The burly man's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he immediately responded, "A magic artifact, top-grade will do, a supreme-grade magic artifact is best, but this artifact must be a good fit."
Looking at this imposing middle-aged cultivator, who was half a head taller than others and nearly two meters tall, Wu Tao smiled slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said, "How about this supreme-grade magic artifact?"
A supreme-grade magic artifact that looked very heavy and hammer-shaped flew out of Wu Tao's storage bag. The middle-aged man reached out and took it.
The moment the middle-aged man saw this formidable supreme-grade magic artifact, he was overjoyed. He couldn't wait to wave it around a couple of times in his hand, startling his fellow disciples who quickly dodged and cursed loudly.
The middle-aged man ignored them and repeatedly said, "Excellent! Excellent! The quality of this hammer-shaped magic artifact is top-notch among supreme-grade earth-attribute magic artifacts. I, Wang Datou, won't take advantage of you either. I'll give you three more bottles of Thick Earth Soothing Spirit Pills, which have excellent healing effects..."
Wu Tao unexpectedly obtained something more satisfactory and stepped down from the stage, and the auction continued.
The auction had now entered its latter half. Outer disciples who had good items hidden away were constantly exchanging them for what they needed on stage. The outer disciples below also scrambled to trade, and at one point, there was even competitive bidding.
This also greatly amused Wu Tao, who had been watching the auction closely.
As the auction was about to end, a female cultivator produced an extremely rare Beast Transformation Soul Talisman, stating her intention to exchange it for pills that could enhance the Qi Refining stage. This brought the auction to another climax.
The Beast Transformation Soul Talisman was an extremely rare and special type of talisman, belonging to a category of special talismans along with formation talismans, prohibition-breaking talismans,蠱毒蟲符 (gu poison insect talismans), and spirit-boosting talismans. Ordinary talismans contained defensive, offensive, or auxiliary spells and had no other functions.
Formation talismans were created by skilled formation masters who, through secret spatial techniques, sealed a pre-designed formation into special talisman paper, thus forming a talisman.
Prohibition-breaking talismans were painstakingly crafted by masters specializing in the art of talismans.
Prohibition-breaking talismans could break various restrictions, formations, and taboos in the cultivation world.
Spirit-boosting talismans were auxiliary spiritual power items. When affixed to the body, they could temporarily enhance the user's spiritual power.
蠱蟲符 (gu insect talismans) were created by Witches and Poison cultivators who had carefully nurtured poisonous insects within their bodies for many years, and after blood sacrifice and soul refinement, they were transformed into instantly castable swarms of insect-demonic beast talismans.
The Beast Transformation Soul Talisman, on the other hand, sealed the soul of a demonic beast. It was an even rarer talisman than formation talismans because it was not crafted by ordinary cultivators but was a special talisman that could only be made by cultivators who practiced the ghost path.
Simply put, after killing a demonic beast, its soul was extracted, and through some special refining methods, the demonic beast's soul was sealed into the talisman paper.
Moreover, unlike most talismans which were single-use, beast talismans could be used repeatedly. Of course, there were limitations. Each use would consume the Yin soul energy within the demonic beast's soul. Once the Yin soul energy in the soul was depleted, the beast talisman would become scrap.
...
Even so, the value of the Beast Transformation Soul Talisman was extremely precious. Especially during a fight with an enemy, it provided an excellent helper.
However, the female cultivator specifically stated that she would only exchange it for pills that enhanced the Qi Refining stage and absolutely nothing else. Upon hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but grumble.
The value of the Beast Transformation Soul Talisman was enough to exchange for three to four bottles of Qi Refining stage enhancement pills. Ordinary Qi Refining stage cultivators would not have so many pills, and even Qi Refining stage cultivators who were alchemists wouldn't be so extravagant.
The transaction ultimately failed, and the female cultivator was quite disappointed. As she stepped off the stage, she glanced at Wu Tao, as he was the only one at the auction who had traded a large quantity of Qi Refining stage pills.
Wu Tao was not unmoved, but he found that he had no pills to enhance the Qi Refining stage left in his possession.
Wu Tao stood still and pondered for a moment. After the auction ended, he didn't leave in a hurry but waited until most people had departed before walking in the direction the female cultivator had left.
Wu Tao's pace was slightly faster, and he soon caught up with the woman. Seeing that there was no one around, he stepped forward and said, "Please wait, Junior Sister."
The woman turned around and saw Wu Tao. In an instant, she guessed Wu Tao's intention, but she still asked, "Senior Brother, what is it?"
Wu Tao chuckled and said, "I imagine Junior Sister has already guessed. I wish to exchange for your Beast Transformation Soul Talisman."
Upon receiving a confirmation, the woman's expression brightened, and she eagerly asked, "Senior Brother, how many bottles of Qi Refining stage enhancement pills do you have?"
Hearing this, Wu Tao scratched his head and answered somewhat awkwardly, "I don't have a single pill to enhance the Qi Refining stage on me."
The woman's expression immediately sank upon hearing this, but she didn't turn to leave immediately, seeming to want to hear what Wu Tao would say next.
Wu Tao spoke, "A bottle of Qi Refining stage enhancement pill is worth about one hundred and fifty to sixty spirit stones. I have already completely used up the pills I accumulated to enhance the Qi Refining stage. I've calculated it, and I'll give Junior Sister six hundred and eighty spirit stones in exchange for the Beast Transformation Soul Talisman. What do you say?"
The woman heard this and mused for a moment, saying, "Six hundred and eighty spirit stones. That's barely enough to buy a few bottles of pills to advance my realm. Forget it, let's do it this way!"
As they spoke, they exchanged the talisman and spirit stones, and then each turned to leave with satisfaction.
...
There were still a few days before the opening of the Huangji Taiyi Secret Realm. Wu Tao decided to take advantage of this time to go out again and hunt some demonic beasts to earn spirit stones and other resources to equip himself.
In the vast and desolate mountain range, sounds echoed.
In front of a small stream, hearing the sounds coming from outside, Wu Tao suddenly turned around and looked up at the sky.
"Strange, what is that?"
At this moment, he was holding a sharp small knife magic artifact in his right hand, and beside him lay a recently deceased Silver Spirit Horned Rhinoceros, seemingly in the process of processing its corpse.
The next second, he was staring at the scenery in the sky, his face showing astonishment.
In the distance, a grand meteor shower streaked across the sky.
The strong winds scattered everywhere, causing immense destruction.
This scene left Wu Tao completely stunned, not knowing what had happened.
After a moment, he discovered something unusual.
Not far away, a figure seemed to appear, crashing heavily towards a certain spot.
Watching this scene, Wu Tao instinctively froze, a glint flashing in his eyes.
"Opportunity?"
He glanced at the corpse of the Silver Spirit Horned Rhinoceros beside him, shook his head, retracted the small knife magic artifact in his hand, and put the corpse of the Silver Spirit Horned Rhinoceros back into his storage bag, then flew away on his artifact.
Such an earth-shattering anomaly as before must have been caused by a powerful cultivator.
Although he didn't know what had happened, he knew this was likely a fortuitous encounter.
If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know if there would be another one.
In that instant, many thoughts flashed through Wu Tao's mind, and then, without hesitation, he accelerated his flight.
He flew for a short while before finding a middle-aged man, completely covered in blood, lying quietly on the ground.
The middle-aged man was wearing a light green robe, which was now completely soaked with blood, making him look particularly gruesome.
"Found him!"
Seeing this person, Wu Tao's face immediately showed joy.
Without any hesitation, he stepped forward, carefully picked the man up on his back, and then quickly left the area.
...
On the bed in the room, the middle-aged man's hair was disheveled, and his appearance was unkempt. His green robe was entirely covered in blood. What was striking was his aquiline nose and a pair of exceptionally clear eyes. Even though his physique was not tall, he gave an impression of standing out from the crowd.
His face looked extremely pale, devoid of any color, and he lay there motionlessly.
Looking at his miserable state, if the man hadn't been breathing, Wu Tao would have thought he was already dead.
Wu Tao had never met anyone so tenacious.
He had sustained so many fatal injuries and was still holding on until now.
(New book is being updated, seeking collection, recommendation tickets, forwards, and more clicks. Thank you friends, your support is my motivation for writing!)