CHAPTER 59: ZHOGUANG CITY AUCTION

Li Shen was silent in response. He looked over and swung a hand, deactivating the dragon blue bell defense and telling Li Xun to come flying over. Now, Li Xun and Li Shen were right before the Gu Yang sect ancestor.

"All Gu Yang sect disciples, listen to my orders!" said the man, obeyed by all of them, including the elders and sect leader.

"No one is allowed to prevent them from leaving. If anyone does, they will face me directly!" the man said.

"Yes! We understand."

Slowly, the disciples of the Gu Yang Sect flew away from that place to return to their sects. The Gu Yang Sect’s ancestor had made a wise choice, not wanting to risk his thousand-year-old sect by challenging Li Shen.

After all, he had already gotten Ying Hao and Ying Ying. He didn’t need anything else, for now.

Realizing the situation in that place was getting conducive, Li Shen and Li Xun flew away from the mountain. The Gu Yang Sect’s ancestor man seemed to be watching Li Shen and Li Xun’s leaving.

The direction of their flight was toward Zhoguang City. But their fate no longer mattered to him and the Gu Yang Sect. Instead, the man was relieved that Li Shen showed compassion.

Li Shen and Li Xun flew away from the mountain until they landed gently in front of the city gate. The city had the same size, culture, and crowds as the cities in Qing Yan Kingdom.

The hustle and bustle of the city people filled every corner and the entire center of the city. They crowded and blended together with practitioners in the city center.

It seemed that there was a big auction of items in the city center that attracted many people to come, especially cultivators.

"What are we going to do, Father?" asked Li Xun.

"Be humble. We’ll go find a map of the kingdom. That way, we can know how to get home," Li Shen replied.

Li Xun listened, responding with a nod. He and Li Shen strode together in the place as they looked to the right and left, looking at the rows of shops.

Li Xun’s attention was drawn to a shop that was not too crowded with customers, Li Shen followed behind.

"Welcome, Daoist. Can I help you?" asked the shopkeeper, a middle-aged man.

"Do you sell the complete map of Ming Zhao Kingdom?" asked Li Shen.

"I don’t sell it. I may only have sketches of the map from some cultivators, but I don’t know how accurate these maps are," replied the man, taking out some hard sheets from the desk drawer and showing them to Li Shen.

’What the hell is this? Is the person who drew this a lunatic?’ asked Li Shen, shocked.

Li Shen clearly saw what was on the paper was not a sketch of a map or anything like that, but more of a shapeless abstract scribble with little information on the name of the city. Li Shen wondered why the shopkeeper would accept a paper full of nonsense like this.

"What do you think?" the shop assistant asked.

The man shook his head as he returned the scribbled paper, "I’ll look for it somewhere else."

"If you really need that map, why not join the auction?" asked the shop assistant, catching Li Shen’s attention.

"What are the items they’re auctioning off today?" asked Li Shen.

"I don’t know for sure, but I can confirm that they’re auctioning off a map, no longer a kingdom map, but a continent map!" stated the middle-aged man, making Li Shen fully interested.

"This is valuable information," Li Xun replied, Li Shen assenting.

Although they obtained the information, there was one important rule of the auction house. Li Shen and Li Xun looked back at the middle-aged man, feeling curious.

"Cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage and higher are banned from joining. At minimum, you must be at Core Formation," the man explained, making Li Shen squint.

Li Shen, with his current abilities, could manipulate his cultivation into Golden Core Formation. Yet, it was different with Li Xun.

The woman was still at the Nascent Soul Perfect stage, not yet having the ability to hide the cultivation base. That became a challenge for Li Shen.

Li Shen raised two fingers of his hand and let his spiritual energy flash across his body. The sparkle of light shone brightly, dazzling the eyes of the man and Li Xun.

Slowly, the glow faded and revealed something quite shocking to them. The middle-aged man was completely shocked to see Li Shen hiding his cultivation base up to the Golden Core Formation stage.

"Y-You can lower your cultivation base? What exactly is your true cultivation base?" asked the man, shocked.

Li Shen turned his head, realizing Li Xun had difficulty manipulating his cultivation base. Li Shen turned his head, asking the man about a tool that could hide one’s cultivation and lower it by one stage.

The man paused, then stepped to the back and checked the wooden cabinet. There, he took out three items.

A straw hat, a cloak, and an earring. Only the robe and earring were capable of lowering one’s cultivation, the straw hat only hid it.

"I choose the earring," Li Xun replied, Li Shen nodded.

After the deal was made, Li Shen handed him a high level spirit stone, that was because he didn’t have any kind of low level spirit stone. The low level spirit stone Li Shen had was high level.

"High level spirit stone? Wait, Daoist! Are you serious?" startled the man, knowing full well the value of a High Level Spirit Stone.

"Yes," Li Shen explained briefly.

Right after Li Xun put on the earring, Li Shen could clearly see that Li Xun’s cultivation level decreased by one level, to Golden Core Formation. Li Xun was shocked to see that the effect of the camouflage earrings was very effective.

"That’s good. This way, there should be no problem for us entering the auction house," Li Shen replied.

After their business was over, Li Shen and Li Xun stepped into a large building in the middle of the city that hosted the auction. Not many mortals stepped there, mostly cultivators filled the street.

To enter, they had to pass an inspection by the auction staff. They checked their cultivation base, if they were qualified, they would be allowed to enter.

Li Shen stood right in front of the staff activating the hand formation. He directed the magic at Li Shen’s body to detect his true cultivation base. Still, he only discovered that Li Shen was a Golden Core Formation cultivator.

"Come in," the staff ordered.

Li Shen stepped in carelessly. He then looked back and saw the moment Li Xun was being checked.

The man was worried that Li Xun’s cultivation base would be recognized, but it seemed like they couldn’t figure it out.

The staff let Li Xun and Li Shen in.

There, Li Shen stopped in front of an information bulletin that showcased today’s auction items. There were three types of auction item categories: low, medium, and high categories.

Among the three categories of auction items, the continent map was in the medium category. Li Shen had to try to get it, no matter what.

"Hello, Daoist. My name is Wu Yi, are you going to participate in this auction?" asked one of the female staff, stepping closer to Li Shen.

"Yes."

"Alright, do you want to join this auction as a regular or VIP class auctioneer?"

"How much do we have to pay as a deposit to become a VIP class auctioneer?" asked Li Shen.

"A total of 1000 spirit stones."

Li Shen smiled. He patted his magic bag and released a high level spirit stone to her. That left the female staff shocked and speechless. She immediately registered Li Shen as a VIP guest at today’s auction.

"Please Master and Mistress Daoist come with me to the second floor."

The two nodded. At a glance, they clearly saw people from various sects and families coming with their escorts. Although Li Shen was going to seize a medium category auction item, but he could already feel the tension of the auction even before the auction started.

"You can wait here. The auction will start soon," the female staff explained, Li Shen nodded.

When the curtain closed, Li Xun asked Li Shen about the map. Since people from other sects and families would be fighting over high-category auction items, Li Shen could get the continent map easily.

"With the wealth I have, it should be easy for me to get the map."