It wasn’t just weapons, the ‘manufactured goods’ portion of the auction had all manner of strange and unusual devices. Most of them didn’t actually have very unique capabilities, but just like the weapons they seemed grown rather than built. They solved the same problems as other tools, but with a different method. There was an expensive magical tool named Aura Tracker, it could be calibrated so precisely that it could follow the specific aura of a single cultivator and track them from miles away.

The Arborists instead created something called a Blood Compass. It took only a single drop of blood to point the way to its target. Obviously, both tools had drawbacks and methods by which they could be blocked, but they were still powerful nonetheless. Thankfully, they were both expensive devices and the Blood Compass that was up for auction sold for 2.3 million Spirit Stones.

Too bad it’s not higher… I’ll have to be careful to keep every last drop of my blood accounted for in the future.

As before, the tools either didn’t catch Sage’s eye or they were too expensive and he could only watch them sold one after the other. Cui Shufen actually jumped in and purchased something. After meeting Peak Master Lupeng for the first time, Sage looked into Cui Shufen, especially her famed reputation as an Astrologer. As one of the many professions, Sage knew of its existence. When he heard they tried to predict the future he immediately likened it with Earth Astrologers: telling horoscopes, reading palms, and flipping tarot cards. At that time he’d written the profession off, but after learning about Cui Shufen he researched them a bit further and found he had been wrong.

While the methods may be similar to the fortune tellers on Earth, the fact that cultivators could channel the power of the heaven and earth meant that they truly could catch peeks at the future. Unlike Earth, in this world the times that Astrologers had been correct was many times greater than they had been wrong. They weren’t so spectacular at reading the future of a specific group or individual. On the other hand, they were quite good at just opening themselves up to the realms of possibility. It was in this manner that numerous prophecies were revealed and most of them were then later fulfilled in one form or another. The visions Astrologers received weren’t always the raw truth, but they more often than not led to a resolution to the conflict.

Cui Shufen purchased a device that, to Sage, looked like a small tree that was perfectly formed into a birdbath. It looked like a waist high bonsai tree, except instead of having an upper canopy of leaves, the branches had grown into a basin. While strange looking, the device was created to empower the use of Astrology, allowing the user to better view the motions of the Celestial bodies. She looked happy about the purchase, so Sage congratulated her. The morning auction session passed by pretty quickly after that. The three of them were uninterested in the items for sale. They could get most weapons, armor, and other tools at great prices from the Sect and had already been gifted extremely powerful ones from their Masters.

Sage made one purchase, spending 72,000 Spirit Stones for a belt. The buckle was in the shape of a spider, and the purpose of the device was to create and repair silken robes. You just had to feed it an outfit and then it would reproduce that outfit out of silk and repair it when it was damaged. The Wardrobe Spider would ensure that he wouldn’t have to carry around a dozen changes of clothing when out on a training trip. He could battle without having to look like a beggar or constantly change. Some people loved them, while others hated that they couldn’t use them. The main drawback of the device was that it didn’t play well with other equipment. Anything that wasn’t hanging from the belt itself would interfere with it. Most chose powerful armor over self-repairing clothing.

The gear that showed up for the final part of the auction was just as impressive as the first two auctions. Weapons that could cleave mountains in twain, and armor that could stop such an attack. There was also another Sky Lotus Vessel, but it was described as three times as fast and five times as tough as the basic model from before. They named it as a Thundercloud Lotus Vessel and it could even form huge lightning bolts as a method of attack. Sage separated from Jin Shih and Cui Shufen once again during the break. The two of them were going to have lunch with people they’d met at the party last night. Sage chose to just wait in the VIP booth and study a few techniques.

The previous day of the auction he had only left to raise more funds during the break and went back to the Inn overnight since he wanted an excuse to duck out on their party. After retrieving the Wardrobe Spider he waited a few minutes before returning to the VIP booth so he wouldn’t have to come up with an excuse. The afternoon session of the auction, surprisingly, began like the living creature auction. They wheeled out the huge bronze mirror again and lit a different type of candle in front of it.

“It is time to begin the auction that doesn’t just benefit yourself, but can change the fate of whole clans for all time! As they say, knowledge is power. So who’s looking to purchase some power? This time the Magic Mirror will be showing you all a glimpse of what the skill for sale can do. Seeing is believing after all, so now you can get a little preview instead of just basing your decision on hearsay.”

Sage was impressed. If they could use that mirror to display a skill without anyone actually learning it, that was a very useful device. Too bad they weren’t selling the Magic Mirror or those special candles. Putting aside his greedy thoughts, he saw they used an unusual method of storing skills for the auction. Instead of a jade slip, bamboo slip, or scroll they used amber slips. They were long narrow tokens, a few inches wide, about six inches long, and looked like they were carved with intricate scrollwork and embossing. An attendant placed the amber slip into a slot on the front of the lantern and the light from the candle passed through it before hitting the Magic Mirror. On the tree trunk the big screen displayed the image of a shadowy figure performing the skill in the slip. The person looked like just a shadowy phantom, but the skill was vividly detailed. A wave of violet flame flashed out in a semi-circle towards a copse of trees. It didn’t ignite them, instead the flame burned a perfect horizontal line through the whole forest like an unstoppable sword.

The bidding took off, and many more impressive skills soon followed after. This method of auction really worked to get people excited. They of course never mentioned at what rank the shadowy demonstration was while it was performing these techniques, so it was probably safe to say they were exaggerating the skills to show their full potential. Sage could only commend them for their business savvy.

With the Timeless Master’s library, Sage already had far too many skills, so he hadn’t thought there was anything for him in this section of the auction. He was wrong. When the mystery skills were brought up, Sage was immediately attracted to the third one. These unidentified skills were those that couldn’t be displayed in use by the Magic Mirror and nobody had been able to cultivate them to determine their effects. These skills were all contained in various mediums. They couldn’t be copied onto the amber slips, which was of course the main reason they couldn’t be simulated. When Sage saw the symbols on the stone tablet he was hooked.

Seals!