Today was the actual day the auction would begin! Mei was rather excited as they stood before the auction building again. Feng Shen still didn't return yet, but she figured it was probably fine with Senior Han.

Unlike yesterday, the place was now flooded with people. On the square before the building, there had to be at least a thousand people!

A strange energy from a formation washed over the whole area, making it hard to even tell how tall people were or what they were wearing. Mei realised this must be one of the precautions the auction took to ensure the participants remained anonymous.

She looked up to the sky, still darkened from how early it was. So that was why Senior Han got them to get up so early...

Every few seconds, the queue would move a few steps forward, but despite that, it felt like it was taking forever. She wished she had something to read, but then again, it might be hard considering how she had to walk a little every few seconds.

As she and her group neared the gates, the sun had already risen. Now that she was close, she could see how efficient the guards were, sorting every person in mere seconds. It must be exhausting to keep that up for hours... Poor guards...

"Yesterday, it wasn't necessary because we were just handing in items, but now that the auction is actually starting, we will be denied entry if we refuse to wear them." Senior Han whispered.

Mei felt like he didn't need to say it explicitly... she could see how each and every person put on a mask as they walked in.

Shortly, they were heading up the stairs and to the gate. After Senior Han handed the guard their admission tokens, she donned one of the masks they offered.

She had been a bit worried because of the featureless surface, but after putting it on, she could still breathe easily. The mask was completely transparent from the inside and was rather light, which was a huge contrast from the material it was made of: gold and black jade. It was stuck firmly to her face, but not in an uncomfortable way.

She turned to her friends, looking at them. With the mask hiding their features and the strange energy hiding their figures... she found it rather hard to tell them apart.

"-? -!?!?" she tried to speak but failed.

The figures of her friends seemed to be a little panicked, like her, but one of them, whom she was sure was Senior Han gave them a reassuring thumbs-up. Only Su Qing could she easily recognise, still in its cyan glory.

She followed the indistinct figures of her group, led by Senior Han. To her surprise, they ended up having to go downstairs, far underground.

She was led into a gigantic room, the biggest room she had ever seen in her life! A huge stage was on the far end of it, with thousands of seats before it. Senior Han's figure ushered them to a few seats.

There was yet another long wait as the seats slowly filled up with cultivators. The huge room was dark and filled with countless indistinct figures. With the silencing power of the mask, only the sound of footsteps and the creaking of seats echoed through the room.

It made her feel rather uneasy. Su Qing's recognisable presence made her feel much better, however. She really didn't expect an auction to be so... creepy?

Stupid Xing clan, making the auctioneers have to do this... After grumbling for a little, she turned and saw one of the figures near her trying its best to eat a vegetable bun. Ah, so that was Liu Qiang. She grinned.

Finally, a light shone upon the stage. She saw a beautiful woman walk gracefully onto the stage with a brilliant smile.

"Sorry for the wait, everyone! The auction starts now!"

Despite how far she was away from the stage, Mei could hear the woman's voice loud and clear from the mask.

The woman gave an introduction to the auction and other formalities, introducing herself as Yu Yan.

Mei shifted in her seat excitedly, a small pouch in hand. Earlier this morning, Senior Han decided to lend them 500 Jade each, so she actually had a chance to get something nice! Of course, it meant that she would have to work a lot when she got back to the sect, but she decided that was a problem for future Mei.

"Our first item is a Goldflower's petal! It's a precious cultivation resource for metal cultivators and can be used to make pills and artefacts!" Yu Yan said enthusiastically.

As she put the petal on an artefact that looked like a marble pillar cut to the height of a table, a massive projection of the petal appeared above the stage, at least 200 metres across!

Despite the large distance, Mei could see it in incredible detail from the sheer size. The veins, the tiny scratches, the bumps on it; she could see it all, leaving her in awe yet again.

"The starting bid will be 100 Jade!"

A huge 100 appeared below the petal.

110, 150, 220, 300!

The price finalised, the auctioness put the petal in a jade box, continuing with the next item.

Before long, dozens of items were auctioned. Mei was rather disappointed to not have found anything she wanted yet.

"And our next item: a jar of 138 Cerulean Stream pills at 50% purity!" Yu Yan announced. "These are invaluable to Qi Gathering water cultivators, removing impurities from their meridians and providing a large boost of qi to speed up their cultivation!"

"The starting bid will be 1500 Jade!"

Under the massive projected Jar, the number rose incredibly fast!

1500, 1520, 1600... 2580... 3500!

While barely anyone attending was of the Qi Gathering realm, most in the Core Formation stage and above, that didn't mean the pills were useless to them.

As every cultivator had to start somewhere, low tier pills were essentially the foundation for a sect. Without them, their starting Qi Gathering disciples would take forever to reach the Foundational stage! The bidders were the patriarchs of small sects, eager to get good pills for their disciples.

Wang Wei's figure was shaking in excitement, even getting up to jump up and down.

Urgh... how enviable! Back in the mortal world, he was definitely a moneybags considering his status and now, it seemed like he was going to be one in the cultivation world too.