Chapter 86 The Auction Begins (Third Update)
In the private room, Tang Man Lou did not make eye contact with Lin Qi, but a glimpse of his gaze made him jump in fright. It was as if he had been cut by a knife, and Lin Qi's gaze seemed to be a sharp blade that could slice through illusions and wound one's soul, possessing an unfathomable power.
In the void, Ou Yangming's gaze and Lin Qi's gaze had already clashed, rubbing out countless illusory sparks, neither yielding to the other.
In the blink of an eye, both of them withdrew their gaze.
"What a fine Northern Snow Fast Knife." Ouyang Ming let out a cold snort, his face looking somewhat unsightly. Lin Qi's strength was still slightly inferior to that of the Northern Snow Young Master, but his gaze was even more exceptional. Just now, it seemed like they were evenly matched, but in reality, he had already fallen into a disadvantageous position. No wonder the master of the Northern Snow Mountain Manor, Xue Wujian, had determined that he was the most likely person to comprehend the intent of the knife.
But as long as he hasn't grasped the intent of the sword, Ouyang Ming has confidence in competing with his opponent.
Outside the private room, Lin Qi's face was expressionless as he continued walking forward and stopped in front of Ye Chen's adjacent private room.
Ye Chen's eyebrows suddenly furrowed, as if he sensed a sharp blade approaching.
"Yedu, what's wrong." Wu Zongming asked.
Ye Chen shook his head, "Nothing, the auction is about to start."
"Good, people have almost arrived. By the way, how much silver did you bring?"
"180,000 taels of gold."
"Didn't you ask your family for money?" Eighteen million taels of gold was a vast fortune that ordinary people dared not hope for, but to them it was nothing special. This time, in order to obtain the Return to Truth Pill and some other precious items, Wu Zongming took out thirty million taels of gold. Ye Chen's family was even bigger than the Wu family, if they were to take out money, it would definitely not be just this amount.
Ye Chen smiled and said, "That's enough, anyway I'm just taking a look, maybe I won't buy anything." The 180,000 taels of gold were the entire fortune of the Butcher and his recent earnings from completing tasks, which was already a considerable amount. If he encountered an interesting treasure, his storage ring still had over 10,000 low-grade spirit stones, each worth 2,000 taels of silver. Calculating that way, the total value would be over 20 million taels of silver, equivalent to over 2 million taels of gold, which was more than the total assets of some small families.
"Hehe, you'll regret bringing too little money later." Wu Zongming smiled slyly.
Ye Cen's thoughts were not fully present in his conversation with Wu Zongming, as a strong soul force seeped through the walls and probed into the adjacent private room.
There was only one young man sitting in the private room.
Ordinary in appearance, wearing a white robe, his slender body stood upright, with his vital energy not spreading outward but rather shrinking inward, as if embracing the origin.
At the peak of the late stage of the Cong Zhen realm, this person should be 'North Snow Fast Knife' Lin Qi. Ye Chen didn't think of North Snow Young Master because North Snow Young Master was rumored to be elegant and not in a group, his face often had a smile like spring breeze, and he was very handsome, he was the dream lover of many female disciples of Liuyun Sect.
Lin Qi was unaware of the exploration of spiritual power, but the strange aura in the dark still alerted him, and he turned his head to look at the flat wall.
"Did you notice? No, didn't." Ye Chen noticed that the other person's line of sight was scattered and did not notice him.
Of course, continuing to explore was useless, so Ye Chen withdrew his spiritual power.
Lin Qi felt something strange disappear, with some doubts, but didn't think too deeply about it because the auction was starting.
Behind the stone auction platform, an old man in yellow clothes walked up.
He clapped his hands and the crystal above the auction hall suddenly lit up, casting a soft glow that illuminated every corner.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Northwest Auction House. I am Qian Zongchao, a mid-level auctioneer here. I suppose many of you already know me, and those who don't, there's no need to make an effort to remember my name, because next time you come, it might still be me hosting the auction."
"Before the auction, I'd like to say one more thing. If any of you have valuable items you'd like to auction off, you can entrust them to our auction house. We categorize items into four grades based on their value. For lower-grade treasures, we only charge a commission of 10%. For mid-grade treasures, it's 50%, and for high-grade treasures, we'll help you auction them off for free, without taking a single penny. As for the most valuable treasures, our auction house will even pay you silver."
As soon as this was said, there were various discussions among those present.
"What a joke! With top-grade and extreme-grade treasures, who would take them out for auction? Are you kidding me?"
"That's right, a low-grade treasure can make people fight to the death, a mid-grade treasure can drive Yuanjing and Xingji realm warriors crazy, let alone high-grade treasures, not to mention top-grade treasures."
Ye Chen was also speechless, the auction's grading of items and storage spirit rings were divided into four grades. A low-grade storage spirit ring was equivalent to a low-grade treasure, a mid-grade storage spirit ring was equivalent to a mid-grade treasure, and high-grade treasures and top-grade treasures were unimaginable.
The old man in yellow robes smiled, and this remark was not just a casual comment, but intended to stir up the emotions of the crowd. Once people are stirred up, they will do things that are difficult to understand, which is exactly what the auctioneer wants.
"Alright, let's not waste any more of your time, the auction is now officially starting, and the first item is up for bidding."
As the old man's words fell, a beautiful woman walked up from behind, holding a gold-inlaid wooden tray covered with bright yellow silk.
The inlaid wooden tray was placed on the auction table, and the old man in yellow robes lifted the silk.
In an instant, a green ancient book appeared in everyone's eyes.
"The first item is a martial arts manual called Qingyuan Palm, which is a top-grade human-level technique. It was the exclusive martial art of the Qingyuan Sect, an eighth-rank sect over a hundred years ago. When practiced to its extreme, the palm force can grind ordinary treasured swords and knives into powder, with an exceptionally domineering aura! It surpasses many other top-grade human-level martial arts."
"The starting price is 20,000 taels of gold, and each bid increase must be at least 1,000 taels."
Upon hearing the introduction of the yellow-robed elder, there was a stir in the crowd below. Some warriors who had not joined the sect had red eyes, for they were unlike the sect's disciples. After advancing to become inner sect disciples, they could learn top-tier human-grade secret manuals without having to exert themselves. To be honest, most of them cultivated high-grade human martial techniques, and some even only cultivated mid-grade human martial techniques, which was quite pitiful.
"Damn it, I've made up my mind. Being able to learn a top-notch martial skill at the human level, I'll be able to make a name for myself in the Jianghu and earn some silver."
"Those sect disciples won't compete with us for it, and our chances of getting the secret manual are even greater! We must get it!"
Through the crystal glass, Ye Chen saw the changes of everyone, and couldn't help but shake his head. Compared to the disciples of the sect, these warriors were indeed not easy to deal with. They had learned all sorts of rubbish skills. The disciples of the sect would turn up their noses at just one glance, but after hearing the introduction, Qingyuan Palm seemed to be very powerful, possibly only inferior to Tiger Roar Dragon Fist. No wonder many people came to the Northwest Auction House, where they could indeed see many things that couldn't be seen elsewhere.
"Twenty-two thousand taels of gold." Someone couldn't help but start bidding.
The first bidding voice started, and the scene became chaotic, with bidding voices continuing endlessly.
"Twenty-three thousand taels!"
"Twenty-five thousand taels!"
"Grass, twenty-eight thousand taels of gold."
A fierce-looking martial artist stood up and said, "I'll put out 30,000 taels of silver, who dares to compete with me."
"Thirty thousand taels is nothing, thirty-five thousand taels."
Ye Chen was stunned, his eyes wide with shock. How could this be? A top-tier secret manual for a single person had actually sold for 35,000 taels of gold. What did that make the 180,000 taels of gold he had then?
