Yang Kai's question came out of nowhere, and Wu Yi didn't think twice, immediately rattling off the details.
"The Qianyun Pill that can repair meridians, the Soul Restoration Pill that mends the Divine Soul, even the Rose Pill that Elder Qian Tong brought out last time—all pretty valuable. But if we're talking about the most valuable, it would have to be the Void Condensing Pill and the Void Nirvana Pill. The latter is practically priceless because it can help Returning to Void Stage Three experts advance to the Void King Realm, boosting their chances of breakthrough. Our Dark Star doesn't have anyone at that level yet, but there are plenty of Return to Void Stage Three cultivators. If you could get your hands on a single Void Nirvana Pill, even trading it to one of the major powers for a few prosperous cities wouldn't be out of the question." As she spoke, Wu Yi's breathing grew noticeably rapid.
"Forget about that one," Yang Kai said flatly, shaking his head without hesitation.
The Void Nirvana Pill was a Void King Grade Low-Tier pill. Never mind the fact that Yang Kai currently lacked the full set of ingredients—even with everything on hand, he wouldn't be able to refine it. The Void Condensing Pill, however, was entirely within his reach. It was only a Void Grade Low-Tier pill, a full major tier below the Void Nirvana Pill.
"Brother Yang, why are you asking about all this?" Wu Yi looked at him with open curiosity.
"No reason. Just wait a little longer—I'll be right out." Yang Kai said, then turned and headed back into the stone chamber.
Though Yang Yan and Wu Yi were utterly bewildered, they obediently waited outside. Roughly an hour passed before Yang Kai finally emerged. "Let's go," he called.
The three of them set off for Tianyun City in high spirits.
After the last incident where Qian Tong had come and displayed his overwhelming power, Yang Kai was confident no one would dare come looking for trouble at Dragon's Den Mountain anytime soon, so he could leave without worry.
On the other hand, he wasn't comfortable sending Wu Yi and Yang Yan—two women—to the auction with two Void Grade artifacts on their own. Naturally, he had to go along as their escort.
He was very curious to see what kind of price these two artifacts would fetch. A Saint King Grade High-Tier artifact was worth thirty to fifty thousand High-Grade Saint Crystals. A Void Grade Low-Tier artifact should command two to three hundred thousand, right? Yang Kai had a rough estimate in mind. Sell these two artifacts, and he could stock up massively on materials for setting up formations.
Along the way, as Wu Yi and Yang Yan chattered away nonstop, Yang Kai learned something: the Treasure Pavilion wasn't actually a Shadow Moon Hall enterprise.
The Treasure Pavilion was a force even more powerful than Shadow Moon Hall!
The organization operated somewhat like the Hengluo Commerce, spreading its business across the entire Dark Star—but with key differences. It collected rare treasures from across the land and, at regular intervals, held a grand auction.
The auction venues weren't fixed. They rotated among the various branch pavilions scattered across the Dark Star, and this time it happened to be the Tianyun City branch's turn.
The Treasure Pavilion's auction was essentially a grand event for the entire Dark Star. Before each auction, the Pavilion would advertise extensively, producing beautifully illustrated catalogs of the rare items up for sale and distributing them to the major powers to draw them in.
In truth, the Treasure Pavilion's auction was where all the major factions of the Dark Star converged—a clash of wealth, resources, and reserves. Every auction was a lively affair, and on numerous occasions, truly heaven-defying items had appeared. Once, there had even been a Void King Grade defensive artifact!
Rumor had it that artifact sold for a sky-high price of five hundred million High-Grade Saint Crystals plus fifteen prosperous cities!
Even someone with Yang Kai's composure was left utterly speechless by that number. The Dark Star was simply too far behind—Void Grade Low-Tier and above artifacts were far too rare, which drove prices to absurd heights.
Yang Kai was certain that on other cultivation stars, even if Void King Grade artifacts were expensive, they couldn't possibly reach that level.
"The Void Nirvana Pill has appeared once before, too," Wu Yi continued. "It was supposedly bought by some important figure from the Thunder Terrace Sect. But sadly, even after taking it, that person failed to break through to the Void King Realm. Their cultivation actually declined instead. Though whether that's true or not, nobody knows." She sighed softly.
Yang Kai's expression remained indifferent. Though he didn't interject, he could more or less confirm that what Wu Yi said was true.
Medicinal pills were, after all, merely supplementary tools. Those pills that could increase a martial artist's chances of breaking through major realm bottlenecks were indeed expensive and difficult to refine, but they were far from omnipotent. Taking a pill didn't guarantee advancement—if one's comprehension of the Martial Dao and the Heavenly Dao hadn't reached the necessary level, no amount of pills would make a difference.
Conversely, if one's understanding of the Martial Dao and the Heavenly Dao had already surpassed that bottleneck, then even without taking any pills, when the time came, advancement would come naturally.
Yang Kai himself was exactly this way. His comprehension of the Heavenly Dao and the Martial Dao always far exceeded his current realm, which was why he had never relied on pills he himself had refined to advance. That alone had saved him a small fortune.
That important figure from the Thunder Terrace Sect clearly hadn't achieved mastery in their understanding and application of the Dao. If they had, they wouldn't have squandered a Void Nirvana Pill.
Pills of such rarity could be refined by very few people in the entire star domain. It was most likely obtained through some other means.
After a martial artist failed in their attempt to break through a bottleneck, they would suffer varying degrees of backlash. In mild cases, serious injuries. In severe cases—like that Thunder Terrace Sect figure—a decline in cultivation. In the worst cases, it could even prove fatal.