King of Creation
Chapter 561 - 554: Who Traps Whom?

Chapter 561: Chapter 554: Who Traps Whom?

As it turned out, Ye Zhen’s judgment was extremely accurate, and his timing for acting was impeccably spot on.

After half a quarter-hour of fierce bidding, the fifth and final group of Purple Spirit Jade was sold at the high price of 1,250,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals, ending up, according to Tian Guizhang, in the hands of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect.

The other major forces did not have an intense demand for Purple Spirit Jade, choosing to give up once the price reached a certain point, especially since they had access to cheaper sources.

However, owing to a shrinking supply chain, the Sun and Moon Divine Sect was forced to bid aggressively.

The final price was not far off from Ye Zhen’s bid of 1,300,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals. Essentially, among the five groups of Purple Spirit Jade, Ye Zhen’s bid was relatively low.

If Ye Zhen had hesitated even slightly and aimed for the last group, and if Yan Cong had stirred up trouble, Ye Zhen would have had to spend a great deal more.

Moreover, Yao Sen even sent a reproachful Talisman Communication to Tian Guizhang, claiming Ye Zhen’s bid forced the Divine Sect to purchase a group of Purple Spirit Jade at a high price.

Of course, both Ye Zhen and Tian Guizhang simply ignored such blame.

After the auction of the 10,000 pieces of Purple Spirit Jade was completed, the bidding for the next major items became heated vigorously.

Seven Marvelous Spirit Rice, Soul Cleansing Spirit Flowers, Eighteen Spirit Brew, and so forth came up in rapid succession, with calls of increased bids overlapping each other. After one voice raised a bid, immediately three or four more would follow.

Moreover, the remaining bulk items were broken down into smaller lots by Heavenly Spirit Auction House, such as a thousand pounds per lot for Spirit Rice, and a hundred jars per lot for Spirit Brew, which set a lower threshold unlike the Purple Spirit Jade whose mere starting price deterred many Martial Artists.

In such a scenario, even the renowned name of Stars Tower was useless. Before their bid could be called out, it was drowned out by other voices.

During this period, Ye Zhen acted again, purchasing a hundred jars of Eighteen Spirit Brew.

Though the Stars Tower Master Yan Cong did want to create disturbances, he hardly had any opportunity, as there were twenty lots of Spirit Wine; Ye Zhen had plenty of chances.

About two hours later, all these major items were auctioned off, and today’s Treasure Bidding Conference truly began!

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first treasure up for auction today, is a pill formula from the Ancient Times by the name of Seven Green Pill Recipe. Seven Green Pill, a Heavenly Level Middle Grade pill, that can refine the quality of your Spirit Blaze. Especially important for Martial Artists who cultivate fire-element techniques, if you consume seven of these pills consecutively, you can enhance your current Spirit Blaze quality by a whole level.

The subtleties of this are undoubtedly clear to those of you who cultivate fire-element techniques, so there’s no need for further explanation. Let’s start the bidding.

The Seven Green Pill Recipe starting bid is 50,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals, and each bid must be raised by at least 5,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"60,000!"

"65,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"80,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

The Seven Green Pill Recipe ignited continuous bidding, but it wasn’t as explosive as imagined, after all, being just a recipe, it was only useful to a small subset of people.

In the end, the Seven Green Pill Recipe was bought by a hoarse-voiced old man for 105,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals, a voice familiar to Tian Guizhang, who speculated the buyer to be an Alchemy Master he knew.

Following that, treasures continuously appeared, and the sound of bidding was unending, with Ye Zhen witnessing once more the dominance of Stars Tower in an auction setting.

Within an hour, more than thirty treasures were auctioned off, and over a third of them ended up in the hands of Stars Tower.

Many times, all Stars Tower had to do was show their banner, make one bid, and there would be no further bids, especially when the bidder was a well-known individual from Qinglan Martial City.

Of course, that wasn’t always the case.

Ye Zhen saw several instances of intense bidding against Stars Tower, where the final high bids forced Stars Tower to back down.

However, these individuals altered their voice with Spiritual Power, and even subtly used some Divine Skills during their bids.

When they raised their bids, their voices seemed to come from every direction, making it difficult to discern the source.

After all, these people still feared offending Stars Tower, wary of them causing trouble in the auction.

It was now that Ye Zhen truly felt aggrieved by Stars Tower!

"Next, we will auction the forty-sixth item, the High Grade Treasure Sword, Frost of Fright!"

Clang!

A sound like the roar of a dragon as the treasure sword was unsheathed made every Martial Artist present tense up.

The treasure sword’s cold gleam was piercing, and with a slight thrust of Spiritual Power, it emitted a sword gang three yards long, hissing through the air.

"High Grade Treasure Sword, Frost of Fright, can enhance a Martial Artist’s Spiritual Power by sixty percent, and the blade contains a trace of a ten-thousand-year ice crystal, which gives off a hint of Ice Fiend Qi when the sword is swung.

Normally, this hint of Ice Fiend Qi wouldn’t harm a strong person, but in critical moments, this trace could very well be the decisive factor in achieving victory.

The starting bid for the High Grade Treasure Sword Frost of Fright is 10,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals, and each bid must not be less than 5,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals. Let’s start the bidding."

Seeing the Frost of Fright Treasure Sword, surrounded by a cold mist that shimmered with chilling light, Ye Zhen’s eyes suddenly lit up.

A sixty percent enhancement was effectively like augmenting a Martial Artist’s combat power by more than half, particularly for those skilled in sword techniques.

Ye Zhen’s Wind Cloud Sword Technique, though seldom used and somewhat outdated, but the Sword Heart Enlightenment killing move—Heart Sword—was truly useful!

With a sixty percent enhancement, Ye Zhen estimated that even the average Vein Forging Realm strong person would have to retreat by three measures, and with the mysterious and unpredictable support of the Purple Sword Light Purple Spirit, Ye Zhen believed that one carelessness could bring down even a Vein Forging Realm strong person on the spot.

Moreover, the Profound Yang Sword Ye Zhen had been using, because of experimenting with Purple Spirit’s power, had long since been reduced to fragments.

Therefore, upon seeing the High Grade Treasure Sword named Frost of Fright, Ye Zhen was extremely eager, "This Frost of Fright Treasure Sword, I must bid on."

"20,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"25,000 mid-grade Spirit Crystals!"

"30,000!"

"Forty thousand!"

"Forty-five thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!"

As soon as the Frost of Fright Sword was introduced, the price soaringly stuck, with endless bidders emerging. However, when the price reached forty-five thousand mid-grade spirit crystals, the frequency of the bids visibly slowed down.

The price of a high-grade treasure had basically peaked. It was only due to its rarity in the market that the bidding was fierce.

Seeing the sudden stop in the bidding voices, Ye Zhen knew it was his time to bid.

"I bid sixty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!" Ye Zhen’s bidding voice suddenly rang out, directly causing another martial artist who had bid up to fifty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals to stop speaking mid-sentence and close his mouth.

A one-time increase by fifteen thousand mid-grade spirit crystals, equating to an increase of one and a half million low-grade spirit crystals or even more, was already quite substantial, and indeed, it had exceeded the market price.

"Sixty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals once!"

"Sixty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals twice!"

"Seventy thousand, I bid seventy thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!" The trademark husky voice of Yan Cong from the Stars Tower Master once again rang out, causing Ye Zhen’s expression to suddenly turn gloomy.

At this moment, Ye Zhen truly understood the helpless feelings of the other martial artists present at the auction.

The Stars Tower was simply a bully in the auction house.

If you dare to bid against me, I will disrupt your plans when you need it the most. Over time, Stars Tower had become the tyrant of the auction house.

Ye Zhen was also pondering over this issue right now.

This was a very bad precedent. If it continued like this, whatever Ye Zhen bid on, that bastard Yan Cong from Stars Tower would intervene, forcing Ye Zhen to purchase his desired treasures at an exceedingly high price and in a completely unreasonable manner.

The spirit crystals in Ye Zhen’s possession might seem to have come easily, but in reality, they were won through life-threatening struggles.

Although Ye Zhen currently had quite a large number of usable spirit crystals, he couldn’t just let someone take advantage of him without cause.

But now, Yan Cong was indeed taking advantage of Ye Zhen.

If Ye Zhen didn’t want to be exploited, then he had to find a solution?

Almost after a moment’s thought, Ye Zhen did not hesitate to raise his bid again, "I bid eighty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!"

In booth number three, Yan Cong hesitated slightly. The intelligence on Ye Zhen within the Stars Tower did indeed confirm his proficiency with sword techniques, using swords as his primary weapon.

Taking into account Ye Zhen’s firm attitude earlier in bidding for this treasure sword, in other words, Ye Zhen was set on obtaining this mid-grade treasure sword.

Moreover, most importantly, Ye Zhen had a lot of spirit crystals!

Yan Cong kept thinking about avenging the previous grievance.

"Ninety thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!"

Deacon Ding wanted to persuade, but ultimately, he didn’t speak out. He had already tried to persuade the tower master too many times today.

Hearing Yan Kun’s increased bid, Ye Zhen suddenly laughed.

"Since Tower Master Yan likes it so much, I’ll let you have it!"

In booth number three, the expression of Yan Cong suddenly froze, his complexion, which had just started to recover, turned unsightly once again!

He had been outmaneuvered by Ye Zhen once more!

However, the market price for the high-grade treasure sword Frost of Fright was around fifty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals, and the internal price within Stars Tower was roughly sixty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals. Considering the discount, he only lost about thirty to forty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals, which was acceptable.

But still, it was extremely irritating!

He never expected that Ye Zhen would actually give up on this high-grade treasure sword.

Next, it was the weapons feature round, also a showdown between Ye Zhen and Yan Cong.

"This high-grade treasure saber, I bid forty-five thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!" Ye Zhen’s bidding voice sounded.

"Humph, I bid sixty thousand mid-grade spirit crystals!" Yan Cong’s voice followed shortly after.

But after merely raising the bid to sixty thousand, Yan Cong no longer heard Ye Zhen’s voice, leading him to reluctantly accept this high-grade treasure saber.

The next four high-grade treasures were all dealt with in the same manner.

Ye Zhen would certainly make a bid, followed by a definite increase from Yan Cong, and then, Yan Cong would no longer hear Ye Zhen’s voice.

Several items later, this left Yan Cong feeling utterly helpless.

Although he acquired these high-grade treasures at market prices and basically did not suffer a loss, even if there were a loss, it would be very minimal.

However, it tied up funds.

A single item did not tie up much, but after a total of five items, it amounted to nearly four hundred thousand mid-grade spirit crystals. Moreover, these spirit crystals were spent in a manner that brought no profits to Stars Tower.

The most important thing was, if it continued like this, it would become very problematic. Now, upon hearing Ye Zhen’s bid, Yan Cong already hesitated to increase the bid.

"Next up, we will proceed with the fifty-second auction item, a supreme treasure spear! Named Blood Shadow, it is embedded with a demon core from a Heavenly Level Lower Grade Demon Beast, the Blood Shadow Wild Lion. When attacking, its evil qi surges to the sky, and blood shadows scatter, greatly influencing the mind..."

Listening to the introduction by Youx Fang, the auctioneer, Ye Zhen felt somewhat regretful, thinking why it wasn’t a supreme treasure sword. If it had been a supreme treasure sword, Ye Zhen would have spared no expense to acquire it.

Just as Ye Zhen was feeling regretful, a sudden voice emerged in his mind, "Try your best to acquire this Blood Shadow Spear, it’s useful!" (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)