Chapter 40: Bidding, Bidding, Bidding! (1)

Peeking out from below the hat, the figure seemed to briefly look towards the direction of a particular balcony. In that section, a group of seven gray clothed people were seated. An image of three arched claws was stitched on their clothes’ chest area.

The person’s gaze then moved across the other three balconies. One had a group of ten people in luxurious dark blue robe; the character ‘Moon’ (月) was stitched to their attire.

Another group seemed to have fourteen or fifteen people in it. When the person’s eyes landed on Huang Xue and Yang Chen, a light flashed through their eyes before they turned to the remaining balcony.

In the last section, there sat five black dressed individuals. An aura filled with ferocity and bloodthirstiness faintly exuded from their body. On their chest area, a picture of a three swords pointing outward could be seen.

As the black mantled figure turned away, a strong killing intent could be flickering within their pair of obsidian eyes.

“Hmph, as expected, those two damn factions are here as well.” The black cloaked figure muttered under his breath. “But with my strength right now I should be able to escape here if things turn sour. And those two other groups up there, why do I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere...Well, better keep myself concealed for now…”

If one were to strip away the straw hat, an innocent face would be exposed underneath it. This person...was Luo Ke!

After breaking through, Luo Ke had received wind from travelers about the upcoming large auction in Gongho city, and the opening of the Grand Valley Tomb. And with the huge sum of Qi stones he had robbed from some members of those major factions in Duolo Province that were chasing after him, Luo Ke was not in a stingy mood.

In fact, he was in need of several high quality medicines and other aides. And he also came to the auction in hopes of finding a powerful martial arts manual or weapon for his use. This way, his strength would definitely go through another upgrade!

At the start of auction, Luo Ke had purchased a few bottles of tier-3 pills and herbs filled with concentrated Earthly Qi. Those had come to a total of 10,650 Qi stones.

Hearing that the real highlights of the auction are going to be shown, Luo Ke could not help but stare at the stage in anticipation. So far, he did choose to bid on any of the martial art skills and artifacts that were displayed earlier. Because he had been waiting for this moment.

“After spending so much Qi stones, I still have around twenty thousand Qi stones left.” Luo Ke calculated in his mind. “Damn, those favored childs of large factions sure have it easy! But thanks to them, I was able to become so wealthy in a single day, haha…”

At this time, Auctioneer Jun’s voice rang through the spacious auditorium:

“Up next, we have a special martial arts manual that was given to our auction house by an anonymous person. This is actually a defense-based skill called ‘Iron Skin’, with its rank being at the Upper Common-grade! The starting bid for this item will be ten thousand Qi stones; each bid must be in increments of at least one thousand Qi stones!”

A commotion immediately appeared within the audience. Previously, all the martial arts skills that were shown were merely sutras or for meditative use. None were attack-focused, much less defense-focused ones! And those previous martial arts were all Lower common-grade at that.

With a good defense skill, it could serve to be another extra life saving method on oneself!

In the Duolo Province, an Upper Common-grade skill was already considered extravagant. After all, they were much weaker in comparison to other provinces. For the strong clans here, a Low Earth-grade skill would be enough to even be considered their family heirloom!

So once the lower common-grade skill appeared, everyone became excited; even two of the groups at the VIP section became interested. As for the balcony filled with people wearing a tri-sword emblem, and the people in Huang Xue’s section, no one seemed to have any interest.

“10,100 Qi stones!”

“10,500 Qi stones!”

“I’ll bid 11,000 Qi stones!”

Shouts began to pervade the auditorium as everyone tried to get their hands on the martial skill.

“Our Fierce Dragon clan will bid 15,000 Qi stones.”

A voice suddenly rang from above the auditorium. Everyone below immediately turned upwards towards the direction of the voice. It was the section where the group of

“The Fierce Dragon clan is participating!”

“It seems that one of the major clans in Duolo Province is finally making their move. Look, see that youth wearing the gray robe who bidded? He’s actually the great young master of the Fierce Dragon clan; the one and only son!”

“Sighh...it seems we’ll have to give up now. Whoever continues to bid would only draw the wrath of the Fierce Dragon clan!”

The audience below naturally had some awareness of the people sitting above on the second floor. But because their status was not enough for them to interact with those major factions, they did not care too much about the ones in the balcony. But now that those people upstairs had made their bid, not many cultivators below wanted to continue bidding in fear.

Overlooking the silent crowd below, the gray robed young man, who was sitting on a wooden chair at very front of his section, gave a contemptuous sneer. With an appearance that looked as if he was drained of blood, the youth seemed almost fragile.

If not for his sinister eyes, others may have only believed this person to be a sickly fellow. And this youth, was the obviously the first young master of the Fierce Dragon clan, Hei Yuan!

The five elders and youth follower behind him likewise had a disdainful expression when they saw the crowd’s cowardly response.

“Hmph, a bunch of peasants.” Hei Yuan sneered as he looked towards the stage.

Auctioneer Jun, who saw that no one was willing to bid any further, was about to reluctantly close the bid when a male’s voice echoed through the quiet auditorium.

“15,500 Qi stones.”

“....”

Everyone below turned their head towards the owner of the voice; their eyes landing on a figure covered in a black cloak and wearing a straw hat.

“This person...are they crazy!? They actually tried to overbid young master Hei Yuan!”

“They’re dead for sure…”

Above on the balcony, Hei Yuan frowned as he slightly turned towards the black cloaked figure below.

In a calm voice, he called out:

“16,000 Qi sto--”

“16,500 Qi stones.”

But before he could finish, the black cloaked figure bidded again; successfully cutting him off in mid sentence.

This time, a visible trace of anger appeared on Hei Yuan’s face. This bastard, are they lookin’ to die?!

Gritting his teeth, Hei Yuan called out, his voice filled with a faint trace of anger: “18,000 Qi stones!”

Below, the black cloaked figure seemed to hesitate for a moment, causing a sneer to once again bloom on Hei Yuan’s face. But it did not last long before the same voice echoed out:

“Twenty thousand….and one hundred Qi stones!”

Gasp! The crowd sucked in a breath of cold air when they heard the bid. A look of excitement and awe appeared on Auctioneer Jun’s face.

While Upper Common-grade skills are precious, they were not to the point where it would be at a value of more than twelve thousand Qi stones. Unless the Common grade skill was truly spectacular, then in that case it wouldn’t even have appeared at the auction house! Thus, the bid that was being placed on this ‘Iron Skin’ skill was already considered extremely extravagant.

And Hei Yun naturally knew this. He understood that the items that may be coming up next would possibly surpass the value of this upper common grade skill. So it would not be worth it to use up all of his allowance at once. He had only bought twenty five thousand Qi stones, and that was already a huge fortune that was provided by his clan

Not to mention, his own clan already has three strong Upper common-grade skills, so it was not as if he was truly lacking one. They even have a lower Earth-grade skill too!

After thinking for a while, Hei Yuan could only gloomily keep silence as he glared murderously at the black cloaked figure.

With no more bids afterward, Auctioneer Jun announced the black cloaked figure as the highest bidder and promptly went through the transaction: a small cosmic bag was given and checked by the auctioneer, and the the item was then directly given to the bidder.

After receiving the item, Luo Ke, who had bidded against Hei Yuan, did not stay long. He immediately began to leave.

A look of nervousness appeared in his eyes. But this anxiety was not brought about by Hei Yuan. In fact, that young master of the Fierce Dragon clan was one of the two factions that were currently pursuing him! And it was also that Hei Yuan who had sought trouble with Luo Ke, thus the latter did not feel any fear or guilt competing with him. He needed a decent defense skill anyways!

Instead, what made him feel a sense of dread was when Luo Ke felt a powerful sense suddenly lock onto him from above!

When he felt that sensation, it was as if his whole body had lost its power, being unable to move in the slightly. He felt as if he was almost suffocating!

And when Luo Ke had managed to slightly turn around, he actually caught sight of a familiar figure looking back at him. Although the pressure had subsided greatly afterwards, Luo Ke could still feel the other person’s gaze.

Fearing that the other party might covet his item, Luo Ke decided to leave immediately.

While that other party did not participate in the bid, and would probably not care about a mere Upper common-grade art, Luo Ke did not want to risk staying. There were all kinds of people in this world, and many who hides their true self behind a humane facade.

Not to mention, he had already attracted the attention of a few factions from the VIP section; with two of them being enemies. If his identity was exposed here, it would be a hassle trying to get out at that time.

As Luo Ke made his way towards the exit, a white robed youth who had been staring at him slowly retracted his eyes.

“Hmmm...I involuntarily looked at that person because his voice rang so clearly during that period of silence. I was thinking that person had quite the courageous character when I thought I felt some strange energy from them...was I mistaken?” Huang Xue thought for a while before he dropped the matter.

Since his Star Decree Stone did not have any reaction, Huang Xue did not have much interest in the other party. There were all kinds of cultivators in the world, so a few cultivators having special auras about them was normal. That was a conclusion Huang Xue came to in regards to that black cloaked figure; that the person was probably practitioner cultivating a unique art!

Across Huang Xue’s balcony, in another section, Hei Yuan quickly whispered something to an elder and a young man who was sitting beside him. The two listeners turned their gaze towards Luo Ke’s retreating figure through the crowd below, before their eyes narrowed dangerously.

WIthout a sound, the two persons, one elder and one youth, left the VIP section.

A cold smile hung on Hei Yuan’s face as he turned towards the auction stage again. “You dare to try take what this young master desires? Then, I will let you know that only death awaits you!”