Early the next morning, Lin Mo arrived at Baidi City’s Treasure Pavilion auction hall.
Unlike the underground black-market auction, this Treasure Pavilion auction was exclusive—only members who had received an official invitation from Treasure Pavilion were allowed to participate.
“Are you blind? My Master is the Peak Lord of Qingzhu Peak from Qingling Sect and also a member of Treasure Pavilion! Why won’t you let us in?”
Blocked at the entrance, Shen Ke’er was furious.
The Treasure Pavilion guards remained completely unfazed.
“I’ve already made it clear—you must present the official invitation token from Treasure Pavilion to enter.”
Their expressions were indifferent, showing no fear whatsoever of offending Master Yuehua or Qingling Sect.
After all, Treasure Pavilion had existed for thousands of years, and its foundation far surpassed that of second-grade immortal sects like Qingling Sect.
Each city’s Treasure Pavilion was managed by at least one Spirit Severing cultivator.
In a flourishing city like Baidi City, the Pavilion Master was even at the Soul Formation stage, and there was also one Spirit Severing cultivator and three Nascent Soul cultivators overseeing operations.
Not to mention, the founder of Treasure Pavilion was rumored to have reached the Forming Unity stage, a truly terrifying level of cultivation.
Shen Ke’er was unaware of these details, but Master Yuehua certainly knew.
“Ke’er, stop making a scene!”
“But Master—!” Shen Ke’er was panicking inside.
If she missed this Treasure Pavilion auction, who knew how long it would take before she could find the medicinal herbs needed to cure her poison?
She had also heard from Yin Sushu about Lin Mo’s actions.
She had learned that her Senior Brother had sold those rare medicinal herbs purely to exchange for spirit stones to stabilize his cultivation realm.
Besides, how could her Senior Brother have known she would end up poisoned?
So, she had no reason to blame Lin Mo for selling those herbs.
In her heart, she convinced herself that Lin Mo wasn’t deliberately ignoring her suffering, but rather that he simply lacked the means to help her right now.
Unfortunately, she was being far too optimistic.
Lin Mo had absolutely no intention of helping her.
At that moment, Lin Mo presented his invitation token, which he had obtained from Xiao Zi.
The guard’s demeanor instantly changed, his tone becoming respectful.
“This way, Young Master, please enter!”
Seeing this, the guard hesitated for a moment before glancing at Master Yuehua, Shen Ke’er, and Ye Kai, who were still standing outside.
Considering they seemed to be Lin Mo’s companions, the guard cautiously asked, “Young Master, these individuals…?”
Lin Mo replied in an indifferent tone, “They’re with me. Let them in.”
With that, the guard immediately allowed them to pass.
Master Yuehua’s face flushed slightly beneath her veil.
She never imagined that as a master, she would have to rely on her disciple to enter Treasure Pavilion’s auction.
Shen Ke’er, too, was stunned.
She never expected that her Senior Brother actually possessed a Treasure Pavilion invitation token.
Just how many more things about him did she not know?
Treasure Pavilion’s auction was far more grand and prestigious than the black-market auction.
Just the auction hall alone exuded an opulent and majestic atmosphere.
Even the seating arrangements were special—each chair was embedded with formations to dispel fatigue and enhance focus.
One by one, the auctioned items were brought onto the stage.
High-tier materials from sixth-rank or higher demon beasts, fifth-grade and above pills, and high-quality spirit beast eggs.
Even immortal-grade swords were being auctioned.
Of course, the prices were equally outrageous.
With Lin Mo’s current wealth, he couldn’t afford to shock the entire auction hall the way he had during the black-market auction.
He sighed inwardly—he was still too poor.
As the auction progressed, Lin Mo finally saw the item he had been waiting for.
The Starfire Purple Copper Furnace—an alchemy furnace perfect for refining sixth-grade and below pills.
The auctioneer announced the starting price:
“Starting bid: 500,000 spirit stones!”
“550,000!”
“620,000!”
“700,000!”
“1,000,000!”
The final bid came from a young noble, who looked as though he was determined to win.
Among the auction attendees, not many were interested in alchemy furnaces—most were cultivators focused on swordsmanship or combat cultivation.
After all, alchemy requires high innate talent and demands an immense amount of time to master.
For many cultivators, it’s more worthwhile to spend that time advancing their cultivation realm instead.
Once their cultivation reaches a high level, why would they even worry about not having enough spirit stones to buy pills?
Of course, there are also plenty of cultivators who love money—those who specialize in alchemy first and cultivate second.
But to become a true sixth-grade alchemist, hard work and time alone are not enough—one needs exceptional talent in alchemy, making them extremely rare.
That said, their cultivation realms are usually not low, as having high-quality pills compensates for the time spent on alchemy.
When the young noble called out a high bid of 1,000,000 spirit stones, the auction hall fell silent.
It seemed he was about to secure the alchemy furnace—he was already thinking about how pleased his grandfather would be when he gifted it to him.
But just as the auctioneer was about to count to three—
A calm and youthful voice rang out:
“1,200,000.”
Shen Ke’er’s eyes widened in shock.
Her Senior Brother… was this rich?!
Unlike her, Master Yuehua and Ye Kai were not surprised at all—they had already seen Lin Mo’s spirit stone pouch before.
Meanwhile, inside Ye Kai’s ring, a soft chuckle echoed.
“Your Senior Brother looks a lot wealthier than you.”
Ye Kai’s heart grew uneasy as he communicated through his thoughts:
“Wanwan…”
The voice in the ring continued with amusement:
“Look at you, acting so nervous. It’s not like I said I’d leave you.”
“In my eyes, your Senior Brother isn’t even close to being as interesting as you.”
“After all, I am a demon—I can see through all the filthy thoughts in your mind.”
“It’s precisely because of the ugliness in your heart that you’re the perfect nourishment for me.”
“You are the one truly suited for the demonic path.”
That was the nature of demons. From beginning to end, what attracted her to Ye Kai was not his personality, but his jealousy, his deceit, and the darkness within him.
That was why, when she said she “liked” Ye Kai, what she really meant was that she liked his ‘demonic nature.’
With her, Ye Kai could drop the pretense and freely express his true self.
Ye Kai smirked inwardly, thinking, “Hearing that from Wanwan really puts my mind at ease.”
Meanwhile, the young noble furrowed his brows at Lin Mo, who appeared to be about the same age as him, and raised his bid again:
“1,250,000!”
Lin Mo remained calm and composed as he called out:
“1,500,000.”
The other guests looked curiously at the two young men bidding over an alchemy furnace.
After all, there weren’t many sixth-grade alchemists, especially ones this young.
Shen Ke’er turned to Master Yuehua in surprise. “Master, could it be that Senior Brother knows alchemy?”
Master Yuehua shook her head. “I don’t really know.”
After all, since taking Lin Mo in as a disciple, she had spent most of her time in seclusion—she had no idea what he had learned in private.
But she highly doubted that Lin Mo could refine sixth-grade pills.
She figured that he simply wanted a high-quality alchemy furnace to refine lower-grade pills instead.
At 1,500,000 spirit stones, the young noble’s budget had already been exceeded.
He stood up and called out toward Lin Mo:
“Brother, I am from the Lin family of Tianxing City. Are you really going to compete with me for this alchemy furnace?”
The moment those words left his mouth—
Master Yuehua and Shen Ke’er both looked slightly stunned.
Was this a case of two dragons accidentally clashing in the same river?
Despite his frustration, the young noble gritted his teeth and raised the bid once more:
“1,550,000!”
Most of the guests assumed Lin Mo would back down at this point.
Even Master Yuehua and Shen Ke’er thought the same.
But to their surprise—
Lin Mo calmly raised his hand and said:
“1,800,000.”
Master Yuehua was momentarily stunned.
She recalled how everyone at Qingzhu Peak used to say that her disciple was indifferent and cold-hearted.
But now it seemed—even his own relatives weren’t spared from his ruthlessness!
The young noble’s face twisted in frustration. He glared at Lin Mo, memorizing his face before storming out of the auction hall in anger.
With no one else bidding, Lin Mo successfully secured the Starfire Purple Copper Furnace.
The auction continued, and soon, the next item was brought onto the stage.
The moment the auctioneer from Treasure Pavilion introduced it, Shen Ke’er’s entire body tensed up in excitement.
