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"Although this item has a remarkable level of toughness, it's practically nearly impossible to shape and reform and has blunt edges." The auctioneer said, and with just a few words, the excitement in the auction house died down by a significant factor.
As the auctioneer said before, this item was one that the master artisans who were contracted by the Feng family were unable to reshape into a practical weapon, so as any wise merchant would, they decided to cut their losses and sell it to whoever thought they could do a better job at refining this material.
"This is not to say that it is impossible to refine this item. As they say, where there's a will, there's a way." The auctioneer continued with a smile.
The crowd wasn't as excited as before, but some of them cast greedy eyes toward the item. There are always those who are favored by the Heavens and those who think they are favored by the Heavens.
Li Huang didn't even bother listening to the auctioneer, as he couldn't even fathom that he would be lucky enough to find such an item, but he did, and he had no desire to let it slip through his grasp.
The item on the stage looked like a twisting vine and didn't look like anything remarkable, however, the Peeping eye of Heaven let him know that it was anything but unremarkable.
With the information that he had now, he knew that this twisting vine was called [Twisting Vine of Desolation] and the Peeping Eye of Heaven called it one of the hardest items in the universe. The information was surface level at best, and it seemed that the previous owner of the artifact had not encountered such an item and had not interacted with it much so that the Peeping Eye of Heaven could provide more information about it but even this information was mind-numbing enough.
One would not simply call an item one of the hardest items in the universe. Even the people from the Feng family identified it as a low-rank True Spirit treasure. If Li Huang didn't have absolute trust in the information the Peeping Eye of Heaven has provided him so far, he would also not have taken it seriously.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Li Huang exhaled slowly.
"How much do you think it's worth?" Li Huang asked Hu Anjing and others around him just to distract himself and ease the tension in his heart.
"…Ten million?" Hu Anjing took a wild guess. She knew that Li Huang must be interested in the item for him to ask, so she said a number that made sense to her with how much Li Huang was paying so far.
Before Li Huang could say anything, Cai ZhenKang interjected, "Bah, it wouldn't be worth even ten million low-grade spirit stones." He snorted, "If this twig is worth that much then I should be able to subordinate the Feng family with my logs." He continued after a second.
Hu Anjing felt a little annoyed, but Li Huang couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Well, your tree logs are not comparable to a True Spirit Treasure." Li Huang laughed it off.
"If I can get it at that price, I'll pay for your pills for a decade." Looking at both of them, he said. The price of the cultivation pills was not that low for Li Huang to say such a thing, but he was sure that the final price would definitely be more than ten million high-grade spirit stones.
Turning to face the auction stage, Li Huang sent a sound transmission to Hu Anjing, ~"That offer is only for Cai ZhenKang though."~ He said, and before she could ask him about it, he added, ~"As a couple, this wouldn't apply to you, everything that I have is yours."~ Li Huang said matter-of-factly.
Hu Anjing's face color got a shade closer to her hair color, but she kept her eyes pinned to the stage so that she could seem calm, even though her thoughts were in turmoil.
Li Huang was also trying his damnedest to not show a smile at Hu Anjing's reaction. He had no intention of getting a fist to his head, no thank you.
"The starting price for this item is one million high-grade spirit stones. The bidding starts now." The Auctioneer said and bids started coming after a few seconds of hesitation from all over the crowd.
Li Huang didn't participate at first to see how much other cultivators were willing to pay for this. He had experienced this level of auction now and he had some insights on how to win an item with as minimal payment as possible.
The trick was to wait it out a little so that others do everything they can to ensure their bet is the winner and after that, Li Huang would double the highest offer and almost all of them would stop bidding further. If he were to start from the starting price, the other cultivators wouldn't notice the gradual increase but this way the sudden jump in price would dissuade them.
"Ten million high-grade spirit stones." As soon as the price was about to reach five million, Li Huang placed a bid.
The auction house got deadly silent after this bid. No one seemed willing to fight for this item that might or might not be helpful at this high of a price.
Li Huang who proved his theory in practice was happy for a fraction of a second when Cai ZhenKang brought him back from his inner musings.
"I'm allergic to a few of the low-grade pills but don't worry, I'll let you know beforehand." Cai ZhenKang said with a toothy grin.
Now it was Li Huang who thought about punching someone. 'Why didn't I say eleven million? Welp, I can't do anything about it now.' Li Huang thought to himself.
Just as he was resigning to his fate, a voice was heard in the auction house, "Fifteen million high-grade spirit stones." It was Hao Huizheng who placed this new bid.
'Thanks and fuck you.' Li Huang thought.
"You can tell me about it next time." Li Huang didn't miss the chance to answer Kai ZhenKang before placing his bid, "Fifteen million and one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones." He said.
He realized from Hao Huizheng's slight reaction that he wasn't going to give up that item, but he also wasn't going to do such a thing.
…
"The winner is Young master Li Huang with a bid of 28 million high-grade spirit stones." The auctioneer said and Li Huang was holding back tears. If one were to observe closely you could see his lips twitching in annoyance.
'What the hell is wrong with that guy? Why is he always trying to make me either lose money or lose the item I want.' Li Huang grumbled internally, "God, I hate that prick." Li Huang said in a whisper.
He really didn't care much but he still had to overpay for an item that he was sure to win and it was justified to him to be a little angry. Selectively, Li Huang ignored the fact that this item would be worth it even if he had to pay ten times this price.
Li Huang pocketed the item as soon as the Golden Phoenix auction house employee gave it to him. He made sure to triple-check the information he got from the Peeping Eye of Heaven to see if the item was still the one, he bid for and if there was any new information available for him.
The good news was that the item was not changed, and it wasn't a counterfeit, the bad news was that There was no information added to the Peeping Eye of Heaven.
'So the ownership of the item doesn't necessarily add information to the Peeping Eye of Heaven.' Le Huang pondered to himself.
'I have to test more to see what it can and can't do.' Li Huang came to a decision and stopped thinking about it for now.
Just as Li Huang finished his inner monologue, The action was about to resume, "We now have the last item of the day, this item was procured through years of adventure and excavation throughout the Lian continent." The auctioneer said and paused for dramatic effect.
"This item has been called by many names, The Mystery, The Unsolvable, and many more. But its true name is the [Whispering Lotus Mirror]." The auctioneer announced you could hear audible gasps from all around the building.
While everyone was in awe that this item came up on the second day of the auction, there was only one thought in Li Huang's head, 'Come on man, don't tempt me! I'm really not that rich…'
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