Early on the third morning, Liang Yan had already washed, dressed, and was waiting early before Lin Fei’s courtyard gate.
When Lin Fei stepped out and saw Liang Yan waiting, he nodded slightly. With a flick of his sleeve, a mechanical wooden turtle flew out. While still in mid-air, it emitted a series of clicking sounds and instantly grew to the size of a rooftop.
The mechanical turtle crouched on the ground. Lin Fei took Liang Yan onto its back and formed a hand seal; the turtle crawled forward at high speed, reaching the valley entrance in the blink of an eye. The turtle then transformed into a wooden boat, carrying the two of them as they drifted forward.
Liang Yan was no longer the person he once was; he naturally understood that the waterfalls and rivers he had seen upon entering the valley were all part of the sect’s protective formation. Therefore, no matter how the surrounding scenery changed, he no longer felt the trepidation he had experienced back then.
After the two left Yunping Mountain, Lin Fei immediately maneuvered the wooden turtle to take flight, speeding toward Cui Mountain.
Seven days later.
The two landed on the summit of Cui Mountain. Several people were already waiting there; these were all Qi Refining cultivators. Seeing Lin Fei approach, they hurriedly bowed respectfully, saying, "We have troubled you, Martial Uncle."
Lin Fei nodded affably. "It is merely a sect mission."
Without lingering, he led Liang Yan directly to the auction venue—the very cave where Liang Yan had purchased the wooden fish years ago.
After walking him through the area, Lin Fei stopped at the cave entrance and asked with a smile, "How is it? Are you confident in setting up the formation here?"
Liang Yan was already ninety percent certain, but he still replied, "This disciple will do his utmost."
"Then begin your preparations. The auction will be held at the Hour of the Rat the night after tomorrow; you don't have much time. As for the materials for the formation, rest assured—if you need anything, just ask those people from earlier."
Liang Yan nodded in agreement. Lin Fei glanced at him and said nothing more, returning to the vermilion courtyard on the mountaintop to sit in meditation and rest.
For an auction of this scale, he generally didn't need to do much. All related matters were handled by the sect’s local branch and some smaller surrounding sects. His role was simply to appear at the auction site when the time came to deter any troublemakers or those with ill intentions.
After Liang Yan obtained the necessary materials from the branch members, he began to set up the Heavenly Eye Formation. As the name implied, the Heavenly Eye Formation required a spiritual artifact with detection capabilities as the formation eye. Liang Yan chose an Eight Trigrams treasure mirror, which had Taoist trigrams carved around the perimeter and a small mirror embedded in the center.
Formations vary in layout depending on the time and terrain. Adapting to the location, Liang Yan took two formation pearls and eight formation flags, carving the formation patterns into the ground. He adopted the "Wind over Earth: Contemplation" hexagram from the I Ching. This hexagram consists of two trigrams stacked—Kun below and Xun above—representing wind blowing over the earth. The Contemplation hexagram and the Approach hexagram are inverses, used in tandem. Its imagery: those above observe the world, while those below submit and follow.
In other words, the treasure mirror hanging high above the entrance acted as a superior inspector, while those entering the formation were like subjects. The superior observes, and the inferior submits; any concealment methods used by those entering the formation would have nowhere to hide under the treasure mirror.
Although the Heavenly Eye Formation was not an extremely profound formation, it was certainly not simple to learn. Liang Yan had been studying formations for a long time, and combined with his innate intelligence, his knowledge and insights had actually reached a shocking level, though he himself was unaware of it. At this moment, he made slight modifications to the Heavenly Eye Formation to suit the terrain; if a formation master were present, they would surely be startled by him.
On the afternoon of the second day, just as Liang Yan finished carving the final formation line, a voice of admiration came from behind him: "I never expected that Nephew Liang would be so gifted, having achieved such accomplishments in the path of formations."
Liang Yan turned to look; the speaker was none other than Lin Fei.
It turned out that, having nothing to do, he had come to inspect the venue. Seeing the Heavenly Eye Formation Liang Yan had set up, although he did not understand formations himself, he could clearly feel the sense of surveillance and detection the formation exerted on him—a sensation that even he, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, would find difficult to bypass.
"Good, good, good! With such talent, Nephew Liang, I believe the six-year agreement will be extremely simple for you."
"Martial Uncle Lin is too kind. In truth, this disciple does not have much confidence regarding the six-year agreement."
Lin Fei waved his hand and laughed. "Time is short, and you have worked hard setting up the formation alone. Come back to the branch with me to rest for a day. I hope you will have a good harvest here tomorrow night at the Hour of the Rat."
Liang Yan smiled slightly. "Then I shall take your kind words to heart, Martial Uncle."
The two returned to the mountaintop branch together, and Liang Yan sat in meditation in his room. A day passed before he knew it. When the next night arrived, Liang Yan followed Lin Fei to the auction venue.
Lin Fei enjoyed a VIP seat at the auction. After entering, he greeted Liang Yan and left. Liang Yan found a seat near the front by himself.
There seemed to be even more people at this auction than the last. As the auction neared its start, a steady stream of people continued to enter through the doors.
After some time, when the hall was nearly full, Lin Fei flew down from the VIP section and landed on the square platform in the center. He gave a brief introduction just like the last auction and then took his leave. However, the host in charge of the auction had changed from the red-nosed old man to a dark-faced man.
"Everyone," the dark-faced man cleared his throat and said loudly, "I won't waste any more time. The first item for auction today is a mid-grade spiritual artifact from the Confucian school: the Mountain and River Fan!"
As he spoke, a female cultivator brought a treasure box onto the stage. The dark-faced man opened the box and took out the Mountain and River Fan. With a snap, he unfolded it, revealing a majestic mountain painted in ink-wash style, with rivers winding through it in nine sections, looking incredibly lifelike. Extraordinary fluctuations of spiritual energy emanated from it.
The dark-faced man said nothing; he channeled his magic power and struck the trial stone used for demonstrations. Instantly, a fierce wind howled, and an aura of vast mountains and rivers surged forth, leaving deep pits in the trial stone.
The crowd below nodded secretly as they witnessed the power of the artifact. One had to know that the trial stone was made of special materials; an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator could not leave a single mark on it with a single strike. The dark-faced man hadn't even refined the fan, yet a casual wave of it possessed such power—how could they not be tempted?
After the strike, the dark-faced man put the fan away and said indifferently, "The Mountain and River Fan requires seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivation to activate. Starting price: three hundred spirit stones. Each increment must be no less than twenty spirit stones."
The crowd below immediately began bidding frantically. Only Liang Yan sat with his eyes closed, as if he hadn't heard a thing. He had only one goal for this trip: the Barrier-Breaking Pill. He was determined to obtain it!
Item after item was won by the crowd, and in the blink of an eye, over twenty items had passed. Liang Yan couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. Could it be that there was truly no Barrier-Breaking Pill at this auction?
Just as he was feeling uneasy, he heard the dark-faced man on stage say, "The next item is one that everyone will be familiar with—a pill that we Qi Refining cultivators can all consume: the Barrier-Breaking Pill!" As he spoke, he took a small white jade bottle from the female cultivator and removed a white pill, displaying it to the crowd.
"It really is a Barrier-Breaking Pill!"
"This pill is quite helpful for breaking through cultivation bottlenecks; it's worth considering," the crowd whispered.
"One Barrier-Breaking Pill, starting price fifty spirit stones. Each increment must be no less than five spirit stones!"
"I'll take it for fifty spirit stones!" someone immediately shouted from below.
"I bid fifty-five!"
"Sixty-five!"
Just as the crowd was bidding, a young man's voice suddenly rang out: "I bid one hundred spirit stones!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the bidding below ceased. While the Barrier-Breaking Pill was good, one hundred spirit stones already exceeded the value of the pill, and it was clear that the bidder was determined to have it.
The bidder was none other than Liang Yan. He figured that since he was determined to win the pill, he might as well strike first and call out one hundred spirit stones to discourage others from competing.
Seeing that no one else was bidding, the dark-faced man waited a moment and said, "Since no one else is bidding, then..."
Before he could finish, someone suddenly shouted, "One hundred and fifty spirit stones!" The voice was crisp and pleasant—it was a woman.
Liang Yan frowned and turned to look. In the corner of the hall sat a young girl in white, with a slender figure and skin as white as snow. Although her face was covered by a white veil, one could still tell she was a breathtaking beauty.
Liang Yan felt annoyed. After a moment of hesitation, he called out, "One hundred and sixty!"
"Two hundred and sixty!"
This time, the woman didn't pause at all, bidding immediately after Liang Yan, and adding another one hundred spirit stones on top of his bid.
Liang Yan turned back and glared at her. The woman was not afraid in the slightest, meeting his gaze calmly, with a hint of mockery in her eyes.