Whether the two remaining bidders had finally reached their limits after a long struggle, or whether Xu Yi's ferocious bidding had frightened them into thinking a powerful outsider had arrived, was anyone's guess.
In any case, after Xu Yi bid four hundred and ten thousand, the Crystal Screen remained silent for a full three breaths. Then a chime rang in his ears like celestial music. The lot was sold.
The moment the passage opened, Xu Yi snatched up the Heart of the Earth and held it in his hand. After rubbing it for a moment, he immediately put it away in his Sumeru Ring.
With the exchange complete, Xu Yi had nothing else to ask for. He used his remaining points to redeem three thousand spirit stones. The Crystal Token in the slot suddenly flashed blue, then vanished without a trace.
At that moment, hundreds of auction items still remained on the Crystal Screen.
Since there was no way to leave, Xu Yi's thoughts stirred, and he decided to refine the iron essence here.
This round of refining took him more than an hour. Suddenly, the black-and-yellow aura around the iron essence dissipated. The iron essence, half black and half gold, lost all its black color and became a pale golden sphere the size of a pigeon's egg, with faint lightning patterns clinging to its surface.
Xu Yi gripped the iron essence, overjoyed. He urged it with his palm, and it immediately changed shape at his will, turning and flowing as smoothly as before.
Yet Xu Yi could clearly sense that something about it was different. He wanted to examine it more closely, but couldn't put the difference into words.
Just as he was pondering this, the Crystal Screen flared brightly, then went dark. The small room opened wide. Xu