Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 290 - 184: A Sharp Blade Above Desire

"Four thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones!"

"Four thousand five hundred fifty low-grade spirit stones!"

"Five thousand low-grade spirit stones!"

······

"Seven thousand low-grade spirit stones!"

Lu Chang’sheng raised his hand and called out.

This price cut the number of bidders down to three.

After another round of bidding, only Lu Chang’sheng and one other cultivator remained in competition.

"Seven thousand two hundred low-grade spirit stones!"

"Seven thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones!"

Lu Chang’sheng suddenly raised his bid by three hundred, giving his opponent pause. The other man bit his lip, glanced in Lu Chang’sheng’s direction, and continued, "Seven thousand six hundred low-grade spirit stones."

"Eight thousand low-grade spirit stones!"

"Fellow Daoist Lu, that’s not worth it!"

Wei Zhen couldn’t help but shake his head.

But seeing Lu Chang’sheng’s determined expression, he just sighed.

In the end, still young—easy to get impulsive.

To him, Lu Chang’sheng really was young, only a bit over sixty in bone age. He himself was nearly a hundred.

Soon, the bidding price soared to nine thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Even Lu Chang’sheng wondered if he was getting a little carried away. Quite a few people around him were giving him odd looks.

Fortunately, at this point, the other didn’t continue bidding. Perhaps funds ran short, or maybe other concerns played a part.

In the end, Lu Chang’sheng snatched up the Turtle Shell Map.

He still had some low-grade spirit stones left, but he didn’t intend to spend them.

He was interested in the grand finale—the Golden Core tier items—but unfortunately, what he had left wouldn’t be anywhere near enough.

"That guy’s gaze just now was pretty off. Looks like I need to get out of here soon."

With that thought, Lu Chang’sheng stopped watching and bid Wei Zhen farewell.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, not sticking around? The main event’s still to come."

Wei Zhen tried to convince him to stay.

But seeing Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t tempted, he let it go.

Anyway, it was still early to leave Liuyun Immortal City. He’d have to wait until he found a merchant caravan heading back to Platinum Immortal City, so no rush.

"Here are your auction items." Lu Chang’sheng found a Wang Family attendant, asked a few questions, and was led to a side hall. Soon, an elder came over with two attendants and handed him his items.

"Lots of eyes, lots of trouble—need a Wang Family escort, Fellow Daoist?" the elder smiled.

"Thank you, but no need for now," Lu Chang’sheng replied.

He secretly guessed—maybe this auction didn’t prioritize customer privacy on purpose, at the Wang Family’s direction.

If trouble kicks up, they get to slack off in the chaos.

As long as nothing happens in their territory, it’s none of their concern.

"Spirit Realm—survival of the fittest, even more ruthless than Great Yuan!"

Lu Chang’sheng walked down the corridor he’d come from, left the Wang Family compound, and went back to the tavern. He adjusted his state and took out the Barrier-Breaking Pills to swallow.

"No wonder it’s a special pill—even trickier than top-grade Qi Storage Pills."

He tried to reverse-engineer it, but hit dead ends—a single Barrier-Breaking Pill contained layers upon layers of totally different materials, far more than any ordinary first-grade pill.

Lu Chang’sheng estimated that, even with his current skill in the Alchemy Dao, it would take ten years just to deduce the formula for the Barrier-Breaking Pill.

And that was just possible.

By now, he wasn’t a newbie in alchemy—he knew lots of pills undergo special processing during refinement to prevent their formulas from being reverse-engineered.

So even if he did figure it out, it might not be the genuine Barrier-Breaking Pill formula.

"Spirit Realm alchemists wouldn’t leave such a massive loophole lying around."

He stopped overthinking and began refining the pill directly.

After swallowing the pill, Lu Chang’sheng felt the magical power in his body start to stir, as if something unknown was happening beneath the surface.

A day later, his previously stagnant magical power actually grew a little.

He took a second Barrier-Breaking Pill.

It took much longer to refine this one.

But the effect was still obvious—with each Barrier-Breaking Pill swallowed,

that was the pattern. After just over a month, he suddenly snapped his eyes open. A faint, almost invisible spiritual light flashed across his gaze. His body began to float, and strands of gang qi condensed from his magical power swirled beneath him, never settling.

"Qi Cultivation stage, mid-level—made it!"

Lu Chang’sheng’s face lit up with excitement.

By his estimate, breaking through to mid-Qi Cultivation would take at least a decade—now, it had only been around five or six years.

"Cultivation is harder than martial arts, but the returns grow, too."

Normally, just using top-grade Qi Storage Pills to break through would take years, maybe more than a decade. In this case, only a month had passed and he’d made several leaps.

"As expected—unless I absolutely have to, I’d better not become an evil cultivator."

Evil cultivators—never safe for long.

Otherwise, spend a century working hard at some job, and you’ll be able to scrape together enough for Barrier-Breaking Pills.

Way better than those evil cultivators who broke into Great Yuan territory, basically penniless.

Lu Chang’sheng walked to the tavern’s side-yard training field, where some metal practice dummies were set up for spell testing.

A streak of azure pill fire shot from his hand, hitting a dummy faster than lightning, shattering it instantly.

"I’m burning way less magical power, and controlling pill fire is way easier now."

Your magical power boosts control over pill fire—that’s why, to be a second-grade alchemist, cultivation has to keep up.

"Time to prep for Fuyun Mountain," Lu Chang’sheng thought.

Reaching mid-stage Qi Cultivation gave him some confidence—add a bit more planning, and nothing should go wrong.

"I’ll head back to Platinum Immortal City first."

Lu Chang’sheng took out his Sound Transmission Shell and messaged Liu Yun and Fang Yuan and the rest.

Soon enough, Fang Yuan and Qu Guang arrived.

The moment they saw Lu Chang’sheng, an odd look flashed in their eyes—they almost activated the Dharma Eye to check his cultivation.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, did you just break through to mid-stage Qi Cultivation?"

Fang Yuan couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Chang’sheng nodded. "That’s right, but how did you tell?"

"You just broke through, so your aura hasn’t settled. Even without the Dharma Eye, we can sense it,"

Seeing them nod, Lu Chang’sheng took note—next time he breaks through, he’d better consolidate before meeting anyone.

Still, it wasn’t exactly a bad thing that they knew about his breakthrough—at least, now when Fang Yuan and Qu Guang looked at him, there was respect in their eyes, a real difference from before.

Previously, they’d only thought Lu Chang’sheng had potential. Now, they treated him as a peer.

Placing Lu Chang’sheng on equal footing with themselves.

They knew that Lu Chang’sheng had won a bottle of Barrier-Breaking Pills—but having the pills didn’t guarantee a breakthrough.

It still depended on luck and accumulation. Clearly, Lu Chang’sheng had plenty of both.

When Lu Chang’sheng mentioned wanting to return to Platinum Immortal City, the two exchanged a strange look.

"What? Did something happen?" Lu Chang’sheng looked at them, puzzled.

"More than something—it’s a big deal." Qu Guang took a deep breath.

After some discussion, Lu Chang’sheng’s brows nearly jumped off his face.

Turns out, just after he left, the auction was robbed.

The two Golden Core treasures set aside as the event’s highlights were snatched by Tribulation Cultivators. Luckily, the Wang Family reacted promptly, immediately sealing all four gates to the Immortal City and activating the city’s grand array.

Now, Lu Chang’sheng stretched his spiritual sense and vaguely detected odd colors flickering in the sky—the spiritual light of the city array.

"Who dared rob the auction here—so bold?!" Lu Chang’sheng asked, curious.

"No clue. Some say Red Cloud Daoist broke through to Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment, stole those treasures."

"I doubt it, though," Qu Guang shook his head.

"Fellow Daoist Qu, even if Red Cloud Daoist reached Foundation Establishment, it’s still just the initial stage—how could he escape from the two Foundation Establishment masters of the Wang Family?"

Both were late-stage Qi Cultivators, with some familiararity of Foundation Establishment, so they were skeptical of all the shallow rumors around the city.

Soon, Liu Yun replied via Sound Transmission Shell.

Right now, the Immortal City was locked down—no coming or going. Leaving would take a while yet.

Seeing this, Lu Chang’sheng had no choice but to drop his plans and stay at the tavern’s back courtyard.

He went looking for Wei Zhen, only to find he wasn’t in his lodgings.

Most likely, he was at the brothel.

"The word ’lust’ spells trouble," he shook his head, turning to head home.

But barely had he returned when he heard the bad news.

There’d been a fight at the brothel—the whole street was leveled in the battle.