The fallout from the outer sect tournament had barely passed when Qingyunzi sent Li Wuyang a gilded invitation—the "Centennial Auction," jointly hosted by the three great powers of the Spiritual Stream Realm, would soon be held in Tiangong City, the main city of Tiangong Workshop, and he was invited to attend as an honored guest.
"An auction? I know all about those!" Li Wuyang was immediately interested. At the Myriad Treasures Tower in the Primordial World, he could only watch the excitement, but here, he could at least count as a "rich man," right? After all, he still had plenty of "junk" brought from the Primordial World. If he casually took out a few scraps, they would probably cause a sensation in the Spiritual Stream Realm.
He decided to go have some fun, see if there was anything good to pick up on the cheap, and perhaps trade some useless items for spirit stones.
Before setting out, he specifically entrusted Earth Doll to Xuan's care (Xuan: cold stare.jpg). He took only Little Fire and Yingying, riding a rather flashy immortal crane provided by the Qingyun Sect, and arrived at Tiangong City. Huaihuai had been separated from him in the turbulent currents of spacetime.
Tiangong City was indeed imposing. Its buildings were primarily constructed of metal and stone, filled with an industrial... no, a refining-tool aesthetic. The auction venue was even more resplendent, packed with people.
As an honored guest, Li Wuyang was escorted to a private room on the second floor with an excellent view. The rooms beside his belonged to the higher-ups of Hundred Herbs Valley and Tiangong Workshop, while opposite were the patriarchs of several cultivation families, each radiating an extraordinary presence.
The auction began, and one treasure after another was presented, drawing waves of bidding from the crowd below. Magic treasures, pills, cultivation techniques, spiritual materials—most of them seemed utterly ordinary to Li Wuyang and failed to interest him in the slightest. He was even starting to feel drowsy.
That was until one of the finale items was brought out—a damaged bronze fragment covered in rust.
The auctioneer introduced it. "This item was excavated from ruins at the edge of the Sea of Falling Stars. Its material is unknown, and it is incredibly hard. It is suspected to be an ancient relic. The starting bid is one thousand high-grade spirit stones!"
The audience barely reacted. A worthless piece of scrap metal, with a starting price of one thousand high-grade spirit stones? Only an idiot would buy it!
However, inside Li Wuyang's private room, the Great Dao Imprint within his sea of consciousness suddenly stirred slightly as he dozed! Though it was extremely faint, he had definitely sensed it! This fragment carried a trace of an unimaginably ancient, unimaginably faint... aura of chaos! It was somewhat similar to the one on Xuan, but far more mixed and impure!
"Good stuff!" Li Wuyang instantly woke up! This thing might be related to a Chaos Demon God! He had to get it!
He directly pressed the bidding artifact and lazily said, "Eleven hundred."
His voice was amplified by the sound-transmitting formation and spread throughout the venue. Everyone froze for a moment and looked toward the second-floor private rooms. Who was this fool with more money than sense?
Inside Hundred Herbs Valley's private room, an elder hesitated. Thinking the fragment might yield some ancient medicinal formulas through research, he cautiously raised the bid. "Twelve hundred."
Li Wuyang did not even raise his eyelids. "Two thousand."
The entire venue erupted! He had raised it by eight hundred in one go? What kind of move was that?
The Hundred Herbs Valley elder looked ugly and gave up. It was not worth it for a piece of scrap metal.
The auctioneer shouted excitedly, "Two thousand high-grade spirit stones! Any higher bids? Two thousand, first call! Two thousand, second call..."
"Twenty-five hundred!" A sinister voice rang out from a family private room opposite. It was the Patriarch of the Wang Family, the largest cultivation family in the city. Seeing that Li Wuyang was determined to get it, he simply wanted to drive up the price and disgust this "Qingyun Sect expert" who had recently been in the limelight.
Li Wuyang smiled. Competing with me in wealth? He leisurely took a sip of tea and uttered two words. "Five thousand."
Pfft—!
Someone below directly sprayed tea from their mouth! Five thousand high-grade spirit stones for a rusty bronze fragment?! This was no longer being a fool with too much money. This was having so many spirit stones that they were burning a hole in his pocket!
The Patriarch of the Wang Family was also dumbfounded. He had planned to stop after raising it to three thousand, but the other party had directly doubled it! His face turned livid, and he did not dare continue. What if Li Wuyang was deliberately setting a trap for him? He would suffer a massive loss.
In the end, Li Wuyang bought the overlooked bronze fragment for the astronomical price of five thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Everyone looked at Li Wuyang's private room as though they were looking at an idiot. Qingyunzi sat beside him, wiping cold sweat as he thought, Fellow Daoist Li truly acts in ways that are unfathomably profound... I can't understand him at all!
During the following auctions, Li Wuyang also took a fancy to several rare spiritual herbs that were nothing special in the Primordial World. Every time someone made a bid, he would directly double or even multiply the price several times, crushing the competition with money and leaving no chance for anyone else.
The entire auction had practically become his personal show. Money to burn! Simple and brutal!
The people from the other factions all looked grim, especially the Patriarch of the Wang Family, who felt as though his face had been thoroughly slapped swollen. Yet they could not figure out Li Wuyang's background and did not dare act rashly.
When the auction ended, Li Wuyang left gracefully amid the complicated gazes of the crowd, carrying the several pieces of "junk" he had bought with complete satisfaction.
After returning to the Qingyun Sect, he eagerly began studying the bronze fragment. After carefully refining away the surface rust with Primordial Purple Qi, the fragment revealed its true form. Blurry, twisted runes unlike those of any known civilization were engraved upon it, and the chaos aura it emitted became even more obvious.
"What exactly is this a fragment of?" Li Wuyang muttered. He felt that behind this fragment might lie secrets concerning the Sea of Falling Stars, perhaps even the Chaos Demon Gods.
It seemed that his trip to the Sea of Falling Stars three years from now was inevitable!
(End of Chapter 48)
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