Wu Qi was startled and gave Nie Yaonu a glance. Her behavior was what was called bidding out of malice. As a matter of fact, Heaven Breaking Sword Sect was dominating all other twelve Immortal Dao Sects with their formidable sword techniques. Apart from that, they only possessed the Arts of Heaven Patching Formation, which Lu Chengfeng was currently cultivating. These Snow Flowers of Thousand Petals were totally useless for them, yet she still called out a crazy bid. Obviously, she did it on purpose so she could give some troubles to Valley of Medicine.
The old voice came again from the abode occupied by Valley of Medicine. But this time, it sounded very angry, "Nie Yaonu, what are you trying to do? The Snow Flowers of Thousand Petals are useless for your Heaven Breaking Sword Sect! One million gold coins?! If you want that, you can have them!"
Nie Yaonu burst out into laughter immediately. In a loud and clear voice, she replied, "Thank you for being so generous, Old Chang'er! Since you have said so, then those Snow Flowers of Thousand Petals will be mine. Come, come, somebody bring them over to me now. I'll pay on the spot."
A dead silence reigned the Valley of Medicine's abode. The old man on the platform then said in a slow voice, "The Grand Elder of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, Nie Yaonu, bid one million gold coins for these three Snow Flowers of Thousand Petals. Is there anybody else who wants to bid for this rare treasure?"
Suddenly, a bright gleam flashed on the platform, as a light screen emerged over the head of the old man. On the screen was a row of numbers: One million and one hundred thousand gold coins. Perhaps it was the Valley of Medicine who bid a new price or someone else, in any case, nobody was shouting their bid openly like a fool this time. Instead, the person followed the rule and called out the bid using the small formation found in each abode. When using the formation to bid for the item, apart from the organizer, no one would know who the person that called the bid was. It was actually an efficient way to prevent bidding out of malice from happening, just like what Nie Yaonu did earlier.
Nie Yaonu smiled disapprovingly. Her face turned grumpy as she said in a cold voice, "I think it is Valley of Medicine who called the higher bid, as they are the only one who can use those flowers. Hmph, last time when they sold us three bottles of 'Soul Mending Spirit Pills' that could heal the injury on one's soul, although there were only eighteen pills in total, they actually asked us to pay 1.8 million gold coins! The price of each pill was nearly comparable to an upper-grade magical item! If I don't make them pay this time, who shall I look for to vent my grudge?"
Then immediately, she forcibly slapped onto the auction formation with her right palm, brazenly increased the bid by another one million gold coins.
The number on the screen changed again, from 1.1 million to 2.1 million gold coins. The few old men standing on the platform had their faces beaming with a smile. They quickly shouted out loudly, "2.1 million gold coins. Is there anybody who wants to bid? Are there any prestigious guests who can bid higher than 2.1 million gold coins?"
Suddenly, the number changed again, from 2.1 million to 2.5 million. Nie Yaonu sneered, slapped the formation and increased the bid by... yes, another one million gold coins!
In an instant, a minuscule ripple of energy that came together with a pressing anger was sensed spreading out from Valley of Medicine's abode. Then, the number on the screen flashed and turned into 3.6 million. Nie Yaonu remained silent for a brief moment, then waved her palm and was about to press the button that would increase the bid by another one million. However, this time, before her palm could touch the button, the number on the screen suddenly changed again. It was now 4 million gold coins.
A deep, muffled, and furious roar rang out from the Valley of Medicine's abode, while Nie Yaonu was struck dumb. "Aye, it seems someone has taken me as their shield."
Before her words could fade away, the number on the screen had become 5 million, a whopping twenty-times increment to the floor price. Nie Yaonu thought for a while, and finally shook her head and decided not to call for any more bids. She turned to Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le, laughed in a low voice and said, "Once those three flowers are concocted into pills and put to sale, according to the market price, five million gold coins would be what they get in the end. Actually, that was my intention, to make this business a profit-less deal for them, and that will have my grudge vented. It is better not to push them too hard."
Nobody was bidding again, and eventually, Valley of Medicine was able to 'easily and effortlessly' obtain the ownership of the three rare flowers.
After going through this incident, nobody was calling their bid openly for all the subsequent rare and extraordinary treasures again. They simply used the auction formation in their own balcony to bid their price. With that, no one could know who was the one that bid the price, and no enemies could purposely jack up the price. As a result, the following dozens of items were auctioned at their deserving price, no longer having an insanely high price like the first item.
Nie Yaonu had stopped creating disturbances. Carefully and meticulously, she observed the items that were put out for auction. Then, she selected a few rare, natural materials with pretty excellent quality from them, and was able to buy them at a reasonable price. However, in the eyes of Wu Qi, the quality of these materials was rather ordinary, and could not be considered as some excellent natural treasures. Thus, he brought Princess Zhang Le to a corner, chatting and joking with her in a low voice. Both of them simply indulged in their own world and never paid any attention to the surrounding people.
Time passed. After nearly three hours into the auction, an old man on the platform suddenly shouted out very loud, "Now we are going to auction one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom! The people from the Long Bo Kingdom are gifted with over one thousand years of lifespan, and those who attain sufficient cultivation base, they could even live over ten thousand years! This group of one hundred slaves comprise of the elite soldiers from the Long Bo Kingdom. The weakest among them are in the realm of Physique Strengthening tier of Xiantian realm, and the ten strongest slaves had attained the cultivation base of Gold Core realm. They are a rare possession that may be found only with luck, and not by searching!"
Wu Qi's eyes went wide immediately. Salves from the Long Bo Kingdom? The kind of giants who stood several tens of feet tall, and the one that Wei Xiaoxiao owned before? Also, in the story he read from the Classic of Mountains and Seas [1], the culprit who used a fishing pole and fished out a giant turtle in the sea, causing the five Immortal Islands to be left with only three? The legendary gigantic creature that could grow to the height of the sky?
Actually, the people of Long Bo Kingdom were part of human species. However, they were bestowed with love from the Heaven and Earth, which made them possess an immense amount of strength. Also, it appeared that they would never face any bottleneck in the path of cultivating the Dao. As long as they kept cultivating properly, each and every single one of them had the hope of becoming a Heaven Immortal. Nevertheless, every time when they had their cultivation base stepped into the next realm, they would have to face an extremely violent and brutal Thunder Tribulation. If they could make it through the tribulation, they would become immortal. But if they failed, their souls would disintegrate into nothingness. No matter it was during the formation of their Gold Cores or breaking the Gold Cores and gave birth to Nascent Souls, countless people from the Long Bo Kingdom were killed by the Heavenly Thunder.
A person of Long Bo Kingdom who reached mastery in Gold Core realm, he could fight head-to-head with a Nascent Soul human cultivator. As for a Nascent Soul Long Bo person, his overall strength was sufficient to fight a Nascent Divinity human cultivator. Judging from such facts, the overall strength of a Heaven Immortal from the Long Bo Kingdom could be estimated to be extremely frightening.
Wu Qi took a deep breath and focused all his attention on the jade platform.
The old man then raised a peculiar-shaped ring up in the air and yelled out, "Included with these one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom is this ring - 'Spirit Breeding Ring'. In the ring is a one-hundred-acres huge Immortal's Cave. As long as there are natural energies existing in the surroundings, these slaves can live and cultivate in the ring. Behold! My prestigious guests, these are one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom who you can bring anywhere! You can only bid with energy stones, and the floor price is ten thousand pieces of middle-grade energy stones. Each bid cannot be lower than one hundred pieces!"
Basically, the exchange rate between middle-grade and lower-grade energy stones was one to hundred. Thus, for these one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom, the floor price was one million pieces of lower-grade energy stones. Hearing such a price, both Nie Yaonu and Nie Baihong had their faces fell instantly. Although they did have sufficient stockpile of energy stones in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, it was under the sole control of Yan Li, while the secret money of both mother and son was far from enough to afford even the floor price.
Wu Qi's eyes flickered with a bright gleam. He gave Princess Zhang Le a look and said to her in a low voice, "I want these men, as I am short of hands!"
Wu Qi's foundation in this world was still rather shallow. Although he did possess some wealth right now, he did not have any capable assistants. Xiong Jin and Xiong Yin were sent to protect him by Yan Dan. Thus, they had no direct relationship with him. If he could own these one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom, out of which were ten Gold Core slaves, they would certainly be a great help to him.
He could give them some brief training, use some medicines to further temper their corporeal bodies and stimulate their ancestor bloodline, then teach them how to form a very powerful formation found in Scroll of Stealing - the 'Heavenly Hundred Spirit Warring Formation'. If everything worked out as he planned, with just one hundred Gold Core slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom, he could fight head-to-head with a Nascent Divinity cultivator. Once he owned these slaves, the ability to keep his life safe in this world would take another great leap.
The Scroll of Stealing did not provide Wu Qi any cultivation technique that he could cultivate himself, but it provided him with many unorthodox methods that could stimulate one's bloodline and strength, or cultivate with a greater speed. So, when Wu Qi saw the group of one hundred people from the Long Bo Kingdom standing by the bank of the lake, each at least one hundred feet tall, with skin that was completely white and hair that took a hue of silvery-green, eyes shining with dazzling gleams and emanating an aggressive aura, he nearly had his saliva dripping to the ground.
Wu Qi waited impatiently. When the old man announced that the auction had begun, he quickly pressed the button on the auction formation, raising the price to twenty thousand pieces of middle-grade energy stones. He had found himself quite a loot in Meng Mountains, as the possessions of twelve Gold Core cultivators and a peak-stage Nascent Soul expert, Xu Fu, were robbed by him. For him, twenty thousand pieces of middle-grade energy stones were not a big figure.
However, the number on the screen kept changing, and in a blink of an eye, it had increased to fifty thousand middle-grade energy stones. Obviously, the temptation of one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom was enormous. Not only Wu Qi, there were also some members of influential clans or Immortal Dao Sects wanting to grab this powerful aid.
With the abilities of these big powers, they did not have too much confidence to go through a tribulation faced by Nascent Soul cultivator, yet they did have the confidence to help these slaves go through their Gold Core tribulation. Once they made through the tribulation, then at least those who bought them would be aided by a couple dozens of extremely strong Gold Core slaves. At that point, the value of these slaves would be immeasurable.
Wu Qi grumpily pressed the button a few more times, pushing the price of the slaves to one hundred and fifty thousand middle-grade energy stones. At this moment, those who still called their price would most probably be those few richest sects, such as Heavenly Spirit Sect and Valley of Medicine, whose annual profit was tremendous. As for the rest of the Immortal Dao Sects? They were long scared by the absurd figure and dared not even say a word.
The price of one hundred and fifty thousand middle-grade energy stones was equal to the total number of energy stones supply that Great Yan Dynasty provided to an Immortal Dao Sect every thirty years. Apart from Heavenly Spirit Sect, Valley of Medicine, and a few sects that were known for their deep pockets, no other sects had so much surplus in terms of energy stones. Even if they did, they would never expose it to the public, as that would definitely cause Great Yan Dynasty to have suspicion: ‘Why are you stockpiling so many energy stones? Are you trying to revolt?’
Wu Qi's eyes turned bloodshot. Using his divine sense, he glanced at the stockpile of energy stones he had in the storage ring, and was about to press the button and call out the price of three hundred thousand middle-grade energy stones. Suddenly, Princess Zhang Le grabbed his hand, pouted prettily as she glared at Wu Qi, then said in a crystal clear and loud voice, "I like those slaves. Those who think his treasury is deeper than the treasury of Great Yan Dynasty, you're welcome to compete with me!"
Then she stretched out her finger and slowly pressed the black button. She called the price of one hundred fifty thousand and one middle-grade energy stones.
A dead silence reigned the scene. With that, one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom had fallen into Princess Zhang Le's hand.
Princess Zhang Le stuck out her tongue, lowered her voice and whispered to Wu Qi, "Now I'm done using my power. In an event such as this Rare Treasures Conference, I can only show my mightiness once. If there are any more good things come out later, those old fools will never allow me to have them."
She smiled shyly, bowed her head blushingly and said, "Ten years ago, since Zi Xuan bought a nine thousand years old Fire Ginseng with just three copper coins, my grandpa decided that for every Rare Treasures Conference, Zi Xuan can only strike forcibly once."
What? She bought a nine thousand years old Fire Ginseng with just three copper coins?! Wu Qi fixed his eyes on Princess Zhang Le's face and thought inwardly, "Compared to me, you're the real grand thief!"
Very soon, the Spirit Breeding Ring was sent to them from the organizer of the auction, and all one hundred slaves from the Long Bo Kingdom had been placed into the ring. Wu Qi dripped a drop of his blood on the ring and sent a thread of his divine sense into it. Immediately, he felt one hundred souls come under the complete control of divine sense. With just a thought in his mind, he could wipe out these one hundred souls at any time he wanted.
Finally, he was the master of one hundred formidable slaves!
[1] The Classic of Mountains and Seas - It is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and myth, existed since the 4th century BC. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Mountains_and_Seas)