Next, Elder Yuan waved to the maid beside him. She stepped forward carrying a tray, lifted the red cloth, and revealed a section of purple bamboo lying quietly within.
Zhou Yi recognized the bamboo. It was Purple Heart Bamboo, which grew only in extremely harsh conditions. It grew merely one inch each year, and once it reached nine zhang in height, cutting it open would reveal a stone like red crystal inside.
This red crystal-like stone was Inch Heart. It could be used in medicine, directly increase a martial artist's Vital Energy, and serve as a material for certain cultivation methods to break through to the Mid-stage Vitality Realm. Its material value was not particularly high, but its rarity made it scarce. Zhou Yi wondered what price it would fetch today.
The purple bamboo encasing the Inch Heart was also an excellent material for forging weapons.
At this time, Elder Yuan explained the uses of Purple Heart Bamboo to everyone.
"The starting bid is five hundred thousand taels of silver. Each bid must increase by no less than ten thousand taels!"
Elder Yuan's voice rang through the auction hall.
"Six hundred thousand!" a buyer on the second floor called out.
"Eight hundred thousand!" Another voice followed.
"One million one hundred thousand!" someone on the second floor continued bidding.
"One million three hundred thousand!"
This time, no sound came from the second floor. Clearly, the price had exceeded that person's means.
After seeing that no one else was bidding, Elder Yuan counted to three before announcing that the guest who had bid one million three hundred thousand taels had won the Purple Heart Bamboo. After instructing the maid beside him to put it away and deliver it to the guest, Elder Yuan began the auction for the next item.
Then,