The two entered the Affairs Hall under the guidance of an attendant.
In the central hall on the first floor, ordinary participants sat in rows.
Each held a small wooden number plate in their hands, and everyone was looking toward the elevated stage in front of them.
Along the left and right walls of the second floor were neatly arranged private rooms, each enclosed on three sides by thin partitions.
Following the attendant’s guidance, the two entered one of them.
A servant stood quietly at the entrance with his head slightly bowed, while beside him sat a tea set on the table, carrying a faint tea fragrance.
It was an excellent position for looking down over the central hall on the first floor.
Ise sat down and looked over the first floor.
Qi Condensation cultivators occupied the first floor, while Foundation Establishment cultivators sat on the second floor.
Most of those at the second-floor level despite being only Qi Condensation cultivators were cultivators of the Heavenly Ice Palace.
“The order will be medicinal pills, Qi Condensation Spirit Artifacts, Foundation Establishment Treasure Artifacts, Foundation Establishment Spirit Artifacts, and finally the main items of this auction.”
“Do we know what kind of magical artifacts will be appearing?”
At Ise’s question, the servant shook his head.
“I’m sorry.
Information regarding the items being auctioned is confidential.”
“All right.
I understand.”
Ise readily accepted the answer and took a sip of Spirit Tea.
“If you require anything, please pull the red cord.”
“All right.”
The servant bowed slightly, gave that instruction, and withdrew from the room.
Ryu Seonghan asked from beside him,
“Senior, is there a magical artifact you’re looking for?”
“A defensive magical artifact.”
“I see.
What’s your budget?”
– 180,000.
Ise conveyed his current wealth through Voice Transmission.
He judged that there was no benefit in letting the cultivators nearby know.
“Whoa, that’s enough to comfortably buy even a Foundation Establishment Spirit Artifact.”
Ryu Seonghan had known that his Senior was wealthy, but he hadn’t expected him to be this wealthy.
It was comparable to the entire wealth of an ordinary Foundation Establishment city.
“The good items in each category appear later.
Unless you really like something, it’s best to save as much as possible until the end.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The auction began.
Various kinds of medicinal pills were brought out, and the cultivators fiercely competed down to the single spirit stone until each item’s new owner was decided.
For Ise, who had always purchased things directly from shops, it was quite an interesting spectacle.
“The final medicinal pill is the Core Protection Pill!
This medicinal pill helps ensure that when attempting Core Formation, even if you give up partway through, you won’t become crippled!
It hasn’t appeared for a very long time.
Surely there are some of you who have been waiting for this, right?”
The auctioneer raised the atmosphere with his characteristic gift for words.
It was clearly a rare item, judging from the tremendous reaction among the cultivators, particularly the Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The auction house became so noisy that it almost seemed ready to burst.
Ise’s eyes also gleamed with interest.
It was exactly the medicinal pill he needed with Core Formation so close at hand.
Yet he did not participate in the bidding.
There were ways to obtain a similar medicinal pill on the Eastern Continent, even if it had a different name, and he had never intended to use one.
It merely prevented one from becoming crippled if one gave up halfway.
He didn’t need such a cowardly insurance policy that only some timid person would use.
If he intended to give up, he wouldn’t begin in the first place.
The Core Protection Pill sold for 126,000 spirit stones.
‘That’s cheaper than I expected.’
Seeing the lower-than-expected price, Ise immediately changed his mind.
At that price, it might be worth obtaining one whenever the opportunity arose.
So what if he acted a little timidly?
For now, however, his attention was more focused on magical artifacts than medicinal pills.
The auction continued.
One strange magical object after another appeared.
The final prices were roughly comparable to the market prices on the Eastern Continent.
Qi Condensation sacred relics sold for less than 3,000 spirit stones.
Foundation Establishment treasure artifacts sold for between 5,000 and 10,000.
Foundation Establishment sacred relics ranged wildly from 10,000 to 100,000 spirit stones.
There were no Treasure Artifacts exceeding 100,000 spirit stones.
As the auction approached its latter stages, fewer and fewer people participated.
Many had already spent considerable amounts of spirit stones, while the Spirit Artifacts appearing toward the end had fairly high starting prices.
Several defensive Spirit Artifacts appeared as well, but none met Ise’s standards.
Ise clicked his tongue in disappointment and steeled himself with the thought that at least one Spirit Artifact of the level he wanted would eventually appear.
“All right, there are only three items left now.
Those who have still been conserving their spirit stones should probably start participating as well, don’t you think?”
What the auctioneer brought out was a small jewelry box.
“This Spirit Artifact is called the Intrusion-Banishing Ring.
When worn on the finger and infused with internal energy, it creates a type of qi field, a defensive barrier.
It is said that if a large amount of internal energy is poured into it to thicken the qi field, it can even withstand an attack from a Core Formation Realm great cultivator.”
“Don’t exaggerate!”
Someone shouted from the second floor.
If it could truly withstand an attack from a Core Formation cultivator, then it should already be considered a divine artifact.
The auctioneer gave an awkward laugh and continued his explanation.
“Hahaha.
Of course, I only mean that it can block one.
Surely there’s always a possibility.
Would anyone like to demonstrate it?”
Ise raised his hand high.
A magical object in the form of a ring that was easy to wear and took up almost no space.
On top of that, its performance varied according to the user’s ability to circulate internal energy.
It was exactly the kind of item he had been looking for.
The auction organizer quickly swept his eyes across the room and spotted Ise.
He was seated in a VIP room and had not participated in the auction even once so far.
His instincts told him that someone like this was highly likely to spend a large amount of spirit stones on a single auction item.
“Senior Number Five, please demonstrate it for us!”
Ise hopped onto the auction platform.
The entire auction house spread clearly across his field of vision.
“Would anyone be willing to demonstrate it from the offensive side?”
At that moment, Ise saw a hand being raised from the room directly beside his.
A cultivator in the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Someone familiar.
A certain someone who had participated in the martial competition for the promising young disciples of the Daoist sects.
“Oh, isn’t that Beomseo of the Geummu Sect?”
When he appeared, many people seemed to recognize him, and murmurs spread throughout the auction house.
“Senior Beom will attack, and Senior…”
“Ise.”
“Yes.
Senior Ise will defend.
We’ll begin the demonstration.
Please control your strength so that no one else gets hurt.”
Ise immediately slipped the ring onto his left hand and beckoned to Beomseo.
Beomseo’s eyebrow twitched.
Apparently, he had mistaken Ise for someone of a similar cultivation realm after seeing how deliberately he had limited the range of his divine sense.
“It won’t be an easy defense, so I’ll use my full strength.”
“Fine.
You don’t need to hold back either.”
“Very well, Daoist.
Tell me when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.”
He formed hand seals and created a golden spear.
A fierce aura pointed toward Ise through the air.
The moment he confirmed that Ise was infusing the Intrusion-Banishing Ring with spiritual qi, he swung his hand and thrust the spear forward.
A translucent barrier soon formed and collided with the golden spear.
The result exceeded expectations.
The qi field absorbed Beomseo’s attack completely while remaining perfectly intact.
Beomseo also wore a surprised expression.
Apparently, that attack had been his best effort.
This was it.
The eyes of Ise and Beomseo gleamed simultaneously.
***
The two returned to their seats, and the auction resumed.
“The Intrusion-Banishing Ring will begin at a starting price of 30,000 spirit stones!”
“31,000.”
“32,000.”
“33,000.”
The price rose rapidly.
It wasn’t until it reached around 50,000 that more and more people began giving up.
Then Beomseo of the Geummu Sect raised his number plate.
“70,000.”
“70,000!
We have 70,000!
Naturally, the person who personally demonstrated it is bound to understand its value best!
Anyone else?!”
The organizer’s gaze turned toward Ise.
It was almost as though he were saying, You want it too, don’t you?
‘What a sly fox.’
Ise, who had been watching the situation unfold, chuckled and raised his number plate.
He felt like he was being played, but he didn’t particularly dislike someone who could read the situation this quickly.
“100,000.”
“…100,000!
We have 100,000!”
“101,000.”
Beomseo immediately followed.
Apparently, he also wanted this Spirit Artifact quite badly.
But Ise had plenty of spirit stones, and he had no intention of giving up something he liked for once. Get faster updates on g.com.
“110,000.”
“…”
Beomseo, who had been raising the price by 1,000 at a time like a petty miser, hesitated for a moment.
But he soon followed again.
“111,000.”
“150,000.”
“You bastard, enough already!”
Unable to endure it any longer, Beomseo abruptly stood up and glared at Ise with his divine sense.
“No matter how good it is, that thing isn’t worth that much!
Does some wandering cultivator I’ve never even heard of actually have that many spirit stones?!”
“If you don’t have the spirit stones, then get out.
Don’t keep raising the price for nothing.
Junior, it looks like this fellow is only raising the price without even having the spirit stones to back it up.
From now on, how about making bidders put down the spirit stones corresponding to their bids before participating?”
As he spoke, Ise poured a large number of spirit stones out of his Storage Pouch.
When an endless stream of mid-grade spirit stones appeared, the organizer glanced at Beomseo.
Beomseo dropped back into his seat and threw down his number plate.
***
Ise fiddled excitedly with the Intrusion-Banishing Ring he had won and now held in his hand.
He put it on the ring finger of his left hand.
Most other cultivators wore their rings on that finger as well.
Presumably because it interfered with movement the least.
A defensive magical artifact in the form of a ring.
What could be more convenient?
“Senior, are you sure?
Even at a generous estimate, I’d put the appropriate price for that Spirit Artifact at around 120,000 spirit stones.”
“It’s fine.
It’s worth more than that to me.”
Because of his constitution, he had twice as much internal energy as others, and thanks to the cultivation techniques of the Great Exorcist Order, his rate of circulating internal energy was also exceptionally fast.
The Spirit Artifact would be several times more effective in his hands than in the hands of the fellow beside him, who might be called Beomseo or something like that.
The man kept glaring at him from the neighboring room through their divine senses, wearing an expression as though Ise had stolen his lover.
Ise deliberately flaunted the ring on his finger and waved his palm.
The sound of grinding teeth came through loud and clear.
“All right, all right, things are getting heated!
Juniors, Fellow Daoists, Seniors!
Only two items remain!
One of them was submitted by the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.
This one… this is an extremely precious item.”
The organizer took a disc out of a wooden box that looked to be about eight cheok long (8 foot).
“This item was passed down as the heirloom of a fallen clan.
It contains the profound principles of the Flowing Wind Godspeed Art, a flying Spirit Artifact that can cover a thousand li in a single breath!
It even comes with an effect that generates a headwind during flight to protect the user from the cold!”
At that moment, Ryu Seonghan, who had been calmly chewing on refreshments while watching the auction, suddenly stood up.
The whites of his eyes were shot through with blood vessels.
Ise immediately realized what the Spirit Artifact was.
That was probably an heirloom that had been passed down through Ryu Seonghan’s family, the Ryu Clan.
The Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley had openly put an item obtained from destroying the Ryu Clan up for auction at the Heavenly Ice Palace’s auction.
As though nothing had happened.
It was practically a way of mocking the clan they had exterminated.
The demonstration of the Spirit Artifact began, and the price quickly climbed.
For a moment, Ise considered lending Ryu Seonghan the spirit stones so he could buy it.
But even if they combined all of Ise’s remaining spirit stones with Ryu Seonghan’s, it seemed unlikely they could afford it.
Eventually, it was sold to Beomseo in the neighboring room for 97,000 spirit stones, just shy of 100,000.
Ise glanced at Ryu Seonghan.
His expression was peaceful, as though he had managed to suppress his inner demon.
“You all right?”
“I’m fine.
If you were thinking about helping me take it back, don’t.
This is an auction house operated by the Heavenly Ice Palace.
You could end up becoming a wanted criminal.”
“What are you talking about?
I wasn’t planning to go that far in the first place.”
“…”
“But there may be another way.”
Ryu Seonghan couldn’t know why Ise was grinning.
He couldn’t see Ise’s divine sense or read his state of mind.
***
After the auction ended, the two were on their way back to their residence when someone began following them from behind.
“Senior.
Did you notice?”
“Yeah.
I’ve been watching him from the beginning.”
The person approaching them was none other than Beomseo of the Geummu Sect, the man who had won the Ryu Clan’s family heirloom.
“You two.
Stop right there.”
Ise stopped dead in his tracks and turned around with an expressionless face.