“I only have so many Green Coins. I can give you this middle-grade Concealment Dao Artefact, along with a low-grade Long-sword Dao Artefact. Apart from that, I can give you 1 billion Green Coins. These are the most I can take out…..” As the old man spoke, he kept staring at the Fire Origin Crystal in Ning Cheng’s hand.
Ning Cheng felt genuinely surprised at such an offer. He had not thought that a Fire Origin Crystal would turn out this precious. After obtaining the Fire Origin Bead, Ning Cheng did not care much about the Fire Origin Crystals because of a lack of a Flame Spiritual Root. However, seeing this old man so attracted to it, Ning Cheng felt that he genuinely belittled these Fire Origin Crystals.
Ning Cheng raised the Fire Origin Crystal in his hand slightly higher and spoke, “That middle-grade Concealment Dao Artefact, plus a low-grade Long-spear Dao Artefact. Along with 5 billion Green Coins. Also, I need two rings, at least on the level of low-grade Dao Artefacts. If you can give them to me, you can have this piece; if not, then I will have no choice but to take this Fire Origin Crystal to auction.”
These two low-grade Dao Artefact rings were for Lan Yi and Shi Yulan.
“Yes, that’s perfectly possible….” The old man cried out, “I just happen to have a Treasured Thunder Spear, you can have it.”
As he spoke, a long dark spear suddenly appeared in his hand; although the spear looked very imposing, it did not emit even half a point of Spiritual Intelligence. However, Ning Cheng did not care too much about it. Using a Fire Origin Crystal to exchange for so many things had already made him unceasingly happy.
……
Orchid Borough’s Premier Merchant House had no shortage of cultivators wanting to buy weapons, whether it was day or night. All because this store not only contained the best artefacts in all of the Orchid Borough Celestial River, it also had the most advanced battleships available and the most complete pieces of equipment.
However, compared to daytime, there would always be fewer people during the night. As it was already close to dawn, people became even sparser.
At this time, a handsome young man walked into the merchant house. The young man had a wind-swept face long with a beard, giving him the appearance of a perennial wanderer among starry skies.
This person was none other than Ning Cheng using the concealment artefact. Even a person familiar with Ning Cheng would find it impossible to recognise the currently disguised Ning Cheng.
“This friend, what would you like to purchase?” The shop assistant immediately came forward and greeted Ning Cheng with a smile. He knew that cultivators like Ning Cheng, who perennially wandered the starry skies, were a straightforward bunch. At the same time, they were also the most difficult to deal with as customers.
“I want a Void Battleship, with fast speed and an even stronger combat capability.” Ning Cheng spoke with a hoarse voice.
“Friend, please come with me.” The shop assistant immediately brought Ning Cheng to a vast hall filled with all kinds of Void Battleships.
Ning Cheng did not know much about battleships, so he just spoke out what he knew, “I want a Celestial River Class Battleship, and preferably one that comes from a True Technological Planet. It would be best if it also had Flowing Sky Cannons.”
The shop assistant looked a little depressed as he replied, “A Celestial River Class Battleship with Flowing Sky Cannons installed, you will not find it on sale anywhere in Orchid Borough Star. If you truly want to obtain one, then this friend can go to the auction tomorrow. However, the price would not be low.”
Ning Cheng’s cultivation did not appear very high; as such, the shop assistant’s last words implied that if you wanted to purchase a high-grade starry skies’ battleship, you also needed to have enough Celestial Coins. Going to the auction would also warrant the same thing; moreover, the price there would be, at least, 20% greater even for regular items, let alone something as rare as a Celestial River Class Battleship.
Ning Cheng did not care about the shop assistant’s underlying meaning. He suddenly remembered the manual for the auction he had previously purchased. He quickly said his goodbyes to the shop assistant and left the Orchid Borough’s Premier Merchant Shop.
……
Bright Gist Resting Pen. Lan Ya and Shi Yulan sat opposite to each other. They had no rings and were without weapons. Without Celestial Coins, even if they wanted to go out, they had no way doing anything.
“Ning Cheng said he would come…..” Shi Yulan spoke up with some difficulty. If there was another way, she really did not want to stay in such a situation.
Lan Ya gave out a sigh and said, “The last time I was this bankrupt, it was Ning Cheng who ended up giving me a ring. I didn’t think it would end up like this again, alas.”
“What happened last time?” Shi Yulan unexpectedly felt the mood to ask.
“The last time, I got myself caught in Void Incinerating Flames, almost got burned to death… No. It all happened because I carelessly entered that Bright Void Gorge… Wait, it was not because of the Bright Void Gorge. However, my ring really ended up destroyed by the Void Incinerating Flames…..” Lan Ya did not seem to want to talk about these things. After all, she felt a bit embarrassed as she recounted it. It indeed was a journey filled with difficulties.
Shi Yulan looked at Lan Ya in amazement, “Senior Apprentice Sister Lan Ya, you mean that even your clothes got destroyed, then…..”
Lan Ya’s face turned slightly red as she replied, “I’m a perennial wanderer among the starry skies. Even if my robes got burned, I still have a good inner armour…..”
Lan Ya herself found it somewhat embarrassing; the so-called inner armour was just a pair of undergarments.
The restriction on the door shook, which allowed Lan Ya to give out a sigh of relief. She really did not want to continue recalling that kind of an embarrassing scene.
“Wuming? Come in.” Lan Ya called out before subconsciously shooting Shi Yulan a glance. She had already come to know about everything that happened between Jing Wuming and Shi Yulan. Two people with two separate yet intertwined tragic lives, the only phrase that she could use to describe them.
Jing Wuming looked a little pale and shook his head before replying, “I’m not coming in. There are two rings here, you can each take one.”
With that, he put the rings in Lan Ya’s hands.
“I don’t want it, you can take it back. I already owe you a lot; I don’t want to owe you more.” Shi Yulan spoke out in a calm voice.
Jing Wuming did not take back the ring, “You don’t owe me anything, nor do I owe you anything. That unfilial Jing Hao had already perished, and only Jing Wuming exists. Moreover, these two rings are not something from me but from Xiaocheng. Xiaocheng is very busy at the moment and has no time to bother about other things.”
Jing Wuming finished before turning around and leaving, He did not want to linger here for even an extra unnecessary moment.
Shi Yulan kept looking at the Jing Wuming’s back and did not move for a long time.
Lan Ya understood why Ning Cheng wanted Jing Wuming to deliver the rings. Ning Cheng wanted Jing Wuming and Shi Yulan to talk for a while by themselves; however, Ning Cheng’s intentions were apparently lost on the two of them.
She put one of the rings in Shi Yulan’s hand before pulling Shi Yulan aside and speaking, “There is no need to overthink about the things that happened in the past. This matter, anyways, does not have a right or a wrong.”
……
After Ning Cheng handed the two rings to Jing Wuming for delivery, Ning Cheng then returned to his room and immediately took out the Treasured Thunder Spear to refine. Although the Nirvana Spear proved helpful, Ning Cheng still could not make full use of it. After all, it was still a lump of unrefined material in the end.
This Treasured Thunder Spear was a low-grade Dao Artefact and was a Thunder Attributed Weapon. With Ning Cheng’s current cultivation, it was enough to meet his expectations.
After refining the Treasured Thunder Spear, Ning Cheng held it in his hands, which immediately added a slight Spiritual Nature to it. The faint Thunder Lights wrapping around the handle made Ning Cheng feel very satisfied with the weapon. He did not spend his Fire Origin Crystal in vain; the things he traded it for brought him a few useful surprises.
Ruan Mingshu’s room and Ning Cheng’s room were right next to each other. Ruan Mingshu had just walked out of her room when she saw a faint Thunder Light flashing over the restrictions on Ning Cheng’s place. She immediately felt startled; did Ning Cheng have a Thunder Attributed Spirit Root? People with Thunder Attributed Spiritual Roots were scarce; if such a person fell, it indeed would be pitiful.
However, she shook her head. The number of geniuses that fell in the endless starry skies’ numbered in the billions. Not to say about Ning Cheng, even if she talked about herself, Ruan Mingshu, she still had no control over her destiny; unless one day, she cultivated to the degree that others needed to actually look up to her.
Just as Ruan Mingshu’s Spiritual Consciousness fell on the restriction over the door, Ning Cheng immediately felt it. Ning Cheng immediately put away the Treasured Thunder Spear. He always felt wary of Ruan Mingshu; this woman just was too kind to him. If not for the cooperation agreement between them, it would have made him extremely suspicious of her motives.
After Ning Cheng refined the Treasured Thunder Spear, he had planned to immediately head out. The place that he wanted to head out naturally was the auction. Yesterday, he went to the slave auction market, and today he was going to another one organised by the Orchid Borough Celestial River. With so many Celestial Lords along with so many other talented cultivators gathered together from all reaches of the Orchid Borough Celestial River, the scale of this auction could never be small.
However, the only reason why Ning Cheng wanted to attend this auction was due to a single object, the Amethyst Heaven Mysterious Crystal.
The Amethyst Heaven Mysterious Crystal was what he needed to upgrade the Twin Leaves of the Radiant Heavenly Clouds, which Ning Cheng had refined into Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. According to Ning Cheng’s previous understanding, each upgrade of the Twin Leaves of the Radiant Heavenly Clouds would add an extra pair of bright lights to it. Currently, there were two pairs of shimmering lights on his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds. If he managed to add another set of bright lights, his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds would definitely become a lot faster.
Because Ning Cheng saw the words Amethyst Heaven Mysterious Crystal, he ended up buying the auction manual for 100 Blue Coins. Now that he heard that the auction also contained a real Celestial River Class Battleship, he immediately decided to go see it.
……
It was already the third largest auction held by the Revolving Jade City within the past month, and it certainly would not be the last one. The reason naturally stemmed from the gathering of many wealthy people from all over the Celestial River at the Revolving Jade City, which also implied the collection of many treasures from the entire Celestial River.
Ning Cheng did not secure a private room, not that he did not have the money, but because he still did not have the required status. However, Ning Cheng did not care about this. He also noticed that the size and scale of this auction were much larger than the slave auction that he attended yesterday. Every guest had a private space assigned to him or her. If they activated the Isolation Restriction within this area, the Spiritual Consciousness of others could not sweep in. It was equivalent to having a small private room to themselves.
However, only a few people would choose to isolate their seats, which was an indication of trying to hide 300 silver teals in that location. In any case, if one bid in the auction, the others would not have any evidence of who the person bidding was. At the same time, each person participating had a unique serial number assigned to him or her, which only the person attending knew about.
[TL Note: ‘trying to hide 300 silver teals’ is an idiom which figuratively means ‘unintentionally revealing what one intends to hide’]
Moreover, one did not need to yell out the bids, one just had to enter the price one wanted to bid in the machinations placed in front of their seats. The huge Array Formation Display at the centre would then display the highest bid. At the same time, once one successfully won the bid, no one would immediately send the things to you. Only the completion of the transaction would result in the delivery of the item to you.
Ning Cheng still used the disguise of a perennial wanderer amongst the starry skies. He also did not isolate his seat, and no one even knew him.
The auction had not yet begun when Ning Cheng’s Spiritual Consciousness noticed Ruan Mingshu’s entry into the hall. In addition to her, even that sharp-chinned Celestial Lord Miao Pu also appeared.
After waiting for another incense stick worth of time, a female cultivator wearing a very formal attire walked onto the main stage of the auction hall. This female cultivator first gave a respectful bow towards the audience before speaking up, “I will be presiding over this auction. I am Deacon Yu Ni from the Celestial Involution Chamber of Commerce. I hope everyone feels satisfied with the various treasures put on sale for this auction. The first treasure for auction is a beast egg of the starry skies’ Thousand Rift Explosive Ape with a reserve price of 1 million Green Coins. Each bid increase must not be less than 100,000 Green Coins. Let the auction begin.”