Chapter 277: Sky High Price
Chapter 277: Sky High Price
Inside booth 9, a light flashed in Mu Chengxue’s eyes. He clenched his fist tightly and said, “The thing that I wanted has finally arrived. I must obtain this Medicinal Pill!”
It was a true treasure that did not need any introduction. The price of the Essence Gathering Pill was bumped up to a horrifying price of one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones very soon.
One hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones was a big dividing line. Those who could afford such a price were either Martial Kings or disciples with big clans or sects backing them.
Mu Chengxue called out, “Two hundred thousand!”
Mu Chengxue increased the bid by one hundred thousand in one breath. This horrifying bid stunned some of the cultivators who intended to continue competing.
Even if they could take out two hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, they could not do so as calmly as Mu Chengxue. He clearly had a great need for it and was willing to offer a higher price.
“Booth 9. I seem to recall that Mu Chengxue entered booth 9.”
“No wonder he is so rich and overbearing. As the first in line to succeed the Night Spirit Palace and as the strongest person in the younger generation there, the amount of resources he has access to is not something a regular person can compare to.”
“I believe even the people who could compete with him would give up on account of the Night Spirit Palace.”
“Indeed, in order to prevent everyone raising the price and making everyone suffer disadvantages, it is better to give each other some face.”
When the people below saw that no one else called out a bid exceeding two hundred thousand, they started to discuss this matter.
Up on the stage, the auctioneer was clearly not as calm as he was before. The normal value of this bottle of Essence Gathering Pill was one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. The price had only doubled in his auction.
After deducting some expenses, Linlang Pavilion would not be able to earn much. The auctioneer called out in a loud voice, “Only two hundred thousand? These are genuine Essence Gathering Pills. Aside from Linlang Pavilion, you will not be able to purchase it within the Great Qin Nation.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand!”
The auctioneer’s eyes lit up as he smiled and said loudly, “Booth 18 bid two hundred and fifty thousand. Honored guest in booth 9, will you raise the bid?”
It had to be said that this auctioneer could be very provocative. He was able to make people more agitated at certain times. In a moment of irrationality, an ordinary person might fall into the trap.
Mu Chengxue revealed a faint killing intent in his eyes as he said coldly, “Three hundred thousand!”
Mu Chengxue left the sect this time in order to obtain this Essence Gathering Pill. He originally thought that he would definitely obtain it if he brought four hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Who would have guessed that an unexpected obstruction would appear, completely messing up his plans.
Xiao Chen was completely confident about obtaining these Essence Gathering Pills. This item was extremely useful to him. With the Essence Gathering Pill, he would be able to make a breakthrough to Medial Grade Martial Saint immediately.
Once Xiao Chen advanced to Medial Grade Martial Saint, he would be able to use Medial Grade Spirit Stones. By then, his cultivation would be raised at a horrifying rate.
Xiao Chen did not hesitate to shout, “Four hundred thousand!”
Mu Chengxue’s expression was currently extremely unsightly. He asked, “Do you all still have Spirit Stones? Lend some to me first, I will pay you back when we return.”
Mu Yanxue said, “I can lend you twenty thousand, I still need the rest for bidding.”
“I only have five thousand!”
“I have ten thousand!”
When the disciples of the Night Spirit Palace pooled their Spirit Stones together, Mu Chengxue finally managed to amass 450,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. He shouted, “450,000!”
Xiao Chen remained calm and casually called out, “Five hundred thousand!”
The entire hall became silent. No one had expected a bottle of Essence Gathering Pills to fetch such a high price.
It would take five or six years for a regular Martial Saint to obtain five hundred thousand Spirit Stones. This was simply an astronomical price. Yet, this person did not hesitate to bid such an amount on a bottle of Essence Gathering Pills.
“Booth 18…how is it booth 18 again? The person who won the bid for the first Secret Treasure seems to be this person as well.”
“I don’t know who this person is but for him to dare to snatch Mu Chengxue’s item, there will be a good show to watch later.
“A person who is able to take out seven hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones is definitely not someone that is easy to deal with. He might not be afraid of the Night Spirit Palace.”
When Xiao Chen made his move again, it immediately became the focus of everybody’s conversations.
The auctioneer on the stage was incredibly excited. His face was covered with an agitated smile as he said, “Five hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, is there anyone who intends to place a higher bid? Friend from booth 9, are you interested?”
Mu Chengxue had a sullen expression, he did not say anything but instead clenched his right fist tightly. The other Night Spirit Palace disciples all felt a chill. They had never seen Mu Chengxue so angry before.
After a while, Mu Chengxue’s face relaxed. He sat down gently on the round wooden stool. His center of gravity shifted down and pressed on the floorboards, causing it to creak as he slowly closed his eyes.
Mu Yanxue, who was familiar with Mu Chengxue, knew he was really angry now and had awakened an intent to kill.
After he called out three times without anyone responding, Xiao Chen successfully obtained this bottle of Essence Gathering Pills. He revealed a faint smile on his face.
Liu Suifeng said in astonishment, “Ye Chen, where did you get so many Inferior Grade Spirit Stones from? It’s five hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones!”
Xiao Chen smiled and said “I obtained many Demonic Cores in the sub-space. If I sell all of them away, I will even be able to easily afford to bid another two hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones on this.”
Xiao Chen originally intended to keep the Demonic Cores in the Universe Ring for his own use. Given the situation, he could only choose to use them here.
Regardless of the situation, out of the ten thousand Medial Grade Spirit Stones Xiao Chen had, he could only use seven thousand. That would be seven hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. He had to keep the remainder for himself to use.
When the second round of auctions began, Xiao Chen paid more attention. The items in this round were more precious than the last. Unfortunately, the item that he wanted did not show up.
The atmosphere in the auction hall became more and more lively. Many cultivators managed to obtain what they wanted. Soon, the second Secret Treasure appeared.
At first look, it looked like a pair of ordinary shoes. However, after the demonstration, everyone found out that it could raise a cultivator’s speed by almost twenty percent.
This twenty percent should not be underestimated. To Martial Masters and Martial Grand Masters, twenty percent was only a small amount of speed. However, to cultivators of a higher realm, their speed was originally very fast in the first place. By raising it by twenty percent, their speed would become very horrifying.
After the demonstration was over, the auctioneer smiled and said, “I gave this pair of shoes a pleasant name, Windwalk Shoes. Twenty percent increase in speed is useful no matter if you intend to flee or attack the enemy. It will allow you to retreat or advance as you please.
[TL note: Windwalk Shoes, the Chinese word for it is 风行靴. The first two characters mean windwalk, but they can also mean fashionable. I believe this was intentionally done so that the shoes had two meanings. First, of course, meaning speed, and the second, good looking. Fashionable Shoes could be a plausible name too. Unfortunately, there is no way to express two meanings like the Chinese words do in English.]
“Furthermore, there is no limit to the usage of this pair of shoes. However, it was exhaust some Essence when used. The starting price is ten thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
There were simply too many good items in this auction. This Windwalk Shoes had captured Xiao Chen’s attention at first glance. He did some calculations but discovered that he did not have sufficient Spirit Stones.
Xiao Chen had spent two hundred thousand on the first Secret Treasure and five hundred thousand on the Medicinal Pills. That was a total of seven hundred thousand. He initially had 1,200,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. If he sold the Demonic Cores, he would have about 1,500,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
That is to say, he now had about eight hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones remaining. Furthermore, he had to reserve three thousand Medial Grade Spirit Stones for his own use. So the amount he could use was only about five hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
Xiao Chen thought to himself, If it is more than three hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, I will not buy it. I still have to keep some in order to obtain a high ranked lightning-attributed Martial Technique.
As Xiao Chen was thinking, the bidding on the Windwalk Shoes was already raised to 150,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
“Two hundred thousand!”
At this crucial moment, Xiao Chen made his move again. He immediately raised the bid by fifty thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. The intense bidding war in the hall immediately went silent.
“It is booth 18 again. How many Spirit Stones does this person have? Even a regular big clan would not be able to take out so many Inferior Grade Spirit Stones in one go.”
“He is really rich, who in the world is he?!”
Everyone below was whispering to each other. Occasionally, someone would cast a glance in Xiao Chen’s direction. Xiao Chen hid inside the booth, avoiding all these gazes.
After a moment of silence, somebody in the silent hall bid again, “220,000!” However, it was only an additional twenty thousand.
Xiao Chen did not hesitate to bid, “Three hundred thousand!”
The auctioneer said excitedly, “The honored guest in booth 18 bid three hundred thousand. Is there anyone willing to bid more than three hundred thousand?”
“Hmph!” The person who bid earlier snorted coldly and stopped bidding. After that, no one continued to bid. After three calls, Xiao Chen successfully obtained the Windwalk Shoes.
When the third round of the auction began, the first item was very attractive like before. However, Xiao Chen did not have much left, so he could not participate in this.
After this, the auction continued. The items now were better than before but they did not catch Xiao Chen’s attention, so he did not make a move.
This continued until the third Secret Treasure was successfully sold. Xiao Chen did not bid at all. The people below heaved sighs of relief. If Xiao Chen bid on this Secret Treasure again, it would end up preventing them from obtaining Secret Treasures. This would result in him incurring everybody’s wrath.
The auction continued on and all sorts of manuals were placed on auction. However, none of them were the high ranked lightning-attributed Martial Technique that Xiao Chen wanted.
Xiao Chen could not help but feel this to be somewhat tedious. Suddenly, he frowned and sent out a strand of Purple Thunder True Fire from his right hand.
“Pu ci!”
In an instant, the purple flames pierced through the big wooden doors. A soft cry of pain could be heard from outside.
The instant Xiao Chen made his move, he sent out his Spiritual Sense at lightning speed as well. However, he did not discover anyone spying on him. He only found traces of blood outside.
What a fast speed, Xiao Chen thought to himself. That person’s skill at hiding their aura was very good too, I wonder who it is.
Liu Suifeng said in astonishment, “Is someone targeting us?”
Xiao Chen nodded and said, “You should go out and join the Yun Clan first. I will come out alone later.”
Liu Suifeng knew that Xiao Chen did not want to let him take any risks. After he told Xiao Chen to be careful, he quickly left booth 18.
After that, Xiao Chen kept his guard up, extending his Spiritual Sense outside. He kept his entire surroundings under surveillance.
Suddenly, flowing water appeared on the ground of the booth where Chu Chaoyun was. After a while, the water gathered and formed a human shape. It was the girl who went out to gather intelligence.
The girl said with a melodious voice, “I investigated the people in booth 8, they are the Xihe Twin Menace. I heard them say that they are prepared to make a move against Senior Brother.”
Chu Chaoyun smiled and said, “So it is those two dancing clowns. They are of no importance. Bing Qin, what’s wrong with your hand?”
When Chu Chaoyun noticed the wound on the girl’s hand, he could not help but ask.
Bing Qin smiled and said, “Just a small wound, it’s not a problem. On my way by, I decided to check out the person in booth 18 but I got discovered by him.”