The Tianxiang Auction was renowned far and wide, attracting not only cultivators and loose cultivators from Thunder Continent, but also those from other provinces and even the cultivators from Zhao Country to Little Lake City.

However, not just anyone could attend this grand auction, as the organizers required participants to possess a special invitation, the means of obtaining which were quite mysterious. Even those eager to find one were not guaranteed success.

Unexpectedly, Gu Qiulong had one in his possession.

Yuan Ming had been quite interested in the Tianxiang Auction, and now that he had the invitation, he planned to go and see for himself what it was all about.

He put away the invitation and took out the jade box to examine it, finding it filled to the brim with three crystal stones.

"These are Thunder Attribute high-grade spirit stones!" Yuan Ming rejoiced inwardly.

Spirit stones in the world were categorized by the Five Elements of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. Yet, beyond the Five Elements, there were some abnormal spirit stones, and Thunder Spirit Stones were one of them. Formed by spirit veins absorbing the power of thunder and lightning, they were much rarer than the ordinary Five Elements spirit stones and were far more valuable.

Yuan Ming discovered from Gu Qiulong's memories that these Thunder Spirit Stones, along with another two thousand spirit stones, were public assets of the Zhenling Sect. Gu Qiulong had acquired them not long ago in a transaction with Bailuo Manor and had yet to hand them over. Unexpectedly, the spirit stones all ended up in Yuan Ming's hands, becoming his unintentional dowry.

Yuan Ming put away the jade box and briefly examined the remaining items.

The magic artifacts were all common goods, as for the pills, there was a bottle of Detoxification Pills, a bottle of Healing Pills, and not a few Four Spirits Pills.

Yuan Ming stored these items away and his divine sense swept towards a Corpse Nourishing Bag at his waist.

Inside the bag, the White Ape had already devoured the scale-toothed tiger clean, its body's demon energy surging erratically as if nurturing some significant change.

Hua Zhi had previously absorbed much black qi in the underground palace of Snake King Valley, making substantial progress in strength. Could the White Ape do the same?

Yuan Ming observed for a moment and, seeing that the White Ape's changes wouldn't stop anytime soon, he waved his hand and took out the winged young bird.

The black winged bird lay within a white net, still unconscious.

Yuan Ming pressed his palm on the head of the winged young bird, applying the beast taming secret technique. Billowing black qi entered the young bird's head.

The winged young bird suddenly woke up with a start, but it was ensnared by the net magic tool and couldn't move, only making a few low chirps as Yuan Ming's beast taming techniques infiltrated.

Perhaps because the winged young bird had been fed with Yuan Ming's essence blood before, it quickly showed affection towards him, and he successfully planted a Beast Taming Rune.

Yuan Ming communicated with it through his thoughts, learning about its innate divine ability.

The bird's innate divine abilities included three main powers: one was swift flight—the winged bird being a Thunder Attribute demon beast, its flying escape speed was as fast as lightning and would be top-tier when used as a mount once it was grown. The second was its ability to cast thunder and lightning magic. The third was soaring into the clouds and using its own thunder and lightning to control clouds and summon thunderstorms.

However, the winged bird was still too small to unleash the power of these three innate divine abilities.

Yuan Ming nodded secretly, the three divine abilities of the winged bird were certainly extraordinary, no wonder Gu Qiulong had gone to great lengths, damaging the reputation of his sect and even committing murder and silencing others just to capture it.

He put away the white net and tentatively placed a spirit stone near the mouth of the winged young bird.

The winged young bird immediately came closer, rubbing against Yuan Ming's arm and making "peep peep" sounds like a chick asking its parents for food.

Yuan Ming smiled and took the spirit stone away, and instantly the winged young bird became discontented.

He tossed the spirit stone, and the winged bird caught it with its mouth, swallowing it in one gulp. Its small eyes closed slightly, revealing an expression of contentment.

Seeing the winged young bird's cute mannerism, Yuan Ming's playful side emerged as he teased it for a while before finally storing it in the spiritual beast bag.

At that moment, Yuan Ming's expression subtly changed as he looked towards the Corpse Nourishing Bag.

Sounds of low growling echoed from the bag, indicating that the White Ape was undergoing some kind of transformation.

The White Ape's body was now emitting golden, gray, and black lights in turns, which appeared rather eerie.

The golden light was the Gold Attribute Spiritual Power, the gray light was the Corpse Refining Power of the Heavenly Snake Master, and the black light naturally came from the black qi contained within the recently devoured scale-toothed tiger.

The three lights alternated and grew increasingly brighter, causing the Corpse Nourishing Bag to become unable to withstand the pressure, gradually swelling up.

Yuan Ming's expression changed, and he quickly released the White Ape.

The three-colored glow on the White Ape shone even brighter, its demonic power circulating more rapidly, and suddenly, a purple glow surged in its sea of consciousness—a powerful purple soul power.

This purple soul power was extraordinarily strong, comparable to Yuan Ming's own and full of vibrancy, starkly different from the residual soul that had previously resided within the White Ape Skin.

Yuan Ming looked on in astonishment. Why had the White Ape developed a new divine soul?

He suddenly recalled something and appeared in front of the White Ape in a flash, pressing a hand on its forehead to perform the Beast Taming Secret Technique.

The Beast Taming Secret Technique passed down to him by the Three Cave Masters only allowed him to subdue one spirit beast in the Qi Refinement Realm. Now that his cultivation had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, the number of spirit beasts he could control had increased to three.

A stream of black qi rolled out from Yuan Ming's palm, seeping into the White Ape's head, and he successfully implanted a Beast Taming Rune within the purple soul power.

The White Ape, unaware of what had transpired, bore a new soul. It could no longer be controlled solely by the Fur Cloak Skill; Yuan Ming had to implant a Beast Taming Rune in it to be at ease.

The powerful purple soul power, perhaps because it had just been born, didn't know to resist, and was easily imprinted with a Beast Taming Rune.

Only then did Yuan Ming feel relieved and step back.

As the White Ape was tamed, its aura didn't decrease but increased. Its form was shrouded in dazzling golden light, and a powerful demonic force began to spread tumultuously, causing the entire silver space to tremble incessantly, yet it did not collapse.

A black iron nail was shaken out and struck against the nearby wall, making a light sound. It was the Corpse Sealing Nail that had been always inserted in the White Ape's head.

Yuan Ming put away the item, contemplative.

A few breaths later, the golden light receded, and the figure of the White Ape appeared.

Yuan Ming had been prepared, but he was still surprised when he saw the White Ape clearly.

The White Ape had grown considerably taller than before, its fur turning a mixture of white and gold, its muscles more bulging, emitting a full sense of oppression.

However, the biggest change was not these, but the third arm of the White Ape that had finally grown out, its position having shifted from the chest and abdomen to the left side of the back. Meanwhile, on the right side of its back, a thick golden ape arm had grown, perfectly symmetrical to the left.

Yuan Ming's eyes lit up with joy. It had been a long time since the White Ape Skin's Fur Cloak Skill transformation had progressed, but now it had made a breakthrough and grown a fourth ape arm.

The White Ape slowly lifted its head, the familiar ferocity and dullness in its eyes had completely disappeared, replaced with clarity.

"Master," the White Ape said, cupping one fist in the other hand in a salute to Yuan Ming.

"You have developed spiritual intelligence?" Yuan Ming's eyebrows rose.

"Thanks to the Master's meticulous cultivation, I was able to undergo a rebirth," the White Ape said, moving its four arms and grinning.

"Now that you have awakened your spiritual intelligence, you should have a name. Let's call you Vajra," Yuan Ming suggested.

The White Ape didn't care about the name and nodded in agreement.

Hua Zhi peeked out from the Spiritual Beast Bag, the wooden patterns on its face parting to reveal a pair of purple orbs inside, resembling a pair of eyes, which sized up the freshly named Vajra with a cold snort.

"Bean Sprout," Vajra said with a toothy smile, looking at Hua Zhi.

"Monkey, who are you calling?" Hua Zhi's Divine Soul vibrated with anger, sending a telepathic message.

"I'm talking about you," Vajra replied, apparently able to hear Hua Zhi's telepathy, and chuckled.

Just as Hua Zhi was about to retort, Yuan Ming raised his hand and intervened, "Stop the argument."

Hua Zhi and Vajra stopped bickering, but the looks they exchanged were still full of hostility.

Yuan Ming felt a headache coming on. Vajra hadn't awakened its spiritual intelligence before, and Hua Zhi had already been very unfriendly towards it. Now that they both had developed intelligence, he feared that their future spats could become even fiercer.

He calmed Hua Zhi down and started to examine Vajra's body with his Divine Sense.

Vajra's demonic power hadn't increased noticeably, but the strength of its physical body had made great strides, especially the newly grown arms, which contained astonishing power.

"Very good, it wasn't in vain that I had you consume the scale-toothed tiger's corpse. Do you know the origins of that black aura?" Yuan Ming asked.

"That black aura is Demonic Qi," Vajra said after hesitating.

"Demonic Qi!" Yuan Ming was startled.

"Does the Master know what Demonic Qi is? I don't understand the meaning of these words; they just suddenly flashed through my mind," Vajra inquired.

"I've seen it mentioned in the classics. There are countless people in the world who practice cultivation, and not everyone pursues the Immortal Path; some step into the Demon Dao, and those cultivators use Demonic Qi," Yuan Ming explained after thinking it through.

"So that's what it is," Vajra said, nodding in realization.

"Demonic Qi, Demonic Qi," Hua Zhi murmured, hands cradling its head, its Divine Soul vibrating as if trying hard to remember something.

When Hua Zhi first awakened its own spiritual intelligence, it had developed several rather useful abilities.

After a conversation with Vajra, Yuan Ming learned that Vajra possessed formidable physical strength, particularly in its newly grown arms, which held power several times that of ordinary limbs.

Vajra, eager to show off, shook its new arms.

A surging force exploded, causing a rumbling sound in the nearby void, stirring up a wild wind, and the silver light barrier shook violently once again.

"Not bad," Yuan Ming said, his eyes gleaming.

"It's just some brute strength," Hua Zhi sent a telepathic retort, sounding sour.

Apart from strength, the power of the Spirit Root within the body of the Heavenly Snake Master had also been activated. Vajra could manipulate Gold Attribute Spiritual Power, and from the tips of Vajra's fingers sprouted five golden talons, each several feet long and looking extremely sharp.

"Do you have any other abilities?" Yuan Ming continued to inquire.

"There's nothing else... Wait, there seems to be something extra in my mind, like a Cultivation Method?" said Vajra, suddenly frowning and sitting down cross-legged.

The surrounding nature's spiritual energy was drawn in, pouring into Vajra's body but not converting into demonic power, instead merging into its Physical Body.

"Utilizing spiritual power to enhance the Physical Body, that's a Body Cultivation Method, isn't it!" Yuan Ming expressed, his eyes revealing amazement.

"It should be," Vajra opened its eyes.

"Does this method include a mnemonic?" Yuan Ming asked eagerly.

In the Cultivation World, although Body Cultivators weren't as rare as Soul Cultivators, they were still quite uncommon, and Body Cultivation Methods were even rarer. Throughout his time in the Cultivation World, he had acquired many Magic Cultivation Techniques, but not a single Body Cultivation Method. The Copper Skin Pill he had obtained from Liu Su was still in his Storage Ring because he lacked a suitable Body Cultivation Method. If he could acquire a Body Cultivation Method from Vajra, his Physical Body strength could be enhanced, which would also heighten his ability to protect himself during combat.

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