Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Liu Xiao nodded and said no more.

Soon, entry was closed, and the auction began.

A tray was presented to Tao Hujin. He reached out, lifted the red cloth, and revealed a fist-sized piece of metal.

The metal had a faint red hue and emitted a strange fluctuation. As it sat quietly on the tray, gasps of surprise erupted from the crowd.

"It’s actually a Spiritual Metal."

"That’s one of the materials used to forge Spiritual Soldiers."

"Judging by the color, that’s Red Copper Spiritual Gold!"

"I’ve heard that adding just a little bit of it can make an ordinary weapon sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, doubling its power."

...

Only then did Xu Yang learn that this stuff was called Red Copper Spiritual Gold. He had seen plenty of it before.

Among the special materials the Blood Lotus Sect had stolen from the Purple Sun Sect, there was a fair amount of this stuff. The pieces were also larger than the one at the auction; the biggest ones were the size of large bowls, and there were at least a dozen of them.

Tao Hujin smiled. "Some of our friends have already recognized it. That’s right, this is Red Copper Spiritual Gold, one of the materials for forging Spiritual Soldiers. This piece weighs twenty-two taels and has been purified with Earth Vein Spiritual Fire. The starting bid is two thousand taels, with each increment no less than fifty taels."

Xu Yang knew this kind of thing had to be precious, but he hadn’t expected it to be *this* precious.

Didn’t this mean that the batch of materials stolen from the Purple Sun Sect by the Blood Lotus Sect was worth, at the very least, over a hundred thousand taels?

He felt a stir of desire. If a Martial Artist had a Spiritual Soldier, their combat power would at least double.

A Martial Artist at Gang Qi Minor Achievement with a Spiritual Soldier could even slay a master at Gang Qi Great Success. They could even hold their own for a while against a true Bone Marrow Cleansing Strong Person.

But the starting bid for the Red Copper Spiritual Gold was two thousand taels. All he could do was stare.

And after just a few bids, the price for this fist-sized piece of Red Copper Spiritual Gold was driven up to four thousand taels, finally selling for five thousand taels.

Xu Yang had thought his pockets were finally getting full, but hearing this price made him feel like a poor man all over again.

This single piece of Red Copper Spiritual Gold wasn’t even enough to forge a sword—at most, it could make a short dagger—yet it sold for such a terrifying price.

The next few auction items were all rare medicinal herbs or Weapons, none of which were what Xu Yang needed.

Finally, another tray was brought up. Tao Hujin lifted the red cloth, revealing a Medicine Bottle.

"These are five Guiyuan Pills. I won’t waste time explaining what a Guiyuan Pill is. The base price for this item is five hundred taels, with each increment no less than ten taels. Let the bidding begin!" Tao Hujin announced.

As his words fell, four or five people couldn’t help but bid at the same time.

Xu Yang furrowed his brow. ’Last time, a bottle of Guiyuan Pills sold for the high price of nine hundred taels.’

’There are more people here this time. I’m afraid the price will be even more ridiculous.’

Plus, with the Outer Disciple Grand Competition approaching, the value of this kind of Cultivation-enhancing Elixir would only increase.

Soon, the price for the bottle of Guiyuan Pills was driven up to nine hundred taels, and people were still raising their bids.

"This is just the first bottle of Elixirs for the Gang Qi Realm. The competition is always the fiercest for the first one. Don’t be in a rush to bid; we’ll go for the later ones."

Shen Liang wanted to make a bid, but Guo Huai stopped him.

Xu Yang also held back. The ones competing now were all wealthy. It wasn’t that he couldn’t compete, but that it was easy to offend people he couldn’t afford to provoke.

His plan to bid on a bottle of Elixirs by himself today was already conspicuous enough; it would be unwise to offend a powerful figure on top of that.

In the end, this bottle of Guiyuan Pills sold for the terrifying price of one thousand three hundred taels.

’There are too many small groups!’

The premium was severe. He realized that the person who won the bottle of Guiyuan Pills wasn’t an individual, but two Purple Sun Sect disciples who had teamed up to bid.

Just like the group beside him—Guo Huai, Shen Liang, and the others—who were also planning to pool their resources to bid on a bottle.

The next item was another bottle of Guiyuan Pills. The price quickly soared to twelve hundred taels. Guo Huai’s claim that the competition for the first bottle was the fiercest was complete nonsense.

Because the price for this bottle was also quickly driven up to one thousand three hundred taels.

"One thousand three hundred and ten taels!"

The bidder was, surprisingly, Lu Ren. Instantly, countless curious gazes turned toward him.

Because of the incident with Ah Ya, he had been abandoned by Gu Haoming and the Dawn Association. Everyone knew he no longer had his family’s financial support. No one expected him to have enough money to participate in the bidding.

Gu Haoming, who was sitting next to him, looked shocked. He also hadn’t expected Lu Ren to have so much money.

"Are you just bidding randomly? Do you even have that much money?"

The Outer Disciple who had bid one thousand three hundred taels sneered.

Lu Ren’s gaze swept coolly over the man. "That’s none of your business."

A flicker of hatred flashed in his eyes.

’In the past, if he had made a bid, no one would have questioned whether he had the money.’

’Now, just because he had left Gu Haoming, his bid was being questioned as a bluff. These snobs, looking down on everyone.’ 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"One thousand three hundred and fifty taels!" that man shouted with a smirk.

Lu Ren’s face was grim. "One thousand three hundred and sixty taels."

This person wasn’t just bidding anymore; he was deliberately arguing and toying with him.

"The Guiyuan Pill is yours."

The man laughed, not daring to bid again for fear of being stuck with the item himself if he pushed it further.

In the end, the second bottle of Guiyuan Pills was won by Lu Ren for the high price of one thousand three hundred and sixty taels.

Suppressing the rage in his heart, he rose and went to the back hall to pay and collect his Elixirs.

The expressions on the faces of all the Purple Sun Sect disciples present were somewhat mournful. In the past, who would have dared to step on Lu Ren, one of the Ten Heroes? Just because he fought with Jiang Fan over a woman, he had fallen to such a state.

After a few more inconsequential items were auctioned off, the red silk was unveiled once again, revealing a Medicine Bottle.

Tao Hujin said, "The next item up for auction is my Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion’s exclusive Elixir, the Ten-Perfection Rejuvenation Pill. I trust I don’t need to elaborate on its effects. This bottle contains five Pills. The base price is five hundred taels, with each increment no less than ten taels. Let the bidding begin."

Xu Yang’s spirits lifted. He was determined to win this bottle of Ten-Perfection Rejuvenation Pills.

He didn’t know if there were more bottles to come, but the bidding might get even crazier later on.

When the price hit one thousand taels, he decisively called out, "One thousand two hundred taels!"

He received the same treatment as Lu Ren; many shocked and suspicious gazes turned his way.

Beside him, Lu Ren, Guo Huai, and the others also looked at him in surprise.

"Interesting. Lu Ren bought a bottle of Guiyuan Pills on his own, and now Xu Yang is following suit. Are these two going at it?" someone chuckled.

It had long been rumored that Xu Yang and Lu Ren had been competing ever since they started their martial arts training. At this moment, some quickly made the connection, assuming Xu Yang was trying to compete with Lu Ren.

"Does he have the money?" questioned the same person who had been hassling Lu Ren earlier.

This person’s name was Wu Nanshan. Xu Yang had just learned from Guo Huai that he was an Outer Disciple from the previous year who liked to suck up to the powerful and kick those who were down.

"It’s just a bid. It’s not like he has to pay up right now. It’s the participation that counts. Even if he doesn’t win, at least he made a bid. Who knows if he actually has the money," Liu Xiao said with a laugh.

His words won the approval of many, who now believed Xu Yang was just putting on a brave front. After all, a price of one thousand two hundred taels was never going to be enough to win a bottle of Ten-Perfection Rejuvenation Pills.

’When the price gets higher, he’ll just pretend it’s not worth it and back down. No one will know he doesn’t have the money, and he’ll have saved face in the process.’

An Ping frowned. "Brother Xu, are you bidding for yourself, or for our group?"

’To make a bid on his own without asking us first is so disrespectful.’

’If anyone was going to bid, it should have been Guo Huai. Given his status as a disciple of the Guo Family, not many would compete with him.’

Xu Yang’s expression was calm as he said, "I’m bidding for myself."

An Ping sullenly shut his mouth.

Lu Ren’s face darkened, and he frowned. "Don’t make bids you can’t afford. If you can’t pay, you won’t be able to handle the consequences."

Xu Yang smiled. "If I can actually win this bottle of Elixirs for twelve hundred taels, I’m sure many people would be lining up to help me pay."

Once he said this, many people became convinced he had no money.

"Everyone, stop bidding! I want to see if anyone will help him pay. If you can’t come up with the money, let’s see how you’re going to walk out of this Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion."

Wu Nanshan spoke up, an expression on his face that showed he was ready to watch a good show.

Seeing the internal conflict among the Purple Sun Sect disciples, the others were also happy to watch the drama unfold. Sure enough, no one else placed a bid. After all, there would be more Ten-Perfection Rejuvenation Pills later.

The other Purple Sun Sect disciples also stopped bidding, waiting to see the Ten Heroes Genius, Xu Yang, make a fool of himself.