Ch 58 Part 2 – Token (II)
After the seventh lot was sold, silence still engulfed the valley. Cloud passed by, and a few minutes had passed. Except for Meng Qi, other guests were feeling a bit upset. Since the establishment of Heaven Auction Site, no item has ever been sold for merely several hundred eighth-grade spirit stones.
On the next few lots, there was not much enthusiasm. The eighth to eleventh lots were sold quickly after just a few bids.
Having gained a tremendous profit today, Meng Qi was in an excellent mood. She had no intention of going back early and sat relaxedly inside the room, watching the auction being held.
Finally, the twelfth lot was being introduced. Before the thirteenth lot was announced, this twelfth lot was initially the most precious item to be auctioned today. Linghu Xie waved his hand, and a broken scroll was floating on the stage. No matter where their position was, the audience could see the scroll unimpeded.
At a glance, the scroll had been yellowed and looked very old. Obviously, the staff at Beyond The Heaven had done some repair, but it was clear that about one-third of the scroll was missing.
“This scroll contained the record of an ancient array. It has been broken when found, scattered in thousands small parts and were packed in two wooden boxes.” Linghu Xie introduced the twelfth lot with a smile. “Seven cultivators of Beyond The Heaven who are proficient in tool refinery spent one month to restore it to its current appearance, but it’s clear that we are still missing the last box to have a complete scroll.”
After a pause, he added slowly: “According to the seven people who repaired this scroll, the array recorded in it is plausibly an ancient refinery array that has been lost for thousands of years.”
“Which one?” Someone asked immediately.
“I don’t dare to speculate.” Linghu Xie answered with a smile. “We invited the top refinery sects from all four realms to research this scroll together. According to them, this is probably the refinery array of one of the ancient Soul Chasing Five Elements Swords.”
A burst of uproar instantly erupted.
Refinery sects had long been in decline, and many were on their edge. A large part of the reason was the catastrophe ten thousand years ago. Cultivators who specialized in refinery had no significant offensive power and could only rely on arrays and magic tools to defend themselves from the invaders. Once the arrays and tools were exhausted, what awaited them was total annihilation. Like that, countless ancient refinery arrays disappeared into the long river of time.
A few hundreds of years ago, a refinery sect with thousands of years of history accidentally found a scroll left behind by their ancestors, which contained three ancient arrays that had long become mere legends. Using the knowledge in that scroll, in the last few hundred years, the refinery cultivators gradually regained their previous standing in Three Thousand Worlds.
Meng Qi had never heard of the Soul Chasing Five Elements Swords, but she understood the significance of the word ‘ancient.’
Sure enough, upon Linghu Xie’s words, the originally lukewarm atmosphere finally became lively again.
“Fellow Daoist Linghu, please state the starting price.” Someone immediately urged.
“Ten thousand profound-grade spirit stones.” Linghu Xie replied with a smile.
Indeed worthy of being the twelfth lot. Its value was truly different. Meng Qi watched other guests become spirited, and soon the price went from 10,000 to 100,000 profound-grade spirit stones.
“One hundred and twenty thousand profound-grade spirit stones, plus one fourth-grade array.” Another person said.
This ancient array was so precious that the bidding could no longer be solved by just taking out more spirit stones. Heaven Auction House allowed bartering in addition to monetary payment, but the seller had the right to accept or refuse.
Meng Qi has never studied arrays systematically. All the arrays her Master taught her were of practical use. She couldn’t learn some of them because of her low cultivation base, so Master put in his effort to modify the arrays and teach her the simpler version.
Hearing the words ‘fourth-grade array,’ Meng Qi’s heart moved. During this time, she had faintly noticed that the arrays Master taught her were not of ordinary origin. Every single of them could make the demon cultivators who recognized it to be extremely shocked and fearful.
She wondered what the grade of Four Poles Great Array and Lihuo Great Fire was. After she met with Master again, she should ask him.
Thinking about her Master, Meng Qi’s happy mood suddenly dimmed a bit. She subconsciously looked up at the sky. From her perspective, the sky was full of clouds, and she could see an island floated leisurely up above, so majestic and unrestrained.
…
At the top of the valley, in the elegant courtyard inside Heaven Auction House, a man in a white robe was lying lazily on a soft couch. He didn’t even bother to watch the auction. Even in Beyond The Heaven, where he was without his physical body, there was an obvious trace of exhaustiveness on his face. There was no one else in the courtyard except for this man. With his slender fingers, he casually played with two black wooden slips.
Within a few days, he broke his principles twice for a human girl still in the Foundation Establishment stage.
But what else could be done?
She so desperately tried to earn a few ninth-grade spirit stones, even put herself in danger, all to buy him a phoenix feather.
Heh—
It’s a pity that Beyond The Heaven had its own strict and comprehensive rules since its establishment. Even he couldn’t break the rules arbitrarily. What’s more, there were too many things about Meng Qi that he still couldn’t comprehend. Therefore, for the time being, he didn’t want her to know too much.
The white-robed man listened to the increasingly heightened bidding, and finally, the incomplete scroll was sold to the highest bidder. There was no change in his expression. The man lazily glanced downward towards a particular room. The girl inside was still eating refreshment happily and had no intention of leaving.
An almost indiscernible smile flashed through the man’s eyes. This girl usually looked very mature, but in fact, was still seventeen or eighteen years old. Nearly half of the pastries and candies on the table had been eaten by her. Did she like sweets so much?