The dragon's bid slowly rose to 2,500,000 after a bout of furious bidding.

Mei almost felt at a daze looking at such a huge number. She felt a little bad for the dragon after hearing it rant earlier.

In many stories she heard back then, dragons were benevolent and majestic creatures, akin to gods. Yet, in the cultivation world, one was just caged up and sold in an auction. And they were technically selling an old woman too...

After the dragon was put away, the next item was a Thousand Blossom Tree's seed. It was smooth and glossy black, but with veins of gold and silver running through it. Even from such a distance, Mei could sense the incredible life force emanating out of it.

It was sold for 900,000 Jade after a few minutes of bidding.

Empyrean Pillar Bamboo seeds, an Eternal Silkworm, a Nascent Soul Ginseng...

The items that continued were all sold for prices just as shocking. The auction must have reserved the best items for the last, Mei realised. How did they even get their hands on so much jade?

"And our last item has been auctioned! I'd like to thank all of you for coming here, be you a buyer, a seller or both. We look forward to seeing you again for next year's auction!" Yu Yan said cheerfully. "Please leave the hall in an orderly fashion and do not fly."

Mei looked around and realised she forgot where her friends were sitting after falling asleep, making her a little anxious. Oh well. She decided to head out on her own first and wait for them outside.

Senior Han walked alongside the group. Earlier, he had kept track of where everyone's seats were, so he was confident he was walking with all his juniors.

As he walked, brazenly humming to himself since no one could hear him, he saw to his shock Mei's little spirit in the distance.

"Di-did I get mixed up?" he mumbled.

Feeling a lot less confident, he headed over to follow Mei.

As she left the building and had her mask taken off by the guards, Mei breathed a sigh of relief. She wondered when she was going to get her Qi Imbuing Vase.

Senior brother Han walked out behind her, but the rest of the group wasn't here.

"Hmm? I guess they must have been mixed up by the crowd." Senior Han said. "Well, no matter, we can wait for them back at our accommodations."

Mei laughed awkwardly.

"I didn't know where everyone was, so I just headed off on my own. Guess we ended up heading out together by chance?"

"Ah... I see." Senior Han looked relieved for some reason. "I could see your little friend hovering around you so I just followed it to find you."

That made sense. Su Qing hadn't been making itself shown, so her friends couldn't see it. She was the first of them to cultivate soulsense after all. As for Senior Han, who had been in the sect for much, much longer, he had learnt how to use it long before they were recruited.

She thought of something and froze, somewhat excited. Did she discover an exploit in the auction's formation to tell who was who? She whispered her thoughts to Senior Han, who laughed.

"Well, I think they're already aware of it, but didn't want to take it too far. From a distance and with so many people, it will be hard for the bigshots to be identified by their spirits anyway," he said. "Plus, I don't think the big sects want to take it further, since they've already pushed the auctioneers this far. They wouldn't want to be blacklisted."

Well... that didn't sound foolproof, but fair enough.

"Plus, if they hid the spirits, people might be very unhappy about that! There aren't any major issues with it anyway, so what's the big deal with letting a few select friends know who's who? And-"

To her dismay, now that she was alone with him, all of his chatter was focused on her as they headed back. She had newfound respect for Xiuying, who was able to keep talking enthusiastically alongside him the whole time previously.

Wang Wei walked out triumphantly, turning back to see Xiuying, Liu Qiang and Yingyi heading out as well.

"Eh? Where did Senior Han and Mei Xiu go?" he said.

They waited for a bit, but only strangers continued to stream out of the gates.

"Maybe they headed back first? I think we should head to the inn and wait for them there." Xiuying said.

"I wonder when we're getting our money?" Wang Wei said, his eyes sparkling. "I can't wait to get my 3500 jade!"

A middle-aged man who had a young man following who was passing by stopped suddenly. He was dressed in elegant white robes lined with red and black that looked expensive, hinting at his high status. The young man following him was no less well-dressed and had similar facial features, no doubt his son.

"Boy, what did you sell to earn that much Jade?" he asked, a kindly look on his face. "Did your elders get you to auction something on their behalf?"

"On their behalf?" Wang Wei sounded a bit offended. "Hmph, it was-"

"Wang Wei..." Xiuying frowned.

"-by my own efforts! I made and sold pills of my own!" he finished.

Liu Qiang gave Xiuying a resigned look that seemed to say, "You can't stop him when he gets like this!". Yingyi merely stood off at the side and yawned.

"Oh?" the man continued. "From memory, the jar of Ceruleans Stream pills were the only pills sold for 3500 Jade, no?"

"Yeah, those were my pills!" Wang Wei said proudly.

"Interesting... Boy, how long have you been practising alchemy?" the man asked, a glint in his eyes.

"One month!" he said, ignoring the looks of exasperation from his friends.

"Nonsense!" the young man said. "Even the best of our chosen would take at least half a year to reach that standard. There's no way a boy that young can reach that standard in a month!"

"Pipe down! I'm very confident in my ability to tell if someone is lying!" the man said. "My name is Xing Detian, and I'm an elder of the Xing clan! Come join our sect, I will vouch for you personally! You'll immediately be an inner disciple and it won't be hard for you to become a core disciple!"

"Ehhh?" Wang Wei froze. He didn't expect his bragging to lead to this!

"Our clan's sect, the Black Mountain sect is leagues ahead of the Vermillion Phoenix sect! There's no need to hesitate at all."

"...I don't want to." Wang Wei said, starting to inch away.

A look of displeasure came over the young man's face. For an elder to be rejected by such a young boy and in front of so many people was a huge loss of face. But seeing the stern look Detian gave him, he swallowed his words.

As the group walked off, Detian kept following, trying his best to convince Wang Wei to join.