The entire auction hall fell silent. Even the two auctioneers onstage clearly had no idea what to do now, their eyes constantly turning toward Room 44 as they waited for Governor Merck's instructions.
Merck had already been prepared to let that old bastard walk away with a tremendous bargain.
He had never expected some reckless upstart to barge in and send the situation in an unexpected direction.
He did not rush to act, instead turning to the attendant behind him.
"Go find out just who is in Box 17."
"Yes."
Yet while he remained silent, it was clearly Box 22-the box belonging to Hato, the Beast Tamer and governor of the Nation of Ten Thousand Islands-that drew everyone's attention.
Sure enough, a voice tinged with laughter soon rang out.
"Hehe, it seems another friend needs this Taiyin Water. In that case, let's have a little contest. Three billion Dragon Nation dollars!"
The casual voice carried a smile, but the price he announced was a full three times the previous starting bid.
Clearly, he was determined to have it.
At the same time, he wanted to frighten his opponent off with this suddenly inflated price.
Unfortunately, anyone with even a little knowledge knew the value of this bottle of Taiyin Water.
Much less Shark Ji, who did not care about prices at all.
This time, however, she did not rush to bid. Instead, after a moment's thought, she turned toward Su Ping with a beaming smile.
"Su Ping, how about a wager?"
Su Ping froze. Before he could speak, Shark Ji proposed a peculiar wager.
Su Ping thought it over. "All right. What are the stakes?"
"If I win, you have to cultivate that External Incarnation for me. If I lose, I'll give you a cultivation method for a transcendent Water