King of Creation
Chapter 557 - 551: Zhii Sheng’s Opportunity (First Update)

Chapter 557: Chapter 551: Zhii Sheng’s Opportunity (First Update)

By that time, since Ye Zhen had received the Shattered Jade Scripture, he had begun searching for Purple Spirit Jade. However, in the Black Dragon Domain, Purple Spirit Jade was extremely rare. On the rare occasions it appeared, it was only in single digits.

Moreover, the rare appearances of Purple Spirit Jade might be divided among others before Ye Zhen even received the news.

After several twists and turns, Ye Zhen obtained information about Purple Spirit Jade from within the Stars Tower in the Black Dragon Domain.

Ye Zhen rushed there eagerly, only to return disappointed.

In the Stars Tower, not only was the price of Purple Spirit Jade as high as one hundred thousand spirit points per piece, but there was also a purchase limit. With Ye Zhen’s level, he could buy at most ten pieces at a time; even if he found others to help, at most fifty pieces of Purple Spirit Jade could be bought in one session, and one could buy only twice a year.

Ye Zhen wanted to transform the Red Jade Spiritual Power Seed in his Dantian into a Purple Jade Spiritual Power Seed, which required at least a thousand pieces of Purple Spirit Jade. Regrettably, he had no choice but to give up.

Later, upon joining the Sun and Moon Divine Sect, Ye Zhen thought he could obtain enough Purple Spirit Jade for cultivation with the help of Tian Guizhang, but luck was not on his side. It just so happened that the sect’s supplier of Purple Spirit Jade had exhausted their vein.

Now, he was at this grand auction event and saw Purple Spirit Jade—ten thousand pieces of it, which instantly thrilled Ye Zhen; the cultivation of his stagnant Shattered Jade Scripture finally had a chance to progress.

"No matter what, I must win a set of Purple Spirit Jade!"

Ye Zhen immediately made up his mind.

However, decision aside, Ye Zhen did not start bidding blindly.

The auctioned Purple Spirit Jade totaled ten thousand pieces, divided into five sets. Ye Zhen planned to forgo the first set to see how things went and start bidding from the second set.

"I bid two hundred and fifty thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"Four hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"Five hundred thousand!"

"We from the Stars Tower bid seven hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

To Ye Zhen’s surprise, the bidding for Purple Spirit Jade was not fierce, with only three or four houses bidding. When the bid from the Stars Tower reached seven hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals, no one else raised the price.

"First set of Purple Spirit Jade, seven hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals for the first time, any more bids?" The voice of the auctioneer, Youx Fang, rang out.

"Second set of Purple Spirit Jade, seven hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals for the second time, any more bids? If no more bids are forthcoming, the first set of Purple Spirit Jade will belong to the Stars Tower."

The lukewarm response made Ye Zhen look inquiringly at Tian Guizhang and Fengh Qingyue beside him.

"What’s happening? How come no one bids after Yan Cong from the Stars Tower raises the price?"

Hearing this, Tian Guizhang gave a bitter smile, "Ye Zhen, if you attend more auctions, you’ll understand! The Stars Tower has always dominated the auctions of Qinglan Martial City, big and small; hardly anyone dares to challenge them. When they bid for something and show their placard, hardly anyone else dares to bid further! Only for extremely crucial items will others challenge the Stars Towerly seriously."

"The prominence of Stars Tower in auctions has been hard-won through hundreds of auctions!"

"Let me put it this way, if you, Ye Zhen, excessively compete with the Stars Tower, then when you have your eye on some treasure and want to bid, the Stars Tower will relentlessly try to disgust you, maliciously driving up the price. At best, you’ll spend several times more to acquire your desired treasure, and at worst, you won’t get it," Feng Qingyue said.

"How is that possible? Couldn’t someone just annoy the Stars Tower in return? Bid high, then suddenly withdraw, letting them suffer a loss and teaching them a lesson?" Ye Zhen was astonished.

"Teach the Stars Tower a lesson? For a common Vein Forging Realm powerhouse, an unwarranted loss of two or three hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals would be a severe blow, even touching their capital.

But for the Stars Tower, two or three hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals are merely a scratch on the surface! Most importantly, with the network of the Stars Tower, even if they pay a high price for some treasure, they can easily sell it off. At most, they earn a bit less."

As time passed, at major auctions, hardly anyone competed with the Stars Tower anymore, especially for bulk goods," Fengh Qingyue explained.

"Then... doesn’t our Sun and Moon Divine Sect need Purple Spirit Jade? Shouldn’t we be bidding?" Ye Zhen asked.

"Indeed, we do, but our Sun and Moon Divine Sect is probably targeting one of the last two sets of Purple Spirit Jade. This grand auction is hosted by Vice Sect Master Yao; I’m not precisely clear!" Tian Guizhang replied.

"The last two sets?" Ye Zhen immediately felt a sense of foreboding, "That means the rest of the major forces in Qinglan Martial City, especially the other three of the Five Great Forces, might also set their sights on the last two sets?"

"Most likely! In most cases, Stars Tower monopolizes two-thirds of such bulk goods, while the other forces compete for the remaining one-third. After so many auctions, this has become an unwritten rule," he explained.

Speaking of which, Tian Guizhang smiled slightly, "Ye Zhen, it would be best to focus on the last two or three sets; it might be easier in that case. At auctions, one should never provoke the Stars Tower..."

"Seven hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals for the third time, any more bids, any more bids?" The auctioneer, Youx Fang’s voice sounded dispirited. Bidding for bulk goods always left people feeling dejected.

"If there are no more bids, this first set of Purple Spirit Jade will go to the Stars Tower..."

"I bid seven hundred and fifty thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

At the same time, the voice of Ye Zhen rang out.

Hearing Ye Zhen’s increased bid, Tian Guizhang was startled, "Ye Zhen, even if you are raising the bid, you should change your voice, and it’s best not to let Stars Tower’s Yan Cong realize it’s you bidding. Otherwise, later on..."

"It’s useless," Fengh Qingyue said. "Ye Zhen’s cultivation is obvious, and previously because of the Demon Cloud Fruit, the location of his VIP room was also exposed. Even if he changes his voice, with Yan Cong’s cultivation, he will still be able to track down Ye Zhen’s location and confirm his identity!"

"True!"

Ye Zhen’s bidding voice thrilled the auctioneer Youx Fang, "A distinguished guest has bid 750,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals, 750,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals! Is there anyone else who would like to bid higher!"

In the VIP booth number three where Yan Cong was located, Deacon Ding frowned, "Who is it that dares to oppose our Stars Tower in bidding for a major commodity? Do they not want to mix in this anymore?"

"It’s that bastard Ye Zhen!" A flash of evil Qi crossed Yan Cong’s face, Stars Tower Master from the True Spirit Domain; he had long engraved Ye Zhen’s voice in his mind because of his hatred for him.

"Since it’s Ye Zhen, shall we mess with him a bit, Tower Master?" Deacon Ding asked.

"Nine hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

Yan Cong didn’t answer Deacon Ding’s question but directly placed his own bid.

Yan Cong’s voice, slightly hoarse and somewhat deep, was very distinctive. When Yan Cong’s bidding voice was heard, heads of various major forces within Stars Tower were momentarily stunned.

"Right from the start, Yan Cong has personally stepped in! It seems that the hatred between Ye Zhen and Yan Cong is indeed profound!"

"Don’t bid on the first three groups of Purple Spirit Jade, don’t provoke Yan Cong’s ire."

Suddenly, the leaders of the forces interested in the Purple Spirit Jade started giving instructions, and while doing so, they were somewhat expectant.

In the auction hall of Qinglan Martial City, it had been a long time since anyone dared to challenge Stars Tower Master Yan Cong.

"I offer one million mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

Just as Yan Cong’s bid had landed, Ye Zhen’s bidding voice rang out; Ye Zhen had also recognized Yan Cong’s voice.

The reason Ye Zhen challenged Yan Cong so directly was, as Fengh Qingyue said, due to Yan Cong’s hatred for him. It was likely that as soon as Ye Zhen placed a bid, Yan Cong would cause trouble for him, and avoiding it was impossible.

If Ye Zhen were to delay bidding for the Purple Spirit Jade like before until the last two groups, by then, if Yan Cong intervened, Ye Zhen would have no room to retreat and would likely have to offer a sky-high price just to get one group of Purple Spirit Jade.

Although currently Ye Zhen was not short on Spirit Crystals, he absolutely could not afford to see his vast amount of Spirit Crystals go to waste. Especially since the Purple Spirit Jade was a major commodity, raising the bid once by the minimum increment of 50,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals would mean 500,000 low-grade Spirit Crystals.

For now, the only strategy was to disrupt the situation from the start and find an opportunity to take advantage.

"Hmph, this seat offers one million one hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!" Yan Cong’s bid closely followed.

The auctioneer Youx Fang on the stage was completely excited now, someone actually dared to challenge Stars Tower Master Yan Cong from the True Spirit Domain, especially since it was Ye Zhen who had just consigned a Demon Cloud Fruit, possessing immense financial strength. Today’s auction was bound to be thrilling.

In a moment, just throwing out one or two Battle Qi values would greatly increase the profits, and his commission as the auctioneer would be extraordinarily high.

"Alright, Stars Tower from booth number three bids one million one hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals. Is there still anyone who dares to compete with Stars Tower for a bid..." the auctioneer Youx Fang stirred up the atmosphere as if he thrived in chaos.

"One million two hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"One million three hundred thousand!"

"One million four hundred thousand!"

....

"One million six hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

Ye Zhen placed another bid, this time raising by one hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals. If he was going to compete with the wealthy and powerful Stars Tower, the bids of ten or twenty thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals would need to stand aside.

"One million eight hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!" Yan Cong’s bid, unwilling to show weakness, rang out. And he raised it by two hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals in one go, delighting auctioneer Youx Fang to the point he could hardly keep his mouth closed.

Under normal circumstances, the market price of these two thousand pieces of Purple Spirit Jade was around eight hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals. Now, it had already doubled and still had extras, how could he not be happy?

"One million nine hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Crystals!" Ye Zhen quickly placed another bid.

To Ye Zhen’s surprise, this time, after he bid, Yan Cong did not follow up with an immediate bid like before, but paused for about three to four breaths before placing a bid.

"Two million mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

Noticing this slight pause in Yan Cong’s bidding frequency, a spark of Spirit Light flashed through Ye Zhen’s mind, suddenly grasping a chance to triumph over Stars Tower Master Yan Cong from the True Spirit Domain in the bidding! (To be continued. If you like this work, we invite you to vote and recommend it on Qidian at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)