Chapter 2047: Everyone Is Happy

Even the higher-ups of the Eternal Sacred Land were somewhat surprised. They hadn't expected Jiang Chen to actually gift them two Pill of Celestial Ascension on an occasion like this.

The Eternal Sacred Land had been coveting the Pill of Celestial Ascension for a long time as well.

Jiang Chen handed two of them to Zi Che Min. "Elder Zi Che, you were the one who guided me into the Eternal Sacred Land. These two Pills of Celestial Ascension, I present on behalf of myself to the sacred land's leadership. You may keep one, and the other goes to the sacred land."

Among all the people at the Eternal Sacred Land, Zi Che Min was the one Jiang Chen felt closest to.

Zi Che Min was somewhat taken aback, but he could see that Jiang Chen was being entirely sincere. He didn't put on airs.

"Jiang Chen, the fact that I was able to be your guide is the greatest achievement of my life. I may not have accomplished much, but my eyes are sharp. Your future, your prospects—they are absolutely boundless. None of the people present here can predict where your limits will be. Perhaps your future will surpass everyone in this room."

Everyone present included the Divine Dao patriarchs of the Ten Great Sacred Lands.

But Zi Che Min spoke without worrying about offending those patriarchs—it was the honest truth from the bottom of his heart.

Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "I'll take your kind words to heart."

As for the remaining nine Pills of Celestial Ascension, in principle the other nine sacred lands each had a shot at winning one through auction. This arrangement avoided offending anyone.

Of course, who actually won each auction depended on their sincerity and financial resources. This was something Jiang Chen couldn't be biased about.

After all, he genuinely needed spirit stones at this point.

He was only short a final portion of spirit stones. Once he had them all, he could return to the human domain and restart the Myriad Heavens Spirit-Locking God Formation.

As long as that formation was activated, at the very least the Eternal Sacred Land could enjoy peace, and the demon race's rampage would at least be kept from devastating the human domain—or rather, the demons' grasping tendrils would no longer reach the human domain so easily.

The moment the auction began, the warm camaraderie among the Ten Great Sacred Lands vanished without a trace.

The bidding for each Pill of Celestial Ascension was extraordinarily fierce. Competition was everywhere. And the sacred lands that had already won a pill showed absolutely no intention of stopping.

Clearly, the more Pill of Celestial Ascension, the better.

Those factions that hadn't won any were even more bloodshot in their eyes, their bids growing ever more savage.

Jiang Chen's balancing act was executed quite well. For factions that had already secured a pill, he would relatively suppress their momentum—after they bid, he would let the pause drag on a bit longer, giving the factions that hadn't won yet more time to think.

And so, the nine Pill of Celestial Ascension were cleverly distributed into the hands of each and every sacred land. Everyone was happy.

It had to be said, this arrangement was extremely subtle and had been calibrated to perfection. Some of the wealthier sacred lands were a touch dissatisfied, but when one considered the balance of power, one couldn't eat too greedily—otherwise envy was bound to follow.

By the later rounds, everyone had figured out Jiang Chen's balancing strategy, so the competition gradually relaxed.

In the end, almost all of them went for roughly the same price.

With this, Jiang Chen's stash of spirit stones was absolutely overflowing. He now had more than enough spirit stones to restart the Myriad Heavens Spirit-Locking God Formation—he even had a surplus.

Originally he had needed ten parts; now he already had eleven.

This was no burden. On the contrary, it was clearly better. Restarting a formation required consumption that was difficult to calculate—there would always be some extra waste.

Having an additional ten percent on hand would make things more comfortable.

With everyone having obtained their Pill of Celestial Ascension, all the factions were in reasonably good spirits. Even the Hundred Sacred Lands had nothing to say.

Although they had exchanged harsh words before—even Jiang Chen had declared he wouldn't let them join the auction for the Pill of Celestial Ascension—in the end, nobody brought it up.

They had gotten a good deal after all.