Chapter 148: The Pearl of the Sea God

Jiang Feng had not expected his very first purchase to be interrupted by someone, and he was taken aback. He quickly looked over toward the VIP suite from which the shout of "sixty thousand pills" had come. After his cultivation of the Wood Emperor Nether Power reached completion, it remained concealed within his liver; as the liver connects to the eyes, his vision could pierce through various spatial barriers and reach the true realm of reality.

With this gaze, he saw a young man in blue robes sitting leisurely inside the VIP suite. Seeming to sense Jiang Feng's look, the man suddenly glanced back, a trace of a sneer appearing on his face.

Jiang Feng knew that those who could afford to sit in the VIP suites were all experts of the fifth tier of the True Nether realm. Of course, his own cultivation had plenty of water in it, or perhaps those occupants were people of high status, such as the son of a sect master or scions of the royal and noble families of the Great Xuan Town. "Sixty thousand pills" was no small sum; even a True Nether expert like Liu Xiayuan would have to sell his prized Nether treasures to cough up that amount. Yet that person hadn't even blinked, clearly showing that he was truly wealthy and imposing.

However, Jiang Feng was not one to back down easily. He raised a hand and called out, "Seventy thousand!"

Unexpectedly, the blue-robed young man seemed not to hesitate at all, immediately declaring, "One million!"

A shudder instantly ran through Jiang Feng's body! By this point, a piece of East Nether Supreme Profound True Gold being sold for one million pills far exceeded its actual value. Continuing to bid against him would be meaningless. Besides, he only had a little over two million spiritual pills in total. What if he encountered something truly good later and lacked the pills to buy it? He certainly couldn't resort to robbery.

With two cold sneers, he lowered his arm and let that piece of East Nether Supreme Profound True Gold be bought away by the blue-robed youth.

"That fellow is dead meat! Jiang Feng, how about we wait until we get outside, intercept this guy, slaughter him, and seize his treasures to vent our anger?" Jue yelled excitedly.

"I am, after all, a descendant of the Jiang family of the Nine Cliffs Town. Killing people and seizing treasures just to buy an item isn't a good thing. Let's forget it," Jiang Feng shook his head. "Let's see what good stuff comes up next. Although the items at the Xuantao Pavilion are a bit pricey, they carry many treasures you can't find outside. For instance, this piece of East Nether Supreme Profound True Gold—you wouldn't necessarily be able to buy it in the Central Sea Market."

Seeing Jiang Feng sneering repeatedly, Lü Xia assumed he had grown furious and feared he might stir up trouble. Although she could suppress the situation, it would still be troublesome, so she quickly chimed in, "Senior need not mind; there are still better treasures coming up below—"

Jiang Feng waved his hand and looked down. The second treasure turned out to be a "Myriad Treasure Pouch," which immediately sparked a bidding war among the crowd and was ultimately purchased by an expert of the sixth tier of the True Nether realm for forty thousand pills. This prompted Jiang Feng to toy with the idea of selling his own three Myriad Treasure Pouches.

Such a trinket naturally failed to arouse Jiang Feng's interest. As he watched down the line, the next dozens of treasures were all purple-grade Nether treasures—flying swords, dharma robes, magical treasures, alchemy furnaces—along with two pills. One was the Star Dou Gathering Dharma Pill from the Myriad Stars Sect, and the other was the Sixty-Year Longevity Pill, a medicinal pellet capable of prolonging life! For ordinary people, such pills merely extended their years, but for practitioners of Nether power, they were lifesavers used in moments of mortal peril. Many immensely powerful Nether arts required trading away one's remaining years of natural life to unleash!

Both of these pills ended up selling for the price of three hundred thousand White Sun Pills.

However, Jiang Feng felt no interest in any of these. After waiting for half an hour, a certain item finally piqued his spirit.

"The next treasure is a sacred object for cultivating water-system divine arts: the Sea God Pearl!" Lady Shisanniang pulled away the red cloth on the table, revealing a precious pearl as large as a human head. "Starting bid: one million White Sun Pills."

This pearl was entirely azure blue. As soon as it appeared, countless azure light rays revolved around it, and a thick, tangible essence of water element fiercely radiated outward, provoking the weak Water Emperor Nether Power inside Jiang Feng's body into restless agitation, as if it wanted to fly out and devour this pearl.

"The Sea God Pearl! They managed to dig up something like this! The Xuantao Pavilion truly lives up to its reputation!" Jue exclaimed. "Back when I had just cultivated to the Nether King realm, the Xuantao Pavilion was merely a tiny commercial association. Who would have thought that over these past few thousands of years, it would develop to such a grand scale. This Sea God Pearl is no less formidable than a set of peerless Nether arts, and perhaps even slightly stronger. It is a pearl condensed from the spirit and soul of a Sea God over countless millenniums. If left to slowly absorb the water element's essence for another few hundred thousand years, it might even transform into a living Sea God!"

"So you mean that if I obtain this Sea God Pearl and refine it, I can summon an avatar of the Sea God? This is indeed a good item. Right now, my Water Emperor Nether Power has not yet reached minor accomplishment; if I bring all of them to minor accomplishment, the five elements can circulate endlessly, regenerating without stop. Its power will increase tremendously once again," Jiang Feng nodded inwardly.

Without hesitation, he said to Lü Xia, "I want it!"

"One million one hundred thousand!"

Just as he was about to make his bid, a voice suddenly echoed from another VIP suite. It was not the young man in blue robes, but a mysterious woman dressed in red with her face veiled in a red gauze scarf.

"One million two hundred thousand!" Jiang Feng was determined to win this "Sea God Pearl" and had no intention of giving up.

"One million three hundred thousand!" The veiled woman in red did not show the slightest sign of weakness. Her aura remained calm, and she stated her price with an indifferent expression. Meanwhile, the blue-robed young man kept a poker face, seeming entirely uninterested in the "Sea God Pearl" and refusing to bid. None of the occupants in the other VIP suites made a move to call out a price either.

Jiang Feng knew that besides himself, there were at least a hundred other VIP guests present—truly a gathering of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. However, the Sea God Pearl was of vital importance to him, so he raised the bid once more: "One million four hundred thousand!"

"One million five hundred thousand!"

The veiled woman's voice still held not a shred of emotion.

"One million six hundred thousand!" Jiang Feng licked his lips.

"Two million!" The veiled woman in red suddenly raised the price by a massive margin, as if she had grown impatient with competing against Jiang Feng.

"Two million one hundred thousand!" Jiang Feng gave a cold chuckle, pushing his entire net worth into the bid. He only possessed two million three hundred thousand White Sun Pills in total right now.

"Two million five hundred thousand!" The veiled woman in red did not give Jiang Feng any chance at all, directly naming her price.

Jiang Feng let out a long sigh and lowered his hand.

"Senior, please do not be upset. That veiled woman in red is a disciple of the Xingtao Grotto-heaven! Even the Langya Commercial Association has to show her three points of courtesy." Seeing that Jiang Feng had failed to secure either of the two items he bid on, Lü Xia knew anger must be festering in his heart, so she quickly tried to soothe his temper.

"People of the Xingtao Grotto-heaven? Then never mind," Jiang Feng chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I thought I had amassed some wealth, but today I realize I truly am a frog at the bottom of a well. There are indeed plenty of heavy-hitting tycoons with abundant resources in the East Nether."

This Xingtao Grotto-heaven was a deeply rooted sect in the East Nether, and its strength was on par with the Langya Commercial Association.

"The Xuantao Pavilion's treasure-selling convention is a top-tier artifact trading convention under heaven, harboring all kinds of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Your little fortune amounts to nothing here. Unless you sell the Eight Fiends Pale Flame and the White Emperor Glazed Tripod—only then could you become a top-tier tycoon in one stroke," Jue cackled.

"I think it would be better to sell you off instead! A Nether Sage with a thousand years of life span—I daresay he could probably buy the entire Xuantao Pavilion," Gui Yue chimed in out of nowhere, her expression gloomy and a cold sneer hanging on the corners of her lips.

"Stop bickering and look at that item! What is that?" Jiang Feng hurriedly used his spiritual will to halt the argument between the two spirits, fearing they would start wreaking havoc in his sea of consciousness again, and looked downward.

He saw that after the "Sea God Pearl" was sold, another treasure was brought out to replace it. It turned out to be a massive log, a full human height tall. Several True Nether experts had to secretly channel their Nether power and utilize several white-grade Nether sacred artifacts just to hoist it to the center of the sacrificial platform. This log, standing as tall as a person, displayed an ancient color, and the annual rings upon it were stacked circle upon circle, plunging deep into the wood an uncounted number of times. When sniffed carefully, it carried not the slightest scent of wood; instead, it resembled a fossil from a bygone, distant era.

Its weight was completely unfathomable.

"This is an unnamed divine wood. Even white-grade Nether sacred artifacts cannot hack it apart, true fire cannot burn it, and water cannot seep into it. It is a supreme treasure between heaven and earth. Starting bid: one hundred thousand pills." Lady Shisanniang stroked the strange log and said in a desolate voice, "This divine wood was found within the Reincarnation Sea by a powerful expert. Perhaps it is a fragment of some ancient Nether treasure. If someone is able to refine it, they might just reap an unimaginable fortune!"

"This is......" Jiang Feng's eyes froze, his heart began to beat violently, and the blood throughout his entire body surged.

"This is......" Jue was also struck dumb with astonishment, rubbing his aged eyes with trembling hands. "There is no mistake! This is a fragment of the Immortal World's Sacred Tree! Such a huge piece! Jiang Feng, even if you have to risk your life, you must get your hands on this fragment! The fragment you obtained from the Central Sea Market was only the size of a palm; although it was cultivated into a sapling, how much more formidable would it be if it absorbed this piece? Just how much of the world's spiritual energy could it draw in every day?!"

A fragment of the Immortal World's Sacred Tree standing a human's height tall!

The Sacred Tree of the Immortal World residing within Jiang Feng's brow had been successfully nurtured from a fragment merely the size of a palm.

In this world, very, very few people recognized the fragments of the Immortal World's Sacred Tree! Extremely few indeed, save for those ancient antiques from remote ages. Even Jue had not been entirely certain at first, only confirming it definitively after Jiang Feng managed to sprout it using the Nine Yang Sacred Water. Since even Jue could not be sure, it was hardly surprising that the people of the Xuantao Pavilion failed to recognize it, mistaking it for an unnamed divine wood and pricing it at a mere one hundred thousand pills.

Because Jiang Feng had expanded a large portion of his sea of consciousness, the surplus spiritual energy generated daily by his current Immortal World's Sacred Tree was enough to refine strange Nether powers for two hours. But if he were to obtain this human-sized fragment! The Immortal World's Sacred Tree would swell immensely, and the worldly spiritual energy it absorbed would probably increase a hundredfold or more! How much strange Nether power would it be able to refine every day?

In other words, Jiang Feng would be able to grow his Nether power dozens of times faster than ordinary people every single day, and if this continued over the long term...

What kind of concept was this?

What kind of opportunity was this?

He stood an extremely high chance of attaining the realm of a Nether King within ten years!

A fragment of the Immortal World's Sacred Tree could only be refined by someone who mastered the profound heavenly technique known as the Wood Emperor Nether Power. And right now, the only person in the entire world who mastered this Nether art was Jiang Feng himself.

Compared to this fragment of the Immortal World's Sacred Tree, things like the "East Nether Supreme Profound True Gold" or the "Sea God Pearl" were utterly fit to be swept into the trash heap.

"Two hundred thousand! I want this unnamed divine wood!" Jiang Feng declared immediately. No matter what, he could not let this fragment slip away. He also felt fortunate that he had previously failed to win the Sea God Pearl; otherwise, if he had lacked the pills to purchase this fragment now, wouldn't he have died of regret?

"Three hundred thousand!" Sure enough, from another VIP suite, a competing voice rang out to contend with Jiang Feng.