[Before you read, an interaction between two characters will happen ahead. Please do keep in mind that this interaction is how any normal conversation between two people will happen, the over the top wuxia face slap didn't seem appealing to me because though it will be funny, it's unrealistic. So I decided to go with what will happen in any everyday life. Also, this part has been added after I posted the chapter so you won't pay for it]
Chapter: Auction
"This rude person was causing problems, I was about to get rid of them." the woman said with a haughty tone.
Looking at me, the old man frowned, "You…had your cultivation base broken, aren't you the person the Three-Legged Raven Sect sent here, the sect's hero they said."
"Xiao Meng," I introduced myself as I cupped my hands to the man.
"Oh, well, you did a grave misdeed Yue, this man is a VIP and you disallowed his entry," The old man said.
The woman visibly shook, but immediately gathered her bearing and stood her ground saying, "Sir, he may be a hero or whatnot, I only did this for their own good, he is a mortal, and only death awaits him if he vies for something a cultivator wants."
"That's my own problem, and not yours, also I didn't come here just to buy things I came to sell things," I said as I threw a ring at the old man.
The old man grabbed the ring, inspected it with his Divine Sense, and had his eyes widen up.
"Prepare a VIP booth for brother Xiao Meng! Immediately!" the old man said.
"As for you Yue, you'll hear from me later on! Please, Brother Xiao, follow me," he said and I entered the auction house after the elder.
"Master Xiao Meng, I can't accompany you inside, please forgive me," Xi Bai said.
I understood why, after all, he too was an immortal and if he followed me or was recognized by other cultivators it will only bring us both trouble.
"You're dismissed," I replied and followed after the elder.
After entering the tower, and scuffing at the girl who stopped me entry, I followed after the elder into the third floor. Where he opened a door for me to access an enclosed room with a closed curtain.
As soon as I stepped inside, I found out that the room was fully inscribed with anti-Divine Sense inscriptions and sound sealing inscriptions. There was a chair a panel with numbers and a big red button near it.
"You can sit here, and if you wish to bid on something you can press that button, you can also make a costume bid by typing it, all of your items will be procured in privacy and no one will know who you are or your origin once you use the VIP booth, as for your items, I'll also add them to the auction," the elder said.
"Thank you for your generosity, also could I have something to drink?" I asked.
"Yes, I'll ask a few attendants to take care of your needs, would you like to be served by women, girls, men, or boys?"
Though it's understandable from his meaning that this Auction House pulls all the stops, it was really disgusting, "Just regular women, also no sexual favors, I'm not in the mood, and wine, something good, the best you have even, I haven't had time to relax in a while."
"As you wish," the elder said and immediately the curtains covering the front scene opened up revealing the auction.
My booth was on the third row above all of the people sitting down on the bottom rows. There were many other VIP booths across from me and they all seemed occupied.
On the stage was a young woman who had just finished auctioning a spear that a burly rumbustious man had happily bid and won it.
"Our next item is also a Xuan Tier item, a fifth level Bow. This bow is a craftsman Master piece and it doesn't need arrows, it can be imbued with the user's spiritual Qi and it will create its own spiritual Arrows. The starting bid is 2,000 Medium grade spirit Stones."
'Now, this is something that any regular person would think amazing, a bow that doesn't need arrows. But for the majority of the cultivators, bow is a dishonorable weapon, it is only used to attack others from range, after all most cultivators use close-ranged weapons thus this bow though had an amazing ability started with a very low price. So, I could guess immediately what was going to happen.'
Immediately after the bow had been shown, only a few cultivators bid on it, and the final price stopped at 3,400 stones. For a Xuan Weapon that can be priced at the tens of thousands of Medium grade spirit stones, this bow was sold for cheap.
Soon more items began showing up, and so far, all of them were weapons that I found to be lacking and uninteresting.
"We'll take a break from weapons right now, after all anyone here would probably have a great weapon for their own use and those that seek upgrades would probably wait until we reached the bottom half of the list." The woman said.
This was also a ploy by the auction, they used these weapons to milk the people who didn't have enough financial capabilities of their money, because if they showed the good weapons first, there will be a bidding war and no small spender would be able to use their funds, but by showing the weaker weapons first, the small spenders would bid against themselves and would automatically be eliminated from bidding on the good stuff that will come later.
"Our first item from the none Weapon Category," the woman said as she had a small box in front of her, and opened it.
The box released a powerful and potent ice qi that spread all over the audience. "A piece of True Ice Crystal, though it is small, it is by no means weak. This item has been foraged by a cultivator who sought adventure in the cold north, he had spoken of caves that were filled with True Ice but sadly he wasn't strong enough to obtain bigger pieces. Still, this Piece of True Ice can still help a Ice Oriented Cultivator to improve their understanding of Ice Law. Starting Bid, 5,000 Medium Grade Spirit Stone."
Immediately, many of the cultivators started bidding on the True Ice Shard. And since I too was interested in it, I waited until the bids started stagnating at the 8,000 mark then pressed on the panel in front of me.
"Oh, we have our first bid from the VIP area today, room 11, bids 10,000 Medium Grade Spirit Stones. Anyone else wishing to increase the bid? Going once,
Going twice,
Going thrice!
Sold for the occupant of room 11!"
Immediately the item was tucked away and kept for my own use. I was surprised that no one dared outbid me, but it came to me immediately, the people in the VIP rooms probably didn't think that the Ice Shard was something they needed and those on the bottom floor didn't dare bid against a VIP.
Man, the VIP life is good.
Soon, more items showed up, and I gained a good haul, a few spirit herbs that I needed, and a few crafting materials, mainly a good type of ink that I could use for my inscriptions.
Then soon came the big deal items, where the VIP couldn't stop and just watch, right now, the real auction was about to start, and the first item showed was something I didn't expect to see here.
The girl showed a small map, "This is one of four pieces of the location of the secretive sect Palace of the Deep."
Immediately all the audience took great gasps, though I didn't know what this Palace of the Deep was, thankfully the girl overseeing the auction explained.
"For any who doesn't know this, the Palace of the Deep was the only Sect to have achieved Devil Slayer Title, they were among the few Sects who were chosen to participate in the Devil Sealing War. And among their members was the forever famous cultivation Duo The Master of Chains and the Imperatrix of Lighting."
On the map was a drawing of a couple and that immediately drew me to this bid, because I've already seen these two before, in the same room I obtained the first body of X, under the Spider Queen's Palace.
"Though only a few of the branches of the Palace of the Deep have been found, and all of them had already been sealed by the masters along with their 'Otherworldly Corrosion', the location of the Main Palace of the Deep has ever been found. Until this map was discovered."
'So apparently, the area I discovered by luck was just a branch of the sect or a place the sect used to seal that depraved black and white zone, and that's called the Otherworldly Corrosion.'
"For many centuries, many tried to understand the Sealing Secrets of the Palace of the Deep, but since the destruction of the Palace of The Deep no one had managed to find anything about their methods, but now, this will all change. With a piece of this map being sold on our auction, we are certain that the secrets of the Palace of the Deep will no longer be secret."
Though this piece of map was interesting, I didn't find any interest in partaking in the bet, because all I would be asking for is trouble if I have a piece of an incomplete map. After all, it serves nothing without the rest of the map.
And this very doubt was voiced by a cultivator on the front rows.
"Worry not, before we placed this piece of map on our auction house, we were already contacted by three cultivators of great renown that already have the other three pieces. So, in a sense the moment a cultivator is in possession of this fourth piece, all the map pieces will be present and the Palace of the Deep's location will be revealed to the four."
This piece of information however changes things. This auction house is rather ruthless because by presenting the information like this, the auction was bound to become rowdy.
'Starting bid is 100,000 medium-grade spirit stones!" the woman said and immediately every VIP Boot lit up with their own absurd prices.
The woman looked both pleased and stunned as the prices started climbing, as the lowest any of the VIP rooms offered was 200,000 medium grade pieces, and the highest was in the 500,000 range.
'Well shit, this piece of the map is going to be hard to get.. Might as well make someone broke today then,' I grinned as I raised the price even higher.
