Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 339 - Heavenly Artifact's Fragment

After everyone sat down, the surrounding lights dimmed, making seeing each other's faces barely possible.

All the lights were focused in the center, where an elderly man walked to the stage. There were a few women behind him, and they were all beauties dressed in revealing outfits. Their appearance instantly elicited whistles from the audience.

"It's the day for the auction again, and I would like to thank everyone for your support," the elder said courteously, cupping his fists at the audience.

An auction was held once a month there, which was the norm in Fan City. Even so, the elder still needed to thank everyone.

"Stop wasting time and start the auction already!" someone urged, getting impatient.

"I see many new faces, so let me introduce myself along with the auction house's rules in case someone violates them," the old man said and swept his gaze around, releasing a powerful aura in the Nascent Transformation Realm that silenced the audience.

No one expected this unassuming old man to be an expert in the Nascent Transformation Realm. Liu Wuxie had to activate the Heavenly Dao Book to resist the pressure.

But the young man on his left trembled slightly under the pressure, while the woman on his right was calm and composed. This instantly made Liu Wuxie realize this woman wasn't simple.

"My surname is Tai, and you can all call me Elder Tai. The rules are simple: the highest bidder wins. The item will be marked as sold if there aren't any further bids after the call. Fighting and arguments are prohibited, and violators will either be expelled or executed on the spot regardless of status. So please follow the rules while you're all in Xuanyu Auction House." Elder Tai's words were infused with his true essence, exuding an overwhelming pressure that few could withstand.

The auction house was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. This was the intimidation of someone in the Nascent Transformation Realm.

The old man was satisfied with the reaction from the audiance. When he recalled his aura, everyone felt relieved.

"Let's cut the chit-chat and start with the first item. This is an item assigned to us for auction, and it's a scroll from ancient times. The seller has set the price at ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones; each increment must not exceed a thousand. Let us start the bidding now!"

When the old man said that, a woman came forward and took an ancient scroll from the pile of items; the writings were blurred with age.

Despite being tattered, this ancient scroll was priced ridiculously high, with a starting bid of ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones. Because no one knew if this scroll would be worth the price, no one placed a bid on it.

A smile rose on Liu Wuxie's lips. Since this was an item assigned to the auction house for sale, the owner must've studied it for a long time and wanted to sell it after it was no longer valuable.

After all, no one would take it out to sell if it was a treasure. Thus, there was a possibility that this scroll had little value, and no one might buy it even if the price was reduced to a thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

Everyone here wasn't stupid, and no one was willing to be taken advantage of. Thus, it was natural that no one would bid for the ancient scroll.

After a long wait without any bids, the ancient scroll was ultimately passed over. Elder Tai's expression remained unchanged as if he had already anticipated this outcome.

This ancient scroll had been in the Xuanyuan Auction House for a year and was still unsold.

The initial price was fifty thousand spirit stones, which was later reduced to ten thousand. Even so, no one was interested in the ancient scroll.

"Next up is the second item, a high earth-grade martial technique, the Sun Chasing Sword. The starting bid will be at thirty thousand mid-grade spirit stones, and each bid must not be less than a thousand spirit stones."

Before Elder Tai could finish, someone had already called out a bid, "Thirty-five thousand!"

A high earth-grade martial technique was rare and only owned by the ten major sects and prominent clans. Many smaller clans needed help to even come in contact with a martial technique of this level.

This was an opportunity, and many people were determined to buy it even if they had to go broke.

"Forty thousand!" Another person raised the bid. The bidding wasn't intense because there were few bidders. After all, the poor couldn't afford it, and those with a background like Hou Chi didn't need it.

In the end, the martial technique was bought by a small clan for fifty-four thousand spirit stones.

This shocked Liu Wuxie inwardly, and he had underestimated the value of martial techniques for one to be sold at such a high price.

"The third item is a spiritual treasure, with a starting bid of thirty thousand. Each bid must not be any lesser than one thousand!" An average spiritual treasure was priced at a hundred thousand spirit stones.

The spiritual treasure was sold to a prominent clan member through intense competitions for ninety thousand spirit stones.

"This spiritual treasure has a noticeable flaw and will need to be repaired, which would at least cost fifty to sixty thousand spirit stones. It's not worth it," the youth on the left said. The spiritual treasure had a crack, so it was sold cheaply.

Liu Wuxie also noticed that the longsword had a fine crack on it.

"He might not intend to repair it but to extract the spirituality inside and infuse it into his spiritual treasure," the woman on the right commented. After all, buying a spiritual treasure didn't necessarily mean using it. They could also extract the spirituality to strengthen their own, aiming for an early advancement of the xiantian spirit.

Liu Wuxie's eyes lit up because he also noticed that the man who bought it had a spiritual treasure of his own. He now knew why this person spent so many spirit stones to buy a flawed one.

Spiritual treasures could devour each other to strengthen spirituality, allowing it to advance more quickly.

Items were auctioned off one after another, and eight items had already been sold. They included weapons, martial technique manuals, forging materials, and pills.

"The item next will be somewhat special. After much discussion, we knew nothing about the material and set the price at twenty thousand spirit stones. Each bid must not be any lesser than a thousand." A maid came forward with a tray covered in a red cloth, which Elder Tai uncovered to expose a dark-brown iron fragment. This fragment was about the size of an adult's palm and didn't give off any aura.

"What's that?" A discussion came from the surroundings, and many experts in the Astral River Realm were present. But they couldn't tell what this iron fragment was.

"Could they be trying to fool us with a useless iron fragment? There were similar cases in the past where the treasure had turned out to be trash." There was a possibility that the auction house tried to sell something unidentifiable at a high price, but it was worthless in reality.

"Whatever it is, I won't spend spirit stones to buy something useless." There wasn't a single bid because this iron fragment had no spiritual energy or runes. It was a piece of garbage, no matter how anyone looked at it.

"We've tested this iron fragment with various flames, but we couldn't melt it no matter how hard we tried. I suspect that it's a divine iron from beyond our realm." Elder Tai didn't give up. This iron fragment was auctioned multiple times but couldn't be sold.

Elder Tai conducted a live experiment to earn the audience's trust by enveloping the iron fragment with flame. A strange scene soon unfolded because the iron fragment remained unscathed despite burning for a long time. Oddly, it even felt cold to touch.

Despite this exhibition, the desire to buy wasn't strong. After all, it was trash if it couldn't be refined, and this iron fragment had no research value.

No one would be interested in a piece of iron unless it had spiritual runes or spiritual energy fluctuations. But if it contained spiritual runes or energy fluctuations, it would've been snatched up long ago.

Elder Tai smiled bitterly after waiting for a long time, and no one called for a bid. The maid beside him was about to leave with the tray and proceed with the next item.

"Elder Tai, since no one is interested in this iron fragment, do you think you can sell it to me at a lower price?" Liu Wuxie spoke up. The price of twenty thousand spirit stones was high. He might not lack spiritual stones, but that didn't mean he could waste them.

Others couldn't see the value, but he could tell this iron fragment was extraordinary with Ghost Eye. It wasn't just an iron fragment but a fragment of a heavenly artifact, which corresponded with the True Profound Realm.

There were few experts in the True Profound Realm in the Southern Province, and how would they possibly come to such an auction?

Even Elder Tai couldn't recognize it because he hadn't seen a heavenly artifact before.

Experts in the Nascent Transformation Realm used origin artifacts, and even someone in the True Profound Realm might not be able to forge a genuine heavenly artifact in their lifetime. This proved the rarity of heavenly artifacts.

Countless gazes fell on Liu Wuxie because bargaining was forbidden in the auction house, and Liu Wuxie was the first to ask Elder Tai to lower the price.

"Hahaha! Brat, don't come and join the fun if you can't afford it." Laughter erupted from the surroundings, amused by Liu Wuxie's words. It wasn't because they couldn't afford it, but they weren't interested in this iron fragment.

Seated in the VIP section, Hou Chi narrowed his eyes as he overlooked the auction house, his gaze falling on Liu Wuxie. Since Liu Wuxie had removed his bamboo hat, Hou Chi recognized him instantly.

"It's him! Hahaha, you're simply courting death! It will be your death once the auction ends!" Hou Chi said.

"Brother Hou, who made you so furious?" There were several youths besides Hou Chi, all young masters in Fan City, who often hung out together.

"A nobody!" Hou Chi was too embarrassed to mention yesterday's incident and how he had suffered at Liu Wuxie's hands.

"He's merely someone in the sixth level of the True Core Realm. Brother Hou can easily kill someone like him with a slap, so why bother getting angry?" The young masters didn't think highly of Liu Wuxie after checking his cultivation.

The auction continued, and Elder Tai hesitated as he looked at Liu Wuxie. He knew the price would be even lower if it couldn't be sold today. It was set at twenty thousand this time, and it might be ten thousand next time or even sold at a loss if they couldn't take back the price they had paid for it.

"How much are you willing to pay for it?" They had acquired this iron fragment from a rogue cultivator, spending three thousand spirit stones. As long as the price Liu Wuxie offered was higher, Elder Tai wouldn't mind selling it to Liu Wuxie. After all, they had no harvest, even after studying it for years.

"How about five thousand spirit stones?" Liu Wuxie estimated that the Xuanyu Auction House probably had bought it for three to five thousand spirit stones, and his offer was reasonable.

If everyone knew this was a heavenly artifact's fragment, they would probably go insane over it, even if they had to pay a million mid-grade spirit stones.

If someone in the True Core Realm knew, they wouldn't mind exhausting all their resources to buy it.