Today was the day of the auction. Sheng Tian left early in the morning and entered the auction house through a back door and was brought into a VIP room. As he waited, he could sense several powerful figures in the VIP rooms around him and realized that there would be plenty of competition.
Once the various powers sat down the room darkened and lights lit up the stage. Sheng Tian was surprised that the lights were carved from high grade spirit stones. It seems that the Fiery Lotus Sect truly is a business hegemon.
There were perhaps 10,000 people partaking in the auction and a great majority of them were whispering about the mysterious senior alchemist that had stopped by this city. Sheng Tian laughed inwardly as he knew that that mysterious alchemist was him. The Fiery Lotus Sect was truly good at spouting nonsense.
Ying Feng appeared on stage and the whispering stopped. Most of the people here are simply ordinary secular powers and could not afford to offend even the lowest ranking sect.
Madam Ying curtsied gracefully and immediately charmed the majority of the male audience. Sheng Tian nodded in approval as now the audience is roused and the bidding would become extra fierce. Every little action is done to bring the sect more profits.
"I would like to welcome everyone who has decided to participate in this particular auction. Most people here should know who I am so I won't bother explaining anything and start the auction"
A pedestal rose from an opening on the stage. On it, was a red cloth which Madam Ying pulled back to reveal a gold sword that released pressure equivalent to high quality yellow rank weapon.
"This golden sword was made by an experienced rank 3 blacksmith and was forged with pure gold imbued with the earth attribute and refined 10 times, thus making up for the lack of durability. Starting bid: 50,000 gold coins"
"55,000 gold"
"65,000"
"70,000"
The bid shot up in an instant and was slowly going towards 100,000 gold coins. Currently, only the people sitting in non privileged areas are bidding. The powerhouses in the VIP rooms are deathly quiet. After all, this was the first item and is unable to enter any of their eyes. The really valuable items come out later.
"This first item will go to guest #157"
The sword was brought off stage and the second item was brought up. The next few items were similar to the first. A low level treasure that secular world cultivators would treat like treasures but is unable to enter the eyes of anyone who has experienced the true cultivation world.
Sheng Tian was starting to get bored when he saw that the next item was a pitch black stone. There were weird symbols carved into it and it radiated an ancient aura.
Madam Ying began describing the object "This mysterious stone was found in a tomb estimated to be over 500 years old. Its purpose is unknown but its symbols are profound. One can probably extract comprehensions of the dao the expert had practiced. Starting bid: 10 low quality low grade spirit stones"
There was silence. No one would want an object with unknown origins. Though its ancient aura and profound symbols are tempting, not a single VIP called out.
"10 low quality low grade spirit stones" Sheng Tian called out from his room. Instead of using his normal voice however, he borrowed his master's voice to speak. Everyone turned to look at the highest VIP room.
There was a rumor that a grand alchemist had come by and was participating in the auction and everyone wondered if it was him.
"Congratulations to the senior in the first VIP room"
That sentence surprised everyone. There had been no instance where Madam Ying had ever called another a senior. Doing so would make her inferior and there were few people that would dare act presumptuous to a business hegemon like the Fiery Lotus Sect.
The odd stone was brought to his room and he examined it "master, what is this thing?"
"Damn brat, you used my voice without permission and now you want me to help you identify a rock?" Wu Di sighed and focused on the stone and expressed a rare surprise "it's a xiantian dao stone. It contains profundities of a certain dao and inside is a dao seed. Once you extract all the comprehensions contained in those symbols you can crack it open like a nut and absorb the dao seed within. Such a thing would usually only be seen in the Profound realm and above. You truly made a profit this time"
Nodding, Sheng Tian put away the stone and focused on the auction. The next few items were flashy but useless to him. There was even a spirit ranked defensive treasure that caused a great uproar however Sheng Tian was unmoved. After all, he had Origin ranked treasures.
After sitting in boredom for half an hour, Sheng Tian perked up in attention. His pills have been brought out. Inside a luxurious case lay 9 vials, each holding just 1 of the pills. Sheng Tian understood what the auction house wanted to do.
Madam Ying proceeded to explain the effects of each of the pills, shocking everyone. If the pill formulas were leaked then it would cause waves in the cultivation world. She held up a vial containing a Meridian Tempering Pill and the various powers in the VIP rooms frantically increased the bid.
Only the powerhouses of the cultivation world could afford to use large amounts of spirit stones. However even large sects would bleed in pain if they used anything above mid quality low grade in an auction as large sects are stingy like that. A single peak quality peak grade spirit stone is equivalent to hundreds of billions of low quality low grade spirit stones.
The pill was finally sold for 15,000 low quality low grade spirit stones. However that was not the end, the remaining Meridian Tempering Pills were sold and the bid only grew. There was frequent cursing and arrogant proclamations being made and all the pills sold for a total of 237,000 low quality low grade spirit stones!
Once the auction was over, Sheng Tian went to a VIP guest lounge and waited. Madam Ying arrived moments later with a spatial ring in hand "here are the spirit stones, we've already deducted the 1 percent and you could check again if you'd like"
"There's no need" Sheng Tian said shaking his head "as business partners we should trust each other"
Ying Feng Laughed lightly "there are few people like you, young master. Since you trust me so much I expect you to come by in the future. Though I thank you for if it were not for you I would still be an inner disciple for many more years"
Sheng Tian expressed great surprise "you've been promoted?"
She smiled "yes, because of your pills, the reputation of our auction rose tremendously"
Sheng Tian congratulated her and proceeded to leave. He had stayed in this city much longer than he thought he would.