Chapter 163: Long Xuan Prepares to Fool People
"Anyone going higher?"
"12 million spirit stones, going once!"
"12 million spirit stones, going twice!"
"12 million spirit stones, going three times!"
"SOLD!"
The auctioneer finally brought down the small hammer in her hand.
At the same time, a maid carrying a jade tray walked over. The auctioneer placed the storage bag containing thirty barrels of Spirit Recovery Wine on the tray. Before the maid could turn around, the auctioneer eagerly began the auction for the third item.
This time, she took a spider with three eyes out of her insect-rearing bag and placed it in her hand, introducing it: "This spider is called the Three-Eyed Spider. It possesses a lethal poison that kills upon contact with blood. It is a high-grade spirit insect."
"High-grade spirit insects usually wouldn't qualify for this auction. However, the Three-Eyed Spider is an endangered species in the Gu world, nearing extinction, and is extremely hard to find."
"As the saying goes, rarity makes something valuable. Such a rare insect is naturally worth much more than a regular high-grade spirit insect, right?""The Three-Eyed Spider is so rare that if anyone could figure out how to breed it and make it multiply quickly, they could monopolize the market. I don't think I need to explain how profitable a monopoly can be, right?"
The auctioneer spoke in a tempting voice.
However, most people in the audience scoffed and showed looks of disdain.
Did she really think they were idiots to be fooled by her? If this thing was that easy to breed, it wouldn’t be an endangered species.
Unless someone had the Gu method for the Three-Eyed Spider, only a fool would buy it.
"Endangered species usually start at 500,000 spirit stones. The starting bid for the Three-Eyed Spider is 500,000 spirit stones. The bidding starts now!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Long Xuan in Private Room No. 5 immediately shouted, "I'll bid 600,000!"
He was planning to refine blade Gu and needed various types of spirit insects.
Many rare spirit insects are impossible for even a clan to collect, and usually, he could only rely on luck.
Today, he happened to come across a very rare insect species, and naturally, Long Xuan wouldn’t miss the opportunity.
Relying on his family to collect all types of spirit insects in the Gu world was clearly unrealistic. Gathering one of every species would easily raise suspicion within the family.
So, for some of the spirit insects that weren’t directly needed for the Dragonblood battle Gu, Long Xuan still had to collect them himself.
This auction was a great opportunity. Auctions often sold extremely rare spirit insects, and once the opportunity was missed, collecting those types of spirit insects would become difficult.
This was one of the reasons Long Xuan attended the auction—he wasn’t here just for entertainment.
Additionally, he had been collecting materials to craft the formation plate for the Five Elements Reverse Formation, and this was a good chance to gather some more.
However, just after he finished speaking, a familiar voice came from Private Room No. 10: "I'll bid 700,000 spirit stones!"
Feng Si glanced mockingly at Private Room No. 5.
Long Xuan frowned slightly and continued, "800,000!"
"900,000!" Feng Si immediately followed.
Long Xuan glanced at Feng Si, knowing he was intentionally raising the price to frustrate him.
"One million!"
Long Xuan decided this would be his final bid. If Feng Si continued to raise the price, Long Xuan would give up.
One million spirit stones were already an inflated price.
He didn’t absolutely need the Three-Eyed Spider. It was impossible to collect every single type of spirit insect in the Gu world. Some species in distant regions and exclusive spirit insects from major Gu cultivation families would be out of reach.
So Long Xuan didn’t mind missing out on the Three-Eyed Spider.
However, Feng Si wasn’t stupid. He knew if he raised the price too much, his opponent might give up, and then the item would end up in his hands. So after the bid reached one million, he promptly gave up, casting a mocking glance at Long Xuan.
But Long Xuan’s expression remained unchanged, showing no signs of anger, which left Feng Si a bit disappointed.
"Hmph! I’ll see how long you can hold out. Unless you plan on not buying anything from the auction at all," Feng Si muttered, a sly grin slowly forming on his lips.
"That person is clearly raising the price maliciously, trying to make you waste spirit stones!" Long Ziyan said, frowning.
"No worries, he’s just a clown. I have plenty of ways to deal with him later. No one can make me lose out," Long Xuan replied casually, not taking the matter to heart at all.
The auction continued, with the auctioneer pulling out more and more items from her storage ring. The bidding remained intense, with prices climbing higher and higher. The atmosphere in the room was lively, filled with heated shouts for bids.
Long Xuan Occasionally Made Bids, Securing Useful Items Directly
Of course, with Feng Si being a troublemaker, every item Long Xuan won came at an inflated price.
Feng Si was especially crafty. Though he would always intervene, he only raised the price slightly—never too much—keeping it within a range his opponent could still afford. He knew when to stop, ensuring that the other party wouldn’t give up and leave the item stuck with him.
Because Feng Si was so cautious, it wasn’t easy for Long Xuan to trick him.
Long Xuan had long been aware of Feng Si’s cautious nature. He was someone who always overestimated his enemies. Even when dealing with Long Xuan, who was only at the Spirit Gathering stage at the time, he had sent a group of Marrow Cleansing stage experts, demonstrating his almost pathological caution.
Yet, despite his excessive vigilance, Feng Si still lost to Long Xuan in the end.
By now, everyone at the auction had noticed the malicious competition between Private Room 5 and Private Room 10. The crowd eagerly watched the rivalry between the two parties, expecting some drama.
This type of situation was common at auctions, where rivals intentionally inflated bids to harm each other, often resulting in both parties losing out while the auction house made a fortune. Such occurrences had become quite routine.
The auction proceeded quickly, and before anyone realized it, it was already noon.
Despite the short duration, many treasures had already been auctioned.
The auctioneer, Shao Shao, saved a lot of time by pulling out items directly from her storage ring, leading to an exceptionally high volume of items sold. The final transaction amount was sure to reach astronomical figures.
In Private Room 5, Long Xuan’s table was filled with more than ten different high-grade spirit insects, and he was carefully studying them.
These ten or so spirit insects weren’t just ordinary high-grade ones—they were rare species on the verge of extinction, much more expensive than typical high-grade spirit insects.
Normally, they were extremely difficult to come across. Some were so rare that even after a century of searching, one might not find them.
Moreover, no Gu-cultivating family knew how to breed these insects; otherwise, they wouldn’t be rare, nor would they be endangered species.
Long Xuan felt it would be a pity to let (Xiao Yue)-Little moon consume them all. These were endangered species, nearly extinct. The idea of an entire species vanishing from history saddened him.
Since he had the ability to research and develop methods to cultivate all species, he felt a responsibility to preserve these endangered insect species and prevent their extinction.
Besides, this could benefit him as well. Rare items were valuable, and if he could breed these endangered species in large quantities, he would effectively monopolize the market. A monopoly was extremely profitable.
Therefore, he decided to raise all the endangered insects in his insect chamber and use his abilities to research methods for cultivating these rare species.
Even if he didn’t have time to raise large numbers of spirit insects, he could still sell his techniques for astronomical prices. In this way, these endangered species wouldn’t have to disappear from the world.
As Long Xuan was studying the insects crawling all over the table, the first half of the auction came to an end, and the final item of the day was about to be auctioned.
Shao Shao smiled and looked around before pulling out a black long blade from her storage ring and placing it on the auction table. She smiled and said, "I’m sure everyone has been eagerly awaiting this, right?"
"We now officially begin the auction of the most thrilling and final item of the day: the Black Night long Blade."
"As everyone knows, the highest quality for spirit tools is the peak-grade spirit tool. But in ancient times, ‘named tools’ were treasures far more powerful than peak-grade spirit tools."
"However, the method for forging named tools has long been lost to the world, and no one in the current Gu world possesses the ability to create them anymore."
"Rarity makes things valuable, so the value of this named blade is limitless. Everyone should be mentally prepared."
"Anything that’s this rare in the world can easily fetch prices in the billions. The bidding for this named blade starts at 100 million spirit stones. Please begin bidding!"
The next moment, all the Gu cultivators who used blades had their eyes light up, their breathing quickened, and they revealed intense greed.
A named blade was far superior to a peak-grade spirit blade. Once in hand, one would be practically unbeatable at the same level. Anyone who engaged in blade combat with the owner of this blade would have their weapons shattered.
However, when they thought of the terrifyingly high price of 100 million spirit stones, most people hesitated.
The price was simply too outrageous. Even if they sold everything they owned, they wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Moreover, the high price of the blade was mostly due to its rarity, not because it was worth the price. The blade itself was certainly not worth over a billion.
So the cost-effectiveness of bidding on this named blade was incredibly low. Unless one was extraordinarily wealthy, most people didn’t dare to bid.
Looking at the black long blade on the auction table, Long Xuan’s lips curled into a slow smile. His eyes casually glanced toward Private Room 10, and he deliberately pulled out the Silver Moon Mantis from his insect-raising bag, placing it on the ground in a conspicuous spot for everyone to see.
"Little moon, what do you think of that named blade? Would it suit you? If you like it, I’ll bid for it and give it to you. This will be your first evolution item," Long Xuan said with a smile.
Upon seeing the black blade, which resembled a sharp weapon in the night, Little moon’s eyes immediately lit up. It quickly nodded, clearly liking the blade very much.
Seeing Little moon’s reaction, Long Xuan’s smile deepened. He immediately stood up and shouted loudly, "I bid 200 million! I must have this blade!"
"Everyone knows that a named blade is the best item for a blade Gu’s evolution. I hope you all will give the Long clan some face!"
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