A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

At present, the pre-auction activities have already begun in the central venue of Guiyuan Pavilion. Giant banners, shimmering with various colors of spiritual light, are densely packed and hung upside down from a height of several dozen feet, introducing the various rare treasures that will be participating in this auction, which dazzles Zhou Ping.

"The Guiyuan Pavilion is quite adept at maneuvering. They've displayed so many items for the upcoming auction, yet they haven't mentioned a single thing about the final few items. They've really whetted the appetites of all the cultivators."

As Zhou Ping walked, he looked around at the giant banners and muttered to himself.

Now that he is in Guiyuan Pavilion, he would like to participate again if given the opportunity. However, given the scale of the place and his current status, he can only feast his eyes on it and has no chance of participating in the bidding.

Zhou Ping's trip was not because of the upcoming Guiyuan Auction held by Guiyuan Pavilion, as there was still some time before the next one.

His main purpose was to go to the market in the inner city to buy several common spiritual herbs to use as auxiliary medicine for the soon-to-be-ripened Blood Emperor Grass, and to refine the Blood Emperor Pill.

As a body-refining elixir, the Blood Emperor Pill is extremely simple to refine, similar to pills in the secular world; it only requires mixing and boiling to become medicine. Unlike the elixirs and miraculous medicines in the hands of cultivators, which mostly require special alchemy furnaces and spiritual fire, and whose refining methods are extremely complex.

It is important to know that in ancient times, most body cultivators would directly consume spiritual objects without any concept of alchemy. It was only over time that they gradually discovered some refining techniques. By adding other spiritual plants, they could slightly enhance the medicinal effects, and that's how the concept of pills came about.

After half a day, Zhou Ping finally gathered all the auxiliary ingredients for refining the Blood Emperor Pill. Looking at the sky, he felt that there was still plenty of time, so he turned around and entered the Wanbao Pavilion, which he had visited once before.

"Fellow Daoist, what kind of magical artifact do you intend to purchase? We at Wanbao Pavilion, without mentioning anything else, are among the top three in terms of the richness of magical artifacts in all the markets of Jiyun City. We are confident that we can help you find something you like."

Perhaps because Zhou Ping was unfamiliar with the shop, the shopkeeper immediately launched into a long and detailed introduction to the many magical artifacts available at Wanbaoge. Zhou Ping, who had just entered, couldn't help but purse his lips and quickly raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Manager Wan, there's no need for further words. I've come to your esteemed establishment today not to purchase magical artifacts, but to sell some refining materials. May I have a word with you in private?"

"Oh? Fellow Daoist wishes to sell refining materials? Please come over there. I need to invite the refining master in the pavilion. Please wait a moment."

Seeing that the other party clearly recognized him, Manager Wan looked at Zhou Ping suspiciously, still seemingly unable to recall the person in front of him. He then scratched his head as he tried to remember and walked towards the back hall.

Zhou Ping stood in the hall, watching the other party racking his brains, and couldn't help but smile to himself.

It seems that the reason why the two felt so unfamiliar with each other when they met again was because he was wearing that animal skin mask when he last came to Wanbaoge.

"Huh? Zhou Ping!"

Just as Zhou Ping was aimlessly admiring the magical artifacts displayed in the Wanbao Pavilion in the hall, a familiar female voice suddenly rang out behind him.

He turned around in confusion, looking at the pretty young girl who was walking towards him with a smile, and a hint of surprise flashed through his mind.

This woman was none other than Gu Caiwei, a high-ranking disciple from the Bihua Xuanzong sect, who had recently hunted the fox-crow demon beast with her. Beside her was a graceful and elegant woman in a blue dress, whose phoenix eyes were also scrutinizing her.

"So it's Fairy Gu. What a coincidence."

Zhou Ping shifted his gaze from the beautiful woman in the blue dress beside him and turned to Gu Caiwei.

"I was so bored on Mount Ling that I asked Senior Sister Wu to come out for a stroll. By the way, Senior Sister, this is Zhou Ping from the Azure Lotus Profound Sect. Don't let his old appearance fool you; he's actually quite young, not much older than me!"

Gu Caiwei looked behind Zhou Ping with her bright, watery eyes. After not finding the figure she was looking for, she introduced Zhou Ping to the beautiful woman in the blue dress beside her.

Upon hearing Gu Caiwei's introduction, the beautiful woman in the blue dress showed a hint of surprise in her eyes, seemingly taken aback by Zhou Ping's age. She then gracefully bowed to Zhou Ping.

"My name is Wu Yingxue, and I greet Fellow Daoist Zhou."

"Zhou Ping greets Fairy Wu!"

Upon seeing that the other party was a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, Zhou Ping didn't think twice and hurriedly raised his hand to return the greeting.

"Hey! Zhou Ping, is Brother Qing still in Jiyun City? He wouldn't have already returned to Zhonggu Mountain, would he?"

Gu Caiwei's mind was clearly not on Zhou Ping. After greeting him, she began to ask about Qin Changqing's situation.

"Senior Brother Qin has indeed returned to the sect and is no longer in Jiyun City."

Zhou Ping was not surprised by Gu Caiwei's question. It seemed that in the eyes of this young lady of the Gu family, there was only the shadow of her senior brother Qin, and there was no room for anything else.

"Oh... okay."

Gu Caiwei pouted her rosy lips and said listlessly.

Just then, Manager Wan, who had left earlier, came over with a middle-aged man who was bare-armed. When he saw Zhou Ping and the other two, he paused and carefully looked Gu Caiwei and Wu Yingxue over. Seeing that the two were dressed in gorgeous clothes and had outstanding temperament, he stopped in his tracks.

After a short while, seeing that the three had temporarily stopped talking, he coughed lightly and leaned closer.

"Fellow Daoist, Master Fang of this pavilion has been invited over. I wonder if this has disturbed your enjoyment."

"It's alright. I just happened to run into two friends at your esteemed establishment and we chatted for a bit. May I ask where Manager Wan plans to arrange the transaction?"

Zhou Ping turned to meet Manager Wan's gaze, then nodded slightly to the bare-armed man behind him and asked.

"There are several private rooms in the backyard. The environment there is quiet and peaceful, and no one will disturb you. Please come this way, fellow Daoist."

Manager Wan raised his hand and pointed to a corridor in the hall, smiling as he invited Zhou Ping.

"You're going to the backyard to make a deal? Is it some kind of strange thing?"

Gu Caiwei, who was initially a little bored, seemed to become somewhat interested after overhearing Zhou Ping and the other person's conversation.

Zhou Ping was fine; he didn't react much after hearing her words. However, Manager Wan beside him stiffened, and a hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

"Caiwei! Don't pry into other people's business dealings!"

Seeing that Gu Caiwei was speaking without thinking, Wu Yingxue, who was standing to the side, spoke up to stop her.

Transactions between cultivators often involve their privacy, and are usually conducted in private. This is why Wanbaoge has specially reserved quiet and elegant rooms.

Even in public settings like auctions, cultivators often try to conceal their true identities to some extent, lest they attract unwanted attention after winning a treasure.