Auction, Broken Sword Fragments

After settling on the transaction price, the shopkeeper left.

A moment later, he returned to the private room, dragging several heavy chests.

"Young friend, these chests contain 100,000 mid-grade Origin Stones. You can count them," the shopkeeper said, panting slightly as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Xiao Ming didn't stand on ceremony and opened the chests one by one.

Immediately, a large pile of neatly arranged Origin Stones, emitting a faint glow, came into Xiao Ming's sight.

There were five chests in front of him, each filled with 20,000 mid-grade Origin Stones.

Together, it was exactly 100,000.

Opening his ink void ring, Xiao Ming placed the 100,000 Origin Stones inside one by one, then said, "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."

As he spoke, Xiao Ming turned and walked towards the door.

"Wait a moment!" the shopkeeper suddenly called out to Xiao Ming.

"What else is it?"

Xiao Ming turned his head and asked.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Our Golden Jade Tower is holding a small auction today. Looking at the time, it's about to start. Is young friend interested in attending?"

After a pause, the shopkeeper added, "Small auctions like today's are usually not fixed; they are quite rare and hard to come by."

"From what I know, many good items will appear at today's auction, young friend, your chance has come!"

Hearing this, Xiao Ming scoffed and said, "You just want to earn my money, don't you!"

"I don't deny that thought," the shopkeeper admitted generously, smiling as he said, "However, if you can buy something you desire, no matter how much money you spend, it's worth it."

"Young friend, don't you agree?"

Xiao Ming nodded slightly.

He was right.

Money lost can be earned again, but some things, once gone, are gone forever.

"Alright, lead the way. Let me see what good things you have," Xiao Ming waved his hand.

"Alright, young friend, please follow me..."

It didn't take long.

The shopkeeper led Xiao Ming to a spacious, enclosed hall.

Pointing to the hall, the shopkeeper said, "Young friend, this is where the small auction will take place. You can wait patiently here. I have other matters to attend to, so I won't accompany you."

"Mm." Xiao Ming nodded slightly.

After the shopkeeper left, Xiao Ming looked around and saw a high platform at the front of the hall—that was the auction stage.

Below the platform, there were many seats.

At this moment, the seats were filled with many powerful individuals, some in groups of three or five, others alone, all quietly waiting for the auction to begin.

The strength of these people was quite formidable; most were cultivators of the Danhu Realm, and some even of the Yuangang Realm.

As for cultivators of the Divine Sea Realm, there were none.

Xiao Ming casually found a seat, then closed his eyes slightly, patiently waiting for the upcoming auction.

After about a few minutes.

The main door of the hall creaked shut, and as the door closed, the entire hall suddenly darkened.

An Auctioneer walked onto the high platform.

After the Auctioneer came on stage, he looked around and, without any pleasantries, directly said, "This auction of ours is a small-scale one, so there are only five items in total to be auctioned."

"However, although the items are not too many, each one is very precious. I hope everyone can leave satisfied today."

"Alright, without further ado, the auction officially begins now!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

A maid walked onto the auction stage, carrying a tray on which rested a four-foot-long, light-green sword.

"The first item: Gale Sword!" the Auctioneer loudly introduced, "Gale Sword: High-grade Profound-tier sword artifact, comes with a sword skill, Gale Sword Qi."

"The starting bid for this sword is 5,000 mid-grade Origin Stones, with each increment not less than 100. Please place your bids!"

As soon as the Auctioneer's introduction finished, the atmosphere below the stage suddenly became lively.

"I bid five thousand one!"

"Five thousand three!"

"Five thousand five!"

"Six thousand!"

One bid after another rang out.

Xiao Ming, however, merely glanced at it before retracting his gaze.

Although the Gale Sword was decent, its quality was only Profound-tier, which he didn't find appealing.

The bidding continued.

In the end, this Gale Sword was bought by a lean man for nearly 8,000 mid-grade Origin Stones.

"Now, we begin bidding on the second item," the Auctioneer waved his hand, and immediately, another maid walked onto the auction stage.

"What we're auctioning this time are five bottles of Earth-tier pills for cultivation advancement, called Fire Vein Pills!"

"You should be able to guess from the name that this item is a fire-attribute pill," the Auctioneer said with a smile, "All five bottles of Fire Vein Pills are low-grade Earth-tier, with a total of 30 pills."

"Starting bid is 7,000 mid-grade Origin Stones, with each increment not less than 150. Please place your bids!"

This time, the atmosphere below the stage was not as lively as before.

After all, Fire Vein Pills could only be consumed by fire-attribute martial artists, which filtered out many people.

Therefore, only a sparse three individuals placed bids in the entire auction hall.

After some competition, the five bottles of Fire Vein Pills sold for just over 8,500.

"Congratulations to this fellow Daoist for successfully bidding on the Fire Vein Pills. Now, we begin bidding on the third item!"

"The third item is a top-grade Yellow-tier cultivation method, named..."

The Auctioneer enthusiastically introduced it on stage.

Xiao Ming, however, was starting to feel a bit drowsy.

This was because none of the items that appeared were useful to him.

Whether it was cultivation methods, martial skills, weapons, or cultivation pills, Xiao Ming lacked nothing. And the auctioned items were relatively ordinary, so Xiao Ming really couldn't muster any interest.

Of course.

The so-called 'ordinary' was only relative to Xiao Ming.

For the other people present, those were all good treasures.

The third item, the top-grade Yellow-tier cultivation method, was quickly bought for a high price of nearly 30,000.

The fourth item was a movement technique, also a top-grade Yellow-tier, bought for a price of over 7,000.

"Everyone! Now, we begin bidding on the fifth and final item!" the Auctioneer enthusiastically shouted, "The fifth item is quite special, so please open your eyes and take a good look!"

As he spoke, a maid walked up carrying a tray.

The tray was covered with a thick red cloth, preventing anyone from seeing what was inside.

Upon seeing this, everyone present immediately became interested, craning their necks and staring intently.

Then, under the gaze of many expectant eyes, the Auctioneer pulled off the red cloth.

A fragment of a broken sword appeared in everyone's sight.

"What is this thing?"

"It's just a broken sword? And it's shattered?"

"What is the Auctioneer doing? What's so special about a broken sword fragment?"

"Damn it, the Auctioneer set such a high tone, and in the end, it's just a rotten fragment?!"

Everyone present complained, showing expressions of dissatisfaction.

Xiao Ming, who had been on the verge of falling asleep, suddenly jolted awake and became instantly alert upon seeing the broken sword fragment!