Ten thousand Wild Coins could now be exchanged for a single spirit stone. The auctioneer set the starting price so high that even Chad Grant was a bit surprised. Although he had lived to be 500 years old in his previous life, he had never seen lower-grade Gathering Essence Spirit Liquid auctioned at a small-town auction like this. In the major cultivation sects, lower-grade Gathering Essence Spirit Liquid was considered the most worthless of all elixirs.

Ethan Shaw only wanted to bid for some Wild Coins to buy spirit herbs over a hundred years old for alchemy and further cultivation. With a starting price of ten thousand Wild Coins, it looked like he was going to make an unexpectedly huge profit this time.

“I bid eleven thousand Wild Coins.” As soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, a voice rang out from the lower right corner. The voice belonged to a middle-aged man of about forty, named Walter Price, who specialized in the spirit herb business and was the wealthiest merchant in Leshui City after the three major cultivation families.

The three major cultivation families only divided up their spheres of influence and collected a ten percent tax. Although their own businesses were sizable, they didn’t have a monopoly. Therefore, there were still quite a few merchants in Leshui City. Their financial power was not weak, but they lacked the heritage and strength of the three great cultivation families, so they were willing to spend generously on nurturing the younger generation.

If a descendant could emerge as a prodigy and reach the same level of cultivation as the heads of the three major families, perhaps Leshui City would become home to four great cultivation families instead of three.

“Twelve thousand Wild Coins.” Immediately, someone outbid Walter Price. This was Logan Moore, an ore merchant whose own cultivation had reached the third level of Innate, and whose family wealth was on par with Walter Price.

“Thirteen thousand... Wild Coins.” Yet another person outbid Logan Moore, a magic artifact merchant with fourth-level Innate cultivation and equally deep pockets.

“Fourteen thousand... Wild Coins.”

“Fifteen thousand... Wild Coins.”

...

“Twenty-one thousand... Wild Coins.”

“Twenty-two thousand... Wild Coins.”

“Twenty-three thousand... Wild Coins.”

Walter Price, Logan Moore, and Howard Miles kept outbidding each other, with several other wealthy merchants whose fortunes rivaled theirs occasionally joining in. The price quickly rose to 23,000 Wild Coins. Judging by their competitive momentum, it was clear the bidding would continue for quite some time.

“Thirty thousand... Wild Coins.” At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out, dramatically raising the price and instantly outbidding everyone else.

Chad Grant was taken aback—this voice was actually his father, Colin Grant.

Colin Grant was bidding for Gathering Essence Spirit Liquid, and Chad Grant could guess with his toes that it was definitely for him, Chad Grant. He came to auction off the Gathering Essence Spirit Liquid, and his father came to bid for it for him. This was truly absurd. Colin Grant could never have imagined that the Gathering Essence Spirit Liquid was actually refined by his own son.

Thinking that Colin Grant was bidding for the spirit liquid for his sake, Chad Grant felt a warmth in his heart. Colin Grant's care for him was constant, but in his heart, Chad Grant was shouting, “Dad, just let them fight over it...”

“Thirty-five thousand... Wild Coins.” Before Colin Grant’s words had even faded, another voice immediately outbid him. Chad Grant’s ears twitched—the bidder was Gordon Grant.

Chad Grant frowned. Gordon Grant really never gave his father any face, no matter the occasion. Both were from the Gu family; even if he wanted to bid, he could have waited until others had raised the price. With so many people present, Gordon Grant just had to outbid right after Colin Grant, making his challenge obvious.

“Forty thousand... Wild Coins.” Yet another new voice rang out, outbidding Gordon Grant as well.

This time, Chad Grant couldn’t tell who it was. He opened a crack in the window of the loft to look at the speaker—a middle-aged man in his forties who had actually reached the sixth level of Innate cultivation.

The middle-aged man seemed suspicious and suddenly turned to look at the second floor, his gaze meeting Chad Grant’s eyes. Chad Grant immediately closed the window, but still felt as if a gaze was piercing through the window, staring at him. The sixth level of Innate was far above his own cultivation.

Opening the window just now had been a bit reckless, but since he had only opened a small crack, he believed the man probably hadn’t seen his face clearly. Even if he had, Chad Grant had already disguised himself as an ugly dwarf. Still, Chad Grant reminded himself to be cautious in all things. He was no longer the mighty cultivator at the Life Spring stage from his previous life, but just a minor cultivator at the Postnatal stage. He had to avoid exposing his identity as an alchemist and attracting trouble.

Chad Grant didn’t know that middle-aged man, but could guess his identity. Of the three major cultivation families in Leshui City, the Liu family was the strongest, dominating the magic artifact industry and earning the most. The Gu and Yun families often worked together and were more familiar with each other. That middle-aged man wasn’t from the Yun family, and since he dared to compete with the Gu family, he must be from the Liu family.

Once the three major cultivation families started bidding, the price increments immediately jumped to five thousand Wild Coins at a time. Apart from them, no one else dared to bid lightly.

“Fifty thousand... Wild Coins.” After a short while, another person bid, directly raising the price by ten thousand Wild Coins, astonishing all the Innate cultivators at the auction.

Fifty thousand Wild Coins—that was five spirit stones. Spirit stones were the currency for trading items among Innate cultivators. For a Postnatal-level elixir to fetch five spirit stones was truly rare.

“Good... fifty thousand Wild Coins. At least I won’t have to worry about money for two months.” Chad Grant smiled.