244 The grand auction.

As the runes around the stage got brighter and brighter, Yao Jun swept the audience with a vigilant gaze. He was seated rather close to the back of the seating area so he only had to turn his head a little bit to be able to see everyone in the audience, allowing him to easily observe those that caught his attention.

The first one he checked out was the person who had one of Tang Guanyu's tokens, an older woman with bright green hair, orange eyes, a somewhat chubby figure, and a few wrinkles around her eyes. The woman also looked at him, their gazes intersecting for a short moment before they both turned away.

The next people that Yao Jun observed were those he was already familiar with Luosho Li, Berius Daemon, and Yuri Jahad. Xuhuan became restless when she discovered Luosho Li but Yao Jun quickly forced her to stay calm, now was not the time to make a move against her. He didn't observe the three for long, there was a chance they would discover his gaze if he did that, and the last thing he needed right now was to have Yuri chase after him again because she thought he looked fun.

The next person he inspected was the one who carried a fragment of the Supreme Law of Demons, Sixth Heaven Demon King Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan looked to be in his early twenties and had drooping amber eyes that made it look like he was constantly tired, he had silky black hair tied into a neat ponytail that hung all the way down to his knees as well as a somewhat thin frame. But his thin frame could not hide the power he carried in his body, the ferocious and rampaging energy that coursed through his veins.

Unlike the other people Yao Jun had met that carried the fragment of a Supreme Law, Xiao Yan did not attempt to hide the energy of his fragment in the slightest. He put it on full display, as if he was trying to challenge anyone who might want to kill him and steal his fragment.

The last two people that Yao Jun gave a quick inspection were the ones who could challenge Luosho Li, Baam Noctris and Mascheny Materius. Baam had a rather slender frame and was a bit short, he had ear-length dark-blue hair, yellow eyes, as well as two horns on his forehead, one black and one blue. His eyes sparkled slightly as he swept the audience area with his gaze, curiosity clearly visible in his eyes.

Mascheny was a tall and curvaceous woman that exuded an aura of grace and charm, she had ice-blue hair that hung loosely down to her waist, skin almost as pale as snow, and her eyes were almost completely white in color. Her expression was much closer to Luosho Li's than to Baams, cold and proud, with a faint trace of indifference. Just like with Luosho Li and the others, Yao Jun did not dare observe these people for too long in fear that they might discover him.

He returned his gaze to the stage, where a muscular and brown-haired middle-aged man with a piercing gaze was standing in front of two curvaceous women clad in somewhat scant clothing was working on driving up the price of the item he was currently selling, an orb with an array prepared inside it.

"This small orb you see me holding actually contains a destructive array that is able to wound even some early stage Earthly Deities once unleashed, it can surely save you in a tight spot! What do you say, is anyone here willing to give me 150 000 Earth grade Spirit Stones to protect their lives?"

Yao Jun winced slightly when he heard the starting price for the orb. This was just the first item to go on sale, so it should be among the cheaper ones that are to be sold. Yet despite that, this orb alone already cost more than all the wealth he had on him, 100 000 Earth grade Spirit Stones. He could only click his tongue slightly and hope that the items he had sent to the auction would fetch him a good price, otherwise, he might just have to leave here empty-handed.

A few people ended up bidding for the orb, driving the price up slightly until someone finally bought it for 20 Heaven grade Spirit Stones. As it was the grade above Earth Grade, one had to spend 10 000 Earth grade Spirit Stones if they wished to acquire a single Heaven grade Spirit Stones, so 20 Heaven grade Spirit Stones was a rather exaggerated price, at least Yao Jun thought so.

This was just the start of the auction so none of the truly valuable items were brought out to be sold just yet. A few of Yao jun's items were sold over the first five days of the auction, earning him a quick 47 Heaven grade Spirit Stones. Yao Jun had considered himself lucky if those items gained him a few hundred Earth grade Spirit Stones, so he was more than happy with the outcome, he also realized that he had grossly underestimated the value of the items he had picked up since entering this competition.

However, on the sixth day of the auction, an item of great interest to Yao Jun was brought out to be sold, a red circular token with a wavy pattern engraved into it, one of Tang Guanyu's tokens. One of the women on the stage had placed the token inside a jade box lined with silk, which the middle-aged man accepted and held out for everyone to see.

"Our next item is a rather interesting one. It's a token that we received from a cultivator who wishes to remain anonymous, they said they received it after killing someone during this competition. Neither they, nor we for that matter, have been able to figure out what the token is for, but our appraisers have judged that the token contains such a strong and pure energy that not even a Heavenly Deity would be able to create it. Since we have no clue as to what purpose it serves, there is no starting price, you alone can decide what it is worth."

The eyes of everyone immediately fell on the crimson token after hearing the description. For a Heavenly Deity to be unable to create it, it was likely that a Godking might have been the one to create the token. But the fact that they didn't know what purpose it served was a bit of a problem that would make it a bit hard to bid on it. Yao Jun and the green-haired woman, on the other hand, knew exactly what the token was for, and both wanted to get their hands on it. Yao Jun could only hope that he currently had enough wealth, 57 Heaven grade Spirit Stones, to buy the token.

The bidding for the token didn't start immediately, people discussing what they should bid for the token. After the entire auction fell into silence for a short few moments, a female voice called out the first bid.

"What the hell, it looks interesting so I'll bid 15 Heaven grade Spirit Stones."

Yao Jun's lips twitched slightly when he heard this voice, his gaze landing on the one who called out the bid, Yuri Jahad. It would become very troublesome for him to get his hands on the token if she were to acquire it. He wanted to see if anyone was going to bid against her, but no one seemed interested in going against someone like Yuri. Even the other token holder was staying quiet, possibly waiting for Yao Jun to reveal his hand. In a situation like this, Yao Jun could only click his tongue and make his own bid.

"20 Heaven grade Spirit Stones."

Yao Jun received a few curious gazes for choosing to bid against Yuri but there was nothing he could do about them. He found it much worse when Yuri's eyes landed on him, slightly curious as to who was bidding against her. And just like he feared, after she looked at him for a short second, her eyes lit up with interest, the same interest she had when she first met and attacked him. She probably hadn't recognized him, but she had certainly designated him as someone who 'looked fun'. She turned her eyes back to the token, nodding her head and calling out another bid.

"In that case, how about we pump it up to 40 Heaven grade stones?"

She didn't even hesitate before doubling his previous bid, showing that she had no problem throwing away what could only be considered an absurd amount of wealth here. Yao Jun clicked his tongue once more and let out a sigh before giving a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"57 Heaven grade stones, if you can bid higher than that you can just take it."

Since she had already locked onto him like that and called out such a high bid, there was no point in drawing things out, he might as well just call out his max right away. Yuri looked at Yao Jun with a slightly tilted head, eventually just shrugging her shoulders.

"Nah, you can take it, I won't bully you."

Yuri leaned back in her seat, but Yao Jun didn't let out a sigh of relief just yet. He raised his eyes slightly, his gaze landing on the green-haired woman, awaiting her move. She noticed his gaze, sending him a pleasant smile before raising her hand and calling out her own bid.

"Then I guess I'll take it, 80 Heaven grade stones."

It seemed like she was trying to scare others away from bidding by immediately raising the price to a number which should scare off the others. And just like she hoped, no one else chose to raise the bid on a token with an unknown purpose. Yao Jun had no more money on him so he could only click his tongue and lean back in his seat and watch as she paid for the token and immediately left the auction.

With this token, she would be able to double the range at which she could sense the other tokens, so it might be a tad bit hard to track her down, especially if she chose to focus on hiding. But even so, Yao Jun wasn't too worried about it. Sooner or later she would have to come for him if she wanted to get his token, at that time he would be able to take all of her tokens in one go.

Yao Jun failed to acquire the token, but he didn't choose to leave the auction. There was no telling what other curious things would show up here, he might acquire some things which could help his cultivation. They were already on the sixth day of the auction, so the more expensive items were starting to appear, increasing the anticipation for the final items.

On the eight day of the auction, Yao Jun ended up spending the last of the money he currently had on hand. He bought the corpses of two large Demonic beasts, one with an incredibly strong poison and one that was a rather strange mosquito-like beast that could somewhat control the law of death. He could use their blood to cultivate his body, but the rest of the corpses would go to Du Xiao and Siwang, the two man-made Demonic beasts he had absorbed while he fought for the World Tree clan.

But his broke state wasn't meant to last for too long, as the last of his items came up for auction on the tenth day. The last of his items were the two High-grade Immortal weapons he had taken from Ardet and Mordred, and looking at how late they were in the auction, they should fetch a rather good price. The auctioneer brought out both the golden sword and the icy-blue two-headed axe at the same time, placing them on a marble pedestal he pulled out from his interspatial ring.

"Our next items for sale are these two weapons here, both High-grade Immortal weapons. They can be bought separate or together, it's all up to you. The sword is engraved with an array that will not only cause any attack to hit both the body and the soul, but also an array that will absorb that energy and channel it into your own body to restore any energy you have lost. The axe, on the other hand, contains an array that not only allows the wielder to freely and precisely increase the gravity of his surroundings but also split the axe into several smaller pieces that they can control freely, each piece able to alter the gravity around it. Bids start at 250 Heaven grade stones per weapon."

Yao Jun's eyebrow shot up when he heard the starting bid, it was quite a bit higher than what he had expected. He realized that the arrays in the weapons were good, but as he rarely engaged in protracted fights, he didn't really see the usefulness in such arrays. Another thing he didn't expect was that a furious shout would resound over the auction the moment the auctioneer finished talking.

"YOU DARE SELL THOSE WEAPONS?! YAO JUN, I KNOW THAT YOU'RE HIDING HERE SOMEWHERE, SHOW YOURSELF! YOU DARE SELL THOSE WEAPONS, BUT YOU DON'T DARE SHOW YOURSELF?!"

Yao Jun turned his head and looked at the person who just shouted out, a woman with short ashen hair and a scar going over her right eye. She had a rather muscular frame and six green eyes, two small growths on her back that were covered up by her robe. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw her, leaning back in his seat and quietly observing her.

She had been hiding herself underneath a thick robe that prevented people from scanning her appearance even when using their laws so Yao Jun hadn't noticed her earlier, but now that he saw her appearance, he realized who she was. Ysolde, the strongest of the servants that Peyton had brought into this competition. Looking at how strongly she was reacting, as well as the mannerisms and characteristics of her voice, Yao Jun guessed that Peyton had taken over her body and was the one currently shouting.

Ysolde received quite a few strange stares from her sudden outburst, but Yuri perked up when she heard her, quickly scouring the audience seats with excited eyes. Yao Jun didn't say anything, he simply continued to lean back in his seat and quietly observe the spectacle. In the past, he might have chosen to reveal himself so that he could taunt Peyton, but now he couldn't even get himself to do that. He had been fully humbled by meeting Chang Yun and the person who came to pick him up, there was no point in trying to play strong by taunting Peyton.

Ysolde continued to scream and shout, taunting Yao Jun in an attempt to reveal himself, but all that met her was his silence. The auctioneer forced her to quiet down after the first minute passed, properly starting the bidding process of the weapons. People like Yuri and Luosho Li might not need weapons like these, but they were in very high demand amongst the others, who didn't already have such weapons.

And yet, despite this, Yuri ended up buying one of the weapons. She outbid Ysolde for the axe, spending 851 Heaven grade Spirit Stones on it. She scoured the audience once more after buying the axe, still looking for Yao Jun. Ysolde was able to buy back the sword, but it cost her 917 Heaven grade Spirit Stones, resulting in her gnashing her teeth with a furious expression.

Yao Jun had no intention of complaining about this result, two weapons he considered useless had netted him almost 1,800 Heaven grade Spirit Stones. If he were to be back on his own home planet, this sum of Spirit Stones would be enough to buy the entire planet, it was more wealth than he had ever dreamt of acquiring.

Yao Jun didn't go to retrieve the money, doing so would announce that he had been the seller of those weapons. The auction had him listed as their seller, so the money was already written down in his name in case he chose to make any bids in the future.

The auction quickly continued, with more and more wondrous items appearing. Yao Jun ended up spending a large portion of his newly acquired Spirit Stones on an item that caught his interest, a complete soul cultivation technique that was found in the inheritance of a dead Godking. Sadly, buying this manual immediately took away most of his funds, bringing him down to only 150 Heaven grade Spirit stones.

And then, on the 20th day of the auction, the runes around the stage started to grow even brighter. The tension amongst the audience quickly rose when they realized what this meant, the final item that they all had been waiting for was about to be revealed. The middle-aged man smiled at the audience, nodding his head and bringing out a box made from Primordial grade Spirit Stones.

Just the box alone was made from at least 3 Primordial grade Spirit Stones, meaning that the box in itself was worth at least 30 000 Heaven grade Spirit Stones. Yao Jun couldn't help but be shocked, just what sort of item could be worth storing in such a box? The auctioneer quickly gave him his answer, opening the box to reveal a palm-sized yellow tower.

"This is the final item up for auction, and it is likely what you all have come here for. This is an item created by the previous Acedia, the Horrid King of Sloth as you all know him. This tower is covered in an array that utilizes the laws of both space and time. It can grow larger and smaller, and it functions like an interspatial ring that can hold any type of living beings. The one who controls this tower can use the arrays to increase the speed of time inside the tower by up to a thousandfold, turning one day of cultivation into a thousand. Now then, may I please have your bids?"