Two white lights shone from the ceiling and onto the stage, casting a long shadow behind the green-haired man and upon the wooden flooring. Many several dozen hooded figures sat within the rows of seats around the stage, watching the auction begin with mysterious gazes.
“Hello fellow cultivators! My name is Cao Feng, and I will be the presenter for today’s auction! I must say, you have all done well to make it to today’s auction. We have some very good items here today that I am excited to show off. But beforehand, I am hoping everyone can make a joined effort to make today as easy as possible for everyone else.
Any fights that occur will not be tolerated and will be swiftly dealt with by our two foundation establishment guards. Though you may not be able to see them, if such a situation happens, then you will all naturally meet them.
In addition to that, this hall has a miniature soul locking formation which all of you may have already noticed.
So, anything that you attempt to do here with your qi will be hindered and closely watched by someone behind stage. Now, with everyone knowing our auction hall’s true capabilities, I can rest assured that fights will be unlikely to happen,” The presenter explained, his luscious green hair shining in the light and his teeth sparkling a perfect white with every smile.
The presenter was well-groomed, had unblemished, perfect white skin and their voice was pleasing to the ears. The crowd was charmed.
“Today, there are a total of thirty-seven items. The auction will take approximately two hours to complete and until the end no one will be able to exit the venue. Once the auction has ended, our formation expert will be able to teleport anyone to a far away location out of the city if they so wish. Well, with the nitty gritty out of the way, we can now begin the auction. Ladies!”
Heeding to the presenter’s call, two exceedingly beautiful and voluptuous women appeared from the red curtains at the back of the stage. Their white dresses curved around their hips and breasts, and with every step the cloth parted to reveal smooth white legs that inspired all kinds of thoughts within many certain onlookers. If the audience hadn’t been paying attention before, they definitely were now.
Held within the hands of the woman on the right was a small wooden box. Walking up to the very front of the stage, she placed the box upon a small pedestal before taking a place by the presenter’s side. With a great smile on his face, Cao Feng opened the small box, releasing the fragrance of warm wood. Inside the box laid a green, leafy herb with a golden yellow core centre.
Upon being revealed, a few gasps rang out throughout the hall. Underneath many hoods, the expressions of the cultivators froze, and they showed amazement.
“We’re starting off today with a bang! This is a spiritual herb named Golden Thrall. It is one-hundred years of age and is not something to be overlooked. This herb was sowed and cultivated by the renowned Shen Clan, being sought after by many powers of the cultivation world due to its many benefits. Unlike other spiritual herbs, this does not need to be refined into a pill. All one needs to do is melt the golden core in boiling water, grind and add the leaves, and consume it like one would have a soup as a mortal.
If consumed, one can expect to breakthrough any current bottlenecks with ease. On the other hand, using the gentle energy of this spiritual herb can help bring a cultivator’s closer to perfection if they cultivate a harsher or more aggressive qi. With a few meditation sessions to fully process the qi within the golden core, one can relieve and calm the meridians, allowing qi to circulate more easily throughout the eight meridians. This is perfect for anyone at vessel cleansing as that is when it has the highest effect.
The bidding begins at forty spirit stones and increases in increments of at least four spirit stones!” Cao Feng announced before the hall went into a flurry of voices of cultivators desperate to acquire the Golden Thrall.
“Fourty-four!!”
“Fifty!”
“Fifty-five!”
“Sixty!”
“Sixty-four!”
The room exploded as bid after bid was placed upon the tiny spiritual herb. As this went on, the amount of people bidding decreased and Cao Feng watched this happen with a smile on his face. Eventually, it came to a standstill between two people until one won out with a bid of one hundred spirit stones.
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For a vessel cleansing cultivator, this was not a meagre sum. The collective net worth of a vessel cleansing cultivator at the latter end of the spectrum would usually be somewhere around seventy to eighty spirit stones. While someone at the first few layers would only have a collective net worthy of around twenty spirit stones or even less. It was a quite difference. And this was for the average cultivator. Some cultivators were just far richer than they should be.
“Sold for one hundred low-grade spirit stones to the guest sitting in chair 3G-17!” Cao Feng announced with a happy voice.
With the flick of his wrist, Cao Feng had the box fly through the air and softly land within the buyer’s lap. Ecstatic, they opened it and feasted their eyes on the treasure that now belonged to them. After getting a good look, they summoned a flock of blue, glowing crystals to fly through the air and to arrive over the stage.
The lady on the presenter’s left lifted her hand up in the air and grasped the spirit stones with an invisible hand, transferring control over the spirit stones from the guest, and over to her. Opening up a leather pouch at her side, the spirit stones dived down, all of it completely disappearing in a single moment.
The beautiful lady gave the guest a seductive wink, to which the guest’s reaction could not be seen. After this transaction, the next item was brought out and the auction continued like normal, but less impressive and selling for far less than the Golden Thrall Herb. Most items usually sold for thirty to forty spirit stones and consisted of items such as flying swords, talismans, pills, and even a set of robes that were made out of the silk of a rare species of silkworm.
Time passed and the final item was something that caused an uproar throughout the whole crowd. Something that even Xing Yi could recognise. A long metal sword with a thin red string hanging down from the pommel of the sword was brandished and held in hand by one of the beautiful women.
“The final item of today’s auction is a flying sword. But not just any flying sword. It is the replica of Warrior Zheng Qin’s flying sword. Being a nascent soul with a fierce baleful aura, he swept through the world of cultivation with his flying sword, cutting down enemy after enemy with only one single sword. It was a powerful weapon and has left a long-lasting legacy that has inspired many to create replicas of the treasure. This is one of them and is completely unmarked by any previous cultivators and so whoever buys this will be it’s first owner.
The price will begin at seventy low-grade spirit stones and increase in increments of five. Let the bidding begin!”
Unexpectedly, a single voice immediately stopped everyone from voicing their price.
“One-hundred and fifty spirit stones!” A giant, hooded cultivator named a price.
Even Cao Feng was shocked at the sudden up mark of the price. The presenter waited for a few moments to see if anyone would give a higher price until he declared, “Sold!”
At this cultivator’s abrupt acquisition of the item and the seemingly lack of care for the price of the item, Xing Yi felt that this giant of a cultivator was at foundation establishment. There was no other way. The cultivator then paid out the money and received the item, swiftly placing it inside their storage pouch.
With the end of the auction, Cao Feng announced, “Now that the auction has ended, you may all now leave through the entrance to the left where it will lead directly upwards and into the city. Or, you may enter to the right to use our transportation formation to teleport to a random location outside the city. There is no fee for this.”
Despite these words, only person left. That being the giant cultivator that bought the replica sword of Warrior Zheng.
“Now, if anyone has any items that they want to sell off they can use this stage as a platform to do so. However, that will cost a fee of one spirit stone and if that person finds a dealer, they can use a backroom to seal the deal. I will now take my leave. The stage is yours,” Cao Feng revealed, before him and the two ladies retreated back stage.
This was the moment Xing Yi had been waiting for.