As the beautiful auctioneer explained, everyone got a look at the soft armor.
It was red, with scales covering its surface.
How to put it? The soft armor was a red dudou.
"Everyone, next I'll demonstrate what this soft armor can do."
With that, the beauty put the soft armor on.
It should have been an eyesore, but once the beauty put it on, it had a mysterious allure.
Everyone below the stage erupted, and some were practically drooling.
Just then, a martial artist standing nearby took a sharp sword and thrust it at the beauty.
Clang!
A crisp metallic ring sounded, and the sharp sword snapped in two. The martial artist was sent flying in an instant.
"Everyone, as I'm sure you've seen, this soft armor can not only block attacks from weapons, but also reflect them."
Everyone erupted at those words.
The beauty smiled faintly and said, "All right, enough chatter. Let the bidding begin. The starting bid is 500,000."
"One million!"
"Three million!"
Just like that, the price shot higher and higher in an instant.
Qin Hao had taken a fancy to the soft armor too, but unfortunately, he didn't think he could outbid these people.
In the end, the dudou armor was bought by a mysterious person on the second floor for the high price of over 15 million.
"All right, the next item up for auction is a cultivation technique we received just today."
A young woman in a qipao came up carrying something wrapped in red cloth.
"Everyone, take a look. This is a Lightning-Type cultivation technique. Although it's only E-rank, it's a rare combination technique that provides both control and damage."
When she mentioned its rank, the people below the stage had already lost interest in hearing more.
But when they heard it was a rare combination of control and attack, they erupted once again.
The beautiful auctioneer then explained the technique's functions in full, and the people below the stage immediately grew eager to bid.
"All right, bidding starts now. The starting bid is 500,000!"
"500,000!"
"510,000!"
"600,000!"
Clearly, because the technique's rank was too low, the bids were rising in relatively small increments.
Even so, people who hadn't awakened a Lightning-Type Ability were willing to buy such a rare Lightning-Type control technique. After all, it really was too rare.
Lightning-Type cultivation technique books were already relatively valuable, and this one combined control and attack, making it even rarer.
After a long round of bidding, the price broke straight through to five million.
And it was still climbing.
However, all the bids were coming from people on the first floor.
Just then, a voice called out from a private room on the second floor: "Ten million!"
After that bid, no one on the first floor bid again.
In the end, Qin Hao's E-rank Lightning-Type cultivation technique sold for the high price of ten million.
Qin Hao's smiling face was full of happiness.
To be honest, he had expected a little over two million to be about right.
But the price had gone straight up to ten million, and he was more than satisfied.
Next came the broadsword containing the power of time, which was snatched up by a mysterious person on the second floor for 20 million.
The items after that included spirit fruits and spirit ores for forging weapons.
Qin Hao saw many things he needed, such as spirit fruits. A single spirit fruit could improve one's constitution, instantly advancing someone from Apprentice First Stage to second-stage apprentice.
Unfortunately, the price of this spirit fruit was driven all the way up to over 30 million.
Before anyone realized it, the auction was drawing to a close.
"Everyone, this auction is nearing its end. Next is the grand finale item."
The young woman in a qipao brought another item up.
"Everyone, I imagine many of you came here for this final item, didn't you?"
With that, the beautiful auctioneer pulled away the red cloth, revealing a red bodhi fruit.
It would have been one thing if it were an ordinary bodhi fruit, but this one was actually glowing gold.
It was an eye-opener for Qin Hao. To be honest, in all his life, not only had he never seen one, this was the first time he had even heard of one. He was deeply shocked.
"Everyone, this is no ordinary bodhi fruit. It was picked from a thousand-year-old bodhi fruit tree demonic beast in another world."
Hearing the beauty's introduction, everyone below the stage wore an exaggerated expression.
"To obtain this bodhi fruit, the Many Treasures Pavilion lost four martial generals, and two martial marquises were seriously injured."
The people below the stage reacted differently once again, their expressions growing somewhat tense.
"All right, enough said. Next, let me tell you about this bodhi fruit's magical effects."
As it turned out, this kind of bodhi fruit was extraordinary: it could raise the rank of one's ability talent.
In other words, anyone with a talent rank below SS could immediately rise one rank simply by eating it.
This fruit was useless to Qin Hao. After all, he could learn any lowest-rank cultivation technique and obtain a Legendary Rank ability from it.
With that, the beautiful auctioneer announced, "Bidding starts now. The starting bid is ten million, and each increase must be no less than ten million."
Just like that, everyone with money bid desperately.
The price was soon driven up to 200 million.
And it didn't stop there; the bids kept climbing.
A fruit that could raise talent rank was indeed a priceless treasure to anyone whose talent was below SS-rank.
In the end, the golden-glowing bodhi fruit was claimed by a mysterious person on the second floor for the high price of two billion.
Qin Hao's head was buzzing. Two billion. Two billion!
At that moment, Qin Hao really wanted to venture into the other world, because the things brought back from there were truly worth a fortune.
After the auction, the Many Treasures Pavilion deducted a ten percent commission. Qin Hao received nine million, plus 1.2 million for the purchase of the other six books.
Having gained 10.2 million at once, Qin Hao immediately took out ten million and recharged it all into Great Dao Crystals.
The recharge earned him a total of 100,000 Great Dao Crystals. The first thing he did upon returning home was create a higher-rank cultivation technique.
This time, Qin Hao wanted to create an even higher-rank cultivation technique, so he wrote: "Icebound Ten Thousand Miles, deal continuous damage, and kill enemies with Ice Cones!"
[ Ding: The host has written a passage of cultivation instructions. Generate a cultivation technique? ]
"Yes!"
[ Ding: Spending 100,000 Great Dao Crystals. Generating cultivation technique... ]
[ Ding: Congratulations to the host for obtaining "Icebound" ]
[ Icebound ]
[ Type: Ice-element group control and attack combination ]
[ Rank: C-rank ]
[ Functions: Icebound Ten Thousand Miles, deal continuous damage, Ice Cone Attack (Note: Only suitable for those with the Chaos Dao Body or those who have awakened an Ice-Type Ability to cultivate) ]
"This ice-element control skill, Icebound Ten Thousand Miles, has saved me many times. Now I can finally cultivate it myself."
With that, Qin Hao began to cultivate.