The Nine Flames Auction

Two days later, on the Nine Flame Continent in the Virtual Universe.

Today was the day of the Nine Flames Auction, held once every five years. Lin Yuan teleported to the entrance of the auction hall reserved for the event. From the outside, the hall looked magnificent.

Lin Yuan looked around. The place was bustling, with rows of people waiting outside to enter the auction hall. Most of them were World Lords.

For ordinary World Lords who hadn't joined one of the Five Great Giants or the Core Layer of a Universe Country, this auction was practically their only way to buy rare treasures. There were many precious items they simply couldn't get their hands on otherwise.

Besides, these preliminary auctions were held frequently. In the Nine Flames Universe Kingdom, one took place every five years, featuring a huge variety of items. If something you wanted wasn't available this time, you could always attend a few more and eventually find it.

"Hello, sir. Welcome to this year's Nine Flames Auction. Here's your seat number. Please hold on to it." The staff member smiled and handed him a Red Token bearing Lin Yuan's seat number—WY00772.

Lin Yuan found his seat among the densely packed rows of seats in the stands. It was a full six meters wide. The surrounding seats gradually filled with other attendees, and the auction hall buzzed with noisy conversation.

The total number of World Lords in the entire Nine Flames Universe Kingdom might be four or five million. Most attendees were World Lords, with a few wealthy merchants and scions of prominent families, and even a very small number of immortals.

Among the immortals attending this preliminary auction, a few were Ordinary Immortals, but most were relatively poor. Their total assets amounted to less than 10,000 Hunyuan Units, and the poorest might have only around 1,000 Hunyuan Units to their name.

More than two hours later, all the attendees had arrived and taken their seats.

"Welcome, everyone!"

A lively voice rang out, and the chatter in the hall gradually died down.

Lin Yuan looked toward the source of the voice, at the very center of the auction hall.

A tall young woman stood at the center of the hall. A massive three-dimensional projection of her appeared overhead, reaching a height of a thousand meters.

"Thank you to the Five Great Giants and the Nine Flames Universe Kingdom for their generous support of this auction. I, Wendy, will once again be hosting this grand event!"

"More than 1.5 million people are here today. I'm sure you can hardly wait, so as usual, we'll kick things off with a warm-up auction before the main event."

A projection of a pyramid-shaped spaceship appeared above the auction hall.

"This is an E-Grade Machine Race Spaceship."

The audience erupted in excitement.

"As we all know, Machine Race spaceships vastly outperform ordinary spaceships in every respect, and they're extremely rare on the market. This is the only one up for auction today, so get ready to bid. The starting price is 600 Hunyuan Units." The young woman, Wendy, spoke in an upbeat voice.

A giant projection of "600 Hunyuan Units" appeared above the auction floor.

"800 Hunyuan Units!"

"1,000 Hunyuan Units!"

The price climbed rapidly.

In the end, it stopped at "2,900 Hunyuan Units."

"Time to count down: three, two, one. Congratulations to this guest on winning the E-Grade Machine Race spaceship!" The young woman's voice rang out.

"All right, it looks like everyone's eager to get started. With that, this auction is officially underway!"

Each batch contained a thousand items, and there were fifty batches in this auction.

One item after another was displayed and auctioned off at the center of the hall.

Life Fruits, Bona Race Metal Lifeforms, Lanke Fruits, God Splitting Weapons, Yan Shen Armaments, Heaven Opening Axes...

Lin Yuan looked over the items. There were quite a few good ones, but none of them were what he needed.

Finally, among the items in the twelfth batch, Lin Yuan spotted one that caught his interest.

"The next item is extremely rare: the skin of a member of the Starlight Race!"

After the young woman, Wendy, finished speaking, the stands filled with chatter.

A projection of the item appeared overhead. It was a piece of skin flecked with starlight, with Secret Patterns faintly rippling across its surface.

"Unlike flesh-and-blood lifeforms like us, the Starlight Race is an Energy Lifeform. As long as their core crystal remains intact, they won't die. Their skin is extremely difficult to obtain, and this piece is completely undamaged. It would be highly valuable even as a collectible."

"The Starlight Race can change their appearance in countless ways and have a strong talent for the Law of Space Origin. Their skin bears a few Secret Patterns of the Law of Space Origin. Once a member of the Starlight Race reaches immortality, they become exceptionally skilled at condensing their Divine Body. It takes hundreds of attempts to destroy the Divine Body of an ordinary Starlight immortal before they can be killed for good."

"All right, the bidding starts now, with a starting price of 100 Hunyuan Units."

"150 Hunyuan Units!"

"200 Hunyuan Units!"

The numbers kept climbing. Lin Yuan thought it over briefly but didn't join the bidding.

"The Starlight Race wouldn't be suitable for my clone. They wouldn't give me much of a boost, and they're simply a bit too weak."

That was what Lin Yuan thought.

The Starlight Race was an Energy Lifeform without a soul, with a talent for the Law of Space Origin and decent survival skills. Still, Lin Yuan felt they were too weak.

In terms of strength, the Starlight Race couldn't even match the Demon Killer Race. They had a powerful talent for space, but the Demon Killer Race were the darlings of space itself.

Since the Starlight Race couldn't compare with the Demon Killer Race, Lin Yuan didn't consider them a potential choice for his clone at all.

The undamaged Starlight Race skin eventually sold for 860 Hunyuan Units.

Among the items in the thirty-fourth batch, another one caught Lin Yuan's eye.

"Next up is a drug developed by a pharmacist at the Virtual Universe Company—the Black Jade Venom." Wendy introduced the item with a smile.

A bottle of black liquid with a faint shimmer appeared above the hall.

"The Black Jade Venom is extremely potent. One bottle is enough to poison a World Lord-level expert to death."

At the introduction, some of the World Lords in the stands swallowed nervously.

"But the Black Jade Venom has a second use. Universe Level, Domain Lord, and World Lord experts can dilute a tiny amount of it and drink the mixture to temper their willpower."

"I should warn you, though: if a Universe Level cultivator's willpower is too weak, even a diluted dose may be too much for them to withstand. Please be very careful."

"There are ten bottles of Black Jade Venom up for auction, each with a minimum bid of 50 Hunyuan Units."

"100 Hunyuan Units!"

"160 Hunyuan Units!"

"200 Hunyuan Units!"

The numbers above the auction floor kept leaping upward, and the price climbed rapidly.

"This venom will be very useful to me, and the Holy Land Mall doesn't sell it. I have to get it."

That was what Lin Yuan thought.

Lin Yuan entered a bid of 300 Hunyuan Units, doing so twice and raising the highest bid by 100 Hunyuan Units.

After placing the seventh-highest bid twice, Lin Yuan successfully won two bottles of Black Jade Venom.

A line of text appeared on the Red Token in Lin Yuan's hand: "Congratulations, guest WY00772. You have won two bottles of Black Jade Venom. Instructions for use will be provided with your items. Please sign the contract and pay promptly after the auction of this batch has concluded."