234: Chapter 234 Bidding

After recognizing that the contents of the box were bone powder from a Return to Void Realm Cultivator, cold sweat broke out all over Lu Zhan's body.

Lu Zhan could sense that Lin Qing's cultivation was at the Ninth Rank, which was intentionally displayed by Lin Qing after arriving in Qianbao City. Such a Realm was nothing in Lu Zhan's eyes because he himself was at the Tenth Rank.

However, Lu Zhan could not sense the Realm of the Grandmaster beside him. Unable to judge the age of this bone powder himself, he assumed that it was made by the Grandmaster after slaying a Level 11 Cultivator and grinding the other's bones.

With the Divine Sovereign Realm not revealing itself to the world, Level 11 was the ceiling of the continent. Only super forces had slightly more Level 11s. For other forces—even the very top ones just beneath the super forces—the number of Level 11 powerhouses would not exceed a single hand, and every single Level 11 held a pivotal status.

Under the joint control of the five super forces, there were not many conflicts between the factions in the Central Continent. Lu Zhan had not heard news of a Level 11 powerhouse falling for a very long time.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhan's voice trembled slightly. However, since the Grandmaster had not spoken proactively, he did not dare to rashly chime in, but instead said to Lin Qing,

"Young Master, for the Return to Void Realm bone powder, how about one hundred million Spirit Stones per qian?"

This price was still quite reasonable. Common Level 11 treasures were generally priced around ten billion. According to the price given by Lu Zhan, one jin of bone powder would be sixteen billion.

(Here, the conversion standard is adopted where one jin equals sixteen liang, and one liang equals ten qian.)

Of course, Lin Qing did not take out all the bone powder to show Lu Zhan; the bone powder in this box was only about two jin. After refining and grinding a complete skeleton of a Level 11 Cultivator, the bone powder obtained would be about four jin, and Lin Qing had about fifty jin of bone powder on him.

Furthermore, the bone powder he had was of a relatively pure kind. Because fifty thousand years had passed, the Impurities in the skeleton had long been eroded away by time, so the bone powder he obtained did not require the step of refining.

"Very well, let's go with this price!"

After Lu Zhan left, the Grandmaster and Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao could finally no longer maintain their outward composure.

"Lin Qing, did you get all of these in the Kunxu Secret Realm? You didn't hollow out the entire Secret Realm, did you?"

"Not quite. I just moved the entire Secret Realm away. When I return to Dongxuan next time, I will place it in the Cloud Origin Immortal Sect, and there should still be many good things to be found inside."

The auction was still ongoing. Now that the issue of Spirit Stones was basically resolved, Lin Qing no longer hesitated when calling out bids. As long as it was useful to him—whether it was a Pill Formula or a Formation diagram and other such things—he would bid on all of them.

This auction truly lived up to being one prepared by the Qianbao Mysterious Palace for a hundred years. Lin Qing had almost completely gathered everything needed for Ninth Rank craftsmanship, and he had also made gains in Tenth Rank Pill Formulas and blueprints.

He originally had two sets of Tenth Rank Formation diagrams, and now he had completely gathered five sets. In addition, he won four Tenth Rank Pill Formulas and harvested three Tenth Rank weapon blueprints.

At first, people didn't pay much attention, but later on they even became completely numb, feeling that Lin Qing's location should not be a Earth-grade private box, but rather should be sitting in the pavilions in the sky.

Tao Tao and her group ultimately managed to win two Ninth Rank weapon blueprints. When the auction reached the Middle Stage, many such items appeared, but Lin Qing only needed five of each type, so naturally he had no need to bid on the rest.

In the end, before the main Materials for the Level 12 Formation appeared, Lin Qing had already spent forty billion Spirit Stones.

When the auction reached the third day, truly rare treasures began to appear. These items often lacked a clear grade, and their prices typically ranged from several hundred million to tens of billions.

"The next auction item is the rare treasure Cangmu Zhihua, with a starting price of 4.5 billion."

Cangmu Zhihua was precisely one of the Materials Lin Qing needed, so he immediately began to bid.

"4.8 billion."

The identity of the person bidding against Lin Qing this time was different from before. In the pavilions in the sky, someone finally started to place bids.

"5 billion."

This was the first time someone from the pavilions had placed a bid. Among the previous auction items, there might have been things they needed as well, but with their identities, they could easily obtain those things elsewhere.

Their status and strength were simply too oppressive to ordinary people. Often, after they made a move, no one else dared to bid again. As the Qianbao Mysterious Palace was a super force, they naturally had to give Face, which was why they had tacitly refrained from making a move before.

Now, these auction items were different. Every rare treasure was virtually hard to find in this world, so it was naturally time for them to take the stage. And often at this time, their competitors were only people from the other pavilions.

The powerhouse who placed the bid glanced around at the other pavilions, wanting to see if anyone was competing with him. As for Lin Qing, he had already been ignored.

"5.5 billion."

Lin Qing's voice rang out quickly. If he were to encounter a Level 11 Cultivator alone, unless it was an absolute last resort, he would naturally avoid their sharp edge. But here, especially with the Materials he needed right before his eyes, he naturally would not yield.

The entire auction venue went quiet for a moment. Everyone looked incredulously toward the private box where Lin Qing was located. The expressions of the powerhouses in the other pavilions began to brim with smiles, while the expression of the powerhouse competing with Lin Qing turned ashen.

In their view, this was not a simple bidding process; this was a blatant provocation.

As the surface-level Realm ceiling of the continent, Level 11s had stayed in high positions year-round and enjoyed the flattery of others. They had already developed an attitude that anyone below Level 11 was an ant, and other low-rank Cultivators thought all of this was only natural.

Therefore, Lin Qing's simple bid increase made the atmosphere in the venue subtle, and everyone was waiting to watch a good show.

That Level 11 powerhouse participating in the bidding said through gritted teeth,

"Some people had better think clearly about the consequences of their words and actions. 5.6 billion!"

He only added 100 million, and the threatening tone in his words was also very obvious, as if he were saying, 'Brat, I'm giving you one more chance. If you dare to raise the price again, you will truly be offending me.'

"6 billion."

Lin Qing remained unmoved, still calling out the bid in a calm tone. That Level 11 powerhouse became completely enraged.

"6.5 billion. Brat, if you dare to bid again, I guarantee you won't have a place to stand anywhere on the entire continent."

This was practically tearing off Face completely. Generally, when disputes arose between buyers, the organizers would come out to mediate.

But this time, Lu Xue on the stage had no reaction. When they mediated, it did not include situations where one party was Level 11 and the other was below Level 11.

Just when everyone thought Lin Qing should finally recognize reality, his voice sounded once again, still calm.

"Seven liang of Return to Void Realm bone powder."