Xiong Man chuckled, the slabs of flesh on his face bunching together. Coupled with his conspicuous scar, it made the corners of the crowd's mouths twitch. But with a supreme treasure before them, they could not afford to dwell on it. They could only suppress their disgust and keep watching.
Grinning at the crowd, Xiong Man turned his hand over, and a jade bottle appeared in his enormous palm. The contrast between his hand and the bottle was striking. The crowd below frowned slightly at the sight. Clearly, an ordinary pill would no longer be enough to arouse much interest in them.
Xiong Man sneered and opened the jade bottle, pouring out a round pill the size of a longan. The moment it emerged, an exceedingly rich medicinal fragrance filled the entire auction hall.
Everyone's expressions changed at once, and their gazes fixed on the fragrant pill were instantly filled with greed and an overwhelming desire to possess it. Mo Bei, seated in the front row, even stood up, his face flushed with excitement as he stared at the pill in Xiong Man's hand. Unable to wait, he called out loudly:
"Chairman Xiong Man, how will this pill be auctioned?"
Xiong Man smiled and swept his gaze over the crowd, whose eyes burned with desire. At last, he nodded slightly toward the VIP box where Xiao Yan sat. Mo Bei, who had been watching Xiong Man all along, narrowed his eyes slightly.
Following Xiong Man's gaze, he frowned. Wasn't that the box occupied by Liu Huabai and the other members of the Liu Clan? Could the senior Xiong Man had spoken of be in there?
Mo Bei's previously calm expression changed slightly. If that were true, how could the Liu Clan be in that box? Or was this all Liu Huabai's doing, a deliberate attempt to fool him and make him fall for it? But why would Xiong Man help him for no reason?
Mo Bei was still pondering the question with a deep frown when Xiong Man burst out laughing on the stage. His bear-like laughter echoed through the auction hall. Sweeping a sharp gaze across the room, Xiong Man finally spoke in a booming voice:
"Good! Since young master Mo has spoken, I won't say any more. Let me introduce this pill first. To begin with, this is an Eighth-Tier Pill!"
The entire auction hall fell deathly silent. Even Mo Bei, who had still been wearing a gloomy expression as he pondered below the stage, abruptly raised his head and looked at Xiong Man with profound shock in his eyes.
An Eighth-Tier Pill. Everyone present stared at Xiong Man with reddened eyes, and the sounds of people swallowing echoed through the auction hall. Xiong Man gave a mocking laugh, looking at them as though they were a bunch of fools. Only after a long while did he speak again:
"This pill is of the eighth tier. It is called the Clear Spirit Pill. It allows a cultivator to cultivate at all times for an entire year. Even without deliberately cultivating, the cultivation method will run on its own today, helping the cultivator increase his strength. And if used together with a cultivation method, the speed will be even faster than usual!"
"Wah!"
The auction hall erupted in clamor. Some people even rose to their feet, wanting to seize it by force like those who had gone before them.
But death held them back. The price paid by those who had acted earlier had not been a good one. At this crucial moment, the fear in their hearts saved their lives. Looking at Xiong Man on the stage, the few who had risen sat back down in frustration, their eyes full of unconcealable greed.
Xiong Man scoffed and cast a mocking glance at the few who had sat back down. But because of the flesh on his face, his smile looked rather frightening. The few of them trembled involuntarily, beads of cold sweat dripping from their foreheads.
Xiong Man slapped his enormous palm against the auction table before him. The loud bang drew everyone's attention. Nodding in satisfaction, he announced:
"Eighth-Tier Pill, Clear Spirit Pill. Starting price: two hundred Spirit Coins!"
An uproar broke out again. Mo Bei stood up without hesitation and shouted to Xiong Man:
"Five hundred Spirit Coins!"
The young scions of the other factions seated beside him were no less eager, calling out bids one after another.
"Eight hundred Spirit Coins!"
"Nine hundred Spirit Coins!"
"Twelve hundred Spirit Coins! Whoever fights me for it, I'll chop him up right now!"
At those words, Xiong Man snorted coldly from the stage. He glared at the man and said:
"Hmph! You've gone a little too far."
The man was startled, and his expression changed slightly. After an apology, he sat back down in frustration.
The bidding continued.
"Seventeen hundred Spirit Coins!"
"Two thousand Spirit Coins!"
"Twenty-one hundred Spirit Coins!"
"Twenty-five hundred Spirit Coins!"
"Three thousand Spirit Coins!"
Mo Bei stared at Xiong Man with bloodshot eyes as he roared out his bid. The moment he said three thousand, the entire auction hall fell silent. Everyone looked at one another and shook their heads helplessly.
It seemed that the eighth-tier Clear Spirit Pill was certain to fall into Mo Bei's hands. Xiong Man picked up the wooden gavel with a frightening smile and was about to bring it down when a middle-aged man's powerful voice suddenly rang throughout the hall.
"Five thousand Spirit Coins!"
In the next instant, everyone in the auction hall turned toward the VIP box, for that was where the voice had come from.
Even Xiong Man stared at the VIP box in a daze. The redness gradually faded from Mo Bei's eyes, and he too looked at the box with a strange expression.
Mo Bei blinked several times and frowned slightly. Could it be that this expert did not know Liu Huabai, and Liu Huabai was spending a fortune to gain his favor?
After a moment's hesitation, Mo Bei ultimately did not raise the bid. Offering a high price was not difficult, but the problem was that he did not have that kind of power. Whatever power he had came from his father, the city lord, and he could not speak for him.
In the end, Liu Huabai won the eighth-tier Clear Spirit Pill for five thousand Spirit Coins. Though the expense pained him, he was confident that if he could put the pill to good use, he would certainly break through to the Dou Zun level within two years.
Thinking of a Dou Zun's strength, Liu Huabai settled his mind. After all, once he had the strength, what could he possibly lack? In this world, fists did the talking. With a big enough fist, what could he not obtain? Besides, Xiao Yan was the one auctioning these things. In the end, wouldn't the Spirit Coins land in the hands of one of their own? He would simply treat it as a chance to attach himself to Senior Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan lifted his drowsy eyelids slightly and glanced through the slits at the resolute-looking Liu Huabai. Then he closed them again and quietly drifted off to sleep.
Xiong Man glanced at the densely packed sea of heads in the auction hall and slapped the auction table. The resounding bang rang through the hall, drawing everyone's attention once more.
Xiong Man grinned in satisfaction and spoke again in his powerful voice. He reached out a hand, and a silver scroll appeared in it. Then he announced:
"The second auction item: an advanced earth-rank cultivation method, the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method!"
Immediately afterward, Xiong Man waved his other hand forward, and another silver scroll appeared in it. With a shake of his arm, the scroll unfurled.
"Boom!"
A thunder dragon instantly soared out of the scroll and shot straight into the sky, stirring peal after peal of thunder. As it soared, the void trembled, and streaks of lightning shot out of thin air.
Seeing this, the crowd below the stage flew backward and scattered. Mo Bei, however, tried to dart onto the stage. Xiong Man tossed the scroll from his hand into the air and struck out with his palm. An energy palm condensed from Dou Qi appeared out of nowhere and shot toward Mo Bei.
Mo Bei's expression changed drastically. His body, flying toward the crystal platform, turned sharply in midair. He planted a foot on the edge of the platform and shot away. The enormous energy palm gradually faded in the void and finally vanished.
The energy palm disappeared, but Xiong Man's furious voice came rolling forth.
"Eldest young master Mo, are you trying to break the rules of my auction house and seize something by force at my auction?! Let me tell you, this is not your North Mo City!"
Mo Bei was startled. Knowing that Xiong Man was truly angry this time, he hurriedly halted his retreat. He cupped his hands and bowed to Xiong Man in apology.
"Naturally, I know the rules of the auction house. It was only that I saw how powerful that cultivation method was and could not restrain my curiosity for a moment, so I wanted to come up and have a closer look. I nearly made a grave mistake by accident. I hope Chairman Xiong Man can forgive me."
Xiong Man glared angrily at Mo Bei and was just about to speak when he suddenly heard a bone-chilling snort. The instant it sounded, the entire auction hall fell silent. No one dared breathe, and everyone trembled from head to toe, as though they were surrounded by ten-thousand-year-old ice, feeling an extreme chill.
Xiong Man froze at the sound. A moment later, he hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed toward the VIP box where Xiao Yan sat.
"I failed in my duty and allowed someone to defile the item Senior entrusted to us for auction. Please forgive me, Senior. If you are dissatisfied, I will kill the fellow who defiled your divine treasure at once!"
As he spoke, he was about to attack Mo Bei, but the owner of the voice spoke again.
"Enough. I'll let you off this time and consider it a chance for you juniors. If it happens again, he won't need to act. I'll do it myself."
The instant he spoke, everyone present felt the temperature in the auction hall turn chillingly cold. Xiong Man and Mo Bei hurriedly nodded and assented, not daring to show the slightest negligence.
Judging solely from the faint pressure conveyed by that voice, Mo Bei reckoned that the man was probably at least a Five-Star Dou Zun. North Mo City was not without Dou Zun experts, but with its strength, it could not afford to provoke someone of that caliber. After a little thought, he understood the consequences and naturally backed down.
After the brief interruption, the auction naturally continued. But no one dared speak recklessly in the hall anymore, and no one used their power to intimidate others. Everyone followed the rules of the auction, making the atmosphere somewhat strange.