"Count me in."

"I’ll put in five thousand too."

In an instant, one family after another spoke up. These were all top-tier powers in the Sky Empire.

Even the Qu family, the Zhou family, the Qin family, the Murong family, and even members of the imperial family made offers.

In this world, there are only permanent interests, not permanent friends. Although the Murong family and the Qin family had a good relationship, how could the Murong family pass up this opportunity to obtain the Qin family’s ultimate Cultivation Technique for a mere five thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones?

In the blink of an eye, more than ten factions had agreed to pool their funds.

"You..."

In the Qin family’s private room, the fury on Qin Feng’s face surged.

These bastards, kicking him when he was down! The Murong family, in particular, joining the group effort made Qin Feng’s heart tremble with rage.

"Haha, then I, Xuan Ye, thank you all. I’ve taken note of everyone who spoke up. When I win the auction, you’ll all get your share."

Ye Xuan immediately burst out laughing, then called out a bid, "Fifty thousand and one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Sixty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

Qin Feng hastily shouted. He hadn’t wanted to participate, but now he was forced back into the bidding.

If he failed to win the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill, his Qin family’s Cultivation Technique would become the most common, worthless Celestial Grade Cultivation Technique in the Sky Empire, and perhaps even the entire Dream Realm Plain.

"Sixty thousand and one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Seventy thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Seventy thousand and one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Eighty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones!"

"Eighty thousand and one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones!"

Ye Xuan and Qin Feng went back and forth. In the blink of an eye, the price had soared to eighty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones.

"This brat is simply courting death..."

In the private room, Qin Yu’s expression was utterly hideous as he roared in fury.

"Shut your mouth! Isn’t this all your fault to begin with?"

Qin Feng shot Qin Yu a cold glare and said angrily, "This grudge with the Luo family was caused entirely by you. Otherwise, why would the Qin family and the Luo family ever come into conflict?"

Qin Yu fell silent, looking sheepish. But inwardly, he thought: ’But wasn’t it you who gave the order to attack the Luo family on all fronts?’

After saying this, Qin Feng glared coldly at the private room where Ye Xuan was and announced icily, "One hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

He had raised the bid by twenty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones in one go.

WHOOSH.

The entire crowd was in an uproar.

One hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones! Converted to Profound Coins, that was over a billion Profound Coins! The number of powers in the entire Sky Empire that could afford such a price could be counted on one hand.

"Patriarch, is it really worth spending so much on the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill? If we do this, we’ll be short on funds for the other auction items."

In the Qin family’s private room, the Third Elder, dressed in red robes, spoke with a grim expression.

Qin Feng shook his head and said coldly, "There’s no other way. The Heaven-Burning Fire Skill is our Qin family’s ultimate Cultivation Technique. It contains family secrets and absolutely cannot be allowed to fall into outside hands. If the other major powers get it, our Qin family will be specifically targeted. That would be a huge disaster for the family."

"So, no matter the cost, we must win this Heaven-Burning Fire Skill."

Qin Feng gritted his teeth, his eyes vicious.

「In Private Room 21.」

"Heh, the Qin family really has some guts," Ye Xuan said with a faint smile.

"Young Master Ye, the Qin family has already bid one hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones. Twelve factions agreed to pool funds just now, which comes to sixty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones. Combined with our own funds, we have about one hundred thousand in total. Should we give up now?"

Luo Min asked, his heart pounding with fear.

It wasn’t that he wanted to curry favor with the Qin family, but he had simply never been involved in a transaction this large in his entire life.

’One hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones... Even if the Luo family sold off all their assets, it probably wouldn’t amount to much more than this.’

"How could we do that? Letting the Qin family buy back their ultimate Cultivation Technique for just one hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones? Wouldn’t that be letting them off too easy?"

A mocking expression on his face, Ye Xuan once again addressed the crowd, "Everyone has seen it. The Qin family has now bid one hundred thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones, and my Luo family is finding its pockets a little empty. Are there any other families willing to join our pool? Or perhaps, is any family willing to contribute a bit more?"

The corners of Ye Xuan’s mouth curled into a wide grin.

THUD.

Countless Martial Artists in the audience practically fell over.

’This Xuan Ye... one round of crowdfunding wasn’t enough? Now that he’s out of money, he actually wants to start a second round?’

’Would anyone really be willing to do that?’

But before that thought could even fully form, the imposing voice of Yuan Fei, Clan Leader of the Yuan family, rang out from their private room.

"Hehe, five thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones is indeed a bit low. In that case, my Yuan family will contribute ten thousand."

The Yuan family was the first to respond, adding another five thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones.

"If the Yuan family is raising their contribution to ten thousand, my Zhou family naturally can’t fall behind. We’ll raise ours to ten thousand as well."

"Count the Murong family in for that, too."

"The Artifact Refining Workshop will also raise its share to ten thousand."

"My Xu family is willing to put in five thousand to join the pool."

One family after another spoke up.

In particular, some of the smaller, previously hesitant families took this opportunity to jump in.

They had originally been afraid of retaliation from the Qin family if they joined, but now that they saw nearly every major power in the empire participating, their courage grew.

’Besides, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. With so many families joining the pool, the Qin family couldn’t possibly retaliate against all of them.’

In the blink of an eye, Ye Xuan had a much larger budget to work with.

"Haha, excellent! Since everyone is so enthusiastic, I’ll bid one hundred thousand and one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones."

Ye Xuan let out a hearty laugh, his cheerful voice echoing as he raised the bid by another one hundred.

PFFT!

In the Qin family’s private room, several of the elders who had accompanied Qin Feng spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"Those goddamn bastards."

’The hatred in their hearts was immense.’

Qin Feng’s eyes were bloodshot, his face contorted with a rage so intense it felt like his eye sockets would split. He silently calculated the Profound Stones Ye Xuan had raised and said through clenched teeth, "One hundred and sixty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

He bit out each word, as if uttering them took all the strength in his body.

WHOOSH!

A jump of fifty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones in a single bid.

The entire venue erupted.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Private Room 21.

"That should be about enough."

Inside the room, Ye Xuan gave a mocking smile.

From the waver in Qin Feng’s tone, he could tell that this was likely his limit.

Ye Xuan feigned helplessness. "Sigh... since Patriarch Qin is so determined, I’d feel bad continuing to compete. Besides, this price has far exceeded my expectations. In that case, I’ll give up."

With that, Ye Xuan addressed the crowd with an apologetic tone, "To everyone who contributed to the pool, my apologies. It’s not that I’m unwilling to keep bidding, but the Qin family’s offer is too high. My humble Luo family cannot afford it. The matter of pooling funds to bid on the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill is hereby over."

Hearing this, Qin Feng, who had been filled with rage and had bloodshot eyes, actually felt a thrill of excitement.

’Oh, heavens! Oh, earth! The brat is finally giving up!’

As for the families who had joined the pool, every one of them nearly coughed up blood.

’What? The pool is off? Then what was the point of this whole farce?’

’This is clearly a case of luring everyone onto a pirate ship, only to tell them it can’t set sail!’

"Your Excellency, how can this be? We all agreed to pool our funds!"

"That’s right! You suddenly call it off, what are we supposed to do?"

"You have to give us an explanation! What kind of trick is this?"

Members of many families started shouting angrily.

They had agreed to contribute, obviously taking the risk of offending the Qin family. Now Ye Xuan was telling them the deal was off. Had they made an enemy of the Qin family for nothing, with no benefit to show for it?

In the private room, Ye Xuan’s gaze turned cold. "Everyone," he said icily, "I proposed pooling our funds, but I never guaranteed we would win the auction. You all saw the bidding just now. Did my Luo family back down one step? The truth is, the Qin family’s bid is too high. Are you all suggesting that I should bankrupt the Luo family just to win this Heaven-Burning Fire Skill?"

"This..." The members of the various families were at a loss for words.

From the Zhou family’s private room, a mocking voice suddenly piped up.

"Brat, whether your Luo family goes bankrupt or not has nothing to do with us. But since you were the one who proposed pooling funds for the auction, you can’t just give up halfway, can you? You can’t just start and stop the pool whenever you feel like it. You can’t just play all of us for fools!"

The voice was confrontational; it was clearly Zhou Qingyu stirring up trouble.

Ye Xuan gave a cold smile. "Eldest Young Master Zhou, I don’t like the sound of that. It’s not that the Luo family is giving up, but that we are powerless to continue bidding. Since your Zhou family desires the Qin family’s Heaven-Burning Fire Skill so badly that you must have it, how about this? The Luo family will put up all of our Profound Stones for the bid, and the Zhou family can cover whatever amount we’re short by at the end. How does that sound?"

Zhou Qingyu sneered, "How could that work? Pooling funds was your Luo family’s idea, and in the end, you’re the ones who will get the original copy. How about this: our Zhou family will add another ten thousand. You, from the Luo family, continue bidding. That’s generous enough, isn’t it!"

"Haha, generous indeed," Ye Xuan said mockingly. "Ten thousand plus ten thousand is twenty thousand. Why don’t we switch roles? Your Zhou family can take over the bidding. No matter the final price, my Luo family will contribute fifty thousand. And you can have the original Heaven-Burning Fire Skill; the Luo family will just take a copy. Surely the Zhou family can agree to that?"

After speaking, Ye Xuan projected his voice to the entire auction hall. "Everyone heard that! The Luo family is willing to contribute fifty thousand for the Zhou family to bid, and we only ask for a copy in return. If anyone still says my Luo family isn’t being generous, then I have nothing more to say."

Master Lu Li immediately started laughing. "That’s an excellent idea. The Luo family is just a single clan; for them to be willing to put up fifty thousand is the very definition of sincerity. Since you, the Zhou family, want the Qin family’s ultimate Cultivation Technique so badly, how about this? I’ll add another ten thousand Profound Stones. Between the Artifact Refining Workshop and the Luo family, that’s seventy thousand. Add that to the money the other families were willing to pool, and you’d have more than one hundred and sixty thousand even if the Zhou family didn’t contribute a single coin. The Zhou family can’t possibly refuse now, can they?"

"The Luo family is willing to contribute fifty thousand, that really is generous."

"In that case, let the Zhou family do the bidding."

Everyone’s eyes lit up.