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Chapter 15 (Vol-1)
🕑 Added 2024-11-23 09:49:58 +0000 UTC“1500!”
“2500!”
“3000!”
With that bid, the audience fell silent as the girl on the stage asked for further bids before confirming the sale.
Then, she gave a radiant smile to the people before speaking again.
“Next, we have a unique artifact from a well-known Formation Master.”
Behind the girl, two men pushed forward a cart with a cushion on it. Once the girl pulled off the cloth covering the item, most of the cultivators in the audience either stared in surprise or greed at the unique brand on the ring with their enhanced eyesight.
A brand that spelled out David in English.
“As the distinguished guests might have guessed from the unique signature of its maker, this is an Earth-grade artifact put up for auction by the distinguished Formation Master, The Enigma. It is a defensive artifact that can protect the user from attacks from most cultivators below the Core Formation realm and a single attack from a cultivator at the peak of the Core Formation realm. The starting bid is 2000 High-grade spirit stones.”
“3000!”
“5000!”
“10,000!”
“Wow! Master’s artifacts are so popular??”
I just chuckled at Yan Ling’s words and patted her head as she continued munching on candied apples and watching the proceedings with excitement.
I will not deny that when I witnessed such a scene for the first time, I was filled with no small amount of pride. This was during the time my name had just started to become famous in this region.
However, as time passed and I saw a repeat of these scenes, I came to a simple conclusion.
The people in the Imperial Capital had way too much money to throw around on useless things.
‘Of course, they have too much money. This is the capital of the Yin Long Empire. The place where the richest of the rich such as the various noble families, Martial families, and the Royal Family live. If there is one thing that they don’t lack here, it is money.’
‘I know. It just feels like a waste of resources to throw so much money on things that they will never end up using anyway. Take that ring I made for example. It can stop any attack below the Core Formation realm and can take a single attack from the peak of the Core Formation realm before crumbling under the strain. From what I can see, the people who are placing the bids are those young scions from the influential families of the capital. These people will most definitely have some kind of bodyguard who should be able to do the same thing that this ring does. In that case, why waste their Spirit Stones on this thing?’
‘The reason stems from their personality and the way they grew up. If there is one thing that you should never underestimate, it is the cowardice of these so-called noble families and the martial families. They fear pain and death above everything else and would go to any lengths to make themselves feel safe. This fear stems from the atrocities they commit against the mortals while drunk on their power and then fearing the consequences of their actions.’
‘Speaking from experience?’
‘…..Never, ever, compare me to these bastards! I never slaughtered helpless mortals. I will not deny that I deserve your scorn for my actions and neither will I deny the fact that my very soul is stained with the blood of the innocent. However, there are still some lines I will never cross, and attacking helpless mortals is one of those lines, you should know that better than anyone.’
‘…Sorry, I was just making a joke.’
The old demon did not respond to my words, making me feel guilty for making such a tasteless joke.
Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I turned back to the auction.
By this point, the bidding had reached 20,000 Spirit stones and was finally sold to a young master.
Then, things became interesting as the next item arrived on the stage.
“The next item is a strange one for our Auction house. It was put up by an independent cultivator that chose not to reveal their identity. Our appraisers have performed their work on this item for over three weeks to validate his claims. Before we begin, I want to inform everyone that everything I am about to say is the truth and the Royal Auction House has given its guarantee about the authenticity of the item.”
With the way she was hyping up the item, it was clear that she believed people would not trust the authenticity of the item without using the name of the Auction house. This meant that the item must be something so outlandish or powerful that it would garner suspicions from everyone here.
Then, she pulled the cloth and I felt my mind thrown for a loop a rusty old sword was placed on the cushion.
Phantom pains that never knew I had flared up as the images of the sword impaling me through the chest flashed through my mind.
‘….You are either the luckiest or the unluckiest bastard on the planet. What are the chances that you would end up running into the very weapon destined to end your life with its destined wielder as your disciple?’
‘…I think it leans more towards the unlucky side most of the time. This time, however, I am inclined to go for the opposite.’
‘Are you seriously considering getting that? Just taking a look at it nearly sent my soul screaming in terror and your body experienced the phantom pains of the fatal injury you saw in my memories. Can you really endure looking at it every waking moment of your life from here on?’
‘I will have to. No matter what our opinion on it may be, there is no denying that it is the best weapon Yan Ling could ever ask for. Besides, look at her.’
I turned to look at Yan Ling as she stared in a daze at the sword and reached out for it with her hand only to realize that a one-way mirror was separating her from what she wanted.
‘Fine. But it won’t be easy to get it. Especially since the Auction house seems to know its value as well and will not be placing the starting price at anything reasonable.’
‘…Since when did we lack money? Did you forget the wealth that I have stored up in my ring from the sale of a few hundred artifacts in this very auction house?’
‘I have not forgotten that you hold enough spirit stones in your ring to make even a top-level sect go green with envy. Neither have I forgotten that the amount would have been at least ten times that if you were not so obsessed with helping every single person with a sob story that comes your way and wasting your time providing for the slums of every city that you go to.’
‘Everyone needs a hobby.’
‘Is that what it is? Not your overinflated sense of empathy, naivety, and ego?’
‘Think of it what you will. I do what I want with my money.’
‘I know. Now, focus. They are starting.’
I turned back to the stage as the girl started to explain about the sword.
“Despite its appearance, we have confirmed the claims of its seller. This is an Earth-grade sword made with The core of a Nascent Soul realm Magma Python and Star Ore. The seller claims to have found the sword in ancient ruins in the southern part of the continent and our appraisers did confirm that the sword is at least three thousand years old. Originally, it should have been a top-tier Heaven-grade sword since it was made from the core of a Nascent Soul realm demonic beast. However, the passage of time has degraded and destroyed most of the inscriptions on the sword, severely deteriorating its powers. The starting bid is set at 50,000 High-grade spirit stones-“
“60,000!”
Instantly, a young man with long black hair and dressed in pure white clothes called out his bid.
I recognized the man as the young master of the Lanjian family. A military family that is supposed to be one of the top five families in the city and famous for their cultivation technique, the Wind Mist Sword Technique.
Just with a look, it is easy to tell that this young man is following the same path as his father and grandfather as a straightforward and prideful swordsman.
Unfortunately, this straightforward nature does not serve well in a place like the Imperial Capital if you don’t have the power to back it up.
“Lanjian Tianyi, has your cultivation of the sword dulled your mind? What are you going to do with a fire element sword when you cultivate a wind nature technique? Isn’t it better to let our Yanfeng family have it instead?”
Lanjian Tianyi glared at the delicate-looking young man wearing green robes with a fan smiling at him with a smug expression.
“Yanfeng Fengyu. I didn’t realize a girl like you would need a sword to fight your betters. It does make sense though. After all, your delicate body must not be strong enough to handle your family’s spear arts.”
Even from here, I could clearly feel the killing intent radiating from the Yanfeng scion at those words, clearly demonstrating that this boy has inherited the pettiness of his family.
“It must have taken a lot of your thinking capacity to come up with that retort. Be careful not to spend all of it here lest you are left with nothing when you go back empty-handed to your father.”
“Enough! Put your money where your mouth is. This is an auction.”
“Fine. 80,000 High-grade spirit stones.”
“85,000”
“90,000”
“100,000”
“110,000”
“150,000”
The clear and cold voice directly silenced the two young men, forcing them to turn toward an incredibly beautiful girl dressed in blue robes and two bodyguards in the Core Formation Realm behind her.
Another scion of the noble families. This time from the Hanzhang family.
Yanfeng Fengyu immediately started to fawn over the girl.
“Oh! If it isn’t Miss Shuanghua! If you want that sword, I can just gift it to you.”
Wow kid, can you make your bootlicking any more obvious?
Lanjian Tianyi just scoffed and turned back to the stage as Hanzhang Shuanghua glared coldly at Yanfeng Fengyu.
“There is no need for Young Master Yanfeng to trouble himself. I can buy my treasures on my own.”
‘Wow. Such drama, such entertainment. Is this why Old Li insists on me attending Auctions held in Starfall City every year? If so, I must agree with his judgment. This is really the peak of entertainment in this world.’
‘While I am glad that you find the situation so amusing, you must not forget that the artifact they are fighting over is something that you want to get as well. Besides, look at your precious disciple. She looks like she is about to lose her parents or something.’
True to his words, Yan Ling was staring at the squabble on the floor below from our VIP booth with extreme worry and sadness on her face. Clearly, she thinks that she can never hope to get that sword on her meager pocket money of 100 Medium-grade spirit stones a month that I had just begun giving her a few weeks ago.
And yet, she did not even think of asking me to foot the bill yet. It was clear that she was willing to suffer the loss rather than rely on me to get things for her. A very mature way of thinking.
However, she must soon learn that such a mentality is not always good. Excess of anything is never good.
She must learn that should she be in a situation where she really cannot afford something crucial for her cultivation or if she finds herself in danger beyond what she can handle, she can always rely on me for help.
She should never be ashamed to ask for help from me. After all, isn’t that why I am pushing my cultivation so urgently and the reason why my persona as The Enigma exists in the first place?
As I was about to place my bid as well, another female voice rang out in the hall. This time, it originated from another VIP box, indicating that they had a status that was much higher than the heirs of the top five families in the city.
This can only mean that she is either a distinguished elder from those families, a likely scenario, or was a famous Alchemist or Formation Master like I was, which would allow her to experience such preferential treatment.
“300,000 Spirit Stones.”
As those words resounded across the hall, everyone fell silent at the sheer amount of money put forward by the voice.
This time, I really felt a sense of danger directed towards the treasure I wanted.
If I hesitate or try to probe at this moment, who knows what will happen?
“500,000 Spirit Stones.”
I directly placed an amount that not even those top families can bring out without consulting with their patriarch. Hoping to make this woman back off.
It really is a huge amount of money even for myself. However, it is still a relatively small number compared to my collective wealth and something that I can quickly recover by selling a few dozen Earth-grade artifacts.
“Master?”
Yan Ling gave me a surprised and hopeful look as I patted her head while smiling.
“I told you before, didn’t I? You can buy anything you want today. I’ll pay for them.”
“Thank You!”
She jumped into my lap and hugged me happily before excitedly waiting for the girl on the stage to call the bid to a close.
Surprisingly, the woman in the VIP booth was not done.
“550,000”
“700,000”
“750,000”
At this point, I started to doubt if this woman even had enough money for such a bid. 700,000 spirit stones are the annual salary of the patriarch of a top-level sect. Even in this Imperial Capital, the people that can casually take out such a huge amount cannot be more than a few dozen and all of them are famous Alchemists or Formation Masters like myself.
I wanted to call this woman out, but looking at the nervous expression on the girl on the stage, it is clear that the other party has some kind of a huge background that even the Auction house is cautious of.
There is no need to offend such a force by calling their bluff, especially since I am not really concerned about spirit stones as my lifestyle is mostly self-sufficient and the spirit stones in my possession only exist for emergencies like these.
“1,000,000 Spirit Stones.”
I waited to hear the woman speak again, but after nearly an entire minute, the girl on the stage finally closed the bid and bowed towards our box.
While others might think that I had wasted a lot of money for a mere Earth-grade artifact, they fail to realize that for a formation master like me, it is really easy to restore destroyed inscriptions, especially since the sword itself is made from top-quality materials which give me a lot of leeway in terms of restoration and upgrade of the weapon.
“Master, why did you waste so much money on it?”
“Silly girl. Don’t think about money when you want something today. While it is good to be conscious of your spending and be thrifty when it is necessary. It is also vital to know when to truly spend your money to gain something priceless. For me, it is worth the price to get something that is suitable for you to use, even if it costs double the amount of what I just spent.”
Once again, the girl hugged me, whether in gratitude or something else, I don’t know. I just patted her back and continued watching as the auction continued while placing a few bids on things that looked interesting to me.
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“That was interesting. Wasn’t it? Aunt Xingchen?”
“Indeed. I never realized that there was such a distinguished person lurking in the capital. Almost as if he is purposefully avoiding detection.”
The girl with silver hair and golden eyes turned towards the older woman with similar silver hair but crimson eyes with amusement.
“There is no need for you to worry too much about their identity, Aunt Xingchen. I already had the Auction House investigate who is occupying that VIP box. Ah! Speaking of”
The door to their room opened and a servant bowed to the girl and handed over a jade slip to her. The woman known as Xingchen waved her hand, indicating the servant to leave before turning towards the princess who had a look of surprise as she examined the contents of the jade slip.
“I see. No wonder he had enough money to outbid us for that sword. Turns out, it was this person who was bidding for it. Now I really regret not getting that sword if even someone like him was bidding for it. It must have been something truly extraordinary.”
“Princess, don’t keep me in the dark here.”
Princess Yin Lingxi, the sole princess of the Yin Long Empire and one of the three candidates for the throne gave an apologetic smile to her aunt.
“Sorry. I was just surprised is all. Turns out, the person who fought us for that sword was none other than the famous Formation Master, The Enigma.”
Yao Xingchen, the maternal Aunt of the princess, stared in surprise towards the VIP box opposite to them.
“Really? That’s great. This gives us an opportunity to try and recruit him to our side before your brothers try something.”
“I plan to. And that’s not all. The information here says that he has taken in a disciple. Something that he refused to do despite the many requests sent his way by the Formations Guild for the past few years. She must be someone very promising or unique if she caught his eye.”
Yao Xingchen’s eyes lit up at the implication in the princess’s words.
“I see. It would be really good for us if we could recruit such a talent along with The Enigma. I’ll get the Auction house to arrange a meeting right away.”
The princess nodded at her aunt’s words and laid back in her seat with a smile.
“The Enigma huh? How interesting. I hope you can truly prove to be the challenge that she claims you are. If not, I would be truly disappointed.”
