Cultivation: But Not a Game-Chapter 220 - 131: Succumbing to Demonic Influence, Auction House
Aside from the items sold, the remaining gains from the Rage Sea Red Tide are as follows:
One eighth-grade essence, which has upgraded the Cyan Cloud Cover to a seventh-tier treasure.
Five portions of True Dragon Blood, used for Ao Run to refine and enhance bloodline.
Profound Mystery Layer Forbidden Skill Hundred-Eyed Divine Light, already learned.
Seventh-grade fine wine—the formulas for Moonlight Condensed Dew and Ten Thousand Beasts Blood Essence Wine, already learned.
sixth-grade essences, including one Top Grade Fire Demon Essence.
One Tier Six Top-Grade Fire Demon Robe, featuring Fire Control Skill and Five Flames Divine Thunder, capable of summoning a hundred level-80 fire spirits.
All miscellaneous items sold, currently possessing 3744 gold.
Additionally, there’s still 102.5 million slaughter experience and 3752 points of Dao in the experience pool.
Moreover, from leaving Rage Tide Island to reaching Feixing Island, some merit has accumulated over time, now totaling 2680, lower than anticipated.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been another encounter with an essence like the Blood God Child to gain a large amount of merit. Moreover, during the slaying of the demon dragon, he was in the form of a true dragon, and the cultivation points, Dao, and merit gained were all absorbed by the true dragon form, otherwise, a substantial amount of merit could have been obtained.
This kind of super BOSS kills countless creatures during each Red Tide, accumulating a vast amount of negative merit. Just defeating it yields a significant amount of merit.
Thus, the Rage Sea Red Tide concludes.
"After tomorrow’s auction, it’s time to return to Jinjiao Island to prepare for the journey to the Sword Palace."
Unknowingly, a year has passed since joining the sect.
"Oh, after the trip to the Sword Palace, I must also return to Blue Mountain Island once."
He promised Gu Zhiqiu and others that after a year of joining, he should return, after all, as the captain, he can’t always shirk responsibilities.
"The Red Copper Robe and Red Demon Essence can be given to him then, and the other sixth-grade essences to the other subordinates."
Consider it a form of compensation for them.
After reviewing the gains, having nothing else to do, Su Yu suddenly thought of something and tried sending a message to Leng Xijun:
"Sister-in-law, has Mr. Qe returned?"
A minute later, Leng Xijun replied:
"He’s currently on Feixing Island, you can contact him now."
"Okay."
Turning to send a message to Qe Dongyang:
"Mr. Qe, when did you return, and how is your guild doing now?"
"Our guild has disbanded."
"???"
"Why? Aren’t you going to rebuild it?"
"Are you free? Let’s have a drink."
"Where?"
Qe Dongyang provided an address, not far from the commercial district. It took less than two minutes to arrive and see Qe Dongyang drinking gloomily by the roadside.
After days of not meeting, he appeared much more haggard and aged, possibly due to mental pressure or the loss of lifespan from casualties.
"Sit."
He poured Su Yu a glass and started speaking directly:
"Our guild already had internal divisions, established for over a decade, faced four Red Tides, never survived one. Built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again, the partners lost confidence."
"This time, with the guild destroyed, most members perished in the Red Tide. After reviving, accumulated conflicts erupted completely, leading the partners to decide to dissolve the guild and go their separate ways."
"Hmm...."
Su Yu raised his cup, clinked glasses with him, took a sip, and asked:
"What do you plan to do now? Join another guild or start afresh?"
"I haven’t decided yet; I’m not alone now, still having a group of brothers with me."
"How many people?"
"182 people, all veterans."
"Having so many veteran brothers is quite a solid foundation; you could actually join a larger guild and easily form an independent squad."
Qe Dongyang took another sip of wine, nodding:
"I thought the same but haven’t decided on which guild to join."
"No rush, take your time to think about it."
"By the way, my second brother is on Jinjiao Island, a disciple of Master Mingsu, and an elder of the Canglan Association, deputy head of the second main force. Are you interested in developing there? If willing, I can introduce you."
Qe Dongyang pondered briefly and said:
"I’ll consider it."
"No rush, I’ll return to Jinjiao Island after tomorrow’s auction. If you decide, let me know then."
"Alright."
Men, too, need someone to confide in. After drinking, Qe Dongyang felt a bit tipsy, and with Su Yu there, he started recounting the days of establishing the Rage Tide Gang with friends and how they grew the guild.
As Su Yu had nothing else to do, he attentively listened to his stories like they were tales.
They chatted for a long time, stopping only when his wife and daughter arrived.
Leng Xijun assisted her husband, apologizing:
"I’m sorry for the trouble today."
He waved it off with a smile:
"No worries, I also enjoyed listening to Mr. Qe’s stories about founding the guild."
Watching them leave as a family, Su Yu turned to pay the bill. Despite drinking for so long, it only cost a few silvers.
While settling the bill, seeing his current funds, he suddenly remembered tomorrow’s auction, slapping his forehead:
"Oh no, I might not have enough money for tomorrow’s auction."
He thought for a moment and contacted Lin Qi, the manager of Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association’s branch on Feixing Island, sending over the attributes of the longevity fruit, asking:
"How much can this probably sell for?"
After a while, Lin Qi sent a message, his voice somewhat anxious:
"Are you on Feixing Island? Can you come to our commerce association’s branch for a face-to-face meeting?"
"Is this valuable?"
"Very valuable!"
Lin Qi said with great certainty:
"This is completely qualified for our commerce association’s auction. If you have this idea, I can add it to the list."
Su Yu glanced at the attribute of the lifespan fruit, gaining a new understanding of breaking the lifespan limit.
"If this goes to auction, about how much could it sell for?"
"At least eight thousand gold or more. If you want to sell it, I can offer eight thousand gold on behalf of the commerce association for purchase."
"Hmm...."
This price had far exceeded his expectations.
"Put it in the auction for me."
"No problem, where are you? I’ll come right away."
Su Yu soared into the air towards the Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association branch, saying:
"I’m at the entrance of your commerce association."
"Please wait a moment."
In less than a minute, he appeared at the entrance of the Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association. Lin Qi was already waiting there. After a brief exchange, he was welcomed into the commerce association. After registration, the lifespan fruit was handed over to the Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association for auction.
"Mr. Su Yu, according to the regulations, all auction items require a 10% fee, including handling fees and Feixing City’s commercial tax."
"Pay now?"
"After the auction."
"Alright."
Upon coming out of the Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association, Su Yu’s eyes shone with uncertainty.
The value of this lifespan fruit was beyond his expectations. One piece for at least eight thousand gold was simply outrageous, which gave rise to a crazy thought in his heart—to use the Star Shifting technique to frenziedly seize lifespans and amass a large number of lifespan fruits.
Depriving one year of lifespan only costs 1 point of merit. He now has 2432 merit points, allowing him to strip away 2432 years of lifespan in one go. How much could that sell for?
lifespan fruits, assuming each is 8000, it amounts to 320,000 in gold, a massive sum.
This was only the beginning. In the future, he could continue accumulating merits to condense more lifespan fruits.
One hundred pieces?
Two hundred pieces?
A thousand pieces?
Or ten thousand.....
Unbeknownst to him, a faint black mist appeared in his eyes, and his face contorted into a vicious expression, appearing quite frightening.
In his mind, he was already planning how to maximize profits, how to achieve a balance between accumulating merits and consuming merits to deprive others of their lifespans, how to seize lifespans without attracting attention, how....
As his thoughts grew bolder and more dangerous, his expression became increasingly ferocious, black energy intensified in his pupils, even slowly emanating from his skin.
He was about to succumb to the demon.
But at that moment, a struggle flickered through Su Yu’s eyes, instinctively sensing something was wrong.
"Something’s wrong...."
"Have I become possessed?"
He instantly snapped back to reality, pressed his hand to his brow, and his consciousness sank into the sea of consciousness where demonic qi gathered into a vortex, with a twisted black shadow lurking inside.
"A Heart Demon is forming!"
With a thought, a clear light surged out from the sea of consciousness, sweeping across like a tide, and the demonic qi rapidly dissolved upon contact. The incipient Heart Demon was obliterated before it could struggle.
Waking up, Su Yu covered his heart, filled with fear.
"The enormous benefits made me greedy, causing a Heart Demon to arise. If I can’t break through, I would really operate this way. How many people would I have to kill?"
"Almost irredeemable!"
Killing too many people would deplete one’s merits, and using such a method to frantically seize others’ lifespans is worse than outright killing.
Even if he masked it with merits to deceive the world, he couldn’t deceive the Heavenly Dao.
If he continued this way, when the time came to undergo the Celestial Tribulation, no matter how many merits he accumulated, he would be seen as a demon in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, and the tribulation would surely be of high difficulty. If he went too far, the Celestial Punishment might descend directly, and that would be his end.
"Absolutely can’t do this."
"Can only target those who are heinously evil."
Even against Demon Dao cultivators with negative merits, it can’t be used casually because, in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, all beings are equal, except for great demons.
The so-called great demons are those whose accumulated evil merits are so vast that even after facing Celestial Punishment they don’t die. Such existence is loathed by the heavens and the earth, and any means used against them is considered doing the Dao’s will and can even earn Heavenly Dao rewards.
Unfortunately, such beings are extremely rare, even among Demon Dao cultivators.
"Doesn’t matter, as long as I don’t use it freely in the future."
"After all, as long as I am strong enough, there are plenty of ways to make money, no need to gamble with my future."
Having come to this realization, Su Yu picked up a green jade gourd, took a sip of Monkey Brew, and flew away leisurely.
The night passed without words. The next day, Su Yu met up with Luo Qingchan and headed straight to the Heaven-Reaching Commerce Association auction house.
Entering the venue, he originally thought he would sit in the main hall. Unexpectedly, he and Luo Qingchan entered a private box, Box 12.
After the attendant left, Su Yu curiously asked:
"What membership level are you?"
Luo Qingchan, engrossed in looking through the auction items, replied without lifting her head, "Earth Tier, five-star."
"Impressive!"
He gave a thumbs-up, not wanting to say more.
With a thought, he opened the interface and was now able to browse the auction items through his personal panel as if connecting to a network. However, as he was only the lowest Yellow Tier one-star member, he could only view ordinary items, with no access to the few final highlight items.
He quickly browsed through the numerous auction items, finding that the lowest among them was Tier Six top-grade or higher flying sword magical treasures, priced over two hundred gold; ordinary Tier Six magical treasures were not eligible for the auction.
