Chapter 149: Chapter 134: The Pingyuan Liu Clan, Willing to Vouch for Junior Brother Xiao

The auctioneer, on the contrary, breathed a sigh of relief and hastily wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "Ahem. In that case, the bid is valid."

"Fifty thousand Spirit Stones, going once."

"Will any other fellow cultivators make a bid to take these Dual Swords home?"

Over by Xiao Chen, Chen Tianyuan pulled up a chair and sat right beside him.

He then handed Xiao Chen a Storage Bag, its Spiritual Ban already removed.

In a voice only the two of them could hear, he explained, "Tian Yang doesn’t usually handle his finances, so he doesn’t have many Spirit Stones on him. If you’re ever short in the future, just come find me directly."

Xiao Chen politely declined. "First Uncle, I should have enough Spirit Stones."

Chen Tianyuan insisted, pushing it toward him. "You’re being too formal. You don’t see yourself as one of us. Just take it for now. If you don’t spend it, you can always give it back to me later."

"Alright then. Thank you, First Uncle."

Xiao Chen accepted the Storage Bag and swept his Divine Sense across it. Inside was a full forty thousand Spirit Stones.

’Alright, now this is truly foolproof.’

The auctioneer was still trying to build the atmosphere. "Fifty thousand Spirit Stones, going twice!"

"Fellow cultivators, this is an opportunity not to be missed! If you pass on it at this grand event, who knows how long you’ll have to wait for the next one."

Zhang Ruihao immediately added three thousand. "I bid fifty-three thousand!"

"The Ruibao Commerce Association bids fifty-three thousand Spirit Stones!"

The auctioneer’s head snapped toward Xiao Chen.

Meeting the auctioneer’s expectant gaze, Xiao Chen raised his hand. "Sixty thousand!"

CLATTER~

A Wine Glass suddenly fell to the floor.

It turned out to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator from some minor clan who, in his excitement, had accidentally bumped the table.

But no one paid him any mind or laughed. All eyes turned to Zhang Ruihao.

In such a tense moment, with bids jumping by tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, even the normally lofty Foundation Establishment masters were in no better state than Qi Refining cultivators.

Zhang Ruihao glared at Xiao Chen, his eyes blazing with fury.

If looks could kill, Xiao Chen would be dead.

’Based on how things were going,’ he thought, ’I could have won the Wind and Thunder Dual Swords for just over fifty thousand Spirit Stones at most. But then Xiao Chen jumped in and instantly raised the price to sixty thousand. This meant that if he wanted to keep bidding, he’d have to spend several thousand more, maybe even over ten thousand, Spirit Stones. This was no small sum; it was a veritable fortune.’

Zhang Ruihao took a couple of deep breaths and continued the bidding. "Sixty-one thousand!"

This time, the auctioneer didn’t even speak, simply turning his head to look at Xiao Chen.

Normally, disregarding the special attribute, a pair of Top Grade Flying Swords would be worth around fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

In other words, anyone still raising the price must have an urgent, irreplaceable need for them.

Whether for the rare variant Wind-Thunder Attribute or for the fact that they were a perfectly matched pair forged from the same source.

So at this point, the only real competitors left were Xiao Chen and Zhang Ruihao.

No matter how silver-tongued the auctioneer was, he couldn’t possibly persuade anyone else to pay such a high premium.

Xiao Chen calmly took a sip of his Spirit Wine.

All the while, everyone on the third floor was staring at him, their attention rapt.

Under the crowd’s expectant gaze, Xiao Chen set down his Wine Glass and raised his hand. "Seventy thousand!"

"It’s surpassed it! The price has been surpassed!"

Someone suddenly cried out.

The crowd was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what the person meant: the price had just surpassed that of the Wind and Fire Three-Fold Fan, the most expensive item so far.

Regardless of the final price, the Wind and Thunder Dual Swords would now be the most expensive lot of the entire grand event.

Then, all eyes turned back to Zhang Ruihao.

Would the price go even higher?

Zhang Ruihao’s hands were clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms.

’That damned Xiao Chen! Not only is he after the Six Harmonies Divine Water, but now he’s trying to snatch the Wind and Thunder Dual Swords, too! And that’s not all. To save enough Spirit Stones for this, the Ruibao Commerce Association passed on so many other good items. If I fail to win this bid, all those Spiritual Objects we missed out on will have been for nothing.’

The problem was, Zhang Ruihao no longer had enough Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag to continue bidding.

He had only managed to gather a total of sixty-seven thousand Spirit Stones before coming, and he’d already spent four thousand on an Upper Grade Magical Artifact.

After a moment of internal struggle, Zhang Ruihao looked toward the others. He had to win these Dual Swords, even if it meant borrowing money.

’The Yunfan Commerce Association has always been at odds with us,’ he decided. ’So I’ll have to borrow from the Yu Yu Commerce Association.’

He stood up. "Hold on a moment. I have something to discuss privately with Yan outside."

The "Yan" he mentioned was none other than the current president of the Yu Yu Commerce Association—Yan Hui.