Chapter 1858 - Auction

For the next few days, everything was calm.

After sneaking into Purple Star Palace that night and alerting his enemies, Yang Kai did not act rashly again. He believed that the level of alert in Purple Star Palace had been raised to the extreme now, and even with his abilities, he was not certain he could sneak in again.

Hua You Meng took advantage of her connections to probe into the situation in Purple Star City over the recent period and reported everything she learned to Yang Kai.

It was then that Yang Kai learned that, because Zi Long and Zi Dong had been away from Purple Star for such a long time, the other leaders in Purple Star had split into several factions. Among these factions, the ones led by Second Young Master Zi Wu Ji and Great Elder Gong Sun Liang were by far the strongest and were now secretly clashing with one another.

Although Purple Star’s higher-ups tried to conceal this matter, paper could not cover fire and word had already begun to leak out, allowing Hua You Meng to easily uncover the truth.

But the information she was able to obtain was all well-known, nothing specific or particularly insightful.

Yet this was enough. It allowed Yang Kai to understand just what was brewing beneath the calm façade of Purple Star City.

There were only two things that Yang Kai cared about right now: Stealing the Star Emperor Token and getting Shen Tu and his entourage out safely. Unfortunately, no good opportunity had presented itself yet, so he could only continue to wait patiently.

Time flew by, and the day of Clear Sky Auction House’s auction soon arrived.

Yang Kai had nothing else to do at the moment, so he gladly accompanied Hua You Meng to the auction after all. The value of the land deeds that were being auctioned on behalf of Five Paths Chamber of Commerce this time was too large, so if there was no master present, it was impossible to guarantee that others would not get malicious ideas.

Hua You Meng was incredibly happy to see this as she had been wondering how to invite Yang Kai to come with her. Now that he had volunteered to accompany her, her gratitude towards Yang Kai rose even higher.

On the day of the auction, Hua You Meng dressed up in a tight-fitting purple dress that perfectly complemented her figure and noble temperament. As she walked next to Yang Kai down the street, she drew the attention of many.

Presenting the invitation she had received, a member of Clear Sky Auction House’s staff led Yang Kai and Hua You Meng to one of the private rooms, offered some spirit fruits and tea, then respectfully withdrew.

Hua You Meng stood sternly to the side, and only after Yang Kai urged her several times, did she restlessly take a seat.

There was still some time before the auction started, so Yang Kai looked around to ease his boredom.

After a short while though, he could not help frowning as a hint of suspicious appeared on his face.

“Sir, has something happened?” Hua You Meng’s attention had always been on Yang Kai, so seeing his expression change at this moment she could not help asking quickly.

“Is there something extremely valuable being auctioned today?” Yang Kai frowned and asked.

“I don’t know…” Hua You Meng smiled awkwardly.

“En, never mind,” Yang Kai smiled slightly before taking back his Divine Sense and frowning slightly.

Just now, he had noticed that there were many Origin Kings in this auction house!

This was quite strange. There were not many things that could attract the attention of Origin Kings in this world, and even if something like that did appear, it shouldn’t have made it all the way to Clear Sky Auction House’s auction floor.

An Origin King would not visit this kind of auction house for no reason. In fact, if not for him accompanying Hua You Meng today, Yang Kai would not have even considered coming here either.

But now, there were at least five Origin Kings present besides him.

Private Rooms A1 through A4 all had Origin Kings in them. Of special note was room A1, where even Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was being blocked slightly. Obviously, someone very strong was inside.

What’s more… the aura coming from this room gave Yang Kai a familiar feeling.

In fact, the person in room A1 was none other than Purple Star’s Great Elder Gong Sun Liang, whom Yang Kai had fought with a few days ago!

This auction was actually able to attract Gong Sun Liang, which showed that there was definitely something good here!

This discovery immediately raised Yang Kai’s interest in this auction.

After a short wait, a beautiful figure appeared lightly on the high platform in the middle of the auction house. It was Li Nuo.

Smiling faintly in her sleeveless, low cut cyan dress that exposed her slightly pinkish arms as well as part of her deep valley to the air, Li Nuo appeared particularly seductive. Her long, beautiful legs were also adorned with a pair of special jade sandals that drew the eyes of many of the cultivators to her. From the crowd, countless greedy looks were directed towards her unscrupulously.

Li Nuo paid these gazes no mind and simply smiled warmly as she spoke, “Thank you all for coming to today’s auction. This Mistress is grateful for your attendance, as it brings great honour to my Clear Sky Auction House. This Mistress is Li Nuo, and will serve as the host of today’s auction. I hope that everyone will treat this Mistress favourably.”

Saying so, she gave an elegant salute.

“Without further delay, today’s auction will officially begin, however… let this Mistress first say that among today’s auction items, there are many extremely valuable treasures. Ones that will satisfy the desires of everyone present!” While saying so, she glanced towards the A Block private rooms, and although she did not state things clearly, her meaning was self-evident.

Yang Kai smiled knowingly and thought to himself that with Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce backing it, Clear Sky Auction House was certainly out of the ordinary. Otherwise, it would have never been able to come up with items that could even tempt Origin Kings.

“Let’s have a look at the first auction!” Li Nuo called out before gesturing to the side. The next moment, a woman dressed as a maidservant and with a brilliant smile on her face brought out a tray.

This tray was covered with a red cloth that was made of some unknown material that seemed capable of blocking the Divine Sense of most of the cultivators in the auction house, causing everyone to feel somewhat eager and to crane their necks to get a better look.

There was also a curious look in Hua You Meng’s beautiful eyes as she stared at this tray fixedly.

Although it was not the first time that she had participated in an auction, it was the first time she had the privilege of entering a private room, a completely different experience compared to squeezing into the seats in the auction house’s lower section.

“It’s just an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artifact, you don’t need it,” Yang Kai saw the eager look on her face and immediately spoke.

Hua You Meng was taken aback, “Sir, can you see what is beneath that cloth?”

Yang Kai chuckled, “That red cloth is made from the silk of a Red Snow Heavenly Silkworm. Its only effect is to block Divine Sense, but its effects are limited to Origin Realm cultivators. It can’t block the Divine Sense of an Origin King.”

Hua You Meng gently nodded as a look of longing appeared in her eyes. She was also a Third-Order Origin Realm cultivator now. If she had enough opportunity, she could also try to break through to the Origin King Realm, but the chances of that were not very good. She had broken through many years ago, but she had still yet to condense her Shi to the grand accomplishment stage, much less touch upon the mysteries of Domain.

In all likelihood, breaking through again in this lifetime was hopeless!

On stage, Li Nuo smiled lightly, walked forward, and lifted the red cloth covering the tray, revealing the contents to everyone.

Sure enough, it was an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artifact, a delicate-looking dagger that exuded a deep chill.

Li Nuo picked up the dagger, twirled it in her hands, then poured her Saint Qi into it, causing the dagger to buzz and reveal a flowing set of runes on its blade.

In an instant, the already strong chill became even more piercing.

Li Nuo held the dagger in her hand as she pushed her Saint Qi again, “This Severing Yuan Dagger was forged from Deep Sea Cold Iron with Cold Ocean Sand and the fangs of a Ninth-Order Black-Eyed Tapir Monster Beast by an Origin Grade High-Rank Artifact Refiner. It is capable of releasing extremely frigid energy and specializes in piercing protective Saint Qi. Please observe.”

Saying so, she actually stabbed her arm.

Everyone saw as the tip of this dagger quickly struck Li Nuo’s Saint Qi protection, and the layer of Saint Qu around her body was torn through.

Fortunately, Li Nuo’s control of her strength was excellent, so despite the dagger piercing her protective Saint Qi, she was not injured in the slightest.

Withdrawing the dagger, Li Nuo smiled and said, “Although the Severing Yuan Dagger is only an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artifact, if used properly, it can provide a great boost even when fighting Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators. What’s more, it is easy and quick to refine. This Mistress does not need to explain further how valuable such an artifact is. The starting price is 150,000 Saint Crystals, please!”

As soon as Li Nuo’s voice fell, bids flew out from the house seats as many were obviously extremely interested in this artifact.

Hua You Meng also looked interested as this dagger was small and suitable for women, but remembering Yang Kai’s words just now, she reluctantly held herself back.

At that moment, Yang Kai spoke, “This dagger has a slight defect. If I’m not mistaken, it is probably a failed product.”

“Failed product?” Hua You Meng was startled when she heard these words.

“Yeah, did you notice that, when Li Nuo was demonstrating the power of the dagger just now, she intentionally used an Ice Attribute Secret Technique first? One probably needs to cultivate an Ice Attribute Secret Art or Secret Technique in order to use this dagger. Seeing how you don’t have any cold attributes in your Saint Qi, even if you were to obtain this thing, it won’t be of any use.”

“Is that true?” Hua You Meng was shocked, “Then isn’t Li Nuo deceiving others by doing this?”

Yang Kai smiled and shook his head, “You can’t say that. At most, you can only say she didn’t give a complete explanation. What’s more, if this dagger is really obtained by someone who cultivates an appropriate Secret Art, its power will still be commendable.”

“En, this Mistress understands,” Hua You Meng gave an enlightened nod.

In the hall, the bids continued to come in and the base price of 150,000 quickly rose to 280,000.

The first item being so popular made Li Nuo happily smile.

The most important thing about an auction was to have a good start. This would stimulate the enthusiasm of the participants and raise the price of all the following items.

After the price climbed to 320,000, the bids gradually became scarce; after all, this was about the upper limit of the price of an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artifact, any more and it wouldn’t be worth it.

Not every cultivator had so many spare Saint Crystals. Even if one was able to earn a large amount of Saint Crystals, they would still need to buy a variety of pills and also use Saint Crystals for their cultivation. In the end, artifacts were just auxiliary tools.

Eventually, this Severing Yuan Dagger was bought by a male cultivator in the hall for 350,000 Saint Crystals.

The auction continued in full swing. After the first item sold for such a good price, the enthusiasm of a large number of cultivators was high and each subsequent item that was brought out was steadily bid on, filling the hall with excitement.

Artifacts, pills, herbs, ores, even Secret Arts and Secret Techniques… all kinds of items were available at this auction.