Over the following month, talk of the auction grew more and more common throughout the sect. Bai Xiaochun heard much of the talk, and noticed a lot of people discussing the joint north and south bank Outer Sect Chosen battles. However, he didn’t pay much attention to such talk.
Soon, the month had passed. One morning at dawn when Bai Xiaochun was meditating, his eyes suddenly opened, and he pulled a glowing jade slip out of his bag of holding.
“The auction is going to start,” he thought, eyes shining with anticipation. He quickly hurried out of his courtyard and raced down the mountain. Along the way, he passed quite a few Outer Sect disciples, until he noticed a few beams of light speeding by over head.
He smacked his own forehead at the realization that he’d forgotten about being able to fly. Quickly performing an incantation gesture, he summoned the Golden Crow Sword. Stepping onto the golden crow, he transformed into a beam of golden light that shot off into the distance.
He soon reached the market. Head high and chest out, he entered the auction pavilion.
It was a huge structure, with several thousand seats set up on the auction floor, as well as an open area behind the seats where a crowd of people stood, packed together tightly. As for Bai Xiaochun, he was whisked away by Sun Chen, who took him to a private room on the second floor, and then left.
The room was relatively small, with a narrow balcony, beneath which was the main auction floor. The auction stage was also clearly visible.
This was not Bai Xiaochun’s first time being present for such a lively affair. Instead of behaving like the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the other private rooms, who stayed out of sight, Bai Xiaochun made sure to lean out of the balcony. Worried that people might not notice him, he began to clear his throat as loudly as possible.
Soon, some people down below saw him, casting odd glances at him before turning away.
Unfortunately, there were simply too many people present, so no matter how loudly he cleared his throat, the sound would only go so far. Off in the distance, he caught sight of Hou Xiaomei, as well as Zhou Xinqi and some of the other people he knew. However, they were too far away to notice him.
Even after yelling at the top of his lungs, they didn’t turn his way, and he started to get a bit depressed. Finally, he lost interest. In any case, sticking himself out of the balcony was a bit tiring…. Furthermore, there was always the danger of accidentally falling…. If that happened, then it would only take a day for everyone on the entire south bank to hear about it.
Time passed, and more people showed up. After about an hour, the sound of a cauldron being struck rung out, and everything went quiet. Countless eyes were all fixed on the auction stage.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a green garment appeared. Smiling, he stood there and greeted everyone with clasped hands.
“I am your humble servant Qian Song. I presume many of you Fellow Daoists are already familiar with me. I will be presiding over the auction today. The rules are the same as ever, all lots go to the highest bidder.” Without any further ado, he waved his right hand, and a glowing door rose up on the auction stage.
A young woman emerged, holding a platter, atop which was an oddly shaped rock formed of various metals.
The rock glowed with garish, multicolored light that reflected within the excited, shocked eyes of the thousands of auction attendees.
Bai Xiaochun looked closely at the rock but couldn’t quite tell what it was. However, other people in the crowd seemed to know exactly what it was, and were already getting excited.
When Qian Song spoke, his voice was soft, but he boosted it with his Foundation Establishment cultivation base, ensuring that it spread out for all to hear. “Lot one is a piece of Auric Ore. Minimum bid, 300 spirit stones. Bid increment is a minimum of 50 spirit stones!”
“350 spirit stones!” someone cried out.
“400!” Almost as soon as the first bid came out, another topped it. Before long, the price reached 700 spirit stones, and the item was sold to a disciple from Violet Cauldron Peak.
Bai Xiaochun looked at the piece of ore with wide eyes, trying to figure out why it could possibly be worth 700 spirit stones. Another thing he’d noticed was that after the auction had begun, a spell formation had been activated which amplified the voices of anyone calling out bids.
“It’s just a piece of metal,” he thought a bit sourly as he sat there watching.
More items appeared and were sold. One of them was a green horn from a juvenile dragon, which had apparently been struck by lightning, leaving sparks of electricity coursing along its surface. It fetched a price of 8,000 spirit stones, which left Bai Xiaochun completely shaken.
After the auction had been going for about an hour, Qian Song’s voice rang out with the following words: “The next lot is a bottle of tier-2 spirit medicine. Violet Qi Spirit Ascension Pills, a total of ten. They are close to mid-grade, with an impurity level of eighty-one percent. Minimum price, 100 spirit stones. Bid increment is a minimum of 10 spirit stones.”
Bai Xiaochun instantly perked up, and stared out at the auction floor in anticipation. Thinking nervously about how much he might make, he waited for someone to call out a bid.
However, for some reason, the only thing that met his ears was silence. Even as his heart began to pound, someone called out an opening bid.
“110 spirit stones.” The bidder was an Outer Sect disciple, and the amount bid was apparently all of his savings. After calling out the bid he stared around nervously.
However, Bai Xiaochun was even more nervous than he was. That bottle of Violet Qi Spirit Ascension Pills had cost him about 50 spirit stones to manufacture, and if he sold it at the market, would fetch a price of 150 or 160.
At the moment, all he could do was scowl at the audience in astonishment.
Just when Qian Song was about to strike down with the auction hammer, someone else called out another price. Then, more people jumped in. In the end, the price jumped all the way to 180 spirit stones.
“180 spirit stones isn’t bad. That’s about 20 higher than at the market.” Sighing in relief, he wiped the sweat from his brow. The truth was, the price the bottle had fetched earned him a tidy profit, although it didn’t come close to the value of some of the other precious items which had gone up for bid so far.
Soon, his second bottle went up, and ended up selling for a slightly higher price, 200 spirit stones. Bai Xiaochun was very pleased.
By the time the third bottle went up, the Qi Condensation disciples were getting very excited, and more people jumped in on the bidding. In the end, Bai Xiaochun was ecstatic; the final price reached 230 spirit stones.
“More than 700 spirit stones! Now this is what I call an auction! I already have enough spirit stones to concoct a tier-3 spirit medicine.” Bai Xiaochun was an easy person to please. His sour mood from before was completely gone, and he sat there happily waiting for the premium-grade spirit medicine to appear.
“Considering the price the other bottles fetched, I think the premium-grade might get… 300 spirit stones?” After a bit of hesitation, he changed his mind.
“200 would be fine!” He nodded confidently.
Time passed. Bai Xiaochun sat there waiting until it was afternoon. There on the auction stage, Qian Song’s expression suddenly turned a bit strange. Looking around at the audience, he cleared his throat.
“The next lot is something a bit interesting…. It’s a tier-2 spirit medicine, also a Violet Qi Spirit Ascension Pill. However… there’s something different about it.”
Bai Xiaochun sat there anxiously on the balcony, mind buzzing with nervousness.
Chapter 77: Auction
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Translator: Deathblade. Chinese language consultant: ASI a.k.a. Beerblade. Editor: GNE. Memes: Logan. Meme Archives: JerryDaBaws
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By the way, this chapter was quite long, about 3,000 words instead of the usual 2,000….
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Chapter
78: Are They Talking About Me?