The last of the Empyrean items was auctioned off, and the discussions grew ever louder. The number, variety, and quality of the items caught everyone by surprise, leaving them wondering— How did the Lotus Plaza get their hands on these items, or who did the items actually belong to?
Even more shocking was the price at which the items were finally auctioned. The pair of Imperial Jian swords was bought by someone from Sword City for just under 16 million Spirit Crystals.
The Fire Crow halberd was purchased by none other than Long Tian for 25 million Spirit Crystals. With halberds being extremely versatile, the bidding got heated until Long Tian announced his bid. Many of the forces either already were or wanted to be in the good graces of the Tianyun Immortal Kingdom and the Holy Palace, so no one continued to bid for the halberd.
Elder Fu was vexed at this, but considering the price at which it was bought, he didn't mind too much. The pair of Great Dawn gauntlets was bought by the Elder representing the Raging Fist Sect for 12 million Spirit Crystals.
However, the item sold for the most amount was the set of 11 Empyrean-grade protective formation disks— The Divine Turtle Formation Disk. Being sold as a set and being extremely invaluable, it was sold for an eye-watering price of 45 million Spirit Crystals, brought by the Grand Elder leading the Holy Palace entourage.
Lu Feng was amused at this as he muttered, "They're not gonna save you today." He still had his eyes closed as he looked forward to Elder Fu's announcement, which he knew was coming.
Just when everyone was starting to get restless, waiting for the announcement of the end of the auction, Elder Fu loudly cleared his throat as he announced, "Before we conclude today's successful auction, we have a surprise for everyone. As all of you are aware, the demand and rarity of certain pills have practically depleted the stocks throughout the continent, especially in the Eastern Lands."
"With the Duyi realm about to open, this problem is further exacerbated. I'm pleased to promote a new business in Brightmoon City, the Crimson Hall, where you can get your hands on rare High-grade pills and other artifacts. We're also pleased to announce a partnership with them, and we'll be stocking some exclusive items in the future. But for now, we'll be auctioning these 12 sets of... Perfection-grade... Sovereign-class pills."
Coinciding with the dramatic pause, Elder Fu revealed 12 jade pill bottles placed on a golden tray. Immediately, the discussions reached a fever pitch.
Elder Fu cleared his throat again as he continued to speak, "We have three sets of Ninefold Nirvana Pills, Essence Nourishing Pills, Core Perfection Pills, and High-grade Berserker Pills. All pills within the set are Perfection-grade Sovereign pills."
Immediately, without a pause, bids started to be called out one after the other. Several minutes in, the twelve sets of pills were bought by a diverse range of forces, totaling 5 million Spirit Crystals.
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It wasn't much compared to the Empyrean-grade weapons, but it was because Elder Fu repeatedly cautioned about the pills being available at the newly established Crimson Hall at market prices. Nonetheless, many forces were impatient and doubtful of stocks and proceeded to bid. While the price wasn't record-setting, this unexpected end to the auction was arguably the most exciting part.
Some forces, however, weren't happy with this development, including the likes of the Holy Palace, Tianyun Immortal Kingdom, Golden Pill Hall, and other forces that controlled the supply of such High-grade and in-demand pills.
These forces wielded diplomatic and lobbying power by restricting the supply of these pills. Factions affiliated with them and in their good graces were prioritized for the sale of these pills.
Now, if the Crimson Hall proves to be legit and can stock these pills, it would spell trouble for them.
Opening his eyes, Lu Feng was pleased with the frowns on some faces and the glee on others.
In a world where a single pill can make or break years of hard work and effort, the ones who control the means of production and distribution of these pills wield significant power.
This was the best use of the System's features in Lu Feng's mind. On the day Lu Feng discovered the Creation tab, the idea of making guns and nukes struck his fancy for a brief second before he struck it down.
While any cultivator at and above the Innate level would be able to deal with trivial weapons like guns, it would undermine cultivators. Even though he was sympathetic to the situation of mortals, he wouldn't have liked to empathize with their actions if they undermined a group he was a part of.
Coming to nukes, and this also applied to an extent to guns, Lu Feng feared that some genius or powerful faction would be able to decipher or reverse engineer such implements and even make improvements of their own, starting an arms race. With the unchecked egos of cultivators, dooming the world into an apocalyptic wasteland wasn't too far-fetched.
The last thing he wanted was some genius witnessing a nuclear explosion and gaining an epiphany or insight into the concept of fission and fusion, and using it to realize his ambitions with no care for the consequences. Lu Feng shuddered at the thought.
He was brought back from his thoughts by the cheering noise of the crowd. Elder Fu had seemingly announced the end of the auction, and people stood up from their seats and moved towards the exit.
Lu Feng's eyes caught Elder Fu looking at him with a smile, Lu Feng nodded and sent a telepathic message to Elder Fu.
"Senior, congratulations on a successful auction. I'll come back later to meet Senior."
Elder Fu was initially surprised at the telepathic message before he acknowledged it with a slight nod and left for backstage.
Lu Feng looked at the room the Holy Palace entourage was seated in. He saw the Sacred Sons and Daughters and their protectors getting ready to leave.
He revolved his Spirit Energy and released the seeds he condensed. They slowly floated away before finding their targets and quickly assimilating.
"Uncle Wei, get ready... There's going to be a situation, just play along and don't worry about me..."
Li Wei was puzzled by the cryptic telepathic message.
'What's he planning to do?' Li Wei wondered as he nodded and followed Lu Feng's lead and exited the room, ready to leave.
As they walked along the long corridor and started to descend the stairs, they encountered the entourage of the Holy Palace.
Lu Feng started to laugh inside as he beamed a smirk at Long Tian and the entourage accompanying him.
An angry voice echoed inside the auction hall. It was Long Tian.
"You bastard! How dare you..."
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