Slaves

"Before deciding Huyan Lie's fate, I think there's a more crucial issue that needs to be discussed," Si Ming said, looking at Yu Shuying. "Spirit Transformation cultivator isn't a fish on a chopping board. How can we severely injure him?"

Yu Shuying scoffed, "What a stupid question. Yesterday, after he mentioned someone's name, he was already a fish on the chopping block. All we have to do is wield the cleaver."

Hopefully, the plan will go smoothly.

After the meeting, Si Ming left the library. He was also assigned an important task in Yu Shuying's plan.

Of course, this is not a bad thing. To stand out among so many Grandmaster Candidate, one should not seek to live a peaceful and safe life, but rather to showcase oneself as much as possible. Yu Shuying provides the advice, and he provides the practical work. It seems that the former has the advantage, but that is not actually the case.

If there were only him and Yu Shuying Grandmaster Candidate Grand Master, then it would be a case of hurting the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred of one's own. In order to prevent the other party from gaining merit, he would not help. This idea may be stingy, but it is also a competitive strategy.

In reality, they weren't the only two Grandmaster Candidate. Instead of trying to suppress each other, they should join forces, benefit each other, defeat other competitors, and then compete to see who comes out on top. Si Ming believed he had this sense of the bigger picture.

"I heard you're going to the Northern Darkness Party's auction tonight?"

Lin Qingxiang caught up from behind and asked.

This was nothing to hide, Si Ming nodded.

"Then let's take Qingqing with us. Oh, and bring this card too. The PIN is Qingqing's birthday. If she wants anything, just buy it for her. Don't worry about the price."

Lin Qingxiang handed a bank card to Si Ming, and before Si Ming could react, he waved and left.

"What's going on? Is he on a mission to pick up girls? Seriously, how did I manage to get so much goodwill from this brother-in-law? I haven't even said a word to him the whole time. Why is he so fond of me? Is it because I have a nice face, or is it because I'm Grandmaster Candidate '?"

Si Ming was stunned by this sudden "assistance." He stared at the black and gold bank card for a while before calming himself down and preparing to go find Liu Qingqing. In any case, even if he found that Dr. Ma Shijiu, it was impossible for him to take action on the spot, and the auction that night was unlikely to be dangerous.

That evening, Si Ming took Liu Qingqing with him and went to the auction venue with Wei Chunxi.

In Si Ming's original imagination, such a high-end auction would definitely require secrecy, such as everyone wearing a mask or a black cloak, or each person having a private box and being assigned a beautiful personal maid to serve them, so as to give bidders a sense of security.

Of course, if you're the protagonist, even with all the tricks to hide your identity, someone will still find out. Then, at the auction, you might offend someone while bidding, and be hunted down as soon as it ends. Of course, in the end, the protagonist will definitely turn the tables and kill you, giving you experience points.

However, once Si Ming entered the venue, he realized he had been overthinking things.

There were no masks, no cloaks, and no personal maids. Although there were private rooms, they were open-plan, so everyone could see who was sitting inside. The venue was decorated in a European-style party style, with a spacious center and long tables on both sides, laden with various snacks, desserts, candied fruits, and beverages for attendees to choose from—although most attendees weren't there for the food.

"What's going on? The auction has turned into a social gathering." Si Ming was completely baffled.

Wei Chunxi, however, was not surprised. "Eclectic School like this kind of thing. It has traces of the Daoist School pursuit of freedom, and they like to piece together all sorts of random things into a hodgepodge."

Si Ming looked around and found that most people were chatting and building relationships, seemingly not very interested in the upcoming auction, but rather focused more on interpersonal connections.

"There's absolutely no tense atmosphere. Is it alright to let the bidders communicate with each other like this? They might even reach an agreement and deliberately drive down the final price."

"This proves that the Northern Darkness Party has enough confidence in their auction items. They know that everyone is unlikely to resist the temptation, and deception only comes with communication. Don't be fooled by their current friendly demeanor; if they really set their sights on the same item, they'll turn on each other in a heartbeat. Their current conversations are actually to gather intelligence and find out how much capital each party has brought, so that they can set traps at the auction," Wei Chunxi explained.

Si Ming had never considered this possibility. His understanding of auctions was still limited to two parties raising their paddles and bidding, with whoever brought the most money winning in the end.

"There are more people than I expected."

"Auctions are like studying; the atmosphere is crucial. For example, when you wake up in the morning and hear the sound of students reading aloud, you might spontaneously memorize dozens of words together. During lunch break, studying with others can be quite tedious, but if you look up and see a dense crowd of people diligently doing their homework, you won't feel like lying down to sleep. Doing homework together during evening self-study sessions, exchanging ideas and asking each other questions, is much more efficient than doing it alone, allowing you to complete several more books. After school, when you return to your dorm and are ready to sleep, seeing the lights still shining outside your window makes you want to get up and do a few more practice tests. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, if you go to the library and see it full of people studying, would you still have the thought of going out to play?"

"You're talking about studying? I thought you were describing hell!"

Chapter 242 Slaves

If we're talking about who has the most collections in the world, it's undoubtedly the Eclectic School. Even Merchant School can't Eclectic School in this regard, because Merchant School only do profitable business, and their auctions only feature items like jewelry, antiques, and legendary weapons. On the other hand, Eclectic School are willing to spend a fortune to buy anything that interests them, even if it's worthless. As a result, their auctions always feature all sorts of strange and unusual items, and even if participants don't intend to buy anything, they can still broaden their horizons.

Even after the auction officially began, Si Ming still couldn't find Ma Shijiu in the hall. He guessed that either Ma Shijiu had bought something suitable and was no longer participating, or he had disguised himself, perhaps with a human skin mask or something similar. Either way, it meant that it would be very difficult for him to find Ma Shijiu.

However, he wasn't too disappointed. He had only come to try his luck, and it was normal not to see anyone. Seeing someone would be like winning the lottery. Since he was already there, he might as well make the best of it and focus on watching the auction.

The lights in the venue quickly dimmed, especially the auctioneers' seats, which were completely dark. It was difficult to see their faces from a distance. The only bright spot was the exhibition stand, which was also the focus of everyone's attention.

Under the watchful eyes of many, several pretty women walked onto the stage. A middle-aged man in a brocade robe stood in front of them, smiling broadly as he cupped his hands in greeting to the surrounding guests.

"Distinguished guests, welcome to the Beiming Auction. I hope you all leave satisfied today. Without further ado, let's begin with the first item."

The middle-aged man knew why everyone had come here. He wasn't a leader giving a speech and could just ramble on as he pleased. Everything had to go along with the customers' wishes. So he skipped the opening remarks with a simple sentence and went straight to the auction.

The first few rounds of bidding didn't feature anything particularly valuable; most were items that could be found at other auctions. Customer response was generally lukewarm, and the prices offered were quite reasonable, which is to be expected. The first few rounds of an auction are usually just appetizers; the main event comes later on—but I'll skip that because someone wanted to be lazy and save ink.

It wasn't until the first living creature was pushed onto the display stand that a slight commotion arose from the crowd, especially since this creature was human, or rather, a humanoid being, with a slender figure, a handsome face, and a pair of pointed ears.

Si Ming was shocked the moment he saw it. "Holy crap, aren't these Elf Race? What happened to the martial arts story? How did it turn into a Western fantasy?"

Wei Chunxi asked in surprise, "You've heard of the Elf Race? They're a rare indigenous race from the Western Luo Continent. Russia has trade with the Luo Continent, and these kinds of alien races are quite common at Russia auctions. There are also dwarfs who are very short but have long beards, and orcs who are very similar to the transformed Demon Race. But the Elf Race are more popular, after all, they're beautiful. The Xiang Family's high-end clubs have specially trained Elf Race are proficient in everything from music and calligraphy to playing musical instruments and singing."

Si Ming really wanted to say that dwarfs and gnomes are different, but then he thought better of it. It would be too complicated to explain, and he couldn't explain why dwarfs and gnomes were different races.

When he was learning about the common knowledge of the world, he did know that there were five continents in this world, and the East China Sea Continent was just one of them. He originally thought that the other four continents were either uninhabited or had a "Chinese style" like the East China Sea Continent. He never expected that there would be Western-style races with a completely different style.

Si Ming immediately became interested, thinking that when he became stronger and had the ability to protect himself, he would like to go out and travel around, wondering if there was any magic in the so-called Western Luo Continent.

Wei Chunxi continued, "They're beautiful, have a long puberty, and are artistically talented. Elf Race are practically born to be prostitutes. The Xiang Family has taken many of them as disciples, teaching them seductive arts. They cultivate faster than ordinary people, although most of them have flat chests. Fortunately, there are quite a few people who like small breasts."

Si Ming couldn't help but ask, "Do they know magic?"

"I don't know. It seems they know a special kind of Technique Method, but unfortunately it's useless. Under the barrier, external special forces cannot be used in the Sea Continent, and even we can't cast Technique Method, let alone outsiders. Even if they raise their heads and the earth shakes outside, they can be just ordinary people here."

"Then they must have very long lifespans, right?"

The Huaxia have an exceptionally strong pursuit of longevity, and they must have studied elves, a species known for its long lifespan, long ago.

"I've never heard of this before. It seems to be similar to what ordinary people do."