After Rebirth, the Love-Struck Cannon Fodder Woke Up - Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Bidding
â—Ž Foundation Establishment Pills, Fragment of a Secret Scroll â—Ž
Du Lianxin had no intention of participating in the auction, but seeing the two Senior Sisters bidding one after another, she instantly guessed the reason.
Among the three, only she could use the magical artifact.
To be fair, she absolutely did not want to see the current situation.
To stop this dispute, Du Lianxin actively spoke up and participated in the bidding, following the minimum increment to bid thirty thousand and one hundred spirit stones.
Although her current savings were relatively small and not as abundant as those of the two Senior Sisters, she was unwilling to accept gifts for no reason.
She preferred to believe she was overthinking it, but combined with what happened earlier, the possibility of the two Senior Sisters bidding for the treasure to give it to her was very high.
Sure enough, as soon as Du Lianxin spoke, the familiar voice came from the ninth floor of the pavilion.
“I intended to bid for this Azure Spirit Dowel and give it to Junior Sister Du. Junior Sister doesn’t need to participate in the bidding.”
Almost simultaneously, Senior Sister Shen beside her also secretly transmitted a similar intention.
At this moment, countless eyes in the entire Treasury Pavilion focused on Du Lianxin.
Although Shen Anlan transmitted her words and did not speak aloud, the cultivators watched her gaze at the girl with a rare tenderness, and they generally guessed the situation.
Instantly, many people became curious about the gossip.
It was rumored that Gu Xianzi had always liked Shen Anlan, but the current situation seemed different?
The two looked hostile toward each other, more like love rivals?
Rumors were indeed not entirely trustworthy.
At this moment, Du Lianxin, faced with the attention of the surrounding cultivators, surprisingly remained composed and responded calmly: “Thank you for your kind intention, Senior Sister Gu, but as the saying goes, one does not accept benefits without merit. Please forgive my inability to accept it.”
On the ninth floor of the pavilion, Gu Xianzi heard these words and angrily muttered an insult: “What a little fool. If it were anyone else, they would be overjoyed to know there’s a free treasure. But Junior Sister Du, you don’t appreciate it at all.”
As she muttered, she chuckled softly.
She liked such a Junior Sister even more now!
On the first floor of the pavilion, Shen Anlan also received a sound transmission from the girl beside her.
The words were firm, indicating that she would not accept the gifted treasure.
She responded with a smile and a nod, indicating that she would not continue to participate in the bidding.
Shen Anlan was always cold and emotionless. It could be said that no one had ever seen her smile before.
Her current demeanor made the cultivators in the pavilion extremely curious, increasing their interest in the gossip.
If it was only a guess before, it could now be essentially confirmed that Du Lianxin was the person favored by the two Heavenly Maidens.
No one dared to discuss it in front of them now, but it was conceivable that once the Treasury Pavilion auction ended, rumors would immediately fly everywhere outside.
Du Lianxin naturally thought of this but could do nothing about it.
Since she participated in the bidding, no one else followed the price. She ultimately succeeded in bidding for the high-grade magical artifact, the Azure Spirit Dowel, for thirty thousand and one hundred spirit stones.
The moment she received the treasure and handed over the spirit stones, she felt a pang of heartache.
If it were a normal auction, this high-grade magical artifact could have been acquired for at most twenty thousand spirit stones. She had now spent extra money unnecessarily.
However, she did not regret this choice.
Whether in her past life or this life, she acted only to have a clear conscience.
After the first auctioned item was sold, the Golden Toad on the stone platform spit out another treasure.
At the same time, the manager began to introduce the second auctioned item.
“One bottle of High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pills, a total of ten pills. They will be auctioned separately. The starting price for each pill is ten thousand spirit stones. Each bid must not be less than two hundred spirit stones!”
In the cultivation world, pills were historically divided into four grades: Low, Mid, High, and High-Grade (also referred to as Ultimate Grade in some translations).
High-Grade pills were always sought after and rarely found. They contained no pill toxins and had no side effects.
Taking the Foundation Establishment Pill as an example, each cultivator could only take one pill, and any more would be useless. Therefore, the higher the quality of the pill, the better. Taking one High-Grade pill could increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by thirty percent based on the original probability.
At this moment, the Qi Condensation cultivators in the Treasury Pavilion were all eager to try. As soon as the manager finished speaking, they immediately rushed to participate in the bidding.
Du Lianxin also wanted to bid for one pill but did not immediately participate in the bidding.
On the ninth floor of the pavilion, Gu Xianzi secretly observed the girl’s expression with her divine sense. Finding that she could not discern anything, she slightly raised her eyebrow.
She had originally intended to directly bid for one if Junior Sister Du’s spirit stones were insufficient.
If her Junior Sister politely refused at that time, she would say that the pill was temporarily borrowed and that she could return the spirit stones once she had gathered enough. In this way, her Junior Sister would have no reason to refuse.
Of course, she did not genuinely intend for her Junior Sister to return the spirit stones. She only planned to use this as an excuse to deepen their bond.
Unfortunately, it seemed that this plan was likely to fail…
On the first floor of the pavilion, Shen Anlan was about to speak, seeing the bids getting higher and higher, when she received a sound transmission from Junior Sister Du in advance.
“Senior Sister, I am confident I can bid for one.”
The girl’s eyes were full of confidence. Shen Anlan was momentarily captivated.
Shen Anlan nodded gently, not participating in the bidding.
Du Lianxin did not participate in the bidding for the first five High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pills.
For the sixth pill, she participated in the bidding from the start, offering a round twenty thousand spirit stones.
For a moment, no one continued to follow the price. In the end, she successfully obtained the sixth High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.
Du Lianxin’s action was a manipulation of the common psychology of the crowd.
According to the rules of the Treasury Pavilion auction, if no one speaks up within twenty breaths after a bid, the item is sold.
There were ten pills in total. The competition for the first and last pills would definitely be fierce, while the ones in the middle would be relatively easier.
Doubling the price at the beginning of the bidding would subconsciously lead people to believe that the bidder was determined to win it, and the final price would be extremely high, thus making them give up.
After receiving the High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, Du Lianxin could not hide the joy on her face.
With this item, her confidence in achieving Foundation Establishment in the future would be greatly increased.
The auction in the pavilion continued. After about half an incense stick of time, all ten Foundation Establishment Pills were auctioned off.
In contrast, the sixth pill acquired by Du Lianxin had the lowest bidding price.
On the stone platform, the Golden Toad quickly spit out the third treasure…
Following the High-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, Du Lianxin did not participate in the bidding for seventeen consecutive items, simply because the displayed treasures were not relevant to her current cultivation level, and she had no use for them at all.
During this period, Shen Anlan and Gu Xianzi also remained silent, not participating in the bidding.
It wasn’t until the Golden Toad spat out the twentieth auctioned item—a highly worn-out fragment of a scroll, made of unknown material—that Du Lianxin’s attention was immediately drawn.
A strong intuition suddenly arose in her heart that this item was very important to her and that she must acquire it!
However… the spirit stones she currently possessed were less than fifty thousand. It would be difficult to bid for the final, most important item.
At this moment, the manager on the stone platform was introducing the item.
“A fragment of a Secret Scroll. It was accidentally acquired by the pavilion master many years ago during his travels. After much study, he gained nothing. Later, he invited a powerful Divination Cultivator to perform a divination and was told that he had no affinity with this item. Keeping it would be unhelpful and would instead harm his destiny. He ultimately decided to put it up for auction. The starting price is one hundred thousand spirit stones. Each bid must not be less than one thousand spirit stones!”
Hearing this, Du Lianxin sighed inwardly. The spirit stones she possessed were far from enough. It seemed she was ultimately destined to have no affinity with this item.
However, to her surprise, after the manager finished the introduction, no one in the Treasury Pavilion immediately spoke up to bid.
After a while, a question came from the eighth floor of the pavilion: “According to Manager Zhao’s statement, this Secret Scroll fragment can only be obtained by someone with an affinity for it; otherwise, they will suffer harm. Is that correct?”
The manager did not conceal the truth, only bowing his hands toward the corresponding direction and replying respectfully: “It is indeed as Senior said.”
“If that is the case, this humble Daoist believes that this treasure should not be put up for auction at all. The so-called ‘person with an affinity’ should be someone recognized by the treasure, not judged by the amount of spirit stones.”
A hint of apology appeared on the manager’s face. “Please forgive me, Senior. This is the pavilion master’s request, and I can only follow orders.”
Any cultivator highly valued their destiny. Items that could potentially harm one’s destiny were generally unwanted, especially since this item was also incomplete.
Du Lianxin’s previous reaction was entirely influenced by the intuition in her heart.
At this moment, a rare period of silence occurred at the auction.
Du Lianxin could not bid due to insufficient spirit stones, otherwise, she could easily acquire this item.
She had already made a decision. If the Secret Scroll fragment failed to sell after the auction ended, she would try to contact the manager and ask if the treasure would still remain in the pavilion, waiting for someone to purchase it.
If she received an affirmative answer, she would strive to gather enough spirit stones in the shortest possible time.
Her talent for talisman creation was good. The selling price of talismans in the Grand Profound Realm was not low. As long as she worked hard, earning tens of thousands of spirit stones was not a difficult task for her.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard Senior Sister Shen beside her make a bid.
“One hundred thousand.”
As soon as the words fell, Gu Xianzi’s bid immediately followed from the ninth-floor private room.
“One hundred ten thousand!”
Shen Anlan followed without hesitation: “One hundred fifty thousand!”
Gu Xianzi continued to bid: “Two hundred thousand!”
The bidding continued for a full half stick of incense time. The price of the Secret Scroll fragment soared all the way up to nine million spirit stones.
On the stone platform, the manager’s forehead was already sweating.
Both bidding parties were Heavenly Maidens of the Clear River Sect. Regardless of who acquired the auctioned item, if they were not the person with an affinity, they would likely be constantly plagued by bad luck from then on.
If nothing major happened, it would be fine, but if a major incident occurred, the Clear River Sect might trace the source. At that time, he, as the auction host, might not be able to save his life.
The cultivation world had always been ruled by strength and was not a place to reason. Even with prior warnings, as long as the source of the danger originated from the pavilion, they could not escape responsibility.
The manager was bitter in his heart. He had emphasized the negative impact of the Secret Scroll fragment midway, but neither of the bidders seemed to hear him, and no one paid attention to him.
The bid had now reached nine million spirit stones, offered by Shen Anlan.
On the ninth floor of the pavilion, Gu Xianzi did not follow the bid, simply because all the spirit stones she had totaled only a little over eight million.
Although her mother spoiled her, she did not allow her to be excessively extravagant, only giving her ten million spirit stones each year. Once spent, she needed to find a way to earn more herself.
Auctioned items were sold on the spot and could not be bought on credit. Therefore, despite her unwillingness, Gu Xianzi had no choice but to reluctantly give up.
Ultimately, the Secret Scroll fragment was acquired by Shen Anlan. The ten-yearly auction ended successfully here.
After handing over the spirit stones, Shen Anlan successfully obtained the auctioned item.
In fact, she had not originally intended to participate in the bidding. She did so only because she noticed Junior Sister Du was particularly interested in this item.
However, as the manager said, the acquisition of the Secret Scroll fragment meant the outcome of fortune or disaster was unknown. To ensure her Junior Sister’s safety, she temporarily kept the item with her.
If she could comprehend it, she would tell her Junior Sister everything…