Evan Lin wasn’t actually resting his mind—he was sensing the energy fluctuations coming from the viewing screen. The screen was too miraculous; he wanted to know how it could project images like this, and whether it was powered by any special force. He needed to figure it out.
Right now, he was interested in any kind of energy item that didn’t require manpower to function. Maybe this could help him understand the power of the stars. But after probing it with his divine sense for a long time, he still had no clue. All he could tell was that the screen’s energy fluctuations came from Immortal Stones embedded in the walls, not from some formation drawing on heaven-and-earth power.
Then he opened his eyes and looked carefully at the image on the screen. The inner auction hall was already packed with people. A white-haired old man stood atop a huge round platform, and behind him was another giant screen—except it wasn’t showing anything yet.
At that moment, the old man said, “Welcome everyone to the once-in-a-century grand auction! This auction is hosted by Newcapital City under Martial Spirit Dominion. On behalf of our City Lord, I welcome you all. I am the Grand Elder of the City Lord’s Mansion and the auctioneer for this event—all items will be auctioned by me personally.”
After his speech, the crowd burst into enthusiastic applause, and lively chatter filled the hall. Evan Lin, sitting in his VIP room, could hear everything clearly.
The old man gestured for silence and continued, “Everyone, quiet down. This auction will last four days, and we’ll be auctioning off a thousand items. Every single one is of excellent quality. I hope you all get what you want. Now, I officially declare the auction open!”
Another round of loud applause erupted. Evan Lin watched as the old man took out a black longsword from his storage ring and said, “This is a fine Immortal sword—upper-grade quality. Its special trait is that fire-attribute immortals can double their attack power when wielding it.
It’s a fire-element Immortal sword. Although it’s upper-grade, for a fire-attribute immortal it’s practically a top-tier weapon. The starting price is 100,000 Crystal Coins, with each bid increment no less than 10,000 Crystal Coins. The auction begins now.”
Seeing this, Evan Lin immediately asked Lotus Lian beside him, “Aren’t items bought with Immortal Stones? Why are they using Crystal Coins?”
Lotus replied respectfully, “Young master, you may not know—these opening items can be bought with Crystal Coins. After all, Crystal Coins are also a circulating currency in the Immortal Realm. Immortal Stones are rarer and much more precious, so the auction starts with Crystal Coins. Only when there aren’t enough Crystal Coins do we switch to Immortal Stones.”
After hearing this, Evan Lin immediately understood and laughed, “So it’s a fire-element Immortal sword. Not bad! And the price is so low—100,000 Crystal Coins is only worth ten mid-grade Immortal Stones, right?”
“That’s right. The current base price for this sword is ten mid-grade Immortal Stones. Because it’s the very first item, the auction house deliberately lowered the price. Normally, with its quality, it would start at a hundred mid-grade Immortal Stones,” Lotus explained.
Evan Lin thought for a moment and decided the sword was perfect—his Fire Golden Body just happened to need an Immortal sword. He’d let it use this one for now. “Lotus, secure that sword for me. No matter how many Immortal Stones it takes, you must get it.”
Lotus didn’t understand why Evan Lin was so determined to get this sword, but she had to obey his orders. She nodded, just as the screen switched to another view.
On the giant screen behind the auctioneer, several numbers appeared. Evan Lin kept quiet, but Lotus said, “Young master, look—someone’s already raised the price to 1.5 million Crystal Coins. That’s a guest from standard room sixty-eight.”
Evan Lin looked closely and saw the number sixty-eight on the screen, along with the Crystal Coin amount offered. More numbers appeared below, each a bit lower than the last.
He realized that the higher the bid, the closer to the top your position. If you offered the most, you’d be first. So he said, “Raise the bid by two million Crystal Coins.”
Only a local tyrant like Evan Lin would casually spike the price to 3.5 million Crystal Coins—he didn’t care about a few Immortal Stones.
Instantly, the screen showed: Second-class VIP Room 16, 3.5 million Crystal Coins. The whole crowd was stunned. It wasn’t a huge amount of Immortal Stones, but the sheer jump in price was hard to accept.
For a moment, everyone was gossiping about whether the person in VIP Room 16 was crazy—raising the price so much all at once, driving the cost way up for a discounted opening item.
“Three and a half million Crystal Coins! Is there anyone who wants to bid higher than three and a half million?” called the auctioneer from the stage.
Soon, two people outbid Evan Lin—one raised the price to four million, another to five million. The five-million bid also came from a second-class VIP room: Room 3.
No one expected such fierce competition for the very first item. The auctioneer spoke again: “Five million Crystal Coins, first call! Anyone want to go higher?”
Evan Lin frowned slightly—the old man’s voice sounded like a pig being slaughtered, unbearably harsh. He couldn’t understand why they let this geezer host the auction instead of a sweet-voiced young girl.
“Young master, how much should I raise the bid?” Lotus asked, remembering Evan Lin’s determination to win the sword.
“Just put in ten million Crystal Coins. I don’t want to hear that awful voice anymore—it’s driving me crazy,” Evan Lin said.
Lotus immediately went to the screen and entered the ten-million figure. Instantly, the giant auction hall screen displayed the new bid.
Once again, all eyes turned to second-class VIP Room 16. Many people wondered who this guy was, daring to raise the price so insanely.
“Ten million, first call! Anyone want to go higher?” The old man continued, his voice like a pig being slaughtered.
Just as he finished, the screen flashed with a new bid—twenty million, from Room 3. Clearly, whoever was in Room 3 was just as determined to win the sword.
“Twenty million, first—” The old man hadn’t even finished before Evan Lin said, “Make it a hundred million. I want that guy to shut up—he’s driving me nuts.”
If anyone else said that, Lotus would think they were crazy. But coming from Evan Lin, it just seemed normal—after all, he had thousands of supreme-grade Immortal Stones. She immediately entered the terrifying hundred-million figure.
When the hundred-million bid appeared on the screen, everyone was utterly shocked. For a while, the auction hall was filled with a storm of gossip and speculation…