Auction

In the private infirmary of the Divine Family, Shen Hong was furious as he looked at his son lying on a bed with what was remaining of his right leg wrapped securely in bloody bandages.

"What happened???" he roared at a man standing to the side, who was trembling with fear, unable to lift his head to meet the terrifying gaze of the Patriarch. The man's left shoulder was similarly wrapped in bandages with his entire arm completely missing. "Three gold ranked warriors to do something so simple...just releasing those insects into the farm. That village barely has a handful of gold ranked warriors. How did this happen?"

"I'm so-sorry, Pa-Patriarch. We accomplished the mission successfully but the young master wanted to stay on and have some fun..." the man stammered as he struggled to get the words out.

Shen Hong's voice turned icy cold. "Calm down. Tell me what happened. Who attacked you?"

The man's eyes panicked as he heard this question. "The truth is...I didn't have a good look at our attacker. It felt more like a powerful, lightning attribute beast, than a human warrior. All I saw was white flashes as it attacked us. We had no chance at all! Whether it was beast or human, it must have been at least Black Gold rank!!"

Shen Hong suddenly turned thoughtful for a moment. "Who was the girl?" He knew his son's philandering ways all too well and realised that 'having fun' meant that there was a woman involved.

"I believe it was the young lady that the young master is engaged to, Xiao Ning'Er." the man replied, puzzled at the Patriarch's sudden shift in mood.

Shen Hong suddenly broke out into a wide, evil smile and laughed out loud. "So that's the case. No wonder, no wonder..." He thought for a moment and told the man, "Send out our spies to the Xiao household in that village and find out the condition of the ex-Patriarch. Let me know immediately if there are any updates about his health or...his death." He burst into another high pitched peal of laughter as the man with one arm exited the room.

"Ahhhh, my foolish son might have finally done something good! The Silver Flash of old was finally compelled to take action instead of turtling up in his home. From what the spies have told me, he has a serious health condition that places him at extreme risk if he goes into battle. My useless son's leg for his life, or at least a severe injury to him...what a wonderful outcome! The Silver Flash had always been a headache to me and prevented me from pressuring the Winged Dragon Family too directly or aggressively in the past. Maybe now, there will be nothing else holding me back!!"

He spoke to himself while stroking his grey beard because Shen Fei was still out cold from the medication he had consumed. He then turned and walked out of the infirmary, with a spring in his steps, as though he were anticipating good things in the future.

.....

As her husband's condition stabilised at home, Grandma Xiao began contacting her personal network to secure reliable and trustworthy gold ranked guards for the Tong household. The years she had spent as the Patriarch's wife in the past had honed her instincts for the dangers and politics of Glory City, and she suspected there was far more at play than just a random bandit attack.

With the funds provided by Ning'Er, it was like providing wings to a tiger, even if that tiger had gone into retirement a long time ago. She discussed with her husband to stay hidden in the home for a period of time so she could monitor the response and possibly flush out the enemy if they thought that he was injured...or worse.

Two days after the attack, a carriage arrived to pick up Ning'Er. Wang Shu jumped out energetically and greeted her. "Good morning! Today is the day! Oooh, this is going to bring so much more fame to our glorious Guild of Inscriptionists!!"

Ning'Er had almost recovered from her injuries and exertions. There was still an ugly bruise on her shoulder where the dislocation had happened, and her ankle had some remaining soreness but otherwise, she felt strong after consolidating her 1-Star Gold Rank cultivation. She smiled as she saw the cheerful and energetic old man because his bubbling joy was contagious.

Along the way to the auction house, Wang Shu babbled on, giving her some background information. "The Treasure Auction is a prestigious yearly event by the powerful Hong Yue Family, where the best items created or discovered can be sold for incredible sums of money. It's not just a random auction, many of the most powerful weapons, artifacts and pills in Glory City have gone through this event. But I'm pretty sure that no one has ever seen items quite like the ones we have for today!!" He cackled in glee, anticipating what the response would be.

Even Ning'Er was curious as to whether she would be able to find anything useful today. The aristocratic families all received an exclusive invitation to attend and no random person could just walk in even if they wanted to pay for entry. Those who were not part of an aristocratic family would need to secure an invitation through a recommendation from an influential person or organisation, along with an expensive token fee, which was then reviewed and approved by the Hong Yue Family.

When she arrived, she was ushered in to sit in a private booth on the second floor with her father and a few of his personal guards. Wang Shu went to take his place among the guests who were not part of the aristocratic families invited. From the balcony, she was overjoyed to see Linjian three booths away to the left, and they made eye contact briefly before breaking out into genuine smiles. She felt a warmth in her heart as she realised that he had been looking out for her too.

The auction was almost ready to begin as the auctioneer responsible for today walked out towards a specially prepared podium on the stage. The Hong Yue Family had engaged a lady of dazzling beauty, who oozed sexiness with every motion she made and every subtle sway of her hips caused the men in the room to inadvertently dream of scenes reserved for the privacy of the bedroom. She wore a beautifully embroidered dress of red flowers on white silk which was so tight that it looked like it might tear, starting from the long slit at the side of her hip which gave glimpses of perfect, creamy skin. She would have the unwavering attention of those in the room, and as the men got heated up and influenced by her sensual beauty, they would be more willing to spend without thinking it through.

"Honoured guests, welcome to our prestigious event. The Hong Yue Auction House has prepared many precious treasures just for today. Many were obtained from dangerous expeditions to the surrounding ruins in the St. Ancestral Mountain range. We believe they will be...appealing to you." She licked her blood red lips as she emphasised the word 'appealing', her intoxicating, breathy voice setting many hearts racing.

"The first auction item is from the ruins of Clear River Town. It's a large piece of broken jade, where upon inspection, there remains an extremely rich aura. The starting price is three hundred demon spirit coins!"

By the time the lady's voice ended, someone had already raised their bidding plate.

"Three hundred fifty demon spirit coins!"

"Four hundred spirit coins!"

"Five hundred spirit coins!"

The bidding went all the way to two thousand demon spirit coins before it stopped. After all, it was just a piece of broken jade even though it may still contain some remnant soul force aura. A noble family's yearly income would average at around one million demon spirit coins, so two thousand demon spirit coins is already something that can't be frivolously thrown away.

Ning'Er looked at the item and could tell that it was Primary Dark Jade. With the quality she was able to assess, if all the functions were brought out, it would be worth two to three million demon spirit coins. On top of that, she had a unique use for it that she had discovered in her previous life's adventures, which would make it even more valuable for her. Primary Dark Jade wasn't something easily chanced upon!

She lifted her bidding plate. "Winged Dragon Family, two thousand five hundred demon spirit coins!"

"Two thousand five hundred demon spirit coins going once!"

"Two thousand five hundred demon spirit coins going twice!"

"Two thousand five hundred demon spirit coins going thrice!"

"Sold! Congratulations to the Winged Dragon Family for successfully bidding on this piece of jade."

Xiao Yunfeng looked at his daughter with some curiousity. "Ning'Er, are you sure that you want this piece of broken jade? I hope that you're not buying it just because it's a little pretty."

"Father, don't worry I have use for it. Also, I have enough funds to pay for anything I bid on today." she replied.

Her father nodded in acknowledgement. He knew that his daughter had helped greatly to stabilise their family's finances through the partnership with the Guild of Inscriptionists, and wasn't surprised that she would be able to raise her own funds. Nevertheless, he would do his best to support her with the clan's finances if there were something that she needed to get if she did not have sufficient money.

"The next auction item is a mysterious interspatial ring!" The auctioneer lifted up the ring gently and held it to the light. "The mysterious material that this ring is made out of is translucent with specks of beautiful glitter within. It is completely flawless and can be called the best storage ring created! It has a storage space of over two hundred square meters and was brought back by a gold ranked adventurer from the Ning You City Ruins. As you all know, these ruins are among the most dangerous to excavate but because of the power and wealth of the Ning You Family of old, it contains some of the best treasures we have found before. Many of these treasures were actually acquired by he City Lord and kept safely in the City Lord Mansion..."

The lady's voice resounded through the whole room. "The starting price is 50,000 demon spirit coins!"

"Wow, there's some good stuff coming out so early in the auction!"

"But the price is so expensive. They actually asked for a starting price of fifty thousand!"

"This interspatial ring has such a large space. Pricing it at fifty thousand demon spirit coins is not unreasonable at all!"

Some of the wealthy families below began bidding hungrily for the item.

"Fifty five thousand demon spirit coins!"

"Sixty thousand demon spirit coins!"

"Sixty five thousand demon spirit coins!"

The Patriarch from the Silver Tiger Family, Lei Zhuo, made his move. "Eighty thousand demon spirit coins!" He had obviously taken a liking to these remarkable item even though the price was getting to a level where it would really hurt to keep going. Over one month's income for his clan for an interspatial ring!

Ning'Er had kept quiet for awhile as her some memories came to mind. This was the ring that Nie Li had used in their previous lives! On top of its obvious practical uses, she decided she wanted it for nostalgic reasons as well.

"One hundred thousand demon spirit coins." She lifted up her plate.

The room was stunned into silence for awhile that someone was willing to spend so much on such a lavish item.

"One hundred and five thousand demon spirit coins!" Lei Zhuo countered with his teeth clenched together in irritation. He looked into her booth with a glare as though challenging her to go on. She opened her mouth and was about to give a new bid when she heard another voice from the side call out.

"One hundred twenty thousand demon spirit coins."

She looked to her left to see Linjian's chuckling face, as he subtly pointed to himself to say that he'd take over from here.

Lei Zhuo's face turned red as he looked over to the Divine Family's booth on the second floor. He didn't mind offering a suppressed Winged Dragon Family but this was one of the three major families of Glory City! He sat down and leaned back in an obvious display of giving up on the item.

"Sold! Congratulations to the Divine Family for successfully bidding on this exquisite interspatial ring."

Ning'Er sat back and pretended to pout, muttering silently to herself. "I didn't need his help to win this item. But at least he's got a ring to put on my finger. What a sneaky fellow..." Her mouth turned into a wide smile as she recalled the situation just now.