Seeing Shen Haoran agree, Elder Huo nodded with satisfaction. He had gone to great trouble to get this information, a crucial matter that concerned whether his cultivation could advance another step! However, he had been bogged down with troublesome matters recently and could only ask Shen Haoran for help. Furthermore, he intended to train Shen Haoran, as this auction was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

"Alright. You two get ready over the next couple of days. You’ll leave in three days!"

"Oh, right. Before that, you need to make a trip to the Red Flame Mountain Range and hunt a Tier Four Spirit Beast. The admission requirement for this auction is a bit strange; they only accept Spirit Cores from Tier Four Spirit Beasts or higher," Elder Huo added.

"A Tier Four Spirit Beast? That’s equivalent to a Martial Artist at the Spirit Marquis Tier! You’re sending me, a Spirit Pupil, to do that? Are you trying to get me killed?!" Shen Haoran exclaimed.

Elder Huo gave Shen Haoran a strange look. "I never said you were going alone. Long Mo will go with you. If the two of you still can’t kill a single Tier Four Spirit Beast, then you’ll have no right to remain in the Red Flame Hall!"

"Yes, Master!" Long Mo nodded mechanically.

Shen Haoran glanced at the stone-faced Long Mo and couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ’A Tier Four Spirit Beast! Is that something we can just kill on a whim? Anyway, with only my strength as a Spirit Pupil, I can’t beat it!’

Ignoring whether Shen Haoran was willing or not, Elder Huo continued, "After you get the Spirit Core, head to Black Wind City. The auction will be held there. Your target is a Bodhi Pill!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"The Bodhi Pill?" Shen Haoran cried out. That was a Fifth Grade Top Level Elixir, and the one that all Martial Artists at the Spirit Aspect Tier wanted most. Why? Because it could increase the success rate of breaking through to the Spirit King realm! That seemingly tiny increase in probability shouldn’t be underestimated—it was what kept countless Martial Artists stuck at the Spirit Aspect Tier, unable to advance for their entire lives!

"That’s right. Here are twenty million Gold Coins. If it’s not enough, I’ll have someone deliver more to you!" With that, Elder Huo tossed a Storage Ring to Shen Haoran.

Twenty million! Shen Haoran had never seen so much money in his entire life! When he probed the Storage Ring with his Spiritual Thought, all he could see was a sea of shimmering gold!

Seeing Shen Haoran’s greedy expression, Elder Huo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. "The Thousand Illusions Spirit Potion will also be at this auction. Whether you can get it is up to you!"

"Obviously. As if I could count on you for that!" Shen Haoran muttered under his breath.

His voice was quiet, but both Elder Huo and Long Mo heard him. The corners of their mouths twitched. This Shen Haoran truly had no sense of respect!

"Fine, fine! Now scram! The sight of you is irritating. Go back and get ready!" Elder Huo waved his hand, shooing him away.

"You got it!" Shen Haoran said. He dusted himself off, stood up, and walked out. After bidding farewell, Long Mo quickly hurried after him.

On a small mountain path, Long Mo stopped Shen Haoran.

"Brother Shen, forgive my forwardness, but what is your relationship with Elder Huo?" Long Mo asked, staring into Shen Haoran’s eyes. No one had ever dared to be so casual in front of Elder Huo, much less actually argue with him! In Long Mo’s eyes, Elder Huo was an extremely serious person. Though he looked scruffy and disheveled, he pursued perfection, which was why he was especially strict with himself and Long Zhen. Long Mo had never seen Elder Huo speak so casually with a disciple.

"My relationship with Elder Huo? We don’t really have one. If you insist, it’s the relationship between a con man and his mark. He tricked me into coming here..." Shen Haoran laughed.

Long Mo, however, didn’t understand.

"Senior Brother Long, we don’t have time to dwell on these things. A mission from Elder Huo is definitely not going to be easy. We should hurry back and prepare. We have a hard battle to fight!" Shen Haoran said with a dissatisfied expression, glancing back at Elder Huo’s Palace.

"Not easy? Then why did you agree to it?"

"If it weren’t for the Thousand Illusions Spirit Potion, who the hell would agree?" Shen Haoran rolled his eyes and thought, ’If he tricks me again, I’m going to rip out every last hair in that beard of his!’

"Alright, I’ll see you in three days!" Shen Haoran said, then quickly headed toward his own courtyard.

Watching Shen Haoran’s retreating figure, a rare smile miraculously appeared on Long Mo’s face. ’How long has it been since I’ve been this interested in someone? This Shen Haoran... he’s really something else!’

Back in his courtyard, Shen Haoran sat cross-legged on his bed with his eyes shut tight, his mind already racing.

First, he reviewed the lessons from today’s battle. ’The Heaven-Breaking Kill that Elder Yan taught me has advanced to the Heaven-Breaking Double Kill. I’m very satisfied with its power. If I unleash its full force, it should be no weaker than an Earth Tier Martial Skill!’

Then, there was the matter of his own strength. ’Even though I completely dominated the arena battles today, those were just Level Four and Level Five disciples from the other halls—the ones at the very bottom. The true aces are the Level Three, Level Two, and even Level One disciples. Their strength is at least at the Spirit General Tier. I have no guarantee of victory against them!’

Moreover, during the battles today, Shen Haoran had detected several powerful auras watching him, Elder Huo’s among them. ’They must be the bigwigs of the Five Elements Sect. It looks like I’ve caused quite a stir!’

But what Shen Haoran found strange was that despite the huge commotion he had caused, none of the Sect’s Elders or other figures had come out to warn or stop him. On the contrary, they seemed to be fanning the flames, whether intentionally or not. ’Are they just enjoying the show and hoping for more drama?’

Shen Haoran pondered for a long while but couldn’t make sense of it, so he decided to just let it go. As long as his own interests weren’t at risk, there was no need for him to do anything. For now, he was more worried about the mission from Elder Huo.

Although he was just being sent to an auction, Shen Haoran refused to believe a mission from Elder Huo would be that simple. ’There’s a lot I need to prepare for!’

’First, there’s hunting a Tier Four Spirit Beast.’ Just thinking about it gave Shen Haoran a headache. ’A Spirit Beast at the Spirit Marquis Tier... even if I risked my life, I probably couldn’t defeat it!’

Shen Haoran sighed. ’My only real offensive Martial Skill is Heaven-Breaking Kill. Flame Sun Burst consumes too much Spiritual Power; if it doesn’t work in one hit, I’ll be in deep trouble, so I should only use it as a last resort. Then there’s Heaven-Dominating Tribulation... that move is even more life-threatening. All things considered, my strength just isn’t up to par!’ He frowned. ’Improving my strength is urgent. I absolutely must get that Thousand Illusions Spirit Potion!’

Next, Shen Haoran began to take stock of his own assets. After all, a Spirit Medicine as rare as the Thousand Illusions Spirit Potion would surely command a heavenly price.

’I only have less than a million Gold Coins right now... but I could sell Heaven-Breaking Kill. And Heaven-Dominating Tribulation. Both of those are considered Earth Tier Martial Skills, so they should fetch a good price. If that’s still not enough, I still have that living treasure, Elder Yan. I can have him refine a few batches of Elixirs. Thinking about it that way, I do have some capital!’ Shen Haoran nodded in satisfaction. It seemed his personal fortune wasn’t too bad after all.

Having organized his thoughts, Shen Haoran took a deep breath, cleared his mind of distractions, and began to recover from the injuries he had sustained that day...