“All the auctioneers at Six Harmonies Auction House are called Liuhecai,” Mo Tianliao commented as he handed the cooled tea to Qingtong. H e’d brought his cat to Six Harmonies Bazaar before, and the auctioneer had also called himself Liuhecai, even though he was a different man from the one today.
Qingtong took the cup. “So?”
Mo Tianliao blinked and smiled. “Nothing. Would you like some fried fish? As I recall, you love the fried fish here.” Back then, this little furball had spent all his time snoozing in Mo Tianliao’s arms. Why would he care about who the auctioneer was? At best, all he’d remember was what tasted good.
As expected, Qingtong’s eyes lit up at the mention of food. The tiger looked up and roared, too, only to be swatted by his master.
Small fried fish and roast venison legs were soon served to the private room on the highest floor. As the three of them munched away noisily, they missed the first auction item—an opener where the auction house would forgo their usual commission regardless of price. The atmosphere quickly grew lively.
Treasure artifacts, elixirs, and spiritual herbs of increasingly high grade went up for auction in turn. The two men and the tiger cared little for the first few items…at least, until the fifth one came around.
“The Moonslayer Blade—a superior-grade treasure artifact!” The auctioneer pulled back the red silk to unveil a vivid red broadsword carved with a tiger head, gleaming with what seemed to be flames dancing along its surface. “Just so you know, this blade was forged by the Venerable Lord Duantian himself!”
“Whoa!” A buzz rippled through the audience. Lord Duantian’s creations were works of art that commanded astronomical prices—even the basic magical artifacts he created in passing.
“To be frank, this blade is not one of the Venerable One’s masterpieces, but a work he created in his youth.” The auctioneer gestured for the crowd to look at the blade’s gleaming body, which was resplendent despite its simplicity. “However, the Venerable One was already renowned during his core formation stage. This superior fire-element treasure artifact was forged as a gift for a friend when Lord Duantian reached the peak of the core formation stage. One slash can cleave through miles of glacier. The opening bid is a hundred high-grade spiritual stones!”
Typically, the starting bid for an ordinary superior-grade treasure artifact was fifty to eighty high-grade spiritual stones, but since this was a weapon forged by Lord Duantian, the price was significantly higher.
Qingtong took one look at the blade and scoffed.
Mo Tianliao rubbed his nose. It was clear this was his earlier work because the broadsword was still aesthetically pleasing, unlike his later creations, where he’d focused far more on function than appearance. Case in point: the Souleater Banner the Kugu Patriarch had used, which looked like it was cut out of a filthy rag.
The tiger, oblivious to the “charged glances” the two of them were exchanging, stood up when he saw the blade. He set his paw on the crystal orb and placed a bid through his divine sense.
“Shixiong, are you interested in that sword?” Mo Tianliao turned to look at him.
“Rarr!” the tiger said, not caring if his junior understood, and continued bidding for fear of losing the item.
Bids from the private rooms were transmitted through the divine sense via the crystal on stage and announced by the auctioneer. As such, all the Six Harmonies auctioneers had to be at the core formation stage and above.
“One bid upstairs for a hundred and eighty!”
“A hundred and eighty-five!”
“Two hundred!”
The bids rose steadily to two hundred and thirty before slowing to just an increment of one stone at a time. The tiger’s ears were standing at attention, and his tail swept anxiously back and forth across the ground. The price was already two hundred and thirty-six, and he only had two hundred and fifty high-grade spiritual stones on him. He couldn’t afford to go higher.
“One bid upstairs for three hundred high-grade spiritual stones!” the auctioneer suddenly announced.
The entire venue fell silent. Three hundred high-grade spiritual stones could buy three ordinary superior-grade treasure artifacts. This price was truly too exorbitant. The tiger dejectedly removed his paw and returned to lie down on the footrest.
Mo Tianliao patted the tiger on the head. “That blade isn’t anything special. I’ll make you a new one later.” As far as he was concerned, the Moonslayer was basically trash. Other than its fire-elemental offensive power, it had nothing else to offer.
The tiger batted his hand away and bared his fangs at him. What do you know?! That was a creation of Lord Duantian; it’s more stable than an ordinary treasure artifact, and imagine just how prestigious it would be to carry a status symbol like that around! I could flaunt it to Moxiong and the others…
Mo Tianliao didn’t know what the tiger was thinking, and he had no intention of lending his senior money to buy trash, so he turned his attention back to the stage.
“I have a set of seven-colored crystals here, each with special attributes that can refine a set of treasure artifacts!” A tray was presented on stage with seven fist-sized crystals in red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Rubysmelt Crystal, Ambercloud Crystal, Citrine Sunstone, Jadepine Rosin, Turquoise Skystone, Crystal Sapphire Pearl—the first six were well-known, rare gems, each with their own distinctive use. Just one alone would fetch a handsome sum, and there was a whole set of them here.
“What’s that purple stone?” some ignorant cultivator yelled from the audience.
The shout drew Mo Tianliao’s attention to the purple crystal. His pupils immediately contracted, and his hand instinctively moved to the orb for bidding.
The auctioneer replied that it was an Amethyst Cloud Crystal, but someone pointed out that Amethyst Cloud Crystal was lighter in color. They couldn’t be using it merely to fill out the set, could they? The auctioneer smiled and said nothing. Amethyst Cloud Crystal wasn’t a particularly precious crystal, and this one had indeed been added to complete the set. But just the first six alone would fetch a good price, which, shockingly enough, was a thousand top high-grade spiritual stones.
“One thousand one hundred!”
“One thousand two hundred!”
“Two thousand!” This bid was from a nascent soul cultivator upstairs, and it momentarily halted the bidding.
“Thank you, Patriarch,” a pretty female cultivator sitting beside him said with a smile. With this set of crystals, she could find a master artificer to craft a complete set of defensive magical artifacts against all elements, making her capable of withstanding any attacks.
The nascent soul cultivator smiled. What was this bit of money if he could make a pretty lady smile? He could afford it.
“Two thousand and one,” Mo Tianliao bid.
The nascent soul cultivator went red with anger. “Two thousand five hundred!”
Unperturbed, Mo Tianliao raised his bid. “Two thousand five hundred and one.”
Menghu transformed into human form and bared his teeth. “That tray of stones just looks pretty. What do you want them for?”
“To carve a tea set for Shizun,” Mo Tianliao replied casually, and continued bidding.
Menghu almost choked on hearing that. Qingtong scoffed and smacked Mo Tianliao.
Mo Tianliao grinned. Every time the cultivator on the lower floor upped his bid, he would add exactly one more. By six thousand, the other party gave up, and Mo Tianliao won the bid at six thousand and one.
An attendant brought the set to him, and he paid in full on the spot.
Mo Tianliao picked up the last purple crystal and probed it with his divine sense. His lips curved into a smile—he’d been right. This wasn’t an Amethyst Cloud Crystal…but a Ninesouls Crystal that could be used to refine soul artifacts!
Qingtong picked up the red gem and turned it around in his hand. “A Meteorfall Stone will cost at least thirty thousand,” he said coolly. “How are you going to afford it if it comes up next?”
Mo Tianliao, who had been delighted at the bargain he’d found, immediately stiffened. Now that the first twenty-three items were sold, they unveiled the first highlight of the auction—an obsidian stone with a vast, unfathomable interior, its exterior aglow with a glittering blue light that resembled the stars falling from the heavens. It was the Meteorfall Stone he needed!
✦ ✦ ✦
MINI EXTRA
Woodworker: QAQ It’s hard being broke.
Shizun: Beg me, and I’ll give you money.
Woodworker: *buries face in belly fur* Oh, kind sir, please take pity on me.
Shizun: Insolent disciple! Where do you think you’re touching?!