Chapter 243: The Auction
Mu Qianqian was a little astonished that Lin Dong stay unaffected under her gaze. Her beautiful peach flower-like eyes swept across the former’s body, before she lazily withdrew her gaze.
Upon seeing that woman withdraw her gaze, Lin Dong softly sighed in his heart. He only here to obtain some upgrading materials for the Ancient Heavenly Scales Halberd, and did not want to have any contact with this beauty who looked pretty but was covered in thorns.
Not long after Mu Qianqian withdrew her gaze, people that seemed to have powerful backgrounds successively walked to the front row, and seated themselves. However, before they seated themselves, these people would chat a little with Mu Qianqian, partially due to the latter’s looks, but mostly due to the faction she represented.
The Great Devil Sect. Even in the entire Great Yan Empire, it could be considered a genuine first class faction, and was a overlord-like existence in the Great Desolate Province, hence no one dared to provoke them.
As more and more people appeared, Lin Dong massaged his forehead. Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, the Destiny Soul Symbols in his Niwan Palace jumped a little, causing him to be somewhat astonished as he lifted his head. At this moment, there was yet another group entering the VIP seating area to his front.
This group’s aura was not extremely strong, yet, when the surrounding people saw them, their expressions were rather fearful. From their bodies, Lin Dong sensed vigorous Mental Energy undulations. Evidently, these guys focused on Mental Energy cultivation.
Other than that, when Lin Dong sensed this kind of Mental Energy undulations, he also discovered that a trace of their Mental Energy seemed to be covering their bodies in a special manner, before extending into their clothes, seemingly connecting to something within.
“These are...members from the Ghastly Puppet Cult?”
Lin Dong’s gaze slightly flickered. The Mental Energy of these fellows were exceptionally powerful. Moreover, what he found a little strange was that these people’s Mental Energy had a trace of gloominess and death, and was not pure and invisible like normal Mental Energy.
“Their Mental Energy should be connected to their Symbol Puppets…” Deep in thought, Lin Dong secretly felt his Qiankun bag. Inside was a middle ranked Symbol Puppet, however, due to the fact that he had to use up Pure Yuan pills every time he used this thing, Lin Dong did not bring it out to face an opponent under normal circumstances.
It was said that these Ghastly Puppet Cult members would bring a Symbol Puppet along with them. When they fought, the Symbol Puppet would face the opponent head on, while they used Mental Energy to control it and attack. In this kind of two against one situations, they would more likely end up victorious than be defeated. This was the main reason why ordinary people did not dare to become enemies with the Ghastly Puppet Cult. After all, no one wanted to struggle to the death against Symbol Puppets which completely lacked the sense of pain.
Lin Dong’s gaze swept across the Ghastly Puppet Cult group, before pausing on the person in the center. He looked to be a young man that was about twenty five or six. He was rather handsome, and his complexion was especially pale. A certain smile hung on his face at all times, but when this kind of smile was matched with his chilling aura, it caused others to shiver involuntarily.
From the nearby whispers, Lin Dong found out this young man’s identity. His name was Hua Zong, and was the son of one of the Ghastly Puppet Cult’s elders. Meanwhile, he was also the Ghastly Puppet Sect Great Eagle City’s guardian, a rather high position.
“This guy’s Mental Energy is perhaps not far from making a breakthrough to the Soul Symbol Master level…” Lin Dong’s expression turned a little serious as he sensed the faint Mental Energy undulations from the young man’s body. This guy was likely very close to forming the fifth Destiny Symbol. If he was successful, he would have successfully advanced to the Soul Symbol Master stage.
There were indeed many capable talents among the Great Desolate Province’s younger generation.
However...Lin Dong felt a somewhat uncomfortable with the Ghastly Puppet Cult’s sinister Mental Energy, though he did not know why this was so.
While Lin Dong was deep in thought, the man known as Hua Zong chatted with Mu Qianqian rather enthusiastically after he entered the seating area. From the looks of it, he did not conceal the adoration in his eyes at all, and in response, Mu Qianqian clearly seemed to frequently encounter this kind of situation. Due to the other parties background, her smile did not appear overly intimate or too resisting, the way she grasped this balance was rather impressive.
“Ding!”
As the VIP seating area was gradually filled, the entire auction area was also practically bursting. A clear voice finally rang out in the auction area, as a white haired elder appeared on that spacious auction stage while beaming.
“Hehe, this old one is known as Song Tie, you can call me manager Song. Today, we are honored by everyone’s attendance, and let this old man first thank everybody on behalf of my Martial Alliance.”
A good-natured smile hung on the white haired elder’s face. Wrapped by vigorous Yuan Power, his chuckle rang out across the entire auction area.
“This Martial Alliance’s strength is not weak, to think that they directly sent an initial Form Creation stage practitioner to host the auction.” Gazing at the elder known as Song Tie, surprise flashed across Lin Dong’s eyes as he mumbled.
Lin Dong had already heard a lot of these conventional greetings at the start of the auction, hence, he directly ignored following words of the elder. After a few minutes, Song Tie was a little unwilling as he finally stopped. His hand heavily pressed down on a little bell before him, as several young and pretty servant girls gracefully walked up the auction stage with silver plates in their arms.
“Everyone, this is the first item of today’s auction, Fire Cloud Spirit Armor. This armor was personally crafted by master Jin of our Great Puppet City. After appraising it, we have determined that it has already reached the peak of the low-grade Symbol Treasures. If it is worn, it would definitely be an additional life insurance!”
“For this item, the starting bid is ten thousand Pure Yuan pills!”
The white haired elder received that silver plate and lifted the embroidered cloth off. Immediately, a crimson inner armor appeared before everyone’s eyes. Faintly, a fiery heat seemed to be emitted from it.
“Inner armor Soul Treasure.” Staring at the inner armor, Lin Dong’s eyebrows slightly raised. He was rather interested in these kind of defensive Soul Treasures, however, low-grade Soul Treasures did not catch his eye, yet, he also understood that with the Pure Yuan pills he had, even if he encountered a good defensive type Soul Treasure, it was likely that he would find it difficult to obtain.
However, although Lin Dong did not fancy this low-grade Soul Treasure, it still caught the eye of many people here. After all, the protection of an inner armor Soul Treasure would indeed be able to guarantee your life at times.
As these people contested over it, the Fire Cloud Spirit Armor’s price directly rose from ten thousand Pure Yuan pills to a price of twenty one thousand, before finally being bidded for successfully by a brother Ren.
Lin Dong leaned against his chair. He understood that the start of the auction was merely a small-scale struggle, the true treasures would only appear later.
With this attitude, Lin Dong appeared to be enjoying a show as he watched others contest over the first few waves of auction articles. During this period, he did not participate at all.
As time passed, the auction articles that appeared on the auction stage gradually became rather valuable, while the atmosphere in the area also turned increasingly intense. In this kind of place, it was very easy enjoy what was known as the feeling of spending recklessly.
“Magic Scales Gold Heart, a relatively rare metal material. It is used to forge high class Soul Treasures. The starting bid is five thousand Pure Yuan pills.”
When he heard these words, Lin Dong suddenly awoke from his trance, as a smile surfaced on his face. This was one of the materials needed to upgrade the Ancient Heavenly Scales Halberd, and its price was rather acceptable.
Though the people who would bid for this kind of materials were few in number, there were still quite a few who were interested. Therefore, in a short few minutes, the price of this Magic Scales Gold Heart was inflated to ten thousand Pure Yuan pills.
“Fifteen thousand Pure Yuan pills.”
A hoarse voice suddenly rang out in the auction, causing some interested bidders to be taken aback. Soon after, they cast their gazes towards the person hidden by a bamboo hat, and hesitated for a moment. Only a very few number of people continued to bid for it, but after the latter immediately rose the price to twenty thousand Pure Yuan pills, they could chose to give up.
As everyone else gave up, this Magic Scales Golden Heart successfully fell into Lin Dong’s hands.
In the following auctions, Lin Dong once again encountered some of the materials he needed. Though the process was a little troublesome, but when he finally threw out fifty thousand Pure Yuan pills, these materials all became his.
As he stared at the Pure Yuan pills that were thrown out like water, the corners of Lin Dong’s mouth involuntarily twitched for a while. If it was not for his extortion of the Di and Liu Families along the way, the current him would only be able to watch. Although this was so, he had still spent twenty percent of his Pure Yuan pill funds to procure these items.
After successfully bidding for all the materials, Lin Dong sighed in relief. It was easy to do things with money in your pockets, or else, if he had to go out and find these materials by himself, god knows how many long it would take.
“The item we are auctioning next is also a Soul Treasure. Hehe, however, it cannot be considered an offensive of defensive Soul Treasure, and can only be called a support type Soul Treasure.”
On the auction stage, the white haired elder was all smiles as he lifted the embroidered cloth in front of him, revealing an old yellow praying mat. There seemed to be many mysterious symbols on the praying mat, as it faintly gave off traces of peculiar energy.
“After being appraised by an expert from my Martial Alliance, this praying mat is able to gather the mind, and nourish one’s Mental Energy. Though it is not of much use to Yuan Power cultivation, for a Symbol Master, it is not bad at all…”
Upon hearing these words, some people who did not cultivate Mental Energy shook their heads in disappointment, evidently uninterested in this item.
Lin Dong’s stared at the old yellow praying mat, as his eyebrows slightly furrowed. He realised that when his Mental Energy tried to probe this object, it was directly bounced back by the praying mat.
“Somewhat interesting indeed...” Lin Dong mumbled.
“Hehe, the bid for this praying mat starts at forty thousand Pure Yuan pills.”
After hearing this price, Lin Dong inwardly shook his head. Though this praying mat was able to nourish one’s Mental Energy, this price was still a little too high.
“Lin Dong, this praying mat is no simple object, there seems to be something sealed within it. Try and see if you can purchase it, I believe that it will not be a loss for you…”
However, just as Lin Dong prepared to give up on it, Little Marten’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind.