Auction, Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo

"Hahahaha!"

### "Which company would pay to auction something for you?"

### Scarhead and the others burst into laughter when they heard Lu Xuan.

### Lu Xuan scratched his head.

### Actually, he had only wanted to liven up the atmosphere. Otherwise, he would never have asked such a stupid question.

### Right, that was all.

### He, Lu Xuan, absolutely wasn't stupid.

### The effeminate Zhang Wei from the team came over with his pinky crooked like an orchid, sat down, and gave what he thought was a charming smile before asking softly:

### "Xiaoxuan, do you have a boyfriend... oh, no, do you have a girlfriend?"

### "...No."

### Lu Xuan shifted his butt slightly away.

### The martial artist squad had six members: Ma Tao, Wang Dongyun, the Zhao Brothers, Scarhead, and Zhang Wei.

### At this moment,

### each of the men had a woman sitting beside him and attending to him;

### although the two women weren't lustful, handsome young men were still serving them at their sides.

### Only Zhang Wei, that neither-man-nor-woman fellow, had driven all the attendants away and run over to Lu Xuan's side.

### Who wouldn't be frightened seeing that?

### "Don't be afraid." Zhang Wei raised a glass of red wine with a beaming smile, constantly edging closer as he said:

### "Uncle isn't interested in you."

### "Uncle was thinking, you're young, yet you already have the strength of a fourth-tier martial artist. In the future, you might become a Martial Master, or even a Martial Dao Grandmaster. If you can win our company's boss's daughter, you won't have to worry about the rest of your life."

### As soon as he said this, the others cast scrutinizing looks over as well.

### Scarhead wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth and only now took a careful look at Lu Xuan.

### He couldn't help praising him. "Xiaoxuan, putting everything else aside, you've got a truly handsome face. Combined with your talent, if you went to interview at one of those major companies or aristocratic families, you'd probably be groomed as a high-ranking executive."

### "That's right!" Ma Tao's slightly mature face leaned close. With a slurp, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "If your big sister weren't already married, I'd have to make a move on you at least once."

### "I think so too." The Zhao Brothers exchanged a glance. "When our boss's daughter sees you, we can't say she'll definitely like you, but she'd absolutely put you first on her list of potential partners."

### Lu Xuan wasn't wearing makeup.

### This was his original appearance.

### He wasn't exceptionally handsome, but he did indeed possess more presence than most people, especially after becoming a martial artist. The Qi and Blood Golden Elixir he had swallowed had refined his body into its most perfect state.

### He stood 2.3 meters tall and weighed 90 kilograms, with perfectly balanced muscle, fat, skin, and flesh.

### In the martial artist world, this was definitely the most perfect state.

### This was also the height humans had developed after mutating.

### Most people stood between 180 and 250 centimeters.

### Even the shortest dwarf patients were around 150 centimeters tall.

### "Uncle, my talent is actually pretty ordinary."

### Lu Xuan hunched his neck slightly. No matter what world one was in,

### there were always people who cared so much about other people's marriages.

### Especially elders.

### "Don't rush." Zhang Wei put down his red wine, opened the martial artist system, sent Lu Xuan a photograph, and tossed him a flirtatious look.

### "Xiaoxuan, it won't hurt to look first."

### "...Would she even take a liking to me?"

### Under the expectant gazes of the others, Lu Xuan helplessly opened the photograph.

### Zhang Wei shrugged. "Who knows? I heard that when she was young, her martial foundation was damaged in an accident. Her strength has remained stuck at the sixth-tier martial artist level, and she'll never be able to break through to the seventh tier."

### Disabled from the start?

### Interesting... Lu Xuan opened the photograph and directed his gaze toward it.

### The woman in the photograph wore a cold, aloof expression and had short hair. What left the deepest first impression was the bean-sized mole on the white of her left eye. Without looking carefully, one might mistake it for a double pupil.

### She wasn't stunningly beautiful, but at the very least, she had been born into a wealthy family.

### "Hm?"

### Suddenly,

### Lu Xuan spotted a blue crystal on the woman's wrist in the photograph.

### "This is... a Holy Cult token?"

### Lu Xuan's pupils contracted. Then, as he thought of something, he raised his head and asked Scarhead and the others:

### "Uncle, what kind of background does your company have?"

### A Holy Cult token.

### Only Holy Cult believers possessed such things, yet not one of the six people present wore one.

### In an instant,

### Lu Xuan pieced together the entire sequence of events.

### Having one's martial foundation destroyed as a child—wasn't that exactly the Holy Cult's style?

### After ruining someone, they would appear and offer hope, making the victim believe they were saviors and guard the Holy Cult with utter devotion.

### It seemed everyone had been deceived by this boss's daughter.

### This woman probably wasn't as simple as she appeared. She had been a sixth-tier martial artist since childhood. At her age, under the Holy Cult's tutelage, she had probably already broken through to the Qi and Blood Martial Master realm, right?

### "What, you really took a liking to the boss's daughter?" Scarhead rubbed his bald head and recalled, "Strictly speaking, our company belongs to Zero Martial Arts Company's subsidiary companies. Martial artists with talent like ours can't enter Zero Martial Arts Company, so we usually choose one of these subsidiaries."

### Zero Martial Arts Company?

### Lu Xuan's brows furrowed slightly. "Then the boss's daughter is a direct descendant of Zero Martial Arts Company's president? The company's princess?"

### "That, we don't know."

### Scarhead shook his head, while the others were equally at a loss. "All we know is that the people above call her the boss's daughter. No one has ever said whether she's Zero Martial Arts Company's princess."

### So that was how it was?

### Lu Xuan stared at the woman in the photograph, committing her appearance to memory.

### He had just been about to say a few words.

### Just then—

### "Beep!"

### "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Satellite City No. 2... This venue is sponsored by the Federation Martial Arts Association..."

### The auction began.

### Lu Xuan simply put the matter out of his mind and focused on the auction.

### He had only one goal this time.

### To bid for auction item number thirteen.

### "Next is the first auction item... a Yellow-level spiritual item, Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo."

### "The starting price is five million, with minimum increments of no less than ten thousand!"

### "A Yellow-level spiritual item?" Lu Xuan opened the auction-item information in surprise and glanced at the properties of the Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo.

### The Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo was an excellent material for forging and refining weapons, compatible with many things.

### Moreover, it was a growth-type spiritual item.

### It had to endure nine tribulations of thunder before reaching its optimal form and becoming a Heaven-level spiritual item.

### The first tribulation came once every ten years, the second once every twenty years, the third once every forty years, and the fifth once every eighty years... Its value could be called extremely high.

### Unfortunately,

### because its cultivation cycle was too long, no one was willing to spend a fortune on it.

### The Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo before them had already endured its fourth tribulation.

### Yellow-level.

### Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items, like martial artists' Martial Art Manuals, were divided into low, middle, and high grades. Above those were Yellow-level, Mysterious-level, Earth-level, and Heaven-level spiritual items.

### Generally speaking, high-grade spiritual items already possessed sky-high prices.

### Yellow-level spiritual items started at five million.

### "This thing is rather unfortunate. If someone could live for a thousand years, they might have a chance to harvest it. Used as a great killing weapon, it would definitely be powerful."

### Scarhead and the others shook their heads.

### Even though the Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo was currently a Yellow-level spiritual item, to be honest, it wasn't very useful.

### The major powers looked down on it as a weapon-forging material, while minor martial artists lacked the strength to obtain it.

### After all, forging a Yellow-level weapon consumed an equally enormous amount of resources, something ordinary people could never afford.

### It wasn't as though one could simply throw a bamboo stalk at someone and start fighting, right?

### "Six million!"

### While everyone was sighing, Lu Xuan directly pressed the bidding button on the sofa.

### At once,

### the people in the private room all turned to look at him.

### "Xiaoxuan, what are you doing?"

### Scarhead was full of confusion, then advised him, "Although this Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo is a good thing, it's extremely useless until it reaches the Mysterious-level, or even the Earth-level. It won't do you any good to buy it!"

### "Uncle, I know what I'm doing."

### Lu Xuan smiled without explaining.

### Indeed, before the Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo reached the Mysterious-level or higher, it was the spiritual item least worth spending resources to cultivate.

### But Lu Xuan had the Bronze Gourd.

### That thing could eat anything and repair incomplete Martial Skills. Perhaps it could even help the Nine Tribulations Thunder Bamboo advance another step?

### Regardless,

### Lu Xuan had to take a gamble.

### After his bid fell, quite a few others called out several times as well.

### In the end,

### the price settled at just over ten million, and Lu Xuan obtained it.

### "Still within an acceptable range."

### Lu Xuan let out a breath.

### Only after becoming an advanced martial artist did one understand that making money was easy for martial artists, but burning through it was even easier.

### A single bamboo stalk had sold for ten million.

### Who the hell could withstand that?

### Moreover, there were resources besides weapons. One item cost ten million; adding everything together, one had to start at a hundred million, and as one's strength grew, these things had to be constantly upgraded.

### No wonder so few people broke through to become Qi and Blood Martial Masters.

### Without some foundation, relying on talent alone was truly difficult.

### The saying "poor scholars, rich martial artists" was no empty boast.

### "Good grief, what a wastrel!"

### Scarhead rubbed his head, both irritated and regretful. "If I'd known you had this kind of money, why would we have bothered coming to this goddamn auction? We could've gone straight for a nourishing feast. And now you've exchanged it for a lousy bamboo stalk..."

### "Hahaha."

### Lu Xuan burst out laughing and pursed his lips. "You can't buy what I like with a thousand pieces of gold!"

### ...

### Third-floor private room.

### The short-haired, aloof woman glanced at the private room where Lu Xuan and the others were sitting.

### "Are they martial artists from our company?"

### The woman's voice was cold and clear. "Tell them not to cause trouble. We're secretly escorting a shipment this time."

### "Miss, it seems someone else was the one bidding."

### "Someone else?"

### The woman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Keep a close watch on this person. One must always guard against others. If he finds out about the goods we're transporting..."

### She swiped her slender hand across the air.

###