Box thirty-five.
Li Feng stared at the booklet in his hand, his face filled with astonishment. He had never expected this auction to feature so many treasures. Even for him, the list was shocking.
Thousand-year herbs were merely ordinary items here. Further back were all kinds of rare treasures that left one dazzled and drooling.
“Didn’t I tell you? Everything today will make your heart race,” Ge Ying said, a proud little smile in her eyes.
Li Feng put down the booklet and grinned at her. “You knew in advance what was being auctioned, didn’t you?”
“Heehee.” Ge Ying gave a sly smile and pulled out her own booklet.
Just then, a clear bell rang out. The main doors of the auction hall slowly closed, everyone took their seats, and a door at the front opened. A plump, smiling old man in his fifties walked out onto the stage.
Li Feng and the others stopped talking. Li Feng picked up the remote from the coffee table and pressed it lightly. The stage appeared clearly on the large screen on the wall of the box.
“This designer really…” Li Feng shook his head helplessly. Even he had not expected the auction to be set up like this.
“Everyone, I’ll skip the unnecessary words. I now declare the auction officially begins.” The old man’s opening was extremely brief. He clapped once, and a jade box was brought forward. “The first item is a thousand-year lingzhi mushroom. Starting bid three million. Each raise no less than one hundred thousand. Bidding begins now.”
“Three million two hundred thousand.”
“Three million four hundred thousand.”
“Four million.”
“Four million five hundred thousand.”
Bids rose one after another. Although the thousand-year lingzhi was the opening item, it was by no means priceless outside. Most bidders were wealthy people who had come for the auction; only a small portion were ancient martial artists. For the majority of martial artists, attending this auction was not about buying such herbs.
Li Feng glanced once and looked away. He could buy these herbs from Old Tu anyway. He had not come for them.
“How much do you actually know about the Ancient Martial Arts Association?” Li Feng asked the Ge siblings. They knew about the VIP card tiers and golden invitations, so they clearly understood the association. This was exactly the area where he lacked knowledge. Even Zhong Shuhui only knew the basics.
“Have you ever played games?” Ge Feng was about to speak when Ge Ying jumped in with a cheerful grin. Like Li Feng, she had no interest in the early items and was happy to chat with him.
“Games?” Li Feng shook his head. Neither in his previous life nor this one had he played any.
“The Ancient Martial Arts Association is like a guild in a game,” Ge Ying said with an expression that said I knew it. She began explaining the association to Li Feng.
Through her explanation, Li Feng finally understood what the Ancient Martial Arts Association really was. Compared to it, organisations like football associations were utterly pathetic. It even surpassed the military exchange system from his previous life.
It was an extremely tight yet loose organisation. Put simply, the association was a place where ancient martial artists accepted missions and bought treasures. Missions were posted regularly with rewards, and completing them earned points. The association had a points exchange system that allowed members to buy all kinds of cultivation resources with points.
Of course, points could also be exchanged for cash, and cash could be exchanged for points. According to Ge Ying, one million Chinese yuan equalled one point, but one point could only be exchanged back for eight hundred thousand yuan.
“This association really knows how to make money,” Li Feng said, shock in his eyes. He saw the trick immediately. The association must be raking in enormous profits. He finally understood where all those precious cultivation resources came from.
“Now we are auctioning the thirty-sixth item of this session: a mysterious bead from Changbai Mountain. Starting bid ten million. Each raise no less than one million.” The old man waved hisily, and a bunny-masked girl in revealing clothing carried a silver tray onto the stage. On it lay a dark, unremarkable bead.
Seeing the bead, Li Feng stopped talking to Ge Ying and stared gravely at the screen.
“What is it? Is there something special about this bead?” Ge Ying asked curiously.
“I want it,” Li Feng said firmly. He did not know what the bead was or what it did, but he had a strong feeling that it was vitally important to him.
“It? It might just be an ordinary bead,” Ge Ying said doubtfully, looking at the screen and then checking the description in her booklet. She was puzzled. The truly good items were coming later. Why did Li Feng want this bead?
“Thirty-five million…” Someone had already started bidding on the large price screen.
“Forty million…”
“Forty-five million…”
The price quickly soared to fifty million. At that point, Li Feng knew he could not wait any longer. He lowered his voice to a rasp and called, “Sixty million.”
“Sixty-three million!” Another bid followed immediately.
“Seventy million!” Li Feng said calmly.
Seventy million!
The hall fell silent. The previous bidders stopped.
In the end, Li Feng secured the bead for seventy million. When a bunny girl delivered it to the box, he held it and smiled broadly. The moment it touched his hand, he felt an intimate, familiar sensation.
“What does this bead do?” Ge Ying snatched it from him, played with it for a moment, found nothing special, and said, “It’s not just an ordinary bead, is it?”
“I only know it’s useful to me,” Li Feng smiled without further explanation.
The auction continued with more than a dozen items. Among them were Li Feng’s Foundation Establishment Pills. When five pills sold for five billion, Li Feng was stunned.
One billion per pill? Even he found the price hard to accept. Thinking of how he had popped Foundation Establishment Pills like sweets, ten billion at a time, it was probably the most expensive snack in the world.
Not just Li Feng; the Ge siblings were also speechless. Each of them had fifty pills and had already used half. Did that mean they had eaten tens of billions?
During the auction, Ge Feng successfully bid on a two-star rune, and Ge Ying won a treasured sword.
“Now we auction a wonder of heaven and earth: thousand-year ice dew!” The old man on stage raised his voice.
Thousand-year ice dew!
The entire hall erupted in excitement. Most major forces had come precisely for the thousand-year ice dew.
Hearing that it was finally the ice dew’s turn, Li Feng’s eyes lit up.
At last!
This was something he absolutely had to obtain.
Li Feng looked at the screen. A bunny girl carried a jade bottle to the stage. The old man solemnly took it, placed it on the auction table, and announced, “I’m sure everyone knows the effects of thousand-year ice dew, so I won’t waste words. This bottle contains eight drops.”
Eight drops.
Everyone, including Li Feng, gasped in shock. He had thought one or two drops would be the maximum. Eight drops was unimaginable.
One drop formed only every thousand years, and it was something one might never encounter.
“The starting bid for this thousand-year ice dew is one hundred million,” the old man declared, naming a heart-stopping figure.
One hundred million.
Even Li Feng’s Foundation Establishment Pills had started at only ten million each. This showed how precious the ice dew was.
“Five hundred million.” The moment the old man finished speaking, a voice rang out.
Li Feng froze. The voice sounded familiar.
“It’s Qin Feng,” Zhong Shuhui said beside him.
Qin Feng? Realisation dawned on Li Feng. No wonder it sounded familiar. Of course Qin Feng would attend an auction like this.
“One billion.” Another voice immediately followed.
Li Feng’s expression changed again. This voice was even more familiar. It was Li Wu. Li Wu was here too.
Then another voice: “One billion five hundred million.”
Fu Yanxiong. Li Feng’s face turned cold. Earlier none of these people had shown themselves, but now that the thousand-year ice dew was up, they all emerged.
“What’s wrong?” Ge Ying asked, puzzled.
“I’ve run into a few rivals,” Li Feng said, a sharp glint in his eyes. He turned to Ge Ying. “Will you bid for me?”
The thousand-year ice dew was crucial; he had to have it. But he did not want Li Wu and the others to know it was him bidding. Fortunately, when he bid for the bead earlier he had disguised his voice, and he was in box thirty-five. Li Wu and the others should not suspect him.
“Me? Yes, yes!” Ge Ying said excitedly. She wanted the ice dew too, but with her and Ge Feng’s finances they could not compete. Helping to bid would at least let her enjoy the thrill.
While they spoke, the price of the ice dew had already climbed to eight billion.
Li Feng held up one finger to Ge Ying. She immediately called out, “Ten billion.”
Her voice echoed through the auction hall for a long time. Everyone’s expression changed.
“It’s box thirty-five.”
“They finally couldn’t hold back.”
“Ten billion, what a tycoon.”
The crowd was stunned and buzzing.
In one of the elegant seats, the fox-masked youth gave a cold laugh. “He really couldn’t resist. One shout and it’s ten billion.” With that, he called, “Twelve billion,” and glanced provocatively toward box thirty-five.
