Invitation from Huayun Pavilion

"I am…" Long Chen paused, stunned. He did not recognize this person at all.

"Wonderful! I am here under the orders of the Pavilion Master to deliver an invitation to you," the refined, thin-faced middle-aged man said with great joy.

"Young Noble, it is like this: you may not know me, but I am a deacon of Huayun Pavilion. I have come specifically to invite you to attend our annual auction."

Long Chen suddenly realized. So this was just soliciting business; so-called deacon, he was nothing more than an errand boy drumming up customers.

Long Chen was actually quite knowledgeable about Huayun Pavilion; it was the most famous auction house in the Phoenix Cry Empire and a true behemoth.

Although it could not compare to the Alchemist Guild, its strength was absolutely formidable, and it was the closest partner of the Adventurer Guild.

The Adventurer Guild was an Alliance formed by countless adventurers; although it was a loose organization, its numbers were vast.

These adventurers spent their years roaming the Great Wilderness. Although it was a high-risk profession, the rewards were extremely lucrative.

Finding various exotic herbs, Demonic Beast cores, or even—if one's luck was Heaven-Defying—discovering an ancient Legacy, were all possibilities.

Adventurers were very willing to cooperate with Huayun Pavilion. As their closest partner, Huayun Pavilion would purchase their items at a very fair price and provide them with the greatest protection.

Adventurers did not need to risk trading with others themselves; after all, there were too many instances of murder and robbery. Sometimes, the city was even more terrifying than the Great Wilderness.

Therefore, Huayun Pavilion's annual auction attracted countless buyers. Because it collected a year's worth of rare treasures, they would select the most precious batch to serve as auction items.

Almost every auction item would sell for a sky-high price that left them grinning from ear to ear, which was why the scale of their auction house had continued to grow.

In the last two years, the grade of the auctions had become increasingly higher, and they had even implemented a membership system; without an invitation, one could not even dream of entering.

Those who could receive an invitation were all individuals of extremely noble status; a youth like Long Chen was considered the first of his kind.

"Brother Long, this is a good thing! But it seems that if you don't have enough money, going there would be a waste of time," Monkey said.

Everything auctioned by Huayun Pavilion was the cream of the crop; there was hardly a single item that wouldn't make one green with envy.

Coupled with the auctioneer's superb goading and auctioning techniques, the prices would skyrocket; if you didn't have money, you could only stare helplessly.

"Is there an auction list?" Long Chen asked.

"I only have the list for the last ten items; you may take a look," the thin-faced middle-aged man said apologetically.

After all, for the annual auction, the best items were never revealed in advance in order to maintain a sense of mystery.

Long Chen took it and looked. When he saw 'Melting Star Grass', his pupils constricted: It was actually a Melting Star Grass over a thousand years old.

Ordinary Melting Star Grass was basically between ten and one hundred years old; those over a hundred years were extremely rare, and those over a thousand years could be called supreme treasures.

That such an item was ranked at the very end made Long Chen's heart pound with excitement.

Seeing Long Chen's shock, a look of complacency appeared on the thin-faced middle-aged man's face: "Young Noble Long Chen, you are a Pill Master. If you have any rare Medicinal Pill, you can entrust them to us."

"If the quality and rarity meet our requirements, we can consider adding them to the auction items, but we will charge a fifty-percent commission."

Fifty percent? Long Chen couldn't help but chuckle. Not bad, very ruthless—extremely ruthless. Half of it goes to you? Could you be any more greedy?

As if reading Long Chen's thoughts, the thin-faced middle-aged man smiled: "As long as your items are good enough, after our packaging and promotion, plus the hype from our chief auctioneer, the way the price will soar—hehe… will absolutely exceed your imagination."

Hearing this, Long Chen felt much better, and he couldn't help but admire the man's salesmanship; his silver tongue was truly impressive.

What Long Chen did not know was that these deacons had it quite tough; before each year's auction, they were each assigned three quotas.

They had to make full use of these three quotas; whether they lived the high life depended entirely on them.

For the people they invited, whether they were buying or selling items, the deacons would receive a certain commission.

If the invited person bought or sold a larger volume, the commission would be more lucrative, which was why they were extremely cautious in choosing who to invite.

However, after so many years, the best candidates had long since been picked over; nowadays, they were basically just picking up scraps.

That thin-faced middle-aged man was very shrewd; as soon as he received his quotas, he rushed over to invite Long Chen, afraid that someone else would snatch him up.

He had no choice; currently, Long Chen was the most prominent figure among the younger generation in the Imperial City. He was definitely a big fish with great potential.

"This is this one's Nameplate; please take a look, Young Noble," he said, handing Long Chen a small card.

"Fugui?" Long Chen couldn't help but laugh.

"Hehe, I come from a poor background. My parents hoped I would become wealthy and noble, so they gave me this name. I hope it didn't amuse you too much, Young Noble," the thin-faced middle-aged man said with an embarrassed smile.

His words made Long Chen feel a bit embarrassed as well. He nodded and said, "I am very interested in the auction. Furthermore, I do have items I wish to auction with you. May I ask what the procedure is?"

Fugui's eyes lit up. "If you have treasures, you may come directly to Huayun Pavilion, or we can come to your residence to collect them."

Long Chen nodded. With nearly a month left before the auction began, there was plenty of time. After agreeing on a time with Fugui, Long Chen and the others left the restaurant.

"Long Chen, the Phoenix Cry Lantern Festival is in seven days. You must come!" Shi Feng said with an expectant look.

The Phoenix Cry Lantern Festival was the biggest festival in the Phoenix Cry Empire. All the unmarried men and women in the Imperial City would participate in the lively event; it was the festival that all young men and women looked forward to the most.

Especially the unmarried men; they were all like bulls in heat, waiting anxiously, hoping to catch the eye of a beautiful woman at the festival.

The women, too, wanted to see if they could find a desirable husband at the festival. Martial arts were prevalent in the Phoenix Cry Empire.

However, the segregation between men and women was quite strict. Only on the day of the Phoenix Cry Lantern Festival were there no taboos; they could go out freely and revel with men.

Thus, many men and women began preparing early, hoping to stand out from the crowd on the day of the festival.

The most exciting part was the battle for the title of 'First Warrior'. There was a ring at the festival, and anyone with cultivation who was under twenty years of age could step onto the stage to fight.

The title of 'First Warrior' was the main event. Once you obtained that title, it would be difficult to stay low-key; the garlands sent by countless beautiful women could bury a person alive. Just thinking about it made one's blood boil.

Seeing that even the usually composed Shi Feng was so enthusiastic, and then looking at Fatty Yu and the others—sure enough, these guys were like they had been injected with chicken blood; their eyes were glowing.

"Brother Long, you must go! If you don't go, we won't want to go either," Fatty Yu pleaded.

"Then let's all just not go and find a place to drink instead," Long Chen laughed.

"Don't say that, Grandpa Long! We've been looking forward to this for a whole year!" Fatty Yu and the others immediately pulled long faces, rolling on the ground and clinging to Long Chen's thighs, refusing to let go.

"Long Chen, if you don't go, it will be too dull. Right now, among the younger generation in the entire Imperial City, you have the highest acclaim; you are regarded as the number one. If you don't go, countless people will be disappointed," Shi Feng advised.

"Hm? When did I acquire such a great reputation?" Long Chen was stunned.

"You don't know yet? Nowadays, even children know this: 'Dual mastery of Pill and Martial Arts shakes the universe; enraged against the Heavenly God atop Juying Tower; Phoenix spreads its wings and soars to the clouds; laughing at the Nine Heavens, look to Long Chen.'" Shi Feng looked at Long Chen as if he were a monster.

"…" What was going on? Why didn't he know about this? He had actually been turned into a subject for doggerel. Long Chen was dumbfounded.

"Alright, Long Chen, all the brothers are counting on you to help us shine. You have to go, no matter what."

Shi Feng was different from the others; from beginning to end, he had always been a brother to Long Chen, so he didn't need to be so reserved when speaking.

"Fine, I'll go," Long Chen said with a bitter smile. He had originally wanted to Cultivate for a few more days, but those plans had been shelved again.

Fatty Yu and the others couldn't help but cheer when they heard this; they seemed to see the gazes of countless beautiful women walking toward them.

After parting ways with the others, Long Chen hurried home, not even bothering to eat dinner. He had wasted too much time and needed to seize every moment to improve his cultivation.

Now that the Fengfu Star had been successfully condensed, it was equivalent to possessing his first Dantian; what he needed to do was seize the time to condense Qi vortices.

Currently, there were only three Qi vortices in his Dantian, and he needed to continue condensing more. However, the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art only contained records of condensing the nine stars; it did not record how to actually Cultivate.

The last time the Fengfu Star was successfully condensed, three Qi vortices had formed at once, and even Long Chen himself had been confused by it.

This time, Long Chen circulated his Dantian and discovered that the three Qi vortices were rotating, simply channeling energy to him continuously. That was a combat state, not a state to Cultivate.

He injected the Spiritual Qi stored within the Fengfu Star into the Qi vortices, and the vortices instantly expanded tenfold. Long Chen's aura became violent, but it was still a combat state, not a state to Cultivate.

Long Chen took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly circulated the Qi vortices to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the outside world.

However, this time, Long Chen did not send the absorbed Spiritual Qi into his body; instead, he gathered it and channeled it into the Fengfu Star.

As Long Chen absorbed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and channeled it into the Fengfu Star, the Fengfu Star began to rotate rapidly.

"It's working!" Long Chen felt a surge of joy. Although he did not know what would happen, this was definitely not a combat state.

He continued to maintain the absorption, and as the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi poured in continuously, the Fengfu Star grew brighter and brighter, eventually becoming like a scorching sun.

"Boom!" Suddenly, the Fengfu Star shuddered. The once brilliantly bright Fengfu Star instantly dimmed, and at the same time, an additional Qi vortex appeared within Long Chen's Dantian.

"Haha, I've finally figured out the route to Cultivate!" Long Chen was overjoyed. With the birth of the fourth Qi vortex, he discovered that the meridians in his body had expanded slightly, and the power throughout his body began to surge.

"Good, keep working hard." Long Chen slowly closed his eyes and began to continue his attempt to break through to the fifth level of Qi Gathering.