Quantity Over Quality
But Jekyeong refused to indulge their petty calculations. His voice, echoing softly from the VIP room, forced their hand. Fifty mid-grade spirit stones. It was a sum that was starting to pinch.
“Fifty-one mid-grade spirit stones!” came a timid bid. It was a half-hearted resistance, a tentative probe to test his resolve.
“Sixty mid-grade spirit stones!” Jekyeong didn't bother with incremental games. He had valued the Precious Rippling Jade Liquid at a maximum of seventy mid-grade spirit stones. If he could secure it for anything under seventy, he would bid; otherwise, he would walk away without a second thought.
“Sixty mid-grade spirit stones! Do I hear any more?” Jwa Yu-min called out, her voice smooth and melodic. Her gaze swept over the room, lingering on several hesitant cultivators, but none stepped forward to raise the price.
“Sixty mid-grade spirit stones! Sold!” As Jwa Yu-min’s pleasant cry rang out, Jekyeong took a slow sip of his spirit wine in the VIP room.
“Seventy-two mid-grade spirit stones! Sold!” Having secured the Vermilion Toad, Jekyeong curled his lips in satisfaction once more.
Things are going even smoother than I expected. Jekyeong’s strategy for this auction was simple. From the very beginning, he had ignored the 'prime items' slated for the latter half. Since those were the targets of every major player, he would be lucky to secure even one or two, even if he threw his entire fortune at them.
Jekyeong was pragmatic. He was sitting in the VIP room because of his connection to the Yeongbu Merchant Guild, not because his pockets were exceptionally deep.
My competitors aren't the ones in the other VIP rooms; they're the people down below. His spirit stones were insufficient to compete with the true 'VIPs,' but they were more than enough to bully the ordinary cultivators on the main floor.
With the momentum of someone willing to exhaust his entire purse in the middle phase of the auction, Jekyeong snapped up the spiritual items he had targeted, one by one. Including the Vermilion Toad he had just purchased, he had already acquired four spiritual items, and his remaining funds had dwindled to a third.
I can probably afford one more. He had spent almost all the wealth he had accumulated over ten years in less than three hours, but he felt incredibly refreshed. No matter how many spirit stones one had, they were ultimately just stones. They only held true value when converted into resources, and subsequently, into cultivation progress.
“Fellow Daoist Jekyeong, you have acquired yet another fine item. My congratulations,” Yeon Jung-hyeok offered his blessings as Jekyeong smiled with satisfaction. Internally, however, he could not understand Jekyeong's choices.
Wouldn't it be better to buy one truly exceptional spiritual item rather than four mediocre ones? It was a thought any human cultivator would have. In their common sense, one high-grade spiritual item was far better than ten low-to-mid-grade ones. This was because even if they possessed ten lower-grade items, they could not digest them all. They would be lucky to absorb even two or three. Of course, if they took their time and consumed them slowly, they could eventually digest twenty, let alone ten, but they did not have that kind of time. Thus, they preferred quality over quantity.
But Jekyeong was different. He belonged to the Beast Race, and among them, he was a Great Yao Beast. Furthermore, even among Great Yao Beasts, he possessed an exceptionally sturdy physical body and spiritual nature. Naturally, he could digest far more external substances than human cultivators. On top of that, he had no shortage of time, so his preferences naturally diverged from theirs. Quality over quantity? No, quantity over quality.
“One hundred and twenty-seven mid-grade spirit stones! Sold!” With the Purple Flame Treasure Flower as his final purchase, Jekyeong's budget-friendly bidding spree came to an end. He had a few spirit stones left, but with such a small amount, it would be difficult to even place a bid on the items scheduled to appear next.
“Are you leaving already?”
“I have no more spirit stones in my pockets, so what is the point of watching further?” Jekyeong replied. At first, he had thought of staying to broaden his horizons, but he quickly changed his mind. Staring at sour grapes he couldn't eat would only breed frustration; it was better to dust himself off and leave.
“Could I borrow a vessel for my return journey?”
“Of course. Just say the word whenever you are ready.” Although Jekyeong was the one requesting the transport, it was Yang Yo-hyeon and Yeon Jung-hyeok who looked delighted. They were anxious to send this sensitive VIP back as quickly as possible, so when Jekyeong expressed his intention to return, they nodded eagerly as if they had been waiting for this very moment.
Leaving the auction house, Jekyeong immediately boarded the ship with Yang Yo-hyeon and departed Seongam Island.
“We seem to be moving faster than on our way here.”
“Yes. We have unloaded all our cargo, and we fed those fellows quite well while we were at Seongam Island,” Yang Yo-hyeon replied. At those words, Jekyeong stared blankly at the Shikseongyo swimming vigorously ahead. He thought they looked a bit plumper than when he had last seen them, and it turned out his eyes hadn't deceived him.
“At this rate, we should arrive within ten days.”
“Mmh.” Yang Yo-hyeon acted as if he had achieved some great feat, seemingly fishing for a compliment, but Jekyeong was entirely unimpressed. Yang Yo-hyeon seemed to think the speed of the ship pulled by the Shikseongyo was incredibly fast, but by Jekyeong's standards, it was nothing of the sort. If he transformed into his true form and traveled at full speed, he was confident he could arrive within five days. Nevertheless, the reason he had borrowed this slow vessel from the Yeongbu Merchant Guild was not for speed, but for safety. More than half of the route from Seongam Island to Heukgyo Island passed through Human Territory, making it too risky to travel in his true form.
“Hmm?” On the sixth day after leaving Seongam Island, Jekyeong sensed a group rapidly approaching from behind and frowned. Foundation Establishment cultivators? There were four of them approaching, and judging by their auras, they seemed to be at the Foundation Establishment stage.
“Fellow Daoist Yang. Someone is approaching rapidly from behind.”
“Pardon?” Hearing Jekyeong's warning, Yang Yo-hyeon pushed his Divine Sense to its limits, but he could not detect anything. “Are you certain? I do not sense anything at all.”
“There are four. Three seem to be pursuing one, but they do not appear to be of the same group... It looks like someone is being hunted.”
Yang Yo-hyeon remained half-doubtful, but before long, he too was able to sense the individuals Jekyeong had mentioned. His Divine Sense is far more powerful than mine. For a brief moment, Yang Yo-hyeon looked at Jekyeong with a complicated expression, but even then, he did not forget his duties.
“Activate the Ship-Protecting Formation!” The light of the array instantly enveloped the vessel, and the crew gathered on the deck, each taking up a combat stance. A moment later, a cultivator riding a flying sword appeared in the distance. His face was deathly pale, and dark blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
“Fellow Daoists of the Yeongbu Merchant Guild! Help me!” Upon spotting the guild's ship, his eyes lit up, and he cried out desperately, rushing toward them with all his might.
The Bandit Cultivators and the Fugitive
“Tsk! What a nuisance,” Yang Yo-hyeon clicked his tongue. He looked back and forth between the desperately approaching cultivator and the three pursuers, his face darkening with displeasure. Jekyeong felt similarly, though he watched the chase with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
“Are they Bandit Cultivators?”
“It seems so.” A Bandit Cultivator was, in short, a robber. Cultivators like Seo Muso and Yang Yuwan, who had previously invaded Heukgyo Island, were essentially bandit cultivators as well. Thus, the concept of a bandit cultivator was neither unfamiliar nor novel. However, seeing this classic, cliché scene unfold right before his eyes... felt rather peculiar.
“Halt! Do not come any closer!” Yang Yo-hyeon shouted, his voice laced with wariness, causing the fleeing cultivator to hesitate slightly.
“Who are you? And who are those pursuers behind you? If you recognize us as members of the Yeongbu Merchant Guild, do not even think of dragging us into your little fireplay.”
“Fireplay?! They are bandit cultivators! Do you think they will leave you in peace once they are finished with me?”
“They will have no choice but to leave us alone. We are of the Yeongbu Merchant Guild.” This was the absolute confidence that only those backed by a massive power could display. Yang Yo-hyeon assumed that neither the man before him nor the pursuers behind had any significant background. Even if his assumption was wrong, it did not matter. After all, there was no faction in this vicinity, or indeed across the entirety of Yangseo Lake, that dared to ignore the flag of the Yeongbu Merchant Guild.
“So, if you wish to live, you had better run instead of wasting your time throwing a useless tantrum here.” Yang Yo-hyeon's expressionless face exuded a cold, unyielding stubbornness, looking as though he wouldn't shed a single drop of blood even if pricked by a needle.
“You... damn it!” Realizing that pleading with Yang Yo-hyeon was like shouting at a brick wall, the pale man glared at him with fierce eyes, spun around, and resumed his flight.
While the first had fled, the other three arrived shortly after. The sinister, violent aura radiating from their bodies practically screamed, 'This is what a bandit cultivator looks like.'
“The Yeongbu Merchant Guild?” They looked back and forth between the guild's flag and Yang Yo-hyeon, who was deliberately projecting his Foundation Establishment aura. Their eyes darted around as they seemed to weigh their options.
“Let's catch that bastard first!” Their hesitation was brief. An older, middle-aged man who appeared to be the leader took the lead, and the other two followed without a word.
“Phew.” Watching Yang Yo-hyeon let out a sigh of relief, Jekyeong tilted his head. “Can the Ship-Protecting Formation not stop them?”
“I am not certain. It could hold them off for a short while, but keeping them out indefinitely would be impossible. The Ship-Protecting Formation was never designed with prolonged combat in mind,” Yang Yo-hyeon admitted. Jekyeong understood immediately. In other words, the array was meant to prevent unexpected accidents, not to serve as a military fortification.
“Do you think they will return?” Judging by the fleeing man's physical condition, it was highly unlikely he could shake off those bandit cultivators. He would inevitably be caught before long. Once they finished him, would those bandits return to silence any potential witnesses?
“Perhaps. If they are confident, they will come; if not, they won't.” The reason Yang Yo-hyeon had flared his aura so aggressively earlier was precisely to avoid looking like easy prey. He wanted to induce the bandits to leave their ship alone and depart once their business was done.
“Hmm.” Jekyeong didn't particularly care either way. It was fine if the bandits left, and it wasn't bad if they returned. The bandit cultivators consisted of two early Foundation Establishment and one mid Foundation Establishment. That was a lineup he could easily handle. If Yang Yo-hyeon took one and Jekyeong took the other two, it would be a manageable fight. Besides, they had the crew. Though they wouldn't be of much help in actual combat, they could at least serve as a distraction.
...No, that's not right. Lately, this bellicose, aggressive instinct had been rearing its head whenever he let his guard down. Even for matters that could easily be resolved peacefully with a bit of patience, his first instinct was to bare his fangs, showing a strong tendency to settle things with fists rather than words. This change was closely linked to the advancement of his cultivation. To be precise, his increasingly powerful bloodline was reshaping him. Jekyeong suspected that this was simply the innate nature of the Beast Race.