As night continued to dwell in the city, the number of cultivators in the tower rose to the point that a fee was collected from those who wished to stay.
The fee wasn't that expensive, being only a single spiritual stone, but it was enough to expel those that were only here for the fun of seeing others bid.
Just like that, the number and flow of cultivators in the tower were controlled by the staffs working in it.
It was also during this moment that Jiang Feng noticed a strange thing going on within the tower.
Despite the amount of Foundation Building Stage cultivators in the tower, none of the staffs possessed a single shred of cultivation. What was even more strange, was that none of the customers dared to disrespect them.
Through Jiang Feng's keen attention, he noticed not long ago a drunken cultivator was causing a small ruckus in the line.
However, once entering the tower, the drunken cultivator immediately seemed to sober up, not even having the courage to look into the eyes of the charming receptionists as he paid a few spiritual stones and moved up to the higher floors in an instant.
Obviously, the drunken cultivator couldn't be afraid of a weak mortal.
Such a scene led Jiang Feng to look up to the highest floor, where the tower's owner was supposedly at. His interest was piqued as he wondered about the mysterious identity behind all of this, to be able to achieve such a feat isn't a simple thing after all.
Ling seemed to notice what Jiang Feng was thinking as she looked up as well.
Her eyes shone for just a short while as the surrounding spiritual energy reacted, calming back down as Ling moved her sight away from the top floor.
The two then returned to looking at the auctions as time moved on.
Soon, daylight arrived with the last item auctioned off to one of the customers on the third floor.
The item was a golden cauldron with intricate snakes engraved onto it, the snakeheads on each side looking as if it came to life with green jewels acting as their eyes.
The cauldron mysteriously shrunk as it started flying towards the third floor, a space pouch seemingly made of silk cloth passing it by as the auctioneer caught it.
He held the space pouch in his hands as his eyes closed, seemingly using Spiritual Sense to check the quantity of spiritual stones within it.
Once the auctioneer was sure that the spiritual stones within were equal to the bid price of the golden cauldron, he nodded his head at the two receptionists standing at the entrance as his voice sounded out loud.
"The auction has concluded. We welcome you all to return again for tonight's auction."
With so, the crowd on the first floor began leaving the tower as they handed in their wooden signs back to the receptionists.
Jiang Feng and Ling naturally followed along as they walked back toward the tavern, conversing with each other silently through their soul link.
"So, care to tell me what you learn?" Ling asked.
"The most important thing I believe to be is definitely the rankings of spiritual treasures. With that being said, it's the exact same to the rankings of Spells and Arts." Jiang Feng replied as he thought back on the auction.
"Congratulations on finding out then. What else?"
"Well, I guess it's the importance of them. For example, the golden cauldron named 'Poisonous Snake'. Although the price of 3 million spiritual stones still sounds unreasonable to me, the effects it brings may just be worth it."
"I suppose you already understand the concept of pills as well."
Hearing the mention of pills from Ling, Jiang Feng began thinking back on what Ling taught him when they saw Poisonous Snake, the golden cauldron first appear before the crowd.
Pills, as its name says, are small round balls with different colors.
On Earth, they're made up of herbs and medicinal ingredients, intended for the patient to swallow whole so as the medicinal effects are applied properly.
However, in the cultivation world, pills have another use other than as a medicine.
All of the beings, regardless of living or dead, will have spiritual energy imbued within as they bring out miraculous properties.
Common herbs in the cultivation world will be filled with spiritual energy as they mutate and create different variations, allowing the creation of divine pills that even gods would make the sin of greed for.
When Poisonous Snake first appeared, it was looked upon only as a luxurious cauldron for the wealthy to possess.
Yet when the auctioneer mentioned the special property the cauldron has, everyone in the tower, began revealing great shock as they fought for it after realizing its worth.
The alchemists, people that concoct pills, went even insane as they competed against each other for the cauldron's possession.
All of this was because of the single effect it had on pills, the increase of 5% in the pills' efficiency that was created with it.
5 percent may not seem a lot, but to high-level alchemists, that 5 percent is what was needed to surpass their rivals.
'Still, to think that cauldron is only a Qi Late Stage spiritual treasure. I wonder how the treasures from the rank of Qi Peak Stage, even above would look like.' Jiang Feng thought inwardly.
…
Back at the tavern, Jiang Feng and Ling lay on their bed as they cuddled with each other, their eyes closed with thoughts cleared from their mind.
Although they no longer needed any sleep with the help of spiritual energy, Jiang Feng hadn't been able to erase his previous common sense of not sleeping. Ling also wanted to spend some time being intimate with Jiang Feng, thus leading to such a scene.
The sun outside was already hanging high in the sky, with mortals and cultivators at Qi Circulation Stage filling up the streets. Of course, a few Foundation Building Stage cultivators were mixed among, but those could be ignored with the almost nonexistent ratio.
Despite the bustling activities and loud talks of the people on the street, the couple remained unaffected as they slumbered until darkness seeped into the sky.
After ending their bath session, Jiang Feng and Ling went back down to the tavern's restaurant and ordered the same meal.
"What are we going to do after this?" Jiang Feng asked through the soul link he had with Ling.
Without pause, Ling pulled over the bowl of rice and began digging in as she replied.
"In the forest that we descended in before entering the city, I've sensed a few monsters at the level Foundation Building Stage. Although there's a wide gap in the difference of strength, it'll be a worthy reward if you can manage to defeat them."
"We'll be staying outside of the city for three days straight, so take your time and savor this meal."
Although the words came out simple from Ling, Jiang Feng couldn't help but have the feeling things were going to be rough.