As the red curtains parted, light shined onto the stage revealing a vacant podium. No one was on the stage right now, but that didn't mean it was going to remain that way.
Footsteps sounded from the stage and suddenly everyone grew quiet. A young girl in a red dress walked out from backstage and stood in front of the entire audience.
Her fair, confident face and a wide smile showed that this was not her first time here.
"Welcome everyone, to the Titan Auction house. I, Niya, will be your auctioneer for the day," she said.
"The auction will now start."
A trolley of items was hauled out from backstage, each one hidden behind a black cloth. Ning tried to guess what it was but the shape was impossible to guess.
Niya took off one of the cloths and revealed a talisman.
"Our first item is this talisman. This is a defensive talisman that can block a single serious attack from a 4th Foundation Establishment realm cultivator. It's a single-use talisman and will be destroyed after it had blocked the attack."
"The item will start selling with a price of 140 gold coins. Your bids must have a 5 gold coin minimum increase," she said. "Please begin."
This was Ning's first time in an auction hall so he was very surprised when the crowd suddenly erupted into a cluster of sounds as everyone started bidding on the item.
"150 gold coins."
"155 gold cons"
"165 gold coins"
"170 gold coins"
Ning was surprised how much the people were steadily increasing the bid. 'Is this item worth that much?' he wondered, but then soon realized that the people bidding for it were in the Qi condensation realm.
'It's probably worth it to them,' he thought. Thankfully, Ning didn't need the item, so he didn't bother bidding. However, he was curious to see that if the first item was this, what the following items would be like.
Soon the bidding reached 240 coins, 100 coins higher than the original price, and stopped.
Ning looked up and saw a slew of rooms on a floor higher than the one he was sitting in. The current bid that won the talisman was from one of these exact rooms.
"Congratulations to the VIP guest on room 32 on winning this Talisman," Niya announced.
Some people clapped, some grumbled, while others just waited for the next item. Ning just looked at the rooms on the upper floor.
'So that's where the VIPs are staying huh? Those Dazzling sect fellows must be up there. Now that I think about it, Mr. Kaezir and Mikaela may be up there as well,' Ning thought.
Niya walked up to the trolley and removed another cloth to reveal the next item on the auction.
A book
The book was a cultivation technique known as Killing Flames. It helped the user create fire with extremely high temperatures that one could use to fight their opponents.
The higher one's cultivation base, the better the fire would be.
Niya started the bid with 150 gold coins and soon it reached 280 gold coins where a VIP guest from the room above acquired it.
More and more items started being auctioned off. Sometimes it was a brush to make talismans. Sometimes it was a dress with defensive techniques.
There were a few books that either taught knowledge, cultivation technique, or a cultivation method. Those sold for quite a lot.
Ning tried to bid for a few of them, but he was very easily outbid. Especially by the ones in the VIP room. He didn't really want those items, so he let go of the bidding war each time.
Slowly the price of the items was getting higher and higher. After a while, artifacts started being sold.
The first artifact that Niya showed was a low-grade Spirit Artifact armor that could block all damages from anyone below the 2nd Foundation Establishment realm.
This was heavily preferred by everyone around him and immediately everyone started bidding.
Ning didn't need such a low-level defense so he just stayed put and didn't bid on anything. The surrounding people, especially the younger ones were rabid and bid whenever someone else didn't.
The armor that started at 600 gold coins soon reached 1500 gold coins in the bid and it was still going up. Ning was really surprised how much these people were willing to pay for armor that didn't do a lot in his opinion.
'Body cultivation is quite good huh? These people wouldn't be throwing away money like this if they just knew it,' he thought.
The final price of the item was 2000 gold coins and it was bought by a rich person in the VIP rooms.
'Damn, that's what I made in 2 months while working as a doctor, and these people just spend it like this huh. Their sects must be really well off,' he thought.
Once the bid was over, Niya passed along the armor and brought out something else. What she held was a long staff-like object wrapped around in black cloth.
She brought it out in the spotlight to show it to the crowd as she opened the cloth and revealed what was inside the cloth.
'Oh,' Ning thought in a little surprise when he saw what it was.
Inside the cloth was a Spear. The handle was made up of a deep blue material and was about a meter and a half in length.
The blade was abnormally long at about half a meter and was made up of white, silver-like metal.
Overall, the spear looked very unique and one of a kind.
Niya moved the spear around to show it to the audience and spoke, "This spear is called the Jade Sapphire Spear. The body of this spear is made of Ocean jade, and the blade is made up of Metal Sapphire."
"It is one of the best Low-Grade Spirit artifacts sold in the auction as of yet. So, the starting bid for this spear will start at 1000 gold coins, and each bid much is a 10 gold coin increment. Please begin."