Chapter 68: Forced Purchase

  "The starting price for this gun is 800 low-grade spirit stones. The bidding will now begin." As soon as the middle-aged man on the auction stage finished speaking, someone bid 1,000 spirit stones.

  As soon as the first bid started, the competition behind immediately became fierce, and the price quickly broke through 1,500 spiritual stones, rapidly approaching 2,000 spiritual stones.

  Tai Shu looked at Ning Cheng with some embarrassment, "I didn't expect this top-grade artifact to be so expensive, I should have learned how to refine artifacts earlier."

  Ning Cheng smiled indifferently, "Don't say I don't have any spiritual stones, even if I did, I wouldn't come to snatch this long spear."

  After several rounds of bidding, this Seven Star Refining Gun was bought by someone for 3,600 spirit stones.

  The middle-aged man who hosted the auction sold off the long gun and then held up a cowhide scroll, saying loudly, "This is a map. Don't think it's some kind of treasure map. It's not a treasure map, but a hazardous terrain map. Many friends want to go to Huazhou, but the danger of the Falling Thunder Desert is not something ordinary people can pass through. This map happens to be a map that passes through the Falling Thunder Desert, but its authenticity has not been verified."

  Ning Cheng's heart skipped a beat as he listened, and he knew he had to buy this map. This map hadn't been appraised before, so the price wouldn't be high, and there wouldn't be many people interested in it either. But that didn't affect him; he already had one map, and his main purpose for buying this one was just to compare the two maps. After all, the original map he got was only a simplified version.

  "This map starts at a base price of 1,000 spirit stones. Each bid increase must be no less than 100. The auction begins..."

  The middle-aged man's words on the auction stage suddenly made Ning City lose his mind, a map that had not been verified, actually also wanted one thousand spirit stones, if it was confirmed, wouldn't it be worth tens of thousands of spirit stones?

  What made Ning City even more puzzled was that someone immediately quoted 1,100 spiritual stones, and in the blink of an eye, the price of this dubious map rose to 1,500 spiritual stones.

  It can be seen how many people want to go to Jiuzhou. In the end, this map was bought by someone for 3,100 spirit stones.

  In the next auction, Ning City was completely out of ideas. The more than 300 spiritual stones on his body could only afford to buy the first auction item, Tian Di Blue, and he couldn't afford anything else. It seemed that low-grade continents had a hard time getting spiritual stones, but when it came to using them, Ning City found that not everyone was like him.

  Half a day had passed when Ning Cheng finally heard the middle-aged man hosting the auction say, "Next up for auction is a stalk of spiritual grass. I believe many of you are here precisely for this spiritual grass... Yes, this is indeed the fourth-grade spiritual grass, Luminous Grass..."

  Even with private rooms, Ning City could still feel that after the Neon Grass came out, it caused a stir. That middle-aged man wasn't wrong, many people did come for the Neon Grass.

  "The effect of Rainbow Grass is well-known to everyone, this is one of the rare things that can repair Dan Lake, its value is immeasurable. The starting price is 5,000 low-grade spirit stones, each bid increase must not be less than 500 spirit stones, the auction begins."

  Ning Cheng discovered that the auctioneer would always quote a low price, which would attract more bidders, and the final price would inevitably be several times higher than the quoted price.

  The moment the Rainbow Grass appeared, Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi stared at it with extreme tension. Five thousand low-grade spirit stones, even if no one bid, they could get two thousand five hundred spirit stones, which was relatively enough.

  "Six thousand spirit stones."

  "Seven Thousand Spirit Stones"

  ……

  The price quickly rose to 12,000 spirit stones, it can be seen that many people want the Rainbow Grass, which also highlights the preciousness of the Rainbow Grass.

  When the price reached nineteen thousand spirit stones, a sudden cold hum came from a private room, "I bid two million spirit stones, who will raise the price again?"

  Everyone who quoted prices here was through the formation method in the private room, and this is the first time someone has directly quoted prices with such a loud voice.

  It seemed that many people knew who this old man was. After his cold hum and these words came out, surprisingly no one dared to continue bidding.

  Ning Cheng was furious, he knew from the atmosphere of the on-site bidding that the final price of this Nai Guang grass would definitely not be just 20,000 spirit stones. This self-proclaimed old man had used 20,000 spirit stones to buy his Nai Guang grass, it was simply daylight robbery.

  Although he was furious in his heart, Ning Cheng couldn't say anything. The auction house had tacitly acknowledged the existence of this entity. If a cultivator who had condensed nine layers of aura were to stand up and oppose it, that would be simply seeking death.

  "This old thing is really shameless." Tai Shu Shi also said with a hateful tone.

  Ning Cheng helplessly said, "Not having a face is also about having strength, without strength not having a face is useless. Fortunately after we get these ten thousand spirit stones, it's enough."

  The Niguangcao was indeed bought by the old man for 200,000 spirit stones without any suspense. After that auction, Ning City no longer had any interest in staying here.

  Tai Shu Shi and Ning Cheng had the same idea. After selling the Rainbow Grass, they stood up, "Big brother, we can leave now."

  At this moment, the middle-aged man who was hosting the auction shouted loudly, "Next, we will be auctioning off a low-grade flying sword..."

  "Wait." Ning Cheng heard that it was a flying ship's magic weapon and immediately became interested again.

  At his current level of cultivation, flying with a sword is too tiring. Moreover, if he were to encounter an emergency situation while exhausted, it would be extremely dangerous. Having a flying ship is different, as it also requires divine sense. Generally speaking, flying ship magic treasures have spirit stones to assist them, resulting in much less divine sense consumption.

  "The spaceship is priced at 600 spirit stones as a base price, and each increase in price must be no less than 100 spirit stones..."

  Ning Cheng was shocked and asked, "A top-grade long spear artifact is only priced at 800 low-grade spirit stones, why is this flying ship so expensive?"

  Tai Shu Shi knew that Ning Cheng came from Pingzhou and was not very familiar with the situation in Yan Zhou, so he immediately explained, "Among all the artifacts, the price of flying artifacts is the highest. The price of a low-grade flying ship artifact is almost equivalent to that of a high-grade attack artifact. The final transaction price of this flying ship will not be much lower than that gun."

  As expected, the price of spaceships on this side has already been competed to 1,300 spiritual stones, and there is no sign of stopping.

  "Let's go." Ning City no longer had any intention of continuing to buy flight talismans.

  ……

  "We'll go find Master Sandalwood now." Half a stick of incense later, Ning Cheng walked out of the auction house with one million spirit stones and Uncle Stone.

  The auction gave him a great stimulus, there were many things he wanted, but no spirit stone to buy them. The rainbow grass was clearly worth more, yet had to be sold at a low price.

  In the end, his strength was too low. He had to find Sanda Dan as soon as possible to refine the Condensed True Pill and prepare for promotion to the Condensed True Realm. As long as he was promoted to the Condensed True Realm, he would immediately go to Huazhou.

  Tai Shu Shi and Ning Cheng had the same idea, but he didn't plan to go to Huazhou immediately. He wanted to redeem Lian E first, then settle her down before going to Huazhou.

  "Master Sandadan has a peculiar temperament, try not to haggle with him, he hates haggling the most." Uncle Shi reminded Ningcheng once again, fearing that he might not understand Master Sandadan.

  ……

  Sanda Dan's residence looked ordinary, its exterior just a simple courtyard. As soon as Ning Cheng arrived here, he sensed that the outside of the courtyard had a defensive formation array.

  Tai Shu Shi stood outside the door, clapping his hands three times in mid-air. Then he gave Ning Cheng a look and said softly, "We'll just wait here, as soon as Master Sang Da Dan has time, he'll call us in."

  As expected, after a few breaths, Ning City saw the defensive formation in front of him open up, and then a voice came over, "Come on in."

  Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi pushed open the large gate of the courtyard and entered. Inside the courtyard was a large spiritual grass garden, where all kinds of first-class and second-class spiritual grasses were planted, and there were even several third-class spiritual grasses. A young boy was inspecting the spiritual grasses one by one. When Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi arrived, this young boy seemed to have not seen them at all, and continued to do his own thing.

  In this vast spiritual grassland, there is a winding small path that leads directly to a narrow large gate.

  Two people from Ning City walked along this winding path and entered through the narrow gate, the first thing they saw was a large dan furnace. Underneath the dan furnace, there was still a flame burning, and inside the dan furnace, it made a 'gurgling' sound.

  Behind the dan furnace, a beardless man sat upright on a rush cushion, holding a spiritual grass in his hand and deep in thought. Ning Cheng couldn't see through this person's cultivation, he guessed that this person was at least a Yuanyuan realm cultivator.

  "Junior Taishan, Ningcheng has met Senior Sanda before. This time I've come to disturb you, senior. Please work your magic and concoct a furnace of elixir for me." Taishan Shi said respectfully with a bow and clasped fists.

  Ning Cheng slightly bowed his head and clasped his fists. In his heart, he thought that the Xijia auction house had appeared with a rainbow grass, and Sanda Danzun liked spiritual grass so much, logically speaking, he should have gone to take a look, but why was there no movement at all?

  Sanda Dan Shi seemed as if he hadn't seen the two of them, nor had he heard Tai Shu Shi's words, and was still staring at the spiritual grass in his hand with a frown.

  Ning Cheng secretly despised him, this guy was just a third-grade true dan master. The old woman he saw in Nan Yuan City at the beginning must have had a higher level of alchemy than this Sang Da, and she didn't put on any airs. It seemed that this person was just a mediocre talent.

  Unfortunately, he still has to come and find this half bucket of water for help today.

  Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi waited for nearly an incense stick's worth of time, but San Da Dan Master still didn't say a word. Just as Ning Cheng was about to speak up again, San Da Dan Master suddenly asked, "What kind of dan medicine do you want to refine?"

  "Junior wants to refine the Condensed True Pill." Tai Shu Shi hastily replied.

  "Qing Zhen Dan?" Master Sanda Dan finally put down the spiritual grass in his hand, turned his head and stared at Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi for a moment.

  "Yes, it's the Essence of Truth Pill." Tai Shu Shi repeated with certainty.