Chapter 1 The First Purchase
The first item was delivered to the private room. Zhou Yan picked up the building and examined it before paying.
"To have an item delivered directly after purchase is very convenient," Diao Chan and the others also looked at the building, which exuded a chilling aura.
"The soldiers summoned by this building should be of the evil spirit type. I wonder what it will become after it evolves," Zhen Mi said with anticipation.
Cai Yan asked, "Xiaoqian is of the ghost race. The soldiers summoned by this barracks should be similar to Xiaoqian, right?"
"That's not necessarily true. Xiaoqian was brought out from a movie world by the Lord. It's hard to say what kind of beings will emerge from this barracks building," Diao Chan replied.
"No matter what, at least Xiaoqian won't be the only ghost in the territory anymore," Zhou Yan smiled. Nie Xiaoqian was an anomaly, the only member of the ghost race in the entire territory.
Even if the summoned beings weren't ghosts, their situation would likely be similar to Nie Xiaoqian's, and she wouldn't feel constrained by being of the ghost race.
"In the future, will our territory be able to have other races? During the Mid-Autumn Festival event, we saw many special races. Lord, you must work hard to summon those races!"
"We have a long way to go. We will definitely summon more races in the future. Whether we can obtain their buildings will depend on luck."
Zhou Yan smiled. While he wished to summon more races, it wasn't entirely up to him.
Diao Chan and the others looked at Zhou Yan. Their territory already had over a dozen races, and there would be more in the future. They were all looking forward to the scene of myriad races coexisting in the territory.
Most lords dared not summon too many different races, as there could be racial conflicts. The beings they summoned, unlike Zhou Yan's, had full loyalty from the moment they appeared.
"What do you think the price of this first batch will be?" Diao Chan asked Cai Yan and Zhen Mi curiously.
Zhen Mi, with her bright eyes, pondered for a moment before saying, "It should be around three billion. If the soul crystals are too expensive, many people might prefer to trade with those merchant guilds daily, even if it means trading for other items."
"Bartering is too slow, and you need to find what the other party needs, which is too troublesome. They likely don't have that much time to collect. I estimate the price will reach around four billion," Diao Chan guessed, observing the fiercely competitive crowd.
The two women looked at Cai Yan. Cai Yan glanced at Zhou Yan and then said, "I think these prices are controlled by the Lord. He can buy them at whatever price he wants."
Hearing this, the two women laughed and said, "That makes sense."
Then, everyone laughed. Zhou Yan also believed that no one could compete with him. Competing with him would be a foolish decision.
"I won't bid too high either. Even though I'm not short of money, I can't let them earn more than a few hundred million spirit coins from me," Zhou Yan said.
Zhou Yan also wanted to see how high the prices of these materials would go. He was waiting for others to call out a rough price, and then he would make his judgment based on that.
When the price reached three billion, half of the bidders dropped out. After three and a half billion, half of the remaining bidders dropped out again, leaving only a dozen or so, including some in the private rooms.
"Forty billion!" Zhou Yan felt the time was right and called out his bid.
"Forty-one billion!"
"Forty-one billion one hundred million!"
...
A few more people competed with Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan directly stated, "Forty-five billion!"
This price had already surpassed the transaction prices of previous years. Zhou Yan was certainly unaware of this, as he had no time to investigate such matters.
After forty-five billion, no one else bid. Zhou Yan once again purchased the second item.
Next, soul crystals were auctioned again, but this time it was twenty thousand units of eight-star soul crystals, with a starting price of two billion spirit coins.
"Knock, knock, knock!!!"
There was a knock at the door. Diao Chan opened it, and the second auctioned item was delivered to the private room.
Zhou Yan counted the quantity and paid another forty-five billion spirit coins.
"We don't usually feel that these high-level materials are expensive. Only during auctions do we realize that when these high-level materials accumulate, they indeed become astronomical sums."
Diao Chan and the others looked at the dedicated material storage area of their territory. If all those materials were put up for auction, they would likely take several years to sell.
This was the advantage of their territory. Although they couldn't collect all the materials in the world, as long as they encountered rare materials that could be purchased, their territory would possess them.
Zhou Yan and the others continued to watch the competition at the auction.
The price quickly exceeded four billion spirit coins. Zhou Yan felt the price of these materials should be about right, so he said, "Eighty billion spirit coins."
Everyone turned their attention to the private room upstairs again. These words came from private room number six, shocking them. They hadn't expected it to be the person in private room number six again.
"Who is this person? They've already bought two items and want to buy a third."
"Mind your own business. If you have the ability, you can bid as you please."
"We're just here for the excitement. These high-level materials are just too expensive."
"Isn't that the truth? If we could find a high-level mine, we wouldn't have to worry about anything for the rest of our lives."
...
Despite eighty billion spirit coins, there were still competitors. Zhou Yan, not wanting to wait for too many bids, directly called out, "Eighty-five billion spirit coins."
Upon hearing this price, others stopped bidding. However, they unconsciously looked towards private room number six, but still saw nothing.
Zhou Yan had once again successfully bid for a batch of materials. This was the third time he had won an auction.
This again piqued the curiosity of many. Who was the person in private room number six? Did they intend to buy out the entire auction?
Luo Keqi, Wu Tailang, Zhang Qiang, and Ke Tais, the four chamber of commerce leaders, were not surprised by Zhou Yan's wealth. This was because they had traded a significant amount of materials with Zhou Yan.
A rough calculation showed that the value of those materials alone was over hundreds of billions. Coupled with Zhou Yan's transactions with all four major chambers of commerce, the total value likely exceeded trillions of spirit coins.
While they were curious about Zhou Yan's identity, they only needed him to guarantee long-term stable transactions with them.