CHAPTER 177 BIDDING FOR THE PRIMITIVE STONE

Darren familiarized himself with the strength he acquired from the bracers for a while, then he put them

away with his armor into his Space Ring. As for the secret of the armor, it was still a mystery to him and

he had to explore it more later.

Then, Darren watched the next few rounds of the auction and spent 30, 000 ink stones to buy two pills

that he thought might be useful.

According to the auctioneer's introduction, the pill was called the Appearance-changing Pill, which

meant that if a person consumed the pill, he would be able to completely alter his appearance.

However, it had a tiny flaw—once the person swallowed the pill, he would never be able to revert back

to his previous appearance.

Darren brought a lot of ink stones with him so he felt the urge to buy them. After all, they seemed very

useful and he intended to give one to Bruce if he wanted to change his appearance and start a new life.

Several rounds passed. In the final round, the Primitive Stone was finally unveiled.

A girl walked on the central platform with a tray made of jade; on it was a stone about the size of a

thumb. It was shining in purple and gold.

As soon as the Primitive Stone was presented on the platform, the auction hall grew noisy. It was seen

that the buyers were very excited about it and some of them were absolutely determined to get their

hands on it.

What exactly was the Primitive Stone? What power did it have? As for these questions, only a few

buyers in the hall knew the right answers. The only thing most of them knew was that the Primitive

Stone was a rare and precious treasure found in the Raksa Sea.

"Next, the precious and one of a kind Primitive Stone. Bidding starts at three million ink stones. Before

the bidding, I'll tell you more about where the Primitive Stone came from and its known functions," the

auctioneer introduced.

Upon hearing that, Darren also paid more attention to the auctioneer because getting the Primitive Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Stone was very important to him and it was a hard-won opportunity to know more about it.

"The Primitive Stone was retrieved by a superior talent with the surname Lin after he passed numerous

perils. Due to some special requests, he had someone send it to us and entrusted us to sell it for him.

As for its functions, Mr. Lin confided that it was significantly useful to high-level pill refiners as well as

the cultivators of the Grand Realm, those who used to only exist in the legends we are taught. There is

a possibility that there are pieces of powerful rules hidden inside it. Believe me, any of you would not

want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity."

After the beautiful girl finished her words, Darren still couldn't figure out why the Primitive Stone was so

vital for him to integrate his blade intent and sword intent into one. What caught his attention was that it

could have pieces of rules within it. Maybe, it was the solely function that could help him in the

integrating.

After the brief introduction, the auction began. The potential buyers started bidding. Although they

didn't know its exact functions, they could use it to ingratiate themselves with high-level pill refiners or

cultivators who were in positions of power. After all, in the big bugs' eyes, ink stones weren't very

valuable.

"Five million ink stones!"

The first bid started at such a high price which surprised Darren a little.

Darren just had about ten million ink stones with him in total. He was not sure if he would be able to

buy it given their current pace, so he didn't bid to try and slow things down a bit. Instead, he waited

quietly for the other bidders.

Only an hour later, the price of the Primitive Stone had already reached ten million ink stones! And it

seemed that most of the bidders had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Apparently, they had supporters behind them who were people in power, or ones who had either

authority or great wealth. If they had no supporters, they wouldn't be brave enough to bid such a great

amount of ink stones by themselves.

"Eleven million ink stones." Finally, Darren couldn't help but bid for the first time.

"Twelve million ink stones." Below him, the old man who just competed against him for the bronze

bracers also started bidding.

"Twelve million and five hundred thousand ink stones."

...

The price was rising so fast that Darren was certain he wouldn't be able to outbid them.

'It's widely expensive. The price has reached fourteen million ink stones in no time.' Darren shook his

head as he thought of his other options in obtaining the Primitive Stone.

'Should I steal it?'

The idea flashed quickly through his mind. However, there were at least three cultivators of the Wonder

Realm safeguarding the auction hall and the other buyers also seemed very powerful. It was

impossible to steal it without causing any trouble.

After thinking for a while, Darren came up with a better plan.

"Someone come here please," Darren shouted, then a servant entered the room with her head low.

"Sir, how can I help you?" the servant asked respectfully.

"Go and invite Mr. Gu to come here," Darren responded.

"May I ask which Mr. Gu do you wish to invite?"

Both the Sky Pavilion and the Prison Battle Arena belonged to the Gu Family, but they were overseen

by different high status members of the family.

"The Mr. Gu that is in charge of the Prison Battle Arena."

"Right away, sir." The servant bowed lightly and left the room.

...

Soon, a middle-aged man entered the private room. "Oh, Darren, I was told that you wanted to speak

to me."

"Yes, Mr. Gu. I'll go straight to the point. I invited you here because I wish to borrow your money,"

Darren said his purpose firmly.

"Borrow money? You just won more than ten million ink stones yesterday. Why do you need more

money?" Harvey couldn't help but laugh at Darren's reply.

Darren, with a little smile on his face, pointed to the center of the auction platform. "I need that," he

said.

As he glanced at the highest bidding price showed in the hall, Harvey was surprised and amazed.

"Wow, the highest bid on it has now reached fourteen million and five hundred thousand ink stones!

Darren, I could see why you would have difficulty buying it."

"I would thank you a million times if you lend me some money to help me buy it," Darren said sincerely.

"Ha-ha. I'm afraid the price is too high. I don't think I can help you." Harvey was in charge of the Prison

Battle Arena. The arena could offer very huge amount of rewards, from a hundred ink stones to more

than ten million. However, it was his family's assets and he didn't dare use his family's money

elsewhere without consulting its members.

But before he left, he suggested, "Maybe my niece can help you. Her family is in charge of a bank.

Money is the last thing they have to worry about. I can ask her to come here and hopefully you can

negotiate with her. I'm sorry but that's all I could do to help you, Darren."

"It doesn't matter. Thank you, Mr. Gu. I hope it isn't much of a bother to ask your niece to come here

and speak with me." Darren cupped his fist and showed his gratitude to Harvey.

After about half an hour, Harvey brought Eva to the room and left.

"Darren, how much money is it that you need? Just name your price," Eva said generously before

Darren even got to speak.

Darren was a little embarrassed. It was his first time to borrow money and he had to borrow from a girl

he had never met before.

"Miss Eva Gu, I need to bid for the current item being displayed on the platform below, so I can't

actually tell you the exact amount of what I need. So if it isn't much trouble..." Darren said with

embarrassment on his face.

"No problem. Just win the bidding and I'll cover the price for you." Eva smiled and sat down beside

Darren. "But you need to pay it back. Otherwise, if my father finds out that you didn't, he would

definitely punish me for my actions."

"Of course. I promise that I'll pay you back within three months."

"Don't worry about how soon you can pay it back. I can tell my father that I lent the money to the

Chambers of Commerce, so it wouldn't be a problem to conceal this from him for about a year."

After their negotiations, the price of the Primitive Stone had already reached seventeen million ink

stones.

Besides, only a few buyers were left biding for it. Seriously, seventeen million ink stones was an

enormous amount of money to anyone from the Holy Land.

The only remaining bidders were the old man in grey robes and a cultivator in luxurious robes.

"Seventeen million and one hundred thousand ink stones." The young cultivator in luxurious robes

shouted as beads of sweat were dripping from his forehead down to his eyebrows.

The old man in grey was also beginning to have trouble staying calm. The price was too high and he

could no longer afford to bid higher.

"This might be the end of the line for me," the old man in grey sighed.

"Seventeen million and one hundred thousand ink stones! Going once! Going twice!"

"Seventeen million and five hundred thousand."

Darren's voice echoed from the private room above before the auctioneer could call for the third time.

"Damn it!" The youngster in luxurious robes cursed out of rage and viciously glared at Darren's private

room.

"Eighteen million!" The youngster clenched his teeth and it seemed that he was also very determined to

get his hands on the Primitive Stone.

"Twenty million!" Darren's voice had no signs of holding back and he raised the price to twenty million.

His rival might think he had plenty of money to bid for the Primitive Stone. It exerted much more

pressure on his rival than if he only raised the price little by little.

"Fuck it!" As the youngster heard the price, he paused for several seconds. Then he cursed aloud with

a burning face, steam almost coming out of his ears. Everyone in the hall could hear him.

"No matter which family you belong to, I warn you that though you have the money to buy it, you might

lose your life even before you could touch it! Fuck you!" he bellowed towards Darren's private room

directly.

Inside the private room, Eva frowned all of a sudden, as if she recognized the youngster. She

suggested, "Darren, I suggest that you give up. I can assure you that he is not the kind of person that

we can afford to challenge."