Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments

Chapter 295 - 171: Body Forging, Auction, and a Gentleman’s Good Deed

’What should I call this? A good problem to have?’

For the next five days, Xiao Chen focused on familiarizing himself with his brand-new power.

However, the process of adapting proved to be more troublesome than he had originally imagined.

This was because the Tiger Bone he had eaten was still continuously taking effect.

Xiao Chen had to admit that since he had never consumed anything like it before, he had initially underestimated the Tiger Bone’s effects.

For the first three days, even when he wasn’t cultivating, his Qi Blood still increased spontaneously by nearly ten percent each day. Over the following two days, that rate slowed to five percent.

In the end, his total Qi Blood had surged by another forty percent.

The knock-on effect was that his pure physical strength, amplified by the Augment, had increased by a full four times.

The Secret Forged Bronze he could once knead in his hands like clay would now crumble into sand with the slightest pressure.

Theoretically, he should only be at the Seventh Strength.

In reality, however, the strength of the Qi Blood in his body had already surpassed the Ninth Strength, essentially reaching the absolute limit for Body Refining among Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

A massive amount of his Qi Blood was being suppressed by his Realm’s bottleneck before he even had a chance to harness it.

Thanks to this bottleneck, the growth of his Qi Blood finally came to a halt.

After spending another day, Xiao Chen finally regained precise control over his body.

He no longer had to worry about accidentally crushing everything he picked up.

.

He opened his door for the first time in a while.

A Qi Refining Cultivator was waiting at the entrance and respectfully handed him a letter.

It was a notice for the Xianghe Market auction, sent by Qiu Qichen.

Xiao Chen did some quick mental math. The three-day auction had already concluded yesterday.

He wasn’t too late, though.

After all, he’d already acquired the items he needed. Now he could go collect his Spirit Stones.

Of course, before that, he first needed to pay for the Large Bronze Cauldron.

Xiao Chen came up with an excuse on the spot—the cauldron had exploded.

Hmm?

The person in charge of equipment, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Yao Family, was taken aback. He couldn’t understand how such a large cauldron could have exploded.

’That thing doesn’t even have a lid. How could it explode?’

Still, he smiled and said, "Xiao, don’t worry about it. It’s just a broken cauldron. I’ll have some disciples clean it up later."

Xiao Chen waved his hand. "That won’t be necessary. I’ve already cleared away the fragments myself."

"Yao, please just name a price. I can’t break something and not pay for it."

The two went back and forth for a moment.

The other man relented. "Since you insist, Xiao, let’s call it eight hundred Spirit Stones."

"The labor costs aren’t much, we can put that at one hundred Spirit Stones."

"The main cost is the Secret Forged Bronze. It’s an excellent Defense material, and a piece that large is worth around seven hundred Spirit Stones."

Xiao Chen readily paid the eight hundred Spirit Stones.

’No point in taking advantage of his kindness, only to owe him a favor for no reason.’

Next, he flew on his sword to Xianghe Market.

Perhaps because the auction had just ended, the marketplace was still bustling with cultivators.

Meanwhile, Han Ziyan, who had arrived at the marketplace five days prior, finally saw her target appear.

As a disciple of Master Yaoshang, she had naturally been given the contact information for the Holy Sect’s undercover agents, as well as command over them.

She had originally assumed that someone like Xiao Chen would never miss the auction.

To that end, she had come here in advance to set a trap, mobilizing her people and going to great lengths to orchestrate a conflict.

The general plan was to feign a struggle over an auctioned item, make an enemy of another cultivator, and then get them to chase her.

Who would have thought he wouldn’t show up for all three days, causing all of her plans to fall through.

She had even pointlessly wasted several thousand Spirit Stones putting on an act at the auction.

"Xiao, you won’t believe this! The four stalks of Seeking Plum Ancient Ginseng sold for the high price of eleven thousand Spirit Stones—far more than either of us predicted."

Inside the Qiu Mansion, Qiu Qichen held a list, excitedly going over the results with Xiao Chen.

"And this Magic Shield sold for eight thousand Spirit Stones."

"The forty-three Storage Bags sold for an average of over three hundred Spirit Stones each, totaling thirteen thousand nine hundred Spirit Stones."

...

Xiao Chen interrupted him. "Mr. Qiu, you don’t have to be so detailed. Just tell me the grand total."

However, his proposal was immediately shot down.

"Hey, that won’t do. When it comes to accounts, everything must be crystal clear and accounted for."

Qiu Qichen continued reading from the list. "The Qimen Sancai Array Deployment Map sold for nine hundred Spirit Stones."

"The Seven-Colored Spiritual Incense sold for one thousand and twenty Spirit Stones."

...

"Finally, the Upper Grade Treasure-Gambling Compass sold for three thousand two hundred Spirit Stones."

"All told, the grand total comes to seventy-five thousand, seven hundred and forty Spirit Stones."

After finishing, Qiu Qichen handed the list over. "Xiao, look it over one more time and check if the accounts are correct."

Xiao Chen had actually already done the math in his head.

He had expected to get around sixty-eight thousand Spirit Stones, so this result was clearly much higher.

The main difference was that he had miscalculated the price of the Seeking Plum Ancient Ginseng.

’Some cultivator must be badly injured to be willing to pay such a high price.’

"Mr. Qiu, you’ve been so thorough, I don’t think I need to check the math again."

"Speaking of which, I was so busy cultivating that I couldn’t even make it to the auction. It’s all thanks to you for handling things."

Qiu Qichen smiled. "You’re the one helping me, Xiao, by being willing to provide these Spiritual Objects."

With that, he took out a Storage Bag and handed it over. "Since the accounts are in order, here are exactly seventy-five thousand, seven hundred and forty Spirit Stones. Please, Xiao, take it."

Hmm?

Xiao Chen took the Storage Bag and checked; the amount was exact.

’That’s not right. Shouldn’t there be a five percent commission deducted?’