CHAPTER 66: THE BID

Bok Taejin touched the few copper coins he had in his pocket and sighed.

He heard people whispering that the girl was probably only eight or nine years old. At that age, to be sold off as a bride?

He just couldn’t accept it.

But he couldn’t afford to buy her either. What could he do?

Just as he was about to squeeze his way out of the crowd, the glowing point between his brows stirred again and a voice urgently rang out.

"Hurry up, buy her! Kid, you need to buy her right now! She’s an incredibly rare pure yang female body! Pair that with the right cultivation method, and her cultivation speed will be unmatched!"

"Pure yang? Ancestor, are you sure? Shouldn’t it be pure yin?"

Someone in the crowd raised the price—two gold and 4 silver.

The glowing point grew even more anxious and sneered coldly. "Would I get that wrong?! What’s so special about pure yin? Pure yang is what’s truly rare!"

"Yin alone doesn’t give life; yang alone doesn’t bring growth. Women are naturally yin by constitution, but to have a pure yang body? That’s what makes her different from those pure yin girls who either stay sickly without cultivation or need rare and precious resources to survive after cultivation. With a pure yang female, you don’t have to deal with any of that nonsense. If you really came across a pure yin girl, I wouldn’t even let you buy her! What would you do—go around collecting heavenly treasures for her? Do you have that kind of ability right now?"

Those words were spoken with extreme bluntness, but Bok Taejin couldn’t refute them at all. All he could do was imagine the glowing point fuming with rage, beard bristling and eyes glaring.

But what could he do? He didn’t have the money. No matter how rare the girl’s physique was, it wouldn’t change that fact.

The glowing point seemed to understand what Bok Taejin was thinking.

After a pause, it continued, "Did you forget that you still have a sect mission? When the assessors come to evaluate the results, what are you going to say? Are you really going to stand there and watch them take back all the land governed by One Flower Sect?"

It wasn’t that Bok Taejin didn’t care—but he had his own calculations. He asked, "Can’t I just reach the Condensation Realm within three years?"

He had already done the math. At his current rate of cultivation, reaching entry-level Condensation Realm strength by the three-year deadline would be no trouble at all.

The glowing point sneered, "But you’re cultivating the Life and Death Technique! The sect’s evaluation criteria are based on their cultivation system. The Life and Death Technique operates on a completely different path, so your strength can’t even be measured using their system. Even if you’re strong enough to fight someone above the Condensation Realm, you still won’t count as a cultivator at the required level in their eyes. Got it?"

The glowing point quietly added, "Unless someone helps pull strings behind the scenes, that’d be a different matter." Of course, this part it absolutely wouldn’t let Bok Taejin know right now.

Bok Taejin was dumbfounded. After a moment’s blankness, he asked, "Then should I take disciples from Hwayang Village?"

The glowing point practically exploded with fury. "Instead of wasting time arguing with me, why don’t you go find Im Beomhyeon and see if he can help you buy the girl!"

Bok Taejin actually had that exact idea, so even without being told, he had already started trying to squeeze his way out of the crowd.

Unfortunately, the girl’s mother was still shouting out prices, and the fierce bidding had drawn even more people over.

The crowd grew thicker, and no matter how hard Bok Taejin tried, he just couldn’t get out.

Then he heard someone raise the price to two gold and 8 silver, and his heart skipped a beat.

The higher the price went, the harder it would be for him to make an offer.

After all, he didn’t have any money himself and had to rely on Hwayang Village’s help.

His own food, clothes, and daily needs already came from the villagers—now he was going to ask them to help buy him a disciple?

Thankfully, others also felt the price was too steep. The bidding enthusiasm began to cool down. Those who were still willing to bid had to think it through carefully, and the frequency of offers slowed, allowing Bok Taejin to breathe a small sigh of relief.

But the girl’s mother wasn’t pleased. She dragged the still-sniffling little girl around in a circle, shouting again: "Two gold and eight silver, two gold and eight silver! Anyone else willing to go higher? I’m not bragging—if you buy my girl, you won’t regret it! If I wasn’t in urgent need of money, I’d take her to the town instead. There, she could easily go for more than three taels!"

Many people were tempted, but still shook their heads. The people who came to this market hadn’t expected they could buy a person here. Very few people were carrying that much money. And among those who had the money and were also willing, the number was even smaller.

The girl’s mother looked disappointed, but the price had already far exceeded what she’d originally hoped for, so she was satisfied.

Just as she was about to close the deal, Bok Taejin suddenly shouted loudly, "Two gold and nine silver!"

Only then did the others notice him.

At first, the girl’s mother was delighted. But when she saw the others step aside to let Bok Taejin through and watched him walk up to her, her expression turned from joy to scorn.

"Little brat, if you’re calling out a price, that means you have to pay! Just look at you—do you even have that kind of money? Do you know how much two gold and nine silver is?"

"Of course I know," Bok Taejin replied calmly, flashing a confident smile.