Sect World 999's First Auction

In Sect World, early the next morning, an online auction hosted by the Evergreen Sect, the top-ranked sect in Sect World 999, officially began.

This sort of online auction was actually launched through the trading house, but the sect holding the auction had to pay a service fee of one thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Generally speaking, unless a sect had a large quantity of items to sell, it would not hold an auction. Most preferred to list their items in the trading house themselves for other sects to purchase.

The first advantage of an online auction like this was greater safety. There was no need to worry about someone intercepting and snatching away items after they had been won.

The second was that, before a bid could be placed, the trading house system would verify the funds of the bidder's sect. If the funds were insufficient, the bid could not be made.

Once an item was won, the trading house would automatically deduct the payment from the funds the corresponding sect had set aside in advance, preventing disputes and similar issues.

As the organizer of this online auction, Lin Feng, in his guise as Tiancan Tudou, personally took on the role of auctioneer.

Before the auction officially began, Lin Feng also announced some of the starting prices.

For example, upper-grade yellow-tier Qi Condensation Pills had a starting price of six hundred low-grade spirit stones, while supreme-grade yellow-tier Qi Condensation Pills started at eight hundred.

Upper-grade profound-tier Foundation Establishment Pills started at five thousand low-grade spirit stones, while supreme-grade profound-tier Foundation Establishment Pills started at ten thousand.

After repeated consideration, Lin Feng had chosen to auction nine upper-grade Foundation Establishment Pills and one supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

Low-grade magical artifacts started at three hundred low-grade spirit stones, mid-grade magical artifacts at six hundred, high-grade magical artifacts at one thousand, and supreme-grade magical artifacts at two thousand.

Lin Feng had set these starting prices by taking into account both the previous base prices among sects in other worlds and the purchase prices in the trading house.

His starting prices were actually lower than the items' original prices, and especially lower than the prices the trading house charged for them.

But these were only the starting bids. The actual sale prices would depend on how fierce the bidding became in Sect World 999.

After finishing his introduction, Lin Feng began the auction.

He put the magical artifacts up for auction first, beginning with the low-grade ones.

For this auction, the Evergreen Sect had brought out a total of three hundred magical artifacts: two hundred low-grade artifacts, roughly fifty mid-grade artifacts, around thirty high-grade artifacts, and twenty supreme-grade artifacts.

The auction of the low-grade magical artifacts progressed very slowly. Almost all the sects bidding on them ranked in the bottom seventy percent.

Those sects in the top thirty percent were more interested in winning a mid-grade or even a high-grade magical artifact.

It took Lin Feng a full two hours to finish auctioning off the two hundred low-grade magical artifacts.

The main reason was that the bidding sects raised their bids by only one or two spirit stones each time, making the auction process far too busy.

Fortunately, only sect leaders could participate in this online auction. Sect disciples were not required to take part, so none of their precious cultivation time would be wasted.

By the time the auction of the low-grade magical artifacts concluded, Lin Feng had received eighty thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Almost every low-grade magical artifact sold for around four hundred low-grade spirit stones, virtually matching the trading house's price.

However, the trading house offered only a single-digit number of low-grade magical artifacts for sale each day. For Sect World 999, that was merely a cup of water against a blazing cartload of firewood.

Next came the bidding for the fifty mid-grade magical artifacts, which proceeded considerably faster.

The sale prices of the mid-grade magical artifacts held steady at around eight hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Lin Feng earned another forty thousand low-grade spirit stones, bringing his receipts to one hundred and twenty thousand in the blink of an eye.

Lin Feng could not help marveling at the enormous profits in artifact refining and pill refining.

Of course, the main reason was that the Evergreen Sect was currently the only Foundation Establishment Sect in Sect World 999. His Evergreen Sect alone had unlocked the Pill Hall and Artifact Hall.

If these sects wanted to purchase magical artifacts or pills, they had no choice but to attend the auction held by the Evergreen Sect.

The thirty high-grade magical artifacts sold even faster. Many sects began calling out extremely high bids outright, hoping to secure a high-grade magical artifact directly.

The average price of a high-grade magical artifact reached fifteen hundred low-grade spirit stones, five hundred above the starting price, earning Lin Feng another forty-five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

For the final twenty supreme-grade magical artifacts, almost all the bidders were among the top hundred sects in Sect World 999.

But there were still more monks than meat to go around, and the price of a supreme-grade magical artifact was driven up to nearly five thousand low-grade spirit stones apiece.

Those twenty supreme-grade magical artifacts alone earned Lin Feng one hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.

This time, almost every sect in the top ten won a supreme-grade magical artifact.

After all, five thousand low-grade spirit stones might have been a considerable fortune for sects outside the top thirty percent.

But for the top hundred sects, spending five thousand low-grade spirit stones on a supreme-grade magical artifact at this stage was still well worth it.

After all, sects in other Sect Worlds probably had not possessed even a single mid-grade magical artifact when they were at this stage.

With supreme-grade magical artifacts, their sects' strength would increase considerably, giving them a certain advantage in the competitions and trials ahead.

The magical artifact auction increased Lin Feng's wealth by 2,650,000,000 low-grade spirit stones, which, converted into high-grade spirit stones, amounted to only twenty-six.

Next came the main attraction of this auction: Qi Condensation Pills, which improved the strength of Qi Refining Realm cultivators, and Foundation Establishment Pills, which Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators used to reach Foundation Establishment.

The top ten sects had their sights set on the single supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill Lin Feng had specially brought out.

Before the pill auction began, the top ten sects, as though they had reached an agreement, began issuing threats in the world chat channel. No sect outside the top fifteen was permitted to bid on Foundation Establishment Pills, or it would face the united hostility of the top ten sects.

Some sects were furious but dared not speak out. Most sects, however, had never intended to bid on Foundation Establishment Pills in the first place. After all, their sects were still far from Foundation Establishment.

In truth, only the top five sects had any chance of becoming Foundation Establishment Sects during the third week's competition.

Lin Feng then introduced the pills. "This time, our Evergreen Sect has brought out five hundred Qi Condensation Pills in total. Four hundred and fifty are upper-grade, and the remaining fifty are supreme-grade Qi Condensation Pills.

"To keep things fair, sects outside the top hundred may win no more than one Qi Condensation Pill each. Each of the top hundred sects may win no more than two."

As for the Foundation Establishment Pills, Lin Feng imposed no additional restrictions.

After all, the highest bidder would win. The more bidders there were, the greater the Evergreen Sect's profits would be.

When the sects of Sect World 999 heard Lin Feng's words, many leaders of sects outside the top hundred inwardly marveled that the Evergreen Sect truly lived up to its reputation as the greatest sect in Sect World 999. It was fair and impartial.

Unlike certain top-ten sects, which had actually forbidden them from bidding on Foundation Establishment Pills for the sake of their own sects' interests.

Although they currently had no use for those pills, hearing the top ten sects issue their joint warning had still left them somewhat displeased.

Now that the Evergreen Sect had laid down this rule, even if every one of the top hundred sects won two Qi Condensation Pills, that would only amount to four hundred, leaving another hundred for sects outside the top hundred to bid on.

Then the bidding for the Qi Condensation Pills began.

This round of bidding took Lin Feng a full three hours.

The upper-grade Qi Condensation Pills sold for an average of one thousand low-grade spirit stones, while the supreme-grade Qi Condensation Pills sold for fifteen hundred. The five hundred Qi Condensation Pills brought the sect five hundred and twenty-five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

The cost of refining these pills was almost negligible.

The spirit herbs used to refine Qi Condensation Pills could continue growing after being harvested, as long as their roots were not damaged.

Refining these pills was even simpler. Any pill made by Li Jishi was upper-grade at worst, with no failed pills and not a scrap of wasted material.

Lin Feng had already decided that selling pills would become the sect's main source of income.

The Evergreen Sect would sell only premium pills. Anything produced by the Evergreen Sect had to be premium quality.

Once the Evergreen Sect's name became established, it would be able to monopolize the pill industry in Sect World.

Next came the Foundation Establishment Pill auction, the segment the top ten sects had been anticipating most.