118: Chapter 118 The Grand Finale

The vending area was immense.

Countless simple stalls were packed densely along both sides of the narrow streets.

Most of the vendors covered their faces with black cloth or wore various eerie masks.

The items on the stalls were even more varied.

Fragments of battle armor stained with dried blood.

Organs of unknown exotic beasts emitting a pungent, fishy odor.

There were even hearts still faintly beating, contained within special glass vessels.

Su Yu walked among the crowd.

His Martial King-level spiritual power spread silently to the surroundings like ripples in water.

Filtering through every item on the stalls.

It was easy to tell.

Most of the things were just junk meant to fool low-level martial artists.

Occasionally, there were a few spirit herbs that were passable, but the vendors' asking prices were ridiculously high, leaving absolutely no room for picking up a bargain.

After browsing for over ten minutes.

Su Yu's brows furrowed slightly.

It seems that the trope of picking up bargains from novels is really not very reliable in reality.

Just as he was preparing to withdraw his spiritual power and head straight to the auction house.

Suddenly.

Su Yu's footsteps came to a sudden halt.

A trace of extremely subtle astonishment flashed through his deep, transparent eyes.

His gaze crossed the crowded masses.

And landed on an inconspicuous stall in the corner.

The vendor was a gaunt old man, wrapped in a tattered gray robe, dozing off against the corner wall.

On the stall lay a pile of mud-covered scrap metal.

And at the very bottom of that pile of scrap.

Was pressed half a dusty tile.

It was this half tile!

Just now, when Su Yu's spiritual power swept over it.

It had actually been repelled!

No.

It wasn't repelled.

It was absorbed!

That seemingly ordinary half tile was like a bottomless black hole.

Instantly swallowing that sliver of Su Yu's Martial King-level spiritual power completely!

Without even causing a single ripple!

Su Yu's heart gave a violent thump.

Something that can swallow Martial King-level spiritual power?

Could it be a treasure!

Su Yu walked to the stall in the corner.

Squatted down.

Casually pushed aside the pile of mud-covered scrap and picked up the half dusty tile.

It felt cold to the touch.

The rough surface had no traces of artificial carving.

Su Yu tried again to probe it with a sliver of spiritual power.

Like a mud ox entering the sea!

That sliver of spiritual power was instantly swallowed completely, without triggering any energy fluctuations.

"This is a bit mysterious..."

Su Yu muttered to himself.

He did not think this thing was necessarily some shocking, peerless treasure.

It was also possible that its material was just special, naturally possessing the property of isolating or absorbing spiritual power.

After all.

This was the Great Xia Kingdom's largest underground black market.

Countless old monsters with sharp eyes lingered here all year round.

If there really were such an obvious, peerless bargain, it would have been picked up long ago; how would it ever be his turn, a newcomer visiting the black market for the first time?

"Boss, how much for this broken tile?"

Su Yu said casually.

The gaunt old man dozing in the corner lifted his eyelids, his cloudy eyes sweeping over Su Yu once.

He extended a withered finger.

"One hundred thousand."

Su Yu's eyes lit up slightly. So cheap?

"Deal."

He took out the cash directly.

One hundred thousand.

For the current Su Yu, it wasn't even a drop in the bucket.

He still had over nine hundred million in cash lying in his storage ring.

One hundred thousand was just like buying a most ordinary pill.

Because it was cheap, he could buy it and use the system to deduce it with money; if it was a treasure, he'd make a huge profit, and if it was trash, he wouldn't feel bad about throwing away one hundred thousand.

He tossed the tile into his storage ring.

Su Yu stood up and continued browsing the vending area.

Half an hour later.

Su Yu shook his head.

Except for that inscrutable tile, the rest were all obvious junk.

He didn't waste any more time.

Su Yu turned around and walked straight toward the magnificent, massive building in the center of the underground city.

The Dark Net Auction House.

Walking into the auction house.

Guided by an attendant, Su Yu arrived at a secluded appraisal room located on the second floor.

The rules of the black market were simple.

They only charged a one percent commission on the final transaction price.

And to avoid the source of funds being traced, they only accepted cash transactions.

After that.

Once you stepped out of the auction house's doors, they took no responsibility.

If you got robbed or killed, that was because your own skills were lacking.

Inside the appraisal room.

A high-level appraiser wearing a faceless mask sat behind the table.

Su Yu pulled out a chair and sat down.

With a flip of his wrist.

A lotus, entirely deep purple and emitting rich spiritual fluctuations, along with an ancient jade slip, were placed on the table by him.

nine nether soul-nourishing lotus!

Formless Calamity Blade!

Before taking them out, Su Yu had actually secretly used the system to estimate the value of these two items.

[nine nether soul-nourishing lotus: High-level spiritual heaven-sent treasure, system appraisal value: 20 billion dragon coins.]

This price was still considered normal.

The 30 billion spoken of included a premium component.

But the appraisal value of that jade slip was outrageous.

[Worn-out spirit jade carrier: Contains information inside, inferior material, system appraisal value: 3,000 dragon coins.]

Three thousand!

A dignified Heaven-tier high-grade spiritual technique, in the eyes of the system, was only worth 3,000 in jade material costs!

Su Yu couldn't help but complain at the time.

This broken system was simply an illiterate that only looked at physical materials!

The most valuable part of a technique was the knowledge and inheritance within, yet it only calculated the price based on the material of the carrier!

Since the system's recycling was such a rip-off.

Then he had no choice but to cash it out in the black market.

Su Yu planned to test the waters with these two items first.

If the premium was really as exaggerated as Vice Principal Nie Changkong had said, then he would take out that demon saint-level demon core and make a killing!

The appraiser's gaze froze the instant it landed on that nine nether soul-nourishing lotus.

The breathing under the mask became unusually heavy.

"This... this is..."

The appraiser put on special gloves, carefully lifted the lotus, his voice trembling.

"A three-hundred-year-old nine nether soul-nourishing lotus!"

"Top quality! Absolutely top quality!"

Subsequently, he put down the lotus and picked up the jade slip.

He probed it slightly with his spiritual power.

Boom!

The appraiser gasped sharply, and his whole body sprang up from the chair.

"Heaven-tier high-grade!"

"A spiritual attack technique?!"

He stared at Su Yu, his eyes filled with undisguisable shock.

You have to know, in martial arts practice, Qi and blood are easy to train, but spiritual power is hard to cultivate!

The market is flooded with techniques to improve Qi and blood; as long as one is willing to dump resources and put in hard work, a martial artist can always get stronger step by step.

But spiritual power is ethereal and extremely difficult to temper.

The vast majority of high-level martial artists can only rely on the improvement of their martial arts realm to passively nourish their spiritual power.

Precisely because of this, spiritual techniques have always been rare in the martial arts world, almost entirely monopolized by those top families with thousands of years of heritage and unfathomable foundations, never to be passed on!

Furthermore, this was an offensive ultimate technique that focused on slaughter!

The grade even reached the shocking Heaven-tier high-grade!

Plus that three-hundred-year-old top-quality nine nether soul-nourishing lotus!

The biggest taboos in spiritual cultivation are soul exhaustion and going into qi deviation. And this top-quality heaven-sent treasure happened to be able to provide the gentlest and most massive spiritual nourishment, perfectly solving the worries of cultivating soul techniques!

One provides a massive spiritual foundation, the other provides the most top-tier offensive means!

This is a perfect closed loop tailor-made for spiritual cultivation!

If these two items were bundled together, they would absolutely be able to turn the auction house upside down tonight!

"Can they be auctioned?"

Su Yu leaned back in his chair, his tone calm.

"Yes! Absolutely!"

The appraiser nodded repeatedly, his tone respectful to the extreme.

"Distinguished guest, we will use these two items as the grand finale for tonight!"

"Please move to the Heaven-class private room and await the good news!"

Until six o'clock in the evening.

The auction officially began.

Inside the huge circular auction hall, there was not a single empty seat.

Countless martial artists and dignitaries wearing masks and hiding their identities stared at the central high platform.

On the second floor, Earth-class private room No. 3.

The eldest young master of the Demon Capital's Wang family, Wang Teng, was leaning comfortably on a leather sofa.

He was swirling a glass of crimson liquor in his hand.

His eyes revealed a sense of condescending arrogance and the confidence of the wealthy.