~shua~
The formation screen lit up at Lin Mu's command and the scene of the auction appeared.
It had not started yet as more guests were still taking seats.
'May as well check the catalog for now.' Lin Mu scrolled through the options and saw one for the item catalog.
"That's a lot of things…" Lin Mu could easily see over two hundred items on the screen.
He picked one of them and it changed to show the details. On one side there was a picture and on the otherwise there was its description. The pricing was also shown at the bottom with there being 2 such prices.
The first was the starting bid price and the second was the buyout price.
"The buyout price is certainly quite high…" Lin Mu saw the difference between the starting bid and buyout price, finding it to be at least 20-30 times higher.
This also varied from item to item, with unique items having a higher buyout price.
"The pills and other such abundant materials have the lowest buyout price, but even then it's ten times the first bid." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
Having understood this, Lin Mu decided to check on the price of the Spiral Flake Crystal.
"Here it is… starting bid is four high grade immortal stones and the buyout price is… 5000?!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
That was the highest buyout price that he had seen so far. And looking at the position of the Spiral Flake Crystal, Lin Mu realized that this might be the final item for the sale.
"It is the prime attraction for today and for a good reason too. The Spiral Flake Crystal is rare even in the Immortal realm." Xukong spoke.
"Mmhmm…" Lin Mu nodded his head as he read the information about it on the side.
The Spiral Flake Crystals were formed in icy asteroids that were wandering out in the space. They would only form when such an asteroid passed through a spatial crack by some miracle and survived.
Even then, it would need to absorb a lot of spatial energy to turn into a true Spiral Flake Crystal. Its main use was to make Spatial storage tools that would be used to preserve very rare herbs and fruits.
It could keep them fresh for quite literally thousands of years and was needed for some sensitive herbs as well.
"Looks like I'll have to pay quite a bit for this… or just take it from the person who buys it." Lin Mu wondered how he should go about it.
With the value of the item, he knew that the other buyers would be really guarded too. This made him confused as to how the other two men were going to steal it.
'They weren't that strong either, just the second tribulation stage of the Immortal realm.' Lin Mu remembered.
He didn't know if they were overconfident or were just bluffing. Regardless, Lin Mu knew he was not that different from them in terms of strength.
"Wonder if there is anything for body cultivation." Lin Mu scrolled but didn't find anything that could help him at his level. 'All these are body cultivation items that will only help below the Immortal realm.
"Body cultivation isn't mainstream now after all. It isn't unusual for the higher ranked items to not be present." Xukong chimed in.
"That's true." With the difficulty that body cultivation had, there were few people that would follow it. And even if they did, they wouldn't follow both body and qi cultivation at the same time.
It would be too expensive and also time consuming.
With the items that Lanbao and Elder Niji had provided him, Lin Mu didn't actually lack general cultivation resources. What he lacked were specific ones needed for his techniques.
He continued to look through the catalog and saw some interesting items. There were some cultivation techniques that were apparently found in some old tomb as well as ones that were obtained from a fallen sect.
There were immortal weapons and immortal tools for sale as well. Lin Mu didn't need any weapons as of now, but he did find an item that would come in handy for him.
"That mask is perfect replacement for my current one." Lin Mu saw an Immortal tool that was in the form of a mask.
Its price was also relatively low and he shouldn't have a hard time buying it.
As he continued to scroll, Lin Mu realized that the majority of items were things that could be sold in bulk or manufactured in bulk too.
"Fifty percent of the items are alchemical pills and twenty percent are… formations?" Lin Mu was surprised by the last part.
The formations in this case weren't instructions but rather per-made formations that could be deployed quickly. They were either in the form of a talisman, a formation plate or a formation flag.
For example, there was a formation called as the Diamond Mountain Talisman that was used as a defense. There were three version of it available for sale, the Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman, the lesser Diamond Mountain Talisman and the great Diamond Mountain talisman.
The Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman could defend against a Dao Shell realm cultivator and there were literally a stack of a hundred available for about a single low grade immortal stone.
The lesser version could defend against the attack of an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator and cost about 10 Low Grade immortal stones for 100 talismans.
Then there was the great version of the talisman which was worth about 10 low grade immortal stones. But it was only for a single talisman and could defend against a False Immortal.
While they seemed a bit weak for Lin Mu's level, one must not forget that these were still being sold at a high markup. After all, the materials needed for the talisman were nothing but just a normal formation stone.
What made it valuable was the complexity of it. Thus as long as one had the skill, they could make hundreds of them at once.
