Ved and Naledi had no idea about the trouble their home was facing and even if they, they wouldn’t be able to help unless that also sneak in through those cracks.

Currently they were preparing to leave the city in secret when they heard rumours. An auction was being held in a month.

A list of items were listed but when they heard what the final products were they paused.

The two products were a pair of spirits seed talisman, this alone would not be enough to draw their attention.

But those talisman were an attack and protective spirit seed talisman made by a creation realm expert at level 7 of creation realm.

That was a late stage creation realm, a level of power 99 percent of the population will never reach in their lives.

Even Ved and Naledi were interested, right now they had too many strong enemies and were in need of things like that.

They decided to attend the auction but going together would arouse suspicion, they would go separately and in disguise.

Ved used his transformation ability to take the form of a man he had eaten once, his DNA was still recorded by the ability.

He sneaked out of their palace and went to the market place in the city, the market place was near the centre.

Rows of large stores lined the streets, some were from independent people but most were members of the merchant guild.

Even though they were called stores of the merchant guild they were actually owned by individual forces.

Those forces paid a tribute to the merchant guild for protection and nobody dared provoke them, especially not inside the city.

Ved looked around then left this region and went near the outskirts where smaller shops were, his form was that of a short man with a long nose and moles on his face so he drew a lot of negative attention.

He really couldn’t understand how a cultivator could have such poor skin and he so ugly.

It was well known that the stronger one grows the more their bodies get refined and the more prettier they get.

Of course there were races who were ugly but that was by human standards or standards of other races not their own.

He shook his head and was about to continue on his way when he paused, he looked to his left then went inside a store that had a row of masks lining the walls. What he was looking for was a concealment artefact.

Not for himself, he didn’t need it but for Naledi. There were a lot of those here, he even saw a white mask of a weeping face.

" Ah, the face of the weeping vulture, I can sell it to you for cheap." A crafty looking man with a large belly suddenly showed up.

Behind him was a beautiful middle aged woman with only a rank 4 cultivation. She smiled at Ved but he saw the disgust in her eyes.

He couldn’t blame her, this face was really ugly. He ignored the man and browsed through the masks.

Then he felt one he was looking for through his soul sense, the mask emitted very little essence energy.

At first glance it looked like an ordinary mask, pure white without any features, he pretended to not be interested.

" How much for this?" He asked, seeing the mask he was pointing at the woman lost interest.

The man on the other grinned slightly then hid it but Ved saw everything. The man shook his head.

" That, customer I’m afraid I’m a bit reluctant to sell you that, it was left to me by my late father you see.

He got it from a.." The man paused slightly as if thinking what to say, " From a creation realm senior as a reward.

It’s a family heirloom and its price is worth more than my own life so I ask you customer, how much do you think my life is worth?" He asked back.

The woman’s mouth twitched and she almost couldn’t hold back laughter, the man kicked her foot shutting her up.

They thought he couldn’t see their actions which was understandable, he did his rank to merely rank 3 meaning he shouldn’t possess soul sense yet.

" So a pebble?" Ved asked in a serious tone and he wasn’t saying it to be rude, this man’s life was worth that much to him.

" Guest surely you jest, how about this, I’ll sell it to you for a thousand earth grade essence stones."

The man smiled and Ved simply turned around to walk off, " Mortal, I meant mortal grade." The store owner shouted.

Ved didn’t stop. " 900." He still continued walking without even looking back, finally the store owner sighed.

" Fine, I’ll give it to you for a hundred mortal grade essence stones." Ved paused, mortal grade essence stones were the lowest.

The essence energy inside them was very impure so they were only used for trading as spare change.

Only those weaker and destitute people would use them to cultivate, a hundred mortal grade was basically just spare change to him.

Of course this was great wealth to unaffiliated people who were weaker, in face most households in Pangera made less than that annually.

Ved paid then noticed something he didn’t before because he wasn’t paying any attention.

These two had gills like a shark, they weren’t humans but some semi aquatic race. He took the mask and left.

After he left the store the couple looked at each other then started laughing, they had struck it rich.

A hundred essence stones were more than they made in 3 months, while Ved considered them spare change.

Most of the population highly valued them, so much so that some don’t even use them for cultivation and instead use ambient essence.

Considering the mask was merely a defective rank 1 artefact, selling it for this much was a blessing, they were lucky to find a sucker.

The sucker in question was also grinning ear to ear, he had entered that shop specifically for this mask.

This was a rank 7 mythical grade artefact after all, no wonder those two weaklings couldn’t detect anything about it.

He went back home and gave it to Naledi to refine and make hers. Even after refining it, she wouldn’t be able to use it full capabilities, the mask was also sealed.

But that didn’t matter, the concealment ability was not sealed and didn’t require laws to use.

It took her a week then she opened her eyes, "Without comprehending a law I won’t be able to fully refine this silent sea breath mask."

’ So that’s it name.’ it made sense that she couldn’t fully refine it, she had to rely on her divine flame to even partially refine it.