Swallowing a demonic core cuts off the immortal path forever.

Shen Lian blocked the white snake on his body with just a single finger.

He discovered that this outer disciple of the Palace of Migration not only practiced the arts of seduction, but also purposely rubbed herself with some aphrodisiac powders.

Wasn't this supposed to be an auction?

How did it turn into a pleasure house?

Listening to the alluring and sultry sounds coming from all directions, Shen Lian blocked his hearing.

Could the main business of the Sacred Spirit Palace be selling seafood?

Having been in the South Sea region for so long, Shen Lian had paid special attention to the various large and small sects here, but he had never heard of a sect called the Sacred Spirit Palace.

Let alone the name of the Palace of Migration.

"Senior..."

"Behave yourself."

A burst of divine sense vibrated within Yu Xiaoshan, shattering the seductive expression on her face.

In the private rooms along the entire corridor, quite a few cultivators maintained clarity of mind just like Shen Lian.

"The Sacred Spirit Palace only knows how to use such despicable means, tempting cultivators of our generation with beauty."

In the fourth-floor corridor, a young cultivator with sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes spoke coldly.

Before him lay the corpse of a female cultivator dressed in scant clothing.

"If you can't even withstand mere beauty, I wonder how you managed to achieve Foundation Establishment."

"Fellow Daoist, you are mistaken in saying that. It should be said that they only failed to withstand beauty after they had already broken through to Foundation Establishment."

"The Dao of Immortality is supreme; how could these base and sycophantic beings ever hope to ascend? Foundation Establishment is the end of their road."

...

Waves of divine sense echoed above the central platform in the middle of the corridor.

"So it turns out to be an inner disciple of the Cloud Ascending Sect. Pleased to make your acquaintance, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"I am Du Heng of the Flame Mountain Sect."

...

Shen Lian captured these conversational snippets, feeling somewhat more at ease in his heart.

Among the cultivators boarding the ship, quite a few were disciples and elders from major sects, as well as disciples from the Cloud Ascending Sect. This meant that this treasure ship was most likely not a shady vessel.

Although he had also prepared contingency plans, he preferred not to fight unless necessary. While other cultivators engaged in life-or-death battles, all he needed was money.

Through intercepting the exchanges between these cultivators, Shen Lian gained some understanding of the so-called Sacred Spirit Palace.

This sect's forces hailed from the Myriad Mountains Region, and they indeed operated pleasure houses.

It was just that the pleasure houses were merely peripheral forces under the sect's command.

The Master of the Sacred Spirit Palace, True Monarch Jade Swallow, was a genuine Early Nascent Soul cultivator.

The most formidable part wasn't even this, but rather True Monarch Jade Swallow's dao companion, who was a late Nascent Soul grand cultivator.

That grand cultivator came from the central region of the Southern Domain's cultivation world. Relying on the prestige of this grand cultivator, True Monarch Jade Swallow and the Sacred Spirit Palace were thriving.

Beneath the Sacred Spirit Palace, there were four major branch palaces: the Palace of Migration, the Myriad Palaces, the Palace of Gathering, and the Palace of Burial.

Further down were the pleasure houses, Crimson Beauty Studios, Emerald Spirit Residences, and similar establishments distributed across various immortal cities.

The masters of the four sub-palaces under the Sacred Spirit Palace were all Great Circle Golden Core cultivators.

The entire operating model of the Sacred Spirit Palace was to unearth male and female cultivators from the cultivation world, cultivate them, and arrange marriages between cultivators with good talent and disciples from various sects and families.

As for those who could not be successfully cultivated, they were assigned to pleasure houses in various locations.

Naturally, a sect that left romantic entanglements everywhere often had the most deeply intertwined relationships. Incidents of raging anger for the sake of a beauty frequently occurred among cultivators.

No wonder these cultivated female cultivators threw themselves at him like madmen. For cultivators at the bottom rung, managing to climb into the bed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator could be considered a decent way out.

First there were those who recruited their ancestors, and now there were those who played with emotions; the sects of the cultivation world truly possessed great diversity.

Shen Lian narrowed his eyes and thought quietly, recalling the inspection by the black-robed Pseudo-Core cultivator earlier on the treasure ship.

Judging by the network of pleasure houses spread across various immortal cities by the Sacred Spirit Palace, this was indeed an extremely covert method.

Even among those who frequently patronized pleasure houses, most were cultivators with poor spiritual roots. Yet, through sifting through the sands of time, one could always pan out a few who met the standard.

"Hum!"

While Shen Lian was deep in thought, pleasant musical notes chimed in the corridor, followed by the flight of a flying couch several zhang in size into the area.

On the flying couch, red silk curtains fluttered, and the light laughter of a woman emanated from within.

With a single glance, Shen Lian saw several figures inside the red curtains.

"It turns out to be him."

The woman who emitted the laughter lay lazily on the flying couch, draped in only a single strip of pink gauze, revealing the peaks of her body clearly.

At the four corners of the flying couch were four male cultivators.

One of those male cultivators happened to be the very same man he had encountered earlier when emerging from seclusion—the one being dragged away by five female cultivators.

He vividly remembered that male cultivator proclaiming righteously that he would rather die than become a kept man.

Yet at this moment, both of his eyes were filled with infatuation as he gnawed on a straight, slender leg.

Shen Lian's eyelids twitched. It seemed that the Sacred Spirit Palace sect truly lived dissolutely from top to bottom.

"Cackle..."

Held in the arms of the male cultivator and having her toes gnawed upon, the female cultivator on the flying couch burst into uncontrollable laughter, causing the small bronze bells hanging from her wrists and ankles to jingle musically.

"If you want to look, then just look. Have you never seen a female cultivator and a male cultivator being affectionate?"

After cackling for a moment, the female cultivator on the flying couch cast a cold glare at the figures along the surrounding corridor.

"Why put on a facade of false propriety? I refuse to believe there is a male cat among male cultivators that doesn't steal fish."

"Come, look openly. It's not easy for this True Person to achieve Golden Core; it's just a worthless fleshly pouch anyway, might as well bring some joy to fellow Daoists."

"Come, look."

...

Soon, Shen Lian also learned the identity of this dissolute female cultivator: the Saintess of the Myriad Palaces, one of the four palaces of the Sacred Spirit Palace.

An Early Golden Core cultivator, holding a status similar to that of the next Palace Master.

This woman was named Yao, and she had once had a dao companion as well, who had reportedly died under mysterious circumstances, after which she had transformed into this state.

Her current moniker was True Person Dissolute.

Originally, everyone was only stealing glances, but once True Person Dissolute spoke up, no one dared to look anymore.

"If you have the thieving heart but lack the thieving guts, what are you even cultivating immortality for?"

True Person Dissolute cackled as she surveyed the surrounding corridor. "Is anyone interested in becoming a kept man for this True Person?

Preferably with three spiritual roots and of medium quality or above; anything too low would cause this True Person to lose face."

...

"Yao, stop messing around."

amidst the cackling laughter, a cold, detached voice rang out within the treasure ship.

Upon hearing this voice, Shen Lian immediately restrained his aura.

She was at least a Late Golden Core cultivator.

This trip had not been in vain, as he had at least learned that someone in the cultivation world was secretly probing the spiritual roots of cultivators.

His expression remained calm, but inwardly he grew cautious.

...

When the private rooms in the upper and lower corridors were all filled with cultivators, the auction began as scheduled.

Taking a brief glance, Shen Lian saw that the gathering of Foundation Establishment cultivators exceeded three hundred in number.

This was his first time attending an auction composed entirely of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As soon as the Moon Spirit Essence he needed was brought out, the starting bid reached eighty thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

It was finally won at seventeen thousand spirit stones.

The entire auction featured a total of over a hundred tier-2 superior spiritual items, plus three tier-3 items.

A tier-3 inferior magical treasure, the Nine-Month Divine Gold Shuttle—a dual-attribute metal and wind treasure capable of increasing a Golden Core cultivator's speed by thirty percent.

A tier-3 inferior Azure Sea Rising Tide Talisman.

The grand finale item was a tier-3 inferior water-attribute monster core.

"Thirty thousand."

"Forty thousand lower-grade spirit stones."

"Forty-five thousand lower-grade spirit stones."

"Fifty thousand!"

...

"Sixty-five thousand."

Inside the private room, Shen Lian listened to the escalating bids echoing from the upper and lower corridors. This was his first time witnessing a monster core auction.

The atmosphere was extremely heated.

"Seventy thousand!"

For a Foundation Establishment family without a Golden Core cultivator anchoring them, possessing a Pseudo-Core cultivator meant they could reign supreme within a localized region.

To a certain extent, this could no longer be measured by spirit stones alone.

Even if the Pseudo-Core cultivator could only anchor the family for a century, they could still scrape together the spirit stones to purchase a monster core, not to mention the elevation of the family's influence.

"Seventy-two thousand."

...

"Seventy-five thousand spirit stones."

...

"Fellow Daoist who acquires the monster core, it doesn't matter if you lack sufficient spirit stones. This True Person can personally guard your Dharma and refine this monster core on the spot so you may ascend into our ranks."

"Once the ascension is complete, you may accompany this Daoist back to your family to retrieve the spirit stones."

When the bidding began to level off, that cold voice rang out from above the treasure ship once more.

This caused the cultivators, whose excitement had been subsiding, to be injected with adrenaline all over again.

As a major sect, a promise made by a Golden Core grand cultivator of the Sacred Spirit Palace before numerous Foundation Establishment cultivators was equivalent to an extra layer of guarantee.

A brief silence ensued.

"One million lower-grade spirit stones! My Yue family bids one million lower-grade spirit stones!"

Inside a private room on the third-tier corridor, a slightly hoarse, roaring voice sounded.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment family could not casually cough up one million spirit stones, unless it was a Foundation Establishment family that generation after generation produced cultivators at the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers of Foundation Establishment—and more than just one or two of them—by liquidating all family assets.

However, with the promise of a Golden Core cultivator from the Sacred Spirit Palace, worries for the future were completely eliminated.

Once they achieved Pseudo-Core, would they still fear selling off assets?

Inside the private room, Shen Lian raised an eyebrow as he listened to the madness of the cultivators. If he were a cultivator from a Foundation Establishment family, given the circumstances, he would do the exact same thing.

At this moment, he sensed that many cultivators in the private rooms had taken out transmission talismans and were urgently contacting their families.

"One million one hundred thousand! My Tang family bids one million one hundred thousand."

"One million one hundred fifty thousand."

...

Inside the private room, the Foundation Establishment cultivators still participating in the bidding—even those at the ninth layer—had flushed faces and sweat pouring from their brows.

While Foundation Establishment cultivators put on high-and-mighty airs before Qi Condensation practitioners, they were still human after all, possessing the seven emotions, six desires, joy, anger, sorrow, and delight.

For a tier-3 monster core to suddenly jump to over a million spirit stones—was it a loss? Not necessarily, provided the person refining the pill succeeded in their breakthrough.

Once successful, never mind one million, even two million could be recouped.

Watching this scene, Shen Lian pondered whether he should hunt tier-3 fierce beasts and sell their monster cores in the future. Why bother refining pills? He wondered how many Foundation Establishment family cultivators across the cultivation world were howling for monster cores.

Ultimately, the price of this tier-3 monster core settled at one million four hundred twenty thousand spirit stones, purchased by a Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Sun.

That this monster core could fetch such a high price had a great deal to do with the promise made by that Golden Core True Person.

When the auction concluded, Shen Lian released the bound Yu Xiaoshan and walked out of the private room amidst her extremely resentful gaze.

Of course, before leaving, Shen Lian still understood the rules: since he had looked, he had to pay something. Some things could not be enjoyed for free, lest his eyes go bad, and he filled Yu Xiaoshan's valley with a handful of spirit stones.

The final battle for the tier-3 monster core had completely overshadowed the auctions of the other spiritual items earlier.

Some cultivators did not rush to leave, instead waiting to witness the birth of a Pseudo-Core cultivator.

Naturally, others wore cold sneers on their faces, wanting to see how the attempt would fail.

The internal energy of a monster core was violent and tyrannical; even a water-attribute monster core only meant that its internal violent energy was relatively subdued, and cultivators still faced a probability of failure when refining it.

Standing on the deck, Shen Lian cast a glance at the hesitating cultivators all around, then leaped onto the incoming treasure ship.

Swallowing a Pseudo-Core meant severing the path of true immortality; what was there to see?

In the end, of the more than three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, fewer than fifty chose to leave, presumably all wishing to observe the breakthrough of a Pseudo-Core cultivator.

The treasure ship flying a small black flag quickly detached from the mother ship of the Sacred Spirit Palace and headed in the direction of South Cliff Immortal City.

On the treasure ship, Shen Lian did not enter a private room this time. After traveling a short distance, he plunged into the water with a splash and vanished.

He left behind his aura-concealing cloak on the deck of the treasure ship.

...

"Grand Deacon, a fellow Daoist just left the ship."

On that same incoming treasure ship, the black-robed female cultivator opened her eyes lazily.

"Running quite fast, and I didn't even notice."

The female cultivator didn't mind; with so many Foundation Establishment cultivators around, it was hardly unusual for one or two to possess minor secret techniques.

"The harvest this time can be considered decent. According to the rules between us and the Cloud Ascending Sect, we cannot excessively exploit their sect's interests; otherwise, True Person Mo Long will go find the First Palace Master."

The masked cultivator kept his head down, not daring to speak out of turn. In this room, he generally only spoke what he was required to say, leaving the rest to listening.

"Having been out for so long, this ship of ours has only managed to catch two five-element spiritual root cultivators, and both achieved Foundation Establishment by relying on one prominent spiritual root. If this keeps up, the ten-year task won't be completed."

"The Cloud Ascending Sect has quite good fortune, taking in a disciple who not only has all five spiritual roots complete but also possesses some sort of special physique."

"Such a cultivator should enter our Sacred Spirit Palace to have the opportunity to head to the Southern Domain's Central Plains. Isn't it a waste to remain buried in the Southern Domain's southern continent?"

"It's a pity the Cloud Ascending Sect hides her too tightly. There have only been some rumors over all these years, and the True Person has hardly ever shown herself."

...

The treasure ship flying the black flag sailed further and further away. By the time it was beyond the divine sense perception of the Pseudo-Core cultivator, beneath the churning waters, the figure of a swimming fish flashed and disappeared.

Sensing the departure of the treasure ship, Shen Lian headed in a completely different direction.

That good disciple of the Cloud Ascending Sect was presumably the young female cultivator he had seen back in the Myriad Star Sea.

This excursion also served as a test; his divine sense of over three thousand zhang completely suppressed the Pseudo-Core female cultivator inside the treasure ship.

Even with defensive formations in place, because the formations were not fully operational, Shen Lian had still found a loophole and eavesdropped on the conversation within.

Monitoring that Pseudo-Core female cultivator was originally intended to gather more information.

Now, he could confirm once again that the Sacred Spirit Palace relied on this form of auction to secretly probe for spiritual roots and capture cultivators with five-element spiritual roots.

Unfortunately, among the bustling masses and countless cultivators, those possessing five-element spiritual roots all practiced using only the single spiritual root with the best gradation, resulting in far too few who truly cultivated all five elements simultaneously.

"The Sacred Spirit Palace can probe spiritual roots through female cultivators. With the cultivation world being so vast and having so many cultivators, there might very well be other methods of detecting spiritual roots that I haven't heard of."

"I must be careful in the future."

(End of this chapter)