Seeing that the situation was becoming somewhat uncontrolled, the tall, thin man had already nimbly put it into his storage pouch!
Now, when he saw the burly man take out a black, grimy object that seemed to be nothing more than a piece of scrap metal, intending to force him to hand over the auction item whose value had risen greatly, he could not help rolling his eyes and said without the slightest courtesy:
“You had best calm down! We will naturally assess the value of your item, but for now, you should return to your seat. That is the proper thing to do! Otherwise, our shop will take it as deliberate disruption, and we will have no choice but to be impolite!”
When the burly man heard the tall, thin man’s threat, he was first enraged.
What sort of status did he possess? In his own sect, he was a figure whose every call was answered. When had he ever suffered such humiliating treatment? He immediately clenched both fists and was about to erupt!
But when he swept his gaze toward the oddity with the cloth sack over his head, he found that the other man was watching him without moving, a trace of schadenfreude showing in his eyes. This made his heart stir. After thinking it over, he unexpectedly forced down his fury, turned around, and walked back to his seat.
Some of the cultivators who had expected to watch a good show could not help feeling disappointed.
The auction of the Puppet Mechanism Beasts still had to continue! However, that black object had already been handed to the trio sitting on the sandalwood chairs. At that moment, they were discussing it in low voices. Although their masks concealed their specific expressions, their extremely solemn attitude still made it clear to every cultivator that this object was extraordinary!
After the trio examined the palm-sized black object, which looked like cast iron, over and over several times, they finally reached a unanimous opinion. Then the black-clad man in the middle stood up and announced loudly:
“A piece of top-grade iron essence, worth two thousand spirit stones!”
Then the man sat back down without saying another word.
“Iron essence?”
Every cultivator who heard those two words was startled. Those who had originally wanted to bid immediately closed their mouths and said nothing!
Everyone thought in astonishment: Could this person actually be a high-level Foundation Establishment cultivator? Otherwise, where could he have obtained iron essence?
This was a material for refining magic artifacts that only the pill fire of Core Formation cultivators could extract. Moreover, under normal circumstances, cultivators would immediately incorporate such materials into their own magic artifacts to increase their power. They would never allow these materials to circulate outside so easily.
As for materials like iron essence, even adding a mere three-tenths or half an ounce to an ordinary magic artifact would absolutely increase its power greatly. It might even raise its grade. Naturally, their value soared even higher because of this!
Could the burly man just now be a Core Formation cultivator who had deliberately suppressed his aura and pretended to be at the Foundation Establishment stage? One had to know that low-level cultivators could not see through the depth of a Core Formation cultivator’s cultivation!
Just as all the cultivators were growing wary and suspicious...
Following a signal from the three people behind him, the tall, thin man finally called out again:
“Is anyone still willing to offer more than two thousand nine hundred spirit stones? If not, this pair of Puppet Mechanism Beasts will belong to this fellow!”
The tall, thin man seemed to want to drive the price a little higher, so he deliberately spoke slowly, plainly trying to drag things out for a while.
But which cultivator in the hall would still dare to call out a bid recklessly? Since these people could attend this auction, none of them were ordinary figures. They were either important members of cultivation families or cultivators at the peak of Foundation Establishment. Yet in front of someone who might be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, who would dare invite trouble?
Besides, even if this person was not a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he certainly had one standing behind him at the very least. Thus, no matter how envious they were of the secrets of the Puppet Mechanism Beasts, none of them was willing to be the one who stepped forward first. They could only stare helplessly.
The oddity who had confronted him from the very beginning was likewise sitting there in silence. It was unclear whether he had been frightened by this piece of iron essence or was simply short of funds and unable to produce so many spirit stones.
Han Li was also greatly surprised when he heard about the iron essence. His cheap master had once lost a bet to that old monster Qiong and handed over two pieces of iron essence. Judging from the depressed look on his master’s face at the time, Han Li had known that this material was extraordinarily precious.
And so, without any dispute, the pair of Puppet Mechanism Beasts fell into the burly man’s hands. When he took the beasts, his hands trembled with excitement!
Yet this only made the cultivators present even more unbearably curious. Most of them wished they could snatch the toys away and carefully study the mysteries within!
The burly man wearing the cloak took the Puppet Mechanism Beasts and immediately left his seat, heading toward the stone door. But when he reached the door, he discovered that it had been firmly shut! He pushed hard twice, but the stone door did not move at all!
“What is the meaning of this!”
“Are you saying that even after buying something, you are not letting people leave?” The man’s voice darkened. His already strange accent became even more unpleasant to hear.
“Of course not! As soon as the auction ends, we will open the door and let you out. But you cannot leave now.” The speaker was no longer the tall, thin man presiding over the auction, but the sharp-voiced black-clad man on the far left.
“What? What kind of rule is that? I am leaving this place right now!” The man grew angry, and his voice rose several degrees.
“Regrettably, this is indeed our shop’s rule. It is merely a small measure taken to prevent certain unpleasant accidents. Surely you can wait this little while, can’t you?” The hoarse voice of the black-clad man on the right rang out as he spoke ominously.
“Hmph! Of course I can wait. Do you think I am afraid of you? I want to see what other good things will appear below!” The man seemed to have thought of something. His attitude suddenly changed, and he swaggered back to his seat.
The others were stunned and found this extremely unexpected. What was this person planning? Did he not know that the longer he stayed here, the more dangerous his own situation would become?
At this point, most of the cultivators present had already seen that this person truly was at the Foundation Establishment stage. Otherwise, how could he have remained so well-behaved? Yet the people from the Secret Shop seemed to have known the burly man’s true strength from the beginning and had not yielded in the slightest!
Since the burly man did not leave, the auction in the hall continued! However, most people’s minds could no longer return to the bidding. Two items in succession went without a single bid, leaving the tall, thin man extremely embarrassed.
But the auction was nearing its end. The truly excellent finale items were finally beginning to appear!
“A top-grade spirit medicine, a thousand-year Yellow Essence Fungus. I will spare you the other unnecessary words. I believe you all understand this herb’s value better than I do!”
As soon as the tall, thin man finished speaking, an emerald-green jade box appeared in his hand.
Then, after putting on an act of glancing at the cultivators, he saw that everyone’s attention had been drawn by the thousand-year-old herb he had mentioned. Only then did he secretly rejoice and continue:
“This thousand-year spirit medicine has appeared in the world only a few times in the past hundred years. If you buy it and refine it into spirit pills, it will absolutely be your best opportunity to break through your cultivation realm and increase your magic power. Therefore, the starting price is five hundred spirit stones!”
After saying this, the tall, thin man slid off the jade box’s lid, then held it upright and displayed it to the cultivators.
Immediately, a dense medicinal fragrance filled the entire hall, leaving the cultivators both shocked and delighted!
They were shocked because they had never imagined that such a wondrous treasure would appear at this auction! They were delighted because if they could buy it and refine it into medicine, would it not be even better than any top-grade magic artifact, just as the man had said? After all, what it improved was their own cultivation method, not some external force borrowed from elsewhere!
Thus, the moment the tall, thin man announced the starting price, someone immediately spoke up impatiently!
“One thousand spirit stones!”
The first cultivator to speak immediately doubled the spirit herb’s price, angering the many people behind him who had wanted to bid. They cursed him furiously in their hearts! But someone soon continued to raise it. “Twelve hundred spirit stones!”
“One thousand...”
“...”
One bidder followed another. In the blink of an eye, the price surpassed the two-thousand mark. Han Li, however, stared blankly at the thousand-year-old herb on the table, lost in thought!
When he first heard about a thousand-year-old herb, he had not paid much attention. He had assumed that a thousand-year-old medicinal herb had merely been discovered somewhere else as well.
But when the tall, thin man displayed the thousand-year Yellow Essence Fungus in the box, Han Li immediately knew that this so-called top-grade spirit medicine was clearly one of the two spirit herbs he had once sold to the Treasure Gathering Hall. After all, he had personally brought the herb to maturity. How could he possibly mistake it?
However, since the spirit medicine was already in the hands of the Treasure Gathering Hall, Han Li would not waste the effort worrying about how the other party handled it. So after being dazed for a moment, Han Li recovered and continued watching the many cultivators fight over it as though nothing had happened.
Listening to the hurried bids of these cultivators, Han Li felt a little pleased with himself!
After all, something that had come from his own hands could make others this nervous. That counted as a kind of pride, did it not?