Time can destroy everything, and it can also change everything.
More than three hundred years have passed, and Wu Tao is no longer the little cultivator who was once chased everywhere, wandered in foreign lands, and had no home to return to.
In the Kyushu immortal cultivation world back then, Wu Tao didn't even qualify to be a piece on the chessboard.
Under the pursuit of a mere Core Formation stage cultivator, he could only flee from Kyushu in a desperate manner and teleport to the underground world through an ultra-long-range teleportation array.
After arriving in the underground world, Wu Tao endured immense hardships and finally gained the opportunity to speak, becoming a piece on the chessboard, manipulated by the players.
However, when one of the players on the board decided to personally intervene and overturn the entire game, Wu Tao, this tiny piece, could only flee in disgrace once again.
Until now, in this Purple State immortal cultivation world, Wu Tao has worked tirelessly for countless years and has finally become a player on the board himself.
Although he is merely the most inconspicuous among the many players on the board, Wu Tao has finally gained control of his own destiny.
He is no longer a piece that can be manipulated at will, forced to flee everywhere.
Wu Tao now has the qualifications to make his own moves on this chessboard and stir up the storms of the world.
...
Just like auctions, Wu Tao has attended dozens of them over the years.
However, no matter how his cultivation realm changed, he always remained an unimportant guest at these auctions.
But now, the situation has completely changed, in a way that is hard to believe.
This auction was initiated by Wu Tao himself, a decision made under his own will.
The seller has become the buyer, the guest has become the boss.
The saying that fortunes are unpredictable, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, is indeed not an empty boast.
...
The transaction of spiritual treasures was clearly a loss in everyone's eyes, so why did Wu Tao insist on initiating the transaction?
This involves the issue of demand.
Wu Tao once obtained three spiritual treasures from the Myriad Buddhist Temple in one go, including one high-grade spiritual treasure.
In terms of spiritual treasures, Wu Tao is actually not lacking, much like a well-fed person who doesn't understand the hunger of a starving person.
In Wu Tao's eyes, trading a low-grade spiritual treasure that doesn't fit him well for something he urgently needs now is a very worthwhile transaction.
Furthermore, as the leader of a new force, Wu Tao's adoption of this trading method is also aimed at building his reputation and attracting more talented individuals to join the Ascending Immortal Sect, thereby expanding his influence.
Although Wu Tao only informed seven of them, given the scale of their eight major prefectures...
If these eight individuals knew about it, then the entire Great Jin Immortal Dynasty would know.
Time passed slowly, and as the agreed-upon time approached.
Suddenly, Black Blood City in Chu Domain seemed to have become the center of the entire Great Jin Immortal Dynasty.
Countless cultivators, carrying spirit stones and treasures, rushed to Chu Domain to participate in the auction in Black Blood City.
While harboring the desire to obtain this spiritual treasure, many intelligent individuals also understood that this auction might ultimately evolve into a collision of various forces, concluding with bloody conflict.
It can be said that in this auction, it's not necessarily the wealthiest who will have the last laugh.
Fifteen days later, the restrictions of Black Blood City were fully lifted. Eight Nascent Soul stage cultivators, along with three thousand elite Flying Demon Wolf Army soldiers, patrolled the territory of Black Blood City, receiving visiting guests.
According to Wu Tao's orders, for the next month, whether they were cultivators from the local domain or from outside...
Whether they were top-tier cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or Qi Refining stage cultivators who had just embarked on the path of cultivation, they were allowed to enter Black Blood City freely during this period.
Furthermore, during this month, any form of conflict was prohibited within Black Blood City. Anyone found violating this would be executed without mercy.
If anyone dared to test this, Wu Tao would lead all the forces in Chu Domain to pursue and kill them.
As soon as Wu Tao issued this command, the number of cultivators flocking to Black Blood City not only did not decrease but actually increased.
Across the entire Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, countless cultivators who were confident in their own worth or the treasures they possessed...
On the day the auction officially began, Black Blood City was adorned with a dazzling array of starlight, forming a small Heavenly Dipper Formation scattered across the city.
The star-filled channels radiated outwards from the formation towers at various points, forming a vast network that extended directly throughout Black Blood City.
At this moment, Black Blood City seemed like a virtual world, appearing so dreamlike.
And Wu Tao's Ascending Immortal Sect, as a new force, was able to achieve what even some established first-tier families could not...
This was entirely due to the vast number of formation classics and materials discovered in the treasury of the Zhuge family, the ruling family of Shu Commandery, when it was destroyed.
Although raiding was immoral, wasn't there a saying?
"Better I betray the world than the world betray me."
...
The primary reason for Wu Tao's Ascending Immortal Sect's rapid development was the immense war dividends obtained from successive external wars.
The Ascending Immortal Sect, led by Wu Tao, developed in leaps and bounds through a predatory approach, gradually becoming a behemoth in the eyes of others.
Wu Tao's purpose in establishing the Ascending Immortal Sect was actually revenge.
Since it was for revenge, the Ascending Immortal Sect, in Wu Tao's eyes, was merely a blade, a tool for revenge.
The patriarchs of other families had to consider the eternal legacy of their clans, and some extremely precious treasures were hoarded for generations, never to be used...
They feared that if their foundations were depleted and their descendants were unfilial, leading to the destruction of the clan, what then?
Therefore, sometimes, even when these families' high-ranking members obtained extremely valuable treasures, they would only build vaults and store them properly, waiting for a future opportunity to use them.
However, this also led to the gradual depletion of resources that were already not particularly abundant.
A lack of sufficient resources meant the inability to cultivate powerful experts, and the family would remain stagnant.
This was precisely the method adopted by all aristocratic families in the Purple State immortal cultivation world and the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, maintaining this tradition for hundreds of millions of years.
...
But Wu Tao, an outsider, thought differently from all of them.
Wu Tao's mindset was to immediately use any resources he obtained.
Upon conquering a family or a force, he would immediately distribute the spoils to his subordinates, never hoarding them or storing them in vaults.
Ordinarily, a way of life like Wu Tao's, characterized by a lack of frugality, would quickly lead to collapse. However, Wu Tao implemented a strategy of "sustaining war through war."
After conquering one force and digesting its spoils, he would immediately attack another.
Through destructive wars launched with a predatory approach, his strength not only did not wane but grew stronger with each battle.
...
Meanwhile!
Ye Yu, who had a profound understanding of commerce since childhood, added a new rule upon discovering the unprecedented popularity of this auction.
During this month-long period, any cultivator could set up a stall at the street corners of Black Blood City and would receive protection from the host!
The price paid by the stall owner would be a certain share of spirit stones.
In addition, Ye Yu also instructed some of his more astute confidantes to take advantage of this opportunity to investigate the prices of identical treasures across different great domains and the extent of the price discrepancies.
In reality, in the immortal cultivation world, apart from the most top-tier treasures, the prices of many common treasures varied significantly across different great domains. Some were sold at high prices, and others at low prices.
It was precisely because of this that there were many cultivator-merchants in the immortal cultivation world who dealt in goods, buying and selling them in different places to earn price differences.
Of course, these actions were, in Ye Yu's view, minor affairs that could not amount to much.
As Wu Tao's eldest disciple and the successor personally appointed by Wu Tao, Ye Yu's foresight in some aspects was something even Wu Tao could not match.
Ye Yu actually had his own plan in mind, and if this plan succeeded, the Ascending Immortal Sect might usher in another significant leap.
...
Some cultivators who were initially just there to witness the spectacle, upon learning that they could freely set up stalls on the streets of Black Blood City, immediately rushed to set up their small stalls and began selling their unwanted treasures.
As the time for this grand auction officially arrived, some discerning individuals, after calculations, were astonished to find that the number of cultivators in Black Blood City had reached over a million, almost comparable to the imperial capital of Chang'an.
As more and more crowds poured in, centered around the City Lord's Mansion of Black Blood City, endless starlight formation patterns surged outwards.
Within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the boundless starlight had already spread throughout the entire Black Blood City.
The cultivators in Black Blood City felt a sudden flash before their eyes, and then they were completely immersed in a world sparkling with starlight.
Soon, while everyone was still in a state of shock and uncertainty, Wu Tao's figure flickered into existence and appeared in the sky.
Wu Tao, using the great divine ability of ten-thousand-mile telecommunication, clearly conveyed his voice to every corner of Black Blood City.
As Wu Tao's words fell, the cultivators who had been somewhat agitated and anxious instantly calmed down.