal quest to cultivate.

The attendant had a sneer on her face when she saw the old cart Fang Hu rode in on. That quickly changed into her usual business smile when she noticed Fang Hu's cultivation. It wasn't the fact that Fang Hu was in the 5th stage of qi gathering, no, attendants of the auction house would oftentimes interact with foundation establishment cultivators. It was the man's qi that gave her pause, it reminded her of foundation establishment qi. She could tell that this man had extremely stable dao pillars, and probably cultivated an advanced technique. What he was doing in that cart, she couldn't tell.

"Greetings, welcome to Shining Pavilion Auction House. May I ask your purpose for coming here?"

*Wassup, I came here to buy some cultivation techniques.*

"Salutations, I have journeyed to this auction house to acquire a few cultivation techniques."

"Cultivation techniques? Forgive me, but, if I might be so bold, I don't think those gold coins would be enough to get a substantial technique."

*Ah, those? Don't worry about that, I know those wouldn't get me anything. I mostly carry those to get people to do things for me. I would like to get something worth four spirit stones and maybe this water.*

"No need to concern yourself with that. I only use these trinkets to get mortals to do my bidding. I am concerned with limited payment, however. For I only brought 4 spirit stones and, if it comes to it, my drinking water."

"Your drinking water, sir?"

"My 4th stage spirit water."

She was speechless, a half jug full of spirit water that big would be worth 3 spirit stones at least, and he was using it as drinking water? From the looks of it, there used to be much more of it.

"D-do you want to look at what we have in stock, or wait until there is an auction?"

*Oh! Stock sounds fine. Don't want to waste time.*

"It would be preferential to choose from your stock, after all, our time is more precious than anything I'll be spending today."

Xinyi was even more concerned, if he considered the money he was spending now to be worth less than his time, then this young man had to be some kind of young master, but what kind of young master would be caught dead in a cart like this. She had seen worse clothes and much worse servants, but what type of cultivator allowed themselves to be carted around like so many cabbages? Usually they'd travel in a palanquin, or at least a rickshaw.

Fang Hu on the other hand was feeling really relived. After everything went much better than expected, he realized that he was stressing out more about his plans, and how uncertain they are. If he'd fucked this up somehow then he'd legitimately have no idea where else to go, and what else to do. He knows he could probably go make gold pretty easily, but if he doesn't get much stronger than he doesn't stand a chance whenever someone else decides to go all murder-hobo on him. Even now, his plan reads something like this.

1. Gather Techniques and combine them.

2. Use them to grow much stronger.

3. ???

4. Profit.

Fang Hu wasn't a politician or a leader. He didn't know how to lobby for change, or get large amounts of people to follow him. If he wants to live in a world were people aren't trying to kill him all the time, his only option is to become as strong as possible and surround himself with trustworthy people. Fang Hu likes to believe the only reason for all this chaos is the nature of cultivation and massive socioeconomic discord. Meaning if he starts his own sect, he can change how cultivation works, also if he becomes powerful enough, he could demand socioeconomic change, and it would happen. That's one of the perks of power. It would be like S****man demanding world peace, but with hopefully a lot less killing.

The trip through the auction house's stocks went very well. They got something that might normally go for 9 spirit stones for all the treasures they brought with them, On the way out they noticed a stand selling a cultivation method for gold.

*Hmm~ what's this?*

"Xinyi, what is that display selling?"

Xinyi wasn't very happy right now, Scholar Fang Hu was a very good negotiator, it was like she couldn't slip a thing past him. Overall, however, his visit was a profitable one, and if he turned out to be a big spender, she'd get a commission for his future spending. You see, there was a misunderstanding here, as there always are in cultivation worlds. Xinyi, and most of the Shining Pavilion Auction House, thought he was a big spender. While they weren't necessarily wrong, they probably wouldn't give a fuck about where he spent his money if they knew that was all he had. They'd incorrectly assumed that more spending equals more money. While they were busy assuming that, Fang Hu was busy not giving a flying shit about money. In his mind, it was very clear. He was in a cultivation world, why in FUCKS sake would he care about money.

All this came to a head when he was gifted the cultivation method he was interested in. This commoner cultivation method, for some strange reason, seemed to excite the scholar more than the one worth nine spirit stones. This only served to deepen the misunderstanding that was formed that day. Xinyi thought that he was simply happy that he got two cultivation methods to read instead of one. Proving that he didn't care about the quality of the method, and was only getting them to add to his collection, like some scholars were known to do.

What Xinyi didn't know was that Fang Hu had due reason to be happy. The cultivation method he bought was only purchased because it shared the dao of snakes and was different enough to significantly improve his cultivation method. This was progress and Fang Hu was happy about it, what really was making him want to go skipping down the streets like an idiot was the viability of his dream increasing.

~~~

Solar Sculpting Body Cultivation

A Body Cultivation technique used primarily by rich mortals to make themselves look younger. It gathers solar qi into the body to strengthen it, but suffers from a lack of a method to gather sufficient solar qi. Similarly, this technique lacks a decent way to infuse solar qi into a body. Cultivation rebound common.

~~~

He could work with this.