Xiao Yan stood at the end of the street where the human traffic was turbulent. He lifted his head, and watched the auction house in front of him, which was incomparably huge. His mouth could not resist releasing a shocked sigh. Back then, when he saw the auction house headquarters of the Primer clan in the Jia Ma Empire, he had felt somewhat shocked by its size. It was, however, unexpected that he would realize that the Primer Auction house was undoubtedly trivial when compared to this auction house, which was also called ‘Black Mark’, now that he had arrived at Black Mark City.

There were over ten indifferent-faced, black-clothed powerful men, who carried sharp weapons on their waist, outside the Black Mark Auction House. Their gazes, which were as sharp as eagles, repeatedly swept across the human flow coming and going. From the faint presence that was seeping out from the bodies of these men, five of them were actually of the Dou Shi class, while the rest were around the peak of the Dou Zhe level.

There were already people at the Dou Shi class among those they had carelessly ordered to guard the entrance. It appeared that the strength of this ‘Eight Gates’ was really strong. At the very least, the Primer clan would be reluctant to use Dou Shi practitioners to guard the doors.

A large black robe was tightly wrapped around Xiao Yan’s body as he slowly lowered his head. The shadow of the Doupeng completely covered his face. In the ‘Black-Corner Region’, this utterly chaotic place, he did not think that carelessly exposing his appearance was a wise decision.

TL: Doupeng - a conical bamboo hat with a cloth hanging down from its tip, covering one’s face

Xiao Yan followed the flow of humans and slowly walked into the auction house. The vast space within it caused him to once again become momentarily absent minded. He immediately recovered and his footsteps ferried him to the middle of the hall.

An enormous screen was hung on the surroundings within this auction house, scrolling through a countless number of items, which were being sold in this auction. Xiao Yan roughly glanced over it, but did not discover anything excessively rare. It was likely that these special items were used as things which would dominate the auction and were not displayed in order to maintain their secrecy. Of course, some of the factions, which were quite strong, would naturally be able to use other channels to inquire about the treasures which would dominate the auction.

Xiao Yan’s gaze swept across his surroundings before finally stopping on a door leading to a room to inspect treasures. He hesitated a little before slowly walking into it.

As Xiao Yan’s body entered the door into this so called ‘Treasure Inspecting Room’, he was somewhat stunned to realize that this somewhat big room was neatly divided into over a hundred smaller secret rooms. It was likely a preventive measure designed to prevent the treasures from being exposed.

Xiao Yan had just walked into this ‘Treasure Inspecting Room’ when a sexily clad female servant walked forward. Her feminine voice released an enchanting feeling, “This sir, are you here to inspect a treasure or are you here to perform a price evaluation to facilitate the auction?”

“The latter.” Xiao Yan’s purposefully suppressed his voice until it sounded somewhat hoarse.

“Please follow me.” The female servant smiled enchantingly and turned around. Her water snake-like waist swayed and formed an extremely alluring arc. If one looked at it for too long, it would actually cause a nefarious flame to rise within one’s lower abdomen. It appeared that the female servants here had undergone special training on how to increase their attractiveness to its limit in men’s eyes.

Xiao Yan’s gaze dangled within the shadows of the Doupeng. He ignored the female servant’s seductive body. In the ‘Black-Corner Region’, which was an extremely chaotic place, even a woman who did not have the strength to tie a chicken could also cause a person to receive a great shock. Therefore, Xiao Yan did not dare to think of having any interaction with the women here.

Xiao Yan followed behind the woman and walked dozens of meters before the latter finally stopped in front of a small secret room. She respectfully bowed to Xiao Yan and smiled as she said, “Mister, you can hand over the things you want to auction off to the grandmaster inside to evaluate and verify. After which, you will obtain a seat of a differing grade at the auction fair depending on how valuable the items you are trying to auction off are.”

Xiao Yan nodded. He gently pushed open the black-colored wooden door and walked in. After which, he smoothly closed the door.

The light in the small room was bright. An old man, whose hair was somewhat white, was using his sharp gaze to inspect Xiao Yan. As the latter was entirely covered in a black robe, he had difficulty spotting anything eye-catching.

“Please have a seat.” The old man carelessly pointed at a chair in front of him. He finished arranging some of the tools needed to inspect the items to be auctioned off before lowering his head and said faintly, “Take out the things that you want to auction out.”

Xiao Yan remained silent. He did not speak as he waved his hand and three small jade bottles appeared on the table.

“Medicinal Pills?”

The old man was a little stunned when he heard the sound of the jade bottles colliding with the surface of the table. His gaze stopped on each of the three small jade bottles and a bizarre glint flashed across his eyes. He wore a pair of thin, transparent gloves and carefully picked up a jade bottle and tipped the jade bottle until the pale-green-colored spherical medicinal pill rolled out onto his palm. He placed it under his nose and sniffed, while his gaze paused on the green and purple Pill-Lines on the pill. He mused for a moment before his expression changed slightly. With a shocked voice, he said, “This is a ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill?”

“Ah.” Xiao Yan nodded slightly. His voice was still hoarse: “Since you have heard of the ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill’, I think that you should also know of its effect. Help me estimate the listing price.”

“I need to examine it first.” The old man shook his head. He then took out those strange and unique tools and began fiddling with the medicinal pill. After continuing like this for a long while, he finally stopped. His gaze had an additional bizarreness when he lifted his head back up to look at Xiao Yan. With a deeper meaning in his words, he said, “This is indeed a ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill. Moreover, its quality is quite high. Even an ordinary tier four alchemist would have difficulty creating a pill with this kind of quality.”

“According to the method the ‘Black-Corner Region’ uses to estimate, the base price for this ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ should be around three hundred thousand gold. If you take it out to auction and meet some rich and powerful factions competing with each other, it would not be difficult for you to auction it off for over five hundred thousand gold.”

“Then take a look at this.” Xiao Yan nodded slightly. This price was already higher than what he had estimated. Immediately, he pushed over the bottle which contained the ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’.

“Oh?” The old man was slightly startled. He took the bottle and allowed the emerald-like spherical medicinal pill within to roll out. However, when his gaze swept across the three circular Pill-Lines on the pill’s body, a seriousness finally appeared on his calm face. The difference between a ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ and a ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ may merely be only one line, but their prices were like two different worlds.

A ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ may have the effect of helping a Dou Shi break through the final barrier and advance, but it could only help one’s strength increase by one or two stars. Moreover, the chances of receiving backlash was quite great. On the other hand, once one successfully consumed a ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’, not only could one break through the barrier, but one could also have one’s strength suddenly rise by three stars. Of course, this was with the exception that the person taking the pill had purposely not been restricted their strength from rising. Back then, when Xiao Yan had consumed the ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’, he purposefully deposited the medicinal effect within his body because his was afraid that his strength would rise too quickly, which would result in him losing precise control over his body. When the medicinal strength was activated later on, it once again caused his strength to soar. From this, one could see the clear difference between the ‘Three-Lined’ and ‘Two-Lined’ pills!

On this point, the old man who had seen countless treasures knew it very well. Thus, his face held an extra trace of curiosity and seriousness.

“Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill?” The old man scrupulously examined the emerald medicinal pill as he spoke in a stunned soft voice.

“Yes.” Xiao Yan nodded his head faintly.

“Excellent stuff.” The old man smacked his mouth. Even though he was used to seeing treasures, he also gave such an evaluation. He hesitated a little before saying: “The base auction price of this ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ can be set at around seven hundred thousand. After undergoing competing bids, I think that it can be sold for about nine hundred thousand or so.”

Xiao Yan quietly nodded his head. In his heart, he could not resist heaving a long sigh of relief. The sum of the values of these three ‘Green Spirit Pills’ would be nearly two million. This amount of money had really come in a frightening manner. No wonder being an alchemist was an occupation which did not lack money to spend. This kind of lucrative thing would really cause the other occupations to collapse from envy.

Of course, Xiao Yan also clearly knew that this kind of lucrative trade was built upon having sufficiently high chances of success. After all, when most alchemists refined medicinal pills, they would sometimes only succeed once every ten attempts. The ingredients needed to refine the ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ would add up to nearly sixty or seventy thousand gold coins. When that time came, even if they were successful once out of ten times, it was likely they would only manage to break even. After all, not all the alchemists in this world had the help of an extremely experienced Yao Lao, as well as a ‘Heavenly Flame’, both of which were extremely great helps.

“Two ‘Two-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ and one ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’. Mister, the value of the things you want to sell in our auction has already reached a second class VIP grade of our ‘Black Mark Auction House’. This is your seat number. The auction fair will officially open this afternoon. When that time comes, please sit in your designated seat.” The old man carefully put the medicinal pills away and took out a card which was made of green-colored emerald from the counter, which he then handed over to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan nodded his head as he received the emerald card. He inquired, “Can I leave now?”

“Ke ke, mister, please do as you wish.” The old man smiled as he replied after he had carefully returned the three ‘Green Spirit Pill’. Perhaps it was because of these pills, but his current attitude toward Xiao Yan was a little better.

Xiao Yan did not say any more nonsense after hearing this. He stood up and slowly walked toward the door, opened it, and walked out.

The old man eyed the door, which was slowly closing, and heard the footsteps gradually becoming distant. His finger gently knocked on the surface of the table. A long while later, he lowered his head, and eyed the three ‘Green Spirit Pills’, which had been stored properly. A strange expression flashed across his muddled old eyes.

“I have not seen this person before. To be able to take out three ‘Green Spirit Pill’ so easily, it is likely that he should be an alchemist. Moreover, his tier should not be low...” His hand tapped at a certain part of the table, and the wall of the secret room was suddenly and slowly pulled open, revealing a small, dark hole. The old man picked up the three ‘Green Spirit Pills’, turned around and walked into the hole. His soft voice muttering words that resounded quietly within the secret room.

“An alchemist who can refine a medicinal pill of a tier like the ‘Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill’ is also not commonly seen in the ‘Black-Corner Region’. I think that the Leader will be interested in such a person.”