Incomplete Map

"The second item up for auction today is a fourth-grade spiritual herb. Its primary effect is to temporarily boost a person's strength."

As the woman in red spoke, a maid placed the red-glowing herb on the auction table with a jade tray.

"Red Blood Grass!"

In the audience, everyone stared at the herb, surprise flickering in their eyes.

Red Blood Grass was a fourth-grade spiritual herb. Consuming it accelerated the functions of every part of the body and greatly boosted one's strength. It was a rare, life-saving treasure, and extremely scarce.

"I'm sure everyone knows what Red Blood Grass can do, so I won't explain it further."

The woman in red swept her gaze across the crowd and said with a smile, "The starting price for the second item is five thousand Pure Origin Stones, with each bid increasing by at least one thousand."

"I bid seven thousand Pure Origin Stones!"

As soon as the woman in red finished speaking, a customer on the third floor immediately placed a bid.

"I bid eight thousand!"

Another person promptly joined in.

"I bid nine thousand!"

"I bid ten thousand!"

After a fierce bidding war, a member of the Pei family won the herb for thirty-eight thousand Pure Origin Stones.

"The third item up for auction today is Blood Coagulation Powder. The starting price is five hundred Pure Origin Stones, with each bid increasing by at least one hundred."

After the woman in red finished speaking, a maid brought out a smooth, glossy wooden bottle.

"It's just a healing medicine. Why are you selling it for so much?"

"We want to see how well it works!"

The woman in red had finished speaking and was now standing still, with no intention of demonstrating the medicine. Everyone in the audience was displeased and shouted one after another to voice their dissatisfaction.

The woman in red had anticipated the crowd's demands, so she didn't show the slightest panic and remained perfectly calm.

Of course, she didn't stop the audience from venting their displeasure, either. She simply listened with a smile until the commotion died down before finally speaking.

"Everyone, the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion once again assures you that everything in our shop is worth its price. We would never deceive our customers, so you may bid with confidence. As for your request to test the medicine, I'm afraid we can't comply."

The woman in red's words were like a bomb, nearly blowing the whole hall apart. Everyone glared at her with hostile expressions, as if they might attack at any moment.

Under the hostile gazes of tens of thousands of people, the woman in red felt immense pressure. It seemed she could barely hold on and might collapse at any moment.

Just then, a powerful aura suddenly burst from the sixth floor. Like a razor-sharp blade, it stabbed toward every person in the audience, changing everyone's expression!

Inside a private room on the fourth floor, the two members of the Blood Wolf Gang looked equally grim. They had no power to resist this overwhelming aura and broke out in a cold sweat.

In another private room, Mina and the maid named Linger were also struggling, especially Mina. A trace of surprise showed in her eyes. She was a genuine Heaven Origin Realm expert, yet even she couldn't withstand this aura.

About three seconds later, the terrifying aura vanished in an instant, as if it had never appeared.

The audience was no longer as arrogant or bold as before. Everyone fell silent, their eyes showing varying degrees of fear.

"It was the man beside Li Quan!"

The young man from the Blood Wolf Gang spoke with a dark expression and an unfriendly tone.

"Other than our gang leader, no one has ever given me such a terrifying feeling. The man beside Li Quan is definitely at Yuan Dan Grand Perfection!" the man said solemnly.

"What! You mean the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion has a Yuan Dan Grand Perfection expert, too?" A look of fear crossed the young man's eyes, and he stared in shock.

If anyone else had said this, the young man wouldn't have believed it. But since the man had said it, he was already more than half convinced, and deeply shaken.

It wasn't just the two members of the Blood Wolf Gang. Mina of the Ten Thousand Gold Chamber of Commerce and everyone in the audience had also deduced the strength of the expert behind that aura, and they were just as stunned.

Onstage, the woman in red relaxed slightly, her smile growing brighter. "Does anyone need this bottle of Blood Coagulation Powder? If no one does, our shop will take it off the auction block."

The woman in red's words brought everyone back to their senses. They all turned their eyes toward the wooden bottle at center stage, weighing the matter in their minds.

"I bid one thousand Pure Origin Stones!"

Just then, a voice of moderate volume rose from the audience, and everyone turned to look at the speaker.

He wore a black robe that concealed his face. From his voice alone, it was clear he wasn't very old.

"Congratulations, sir. Trust the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion, and you won't regret it."

The woman in red smiled, then had the item taken away.

After the auction ended, all the items that had been sold would be handed over to their new owners.

The items that followed caused no more commotion. As time passed, the audience gradually forgot what had just happened. The atmosphere slowly warmed and grew lively again.

More than an hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the auction finally reached its final stages. Everyone eagerly watched the center of the stage, wondering what the auction's ultimate treasure would be.

As the crowd waited in anticipation, a maid brought up a yellowed, seemingly tattered scroll on a jade tray.

"Hmm?"

Lin Ge studied the scroll, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"Everyone, this is the second-to-last item in today's auction: an incomplete map."

After more than an hour of auctioning, the woman in red had begun to sweat, but her smile remained, and her voice was just as clear and strong.

"It's just a map. What's so special about it?" a man in the audience couldn't help asking.

It was a question everyone wanted answered. After all, there was no way the second-to-last item in the auction could be so ordinary.

The woman in red didn't intend to keep anything under wraps. She smiled and said, "This is a map showing the location of a certain fallen expert's tomb. But no one currently knows how powerful that expert was, so the starting price for this item is one Pure Origin Stone."

At those words, everyone frowned in unison.

How could they auction off something so vague and uncertain? Wasn't this just making fools of them?

That was what they thought, but no one dared say it aloud. After what had happened earlier, they had no desire to go through it again.

"I bid one hundred Pure Origin Stones!"

Mina raised a slender finger and spoke with a smile.

"One hundred once, one hundred twice, one hundred three times. Congratulations to Miss Mina of the Ten Thousand Gold Chamber of Commerce on winning this incomplete map."

The woman in red announced the result with a smile, then went to prepare the final item.