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Hey folks,

A happy announcement for both the readers and myself. I am planning to churn out more chapters in the upcoming month. The planned amount is at least double the rate I am uploading now.

The past month I uploaded 40 chapters. My current goal is to upload 90 chapters at the minimum in the upcoming month. The book will also participate in the September Win-Win contest. 

So far, I have been happy with the way the novel has progressed. I feel that this book is not just another cliched cultivation story and has unique things going for it. I do not want to stray from it. Thus, I assure everyone that I will not sacrifice quality for quantity. 

Seeking everyone\'s support and encouragement in the forms of subscriptions, collections, power stones, golden tickets, and any other way you feel up to.  

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Time passed in a blur and the auction was nearing the end.

Duncan watched calmly as the time for the finale approached. As of now, the highest a slave was auctioned for was 520 low-grade spirit stones. Unlike Duncan\'s expectations, the slave who was auctioned was not a female with impeccable beauty.

Rather, the person who fetched the highest price was a strongman with vigorous blood. Despite the slave collar that he wore, the man was arrogant and had a bursting vigor. One of the cultivation clans bought him after a heated bidding war. From the conversations he overheard, Duncan realized that strongmen like the slave were in high demand due to their extraordinary physical strength.

While the slave had left the podium in high spirits, thinking that he would be valued greatly due to the high price he was bought for, the conversations revealed a rather sinister side of the trade. 

The slaves who had high physical strength were often bought at high prices so that they could be used to mine minerals and spirit stones by cultivation clans. Duncan knew from experience that mining was a high-intensity job and it was not a good life to live. He could only smile bitterly thinking about the strongman\'s bright smile that was going to be ruthlessly crushed under constant work in the mines.

On the other hand, Duncan also realized another phenomenon. When it came to female slaves, beauty was only secondary to the buyers. What they looked for was the usefulness of the slave. If a slave had knowledge of herbs or other aspects that often coincided with auxiliary professions among cultivators, they were bought at exorbitant prices.

Considering how Leia had a vast knowledge of herbs and woodlore, Duncan began to realize that there was a reason for the auction house to put her as the finale sale. Luckily, with the amount of spirit stones he had, he didn\'t need to worry about being outbid.

Thus, when Leia was brought to the podium to be auctioned, Duncan wasn\'t nervous at all. Till now, the highest a slave had been sold for was 530 spirit stones. Even if Leia garnered double the interest, Duncan was confident that he could buy her tonight. So, he was pretty relaxed when the auctioneer started to speak.

However, Duncan\'s relaxed posture didn\'t last for long.

"Esteemed customers, it is my honor to announce to you our finale auction sale for tonight. This slave whom you see beside me is a healthy female slave who is in the prime of her life. As you can see, her beauty isn\'t small either and I dare say that many customers are already thinking of buying her to warm their beds," the auctioneer joked and chuckled causing the atmosphere of the room to relax a lot.

"However," the auctioneer raised his hand to calm the chuckles that erupted from his joke and put on a serious expression. "Is being a beauty alone enough to become the finale slave that is going to be auctioned?" 

The auctioneer paused and looked at everyone calmly.

"I am sure some of you have already thought about this question. After all, among the slaves auctioned tonight, there have been some slaves more beautiful than the slave standing near me. So, there must be something special about her right?"

Duncan sneered at the auctioneer\'s posturing. But, he didn\'t mind it much. At most, this would cause the price to rise a bit higher than his original estimations. Still, the auctioneer\'s calm façade made him a bit uneasy.

"This slave here is well-versed in the knowledge of herbs. Her father used to be a mortal medicine man. Her knowledge of herbs and their effects is not lesser than entry-level alchemists. This, the auction house can guarantee. If she could cultivate, we are sure that she will already be an alchemist by now," the auctioneer smiled mysteriously.

The moment he stopped speaking, countless discussions arose in the auction hall. Duncan cursed inwardly seeing how worked up the crowd was already. Even someone who had some knowledge about herbs was sold for over 400 spirit stones earlier. That person could at most act as a helper to alchemists.

But, the introduction given to Leia was completely different from hers. If the auction house was guaranteeing that Leia\'s knowledge was no less than an entry-level alchemist when it came to herbs, they must have tested it. They wouldn\'t play around with their reputation without proper guarantee. 

Even someone new to these types of auctions like Duncan knew this. Not to mention others who were in this business. It only showed how confident the auction house was in the slave\'s knowledge. This would raise the price sky-high in a matter of minutes.

Buying someone who knows about herbs was one thing, but buying someone who had the potential to be an entry-level alchemist was an entirely different matter. Duncan had known that Leia\'s knowledge regarding herbs was vast. But, he hadn\'t expected her knowledge level to reach the standards of an alchemist.

Alchemists are respected professionals among cultivators. In order to train an alchemist, every faction must spend a fortune. For an alchemist to enter the entry level, they must have knowledge of vast amounts of herbs along with how they interact with each other. It wasn\'t as simple as throwing a few herbs into a furnace and condensing a pill.

An alchemist must know what the effect of each herb was and how to combine them to get the desired result. Following pill formulas to condense alchemy was only the basic, if you don\'t know the herbs you handle intimately, several side effects would occur in your pills. Those kinds of pills are very dangerous.

Such people who only follow pill formulas wouldn\'t be recognized as proper alchemists. 

Today, the auction house was guaranteeing that Leia\'s knowledge of herbs was on par with entry-level alchemists. It can be inferred from their speech that only the cultivation was the impeding factor in allowing her to condense pills like an alchemist. 

Compared to training a new alchemist, buying someone who has the potential to become an alchemist and using them can be considered to be a very cost-effective approach. As for the problem regarding cultivation, there are several ways for cultivators to induce mortals to cultivate forcefully. 

While the future of such cultivators wouldn\'t be long and promising, they would be able to enter the Spirit Sea realm at the worst with careful grooming. Cultivation clans and sects were capable of performing miracles like that easily. 

So, the problem of cultivation wasn\'t a big one at all for most people who were present in the auction house. In short, as long as they buy Leia, and induce her to cultivate, they have a ready-made slave alchemist for them to control and drag value out of for several years. 

Duncan\'s face became gloomy as he listened to the surrounding discussions. It was clear to him that several representatives of various factions were slightly moved to buy Leia and give things a try. As Duncan was fuming at the unexpected change, the auctioneer went for the finishing blow as well.

"But," the auctioneer had to raise his voice to make sure that everyone heard him amidst the commotion. The hall immediately turned silent. "But, that is not the most valuable thing regarding this slave."

Everyone\'s eyes condensed a little hearing that. Even Duncan was a little intrigued hearing this bit of dramatic revelation. He too was curious to know what more could make Leia very valuable compared to her status as a potential alchemist.

"The most valuable thing regarding this slave is not her beauty or her vast knowledge of herbs. Neither her potential to be an entry-level alchemist with little grooming is the most important factor. What makes her more valuable to those who are able to discern is this,"

The auctioneer waved his hands towards Leia. The guards who stood behind Leia held her suddenly and turned her around. They removed her shirt and displayed her back to the crowd. 

In the beginning, the people in the hall didn\'t see anything important. However, soon mutters began to arise. Duncan was ignorant of what caused the people to become agitated like this. He felt as if ants were biting his soles. Unable to calm down, he spread his spiritual sense to see if he could glean anything.

There was no need for Duncan to really do anything like that. The auctioneer was there to explain to everyone. With a smile, the auctioneer pointed towards the lower back of Leia, causing everyone\'s eyes to focus there.

"Do you see that mark on her lower back, near the spine?" the auctioneer asked causing Duncan to focus hard. 

There was a small mark on Leia\'s lower back where the spine ended. It was very small. Duncan didn\'t know the significance of such a mark. But, it was clear that this was the reason for the mutters minutes before.

"For those who don\'t know what the mark signifies, let me clarify it for you. The mark you see here is commonly known as a spirit mark. This mark is not seen commonly among cultivators. In fact, no cultivator in our world possesses such a mark."

"However, they are marks that are found among mortals. Mortals, who are the descendants of a certain group of cultivators who have a special bloodline…"

*****

A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...

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