I Can Add Points Infinitely - Chapter 68

“It’s starting…”

Shen Lian’s gaze shifted downward.

Shan Qing and Dong Yanyan also stopped talking and followed his line of sight.

On the first floor, at the auction stage.

Across the hall, countless figures had already filled the seats.

From a glance, there were at least a thousand people, all of them cultivators.

The lowest level of cultivation here was the Qi Refinement stage.

This auction was a grand event in the cultivation world, where many rare treasures and spiritual materials that are hard to find were up for sale.

As a result, it attracted many cultivators; anyone in Yan Country with a bit of capability was present.

Of course, some people of higher status were not interested in the auction.

For example, the inner sect elders of Azure Cloud Sect, the sect master, and so on…

The treasures they needed were far too rare to appear even at an auction.

Even if a few rare items occasionally appeared, Spirit Treasure Pavilion would sell them in another format.

For instance, they might privately invite these influential figures and hold an exclusive exhibition, but that’s another matter.

Looking back at the stage.

The auctioneer was already starting the preparations.

The perimeter of the venue, corners, and entrances were filled with guards holding spiritual weapons.

The security was extremely tight.

Along with the formation’s interception and protection, no one could rob the treasures from the venue.

“Hello everyone, I am Chang Yulan, the auctioneer for today’s auction.”

A clear and melodious voice transmitted through the amplifying formation, reaching everyone’s ears.

The crowd looked up at the stage and saw a beautiful young woman with a gentle smile hosting the auction.

“I’m sure everyone has been eagerly awaiting this event, so I won’t waste your time with unnecessary words.”

“Let’s start with the first item up for auction.”

With an elegant gesture, Chang Yulan waved, and two cultivators immediately stepped onto the stage, one of whom was carrying a tray covered with a red silk cloth.

Once they stood in the center of the stage, Chang Yulan reached out and pulled away the red cloth, revealing the item inside.

It was a purple soft whip emitting a faint, eerie glow.

“An offensive spiritual weapon, and it looks to be of decent quality.”

Shen Lian’s sharp eyes quickly assessed the soft whip before pulling his gaze back, nodding in approval.

Meanwhile, beside him, Shan Qing’s eyes lit up when she saw the treasure.

“Senior Sister, do you like that whip?”

Noticing her expression, Shen Lian asked.

“Huh?”

Shan Qing snapped back to reality, hurriedly covering up her reaction, and shook her head. “No, I was just looking…”

“Heh…”

Seeing her response, Shen Lian knew what was going on and smiled. “Senior Sister, I remember you are quite skilled in whip techniques.”

“You’ve just reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and your old soft whip may not be powerful enough anymore.”

“Why not buy this whip to replace it?”

“This… but that soft whip is probably not cheap…”

Shan Qing hesitated.

“What’s there to fear? We own a mid-sized spirit stone mine; are we short of spirit stones?”

Shen Lian waved his hand generously and said, “Don’t worry about it, Senior Sister. I’ll buy it for you as a gift.”

“At most, we’ll just mark up the mining expenses a bit this month…”

“Uh…”

Shan Qing was speechless.

She initially felt touched that Shen Lian was willing to spend spirit stones to buy her a gift, but his latter remark immediately dissipated any sense of gratitude she had before it could even settle in.

“The Xunlong Purple Gold Whip, a high-grade spiritual weapon, comes with a set of corresponding mid-level Profound-rank whip techniques, making it a rare treasure.”

Below, after the treasure had been sufficiently displayed, Chang Yulan began to introduce it.

“The specific content is reserved for the future owner and cannot be disclosed.”

“But I will say this: using the appropriate whip technique with the Xunlong Purple Gold Whip increases its power by at least 30%.”

…

“Buzz~~~~”

When they heard this, the crowd below began to murmur softly.

“Increasing power by 30% is indeed impressive; such techniques are extremely rare…”

“Unfortunately, I don’t use a soft whip; otherwise, I’d be interested in bidding.”

“Who wouldn’t be? Although it’s a good treasure, it’s a niche weapon, so not many people will use it. I reckon the final price won’t be too high.”

…

Everyone expressed their opinions.

Hearing their discussions, Chang Yulan remained calm on the surface, but in her heart, she felt a bit helpless.

The crowd was right; for niche weapons, no matter how good they were, the final price wouldn’t be very high.

She had already prepared herself mentally for this.

After a brief pause, Chang Yulan spoke in a crisp voice, “This first item is a benefit for everyone, a warm-up for the auction.”

“The starting price is one hundred lower-grade spirit stones; the bidding starts now.”

“Wow—”

Upon hearing this, the entire venue was in an uproar.

Although niche weapons might not sell for high prices, just the fact that it was a high-grade spiritual weapon should warrant a price of at least two thousand lower-grade spirit stones.

So, in an instant, everyone’s enthusiasm was ignited.

“Two hundred!”

“I’ll bid three hundred!”

“Three hundred and fifty!”

…

The bids continued to rise.

Chang Yulan looked down calmly; she had anticipated such a scene.

Trying to get a bargain?

Impossible.

Spirit Treasure Pavilion had held many auctions and knew how to play by the rules.

When something good comes out, no matter how low the initial price is, many people will try to get a bargain.

With everyone competing, the price naturally goes up, which also helps stir up the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Moreover, even if all the bidding cultivators were incredibly united and refrained from bidding, Spirit Treasure Pavilion had its own shills.

At key moments, they would bid high to buy the item back.

In short, at auctions, you might make a small profit, but the organizer never loses.

Indeed, it didn’t take long for the Xunlong Purple Gold Whip’s price to reach two thousand.

The fervent bidding began to slow down.

Now, only the true buyers remained.

“Two thousand one hundred…”

“Two thousand two hundred…”

Gradually, the number of bidders dwindled.

When the price reached two thousand five hundred, only two people were left competing.

“Two thousand six hundred…”

At this point, one of them bid again.

The other hesitated for a long time, then finally shook his head, refraining from placing a new bid.

The remaining bidder showed a look of delight and glanced at Chang Yulan.

Chang Yulan understood, nodded, and was about to finalize the bid according to the rules.

At that moment, a calm voice suddenly came from the second floor.

“Three thousand!”

“Wow…”

Everyone instinctively looked up at the second floor and saw a handsome young man standing there, looking down calmly.

It was Shen Lian.

Most of the people present were unfamiliar with Shen Lian and didn’t know who he was.

However, seeing that he was sitting on the second floor and participating in the auction, they could tell he was someone important, and after a brief glance, they withdrew their gaze.

The cultivator who had bid two thousand seven hundred looked annoyed.

He glanced at Shen Lian, then at Chang Yulan, hesitated for a long time, and finally shook his head and sat down.

Seeing this, Chang Yulan knew he wouldn’t bid again, so she turned to face Shen Lian’s direction and was about to finalize the deal.

But just then, a cold voice came from another room on the second floor, not far from Shen Lian’s.

“Three thousand one hundred!”

“Hmm?”

Shen Lian frowned slightly; he immediately recognized the voice.

The person was none other than the senior brother of the Azure Cloud Sect’s core disciples, Fang Nan, whom he had just met.

At that moment, in the opposite room, Fang Nan sat with a gloomy expression.

Originally, he had no interest in the Xunlong Purple Gold Whip, but hearing Shen Lian’s bid reminded him of the earlier incident.

Unable to resist, he decided to interfere.

“Hmph, Shen Lian, you’re out of luck meeting me…” Fang Nan sneered inwardly, his eyes filled with vengeful intent.

It was petty for a senior brother of Azure Cloud Sect to stoop to such levels, but here he was.

The other core disciples, seeing Fang Nan’s expression, dared not speak.

Only Chu Mingxu felt a sense of satisfaction, wishing Fang Nan would disgust Shen Lian even more.

“Three thousand two hundred!”

After a moment, Shen Lian’s calm voice sounded again.

He quickly grasped Fang Nan’s intention—raising the price to annoy him.

“Hmph… that’s all you’ve got,” Shen Lian thought, unconcerned. Within seconds, he had already devised a countermeasure against Fang Nan, his smile remaining serene.

“Three thousand three hundred!”

Sure enough, no sooner had he spoken than Fang Nan shouted a new bid.

“Three thousand four hundred!”

Shen Lian remained unfazed, calmly announcing the new price.

“Three thousand five hundred!”

“Three thousand six hundred!”

“Three thousand seven hundred!”

…

“Four thousand!”

In less than a breath’s time, the price soared to four thousand.

By now, even a fool could see the rivalry between the two on the second floor, clearly engaging in a bidding war.

But the auction organizers loved such participants; the more fiercely they competed, the better.

Chang Yulan, standing in the center, didn’t rush to finalize the bids.

There was no need for any tactics now; she just watched the two bid against each other.

“Four thousand three hundred!”

Shen Lian called out a new price.

“Junior Brother, stop bidding. It’s clear Fang Nan is doing this on purpose…”

Shan Qing anxiously tugged on Shen Lian’s sleeve, trying to dissuade him.

Even Dong Yanyan, usually full of bravado, held back from saying something reckless.

“Don’t worry, Senior Sister, I know what I’m doing.”

But Shen Lian remained unconcerned, a relaxed smile on his face, turning to reassure Shan Qing.

“But…”

Shan Qing wanted to say more.

Shen Lian shook his head and softly said, “Do I look like I’ve lost my mind?”

“This…”

Shan Qing stared at Shen Lian, unable to deny that his gaze was clear, showing no signs of frustration or anger.

“Just trust me,” Shen Lian continued.

Shan Qing finally nodded. Although she didn’t know what Shen Lian had planned, she chose to trust him.

“Four thousand five hundred!”

Fang Nan called out another new price.

“Five thousand!”

Shen Lian suddenly raised the price by five hundred spirit stones.

“Five thousand one hundred!”

Fang Nan hesitated before bidding again.

“Six thousand!”

Shen Lian did not pause for even a moment, immediately raising the price by another thousand.

At this point, Fang Nan finally stopped.

“Senior Brother, don’t bid anymore. Be careful; Shen Lian might be trying to trap you. The price has already doubled what that whip is worth.”

“If it ends up in our hands, it’ll be a waste.”

Tang Shisi quickly advised.

Fang Nan, hearing this, calmed down, nodded slowly, and didn’t continue to bid.

Below.

Chang Yulan, seeing the bidding war cease, waited a bit longer to confirm that Fang Nan wouldn’t continue bidding before quickly calling out three times.

Then, she finalized Shen Lian as the owner of the Xunlong Purple Gold Whip.

Chang Yulan, smiling broadly, was inwardly overjoyed. She ordered the cultivator beside her to deliver the treasure to Shen Lian’s room.

“Heh, Junior Brother Shen, you must be quite wealthy. Since you love that whip so much, I’ll be generous and let you have it.”

A mocking voice came from Fang Nan’s room next door.

Even though he was trying to annoy Shen Lian, he still made it sound grand and magnanimous, as if he were graciously conceding.

However, hearing this, Shen Lian’s smile only widened.

“Heh, just waiting for you to say something.”

Laughing to himself, Shen Lian suddenly yelled loudly, crudely and without restraint, “What the hell are you pretending for? If you can’t afford it, just say so. Letting me have it? Where was that generosity earlier? Was all that bidding just bullshit?”

“Idiot!”

“Compete with me over spirit stones? Do you even know who you’re messing with? Are you qualified?”

“I’ve got an entire mine behind me; what do you have?”

…

“Bang!”

In Fang Nan’s room.

Hearing Shen Lian’s unabashed insults, Fang Nan’s face turned black as coal.

His chest heaved with anger.

Especially when he heard about the mine, it struck a nerve, hitting him where it hurt the most.

Unable to contain himself any longer, he slammed his palm on a nearby round table, shattering it into splinters and scattering the pieces all over the floor.