“Next item, Swallowtail Tremor. Earth-grade blade with a rating of five. However, don’t let the rating fool you. It is capable of unleashing one of the highest levels of Qi in its grade. It has an affinity with the earth element.”
Even the more stoic auctioneer had to break character and say a few more words about this weapon. Sword artifacts were the most popular for a reason. A sword obviously enabled its user to unleash more powerful attacks. Strength was king in the cultivator world. Without it, no one would respect you. It understandably became an object of pursuit for numerous cultivators around the world.
Cultivators managing to stay away from violence was rare. Violence was deemed necessary in the pursuit of immortality. Resources were just too limited, and violence was the main solution to decide how it was divided.
“Starting from fifty red crystals!”
Almost immediately, someone placed a bid right after the auctioneer shouted the starting bid.
“One hundred!”
“Two hundred!”
The bidders wasted no time, and the price quickly climbed. It was no surprise that the majority of bidders were in one of the private booths upstairs. Only a few independent cultivators had the capabilities to compete against these members of wealthy organizations.
“Must be nice for whoever ultimately wins that sword,” Long Yi muttered. “It would go really well with techniques like my Terra Moon Slash.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Sima Xue grinned. “You’re using a mundane sword, which is basically the same as nothing at all!”
“I still need it to employ my techniques. It’s classified as a sword technique for a reason. Swords are mandatory.”
Li Lang nodded silently in the background as he listened along. He was itching to begin studying the Tracing Origin Art he had won not long ago, but this was a rare chance to study powerful artifacts on display. He would eventually be making the attempt at crafting his own, so he couldn’t waste this opportunity.
My Gliding Coil Spear Art works the same way. Outside the basic moves, it requires a spear to be able to use.
Li Lang had taken some notes down while he had practiced his Qi arts, but he hadn’t had a chance to look at the specifics. He knew his spear art made use of the weapons as extra conduits to channel Qi in specific ways to produce the desired results. When he practiced the Qi art that did not require items, everything stayed internal.
He thought of it as similar to brushweaving. The human body was a canvas that could constantly draw new runes with their Qi to produce an effect, while a weapon expanded that canvas. However, unlike brushweaving, they weren’t working on a two-dimensional, stable surface, so the complexity behind it convinced even Li Lang to postpone researching it until he was fully ready.
Very quickly, the bid rose to five hundred red crystals with no signs of it abating. That was until the next bid managed to silence the crowd.
“Six hundred crystals!”
The reason the audience balked at the scene wasn’t due to the price but to the identity of the bidder. Everyone looked up at a young man who had taken hold of their attention not long ago. He was Gui Hong, a disciple from the Eroding March Pavilion, who was supposedly Gui Tianzi’s cousin.
As their organization had become the center of attention within the Luminescent Domain, everyone was watching their every move. When he had spoken up earlier in Li Lang’s defense, people could chalk it up to a personal matter. However, when he bid on such an expensive artifact relative to his meager cultivation of the Energy Gathering realm, everyone believed he acted on behalf of his pavilion.
A half second later, the crowd snapped out of it, and gossiping filled the auditorium.
“Do you think they are buying this sword for the young genius, Gui Tianzi?”
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“Very likely. From what I know, their pavilion doesn’t have many capable artificers. They usually focus on other crafts like woodsmithing and formations.”
“Hmm, even if they did have artificers, then so what? It’s not as if artificers produce such high-quality work on demand.”
“Oh Ji Yuan, no one was talking about you. Stop being so defensive and inserting yourself into my conversations. There is no need to speak and everyone here still knows that your organization can barely produce enough artifacts for your own use, despite having a dozen artificers!”
The creation of artifacts had no set success rates. Each artifact was unique and could not be produced twice. This was mainly due to the existence of an artifact spirit. They were unique. That was why artificers often had to make many attempts to have one success. It also explained why a single Earth-grade artifact could go for hundreds or thousands of red crystals while an equivalent-grade pill started from one crystal.
The amount of materials used before one successfully created one artifact was often astronomical in comparison. On one side, it had a success rate of approximately one in three or four tries. The other side varied wildly, ranging from one in ten to a thousand tries!
The gossiping continued, but no one placed any further bids.
“Current bid, six hundred red crystals. Anyone else?” the auctioneer shouted.
His actions were in vain as the audience remained silent. The demonic cultivators didn’t want to offend an up-and-coming organization, while the orthodox cultivators had their own calculations. Six hundred red crystals were already much higher than their limit.
Inside one of the private booths, a young, talented cultivator questioned his companions.
“Senior, are we really going to let this Eroding March Pavilion win the sword?”
“Peng Kai, this will be a good learning experience for you, especially if you plan to get our sect’s approval to travel the world. Demonic cultivators are our enemies, yes, but they aren’t the only ones. There are other sects within our domain eyeing our resources. There is no reason to pick a fight when it does not benefit us.”
“As if they could do anything to us! I heard they’re few in numbers and are barely considered a middling power within demonic territory.”
The senior smiled wryly and shook his head.
“It’s not them specifically I’m worried about. As they say, the tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut. If we so openly antagonize an organization that all those despicable villains are paying so much attention to, they may redirect their sights on us if we act carelessly.”
Like this, various parties each had their own reason to give up bidding. They would rather wait for the next item, as the auction was still in its beginning stages.
Amongst all the chatter, one of the previous bidders shot up from his seat on the second floor and clasped his fist toward Gui Hong.
“I am Hei Teng, and I hope your Eroding March Pavilion wins this treasured blade. I believe it would fit Young Master Gui Tianzi very well. Please give him my regards.”
After his greeting, several others stood up and copied his actions, making no effort to hide their attempts at currying favor.
The auctioneer could read which way the wind blew and soon declared Gui Hong the winner of the sword, Swallowtail Tremor.
With the matter settled, the next few lots were much tamer in comparison. Bidding was fierce.
Li Lang’s group enjoyed the show as artifacts came one after the other.
There was a spear that caught Li Lang’s attention. It was his first time laying eyes on an artifact spear. Of course, he didn’t have the chance to hold it, but he could tell it was in an entirely different league compared to his mundane spear. It didn’t stir his greed though, as he wouldn’t be able to add his poison injection mechanism to a finished artifact.
He hadn’t tried yet, but from the little artificer knowledge he learned, he knew it wasn’t easy to make any adjustments to complete artifacts. It was why he was so dead set on crafting his own.
There were other artifacts in the auction that he had desired more. They were mainly defensive ones, like a robe or suit of armor. Everyone valued their lives, so the prices were no cheaper than the weapons.
Still, armor isn’t that high on my priority list. I don’t plan on getting into conflicts. I’d rather run at first sight of trouble than be armed to the teeth at all times.
Their group of four returned to their inn shortly before midnight. The last few items in the auction went for over a thousand crystals, and the event was a spectacle to behold. It made those of them who were still in Energy Gathering gain a new understanding of how well off some cultivators were.
It made Wei Ping and Long Yi understand why their friend had pushed to create their own organization so much despite everything going fine with The Orchid Covenant.
After confirming tomorrow’s schedule for the next round of auctions, they retired for the night.
There were no morning auctions, so Li Lang wasted no time and dove into Ruby’s artifact space once he was alone. He had already gotten Ruby to absorb the new manual he got, so he could read it more comfortably on his tablet.
It’s time to see what this Tracing Origin Art has got.
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