For demigods and deities, wealth was no longer significant; any amount of divine stones was worth spending to enhance their cultivation.
The Epoch-Level Lotus of Divine Reflection was a treasure worthy of their pursuit.
“Thirty thousand divine stones.”
“Thirty-one thousand divine stones.”
“Thirty-five thousand divine stones.”
…
Dozens of cultivators joined the bidding.
Over ten Great Sages below the Thousand Questions Realm, including Xi, Luo Sheng Tian, Boundless, and Empress Feng, were calling out prices. However, they represented the deities behind them, as their own wealth was far from sufficient for such an immense sum.
A deity renowned in the Hell Realm appeared in the auction hall as a divine consciousness, bidding, “Fifty thousand divine stones.”
Many cultivators recognised his identity and wisely withdrew from the bidding.
Yet, eight wealthy cultivators continued to compete with him. Five were divine consciousnesses of true deities, undeterred by fifty thousand divine stones.
“Fifty-one thousand divine stones.”
“Fifty-three thousand divine stones.”
…
Zhang Ruochen closely observed the Epoch-Level Lotus of Divine Reflection and said, “Go bid for me.”
Blood Slaughter was stunned, saying, “The Epoch-Level Lotus is too expensive, only suitable for deities. For Immortal Realm Great Sages, a ten-thousand-year Lotus of Divine Reflection is sufficient, and it’s a thousand times cheaper.”
“Other Immortal Realm Great Sages use ten-thousand-year Lotuses because they can’t afford better ones. If an Epoch-Level Lotus were available, wouldn’t you want to use it?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Blood Slaughter’s spirits lifted, his eyes gleaming with fiery enthusiasm, saying, “Senior Brother, are you suggesting that if we win the Epoch-Level Lotus, I might have a chance to use it later?”
“You’re quite the dreamer, but it’s not impossible. First, go win it for me,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Slaughter was overjoyed but soon grimaced, saying, “Why don’t you bid yourself, Senior Brother? Earlier, while bidding for the Divine Wanderer Pills for you, I’ve already offended a ton of cultivators.”
Zhang Ruochen patted Blood Slaughter’s shoulder, saying, “You may not get to use the Epoch-Level Lotus, but I have a ten-thousand-year Lotus lying around. If there’s no better candidate, I plan to give it to an Immortal Realm Great Sage of the Blood Absolute Clan.”
“I’m the best candidate, Senior Brother! Rest assured, I’ll handle the bidding.”
Blood Slaughter stood tall, strode to the edge of the ring world, and asked, “How should I bid?”
Zhang Ruochen transmitted a price via spiritual power.
Blood Slaughter, startled, swayed slightly, licked his lips, and shouted, “One hundred thousand divine stones.”
As his voice rang out, the ring world auction hall fell silent.
The Lotus’s price had been below sixty thousand divine stones, with even deities increasing bids by only a thousand at a time. Such a sudden leap to an astronomical price stunned even the competing deities.
After a brief silence, a wave of uproar erupted.
“It’s Blood Slaughter again, he’s at it once more.”
“Is Star Sea World using him as a shill for the Lotus bidding too?”
“Blood Slaughter’s got some nerve, daring to challenge deities.”
“If he’s really a shill for Star Sea World, openly scamming these deities, he’s in for a bad end.”
“One hundred thousand divine stones is too high; no deity would fall for it. No matter how many divine stones one has, they wouldn’t throw them away to Star Sea World.”
…
Hearing the murmurs of Hell Realm cultivators, Blood Slaughter’s face darkened, and he quickly explained, “Bidding for treasures depends on wealth. What shill nonsense? I believe the Epoch-Level Lotus is priceless, worth not just one hundred thousand, but even two hundred thousand divine stones.”
One deity, eager to acquire the Epoch-Level Lotus, had intended to raise the bid.
But hearing Blood Slaughter mention “two hundred thousand divine stones,” he abandoned the idea. Continuing would be fine if he won, but losing would make him a laughingstock among deities.
Moreover, Blood Slaughter’s aggressive bidding for the Divine Wanderer Pills still lingered, making even deities wary of him.
“Bidding one hundred thousand divine stones without blinking. Are today’s youngsters this rich?”
“He’s the son of Blood Radiance Divine Lord.”
“Blood Radiance Divine Lord has passed the first Epoch Tribulation; the Epoch-Level Lotus is of little use to him. Why would he spend one hundred thousand divine stones here?”
“Could he really be a shill for Star Sea World?”
The deities present communicated secretly, unanimously suspecting Star Sea World was treating them like fat sheep to slaughter, deliberately sending this disruptive youngster.
With no further bids, Zhang Ruochen won the Epoch-Level Lotus for one hundred thousand divine stones.
Next, the treasures on the auction stage were all top-tier rarities, priced at least a thousand divine stones.
There were Emperor-grade pills, Great Sage-level puppet slaves, Ruins Realm…
Zhang Ruochen didn’t bid; he either already owned those treasures or had no immediate need for them.
As the auction neared its end, amidst great anticipation, the final item was presented.
Divine corpse.
Two bronze coffins were brought to the auction stage by Great Sage Three Gold and Great Sage Qiluo.
The moment they were set down, the floating island hosting the auction stage trembled violently, sinking significantly under the weight.
The coffins were inscribed with divine patterns and arrays, sealing the divine power within to prevent leakage.
Yet, strange fluctuations still emanated, slightly disrupting the spatial rules. Saint Kings and some Immortal Realm Great Sages felt an unsettling unease.
“A freshly fallen divine corpse is indeed different from one dead for ages,” Zhang Ruochen thought.
He had seen many divine corpses: one taken by Old Ancestor Death Zen in the Underworld, Blood God’s remains in the Blood God Sect, a divine python corpse unearthed in the Northern Region, and the Blood Phoenix corpse in the second gradient of the Endless Abyss.
…
But those had been dead for over a hundred thousand years, their divine power greatly diminished, retaining only a tenth or even a hundredth of their original value and divine might.
Blood Slaughter whispered, “Why two coffins? Are there two divine corpses? And divine corpses should be massive; can these small coffins hold them?”
“Those coffins are spatial treasures, with vast interiors,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Slaughter muttered, “I see.”
The curiosity of all cultivators was piqued.
Great Sage Qiluo announced, “This divine corpse is of a frontier deity slain by the Asura Clan’s Sword God Feng Chen at the edge of Hell Realm’s starry frontier. One sword cleaved its divine body in two. The two coffins contain the upper and lower halves.”
Great Sage Three Gold opened the left coffin first.
A dazzling divine light burst forth, bathing the entire ring world and Star Sea World’s headquarters in a purple-cyan hue.
Above the cultivators, cyan and purple divine clouds roiled ceaselessly.
The potent divine power made many cultivators tremble.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze fixed on the coffin, piercing through layers of spatial mist to see a half-body covered in purple carapace, with sharp claws, resembling a giant scorpion.
Even just the upper half, the corpse spanned over three thousand li, heavier and larger than the planet they were on.
“This deity’s carapace must have immense defensive power, yet such a massive body was still cleaved by one sword. To kill it, that sword must have contained Mysteries,” Zhang Ruochen observed the smooth cut at the corpse’s waist, a strange sensation flickering in his mind.
The feeling was fleeting, indescribable, and elusive.
Looking again at the cut, he couldn’t recapture that sensation.
For a Great Sage, no perception arises without reason; there must be a cause.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew serious as he asked Blood Slaughter, “What’s the frontier starry region? Which faction do frontier deities belong to?”
Blood Slaughter replied, “I’ve never been to the frontier starry region, only heard it’s extremely distant from Hell Realm, a place only deities can reach. Sword God Feng Chen, the Asura Clan’s greatest hero of the past millennium, ascended to the Asura Star Pillar Realm less than a thousand years ago and already wields the power to slay deities.”
A flash of inspiration struck Zhang Ruochen, envisioning a peerless sword light slicing a thousands-of-li-long scorpion in the cosmos.
Could that strange sensation stem not from the corpse but from the sword mark on it?
Zhang Ruochen’s pupils narrowed, staring at the corpse in the coffin, thinking, perhaps winning the corpse and studying it closely would bring him closer to the truth.
Great Sage Qiluo said, “When alive, this deity was a true god, not a pseudo-god. However, its divine source and most of its divine soul have been taken.”
Though expected that Sword God Feng Chen would take the divine source and soul, the news still drew sighs from the crowd.
A corpse without its divine source and most of its soul was far less valuable.
Especially for deities, it held little appeal.
However, the corpse’s vast divine blood, bones, marrow, carapace… could cultivate numerous Saint Realm cultivators, making it a strategic resource major factions must vie for.
Great Sage Qiluo announced, “The corpse is split in two, so it will be auctioned in two parts. Now, bidding for the upper half begins, starting at one hundred thousand divine stones, with increments no less than one thousand.”
“One hundred ten thousand divine stones.”
“One hundred twenty thousand.”
…
“One hundred fifty thousand.”
The Nether Sun Divine Wheel’s value lay in greatly enhancing a single combat unit’s power.
But a divine corpse could elevate an entire faction’s strength, nurturing many talented young cultivators for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
Both were foundational treasures.
Luo Sheng Tian bid, “Two hundred thousand divine stones.”
“Two hundred ten thousand divine stones,” Blade Prison Emperor said.
An Asura Clan Great Sage at the Hundred Shackles Realm peak said, “Two hundred twenty thousand divine stones.”
“Two hundred thirty thousand.”
…
The divine corpse was most valuable to the Undying Blood Clan, Rakshasa Clan, and Asura Clan. As the price surpassed two hundred thousand divine stones, bidders from the Middle and Upper Three Clans withdrew.
Over a hundred superpowers from the Lower Three Clans, backed by deities, fiercely competed, soon pushing the price past three hundred thousand divine stones.
At this point, most bidders fell silent.
Only a few, like Luo Sheng Tian and Blade Prison Emperor, continued, bidding cautiously with thoughtful expressions.
After the price exceeded three hundred thousand divine stones, Zhang Ruochen abandoned his bidding plans.
They could bid so high due to their large demand, supporting numerous cultivators under their command.
In Zhang Ruochen’s Qiankun Realm, though he had many cultivators, their numbers were a fraction of these factions’, with few possessing Saint potential, making a divine corpse purchase unnecessary.
Moreover, a divine corpse’s value for human cultivators’ cultivation was far less than for the Rakshasa or Undying Blood Clan.
“Half a divine corpse surpasses the Nether Sun Divine Wheel, even without its divine source and most of its soul. A freshly fallen deity’s value is likely comparable to a Supreme Sacred Artifact,” Zhang Ruochen assessed.
In fierce competition, the upper half of the divine corpse was won by Luo Sheng Tian for four hundred thousand divine stones.
The Heavenly Rakshasa Kingdom, the foremost of the Rakshasa Clan’s seven divine kingdoms, surpassed any Undying Blood Clan tribe in wealth.
“Damn it, four hundred thousand divine stones for half a corpse.”
Blade Prison Emperor, having lost, was deeply unwilling. He had wanted to bid higher but received a transmission from a clan deity, forcing him to stop.
“No need for such anger; there’s still half a corpse,” a nearby Undying Blood Clan cultivator said.
Blade Prison Emperor snorted, “Everyone knows the most precious and mysterious parts of a divine corpse are in the head and abdomen, all in the upper half. The lower half is just divine blood and bones. You can buy those anywhere; why bid here?”
Despite his words, Blade Prison Emperor decided to bid for the lower half. A recently fallen deity’s corpse might hold surprises.
The second bronze coffin was opened.
The lower half, over two thousand li long, was covered in massive spikes, emitting a cyan glow.
“Starting bid one hundred thousand divine stones, increments no less than one thousand.”
“Bidding begins.”
This time, the competition was far less intense than for the upper half.
Most cultivators saw that, rather than the lower half of a giant scorpion corpse, it was more like its tail, far less valuable.
“One hundred ten thousand divine stones.”
“One hundred twenty thousand divine stones.”
“One hundred twenty-five thousand divine stones.”
…
When the price reached one hundred fifty thousand divine stones, most interested bidders withdrew.
“One hundred sixty thousand divine stones.”
After Blade Prison Emperor bid, other competitors hesitated, weighing whether to withdraw.
Zhang Ruochen said to Blood Slaughter, “Bid one hundred eighty thousand divine stones, crush their hopes, and stop their hesitation.”
Blood Slaughter was shocked, saying, “Senior Brother, why buy a divine corpse?”
“Why so many questions?” Zhang Ruochen replied.
Blood Slaughter’s face twisted in distress, saying mournfully, “Blade Prison Emperor is determined to get the corpse. I already offended him bidding for the Divine Wanderer Pills. If I snatch his corpse, he’ll kill me.”
“You’re a divine son; why fear him?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Slaughter shook his head vigorously, pleading, “He’s at the Hundred Shackles Realm peak; I’ve just reached Immortal Realm. You don’t know, Blade Prison Emperor holds grudges, and those who offend him meet terrible fates.”
“The corpse is over two thousand li long, containing fresh divine blood like rivers and seas. Don’t you want to consume it?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Of course I do.”
Blood Slaughter’s mind raced, then shifted, saying, “Senior Brother, leave the bidding to me. A mere Blade Prison Emperor, why fear him?”
…
Qingming Festival has arrived, time to pay respects at the graves of Saint Monk Xumi, God Hunter, and Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, so Little Fish is here again asking for monthly and recommendation votes!
It’s been a while, time to rise from the dead.
