Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 153 Runes and Magical Artifacts
Ultimately, the Cloud Concealment Armor was acquired by Lian Yumeng.

Li Xiangming and the Shen siblings were both quite disappointed, but they didn't have time to say anything.

A new round of bidding has begun.

The first item in the auction fetched a record-breaking price of 750 spirit stones, making Situ Wangbo beam with joy. He even abandoned the original bidding process and personally selected several high-value items to bring to the stage, intending to thoroughly heat up the atmosphere of the auction.

"Next up for auction is a set of Qi-Nourishing Pills, a total of four bottles. I don't need to elaborate on the value of Qi-Nourishing Pills. The starting bid is 200 spirit stones, and each bid must be at least 10 spirit stones higher."

The Qi Cultivation Pill is very valuable for Qi Refining stage cultivators; 50 spirit stones per bottle isn't too expensive.

However, since the four bottles were bundled together, the rogue cultivators below watched longingly but dared not speak up. In the end, this batch of Qi-Nourishing Pills was won by a VIP on the fifth floor.

After several rare items were auctioned off, Situ Wangbo began to offer some more affordable elixirs and magical artifacts, which greatly excited the independent cultivators.

However, even with low prices and a large number of attendees, these competing products still commanded high prices.

Li Xiangming couldn't help but sigh, the Luoyan Chamber of Commerce could make a fortune just from the commissions they collected.

However, the Luo Yan Chamber of Commerce was indeed qualified to take a bite of this lucrative opportunity. Many of the items they offered were very tempting to Li Xiangming, which explained why they were able to attract so many cultivators.

Soon, the auction was coming to an end. Li Xiangming had bid several times during the auction, but the competition was too fierce, and he only won a magic manual.

This secret manual is called the "Illusion Moon Manual". According to Situ Wangbo, it was written by the Golden Core cultivator, the Illusion Moon Immortal, hundreds of years ago.

It records the exploration and summary of illusion magic by the True Man of Illusion Moon, and even includes various cases and analyses of using illusion magic against enemies, but it lacks the illusion magic itself.

In other words, this is a notebook of insights gained from studying illusion magic.

Situ Wangbo described it as a treasure, claiming that if one could thoroughly understand it, one would possess the illusionary skills of a Golden Elixir Immortal, and would be able to create one's own illusions without any problem.

To highlight its value, the starting price for the "Illusory Moon Manual" was also quite high, the same as the Cloud Concealment Armor, at 200 spirit stones.

However, the cultivators below were not very convinced.

After all, very few people are interested in illusions. Even if someone desires them, they would prefer to have ready-made illusions rather than studying a book for decades and then creating their own.

Isn't this a joke?
The cultivation world is plagued by many unexpected calamities. Among those present, who dares to guarantee that they will live peacefully for decades?
Moreover, once these classic books fall into someone's hands, they will inevitably be printed in hundreds of copies. One copy will be sold this year, and another will be sold next year. Your Yifeng Pavilion auctions them every year. Decades later, when I have thoroughly studied them, what value will they still have?
Even so, a small group of people were still interested in it. For example, Fairy Ping, who spoke earlier, asked for 300 spirit stones.

But in the end, it still ended up in Li Xiangming's hands for 350 spirit stones.

Li Xiangming had his own reasons for buying it. The Li family actually possessed several decent illusion techniques, but very few people practiced them.

Because the Li family's tradition of illusion magic has been interrupted.

The "True Understanding of Illusion" that Li Xiangming once exchanged is not enough to meet the threshold for cultivating advanced illusion techniques.

That's why Li Xiangming thought of bidding for the "Illusion Moon Manual," which he could use for himself and also expand his family's inheritance of illusion techniques.

If he were a little more shameless, he might even be able to get reimbursed by Li Qianxiong.

Besides the "Illusionary Moon Manual," the Yifeng Pavilion auction also had several other spells that suited Li Xiangming, which greatly appealed to him.

But in the end, he did not make a move.

Although the Li family's library has few water-based spells, it still contains nearly a hundred, enough to satisfy his needs.

Moreover, the spells at home are very cheap to exchange for with merit points, while at auctions, they cost one or two hundred or three hundred spirit stones, which feels like being ripped off.

Compared to Li Xiangming's restraint, Shen Rufeng was extravagant, spending no less than a thousand spirit stones in total.

"The Shen family is incredibly wealthy."

Li Xiangming couldn't help but sigh. He was already surprised that Shen Ruqing was willing to spend 500 spirit stones to buy a spirit pet, but Shen Rufeng was even more outrageous.

He guessed that even Li Xiangren, who had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, might not be able to produce 1000 spirit stones.

Because the Li family members are generally poor, they can only obtain a stable and small amount of spirit stones from their monthly allowance. Their official salaries are mainly distributed in the form of pills and merits, and they are awarded merits for completing clan duties.

There's nothing we can do about it. Unlike the Shen family, the Li family doesn't have both spirit stone mines and a stable talisman business, allowing them to continuously collect spirit stones.

Conversely, the Li family, who moved to Puxian County, were extremely poor. Most of the spirit stones they possessed were obtained by exchanging their family's wealth. Before they could even enjoy them, they had to exchange them for other cultivation resources to store in the treasury for their clansmen to cultivate with.

If families like the Shen and Lian families were to distribute spirit stones as rewards, they simply couldn't afford it.

Previously, the Monkey Tavern's monthly income of over a hundred spirit stones was enough to cause a stir among Li Qianxiong and the clan elders, demonstrating the Li family's financial woes.

"Fourth Brother received many rewards for participating in the Magic Tournament on MoXin Island, and so did I. Otherwise, how could I dare to spend so lavishly?" Shen Ruqing explained with a smile.

The Shen family is quite wealthy, but they don't just give out spirit stones randomly. For example, Shen Rubai, who is also a member of the Shen family, is penniless.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming's heart stirred. Li Xiangyu had also participated in this year's Ink Heart Island Tournament and even won the championship. His achievements should be no less than those of Shen Rufeng.

He received focused training from both the Li and Shen families, no wonder his cultivation progressed so quickly.

Even so, Lee Sang-yu did not catch up with Lee Sang-in. Just how high is Lee Sang-in's talent?

Lost in thought, Li Xiangming's attention was quickly drawn to the auction stage.

Situ Wangbo was holding a curved sword that emitted a bright green light, displaying it on all sides.

"This sword is called 'Shadowbreaker,' a top-grade magic weapon made by Master Yi. It is a famous weapon. What is most rare is that the blade is engraved with six runes, and these runes come from the Shen family of Fengmo Island."

"The rune masters of the Shen family are probably familiar to everyone, right? You can see the patterns on these runes: Mountain Collapse Rune, Abyss Rift Rune, Thunder Strike Rune, and so on..."

"A superior-grade magic weapon!"

"Six Paths Runes?"

The appearance of "Shadow Slash" immediately brought the scene to a new climax, with many people having come specifically for the rune artifacts.

As everyone knows, crafting magical artifacts is not easy. Even a master craftsman like Master Yi cannot guarantee that he can craft a top-grade magical artifact.

Needless to say, magical artifacts require perfect timing, location, and human factors.

Therefore, high-quality magical artifacts have become the first choice for most cultivators.

However, high-grade magical artifacts are also very rare, and once they appear, they will inevitably be fought over, as seen with Li Xiangming and Lian Yumeng in the past.

This has led to a situation where some cultivators, despite having some assets, often cannot buy suitable magical artifacts.

At this point, runes offered everyone a new option.

Rune masters enhance the power of lower-quality magical artifacts by inscribing runes on them, enabling them to rival higher-quality artifacts.

Of course, not every magical artifact can bear runes, especially high-level runes, which have strict requirements on the material of the artifact itself.

Only a small fraction of all magical artifacts are suitable to serve as rune artifacts. Moreover, because rune artifacts utilize additional rune power, their lifespan is often shortened. The more they are used, the more damaged the artifact becomes.

But in a critical moment, what does the lifespan of a ritual implement matter?
What everyone is pursuing is ultimate power!
This is also the biggest selling point of the talismanic artifacts.

Li Xiangming was particularly shocked when he saw the appearance of "Broken Shadow". He knew that the Shen family was going to auction a magic artifact with runes, but he never expected that it was engraved with six runes.

The more runes are engraved, the greater the power will be, but correspondingly, the greater the pressure on the magical artifact will be.

Ordinary magical artifacts with runes only have one or two runes; those with three or four runes are already rare treasures.

It is said that Li Xiangren once possessed a superior magic sword engraved with four runes. This sword broke after only one use, but it allowed him, with his cultivation at the seventh level of Qi Refining, to severely injure a demon cultivator in the Bone Fusion stage, shocking both prefectures.

How powerful is the "Shadow of Severance" that is inscribed with six runes?
Li Xiangming couldn't help but touch his storage bag, wondering if the Weeping Spirit Desolate Sky Chain could compare to it.

(End of this chapter)