Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1501 - Auction

Chapter 1501 – Auction

Everyone froze in shock the moment they stepped into Vermilion City, because the entire place felt like a gigantic dome suspended in mid-air.

“An immortal artifact!” Liu Wuxie concluded at once. He could tell that the dome was an immortal artifact and that all the cultivators of Vermilion City lived inside it.

Then again, cultivators could enter and leave freely, which made perfect sense for a city that could accommodate one million people. The space inside an immortal artifact could expand without limit, and it could house ten million people with ease, let alone one million.

“Wuxie, this is the item list for the auction. It might not be one hundred percent accurate, but you can use it as a reference,” Hua Feiyu said as he took out a list and handed it to Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie opened the list and skimmed through the items. Under normal circumstances, auction goods would remain confidential until the auction began, but the Heavenly Dragon Sect evidently had its own channels. Even then, Hua Feiyu could not vouch for the list’s authenticity.

“Dao Comprehension Stone, Primordial Indigo Aura, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth’s fragment, an incomplete immortal art…” Liu Wuxie’s eyes gleamed as he read, and a fierce urge surged within him to snatch every treasure for himself.

The true value of the Dao Comprehension Stone was its ability to boost cultivation efficiency twofold, which would make it a prime target for cultivators at the peak of the Earth Immortal Realm. With its aid, breaking into the Heaven Gaze Realm would become far more achievable.

As for the Primordial Indigo Aura, it needed no explanation, because it was a heaven-defying treasure that even experts at the Heaven Gaze Realm would covet. The fragment of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth also held immense value for Liu Wuxie, because if he could find fragments of earth, metal, and fire, he would be able to perfect the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art.

By contrast, the incomplete immortal art was what he needed the least, yet it carried a fatal temptation for cultivators at the Quasi-Immortal Realm.

Liu Wuxie knew countless immortal arts, and only his cultivation limited him, so why would he compete for something that was essentially useless to him?

He handed the list back to his master. Aside from those treasures, the list also included strange items he had never heard of, and he would have to wait for the auction to begin before he could determine their use.

The instant they stepped deeper into Vermilion City, immense pressure crushed down from the surroundings, suppressing everyone’s cultivation, including powerhouses at the Quasi-Immortal Realm. Those were the laws of an immortal artifact at work.

“That is the auction house,” Sun Xiao said, pointing toward a colossal structure at the center that occupied roughly ten thousand square meters. The sight instantly left everyone from the Heavenly Dao Society baffled, because they couldn’t understand how ten thousand square meters could accommodate over one million people.

“Master, can this place really accommodate one million people?” Hu Shi asked, unable to believe it. At a glance, it looked like the auction house could hold only ten thousand people at most.

“It has an independent space inside, and it can even accommodate ten million people, not to mention one million,” Liu Wuxie said, keeping his explanation brief. They would naturally understand once they went in.

A vast crowd was already gathered outside the auction house, and the flow was divided into two clear streams. Invited sects would enter through the east gate, while those without invitations could only use the west gate.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Heavenly Dao Society had invitations, so they naturally entered through the east gate. The west gate, on the other hand, looked far more crowded because ordinary sects across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain had all sent representatives to attend the auction, and each person had to pay one thousand astral crystals to enter.

One thousand astral crystals weren’t a small sum, and yet the crowd still poured in without end. Anyone who arrived too late couldn’t even secure a seat.

The Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Heavenly Dao Society arrived late, and most sects had already entered the auction house by then.

Several elderly men stood outside the gate to receive guests.

The elders stepped forward at once upon seeing Hua Feiyu. “Sect Master Hua!”

“Greetings, Elder Wu Hen,” Hua Feiyu said as he returned the greeting.

“You must be Liu Wuxie,” Elder Wu Hen turned his gaze to Liu Wuxie, whose fame had spread across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain over the past year, with his name mentioned almost everywhere.

“Wuxie, come and greet Elder Wu Hen. He’s the Skybrim Pavilion’s first elder, and he’s only second to the pavilion master,” Hua Feiyu said as he introduced him, and Liu Wuxie hurried forward.

“Greetings, Elder Wu Hen,” Liu Wuxie said with a respectful bow, offering the proper etiquette of a junior.

Similar to Hua Feiyu, Elder Wu Hen had reached the Quasi-Immortal Realm. The Skybrim Pavilion’s internal affairs fell mostly under Elder Wu Hen’s management, and he was also a host for this auction.

“The future is truly promising to have a young prodigy like you,” Elder Wu Hen said after assessing Liu Wuxie, and he wasn’t saying it merely out of respect for Hua Feiyu.

After all, Liu Wuxie’s name had spread throughout the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, and Vermilion Star had naturally heard of him as well.

The Skybrim Pavilion made its living by selling goods, and its intelligence channels were far more accurate than those of other sects.

“Senior, you flatter me,” Liu Wuxie said with modest restraint.

“Sect Master Hua, this way please,” Elder Wu Hen said with a nod. They exchanged only a few pleasantries before he invited them inside, where attendants would guide them to their seats.

They passed through the gate and entered a long corridor that stretched across the clouds.

After Hua Feiyu’s convoy went in, the two elders standing behind Elder Wu Hen stepped forward. The elder on the left asked, “Elder Wu Hen, is Liu Wuxie really that monstrous?”

They still had to receive other guests, so they remained stationed at the entrance.

“Just yesterday, Liu Wuxie returned alive from Death Mountain,” Elder Wu Hen said, not even bothering to answer the question directly, because surviving Death Mountain already spoke loudly enough.

Even they wouldn’t come out unscathed if they were to enter Death Mountain themselves.

“Those three in Death Mountain probably let him out on purpose, right? To lure more people in,” the elder on the right said in a doubtful tone. In his eyes, the three elders must have deliberately released Liu Wuxie, hoping to lure more people in so they could borrow more lives.

Others might not know much about Death Mountain, but the Skybrim Pavilion knew it inside and out, and that alone proved the Skybrim Pavilion’s reach.

“He was only at the sixth-level Void Realm when he had entered, but when he left, he had reached the eighth level. That alone makes it interesting,” Elder Wu Hen said as he shook his head.

More guests approached, and the elders ended their conversation at once. After crossing the corridor, Liu Wuxie’s group entered a vast space crowned by a giant dome.

The upper levels of the dome were lined with countless rooms built from special stone. From the outside, they were completely opaque, yet from within, everything below was clearly visible. Beneath these rooms sat an oval-shaped platform, its rows of chairs filled with cultivators who had not received invitations.

People still kept arriving, and the strangest part was that the auction house began expanding on its own.

“The space here is enormous!” Hu Shi exclaimed, his shock plain on his face.

As a blacksmith, he was instantly fascinated the moment he realized that the dome was an immortal artifact and that the space within could adjust itself.

“This is the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s private room,” the attendant said as he led the group into a spacious room that could accommodate over a hundred people.

Hua Feiyu strode in, and the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s disciples followed behind him.

“Those from the Heavenly Dao Society, please come with me,” the attendant said, and he led the Heavenly Dao Society elsewhere.

Roughly a minute later, he brought them to a smaller room that could hold about twenty-odd people, and it wasn’t as spacious as the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s. The size of a private room reflected a sect’s standing, and it was obvious that the Heavenly Dao Society ranked as a second-tier sect.

The furnishings looked lavish, with soft leather couches that let people sit or lounge with ease. A table in the center displayed various rare fruits, and each fruit cost a fortune, fetching at least one thousand astral stones each at market price. The extravagance felt staggering.

Aside from Liu Wuxie, others couldn’t help glancing around the room with open curiosity. After the attendant arranged everything, he left and closed the door behind him, sealing them off from the outside world.

“We can overlook the entire auction house from this place,” Mu Tianli said as he walked to the crystal wall and looked down over the vast hall.

“This room should be the best among the second-tier sects,” Liu Wuxie said. Before entering, he had already seen countless rooms, and first-tier sects and first-tier planets occupied over forty of them. Second-tier sects numbered far more, with roughly over one hundred rooms.

“The auction will begin in ten hours. Everyone should take a rest. After all, there is going to be an intense competition ahead of us,” Liu Wuxie said, signaling for everyone to rest as he stepped out. He still had matters to discuss with his master.

The auction wasn’t just a marketplace; it also served as an arena where sects competed openly. They didn’t only compete in wealth, but also in intelligence, because if they weren’t careful, they could fall straight into another party’s trap.

The moment Liu Wuxie entered the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s room, the other elders tactfully withdrew to the side and left space for him to speak with Hua Feiyu privately. The two spoke in secret for a full two hours before Liu Wuxie finally left.

As time slipped by, the auction house filled to the brim, packed with people, and the majority of cultivators from the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain had gathered there. It was hard to find even a single cultivator at the Void Realm.

When Liu Wuxie returned to the room, he found everyone cultivating, so he didn’t disturb them. Instead, he walked to the crystal wall and looked down over the entire auction house. He wanted to use this chance to gauge every opponent, but restrictions shrouded each private room, blocking him at every turn.

However, each room displayed a visible insignia indicating which sect occupied it, and everyone below could see them clearly.

“Look! The Heavenly Dao Society is actually ranked first among the second-tier sects!” The room arrangement carried deep meaning, and the cultivators in the standard seats immediately craned their necks and stared upward, where they discovered the Heavenly Dao Society’s room located at the very front of all second-tier sects, even ahead of the Divine Alchemy Sect.

During the previous auction, the Divine Alchemy Sect had ranked first among the second-tier sects. Not just that, it had once stood on the verge of being promoted to a first-tier sect, but the appearance of the Heavenly Dao Society had sent them tumbling. Their pill sales had suffered heavily, and internal conflicts had begun erupting within the sect.

“It’s expected. The Heavenly Dao Society has suppressed the Divine Alchemy Sect, and it’s only natural for them to take their place.” Most cultivators weren’t surprised, because every era birthed rising powers that pushed the old ones aside.

“The Heavenly Dao Society might be developing rapidly, but its foundation is too shallow. The accumulation of their resources can’t compare to the other second-tier sects, and it will be hard for them to buy any top-tier treasures,” someone argued.

Various sects had already investigated the Heavenly Dao Society’s income. They estimated it had no more than 1 million astral crystals to spend during the auction, and that amount wouldn’t be sufficient to snatch any top-tier treasures.

“Not necessarily. The Heavenly Dragon Sect will surely support the Heavenly Dao Society,” others countered. Some people still looked at the Heavenly Dao Society with optimism, hoping they could even crush the first-tier sects.