43: Chapter 43 The Schemes of a Top Merchant: I Won't Even Spare My Future Wife!

" The 137th auction officially begins. "

A woman in a red dress walked to the center of the high platform.

A mutton-fat jade pendant hung from a red cord at her waist, swaying with her steps. The two characters " Miss Ya Yun " on it emitted a distinct spiritual power fluctuation.

She raised her wrist.

The sound of mechanisms turning echoed dully from underground.

The first auction item rose from a hidden compartment in the center of the platform.

It was a short sword a foot and a half long.

As the blade left the sheath, a faint blue watery light rippled across its surface.

" Mid-grade spirit weapon, the Azure Tide Short Sword. "

Miss Ya Yun's voice spread throughout the venue.

" Forged from fourth-order deep-sea spirit iron, it has three micro-spirit gathering arrays embedded within. "

" The starting price is fifty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, with a minimum increment of ten. "

Movement came from the hardwood benches in the second row of District C.

A thin, tall rogue cultivator raised a bidding paddle, his voice urgent.

" Sixty! "

" Seventy. "

In the front row of District B, a young man wearing a flowing cloud brocade robe leaned back in an armchair.

He was toying with two warm spirit cores in his hand, not even looking at the stage as he raised his other hand.

The thin, tall rogue cultivator gripped the wooden paddle in his hand tightly.

He stared at the short sword.

" Eighty! "

" Ninety. " The young man in the brocade robe didn't even lift his head.

District C went completely silent.

The thin, tall rogue cultivator gritted his teeth, and in the end, tucked the wooden paddle back into his worn sleeve.

All his life's savings couldn't compete with the number the other person casually called out.

" Ninety Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, sold. "

Miss Ya Yun's wrist turned slightly, and a gentle force from the air lifted the short sword on the stage, precisely placing it into a velvet-lined brocade box.

You sat in the thirty-seventh seat at the end of District C, your gaze sweeping over the young man in the brocade robe.

Buying this piece of junk for ninety Mid-Grade Spirit Stones; there was no bargain to be had here.

Your hands rested steadily on your knees, and you hadn't touched the bidding paddle on the table from start to finish.

The fourth-order spirit iron was decent, but the forging technique was too crude, and those three spirit gathering arrays were drawn extremely clumsily.

Once actually on the life-and-death stage, if too much spiritual energy were poured in, this sword wouldn't just fail to boost power, it would risk shattering on the spot.

This grade wasn't worthy of the " Sword Mastery " you had just received from the system.

The second auction item was pushed onto the high platform.

It was a palm-sized bronze tripod, the body covered in mottled verdigris, with a faint crack on the side.

" A damaged small spirit-gathering tripod, " Miss Ya Yun introduced.

" Originally a third-order alchemy auxiliary tool, the main array pattern is twenty percent damaged. According to our pavilion's appraisal, the spirit gathering efficiency is about sixty percent of the complete version. "

" Starting price, eighty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. "

A stir arose in the hall.

A series of friction sounds came from the hardwood benches in Districts B and C, and many people sat up straight.

A third-order alchemy auxiliary tool, even if damaged, was a hard currency that was priceless outside.

For rogue alchemists without the support of a sect's fire vein, this was an object that could change their fate.

" One hundred! "

" One hundred twenty! "

" One hundred fifty! "

Bidding voices rose one after another.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the price of this broken tripod was pushed to two hundred thirty.

Finally, an old man in a gray robe in the corner of District B tremblingly raised his paddle and bought it for a high price of two hundred fifty.

A maid brought the brocade box to him for the transaction; the old man's hands shook uncontrollably as he took the box.

You noticed his cuffs were worn shiny, and the juice of spirit herbs that couldn't be washed away was deeply embedded in his fingernails.

These two hundred fifty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones likely emptied half a lifetime of his savings.

You withdrew your gaze, watching coldly from the sidelines.

The third auction item was a set of six needles for breaking formations, sold for one hundred ninety.

The fourth, two bottles of third-order Foundation Building Pills, starting price two hundred.

District A, which had been silent, finally showed activity.

" Three hundred ten. "

A slightly sharp, middle-aged woman's voice came from the private box above.

Just this one sound, and the few rogue cultivators who were preparing to bid swallowed the price back into their stomachs.

The hall was quiet, and the Foundation Building Pills were easily taken by District A.

Wanbao Pavilion's District A only had seven seats, hanging high on the second floor, all separated by semi-transparent spiritual gauze curtains engraved with anti-peeping formations.

People below could only glimpse the silhouettes of the figures moving inside through the light.

The fifth auction item rose slowly.

This was a jet-black long spear.

The shaft had no patterns, but the tip shimmered with a heart-palpitating dark red faint light.

Even from far away, one could feel the violent spiritual power fluctuations rushing towards them.

" Upper-grade spirit weapon, the blood-burning spear. " Miss Ya Yun's voice rose a few notches.

" Refined from fifth-order black iron mixed with third-order fire crow heart blood for forty-nine days, the spear body has an inherent burning characteristic. "

" Extremely suitable for cultivators with fire-attribute cultivation techniques. Starting price, five hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. "

A chorus of light sounds of wooden paddles being placed back on tables echoed in District C.

The starting price of five hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones directly discouraged ninety percent of the rogue cultivators present.

In District B, only a sparse two or three people tentatively raised their paddles.

" Five hundred fifty. "

" Six hundred. "

" Seven hundred. "

This last number came from District A.

A woman's voice.

Crisp, arrogant, without any hesitation.

As if the seven hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones shouted out were not seven hundred, but seven hundred copper coins.

You turned your head to look upwards.

In seat number four of District A, a maid reached out and lifted a corner of the curtain on the right.

A fair hand reached out, wearing a top-grade spirit jade bracelet on her wrist.

With a " click, " the jade bracelet knocked against the rosewood armrest.

The curtain swayed, and light poured down.

You saw that face.

Chin slightly raised, features bright and beautiful, revealing an innate arrogance.

Her gaze didn't even look at the stage below, only focused on playing with the teacup in her hand.

Liu Qingqing.

The experiences of the last few decades of simulation flashed quickly in your mind.

In your last simulation, when you were thirty-three, the Liu family fell.

At that time, Liu Qingqing fell into the mire, her spiritual roots damaged, lying in the poisonous miasma forest covered in mud, hanging by a thread.

But in this simulation, the Liu family at twenty-nine years old was still the premier aristocratic giant of Yunzhou City.

At this moment, Liu Qingqing was sitting in the District A private box, accompanied by two Pulse-Opening Realm maids, spending seven hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones without even blinking.

It was a world of difference from the version of her struggling to survive in the poisonous miasma forest.

" Seven hundred fifty. " A brawny man in District B, seat number three, gritted his teeth and raised his paddle again.

" Eight hundred fifty. " Liu Qingqing smashed another hundred on top.

The brawny man in District B, seat number three, paused, slammed the wooden paddle heavily on the armrest, leaned back in the chair, and muttered that he wouldn't follow.

The rogue cultivator on your left, who had been gnawing on jerky, stopped chewing.

" This eldest young lady of the Liu family is really wealthy. A fire-attribute long spear, most likely bought to please the Great Elder in her family. "

" She has the capital. " The white-haired old woman on the right opened her only eye and chimed in with a hoarse voice.

" The permanent seats in Wanbao Pavilion's District A require a minimum annual fee of two thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. "

" When she comes to attend an auction, if she doesn't spend a thousand or eight hundred, she'd be embarrassed to sit up there. "

" Eight hundred fifty! Sold! "

Miss Ya Yun dropped the gavel to finalize the deal.

Liu Qingqing took the brocade box containing the spear sent up by the maid and threw it directly to the maid behind her.

You sat in your seat, fingers tapping silently on your thigh.

In the simulator, you are currently just a low-level merchant at Qi Refining Level 7, sitting in seat thirty-seven at the end of District C.

And Liu Qingqing is a regular in District A, a direct daughter of an aristocratic family, possessing top-grade water and wood dual spiritual roots.

Without equal chips, going up to strike up a conversation and build a relationship now would only result in being beaten out like a fly.

However, that line of purple text deep in your mind is burning hot.

" Blessed with Many Children (Purple): For every offspring born, the host's luck increases significantly; the offspring's cultivation talent and progress in cultivation will feed back to the host in proportion without side effects! "

You only met the fallen Liu Qingqing at thirty-three, and only got this purple trait at thirty-five.

That was not only too late, but at that time, Liu Qingqing's foundation was damaged, and she couldn't unleash the greatest value of her dual spiritual roots at all.

This time, you have locked onto the target in advance at twenty-nine.

The Liu family hasn't fallen yet, and Liu Qingqing's spiritual roots are intact.

You must change your approach.

Since you can't be a bootlicker, then force her into your arms with absolute profit.

The Liu family has a fatal weakness, which you figured out clearly in the last simulation.

The family's internal spirit fields are reducing production due to the depletion of the earth vein, and external supply channels are being choked off by the joint efforts of Wanbao Pavilion and Dingsheng Trading Firm.

The family head, Liu Changfeng, cares too much about face and would rather resist than lower prices to dump assets, causing the operating costs of the Liu family's shops to remain high.

The break in the capital chain is only a matter of time.

Help them now? Dream on.

The supreme rule of a merchant is to swallow the prey skin and bone when it is about to starve to death, at the lowest cost.

As long as you expand the scale of Shens Spirit Material Shop completely, loot the low-end market of Yunzhou City with low-priced, inferior goods, and then cut off the Liu family's lifeline with top-tier materials.

One day, the Liu family's procurement order will have to be placed on Shens Shop's counter obediently.

First, force a relationship with business.

When the Liu family faces the desperate situation of being surrounded on all sides—you will be the only one who can catch the Liu family, and the only one who can catch Liu Qingqing.

Water and wood dual-attribute spiritual roots.

Give birth to one, and you can get a feedback of pure spiritual root cultivation.

Give birth to ten, and that's ten portions.

Swallow Liu Qingqing, strip away the last remaining value of the Liu family.

Using this as a springboard, the cornerstone of an eternal family ancestor will be firmly laid.

The sixth auction item, a fist-sized piece of third-order fire spirit essence ore, sold for nine hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

The seventh, a rare set of fire control accessories for an alchemy furnace.

Liu Qingqing made a move again, not giving the people below a chance to breathe, and aggressively bought it for four hundred fifty.

The eighth item.

The ninth item.

As several scattered auction items were sold one after another, the atmosphere in the hall began to become oppressive.

Miss Ya Yun took the initiative to step back half a step, completely yielding the position in the center of the high platform.

The professional smile on her face faded, and her expression became solemn.

" The next item is the finale of this auction. "

Two maids walked up, grabbed the two corners of the huge brocade curtain in the center of the high platform, and pulled it violently to the sides.

" Boom! "

A biting sword qi instantly exploded outwards in a ring.

In District A and the front row of District B, closest to the high platform, a layer of fine frost condensed out of thin air on the bluestone floor.

A three-foot-long sword hung quietly in mid-air, without a sheath.

The sword body was jet blue, translucent and bone-chilling, with water waves faintly flowing inside.

A powerful spiritual power fluctuation swept the entire venue.

Several rogue cultivators with low cultivation in the front row of District C were forced to turn pale by the sword qi and retreated several steps.

In the system equipment column, the " Sword Mastery " trait sensed the traction of the energy and erupted with dazzling blue light.

" Fourth-order flying sword—frostfall. "

Miss Ya Yun announced the price while withstanding the pressure of the sword qi.

" Starting price, nine hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones! "

The entire hall was silent.

The rogue cultivator on the left who was gnawing on jerky had his mouth wide open, the meat residue in his mouth falling onto his clothes without him even noticing.

Everyone didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Immediately after, the heavy curtains in three different directions of the second-floor District A were opened by attendants at almost the same time.

Those big shots who had been watching from the sidelines finally appeared.

You sat straight on the hardwood bench.

Your fingertips pressed steadily against the edge of that rough wooden paddle.