Han Li was naturally able to afford the price of 3,000,000 spirit stones.

Even if he did have spirit herbs that could be sold for large amounts of spirit stones, he definitely wouldn't sell too many of these herbs during a short period of time.

Otherwise, if someone were to discover what he was doing, it could spell a lot of trouble for him!

The one who had just placed a bid seemed to be intent on securing this jar of True Toad Spirit Blood. Even if he were to place a bid of 3,000,000 spirit stones, that may not be enough, and he would definitely attract attention from others.

Furthermore, such a small amount of spirit blood would only be enough for him to familiarize himself with the True Toad Liquid refinement process; it wouldn't actually be sufficient to refine much spirit medicine.

As such, following a period of contemplation, Han Li decided not to place any further bids.

Just because Han Li had bowed out from the bidding didn't mean that everyone else was also going to give up on it.

Just a few moments later, a few more people placed a string of bids. These people were clearly all late-Deity Transformation cultivators who desperately needed the True Toad Liquid to break through their cultivation bottlenecks; a normal cultivator definitely wouldn't be willing to pay such a hefty price.

After an intense bout of bids, the jar of True Toad Spirit Blood was successfully secured by the first bidder at an astronomical price of 4,000,000 spirit stones.

The fact that the item had been purchased for such a high price naturally attracted a lot of attention, and many of the cultivators present were frequently stealing glances at the stone cabin, trying to figure out just who was in there.

However, their efforts naturally yielded no fruits.

The next few auction items were also extremely rare, all of which were important ingredients for pill refinement for Spatial Tempering cultivators. There were fewer people bidding for these items, but the prices were even more staggering.

Among them, a purple Myriad Year Primordial Fruit was sold for close to 10,000,000 spirit stones. All of the cultivators who were participating in auctions of this nature for the first time were completely flabbergasted.

Just ingredients were being sold at such jaw-dropping prices; if pills that were useful to Spatial Tempering cultivators were to be brought out, how high would the prices rise to?

Not long after that, all of the ingredients and secret tome items had been completely auctioned off. The white-robed elderly man gave a gentle wave of his hand, and the 10 female cultivators standing behind him all drifted off the auction platform.

At the same time, three cultivators in different attire slowly stepped onto the platform.

One of them was a woman in an azure dress, the second was a healthy-looking elderly man, and the final one was a middle-aged scholar with a set of refined features.

At the sight of these three, a slight stir ran throughout the entire hall.

Han Li could faintly hear the word "appraiser" being thrown around, and he immediately understood who they were. These were the three appraisers that the elderly man had been referring to in the beginning.

The cultivation bases of this trio were inferior to the white-robed elderly man; all of them were only at the early-Deity Transformation Stage. However, their ability to create such a stir among the cultivators present clearly indicated that they weren't just a trio of ordinary people.

Just as these thoughts were running through Han Li's mind, the white-robed elderly man extended a polite greeting to the three before turning back to all of the cultivators present. "Coming up next will be the three most precious treasures for this auction, and they're being carried by Fellow Daoist Han and the others. The first treasure will be three scales from the True Spirit Black Qilin of the primordial world. These scales can be used to refine the legendary True Spirit Water Pill or used as top-grade materials to refine water-attribute spirit treasures. Spirit treasures refined using this material have a certain chance of making it onto the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll. In contrast, the True Spirit Water Pill can allow any early-Deity Transformation cultivator to reach the mid-Deity Transformation Stage following consumption. Of course, regardless of whether it's the spirit treasure or the True Spirit Water Pill, the probability of successfully refining either of them is rather low, even if a master of the craft were to be commissioned for the job. However, if anyone secures this item and wishes to refine a spirit treasure with it, I can provide my personal tool refinement services free of charge," the white-robed elderly man announced with a chuckle before retreating to behind the trio of appraisers.

The cultivators in the second stone cabin all drew sharp breaths upon hearing the words "True Spirit Black Qilin". All of them stared at the three appraisers onstage in a completely speechless manner.

In contrast, all of the cultivators who were extremely rich were ecstatic to hear this. It appeared that they had made the right decision to wait for the final few auction items.

Regardless of what the final two auction items were, just these scales of the True Spirit Black Qilin was valuable enough for them to bid with all their might.

However, most of them were planning to refine the True Spirit Water Pill. In contrast, using the scales to refine a spirit treasure seemed like a bit of a waste.

Furthermore, the only cultivators who were interested in refining a spirit treasure with the scales were virtually all cultivators who used water-attribute cultivation arts.

Han Li's heart also jolted significantly upon hearing about the True Spirit Water Pill.

This was a pill that defied the natural order, and could instantly effect a breakthrough for an early-Deity Transformation cultivator. It was what he had been desperately searching for, and he almost instantaneously made the decision that he was going to secure these scales no matter what. Even if he had to take some risk to achieve that objective, it would be worth it.

Thus, a decisive look appeared on Han Li's face.

At this moment, the middle-aged woman among the three appraisers stepped forward. She swept a hand over her storage bracelet, and a translucent jade box that was around a foot in size appeared. There were runes shimmering over the surface of the box, as well bursts of white light, and it was quite apparent that even this box was no ordinary object.

The woman required no further introduction from the white-robed elderly man as she placed a finger onto the jade box.

The lid of the box flew off of its own accord, following which three streaks of black light shot forth, rising high into the air.

However, the middle-aged woman seemed to have anticipated this in advance, and she merely made a grabbing motion in a calm manner.

A burst of invisible suction force emerged, trapping the three streaks of black light before violently tugging them downward.

The three streaks of black light swirled before revealing themselves as a trio of fist-sized black scales, which were forced into the middle-aged woman's hand.

The woman placed two of the scales back into the box, then sealed it with a restriction talisman, before displaying the final scale to everyone.

"As you all know, the black Qilin is a water-attribute true spirit from birth. Their scales are the best water-attribute materials in this world, and they're most useful for fellow Daoists who are using water-attribute cultivation arts. However, there are only two ways to verify the authenticity of such scales. The first of those methods is to assess the spiritual power within the scales. Even without further refinement, these scales contain astonishing water-attribute spiritual power, comparable to that of top-grade water-attribute treasures."

As she spoke, the middle-aged woman injected her spiritual power into the scale before waving it through the air.

All of a sudden, blue light flashed and a blue lotus flower of light blossomed on the surface of the scale. The lotus flower was translucent and dazzling, as glamorous as a diamond.

The lotus flower then rotated on the spot and swelled drastically in size at the middle-aged woman's behest, expanding to around the size of a human head within the blue spiritual light.

Its petals swayed, and countless specks of blue light shot forth in all directions. In the blink of an eye, extremely rich water-attribute spiritual Qi had spread throughout the entire hall.

Situated within one of the stone cabins, Han Li's eyes flashed as he raised a hand and made a grabbing motion. One of the specks of blue light fell into his palm and immediately disappeared.

Han Li closed his eyes and experienced a cool sensation quickly coursing through his entire body from his palm.

When he opened his eyes again, his expression was filled with contentment.

This was indeed extremely pure water-attribute spiritual power, and only the scales of the black Qilin would be able to emanate such power.

Not just Han Li, but all of the other cultivators were also convinced after experiencing the pure spiritual power imbued within the blue specks of light.

At this moment, the middle-aged woman flicked her wrist, and the blue lotus flower on the scale disappeared.

The specks of blue light hovering throughout the entire hall also instantly vanished.

She continued, "Among the heavenly true spirits, the hardness of Qilin scales is not inferior to that of even the most powerful true spirits, such as true dragons. Even though the scales will have lost most of their hardness after detaching from the Qilin's body, it would still be impossible to destroy them with normal attacks."

As her voice trailed off, the woman tossed the scale into the air.

A ball of black light immediately hovered in the air in a completely stationary manner.

Right at this moment, golden light flashed from the middle-aged woman's hands, and two axes appeared, each of which was around a foot in size. Both axes were shimmering with golden light and giving off a menacing aura.

The woman adopted a serious expression as her axes flew into the air as streaks of golden light, then came crashing down toward that scale.

Following a resounding clang, black light flashed from the surface of the scale and it was sent flying by the twin axes, but it was completely unscathed.

However, the demonstration didn't end there. The middle-aged woman began to chant something, and a pillar of azure flames erupted into the air, completely engulfing the scale.

"Three-Colored Azure Tribulation Flames!"

Several cries of surprise rang out from within the hall, and many cultivators were clearly very envious toward the flames that the woman had just unleashed.

However, after the woman withdrew her flames, the scale that was hovering in mid-air was still completely unscathed.

After that, she unleashed a series of other attacks, all of different attributes, yet they were completley ineffective against this scale.

The final Devil Dao treasure the woman unleashed released a ball of blood mist, but it was unable to corrode the scale in the slightest, and thus concluded her demonstration.

She raised a hand to draw the Qilin scale back to her before placing it into the jade box again, and sealing it with a talisman. She then took a few steps backward with the box in her hands, and refrained from saying anything else.

At this moment, the white-robed elderly man took the stage again with a wide smile, and said in a brief and concise manner, "The three True Spirit Black Qilin scales have a base price of 15,000,000 spirit stones. Each incremental jump has to be at least 1,000,000 spirit stones, and the bidding may now begin."

"17,000,000"

"18,000,000"

20,000,000"

...

The price of the scales quickly climbed up by 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 at a time. Many of the cultivators who attending this type of auction for the first time were completely stunned by this, and immediately relinquished any thoughts of participating in the bidding.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but there was also a hint of surprise shimmering in his eyes. He didn't think that in the dying stages of the auction, there would still be so many cultivators with so much money left to spend.

However, he wasn't in a hurry to place a bid. He merely looked at the astronomical number that was only continuing to increase and pursed his slightly dry lips.