Before leaving the Shihu Kingdom this time, Sage had one more stop on his list. Just as he had done long ago, he headed towards the border with the neighboring Province. The Green Plateau Province was the territory of the Cult of the Woodlord, the Holy Flame Sect’s rival. The two of them had never seen eye to eye, and to the other Provinces of the Kingdom they were both the largest producers of goods for Cultivators. Just like he did in the past, he heads to Red Knife City at the border for an auction.

The two border cities were in something of a competition with each other, which they conducted by holding alternating auctions. The two groups were both pretty peaceful and so they used their products to do their ‘fighting’. Rather than spend extra time wandering around the Shihu Kingdom, Sage chose to go to their annual auction where they would have already collected all the best goods to put up for sale. The two cities took turns holding auctions, alternating back and forth every year. Each time they’d try to outdo the other and this year happened to be Red Knife City’s turn. Last time, Sage had gone to Daggerguard City on the Cult of the Woodlord’s side, but this time the auction was on the Holy Flame Sect’s side.

Given his somewhat high status in the Sect, he was given much better treatment than in the past and had his own private booth for the auction. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to convince them to give him early access or buying rights to the auction goods. The competition between the two sides was too fierce and if they gave him a back door to the auction then it would hurt the performance of their auction later. They instead offered him many apologies and promised him a discount on anything he wished to purchase after the auction was over.

Sage had underestimated the level of competitiveness that these two cities had with each other and so he could only wait patiently and attend the auction just like everyone else. In Daggerguard City, the Cult of the Woodlord had a magnificent auction house inside a gigantic tree. The auction house of Red Knife City was equally impressive, but of a completely different style. They matched up the building with the name of the city and created a structure that looked like the blade of a knife poking up out of the ground. From afar the building was extremely sharp and narrow like a blade, but upon approaching closer it became obvious that the building was actually quite large. On the inside, the building was made up of many balcony floors, focusing more on verticality rather than expansiveness.

The sharp wedge shape of the building where the ‘blade’ was had the largest private boxes, while the ‘back’ of the blade was where the auction stage was. The many floors of the auction house meant there was far more room for private booths with a close view of the stage. The number of seats on the lowest floor was actually very minimal, especially since they could barely see the high stage. From what Sage had heard, they had to bring the goods up to the edge of the stage in order for those who were on the lower floors to even see it, which for some of the most expensive items they didn’t even bother to do. If someone from the ‘lower’ areas wanted to purchase the most expensive goods they had to bid based on the name and description. If they really wanted to get a good look then they’d have to pay a higher entrance fee for the auction just like all the others on the upper levels.

Eventually the auction began, and just like last time there were many unusual goods and materials on display. There weren’t as many plants and beasts as the auction he’d last attended, but there were far more metallic magic tools and ores on sale. The two sects were in competition after all and their different areas of expertise were shown by the slight bias in their auction goods. Sage was surprised at how many things were put in the auction that he had not seen in the Holy Flame Sect before and he was again impressed by just how much the two groups put into their rivalry.

Even so, it was a win for him as he had a huge number of Spirit Stones with him this time. Not only had he been given a large number by the Lang Clan Ancestors, but he’d also collected an even larger sum when exacting his revenge upon the Artful Life Alliance, Violet Light Sect, and the Prefects of Dawn Mountain and Red Jungle. He had mainly targeted the highest level decision makers of each group because they would be the ones responsible for ordering their groups to pursue him. They were the most guilty, but they were also the most wealthy. He hadn’t targeted their wealthy specifically, but it was no doubt a benefit of targeting the oldest and strongest leaders.

His wealth had grown to a level that put his old savings to shame, but due to his access to the Inner World, his needs had also grown far more specialized. Many things that had caught his eye in the past were now pretty worthless to him as he had immense reserves of them on the Inner World. On the other hand, other plants, beasts, or materials that were rare, but comparatively cheap ended up being very desirable to him if they weren’t yet populated upon the Inner World. Sage ended up upsetting more than a few of the lower level Cultivators as he bought up all these rare, but mostly unpopular items. In order for them to be at the auction at all they had to be somewhat rare, but these cheaper items were things that had only a few very specific uses so their prices were comparatively low.

Those on the lower levels felt like they were being bullied by someone up on the higher levels that kept buying up so many of the cheaper goods, but given the difference in status all they could do was grumble and hope that Sage wouldn’t buy up the next item they wanted. Once the cheaper auctions were finished they moved on to the rarer goods and the number of items that Sage purchased went up drastically.

At the previous auction he went to, he’d purchased less than a dozen auction items with the majority of those being Demonic Beasts he’d bought for their special abilities. This time the auction was only half over and he’d already won over forty different things, with most of them rare plants and beasts that he wanted to add to the Inner World. Only a few of them were materials he actually needed. When the auction moved into high value goods he continued this streak, buying more beasts, insects, and plants that were needed for the Inner World, but also bidding upon a few extremely expensive ores and beast parts.

Sage purchased a half dozen ores and beast materials that were auctioned for more than a million Spirit Stones each. Even one of these items would have been worth the majority of his fortune in the past, but now he bought so many of them without even feeling pained. These materials were not things that could be populated on the Inner World, but they were all on his list for the development of a high level magic tool. More specifically, a weapon. Having seen the benefit a good weapon could bring for a cultivator’s battle prowess, like the Jinxi Ancestor’s bow, he was eager to create his own.

The auction had just calmed down a bit, going from a very expensive and large ticket item to more rare and exotic items to help people calm down a bit. He felt they were getting ready to ramp back up to the most expensive and valuable items to end the auction soon and were giving people a chance to catch their breath and calm their hearts. The last few items were magic tools that were interesting as objects of study, but only so he could learn how to build his own. Then, all of a sudden when the next item was declared he nearly leapt out of his seat.

In a very tough looking cage behind the auctioneer was what looked to be a foot long bone. It was a very unusual thing to see a single large bone being kept inside such a strong looking cage, but Sage immediately recognized it because he’d seen a similar one at the last auction.

“Bone Mantis!”