After listening to Qi Yu's words, everyone fell silent, and their expressions finally turned serious.
This way, everything made sense, but it also became worse.
"Then what should we do now?" Ming Lou finally felt panicked. "According to this situation, that Meng Die is not worth anything. Even if we go back to the beach and return that monster-like thing to the auction house, we won't be able to exchange it for money."
"Not necessarily," Qi Yu thought for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "If you think about this kind of thing from another perspective, it might be a good solution."
"Among all the natives in this secret realm, only the mastermind behind the manipulation of Meng Die's price, who tried to lure more casual visitors into this secret realm and trap them forever, knows what the real Meng Die looks like. Everyone else is just a pawn to be moved."
"Therefore, it's easy to break this convention. All you need is a very dreamy, very beautiful fake Meng Die, and an ordinary pill with a celestial aura that can beautify and nourish the skin."
As Qi Yu said this, she turned around with everyone and left the auction house, returning to the previous beach.
Sui You looked around and sat on the ground with some helplessness. "I pretty much understand what you mean. You're saying that since no one has seen a real Meng Die, we should find a beautiful species to replace it. That way, they'll rush to bid."
"But this method has a weakness," Yan Hua suddenly said. "The natives here have probably seen most of the creatures on this beach, from tiny butterflies to some unknown, beautiful spirit beasts. The natives here definitely know more than we do."
"If we casually catch one and take it back, and it's seen through at a glance by the natives here, wouldn't that be troublesome?"
Qi Yu had considered this problem, so she immediately took out a butterfly pupa from her storage bag.
This butterfly pupa looked very small, only the size of a fingernail, but its shell was pure gold.
It looked very beautiful.
"As the Heavenly Dao, I later discovered that there are many species in the human world that I can control and improve," Qi Yu said, holding the butterfly pupa in her palm. "This is the first butterfly pupa I improved after discovering this ability. The image of the butterfly's wings inside needs to be imagined and constructed by me personally, which is perfect for this mission."
While speaking, Qi Yu took out a celestial pill for replenishing qi and beautifying the skin, crushed it into powder, and sprinkled it on the butterfly pupa.
Then, she clasped the butterfly pupa with both hands and softly chanted a spell.
As Qi Yu's chanting voice filled the air, the butterfly silhouette held in her palm began to change. The original pure gold color developed pale blue spots, which eventually turned into Klein blue.
The original size also gradually changed, becoming larger and rounder.
Soon.
Qi Yu finished chanting the spell and slowly opened her hands.
The butterfly pupa in her palm immediately broke open, and a butterfly flew out. Its wings were Klein blue, with black patterns interspersed, and it was three to four times larger than an ordinary butterfly. Its antennae were slightly curled, making it look like a common butterfly, but when it flew, it emitted dazzling blue celestial energy, like a celestial pet.
"All the changes I made to the butterfly's appearance and size have made its lifespan much longer than ordinary butterflies. Within its lifespan, it will emit celestial energy for its keeper, ensuring eternal youth," Qi Yu said. Seeing everyone looking at her with meaningful gazes, she added, "Of course, it's not real eternal youth. It's just the most ordinary celestial pill. After humans absorb some spiritual energy, their appearance will naturally become younger. Later, as time passes, they will forget about it."
This ordinary celestial pill could at most allow the body to store more spiritual energy, thus achieving the effect of beautifying and nourishing the skin.
But in reality, aging would still happen. At most, it would last five or six years longer than people of the same age.
"This big butterfly is really super beautiful," Chi Shangming said, looking at the wondrous creature with wide eyes and tentatively reaching out his hand.
The giant butterfly with Klein blue wings gently flapped. Then, it extended its antennae and hooked Chi Shangming's finger, finally landing on his palm.
Chi Shangming even held his breath, afraid that his own breathing or speaking would scare away this wondrous creature.
"This thing is too beautiful. If the Meng Die were this, people would believe it," Wang Lanqing exclaimed.
Xiao Changge, with her warm hands, wanted to touch the big butterfly.
But the big butterfly only rested briefly on Xiao Changge's head before quickly flying into the air. It hovered for a moment, then landed again. It rested briefly again, then quickly flew into the air again, hovered for a moment, and then landed back in Qi Yu's palm.
Qi Yu crushed spirit stones into powder and used her spiritual power to create a shimmering blue cage. She placed the large butterfly inside and picked a few phoenix tail flowers to place in the cage, which could serve as decoration and provide nectar for the butterfly.
After decorating it, she carried the cage, covered it with a piece of white cloth, and led everyone back to the auction house. She placed the cage on a table and asked the attendant at the auction house:
"Excuse me, I'd like to apply to participate in the auction. Is that possible?"
The attendant looked up at Qi Yu, then wrote down a number on a card while asking, "Yes, but you need to register first. By the way, what are you auctioning? Do you want to bring it up yourself, or shall we help you?"
The attendant seemed to be asking casually.
Qi Yu smiled and said, "A real Meng Die."
Upon hearing this, the attendant was startled. His gaze towards the cage in Qi Yu's hand immediately became strange, and he instinctively moved away.
A sharp glint flashed in Qi Yu's eyes, but she maintained an innocent and naive facade, pretending to be ignorant and asking, "What's wrong? I heard many people wanted it, so I specifically brought it to auction. Is that not allowed? You don't accept it?"
"..." The attendant's face showed a complex emotion. After a while, he waved his hand and said, "Who said we don't accept it? It's just that we didn't expect you to find such a rare and exotic spirit beast. Yes, this is your auction number. You're last. Bring the item in yourself, and don't let us touch it."
Qi Yu nodded, picked up the cage, and turned to leave.
As she turned, a sly smile curved her lips.