Chapter 8 - The Auction

A long applause reverberated in the room and the young woman in the middle of the stage was confidently basking in it. Her looks were beautiful, a gracious figure, a beautiful face with a make up that highlighted her deep green eyes. Her dark brown hair fell just under her shoulders. The outfit well followed her curvaceous figure, giving her a sexy appeal without being much revealing. Her overall look was that of a confident, beautiful young woman who’s competent at what she does. The perfect mix to lead such a high-end auction. It was obvious she was used to host such events, she knew how to move and what to say on the stage, enticing the audience without losing prestige.

“Esteemed and venerable guests of our Pavilion, this year there are some novelties for you. Additionally to the middle event and the final secret queen, the auction is starting with an unlisted surprise. Embrace yourselves for what is coming, you don’t want to miss the miraculous opportunities the Pavilion has to offer to you, our most precious and beloved guests!” the lady proclaimed, before leaving the stage among the cheers of the younger participants.

In one of the balconies, Falven and Ruuko, the right hand of Unbroken Fang, were seated. Ruuko was well informed on the situation of the South Region and for that reason offered his intelligence services to the youth.

“Young seer, many illustrious characters are here today, this is a chance to identify them” the knight carefully said, before pointing to another balcony with the curtains closed “Based on the rumors I heard, the Royal Lord is there. He’s the most powerful expert loyal to the Unbroken Kingdom, the security leader of the Royal Lineage. Although his status is sky-high in the kingdom, he’s a very low profile expert. At the front of the middle seats, instead, you can see the Northern and Southern Generals. Among the four generals of the kingdom they are believed to be the strongest, with the northern one leading the best army outside of the capital.

On the front row of the middle seats, sitting next to the generals to highlight her support to the kingdom, you can see Lady Devil Destroyer. She’s a core elder of the Devil Slaying Sect, I guess this time she’s the one in charge of the sect finances for the auction purposes.

In that other balcony, the pompous lady is the princess of the Golden Era Kingdom, which is close to the border between t the East Region and the West region. Her country is the foothold of some fourth grade sects and has been fully involved in the war. Thanks to her management it kept its neutrality and has now become a place with a thriving economy, where mercenaries and vagrant experts can be provided with resources to join the fray, joining one side or another.

The young man over there, with an arrogant attitude, is the core disciple of the Earth Dragon Clan. The Earth Dragon Clan is the third rate sect ranked third in power in the south region, after the second rate sect Desolate Tribulation Sect and our Devil Saying Clan. Being the core disciple he enjoys a prestigious status.

There’s also a core elder of the Desolate Tribulation Sect in that balcony with partially closed curtains, no need to say the kind of prestige he has. The guests who have raised the most buzz are seated in the two higher balconies, where only guests with a status declaredly higher than others can sit. They are the the Crimson Sky Prince of the Everlasting City and the Sharp Leaves General of the Thriving Forest Tribe. Everlasting City has four branches and each branch is competing for the Sectmaster position through their descendants, 3 princes and one princess. The Thriving Forest Tribe also has three generals, the disciples who have contributed the most, and are competing for the sect master position”.

A structure with a mark on top was brought on the stage, followed by an expert of the Pavilion and a middle aged man of the Soldier Veteran rank. “Dear guests, the first item on sale is a bulk of 50 basic Dao Imprints, but do not let you fool by this simple presentation, assess with your eyes their true value!”

After the short presentation of the woman, the soldier on the stage circulated his chi and activated the skill imprinted on its sword to attack the mark. The results left all the presents in wonder, such domineering power was caused by a basic Dao Imprinting, they had never seen anything like that.

The Pavilion expert explained the benefits of these Dao Imprints to the audience and finished “Thus, you can all see its great suppressing and killing effects. I can affirm with certainty that the attack we have seen just now can threaten an early knight and a small formation of Soldier experts activating this same skill can indeed suppress any knight not cultivating high ranked arts. The benefits of giving this much power to Soldier experts does not need my explanation, I trust you all are well aware of them”.

All the experts who held important positions in countries or independent forces were gloating. Differently from sects with high ranked arts, which focused their resources on grooming powerful cultivators, pushing them to higher cultivation ranks, the needs of the countries were quite different. They couldn’t compete with sects concerning arts and profound laws, so they couldn’t attract the most talented cultivators. What they had is numbers, many low ranked experts formed the main bulk of their forces, working together in formations to leverage their quantity. Providing 50 of them with this kind of skill would enable them to suppress even captain experts, a power that countries would kill for.

After having left the presents muse these thoughts, lady Fatal Moon charming smiled “Let’s begin the auction of the first item then, the starting price is 5 Commander crystals!”.

Spending Commander crystals on items for low ranked cultivators was usually considered a huge waste, but the wonders of these Dao imprints made such expenditure absolutely worth it. Not only the law profundities of the skills were far above the soldier rank, but no one in the audience had ever seen something like this, probably they were one of a kind.

“Seven!” The northern general of the Unbroken country stated, clearly determined to reinforce his army. “Eight” the Scorching Night Palace sectmaster called, he was seated in the middle seats, his palace was an independent force. “Ten” it was the Earth Dragon Clan prince’s turn to speak, but right after the price increased again “15” an arrogant voice proclaimed, she was the Golden Era Kingdom princess. The price kept increasing until the princess managed to purchase the bulk for 25 commander crystals.

“Thank you Princess for your purchase, the Pavilion is honoured to have a guest like you. Let’s now pass to the second item, surprise, it’s another bulk of 50 Dao Imprints, the same as before. We’re not going to trick you now, this is the last bulk of his kind, please ponder wisely about his value”.

The appealing words of the woman gave hope to many experts who were lamenting their inability to purchase the previous bulk. The price kept increasing again, until “25!” the prince of the Earth Dragon Sect called. “Look over there, young seer, you can notice the Northern and Souther generals of the kingdoms communicating. I find strange for our neighbouring sect to invest so much on imprints, they’re a powerful sect after all. I fear they may be preparing for war, in that case the generals cannot miss this opportunity, they may as well join forces” Soon after “30 Commander crystals” the price was stated by the Northern general.