Chapter 276: Struggles for the Superior Grade Spirit Stone
The person who was addressed as Senior Brother Mu was the top expert from the Night Spirit Palace, Mu Chengxue. A smile appeared on his handsome face as he downplayed the situation, “A Superior Grade Spirit Stone is indeed precious. However, the price now is too high. There is no need to make a move. Furthermore, as far as I’m concerned, it is not something essential. It is like adding flowers to a brocade, it is of no importance.”
[TL note: Adding flowers to a brocade: This means decorating something already perfect.]
The other disciples could not understand what Mu Chengxue meant, only Mu Yanxue did.
Superior Grade Spirit Stones were very useful to cultivators without a high talent such as Ge Yuntian. Although he had advanced to Martial King, he had been stuck at Inferior Grade Martial King for ten years due to his low talent.
However, to a genius like Mu Chengxue, such a bottleneck would not occur.
With Mu Chengxue’s talent, he would reach peak Superior Grade Martial King before running into a huge bottleneck. Hence, this Superior Grade Spirit Stone would only have the effect of trying to improve on perfection.
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Back in Xiao Chen’s booth, Xiao Chen had thought for a while, before deciding to give up in the end. His reason was the same as Mu Chengxue.
The price of eighty thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones was too high, it was not worth it.
Furthermore, Xiao Chen still had the Spirit Core of a Golden Lion King in his Universe Ring. The Golden Lion King had the bloodline of an ancient mutated beast, its Spirit Core was not inferior to a Superior Grade Spirit Stone.
If Xiao Chen ran into a bottleneck later, he could rely on the Golden Lion King’s Spirit Core instead.
“One hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones! I want it!”
Just as the auctioneer was about to close the deal, a loud bid resounded in the large hall. Furthermore, that person had raised the price by twenty thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones in one go.
The auctioneer revealed an excited expression. He said agitatedly, “Someone from booth 20 offered one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Is there a higher offer? This is a Superior Grade Spirit Stone. A Superior Grade Spirit Stone that could help a Martial King raise his cultivation by a grade. Friends from booth 8, are you going to raise the price?”
“Bang!”
Ge Yuntian smashed his palm on the teacup that was placed on the table. The teacup was immediately smashed into powder. The calm look on his face had completely disappeared. He turned incredibly savage, leaking killing intent.
Ge Yunfei said, “Big Brother, I still have 150,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Let’s add another fifty thousand and see if he dares to raise the price again.”
Ge Yuntian revealed a cruel smile on his face as he said, “No need. I want to see who dared to compete with me for this. I will make them pay it back with interest.”
Ge Yunfei reacted to his brother’s words with a smile as well. He had nearly forgotten the way he normally did things. After the auction ends, all he had to do was s.n.a.t.c.h it back.
When Xiao Chen heard the bid of one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, he felt somewhat astonished as well. This was clearly not the true price of a Superior Grade Spirit Stone, it was really not worth it.
Xiao Chen hesitated for a while before he fired his Spiritual Sense out like an arrow at booth 20. After a while, he saw the person in booth 20.
“Chu Chaoyun?” Xiao Chen said with suspicion, “Why does he want this Superior Grade Spirit Stone? With his talent, this does not make sense!”
Chu Chaoyun frowned slightly in the booth, it was like he felt that someone was observing him. He faced the girl beside him and said, “Go and check out who is in booth 8. I felt two sets of strong killing intent from there.”
Xiao Chen quickly withdrew his Spiritual Sense, he thought that Chu Chaoyun had felt his Spiritual Sense. So he had actually sensed another person.
In the end, no one else bid on the Superior Grade Spirit Stone. Chu Chaoyun obtained it with the winning bid of one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Then auction continued.
The second item was not as dazzling. It was only an Inferior Grade Earth Ranked Spirit Weapon. The starting price was one thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
In the end, it was obtained by a cultivator from a small sect with a bid of five thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
Although the other goods in the first round were precious, aside from the initial Superior Grade Spirit Stone, nothing else caught Xiao Chen’s interest in the first round.
However, Liu Suifeng had spent ten thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones to win the bid on a Superior Grade Earth Ranked Martial Technique. This Martial Technique was pretty good, it was of a pretty good standard when compared to other Superior Grade Earth Ranked Martial Techniques.
Soon, the first round of the auction was about to end. At the final moment, the voice of the auctioneer clearly became much more excited.
Suddenly, two cultivators got onto the stage. The auctioneer explained, “This is the final item in this round. I am sure everyone can guess what it is. We decided to use the most thorough method to exhibit this Secret Treasure to everybody.”
Of the two cultivators, one of them had a higher cultivation, he was a peak Superior Grade Martial Saint. The other was an ordinary Martial Grand Master.
The auctioneer nodded to the two people, indicating for them to begin. The peak Martial Saint started storing up his power and his aura started to rise. The cultivators who were near the stage could feel some pressure.
When the peak Martial Saint raised his aura to its peak, he bellowed and punched at the Martial Grand Master.
“Boom!”
However, the crowd was shocked to see a light appear on the Martial Grand Master.
When the peak Martial Saint struck out with his full power, it struck the light covering the Martial Grand Master and gave off a depressed sound. There were ripples on the s.h.i.+eld of light but there were no signs of it breaking.
Instead, the peak Martial Saint was jolted by the force that rebounded from the light s.h.i.+eld. His complexion turned pale and he retreated by a few steps, before he slowly stood up stably.
The Martial Grade Master dispersed the light s.h.i.+eld and appeared to be completely unharmed. He removed a jade pendant from his neck and handed it to the auctioneer. Then the two cultivators took their leave and left.
The auctioneer received the jade pendant and his clear voice sounded out again, “Everyone has seen it for themselves earlier. This jade pendant enabled a Martial Grand Master to block the full powered strike of a peak Martial Saint easily.
“Furthermore, it was not simply blocking. It could reflect one-third of the force back to the attacker. According to the tests at our Linlang pavilion, this Secret Treasure could, at best, block the full power strike of a peak Medial Grade Martial King.
“There is only one weak point to it. It can only be used once a day. Aside from that, there are no other weaknesses. The bidding begins now. The starting price is ten thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, each raise has to be by at least two thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.”
Linlang Pavilion’s reputation has always been very good. Since they claimed it could block the full power strike of a peak Medial Grade Martial King, then it should not be wrong.
Given this information, this jade pendant’s effect was a little horrifying. Although it could only be used once a day, it could save one’s life at a critical moment.
It might even be able to turn the situation around and transform a defeat into a victory. This was because of the reflective abilities of the light s.h.i.+eld. When the opponent was not aware of it, this would be a very good trump card.
Such a Secret Treasure was very useful to a cultivator. When they were in a dangerous situation, the odds of their survival would be significantly increased.
Liu Suifeng smiled, “This is a good item, much better than normal. If the price does not exceed one hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, I will want to get it.”
Xiao Chen was also quite interested in this Secret Treasure. If it could really block a strike from a peak Medial Grade Martial King, it was very practical and very strong.
“Twenty thousand!”
“Thirty five thousand!”
“Fifty thousand!”
“Eighty thousand!”
The bidding war for the jade pendant moved very fast, it was even more intense than the bid for the Superior Grade Spirit Stone. Within a short amount of time, someone had already called out a bid of eighty thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
Liu Suifeng muttered as he smiled, “It seems like everyone is afraid of dying!”
Xiao Chen thought for a while and made his move at this moment, “One hundred thousand!”
Liu Suifeng was somewhat surprised. He said, “Ye Chen, you want this jade pendant too? I thought you wouldn’t need it?”
In Liu Suifeng’s opinion, Xiao Chen had a very fast Movement Technique. Even if he met an opponent he could not beat, he could always make use of his Movement Techniques to flee.
Instead of spending a large amount of Spirit Stones to buy a defensive Secret Treasure, Xiao Chen might as well wait for a bit and purchase an offensive Secret Treasure.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and said, “If it is possible, I would like to obtain all ten Secret Treasures. Furthermore, with our recent situation, it would be very useful.”
After the bid was pushed to one hundred thousand, the hall turned quiet for a while. One hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones was already an extremely horrifying figure. One would have to consider carefully before they could raise the bid.
“One hundred and fifty thousand!”
At this moment, a deep voice suddenly resounded and raised the bid by fifty thousand, astonis.h.i.+ng everybody.
The auctioneer immediately caught hold of the opportunity and said excitedly, “One hundred and fifty thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. This cultivator in black is really straightforward. Is there any bid higher than one hundred and fifty thousand?”
Xiao Chen was mildly surprised. He peered through the window and discovered that the person who had called out the bid was a peak Martial Saint in black wearing a cloak.
Shrouded by the cloak, no one could see his appearance clearly, he seemed incredibly mysterious.
Xiao Chen pondered for a moment and continued to bid, “Two hundred thousand!”
The auctioneer’s spirit was raised very high now. The higher the bid, the more commission he would receive. He said excitedly, “Booth 18 bids two hundred thousand. Does the cultivator in black wish to raise the bid?”
The black-clothed cultivator muttered to himself for a while before raising his head to cast a glance at Xiao Chen’s booth. When Xiao Chen looked down, he saw a pair of green eyes; it looked extremely strange.
The man in black withdrew his gaze and waved his hands to indicate that he had given up.
Two hundred thousand was already a sky high price. Even a cultivator with the backing of a huge sect would find it difficult to pay such a high price.
In the end, the auctioneer called out three times and closed the bid. Xiao Chen had successfully obtained the first Secret Treasure.
Liu Suifeng said, “Two hundred thousand to purchase a defensive Secret Treasure, is that worth it? Hey, Ye Chen. What’s wrong? Are you regretting it?”
Ever since Xiao Chen saw those pair of green eyes, he had not recovered his wits. The shock those green eyes had given him was too great.
That person was simply like the devil that had crawled out of h.e.l.l, it was incredibly strange. Xiao Chen had never seen anyone with green eyes before.
Xiao Chen recovered his wits and replied, “Two hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones is worth it. It can defend against the full powered strike of a peak Medial Grade Martial king. Did you forget that we were being targeted by someone on our way here? With this jade pendant, I can give that person a surprise.”
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The second round of the auction started. Xiao Chen already had an idea of how the auction was being run. In every round, the first and the last item would be very attractive.
Indeed it was as Xiao Chen had guessed. The auctioneer slowly took out the first item of the second round. A smile filled his face as he introduced, “This is a bottle of Essence Gathering Pills. There is a total of twenty pills in here. Below the cultivation realm of Martial King, it would increase the odds of success when advancing by twenty percent. No one in the Great Qin Nation can refine these pills. Even in the Great Jin Nation, there is a limited number of them. The starting price is still ten thousand Spirit Stones.”