Chapter 51 + 52: The Unresponsive Iron Whip

Everywhere he looked, there was naught left to purchase, and so Ye Chen departed the bustling grand thoroughfare.

No sooner had he stepped into the inn than Xiong Er, that hulking fellow, pounced upon him, seizing him in a bear hug and bellowing, "Damn it, old man thought you'd been assassinated!"

"As you yourself said, private duels are forbidden during the auction. No matter how audacious Wu Changqing is, he wouldn't dare seek retribution here," Ye Chen replied, not forgetting to retrieve a storage bag from his chest and thrust it into Xiong Er's hand. "Here, your spirit stones. Three hundred thousand, not a single one more or less."

Taking the storage bag, Xiong Er glanced inside, his small eyes widening in surprise as he stared at Ye Chen. "How do you still have spirit stones?"

"Picked them up!"

"Picked... picked them up?" Xiong Er trailed behind Ye Chen like a shadow, his voice filled with disbelief. "Where did you pick them up? I'll go pick up a whole basket!"

"Tianxuan Gate." Ye Chen answered casually, stretching his waist as he waved his hand and walked towards his room. "I'm tired enough today. Time for an early rest."

Xiong Er still wanted to speak, but Ye Chen had already closed the door.

"Picked up from Tianxuan Gate, I'll believe you when pigs fly!" Xiong Er muttered under his breath, clutching the heavy storage bag. A moment later, he chuckled gleefully.

Back in his room, Ye Chen secured the door tightly and retrieved the small purple-gold gourd.

He still remembered the previous night's experience. Just a sip of the spirit liquid within the gourd had set his body ablaze, causing his head to throb with an unbearable pain. The lingering fear still gripped him.

"My body burned like fire, my head felt like it would explode, and yet my cultivation leaped to the eighth layer of Qi Condensation. This spirit liquid must have some anomaly." Pondering softly, Ye Chen poured a single drop of spirit liquid from the small gourd.

The spirit liquid shimmered with a purple hue, emanating a violet halo. It was crystal clear and translucent, a blend of Jade Spirit Liquid and spirit qi fluid. Its medicinal fragrance was rich and invigorating; just a whiff brought a sense of relaxation and joy.

"No problem." After observing it for a while, Ye Chen touched his chin. "There's no difference from usual."

Saying this, he swallowed the drop of spirit liquid.

As expected, the spirit liquid, upon entering his body, transformed into rich essence qi, merging with his physical form. There was none of the dry heat he'd felt the previous night.

"Strange." Feeling nothing amiss, Ye Chen couldn't help but scratch his head.

He then proceeded to swallow several more drops of the spirit liquid. His body still exhibited none of the strange pain from the night before; instead, a comforting warmth permeated his entire being.

"Truly strange." He muttered again, withdrawing his thoughts. He then retrieved the black iron rod he had successfully bid on at the day's auction.

"I only bid fifty thousand spirit stones for you. You'd better not disappoint me." As he spoke, Ye Chen carefully inserted the iron rod into the mouth of the purple-gold gourd.

*Buzz!*

The moment the iron rod was placed inside, the small purple-gold gourd vibrated with a buzzing sound.

Seeing this, Ye Chen's eyes brightened. He rubbed his hands together, his eyes fixed on the purple-gold gourd, hoping it could unravel the mystery of the iron rod.

However, after the initial buzzing and trembling, the small purple-gold gourd fell silent, resting quietly on the table. Aside from the occasional wisp of purple qi that overflowed, there was nothing else.

"That's it?" A look of astonishment on his face, Ye Chen picked up the small purple-gold gourd and instinctively shook it a few times. He then peered inside through the mouth of the gourd.

He discovered that the iron rod inside the purple-gold gourd showed not the slightest anomaly. It simply hung there silently, as if the overflowing purple qi had no connection to it whatsoever.

He didn't know how long had passed before Ye Chen angrily placed the small purple-gold gourd back in its original spot. "Damn it, fifty thousand spirit stones, just to buy this useless piece of junk!"

*Buzz!*

The purple-gold gourd seemed to possess a spirit. Upon hearing Ye Chen's slander, it trembled slightly, as if saying, *Don't shove everything into my belly!*

*Plop!*

Then, the purple-gold gourd spat out the black iron rod, which landed on the ground with a clang.

"Quite the temper." Ye Chen pursed his lips, no longer paying attention to the small gourd. He picked up the black iron rod instead.

Observing the iron rod at such close range, he realized it was clearly an iron whip. Its entire body was black, mottled with rust spots and riddled with pits. It truly held no discernible extraordinary qualities.

"It could attract the attention of True Fire. Old man refuses to believe you're just an ordinary iron whip." Ye Chen said to himself, still unwilling to give up. He summoned his True Fire and enveloped the black iron whip.

The golden True Fire burned fiercely, causing the temperature inside the room to rise instantly.

Under the calcining of the True Fire, the black iron whip remained unchanged. It seemed to completely disregard the intense heat, causing Ye Chen's brows to furrow slightly.

"Again." He pondered for a moment, then increased the intensity of the True Fire's calcining.

However, the black iron whip still showed no signs of abnormality.

Three hours later, Ye Chen, panting heavily, withdrew his True Fire.

Three hours of True Fire calcining, and it couldn't melt the iron whip. Instead, it had left him utterly exhausted.

"Old man truly doesn't believe." Cursing under his breath, Ye Chen drew his Chixiao Sword with a clang. He poured his entire body's True Qi into it and fiercely chopped down towards the iron whip.

*Bang!*

The sound of metal clashing was exceptionally crisp. The Chixiao Sword was immediately sent flying, and even Ye Chen was shaken back, his entire arm numb and devoid of sensation.

"It's incredibly hard!"

Picking up the Chixiao Sword, Ye Chen noticed a small nick on the blade. In contrast, the iron whip remained steadfastly embedded in the ground. The sharp Chixiao Sword, unexpectedly, couldn't leave a single trace upon it.

"What exactly is this forged from?" Sheathing the Chixiao Sword, Ye Chen sized up the iron whip.

It ignored True Fire calcining and remained unshaken even by the Chixiao Sword. He could imagine what extraordinary material had been used to forge this iron whip. This, in turn, brought him some sense of balance; fifty thousand spirit stones for an extremely hard iron whip was not as worthless as he had initially thought.

"It's not bad for smashing people." Touching his chin, Ye Chen flipped his hand and received the iron whip.

Soon, he took out Xuan Iron and Xuan Steel from his storage bag.

These two pieces of spiritual metal, placed side by side, formed a stark contrast. The Xuan Iron was black and hard, while the Xuan Steel was snowy white and flexible. These two materials, when combined, were absolutely the top choice for forging weapons.

Summoning his True Fire, and retrieving his Chixiao Sword once more, Ye Chen enveloped the three with True Fire, calcining the essence of the Xuan Iron and Xuan Steel to refine it into the Chixiao Sword.

This was a lengthy process.

It wasn't until dawn approached that he, dripping with sweat, withdrew his True Fire.

*Zheng! Zheng!*

Within the room, the resonant *zheng* of a sword filled the air.

At this moment, the Chixiao Sword had become even more extraordinary. It still retained its red hue, but even without the infusion of True Qi, sword qi lingered around it. At times, sword light would flicker, emitting a compelling sharpness that made Ye Chen exclaim in admiration.

"Not bad, not bad." Reluctantly holding the Chixiao Sword, Ye Chen's heart was filled with joy. The most important thing was that this sword was forged by his own hands.

The early morning sun, warm and bright, bathed the entirety of the Netherworld Black Market.

A new day's auction commenced, and from every pavilion, figures emerged, converging from all eight directions towards the central Hidden Dragon Pavilion.

"You want one or not?" Before stepping out, Bear Two once again retrieved a Voice Changing Pill and a Disguise Pill from his pants crotch, extending them towards Ye Chen.

Casting a glance at Bear Two's crotch, Ye Chen gave a dry cough. "You... you eat them!"

With that, he took out a Wolf Head Mask from his storage bag and donned it. As for eating a pill retrieved from Bear Two's pants crotch… well, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Fine, if you don't want them." Bear Two didn't mind, stuffing both pills into his mouth.

Soon, his appearance underwent a drastic change. He transformed into a portly old man with a small tuft of beard on his chin, though his stature remained a bit short, making him look less like an elder the more you looked at him.

Following the stream of people, the two arrived once more at the Hidden Dragon Pavilion.

They settled into the familiar corner spot, the two rascals immediately began eating, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the Hidden Dragon Pavilion's entrance.

Representatives from Great Chu's major families filed in, each vying for dominance. Especially those with long-standing grudges – their faces were grim, looking ready to unleash their pent-up rivalry in this auction.

The Three Sects arrived next, with the Bloodthirsty Hall making their grand entrance as the finale.

Ye Chen spotted Wu Changqing, whose aged face was truly ashen. His immense loss of face yesterday had made him the market's biggest laughingstock. He had returned in a furious rage, vowing to skin Ye Chen alive.

"Don't get too cocky. I won't let you leave without shedding blood today." Ye Chen sneered, casting a cold glance at Wu Changqing.

"You might want to be a bit more restrained today, you know." Bear Two mumbled between mouthfuls, "Be careful not to capsize the boat in the ditch. That Wu Changqing isn't easy to provoke."

"I know."

Figures moved, each taking their designated seats.

All gazes were fixed on the elevated platform at the very front.

Yesterday's auction featured spirit tools; today's would feature profound arts and secret methods. This was a long-standing rule of the Netherworld Black Market.

"I wonder if we'll see any secret methods auctioned this time." Even before the auction truly began, discussions buzzed below.

"I heard the profound arts and secret methods auctioned this time are all extraordinary!"

"Extraordinary or not, they won't be ours."

Amidst the murmurs, the auction host, Elder Yang Ge, had already ascended the platform. He surveyed the crowd below and then, in a languid tone, declared, "The auction, begins."

As his words fell, he flipped his hand and produced an ancient scroll, instantly making eyes below gleam with anticipation.

"One Yang Finger." Elder Yang Ge suspended the ancient scroll in mid-air, adding a description of this profound art. "Refined to the utmost yang true qi, gathered in a single finger, it is called One Yang. Fellow Daoists of the fire attribute may consider bidding."

"Starting bid: fifty thousand spirit stones. Bidding now begins."

"Sixty thousand." No sooner had Elder Yang Ge finished speaking than someone below raised their bid paddle.

"Our Qi Family offers two hundred thousand." The second bid came from a grey-robed elder of the Qi Family from the Southern Border.

This fellow was arrogant to the extreme, lounging leisurely in his seat, his expression even more playful and mocking. In one breath, he raised the price by one hundred and forty thousand spirit stones, causing those who were just preparing to bid to very consciously retreat to their original positions, Bear Two among them.

"You motherfu— Old me still wanted to participate, you know!" Bear Two cursed and grumbled incessantly.

"Cultivation families are just wealthy and audacious." Ye Chen, beside him, sighed with a face full of helplessness.

"Two hundred and ten thousand." Someone below raised the price again. The bid came from a middle-aged beauty in a red robe from the Wang Family of the Northern River.

The Wang Family, also a cultivation family, was no weaker than the Qi Family; in some respects, they were even slightly stronger. That middle-aged beauty also seemed to recognize the extraordinary nature of the One Yang Finger and wasn't willing to let it go to the Qi Family easily.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand." After the Wang Family, the Si Tu Family of the Western Shu also joined in, raising the price by forty thousand in one go.

"Three hundred thousand." The Shang Guan Family of the Eastern Yue pushed the auction of the One Yang Finger to a climax.

"Three hundred and ten thousand."

"Three hundred and fifty thousand."

Great Chu's major cultivation families successively competed with bids. In less than a minute, the price of the One Yang Finger reached the staggering high of five hundred thousand spirit stones, making the itinerant cultivators present show expressions of involuntary helplessness.

"No chance." Bear Two lay sprawled on his seat like a dead pig.

"They really are a bunch of beasts." Ye Chen also became listless. His true qi attribute was precisely to the utmost yang; cultivating that One Yang Finger would be perfectly suited, but alas, his purse was shy, leaving him feeling quite helpless.

"Five hundred and fifty thousand." But the next sound made both Bear Two's and Ye Chen's eyes light up successively, because the bid came from Bear Two's second grand-uncle.

"We have a chance, we have a chance!" Bear Two rubbed his small hands, his two small eyes gleaming, staring at the sturdy figure in front.

He truly hadn't expected their Bear Family to actually participate in the bidding, and moreover, to act so generously, forcing all the families present to back down. Like this, the One Yang Finger he fancied might not require him to spend money to learn.

Similarly, Ye Chen also rubbed his hands. With his friendship with Bear Two, learning this One Yang Finger wasn't an impossible thing.

In the private room on the second floor, the Qi Family's grey-robed elder's face was grim. He looked at Bear Two's second grand-uncle and let out a cold snort. "Bear Da Shan, you truly have great courage."

"Have the guts to add more then, ah!" Bear Da Shan, on the other hand, was overbearing, choking the Qi Family into silence with a single sentence.

"Your Bear Family and the Qi Family have a feud?" From the words of Bear Da Shan and the Qi Family elder, Ye Chen caught some clues and couldn't help but look at Bear Two beside him.

"Of course, we have a feud." Bear Two huffed and puffed, scolding, "Our two families have been at odds since my great-grandfather's generation. It's because of a natural spirit stone mine; we fight not a few times every day."

"Ah, so that's it!"

"Five hundred and fifty thousand, does anyone else wish to raise the price?" On the platform, Elder Yang Ge glanced at the Qi Family's private room, then surveyed the crowd below.

The Three Sects and the Bloodthirsty Hall ultimately didn't participate in the bidding, which instead allowed Ye Chen and Bear Two to breathe a sigh of relief.

*Pound!*

On the platform, Elder Yang Ge had already brought down the hammer.

Receiving the ancient scroll of the One Yang Finger, Elder Yang Ge flipped his hand and produced a jade slip. Three large characters were clearly written on the jade slip: Ling Yun Step.

"Body movement profound art, Ling Yun Step. Thirty thousand spirit stones, bidding begins." Elder Yang Ge casually stated.

Compared to the One Yang Finger, this Ling Yun Step was clearly one rank lower, but it still didn't deter the people present from scrambling for it, simply because it was a profound art auctioned by the Heaven Profound Gate.

"Fifty thousand."

"I offer seventy thousand."

"One hundred thousand."

The auction for the Ling Yun Step was quite lively, but compared to the auction for the One Yang Finger, there was still a significant difference. It was ultimately acquired by a black-robed person at the price of one hundred and thirty thousand.

The auction continued.

Elder Yang Ge constantly produced profound arts and secret methods, each one causing a stir within the Hidden Dragon Pavilion. The auction ebbed and flowed, with intense competition among the major families, the Three Sects, the Bloodthirsty Hall, and hidden world powerhouses.

During this time, Ye Chen and Bear Two also made several attempts, but were all suppressed by the exorbitant prices, unable to raise their heads.

"Old me has realized, this is just a bunch of beasts." Bear Two simply lay on the table, cursing and grumbling non-stop.

"They're all masters with wealth and audacity." After repeated frustration, Ye Chen also became listless. The spirit stones in his storage bag made him feel even embarrassed to open his mouth again; every time he made a move, it wasn't even enough to fill the gaps in people's teeth.

"Heavenly Gang Stick Array. Fellow Daoists who primarily cultivate the Way of the Stick may consider this one." On the platform, Elder Yang Ge had already produced an ancient scroll. "Starting bid: thirty thousand spirit stones. Each raise shall not be less than one thousand spirit stones. Bidding now begins."

"Stick method?" Lying on the table, Ye Chen's spirit was lifted, and he raised his head, his eyes shining as he looked at the platform.

"You don't even cultivate the stick method, what are you so excited about, ah!" Bear Two glanced at Ye Chen.

"I don't need it, but Tiger Kid needs it, ah!"