Chapter 142: That~ The Treasure Was Fished Away...
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
"1,000 spirit stones!"
"1,200 spirit stones!"
"1,500! My Mo family will be taking this talisman!"
A moment of silence pervaded the auction hall before a flurry of bids rang out! Bids of thousands of spirit stones were thrown out as though they were just common pebbles which could be found by the side of the road! Throughout the vast auction hall, only the influential people from the second and third level booths were bidding on the item.
The luxurious booths on the second and third levels hung high over the heads of the commoners at the bottom level. Without solid capabilities and vast assets, it was impossible to enter those levels!
As expected, the people at the lowest level did not participate in the fierce bidding at all. Rather, they seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. Normally, it was impossible to see so many influential clans together, not to mention witness a fight between them!
Finally, the sword talisman was sold to a large family clan for 3,000 pieces of low grade spirit stones! From hereon, that family clan would have a new trump card! In situations where life and death—even annihilation—loom, they could rely on this sword talisman to save the clan!
All the treasures that came out in the second part of the auction were extremely rare and precious. Even the influential Heavenly Treasures Pavilion had to spend an entire 10 years to prepare for this auction!
"The next item we will be bringing out is one of our main ten treasures to be auctioned today, a Foundation Establishment Pill!" Even the purple-robed old man could not hide the slight fluctuation in his voice as he continued, "The owner of this pill had requested that our auction house only accept pills which can help increase Qi during the Qi refinement stages as bids."
Everyone in the audience was staring at the stage with wide eyes and open mouths. What did they just hear? A Foundation Establishment Pill?! A Peak Qi Refinement stage expert could improve his chances of breaking through to Foundation Establishment by thirty percent just by eating this pill!
One must not look down on this 'mere' thirty percent success rate. This was already considered to be extremely high!
"Where did this wastrel come from? He would even take out a pill like this for auction?!"
An old man scolded darkly as he shook his head. Others would hide a pill like this with great care to consume it themselves when they reached the peak of Qi Refinement. But this fellow was really good. He actually directly took it out to auction it off!
"As expected of the Heavenly Treasures Pavilion, who would have thought that they would even have a treasure like this! We have to get this Foundation Establishment Pill at all costs! With it, perhaps the Old Ancestor could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage!
A middle-aged man's eyes were glimmering as he stood closer to the window of his third level booth. The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion never announced the main ten treasures of the auction. Thus, before the event, no one knew what the main treasures were going to be.
Right now, none of the great powers were able to remain calm with the appearance of a Foundation Establishment Pill!
A single Foundation Establishment Pill could mean the creation of a Foundation Establishment expert!
A Foundation Establishment expert had a lifespan of 200 years, and they could easily sweep aside tens of peak Qi Refinement experts as though they were flies! In essence, gaining a single Foundation Establishment expert was equal to having a stable Mt Tai supporting their clan, ensuring a crazy development speed for at least 200 years!
"You can start bidding now. If the final bid is deemed to be too low, the seller can choose to withdraw the item," the old man stepped aside immediately after speaking, allowing the bidders to fight it out among themselves.
"10 bottles of Essence Qi Pills!" Someone shouted from the second floor booth.
"10 bottles of Xiantian Pills!"
"15 bottles of Qi Refinement Pills!"
"Then I'll offer 1..."
Countless bids of increasing value were thrown out by the large clans, causing the audience to fall into a slight daze.
"It's fine if it's just Essence Qi Pills. That stuff is only useful for cultivators below Qi Refinement stage 6. But Xiantian Pills and Qi Refinement Pills could be used all the way to the peak of Qi Refinement stage! These large clans have really deep pockets!" Someone said.
"Right, 15 bottles of Qi Refinement Pills are worth over 10,000 spirit stones!"
Towards the end, the large clans even began using their clans to pressure the others into giving up on bidding. Masked threats of 'I'm representing so-and-so clan', and 'my son is a disciple of this and that powerful sect' were now attached to the end of every bid.
The basic meaning behind all these words was obvious. I am very powerful, my clan is very powerful, and my son will also be very powerful in the future! Everyone else must let me have this pill!
"I'll bid 1 spirit stone. I'm taking this Foundation Establishment Pill!" Just as the large clans were fighting ferociously and flinging their wealth and power in each other's faces, a light voice sounded.
The originally noisy marketplace-like hall fell silent in a moment. The people in the higher booths all walked closer to their windows and looked out.
"Huala!"
A region at the lower level suddenly moved as people hurried to move away from the speaker. A large empty space suddenly appeared to reveal the figure of a man, all dressed in black.
"Who the hell is that? Is he stupid?"
The people in the crowd started to whisper at each other.
"No! You all should have forgotten about an important detail? Spirit stones are separated into different grades as well! Who knows if this guy is offering a high grade spirit stone or a even a top grade spirit stone?"
A middle-aged man said as he measured the black robed man with his eyes.
Right, a medium grade spirit stone was worth 100 low grade spirit stones. A high grade spirit stone was worth 1,000 low grade spirit stones, and a top grade spirit stone was worth 30,000 low grade spirit stones!
But that was only the value one used when dealing with large-scale transactions. If a person wished to exchange for higher grade spirit stones using lower grade spirit stones, it would not be so easy. For instance, one could possibly only obtain a middle grade spirit stone if they used 120 or 130 low grade spirit stones to exchange for it!
Thinking to this point, even the numerous experts on the second and third level booths revealed surprised expressions.
"Esteemed customer, do you mean you are offering a bid of one piece of top grade spirit stone?" The purple-robed old man asked.
"Haha! This honorable one was saying that I'm bidding a single low grade spirit stone!" The black-robed man stood up with a maniacal laugh as a shocking spirit aura spread through the entire auction hall, covering everyone!
"Foundation Establishment expert!"
The crowd was visibly shaken as they gasped.
"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist?"
The purple-robed old man narrowed his eyes as he looked at the black-robed man who was hovering in mid air.
"This honored one, the Esteemed Mo Luo, am buying all ten of your main ten treasures with a single low grade spirit stone today! Go ahead and bring everything out. You should be glad, this is the first time this honored one is paying when buying something!"
The black robes on Esteemed Luo Mo fluttered without any wind as he hovered in mid air, his expression one of insufferable arrogance.
"Hmph! Which mountain cave did this retard crawl out from? Did you hurt your brain from too much closed door cultivation?"
Unexpectedly, upon hearing the words from the Mo Luo fellow, the crowd did not feel scared. Instead, they felt a sense of relief and they looked at Mo Luo with a gaze as if they were looking at a dead man.
"I haven't seen such an insolent fellow like you in a long time. Since your cultivation is not bad, I'll spare your life. You can just come and serve as the guard of my Heavenly Treasure Pavilion for the next 30 years!" The purple-robed old man snorted coldly, and an incomparably thick aura smashed towards Mo Luo!
"Bam!"
"Puu!"
A dull expression fleeted across Mo Luo's face as his aura was directly smashed apart by the incoming aura. A mouthful of blood was spat violently from his mouth as he fell from the sky. Seeing the purple-robed old man who was similarly floating in the air, his eyes widened. "Fake Dan expert!"
The Fake Dan stage was a name for the special boundary realm between Foundation Establishment and Jindan stage. It was a realm beyond Foundation Establishment, and was a stage to classify people who had failed in breaking through to Jindan stage.
Normally, even a small group of 3-5 peak Foundation Establishment experts joining hands would not necessarily be able to beat a Fake Dan cultivator!
The great clans were all chuckling coldly. A mere Foundation Establishment fellow dared to come and rob the Heavenly Treasures Pavilion. Was he stupid, or... stupid?
A hundred years ago, a Jindan expert unleashed his might in the Heavenly Treasures Pavilion auction and snatched away a supreme treasure. But by the second day, that Jindan cultivator's head was found hanging outside the main gate of Heavenly Treasures Pavilion!
"Looks like this old man had not acted in a long time, so all kinds of demons and ghosts are popping out! I would like to see who still dares to come now!"
The purple robed old man radiated an unchallenged might, and his voice resounded clearly across the auction hall. However, the expressions on the crowd's faces were slightly strange. The old man scratched his head subconsciously as he looked back at the crowd blankly.
"That~ the treasure was fished away..."
A weak cough floated up to the stage.
The purple-robed old man turned around stiffly. The dominating words "who still dares to come!" had just left his mouth and his face had already been smacked black and blue!