Chapter 1376, Seeing Lu Yu Again
The price this young man shouted was exactly 10,000 more Saint Crystals than the previous bid, just in line with the rules Treasure Trove Pavilion set out for this auction item.
Not only were many cultivators wondering about this youth’s identity, even Ren Tian Rui, who had been as stable as a mountain, frowned slightly as he cast a suspicious glance towards this young man, wondering where he came from and how he possessed such massive net worth.
Even stared at by everyone in the hall, this young cultivator looked perfectly at ease, seemingly not feeling the slightest pressure or tension at all, winning him some approving nods from the masters in the crowd.
“Lu Ye!” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes from inside room B-13, staring at the young man down in the hall who had just bid with a look of disbelief. What shocked Yang Kai wasn’t that Lu Ye had come to participate in this auction, Flowing Cloud Valley wasn’t a giant force, but it was still at least a second class Sect, so Lu Ye was naturally eligible to enter Treasure Trove Pavilion as the Young Master of Flowing Cloud Valley, he simply wasn’t fortunate enough to obtain a private room and could only sit in the crowded hall.
No, what shocked Yang Kai was Lu Ye’s arm!
At this moment, both Lu Ye’s arms were completely intact, neither one of them missing.
[How is that possible?] Yang Kai exclaimed in his heart. He clearly remembered that he had cut off one of Lu Ye’s arms during their fight for the Red Candle Stalk in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. At that time, Lu Ye had quickly fled, but Yang Kai still vividly remembered the scene.
Yet now, this severed arm had somehow grown back, and judging from the colour and aura fluctuations, this new arm wasn’t some kind of prosthesis or artifact, it was clearly a flesh and blood arm!
How did he do that? Yang Kai was stunned on the spot. Re-growing a severed limb was something that only happened in legendary tales, not to mention that Lu Ye was just a trivial Saint King Realm cultivator.
Yang Kai suddenly found that he had underestimated Lu Ye. Solely from the fact that he was able to regenerate his severed arm, it was clear that this person still had many shocking secrets.
“This person…” Just as Yang Kai was feeling puzzled, Yang Yan suddenly frowned and stared towards Lu Ye down below, a thoughtful look flashing across her beautiful eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai turned to look at her.
“I don’t know why, but for some reason I find him quite repugnant!” Yang Yan shook her head slowly, her pretty face filling with suspicion, “But this is the first time I’ve seen him. You just called him Lu Ye, do you have some kind of grudge with him?”
“Yes! I don’t know why, but this person tried to kill me back in the Flowing Flame Sand Field!” Yang Kai snorted. His grievances with Lu Ye were indeed inexplicable; his opponent had suddenly attacked him for no reason, and directed a kind of malice towards him that said it was impossible for them to coexist under the Heavens.
Yang Kai had carefully thought about it, but before going to the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he was certain he had never even met Lu Ye. Indeed, inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, they hadn’t even exchanged greetings before suddenly becoming life or death enemies.
“En, be careful of this person, he seems very dangerous,” Yang Yan made a point to warn Yang Kai.
“I know.” Yang Yan didn’t need to warn him as Yang Kai already understood this point. However, he couldn’t help wondering where Lu Ye managed to obtain so many Saint Crystals to bid on this Spirit Storage Bead. According to his understanding, Flowing Cloud Valley was actually quite weak among second-class Sects, barely stronger than some small families with the Sect Master only being a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, and totalling in only three or four hundred disciples.
The territory they controlled wasn’t wealthy and they possessed no Saint Crystal mines, so where had these ten million Saint Crystals come from?
“Haha, Brother Cheng, I believe as Elders we should be generous with the younger generation. Since this little friend wants this Spirit Storage Bead, this Mo will withdraw,” Just as Yang Kai was immersed in his suspicions, he heard Mo Xiao Sheng’s hearty laughter from Heaven Battling Union’s private room.
Immediately afterwards, Cheng Peng Xuan snorted in response, “Hmph, Old Ghost Mo, stop putting on a righteous act. Since you’re willing to give up then this Cheng will also bow out.”
These words made it seem like he no longer had any interest in this Spirit Storage Bead, but many of the cultivators present weren’t fooled by this. They naturally understood that these two old men were simply taking advantage of this opportunity to dump this Spirit Storage Bead onto someone else.
From another perspective, this young man, for the price of ten million ten thousand Saint Crystals, had not only won the Spirit Storage Bead, but had also sold a favour to these two powerful figures.
Considering all this, many people secretly felt regret. If they had only thought of this sooner, they would have willingly paid such a price for this prize. Although ten million Saint Crystals wasn’t a small amount, if they could exchange that for an opportunity to become friends with these two Elders, it would certainly have been worth it.
But even if they understood this now, if they were given the chance once more, they still might not have had the guts to enter such a bid. If these two old men saw it as an affront instead of a favour, wouldn’t they have brought disaster down upon themselves?
This young man’s decisiveness and boldness made many admire him.
Ren Tian Rui stood on the high platform, called the last price three times and, since no one up-bid again, the Spirit Storage Bead was purchased by Lu Ye for a price of ten million ten thousand Saint Crystals. Immediately, someone led Lu Ye to the back of the auction hall where the transaction was completed.
The auction continued soon after and became more spirited with the atmosphere being heated up after the first item. Treasure Trove Pavilion hosting an auction at this time was indeed a good idea. Each treasure that appeared set off an intense competition between the gathered cultivators, causing the prices to rise sharply. Ren Tian Rui stood atop the high platform fanning himself with his folding fan the whole time appearing aloof and harmless, but he didn’t fail to live up to his nickname of Little Black Face as he quietly pushed the audience along to lift each auctioned item’s price well above their original value. However, most of the cultivators present seemed unaware of the clever means he was using to accomplish this, causing those who did understand to admire Ren Tian Rui’s methods.
The items sold in this auction were all very useful for cultivators; artifacts, pills, Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, spirit grasses, precious ores, and so on.
Yang Kai didn’t participate at all, simply sitting in room B-13 and listening to Yang Yan describe the auctioned items while enjoying a comfortable massage from Qing’er.
Although these items were indeed good, he had no use for them as it wasn’t difficult to acquire such things through Dragon Cave Mountain and Shadow Moon Hall’s channels. On the whole, the first half of the auction went smoothly, with most of the items being things that could be bought with Saint Crystals under normal circumstances. Most of the bidders were cultivators in the main hall, while the masters from the private rooms rarely participated unless something they truly needed appeared.
Nevertheless, during the second half of the auction, the masters from the private rooms bid frequently, but the items being auctioned now weren’t things the cultivators in the main hall were qualified to compete for in the first place.
Surprisingly, the young man who won the first auctioned item participated in this second half multiple times, showing off his huge financial resources. It wasn’t long before the number of Saint Crystals he spent exceeded 40 million.
Lu Ye’s actions naturally stunned Yang Kai, but soon his mouth curled into a sneering smile.
Without a strong Sect as a backer, Lu Ye showing off his wealth like this was akin to drawing trouble to himself. Sitting in his private room, Yang Kai felt many powerful Divine Senses continuously sweep towards Lu Ye. After the auction ended, Yang Kai didn’t doubt these people would try to ‘talk’ with Lu Ye.
This was something Yang Kai was happy to see. No matter what reason Lu Ye had for targeting him, since the other party had taken the initiative to attack, they were now enemies. Since Lu Ye was asking for trouble, Yang Kai was content to stand by and watch, hoping very much that someone would be able to kill him.
However, this Lu Ye was clearly not ordinary as he was still able to calmly sit inside the hall with so many malicious eyes peering towards him, not showing the slightest intention to leave, as if he was intent on continuing to participate in the auction.
With each item being sold off, the auction gradually approached its finale.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling somewhat nervous now as he waited for the item he needed to appear. Unfortunately, there had been no trace of it until now, causing Yang Kai to grow anxious and wonder if Treasure Trove Pavilion had suddenly changed its mind and withdrawn it from the auction. However, when he thought about it, since Treasure Trove Pavilion had advertised that this item would be sold on the invitations it sent out, and those invitations had been widely distributed, it was highly unlikely they would suddenly withdraw it lest they ruin their own reputation.
Just as Yang Kai was thinking about this though, atop the high platform down below, another beautifully dressed woman walked out with an exquisite jade plate, and although the item to be auctioned was covered with a red cloth like always, when Yang Kai’s Divine Sense swept it, a look of joy filled his face and he hurriedly sat up in preparation.
The item he was here for had finally appeared.
At the same time, Divine Senses also swept forward from all the private rooms and soon even the cultivators in the main hall began whispering amongst themselves. The reason for this was simple, it was because the item being auctioned this time seemed a bit unusual. When the jade plate appeared, everyone felt an invisible energy emanating from it, one that felt like an invisible blade cutting against their skin.
What could this be!
The crowd sat up and stared curiously, anticipating this item’s reveal.
Ren Tian Rui was very satisfied with everyone’s response and tapped his folding fan against his shoulder as he smiled lightly, “The next item to be auctioned is something which one may only see once in ten thousand years, an incredibly rare treasure. When this treasure was first discovered, this Ren was actually unable to identify it and could only conclude it was some kind of precious material. However, to many Seniors who cultivate some special Secret Arts or Techniques, it certainly has great uses.”
“Enough flowery words, let this old master see what it is!” From one of the private rooms in the A Block, an old yet dignified voice called out. There was a hint of anxiety in this voice however, clearly indicating that the owner placed a great deal of importance on this auctioned item.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as he secretly felt that obtaining this item would not be as simple as he imagined.
“Oh, is this not Senior Jin Shi of Demon Blood Temple? Senior need not be so anxious, this Junior will let you see this treasure clearly,” Ren Tian Rui immediately exposed the identity of the person who spoke before reaching out and lifting the red cloth.
Instantly, a dazzling golden light blossomed, causing many of the cultivators in the hall with lower strength to feel a stinging pain in their eyes, forcing them to look aw