Chapter 1 The First Auction Item

"The following is the first item for auction."

As soon as the words fell, a maid walked up from behind, holding a tray in both hands. On the tray was an ancient-looking bronze sword.

As soon as the sword appeared, everyone felt a sword aura rushing towards them, indicating how powerful the sword's owner must have been.

A powerful swordsman needs a good sword to unleash their power. Similarly, a good sword needs an excellent swordsman to nourish it with sword energy at all times.

Swordsmen and famous swords complement each other.

"I believe that many knowledgeable Daoists have already recognized the extraordinary nature of this sword. As the first item to be auctioned, this old man would naturally not use ordinary goods to deceive everyone."

That's how auctions are. The first item is always a heavyweight to heat up the atmosphere. Once people get excited, the subsequent auctions will be easier.

As for the best items, they are usually reserved for the very end.

"This sword is nameless, but its owner was indeed a highly respected senior expert in our Lanning Kingdom. With his Yuanying cultivation, he forcibly earned the title of the number one swordsman in Lanning Kingdom.

His name is…

Qian Fuzi!"

"Hiss!"

As soon as these words came out, there was a collective gasp from the audience, showing the extent of their surprise.

Wan Lei was not moved at all. First, he didn't know who Qian Fuzi was, and second, he wasn't interested in swords.

"It's actually Qian Fuzi's sword. This is worth a lot of money."

"If I can buy it and comprehend the sword intent within, then my cultivation will definitely improve to the next level."

"Old Boss, Senior Qian Fuzi has been dead for a hundred years. Did you dig it out of his tomb?"

The Old Boss didn't get angry when he heard this, and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, you are mistaken. The auction items of my Shengbao Hall all have legitimate channels. How could we do such sneaky things? Could it be that this sword is more valuable than the reputation of my Shengbao Hall?

Alright, enough nonsense. The bidding will now begin, with a starting price of ten thousand spiritual stones!"

"I offer fifteen thousand."

"Twenty thousand! I'm a sword cultivator. What use do you have for the sword?"

"I offer thirty thousand. Although I'm not a sword cultivator, my son loves practicing swordsmanship. I'll buy this sword for him to play with."

"Forty thousand! Whoever dares to compete with me, I, Ling Jianzi, will fight him to the death!"

"A mere Jindan intermediate stage cultivator, who do you think you can fight to the death? I offer fifty-five thousand!"

This was the first time Wan Lei had attended an auction in his two lifetimes.

In his imagination, the auction should be very quiet. Bidders should first raise their signs, and then stand up to bid after the host allows it. Finally, whether successful or not, they should nod to show respect. There should be some decorum.

But this was more like a vegetable market, with people arguing with red faces and thick necks, wishing they could start fighting on the spot.

Too noisy. Not suitable for me.

I, the great and noble Wan Lei, am a person of high moral character. How could I bid like these vulgar country bumpkins?

This kind of atmosphere is exactly what the host wants. Only when everyone is hyped up and their anger rises can the bidding price be increased.

Some auction houses even go so far as to hire bidders to deliberately raise the price when they see someone urgently needs an auction item, just to rip them off.

In the end, this sword was bought by the head of the Qi family for sixty thousand spiritual stones.

The head of the Qi family is not a sword cultivator. Everyone knew who he bought the sword for.

It must be for his son, Qi Xiu, the number one genius sword cultivator of the Qi family!

Several more rounds of auctions followed, and they were all good items, making Tian Suanzi and Sui Xiaohang's hearts itch. They wanted to stand up and bid.

But the spiritual stones in their pockets weren't even enough for a fraction of the price, so they could only give up in disappointment.

………

"Next, we will present the ninth auction item."

After the Old Boss finished speaking, another maid came out holding a tray. This time, a deep blue pearl was placed on the tray.

As soon as this pearl appeared, it deeply attracted Wan Lei's attention.

There were faint fluctuations of thunder power within the pearl. These thunder powers were sealed within the pearl, and outsiders couldn't detect them.

However, Wan Lei was born with the Lei physique, the soul of the Thunder God, and was extremely sensitive to anything related to thunder.

The key was that the pearl not only contained simple thunder power, but also that the thunder power seemed to be operating according to an extremely mysterious pattern, as if it could use thunder power in a more ingenious way.

What made Wan Lei's heart flutter was that he... seemed to be able to easily summon the pearl into his hand, even in this state where it had not been claimed by an owner.

But Wan Lei didn't do that. Snatching things from an auction house in full view of everyone was courting death.

Because there had been precedents of auction items being snatched on the spot in the Thunderwind World, the security work of later auction houses was done very well.

Most importantly, among the many cultivators present, there were no fewer than five who exuded Yuanying aura, and behind the curtain on the high platform, there were even two more powerful Yuanying auras.

If Wan Lei were to snatch it, it would be like an old man hanging himself – tired of living.

"This item is said to be the practice work of an ordinary outer disciple of the Tianzhen Pavilion (Heavenly Array Pavilion) in the Central Region. It contains a large array called the Wanlei Miesheng Array (Ten Thousand Thunder Extinction Array), which is specifically for thunder-attribute cultivators.

The power of this array depends on the cultivation of the master and can be large or small, capable of killing enemies or trapping them.

The starting price is five thousand spiritual stones, and bidding will now begin."

After the host finished speaking, he waited for people to start bidding, but the audience was silent.

There was a reason for this. This thing was too impractical. Only thunder-attribute cultivators could use it, and most people were not thunder-attribute, so they couldn't use it.

Thunder-attribute cultivators used lightning to strike people directly in fights, striving to kill the enemy as quickly as possible. Who would bother setting up an array to play around?

The name of Tianzhen Pavilion was certainly great, but no one was stupid. Regardless of any force, there were strong and weak, teachers and apprentices.

No one would think that the practice work of a mere outer disciple would be very good, even if it had the name of Tianzhen Pavilion attached to it.

It was like a newborn baby in the nine peak forces. Its background was very good, but could you expect it to be very strong?

Even the host spoke with indifference, without trying to stimulate people's desires. Obviously, he was not optimistic about this array pearl either.

"Young Master Lei, why don't you bid for it and take a look?"

Tian Suanzi asked.

Of course Wan Lei wanted it. Just based on that connection in the dark, he had to bid for it, at any cost.

But he also knew that the more eager he appeared, the more those shills and those who didn't want to see others succeed would definitely raise the price and cause trouble.

He had to pretend to be indifferent.

"Oh, no one is bidding? Is this item going to go unsold? Well, the Wan family doesn't lack this little bit of money.

This item is called the Wanlei Miesheng Array, which has a connection with my name Wan Lei, so I will buy it and take it back to play with.

I offer six thousand spiritual stones."