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In a high-level private box at the auction house, Liu Huabai looked at Xiao Yan, who was sleeping soundly beside him with his eyes closed. His gaze held an inextinguishable gratitude, and a slight smile touched his lips as he spoke softly to Xiao Yan.
"Senior Xiao Yan, thank you!"
"Mm."
Liu Huabai's gaze sharpened slightly, but he smiled again and said nothing more, quietly watching the auction below.
After what had just happened, everyone was paying close attention to the auction. Although the senior had spoken a little harshly, the items up for auction were all exceptional, so they took it in stride.
Without rules, nothing could be made square or round. This senior merely demanded that they follow his rules. As long as they bid properly and made no moves, he would pay them no undue attention. That was how an auction should have been.
With the interruption over, Xiong Man resumed the auction. A hearty, booming laugh rang throughout the auction house. The flesh on Xiong Man's face bunched up as he laughed and said:
"All right! That was just a minor interruption. You all understand what happened, so there's no need to dwell on it. Next, let me introduce this cultivation method."
As he spoke, he raised the unopened scroll in his hand high above his head, displaying it to everyone. Then he continued:
"High Earth Class cultivation method, the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method! A lightning-attribute cultivation method. After cultivating it, one can take heavenly lightning as a companion, transforming it into a thunder dragon and storing it within the body. This thunder dragon can summon heavenly lightning to help cultivators practice their cultivation method and advance their strength. It can also summon heavenly lightning when cultivators fight, helping them attack their enemies with tremendous power. It can serve as a major trump card."
With that, Xiong Man withdrew the hand holding the cultivation method and extended the other, holding out the open scroll. He immediately continued:
"This is a Dou Technique. Together with the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method, it forms a complementary set of a cultivation method and a Dou Technique. It is also a High Earth Class Dou Technique, called the Thunder Dragon Breaks Heaven Style."
At his words, the crowd below the stage erupted once more. The cultivation method alone was already so formidable. With a Dou Technique added to it, just how heaven-defying would its power be?
Ignoring the shocked expressions on the faces below, Xiong Man spoke again.
"The Thunder Dragon Breaks Heaven Style is divided into five forms.
"First form: Thunder Manifestation! It uses the power of heavenly lightning cultivated through the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method to stir heaven and earth and draw down heavenly lightning, borrowing its force to unleash the strongest strike! Its power shakes the heavens!
"Second form: Heavenly Descent of Thunder Punishment! Building on the first form, it draws down heavenly lightning and uses its might to attack the enemy. Its power is tremendous.
"Third form: Thunder Serpents Fill the Sky! It transforms one's own Dou Qi into countless bolts of lightning, gathering the energy of heaven and earth and merging it into them. In the end, they become millions of thunder serpents that fill the sky. The cultivator can detonate all these thunder serpents in an instant. Their power is immense, and their range is so wide that enemies cannot evade them.
"Fourth form: Flood Dragon Battles Heaven! It merges all the Dou Qi within the body into the power of heavenly lightning, forming a raging thunder flood dragon that delivers a fatal strike to the enemy. Its power is great enough to shatter mountains and rivers.
"Fifth form: Thunder Dragon Breaks Heaven! It is the same as the fourth form, but it requires the cultivator to have cultivated the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method to great mastery. It transforms the power of heavenly lightning within the cultivator into the ultimate Great Evolution Purple Thunder and merges it with the thunder dragon the cultivator has condensed. The thunder dragon then unleashes the strongest strike with its own body: Thunder Dragon Breaks Heaven! With the force to break the heavens, it destroys all things, shaking heaven and overwhelming earth!"
As soon as he finished, the sound of people swallowing filled the hall. Even those who did not cultivate lightning-attribute methods looked at Xiong Man with burning eyes, their gazes filled with inescapable greed and longing.
Some even hated that their own attribute was not lightning. Why did they have to miss out on such a wonderful cultivation method and Dou Technique? Fate was truly playing tricks on them!
Xiong Man, his face a mass of heavy flesh, looked at the crowd below and slammed his palm hard against the auction platform. After several vicious blows, the sturdy platform split into pieces.
After the resounding blows, everyone looked at Xiong Man. He stepped forward, swept his gaze across the hall, and said:
"The Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method, one cultivation method and one Dou Technique. Starting price: one thousand spirit coins. Each bid must increase by at least one hundred spirit coins. The bidding starts now!"
At those words, everyone who had just been eager to bid instantly went blank, then slumped back into their seats in dejection.
Only the people in the front rows, after a moment's hesitation, looked at the two scrolls in Xiong Man's hands with exclamations of admiration and began bidding.
"One thousand five hundred spirit coins!"
"Three thousand spirit coins!"
"I bid four thousand spirit coins!"
"Hmph! The senior's items are so excellent, yet you can't bear to bid more. I, Mo Bei, am willing to offer ten thousand spirit coins for the senior's set! I don't suppose any of you have a better price?"
Mo Bei narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to smile at the people from the various factions in the front rows as he spoke slowly.
Seeing this, the people from those factions all narrowed their eyes slightly and frowned. After a moment's consideration, they finally sighed. Xiong Man also frowned slightly on the stage and was about to speak.
"Hmph!"
"Whoosh!"
Everyone instantly snapped to attention, awe appearing on their faces. Xiong Man looked at Mo Bei with a cold smile and said nothing.
Mo Bei now felt as though a mountain were pressing down on him. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, his pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks, and he clenched his teeth, sucking cold air through the gaps.
Mo Bei swallowed with difficulty, his face flushed red and the veins on his forehead bulging and twitching. After a long while, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Se... Senior, this junior... this junior knows his mistake. This junior is willing to offer every spirit coin he has. I hope Senior will be magnanimous and spare this junior this once..."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan's eyelids twitched slightly, but he did not open them. His eyes rolled beneath them, and he said coldly:
"Hmph! Since you're only a junior, get lost!"
"Bang!"
The sound of flesh colliding rang in everyone's ears. Mo Bei's somewhat thin figure shot backward with a bang and slammed heavily into a pillar in the auction house. With a splutter, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Mo Bei's face instantly turned deathly pale, but he forced himself up and knelt on one knee, trembling all over as he said respectfully:
"Thank you, Senior, for sparing my life. This junior will surely obey the rules."
With his subordinates supporting him, Mo Bei returned to his seat with difficulty. His face was deathly pale, but his eyes still burned as he looked at the set.
The people from the other factions around Mo Bei watched it all with undisguised schadenfreude. Afterward, the bidding naturally continued.
Xiong Man gave Mo Bei a mocking glance, then looked at the crowd in the auction house, particularly the members of the factions in the front rows, and asked:
"Since Young Master Mo has spoken, does anyone still wish to bid on this set, the Thunder Dragon Howling Heaven Method? If not, this High Earth Class Dou Technique and cultivation method will belong to Young Master Mo Bei!"
Hearing this, everyone gave Mo Bei a mocking look. Then, without saying a word, they settled back into their seats and quietly watched the farce.
Xiong Man swept another glance over the crowd, then fixed his gaze on Mo Bei and said with a beaming smile:
"Young Master Mo, this set is yours, then. Remember what you said. The senior isn't so easily fooled."
At those words, a flush swept over Mo Bei's previously pale face. With a splutter, he sprayed a mouthful of blood from his mouth and instantly began to sway on the verge of collapse.
Mo Bei stared venomously at Xiong Man, low chuckles like a beast's growl sounding from his throat. In the end, however, he could only sit in his seat, panting heavily with bloodshot eyes.
Amid the flames of humiliation and unwilling rage, Mo Bei handed over every spirit coin in his Storage Ring.
Xiong Man ignored his venomous gaze entirely. Looking at the large pile of spirit coins before him, he smiled.
After a while, under the burning gazes of everyone present, he announced the number.
"Twenty-eight thousand spirit coins! Hey! Young Master Mo is truly generous. Such lavish spending is a first for our auction house in many years!"
Exclamations of astonishment rang throughout the hall. This truly was how the rich behaved. Unfortunately, in the end, someone else had simply gotten the better of him for nothing.
Amid the astonishment, there was no shortage of mockery, but the auction still had to go on.
Xiong Man waved his enormous hand again, and another item appeared on the auction platform. The atmosphere in the auction house grew heated once more.
There was one difference, however. Ever since Mo Bei's turn, the price of every item had been at least ten thousand, because no one dared bid less.
Whenever the final price failed to reach ten thousand, a cold snort would ring out in the auction house for no apparent reason, making everyone there feel as though thorns were pricking their backs. Though they hated to part with the money, what could be worth more than their lives? They had to be alive to spend money.
In the high-level private box, Liu Huabai and the other members of the Liu Clan looked at one another. Watching the auction below, they swallowed from time to time, their faces filled with inextinguishable envy. As time went on, they even began to feel somewhat numb.
The strong truly were the people least likely to lack money! Alchemists and the like, without strength and ability, were probably nothing much after all.
Time flowed by, and the day passed in the heated auction. Evening had already arrived when the final consigned item was finally sold to a short, plump merchant for the high price of forty thousand spirit coins.
Xiong Man finally let out a long breath. He swept his gaze across the hall, nodded slightly, and announced in a clear voice:
"Today's auction has been exceptionally intense. It has also been the largest auction held by the Heavenly Cloud Auction House in the southwestern region in many years. Of course! We owe all of this to that senior, who gave our Heavenly Cloud Auction House such a wonderful opportunity. I, Xiong Man, offer the senior my thanks on behalf of the Heavenly Cloud Auction House of Qingyang City!"
With that, Xiong Man bowed deeply toward the high-level private box where Xiao Yan sat. Then he straightened and continued:
"Finally, I declare this Heavenly Cloud Auction House auction concluded!"
"Boom!"
A thunderous round of applause erupted below the stage. Afterward, everyone in the hall dispersed, leaving the building empty.
Xiao Yan returned to the Liu residence with a smile. Once back in his bedroom, he hurriedly counted his earnings for the day.
Probing with his Soul Power, Xiao Yan smiled. He had actually earned a total of two hundred and eighty thousand spirit coins. Xiao Yan was thrilled, but he steadied himself, tidied up briefly, then lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep.