I’ve Reloaded the Save File! [Transmigration] 48

48: Auction

As Xuan Shuang escorted the cultivators out of Nanfeng City, Mo Xiao and the others also prepared to pack up and leave.

When Chu Ting heard that they were leaving, she immediately put down her work and rushed over. She didn’t have anything valuable to give them, so she could only use the most simple and unadorned way of showing her gratitude, giving each of them a large sum of spirit stones.

“If you want to collect artifact refining materials, Fellow Daoist Qiu, you can consider staying in Bafang City for a few days. An auction will be held there soon. Perhaps you can bid for some useful things,” Chu Ting said, and also gave them a map.

The map did not cover many places, but the large and small towns near Nanfeng City were all marked in detail.

“Alright, thank you, City Lord,” Qiu Wu politely thanked her. After accepting the map, she took out a long spear. “This is something I recently forged. Consider it a farewell gift for you, City Lord.”

After speaking, Qiu Wu simply and crudely stuffed the long spear into Chu Ting’s hand and quickly retreated to the back of the group, standing by Yun He’s side.

Chu Ting looked at the weapon in her hand with some helplessness. Seeing that Qiu Wu was pretending not to see her, she could only accept the long spear. “Chu Ting wishes you all a smooth journey. Farewell.”

After flying to the forest on their swords, Yun Yu took out her spirit energy boat. The five of them boarded it again and, following the map Chu Ting had given them, headed for Bafang City.

Bafang City was not too far from Nanfeng City. If they drove the spirit energy boat, it would take about two days.

Unlike Nanfeng City, which had become lively because of the secret realms, Bafang City had become a large town entirely because of its unique location. The existence of Bafang City was just like its name, with roads leading in all directions. It was a veritable transportation hub, with many cultivators coming and going every day.

Mo Xiao’s group of five had also arrived at a good time. There were just two days left before the annual large-scale auction, which was enough time for them to get a seat at the auction house.

“Fellow Daoists, we can provide free seats for those at the Nascent Soul stage and above, but those with insufficient cultivation need to pay ten high-grade spirit stones,” the auction house steward said with a smile. “Do these two fellow Daoists need to buy a seat?”

“Here,” Qiu Wu directly gave the spirit stones to the steward. “Since this is an auction house, can I consign items for auction?”

“Yes,” the steward nodded and handed five small tokens with words carved on them to Qiu Wu. “But this auction has a quality requirement for the auction items. If the estimated value does not reach one thousand high-grade spirit stones, it cannot participate.”

As he spoke, the steward added, “Of course, this does not mean that you cannot consign items, but that it needs to be postponed for a period of time. It may be arranged for bidding at the small monthly auctions.”

To put it simply, the annual auction had to have a certain standard. If it wasn’t good enough, it wouldn’t be qualified to participate in the auction.

“So that’s how it is. Can you consign spirit artifacts here?” Qiu Wu asked.

“As long as the estimated value is above one thousand high-grade spirit stones, you can,” the steward repeated his previous words.

It wasn’t that he thought Qiu Wu couldn’t produce anything, but that he had already received many people and had summarized the most efficient reception method. Whether the other party was a Qi Refinement stage cultivator or a Spirit Transformation stage great power, his attitude was the same.

Unflustered by favor or disgrace, that’s me.

Just as the steward was proud of his professionalism, Qiu Wu walked directly to a table on the side and took out one, two, three… a total of fifteen spirit artifacts, each suitable for a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

The steward’s original expression was a standard smile, but as Qiu Wu took out the spirit artifacts, his mouth opened wider and wider, finally forming an “O” shape.

“Are you consigning all of these spirit artifacts?” The steward manually closed his jaw, which was about to drop, and asked with an excited expression.

A full fifteen Nascent Soul stage spirit artifacts! One must know that in this auction, the spirit artifacts they had prepared in total were only fifteen! This was a direct doubling!

What a pity. If this person had come a little earlier, they could have created a buzz early on and attracted more people. They might even have been able to get a few more sect elders to come.

Seeing the change in the steward’s attitude, Qiu Wu spoke calmly, “Let’s just consign this many for now. Aren’t you going to estimate the price?”

“No need!” the steward answered quickly. Any spirit artifact above the Nascent Soul stage was worth more than a thousand spirit stones. And he could feel that these spirit artifacts were all of very good quality. The reserve price would only be high, not low!

“Fellow Daoist, our auction house’s rule is a ten percent commission. You should be aware of that, right?” the steward asked.

“Mhm,” Qiu Wu nodded. “I don’t want too many people to know that I’m consigning so many spirit artifacts at once. You should understand what I mean, right, steward?”

“Of course, of course. We strictly keep our customers’ information confidential. Whether it’s the seller or the buyer, as long as they are unwilling to disclose it, we will never say a word,” the steward promised, then immediately called for his subordinates to come and start inspecting and storing these spirit artifacts.

Thanks to Qiu Wu, when the five of them left the auction house, the small tokens in their hands had become small jade plaques, and their seats had also been upgraded from ordinary public seats to VIP box treatment.

Although there were only two days left before the auction began, the steward’s speed of spreading the news was not slow. He quickly spread the news that the number of spirit artifacts at the auction had doubled throughout Bafang City, almost doubling the number of Nascent Soul stage cultivators participating in the auction.

Two days passed in a flash, and the auction was set for the afternoon. Mo Xiao’s group’s location was very good. With a little adjustment, it would be the very center.

The number of auction items remained at forty-five. The steward had changed the single-item auction of spirit artifacts to a bundled sale, and the reserve price had also doubled.

“If you buy two or three together, will Qiu Wu make a lot more, or a little less?” Yun He didn’t quite understand the steward’s operation. In this case, wouldn’t the number of cultivators who could afford to bid for multiple spirit artifacts at once decrease?

“That depends on how well the steward knows the people present. As long as he can hit their weak spots, the price will only be high, not low,” Zuo Wuyi said.

The reason was simple. The spirit artifacts forged by Qiu Wu were all of high quality, and any Nascent Soul stage cultivator would generally be tempted. If they were auctioned off individually, some people would give up when the price got high. In the end, it would most likely be the major families in Bafang City who would tacitly divide them up, one for you, one for me.

But it was different when they were bundled. If three spirit artifacts fell into the hands of the same force, it meant that they would have a more powerful Nascent Soul stage cultivator, which would pose a certain threat to the other families who did not get them.

Between threatening others and being threatened by others, no one would choose the latter. So they would definitely try their best to bid for those spirit artifacts, and the more the better.

The few materials Qiu Wu was interested in were all at the beginning. After a few casual rounds of bidding, she easily won them all.

By the time it was the middle of the auction, the fierce bidding began. Hearing them casually add a few hundred or a thousand high-grade spirit stones at a time, Yun He was both excited and indignant.

She was excited that Qiu Wu could earn so many spirit stones, and indignant that these spirit stones were not hers. She was still a poor ghost.

“If you want one, I can specially make one for you according to your sword habits in the future,” As the owner of the spirit artifacts, Qiu Wu didn’t have much of a reaction, because she would still choose to use these spirit stones to buy materials after she got them, so they wouldn’t stay with her for long.

“Really?” Yun He looked at Qiu Wu with a touched expression and asked the question in her heart very honestly, “Qiu Wu, if one day I run out of spirit stones, would you mind if I auction off the spirit sword you gave me?”

“What’s there to mind?” Qiu Wu raised an eyebrow. “Since I’ve already given it to you, it’s yours. you can do whatever you want with it. I won’t mind.”

“But, aren’t the spirit swords you gave me all forged by you with a lot of time and effort?” Yun He asked. In her impression, the elders of the Artifact Pavilion were not like Qiu Wu at all. They all valued the spirit artifacts they forged very much.

If someone had just sold the spirit artifact an elder had given them for money, the severity would be like smearing the elder’s face with spoiled food, and the hatred value would be maxed out.

“That’s right. The spirit artifacts I sent to the auction house were also forged by me with a lot of time and effort. Didn’t I sell them all the same?” Qiu Wu replied.

Hearing this, Yun He thought about it seriously. Hearing Qiu Wu say it like that, it seemed to make a lot of sense. Then the question was, why weren’t the elders of the Artifact Pavilion as reasonable as Qiu Wu?

Yun He pondered this question for a while. Seeing that she had no clue, she put it aside and refocused her attention on the auction.

Although she did not intend to buy anything, hearing the cultivators bid one by one, she also felt a rush of excitement, and her sense of participation was maxed out.

“Next, I will introduce our third to last auction item!” The auctioneer’s ability to control the crowd was not bad. With a few simple words, he had stirred up the atmosphere.

“This auction item is very special. It’s not exactly an item,” The auctioneer clapped his hands, and soon an iron cage covered with a black cloth appeared beside him.

“Everyone knows that when a demonic beast cultivates to a certain level, it has a chance to cultivate a human form,” The auctioneer did not rush to lift the black cloth, but told a slightly cliché story between a demonic beast and a cultivator.

“Unfortunately, a demonic beast is a demonic beast after all. At the last moment, it directly ate its own wife. If it weren’t for the timely arrival of the sect master of our Lotus Sect, the cultivator’s child would probably have been eaten too.”

As the auctioneer spoke, seeing that the atmosphere had been sufficiently built up, he finally lifted the black cloth with a swish. “And the one in the cage now is the child who was saved by the sect master of the Lotus Sect.”

As soon as his voice fell, a flurry of discussion broke out. Most of them felt that this living auction item was a bit inappropriate. Even if her father was a demonic beast, her mother was also an orthodox cultivator. As a descendant of a cultivator, how could she be bought and sold like goods?

“This is too cruel. Why are they selling a child as goods?” Yun He said with a puzzled expression. “Eldest Senior Sister, Senior Sister, are we just going to watch a living person being auctioned off?”

Yun Yu shook her head and analyzed, “Look carefully. Although the child is in a cage, her movements are not restricted. And her eyes are clear, and her clothes are very clean.”

“She’s most likely in the cage voluntarily,” Mo Xiao concluded.

“Everyone, please be patient and allow me to explain,” Sure enough, seeing the discussion growing louder, the auctioneer began to explain.

“Our auction house will never do anything that violates human ethics. Although this little girl is an auction item, she is also the one who provided the auction item,” the auctioneer said. Seeing that the scene had quieted down, he continued to explain.

“This little girl has inherited the bloodlines of both her parents. She can both cultivate and transform into a demonic beast when necessary,” the auctioneer said. “And it is precisely because of this that she needs a lot of spirit stones and demonic beast inner cores when she cultivates, which is a great burden for her.”

“So she has put up a hundred years of her time for auction. The highest bidder will be her master for a hundred years.”

“There is no reserve price for this auction. Fellow Daoists who want to obtain a capable subordinate can start bidding!”