Martial Peak

Chapter 1154, A Small Gift

As the beautiful woman’s voice rang out, and the map’s description left her lips, the atmosphere inside the auction heated up even more.

Shocking wealth, profound Secret Arts, mysterious inheritances, these words drew the attention of everyone in the private rooms and on the floor.

Of course, everyone knew that despite this woman’s extravagant and coloured description, her words were very unreliable. This was just a fragment of a map, who knew it would be of any use or if what it led to was of any worth?

Moreover, if this ancient map had great value, it would not have been put up for auction. Treasure Trove Pavilion was an incredibly powerful force in its own right and would naturally send its own people out to dig up this treasure if they felt it was worth doing so.

The beautiful woman, however, could see that excitement in the room had risen so she knew she had achieved her objective, no longer wasting any time and simply saying, “The starting price for this ancient map is ten thousand Saint Crystals!”

She didn’t even mention any restrictions on increasing the bid, obviously intending for people to act freely.

“Ten thousand!” Although it was just a fragment of a map, that didn’t lower the value of obtaining it. The fact that no other map fragment had been found so far didn’t mean one wouldn’t be found in the future. For a mere ten thousand Saint Crystals, one may be able to purchase a priceless opportunity, so when the beautiful woman’s voice fell, countless people shouted bid the minimum price.

The beautiful woman smiled lightly as she looked at one of the people on the main floor, “This friend in seat eighty-seven was the first to bid, if other friends wish to win this treasure, please raise your bids!”

“Twelve thousand!”

“Fifteen thousand!”

The bids from the main floor rose rapidly and even those from the private rooms entered the fray, but each time someone made a new bid, they would at most raise the price by two or three thousand Saint Crystals.

Soon, the ancient map fragment with a base price of ten thousand climbed to fifty thousand, then seventy thousand, then eighty thousand...

After reaching eighty thousand, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly solidified and no one continued to bid.

Eighty thousand Saint Crystals for this ancient map fragment was quite a high price and no one was willing to increase it further; after all, its current value wasn’t even that high.

Yang Kai shook his head and was about to say a few words to Wu Yi about an unrelated matter when he suddenly discovered that Yang Yan’s expression was a little weird, prompting him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

Yang Yan glanced back at him and replied in a whisper, “I have a similar map fragment!”

“What?” Yang Kai was startled, asking again to confirm, “Are you sure?”

Yang Yan nodded sincerely.

“Eighty-two thousand!” Yang Kai didn’t even think about it and directly entered a bid, but in the next moment, his face cramped as he remembered he didn’t actually have that many Saint Crystals on him, making him feel incredibly awkward.

But since he had already sent out a bid, it was naturally impossible for Yang Kai to take it back. If he were to try, he would definitely be thrown out by Treasure Trove Pavilion’s people, resulting in a great disgrace.

The atmosphere that had cooled down suddenly became hot again with Yang Kai’s offer, and the beautiful auctioneer smiled brilliantly towards the private room and said in a loud voice, “This friend from room C-13 has bid for eighty-two thousand, is there any higher bid?”

Just when Yang Kai was about to panic about what to do, a new voice called out from down on the main floor, solving this embarrassing problem for him.

“One hundred thousand!”

Yang Kai clearly felt that after this person called out this price, countless Divine Senses gathered on him. There were only two possibilities for this man to make such a determined effort to acquire this ancient map fragment, either he didn’t care about spending a hundred thousand Saint Crystals for this uncertain opportunity, or he had another fragment of this map.

The man who called out this last bid also seemed to detect that something was wrong and immediately lowered his head, but his appearance has long been remembered by the interested parties, hiding now was useless.

Yang Kai also took note of this person’s appearance. He was a middle-aged man with low strength, only a First Order Saint King. He was wearing ordinary clothes and didn’t seem to be very well off.

Did this person also have a map fragment? Yang Kai thought secretly.

Yang Kai was fairly certain this was the case, and not only was he, but several others in the hall were also convinced as well. Once this man left Treasure Trove Pavilion, he would likely be stared at by countless people. Buying this ancient map fragment had brought disaster down upon him.

Thinking so, Yang Kai was secretly startled and felt fortunate that this person had solved this danger for him, otherwise, he would be the one everyone would be paying attention to.

However, Yang Yan possessing another fragment of this map was something completely unexpected for Yang Kai. If these two map fragments were pieced together, perhaps he would be able to find some clue about what it led to. Yang Kai was secretly debating what to do about this second map fragment. If he wanted to take it, he would need to choose an appropriate method and act quickly before others could.

What if what the beautiful woman said was true and this ancient map fragment led to some kind of amazing treasure....

On the high stage, the voice of the beautiful female auctioneer sounded again, “One hundred thousand, is there any higher bid? One hundred thousand once... one hundred thousand twice...”

After a slow three count during which no other bids were made, the ancient map fragment was won by the middle-aged man for one hundred thousand Saint Crystal. The Treasure Trove Pavilion disciple holding the map fragment then delivered it to the man and accepted his hundred thousand Saint Crystal payment, completing the transaction.

As soon as he got hold of this map fragment though, the middle-aged man felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He definitely wanted to get up right away and leave, but he didn’t dare to act so rashly, forcing himself to sit in his chair and wait.

His performance only made everyone else more certain he had another piece of this ancient map.

The auction proceeded, but suddenly, one of the two Shadow Moon Hall female disciples took out her communication artefact and after reviewing the message sent to her, smiled widely, “Young Master Yang, Elder Qian has come to see you.”

“Please have him come in,” Yang Kai happened to be looking for Qian Tong, but he hadn’t expected him to come over on his own accord.

The female disciple nodded and immediately went to open the private room’s door only to see Qian Tong waited outside with a big smile.

Anyone who had suddenly obtained thirty million Saint Crystals without any effort would also be laughing stupidly like Qian Tong. As for Yan Pei leaking out news causing Qian Tong to lose this rare opportunity, Qian Tong no longer cared.

With an additional thirty million Saint Crystals, if Shadow Moon Hall couldn’t outbid the competition, Qian Tong would have nothing to say.

“Nephew Yang, this Qian had some matters to attend to and was unable to get away until now, please forgive me!” Qian Tong cupped his hand and said politely.

“Elder Qian is too serious, we wouldn’t be eligible to sit here without Elder Qian’s help,” Yang Kai chuckled while inviting Qian Tong in to sit down.

Qian Tong however just waved his hand and said, “This Qian must represent Shadow Moon Hall in this auction so I cannot remain here for long. I merely came here to thank Nephew Yang.”

“Thank me?” Yang Kai was confused, not knowing what he was talking about.

“Indeed, I must thank Nephew Yang for bringing such huge benefits to my Shadow Moon Hall. En, this is just a small token of appreciation from my Shadow Moon Hall, I hope Nephew Yang won’t refuse,” Qian Tong said as he passed over a Space Ring.

Yang Kai didn’t respond for a moment, simply staring back at Qian Tong for a while before asking, “Elder Qian, can you explain the situation clearly? I really don’t know what I have done to warrant such a gift from Shadow Moon Hall.”

Qian Tong’s words were quite meaningful. He had said that this was a show of appreciation from Shadow Moon Hall, not himself. Accepting a gift from such a powerful force for no apparent reason made Yang Kai quite uncomfortable.

This couldn’t be related to the few items he had brought to the auction either, as the ultimate beneficiary of those items was Treasure Trove Pavilion, they brought no advantage at all to Shadow Moon Hall.

Seemingly understanding that Yang Kai didn’t want to owe others any favours, like when he had tried to give him that Wild Rose Pill, Qian Tong knew that if he didn’t make the situation clear this time, Yang Kai would certainly not accept this Space Ring.

Thinking about it briefly, Qian Tong explained, “It’s like this: The several items Nephew Yang delivered just now to be auctioned were valued extremely highly, catching the great forces that came to participate in this auction unprepared. As such, all of them needed to use by Heavenly Fate City’s Space Array to return to their respective Sects to collect additional Saint Crystals. Seeing this, this old master decided to charge them a small additional toll to make use of it. Ahem, en, so the large part of this toll is Nephew’s credit, but after all, those assets belong to Shadow Moon Hall so this Elder doesn’t dare give you too much of it. This is just a small gift; Nephew Yang has no reason to refuse.”

Yang Kai was stunned, not having expect Qian Tong to do this kind of business, admiring his boldness as he thought about just how many people Qian Tong must have offended. No wonder he had seen so many people leaving the private rooms in A Block and B Block just before the auction started, it was all to raise more Saint Crystals.

Yang Kai knew very well what the value of the treasures he had brought to auction were, and with Qian Tong’s explanation just now, he immediately understand that this really was his own credit.

No longer seeing a reason to refuse, Yang Kai happily accepted the Space Ring and laughed, “Since that’s the case, this Junior won’t be polite. I originally wanted to find Elder Qian to borrow a few Saint Crystals in the interim, but now that seems unnecessary.”

Yang Kai truly wanted to see Qian Tong to borrow some Saint Crystals just now. Originally, he had no intention of participating in this auction; however, the appearance of the ancient map fragment had made Yang Kai realize that perhaps something he truly needed would appear. If such an item appeared but he didn’t have any Saint Crystals to bid with, how sad would it be? Moreover, seeing Wu Yi and Yang Yan cheer so enthusiastically for others, how could Yang Kai not realize they too wanted to join in the fun?

Unexpectedly, as if he had predicted such the future, Qian Tong came over and gifted him some Saint Crystals.

This delighted Yang Kai.

Qian Tong also laughed, “As long as Nephew Yang doesn’t bid on something too expensive, these Saint Crystals should be enough.”

He didn’t say how many Saint Crystals he had given and Yang Kai didn’t ask. Such things weren’t meant to be discussed openly by civilized gentlemen. Qian tong had also said that this was just a small show of appreciation from Shadow Moon Hall and couldn’t be used to make Yang Kai owe him a favour personally.

Just then, the beautiful woman on the auction floor said loudly, “I believe everyone will be very interested in the next item, so please prepare your bids!”

With this remark, Yang Kai clearly felt that the atmosphere in each of the private rooms sudden become tense. Obviously they had gotten some small advanced warning about what this item might be and while the cultivators on the main floor were in the dark, that didn’t hinder their expectations from rising as well.

The woman in charge of presenting the auction items walked out onto the stage with a beautiful jade bottle placed atop a fine jade plate. The beautiful female auctioneer picked up the jade bottle and opened the cap while excitedly saying, “What will be auctioned next is an Origin Condensing Pill!”

Sure enough, as soon as the beautiful woman’s words fell, the audience burst into a ruckus, causing her to smile even more brightly, satisfied with everyone’s response.

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