Chương 80: A Somehow Underwhelming Auction

After Ren Qingquan looked around the auction hall below, the auctioneer finally appeared on the stage in front of the auction hall. The auctioneer is an old gentleman wearing a black outer robe embroidered with a red and gold motif. Next to him are two women with curvy figures. Both of them wear white robes and heavy makeup. They wear a smile only those with decades of experience in customer service jobs can achieve.

Through [Scan], I saw the auctioneer had reached the Peak Golden Core Realm, while the two women beside him were in the early Golden Core Realm. After he appeared on the stage, the old man chattered non-stop for ten whole minutes, thanking heaven, earth, and all the guests who had joined the auction. He also introduced the auction house briefly before finally starting the auction.

"Alright, let's bring out the first items. It's a high-grade spirit tool, a level-flying sword suitable for those in the Golden Core realm! The flying sword, called Phantom Thunder, is 72 centimetres long, forged from lightning-gathering metal that has absorbed natural lightning for a century and quenched in the blood of a Golden Core realm serpent."

"The starting price is 500 low-grade spirit stones, with each increase no less than 50 spirit stones!" Immediately, many people in the auction hall began outbidding each other. The price quickly rose to 1 mid-grade spirit stone or 1. 000 low-grade spirit stones, then slowed after reaching 3 mid-grade spirit stones. Even so, the bidding war continued, with one of the children of destiny fighting against an old man in the Golden Core realm.

Seeing that neither side planned to back down, the child of destiny said, "Old man, why are you fighting over this item with me? Shouldn't you keep your retirement money to buy the next Fiery Passion Pill instead? Who knows, it might help you with your erectile dysfunction." The elderly-looking Golden Core realm cultivator glared at the young man, his face red with anger. Still, after taking a few deep breaths to calm down, he raised his hand to up the bid, "3. 600 low-grade spirit stones."

"Sigh, but whatever. I'll give you some face this time. I hope that sword lets you spend less time traveling. Otherwise, it'll be pitiful if you spent most of your remaining time on travel instead of spending it with your loved ones. If you even have any loved ones remaining, that is." The young man stopped bidding, but the elderly Golden Core realm cultivator's face looked even more constipated instead. It might seem the child of destiny is senselessly offending that Golden Core realm cultivator.

But I found he actually has a solid reason to do that. Through [Scan], I saw that whenever he angered the old man, the child of destiny's cultivation would progress by a tiny bit. It seems the cheat ability of this child of destiny is to increase their cultivation by angering people. Considering that the child of destiny has reached the Golden Core Realm Third Stage, that tiny bit of increase is actually quite a lot.

It's approximately half the amount of spirit qi Ren Qingquan gained from swallowing the soul of a Qi Refining realm demon beast. I used my [Scan] to thoroughly check the outside and inside of his body, but I didn't find any treasure or any foreign matter that might grant him the ability to convert others' hatred into power. So it must mean the abilities were granted by a special constitution of some sort. After the first item, that child of destiny kept joining the auction and angering people.

But honestly, after the first three items, it got pretty boring and repetitive, so I switched my focus somewhere else. First, I checked Bai Yuelan and Ren Xuan, the only children of luck who stayed inside one of the auction house's VIP rooms. Bai Yuelan entered the VIP room thanks to an elder from her sect. Meanwhile, Ren Xuan arrived by entrusting the auction house with a few important pills for auction. Of course, while he handed over his pill for auction, there were also some face-slapping incidents.

But those aren't important. What matters is which items caught Ren Xuan's interest. As a seemingly omnipotent regressor, he must have had a reason to work hard over the past few days to raise money and enter the auction. As time passed, more and more items were auctioned. Except for Ren Qingquan and Ren Xuan, all the children of destiny had bought items at the auction. The items they bought were also quite varied. They included damaged pill furnaces, a treasure map, and even a jade piece of unknown effect.

All of those items, without exception, were won only by the children of destiny after bitter bidding wars against other forces at the auction. After so long, the auctioneer finally brought an interesting item. It was the items sold by Ren Xuan. One of the women beside the auctioneer brought twenty pill bottles, each containing a single pill. All eyes were on the items. The auctioneer said, "Our next item is twenty Perfect-grade Tier 3 Golden Core Solidification Pills!" The auctioneer paused before continuing.

"As everyone knows, the Golden Core Solidification Pill is the most difficult Tier 3 pill for a Foundation Building Cultivator to advance to the Golden Core realm. Each pill's price starts at 300 low-grade spirit stones, with each bid rising by no less than 50 low-grade spirit stones." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The auction hall immediately grew noisy.

It took a while for all twenty pills to be sold, and most were bought by people in the auction hall, with only two bottles purchased by those in the VIP room. In total, those 20 pills gave Ren Xuan around 13 mid-grade spirit stones. After the commission fee, Ren Xuan received around 12 mid-grade spirit stones. Right after the pills, the auctioneer began selling another familiar item.

"For the next item, we have a ball of squirrel fur." After the auctioneer said this, everyone below seemed a bit speechless. That was until the auctioneer smiled and added, "From a Divine Transformation realm spirit beast." The auctioneer pointed at the ball of fur with his open palm.

"Let's start the bid at 1 mid-grade spirit stone!" I thought no one sane would buy it, but that tuft of fur was actually sold for a whooping 1. 7 mid-grade stones. It's almost three times the price of Golden Core Solidification Pills, which the regressor Ren Xuan has taken a lot of effort to create. This world is fucking crazy. Thankfully, the next few items are normal. I watched calmly until Ren Xuan showed interest when an item appeared.

The item being introduced is a talisman paper with tiny, complicated runes written on it. The auctioneer introduced it, "The next item is the Heaven-Puncturing Needle Talisman. A consumable sixth-tier, Divine Transformation realm talisman that can be used to break open a formation, the entrance to a secret realm, and other weak points in the world's spatial node." After revealing the item, the auctioneer appeared serious.

"Our auction house won't conceal the truth. The talisman is damaged, though still better than a fifth-tier talisman. Its power has diminished significantly, so it can release less energy than those in the Divine Transformation realm."

"The starting price will be 4 mid-grade spirit stones, with each increase no less than 100 spirit stones." This time, the hall fell silent for a while until someone from the VIP room spoke, "4. 1 mid-grade spirit stones." Soon, Ren Xuan, who was also in a VIP room, raised his bid, "4. 2 mid-grade spirit stones."

"4. 3." The other party calmly raised their price.

"4. 5." Ren Xuan replied instantly. Because both sides were equally wealthy, the price skyrocketed at an insane pace. In less than a minute, Ren Xuan had raised the price to 8 mid-grade spirit stones. Before his opponent could raise their bid, I saw Ren Xuan privately message the other side via the VIP room's formation.

"Greetings, Loose Cultivator Mengho. I know you're the one who entrusted that talisman to the auction house. I need the auction house's VIP anonymity and don't want to offend it, so I played along with your attempt to raise the price until it reached just below the normal market price. But I'll state plainly that I won't increase the bid any further." In one of the rooms, the cultivator seemed extremely surprised.

"How did you know? There's no way the auction house would give up something as important as their VIP customer's privacy and lose so much trust." Ren Xuan replied casually, "I have my own ways. So, please give me some face; otherwise, I might need to use a special method to obtain that talisman, and you definitely don't want to see my special method."

Loose Cultivator Mengho broke out in a cold sweat as the auctioneer finally finished counting down, "The Heaven Puncturing Needle Talisman has been sold to the person in VIP room 3 for 8 mid-grade spirit stones!" Watching all that unfold, I can only say I didn't expect this kind of development at all. Normally, in the auction arc of those cultivation stories, the protagonist is the one who inflates the price by bidding on the item they entrusted to the auction house.

But, as expected of an old, sly regressor who has traumatized both Ren Qingquan and me, Ren Xuan truly didn't play the card like a normal person. He seems to have targeted the Heaven Puncturing Needle Talisman even before the auction began. By using my [Scan] function, Ren Xuan might've found the auction house's notes or seen Loose Cultivator Mengho entrust the talisman to the auction house. That's why he can use this method to stop the other party from inflating the price any further.

I just hope Loose Cultivator Mengho won't be traumatised by the shock Ren Xuan gives him. What a pity. Through [Scan], I saw that Loose Cultivator Mengho seemed extremely distracted. He probably needs a while to recover from Ren Xuan's terror. Regardless of the silent information battle between Ren Xuan and Loose Cultivator Mengho, the auction continued. After another item useful to a Nascent Soul realm cultivator is auctioned and won by Ren Qingquan, another familiar item is auctioned.

This time, it's something that Peak Master Feng Yun's clone has entrusted to the auction house. The auctioneer introduced the item as one of the women standing beside him held a tray bearing a dozen feathers.

"The next item is a dozen tail feathers shed by a Divine Transformation Realm spirit beast. The tail feathers still carry traces of the Divine Transformation Realm heavenly tribulation and can be easily crafted into a low-grade Spirit Treasure suitable for those in the Nascent Soul Realm, or even a mid-grade Spirit Treasure suitable for those in the Soul Formation Realm! We'll be selling them as a set, with a starting bid of 12 mid-grade spirit stones!"

The auction hall fell silent as those in the VIP room scrambled to buy it. The price rose and soon doubled before someone bought it for 26 mid-grade spirit stones. The price of those feathers somehow reached an amount equivalent to around 40 Perfect Grade Golden Core Solidification pills that Ren Xuan had concocted with blood, sweat, and tears.

After selling the feathers, the auctioneer smiled, and the two women beside him brought a jade bottle sealed with many talisman papers to ensure nothing inside the bottle could leak out.

"Dear esteemed guests, let us now present the final item in our auction!" The auctioneer punctured the talisman paper, and a medicinal scent mingled with spirit qi filled the auction hall. Within a second, the auctioneer produced a talisman, resealed the bottle, and introduced the item.

"Our last item is the perfect-grade Soul Formation Pill! As everyone knows, this pill can increase a Nascent Soul Cultivator's chance of breaking through to the Soul Formation realm! The starting bid is 40 mid-grade spirit stones. Let the bidding begin!" Those in the VIP room immediately began bidding. Even the Miscellaneous Hall Master, who had joined Ren Qingquan's VIP room, bid until the price reached 60 mid-grade spirit stones before giving up.

The elder from the freakish girl Bai Yuelan's Frost Moon Sect also joined, but she gave up when the price reached 66 mid-grade spirit stones. Finally, a Peak Nascent Soul realm old man bought the pill for 72 mid-grade spirit stones.