The auction continued. Items were brought out, auctioned off, and sold for exorbitant prices. At least, they did to Wu Jian. Huǒ Shuchang didn’t bat an eye at some of the prices these items sold for.

Since the auction had been going on for several hours, the servant girl brought them some food, a smorgasbord of noodle dishes. Wu Jian vaguely recalled Emperor Hou Jun once talking about how noodles were considered a delicacy in the Ming Dynasty. These ones were cold noodles, and their thick cut allowed them to absorb the flavor of the soup they were in. The medicinal seasonings were also muted, which allowed him to enjoy the flavors more.

The Yang Fire Flower ended up selling for eighty thousand spirit coins. That was more money than Wu Jian had ever seen in his entire life. It wouldn’t have sold for that much if one of the people attending the auction hadn’t been an alchemist who needed that particular item, and now Wu Jian had more money than he knew what to do with.

“There’s no sense of carrying all that money around. You should consider buying some spirit armor,” Huǒ Shuchang suggested.

“I’ll think about it, but there hasn’t been any good spirit armor here yet,” said Wu Jian.

“You don’t necessarily need to buy it at an auction… although the best spirit armors are ones that would be auctioned off,” Huǒ Shuchang paused to tilt his head. “Well, let’s just wait and see if anything interesting comes up.”

Several more items were auctioned off, but most of them were either spirit weapons or low-grade alchemy pills. None of the weapons fit Wu Jian’s style and the low-grade pills were not suitable for his cultivation method.

“Now, here is the second to last item of the day. This is high-grade earth rank profound spirit armor,” Zhou De said as the young woman unveiled a gleaming gold chestplate. It was segmented armor made to look like dragon scales. “It is called Dragon Scale Male. Not only can this armor absorb physical attacks, it can block techniques from any cultivator below the Human Limit Realm. Of course, no defensive item is perfect. Repeated attacks will cause it to eventually break, but this is the perfect life-saving treasure for anyone who plans on going to the White Tiger Sect ruins.”

A ripple spread through the crowd. Excited murmurs picked up fervor. Wu Jian could feel the anticipation in the air, and all it had taken for these people to reach this fever pitch was the phrase White Tiger Sect ruins.

“Damn, that man is smart,” Huǒ Shuchang furrowed his brow. “That armor is pretty good, so it was already gonna go for a high price, but its price will soar now that he’s mentioned the White Tiger Ruins.”

Wu Jian merely nodded.

“The starting price for this item is five thousand spirit coins!” Zhou De announced.

And thus the bidding began. Its price quickly exceeded seven thousand spirit coins, then went up to eight thousand, nine thousand, ten… Wu Jian bounced his knee as he saw how high the price was going. He could spend eighty thousand spirit coins thanks to the items he auctioned off, but was it really worth it.

“I would get it,” Huǒ Shuchang said.

“Huh?”

“That spirit armor. I would get it if I were you. You’ve no need for spirit coins and can always make more, but you only have one life. That spirit armor will be useful--at least, until you reach the Human Limit Realm.”

“What about you? Do you not want this?”

“Naw. I’m good.”

Wu Jian frowned at him, but then turned back to the auction as the armor’s price went up to twenty thousand spirit coins. He hesitated for a moment. It was already so expensive the Wu Clan would have never been able to afford it. Could he really spend this much money?

“Twenty five thousand spirit coins!”

Wu Jian gritted his teeth before raising his hand. “Thirty thousand spirit coins!”

Everyone looked at the booth he was in, even though they couldn’t see past the one way mirror. Even the four young masters and mistress of the Four Great Pavilions glanced up.

“Thirty-one thousand spirit coins,” said Shao Lin.

“Thirty-two thousand spirit coins,” Wu Jian said.

“Thirty-three thousand spirit coins,” said Yin Xuefeng.

Wu Jian felt frustrated, but he put that aside. This was an auction. People could bid however much they wanted, and the higher bidder would acquire the prize, but that didn’t mean he liked spending so much. He could already feel his newly filled wallet emptying.

“Thirty-four thousand!”

“Thirty-five thousand!”

“Forty thousand spirit coins!” Wu Jian declared.

Silence reigned. Those down below were now just spectators, and they eagerly watched as the young core disciples duked it out with the mysterious figure in the VIP booth. Wu Jian felt the tension rise just like everyone else. Would they continue trying to outbid him? The silence seemed to stretch on.

“For thousand going once,” Zhou De suddenly said. “Forty thousand going twice. So--”

“Forty-one thousand,” said Sun Bai, who had yet to speak even once since the auction began.

“Forty-two thousand,” said Wu Jian.

“Forty-three.”

“Forty-four!”

Sun Bai looked up at the booth Wu Jian was in, furrowing his brow. Wu Jian glared back even though he knew this young man couldn’t see him. He felt like crying. All that money he had just acquired was gone. Of course, he still had quite a bit leftover, but this felt like such a waste to him.

“Forty-four thousand going once. Forty-four thousand going twice. Sold to the young master in the third-floor VIP booth,” said Zhou De.

Wu Jian sank onto the couch as the young woman who brought up the armor left. He sighed as the tension in his back and shoulders eased. Huǒ Shuchang chuckled beside him.

“It’s a bit frustrating, isn’t it?”

“Frustrating is an understatement.”

“I know some people who get a rush from bids like that, but many of us find it annoying whenever a bidding war happens… at least with us.”

Wu Jian glanced sidelong at the older man. “Are you telling me you enjoyed watching me struggle?”

“Of course. I imagine you’d feel the same if our positions were reversed.”

“Probably.”

“It’s always fun watching someone else struggle, but never fun when you’re the one struggling.”

Someone knocked on the door seconds before a young woman entered. She was carrying the armor Wu Jian had won. Wu Jian stood up as she presented the armor to him.

“You can take the cost of this armor off the money I earned from the Yang Fire Flower,” Wu Jian said.

The young woman pressed her right fist into the palm of her left hand and bowed. “I shall inform Lord De of this.”

“Thank you.”

The woman left, and Wu Jian studied the armor with keen interest.

Now that it was in his hand, he was shocked to realize the armor felt a lot softer than he imagined. It still contained an unbreakable sturdiness, but it had yield as he pressed his fingers into the segmented plates.

“Why don’t you put it on?” suggested Huǒ Shuchang. “If you put it on under your clothes, no one will realize you’re wearing it. If you ever go up against a Human Limit Realm cultivator, they’ll be so shocked you blocked their attack that you’ll have maybe a single second to retaliate. That second could be the difference between life and death.”

Wu Jian removed his cloak, the black gi, slid the armor over his shoulders, then put the cloak and gi black on. He did not remove his mask since the servant girl was still inside.

Zhou De smiled as Wu Jian sat back down. Another young woman came onto the stage. There had been a different woman for every item auctioned, and each one seemed more beautiful than the last. This one carried a tray instead of pushing a cart. She stopped beside Zhou De, who removed the blanket covering it to reveal a single jaw with one pill inside.

The pill was a startling shade of red, a crimson so deep it looked like congealed blood. Three perfectly straight purple lines ran across the center.

“I’m sure many of you have been waiting for this item. It’s the Three-Layered Red Yin-Yang Pill. Any half-step Limit Realm Cultivator will be able to smoothly breakthrough if they take this pill. The starting price is forty thousand spirit coins.”

Wu Jian sucked in a breath. That was the starting price?! That cost almost as much as his new armor!

I really can’t underestimate the value of alchemy pills.

He had only begun cultivating recently, so Wu Jian knew there was much he still didn’t understand, but he thought he at least had the same logic as any other cultivator. It was only now, as the price of this single pill quickly exceeded sixty thousand, that he realized how wrong he was. He had no idea how important alchemy pills were. Buying a single pill for sixty thousand seemed excessive, and yet this pill had already exceeded eighty thousand.

The battle at that point was between Xiao Yi, Sun Bai, and Yin Xuefeng. Shao Lin was forced to bow out earlier thanks to spending more money on the Wind-Lightning Axes.

And this is just a tier-three alchemy pill. I can’t imagine how expensive a fourth-tier pill would go over, let alone a ninth-tier pill.

“One hundred thousand spirit coins!”

While Wu Jian was experience extreme dysphoria at his own lack of knowledge, Huǒ Shuchang suddenly made an outrageous bid. He gazed at the older man in shock. One hundred thousand spirit coins? The heck?! Who bid that much?! And where did his companion get that kind of money?!

Wu Jian wasn’t the only one in shock. The four core disciples of the Four Great Pavilions all stared at the booth like they couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“One hundred thousand going once,” Zhou De began.

No one spoke. Even the core disciples hesitated. They must have had a spending limit.

“One hundred thousand going twice,” Zhou De continued.

Xiao Yi looked like she was going to continue bidding, but then lowered the hand she had just raised. Yin Xuefeng clenched his hands into fists as he glared at the window. Sun Bai looked calm, but he had to be experiencing the same frustration Wu Jian had felt while bidding for the armor.

“Sold! Congratulations to the young master in the third-floor booth!” Zhou De announced. He clapped his hands once. “The auction is now at an end. I hope you all enjoyed your time here. Remember that if you did not get what you want, you can always come by next time to see if we have better items.”

***

Yin Xuefeng continued to glare at the booth for several long seconds. The Three-Layered Red Yin-Yang Pill had been the entire reason he came to this auction. His master had given him a spending limit of one hundred thousand spirit coins, and he had suspected it would be enough. The Martial God Pavilion, Burning Flame Pavilion, and Water-Moon Pavilion likely had a similar spending limit, but everyone except Sun Bai had spent money on other items. He’d been so sure that he would be the one to acquire the pill.

He never imagined there would be someone with an even deeper pocket. This was an unimaginable crisis. He needed that pill to reach the Human Limit Realm. It was the only way to exceed his current limit. His master was also relying on him to reach this realm so he could compete with the Phoenix Clan on an even playing field when the Thirteen Nations Competition began.

I don’t know who this is, but I cannot let them get away with this.

Given that the person who outbid him had even deeper pockets, there was a chance their background was just as deep. They might belong to one of the greater clans like the Zhou Clan or even a member of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. But it didn’t matter. So long as he was careful, Yin Xuefeng was sure he could remove them without anyone knowing.

I’ll try diplomacy first. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just get rid of them.

So long as they didn’t die by his hands, there would be no way to trace their deaths back to him. He just needed to play his cards right.

“Xu Wen,” he said suddenly.

“Yes, young master?” asked a voice in his ear.

“I want you to find out who was in that booth. Be discreet and try to gather as much information as you can.”

“Yes, young master.”

Yin Xuefeng didn’t even look at the figure behind them. He continued to stare at the booth even as he felt the presence at his back vanish.

He tightly gripped the fabrics of his robes. To bring glory back to his sect, he needed to reach the Human Limit Realm, and the best way to do that was to use the Three-Layered Red Yin-Yang Pill. He would do whatever it took to reach the Human Limit Realm.

That included murdering those who stood in his way.