Chapter 542: The Final Item for Auction

The auction has been in full swing for a week now, and this time there are far more items up for bid than before. After Ye Feng unlocked the fifth realm of the Virtual Domain, everything in the fourth realm became free to take. Naturally, Ye Feng didn’t want to miss such an opportunity and plundered extensively, adding many more items to the auction.

As for the quality of the items up for bid, there’s no need to worry at all—these were obtained after Ye Feng and his companions raided numerous secret realms and ruins. Many of these items are rare even in the Holy Realm, let alone in the Divine Realm.

At the auction stage, Long Tian’s commentary caught the attention of many powerful figures. “The final item in this auction is a new type of sacred pill designed to enhance the strength of the soul—a Soul Transcendence Pill. This pill has been tested by me and several friends, and its effects are remarkable. Just one pill is enough to raise a soul at the early stage of the Saint level to the late stage of the Saint level. Its actual efficacy can even elevate the soul strength of a powerful being at the late stage of the Holy Spirit level to the early stage of the Saint King level, with no side effects. The only drawback is that each person can only use it once. It can be taken by anyone regardless of their cultivation level, but it’s recommended that the user have a soul cultivation level above that of a Progenitor God. Due to limited production materials, only three pills will be available for auction this time. The starting bid is 3 billion, with each increase being no less than 100 million. Bidding begins now!”

“3.1 billion!” Before Long Tian’s voice could fully fade, someone eagerly bid.

“3.2 billion!”

“3.5 billion!”

“4 billion!” Clearly, some powerful figures wanted to drive up the price quickly to ward off more competitors.

“5 billion!” This time, it was Hayes who bid—one of the powerful figures from the Endless Abyss Sea, and also one of the three Holy Spirit-level warriors Ye Feng had encountered in the Abyssal Secret Realm before.

Ye Feng easily recognized those guys from the Endless Abyss Sea. The strongest among them even had a cultivation level at the middle stage of the Saint King level, which made Ye Feng wonder how that person could have reached such a level. After all, in a place like the Divine Realm with such strong spiritual energy, it’s already extremely difficult to reach the Saint Messenger level. Yet, none of the guys from the Endless Abyss Sea had a cultivation level below that of a Saint Messenger. This made Ye Feng suspect that there might be some secret hidden within the Endless Abyss Sea.

Ye Feng also knew very well that that Saint King-level figure must be the boss of the Endless Abyss Sea. However, at this moment, he was more concerned about the price that the Soul Shedding Pill he had crafted using the new formula would fetch at the auction. The Soul Shedding Pill was an improvement made by Ye Feng, based on Jiu Fang’s suggestions, from the Clear Spring Pill formula and several other pills designed to enhance soul cultivation. While it couldn’t be said to be more effective than the Clear Spring Pill, it completely eliminated the painful side effects associated with taking the latter. To develop this pill, Ye Feng studied countless existing formulas to assess their feasibility. After completing its production, he tried it on himself, but it didn’t help his soul strength, which was already on the verge of breaking through to the Saint level. At least he was able to analyze its effects and determine that it had no side effects, which is why people like Long Tian took one each.

The soul strengths of Pearl and the others had all reached the peak of the Ancestral God level, while Xiao Liu and Yi Fan’s had even surpassed the Saint level. Long Tian’s soul strength had risen from the early Saint level to the late Saint Envoy level. As for Xiao Yu, Xiao Bei, and Qing Wen, their soul cultivation had all reached the late Saint level. Shi Tou’s soul strength had even reached the peak of the Saint level. Bai Yiyi reaped the greatest benefits, with her soul strength rising directly from the Saint Envoy level to the peak of the Holy Spirit level. Yet Ye Feng suspected that this effect was due to Bai Yiyi’s innate mastery of soul laws, which made the effects more pronounced in her case.

After using these people as test subjects, Ye Feng finally understood the exact effects of this new pill, which was why he chose it as the highlight of this auction. Pills that enhance soul strength are already extremely rare, accounting for less than one percent of all pills, and those with particularly strong effects are even rarer. This is why taking the Clear Spring Pill caused such intense pain, yet people were still willing to pay a high price to acquire and take it. In contrast, the effects of the Soul Shedding Pill were significantly better, as it didn’t require increasing strength in proportion to the pain endured. Such a pill could truly be described as something hard to come by, even in the Saint Realm.

However, while developing this pill formula, Ye Feng also created an enhanced version of the Soul Shedding Pill. He struggled for some time to come up with a good name for it. But its effect was sufficient to lift a soul at the early stage of the Holy Emperor level directly to the early stage of the Holy Venerable level. He knew that once he went to the Holy Realm, he could make a fortune using this kind of pill. The only problem was that the ingredients for these pills were extremely precious and rare. With the materials he currently had, he could only produce them once, and only twelve pills per batch—far from enough.

At the auction, bidding on the first Soul Shedding Pill hadn’t ended yet. Although fewer and fewer people were bidding and the prices kept rising, a few competitors seemed stuck in a stalemate.

“18.3 billion!” This price exceeded Ye Feng’s expectations. He had thought 15 billion would be quite good. In fact, he had prepared three batches of this pill, not just three pills—49 pills per batch. He was only selling three pills to set a high starting price. After all, if there were too many, the price couldn’t go up. Moreover, smart people knew that after the auction, they could approach him to ask if he had any extra pills.

“20 billion!” This time, it was the Holy King-level powerhouse from the Endless Abyss who bid. As soon as he spoke, the other powerhouses from the Endless Abyss gave up competing.

“Your Majesty the Sea Emperor, this pill probably won’t be very useful to you, right?” Carol, who was thin and also part of the Endless Abyss, was somewhat dissatisfied with the Sea Emperor’s actions. After all, if the Sea Emperor got involved in the bidding, it wouldn’t be proper for someone from the Endless Abyss to compete further.

“Carol, who knows? Maybe it will work for me too. I’ll bid on it first and then ask the owner of the auction hall. If it’s useless to me, I can give it to you as a reward—that would be a good option.” The Sea Emperor clearly had already figured out how to deal with this pill. He spoke without using telepathy, so the other powerhouses from the Endless Abyss heard him as well. Naturally, they had to give up on competing. But they hadn’t expected to get such a reward anyway. They knew the Sea Emperor’s personality all too well—his words meant nothing but “no chance.” Otherwise, his warehouse wouldn’t be filled with so many valuable items…

“210 billion!” This time, it was a human who bid—someone Ye Feng didn’t recognize. However, after a soul scan, he discovered that the person was a powerful being at the Saint Spirit level, and moreover, a sword practitioner. This piqued Ye Feng’s interest. Sword practitioners were a type of martial cultivator, and martial cultivators were already extremely rare, let alone sword practitioners. But from the way other human powerhouses looked at him, Ye Feng realized this guy must be quite famous among humans.

“220 billion!” Karin threw a flirtatious glance at the Sea Emperor. As the ruler of one of the Four Forbidden Lands, it wasn’t unusual for her to be familiar with the Sea Emperor. She wasn’t part of the Endless Abyss Sea, and since she bid only after other human powerhouses had done so, it certainly didn’t count as directly provoking the Sea Emperor.

The Sea Emperor returned her a flying kiss before mercilessly calling out a price that made everyone back down—“300 billion!”

At this price, several powerhouses who had planned to keep bidding gave up completely. After all, there were still two pills left, so there was no need to engage in a fierce competition with this wealthy man.

“300 billion, first time… 300 billion, second time… Is there no one who can bid higher? Then I shall announce the winner of the first Soul Shedding Pill… 300 billion, third time! Congratulations to this young and handsome gentleman for winning our auction item!” Long Tian also knew that no one would bid higher, but he still had to follow procedure and call out, “Now, let’s begin the auction for the second Soul Shedding Pill. The starting price remains 3 billion, with each increase being no less than 1 billion. Bidding begins!”