TL: Etude
The Yun family's estate was vast, spanning several miles with numerous high-rise buildings, resembling a small Kingdom. The family had a large population too, with the main lineage and various branches accounting for nearly 100,000 people—this was the foundation of the leading clan in the Demon Sea Base. Ye Tian came near the Yun family estate, harboring the intention to copy extraordinary cultivation talents. His talent for copying had a range of 500 meters; if Yun Tian appeared within that range, Ye Tian could surreptitiously replicate the other's extraordinary cultivation talent.
However, Ye Tian quickly found himself disappointed. He didn't catch sight of Yun Tian, nor did he see any other extraordinary talents within the Yun family. Clearly, they were deep within the family estate. Unless he entered the estate or waited for these extraordinarily talented martial warriors to come out, he would have difficulty copying their abilities.
He gave up on the Yun family.
Shortly after, Ye Tian continued his search for other extraordinary cultivation talents, but was unsuccessful.
Clearly, even with a 500-meter coverage area, if he couldn't find anyone, he couldn't copy anything.
"In a few days, the auction will take place. I should encounter some extraordinary cultivation talents then," he thought. Ye Tian could only place his hopes on this upcoming auction.
Time swiftly reached the day the auction was to begin. This auction held by the Martial Pavilion wasn't particularly large-scale; it was one of the routine auctions conducted every couple of months. Nevertheless, it was hosted at the Martial Pavilion headquarters, and many people attended.
Early in the morning, Ye Tian left his house and hurried to the Martial Pavilion headquarters.
"Truly majestic!" Ye Tian exclaimed, gazing at the hundred-meter-high Martial Pavilion headquarters. The place was heavily guarded; almost all of the soldiers were highly skilled martial warriors, and there were even Grandmasters overseeing security.
And that was just the exterior. Ye Tian speculated that the interior would be even more heavily fortified, perhaps even guarded by individuals at the King level.
The Martial Pavilion was organized by three major families, among which the Yue family was the weakest. Yet the Pavilion had King-level attendants, so it made sense for there to be King-level guardians.
Here at the headquarters, even those at the King level wouldn't dare to act recklessly.
Upon entering, Ye Tian presented his invitation and was soon led by a female staff member to the fifth floor of the Martial Pavilion, where the auction was taking place.
Upon arrival, Ye Tian took his seat according to his invitation. The auction venue differed from what he had imagined. There were no private rooms; everyone sat in a large hall. The only saving grace was that the seats were spaced out, preventing a sense of congestion.
The venue could accommodate around 1,000 people, although it wasn't guaranteed that many would attend.
"Copy Talent!" With a thought, Ye Tian's talent for copying enveloped the entire auction hall.
Soon, the talents of everyone present emerged one by one.
"The talents are all quite high," Ye Tian mused silently.
Those who could attend this auction were no minor figures; hence, it was unlikely that their talents would be mediocre. The lowest were high-level cultivation talents, and there were quite a few top-level ones. As for extraordinary-level cultivation talents, Ye Tian had yet to see any.
"Expand!" The scope of his Copy Talent gradually broadened, soon covering the entire Martial Pavilion headquarters.
"I've found it!" Ye Tian was overjoyed.
On the fifteenth floor of the Martial Pavilion, which was also the highest floor, the talent details of a particular individual emerged before Ye Tian's eyes.
Human: Chang Yuan
Cultivation Talent: Extraordinary
Gravity Talent: Basic
Ye Tian was elated; his search had finally yielded fruit.
"The other party has an extraordinary cultivation talent, likely a King-level powerhouse. The surname is Chang, not a warrior from one of the three major families in the Martial Pavilion," Ye Tian speculated.
Without another word, he copied the talent!
However, he chose not to integrate it just yet. He was at an auction venue, and integrating talents would lead to noticeable changes in his body. Naturally, he couldn't perform the integration here; he would have to wait until he returned home.
After roughly half an hour of waiting, the auction began.
The initial items up for bid weren't particularly precious, but they were quite beneficial for powerful warriors. For instance, some items could assist in cultivation, increasing the speed of cultivation by two or even three times. Unfortunately, the duration of this effect was limited, lasting at most a month.
Yet even with such a short duration, these items easily fetched bids of 10 or 20 billion.
Ye Tian had an unknown number of treasures and didn't care about these mundane items. His aim was to acquire high-tier yuan force body-forging techniques.
However, before these techniques came up for auction, an item that piqued Ye Tian's interest appeared.
"Next up, we have cultivation insights from a King-level practitioner. These insights come from the Typhoon King, who perished in a beast tide 40 years ago. The starting bid is 5 billion!" the auctioneer announced.
Typhoon King!
The name was incredibly renowned. Although he had fallen 40 years ago, stories about Typhoon King were widely circulated, and no one was unfamiliar with him.
King-level cultivation insights were indeed valuable, but not many were interested in purchasing them.
Cultivation relied on talent and resources. How useful could these insights really be?
Perhaps they'd be useful for cultivation novices, but those present were either senior members of major financial groups or core disciples and elders of major families.
They could easily access their own faction's repositories to learn various cultivation secrets, so there was no need to spend such a vast sum on King-level insights.
Others might not have been interested, but Ye Tian was!
He had always been cultivating alone, groping his way through the process. His understanding of realms beyond the Grandmaster level was quite vague. These insights would be extremely useful to him.
"5.5 billion!"
Ye Tian raised his bid card.
"6 billion!"
"7 billion!"
"8 billion!"
The competition wasn't particularly fierce. With only a few people bidding, Ye Tian, flaunting his substantial wealth, won the cultivation insights for 11 billion.
At this moment, many looked at Ye Tian as though he were a spendthrift, believing that what he spent was not worth it.
11 billion!
This was not a trifling sum but real money.
A Heavenly Soul Flower that could improve talent had a price tag of only 100 billion.
Of course, the Heavenly Soul Flower was indeed priced at this level; it's just that nobody was willing to sell it.
The auction continued.
One by one, valuable items were sold, including an item that could enhance talent. However, it did not enhance cultivation talent but rather a fire-element type of talent. It was called the Crimson Flame Lingzhi.
This Crimson Flame Lingzhi was effective only for basic fire-element talents and did not guarantee a 100% improvement, so its price wasn't exorbitant—only 120 billion.
"Indeed, there are many good items, things that are almost impossible to buy outside. Only here can one find such treasures," Ye Tian thought to himself.
Finally, in the long wait, what Ye Tian coveted most—the high-tier yuan force body-forging techniques—appeared.
"Coming from the Super Base—Zhonghai Base, a high-tier yuan force body-forging technique—Purple Blood Body Refining. You all don't have to worry about its origins; we, the Martial Pavilion, guarantee there are absolutely no issues," the auctioneer declared.
"The starting bid is 30 billion!"
The auctioneer announced.