Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1502 - Auction Begins

Chapter 1502 – Auction Begins

The Heavenly Dao Society’s rise to first place among the second-tier sects swept through the auction house like a gale, drawing countless stares and stirring a sea of mixed expressions.

The murmurs below naturally carried up to Liu Wuxie’s ears.

When the Divine Alchemy Sect finally arrived, their convoy moved under the leadership of their sect master, Sheng Yuan. Bai Ran traveled with them as well, yet they brought only fifteen people in total.

The Divine Alchemy Sect had already paid a brutal price, with over ten elders dead—some slain in Nightmare City, and six more cut down in Mount Dragon City. When they passed the Heavenly Dao Society’s room, Sheng Yuan paused for a moment, having assumed the Divine Alchemy Sect would still rank first among the second-tier sects, just as they had in the past.

“Isn’t this our room?” Bai Ran asked the attendant at the Skybrim Pavilion, confused as to why the man kept leading them deeper inside. The farther they went, the worse the conditions became, and their view grew increasingly restricted.

“This is the Heavenly Dao Society’s private room. The Divine Alchemy Sect’s private room is further in. Please follow me,” the Skybrim Pavilion’s attendant said politely.

The Divine Alchemy Sect’s elders flared with rage the instant they heard it. “This is outrageous! The Heavenly Dao Society replaced us?” Yet they didn’t dare vent that anger at the Skybrim Pavilion and could only swallow it down.

The Skybrim Pavilion’s attendant only maintained a courteous smile and offered no reply.

“Let’s go,” Sheng Yuan said, keeping his composure intact as he motioned for the attendant to continue.

They walked for two minutes, nearly reaching the end of the second-tier sect area, before they finally stopped at the private room assigned to the Divine Alchemy Sect. Bai Ran and the others seethed so hard they nearly burst.

When the door opened, the space inside proved cramped and narrow, barely enough to accommodate about ten people. With fifteen of them filing in, the room instantly felt stifling, though they could at least stand together.

“Enjoy your purchases,” the attendant at the Skybrim Pavilion said, and he shut the door behind them.

Sheng Yuan stared at the cramped room, his face turning terrifyingly grim as murderous intent spread through the space.

“Look at the Divine Alchemy Sect’s room. Why are they ranked fifth from the bottom?” Once someone occupied a room, its insignia lit up, and the people below spotted it at a glance.

If the Divine Alchemy Sect had grown for another hundred years, it could have entered the first-tier ranks, yet in only a few months, it had sunk to fifth from the bottom among the second-tier sects. No wonder everyone looked stunned.

“The Divine Alchemy Sect took a heavy hit this time, or their ranking wouldn’t have been so low.” Many people still struggled to comprehend it. Even if the Divine Alchemy Sect had weakened, they should have remained within the top ten among second-tier sects at the very least. This wasn’t a slight stumble; it was a plunge into the abyss, dropping from first to bottom five, a fall of more than a hundred positions.

“Is there a mistake?” Countless eyes turned toward the Divine Alchemy Sect, suspicion written clearly across their faces as they wondered if the Skybrim Pavilion had misjudged them.

“It can’t be wrong. The Skybrim Pavilion’s evaluation isn’t based solely on the sect’s strength, but also on its prospects and other factors. Judging from this turn of events, the Divine Alchemy Sect is in danger,” someone commented.

If rankings were based solely on strength, the Divine Alchemy Sect’s strength would still surpass the Heavenly Dao Society.

A new force rising would naturally send an old force tumbling.

Every private room could clearly hear the discussions from the common sitting area below, and the auction was about to begin now that all the major sects had essentially arrived.

“Sect Master, once the auction ends, we should find a way to wipe out the Heavenly Dao Society,” said a Divine Alchemy Sect elder. The Heavenly Dao Society had devastated the Divine Alchemy Sect’s market, and the sect could barely afford cultivation resources for its disciples anymore.

Many disciples had already slipped away in secret to seek better prospects elsewhere. Even if the Heavenly Dao Society did nothing, the Divine Alchemy Sect would still slide toward ruin over another ten years or so.

“The Heavenly Dao Society won’t live long. There’s no hurry,” Sheng Yuan said in a low, heavy tone. From the look on his face, he already had a plan he refused to share with the others.

The Grand Unity Sect had already launched its plan to eradicate the Heavenly Dao Society, and it wouldn’t take long before the Heavenly Dao Society vanished into the river of history.

A loud sound boomed through every corner of the auction house, instantly jolting Mu Tianli and the others out of cultivation as the auction finally began.

Everyone hurried to take their seats, and the auction platform snapped into clear view.

The auction hall dropped into silence at once as an elder stepped out from a nearby passage, followed by a group of women dressed in red.

There were one hundred women in total, and each carried an item of a different shape and size. The largest item stood over ten meters tall, a stone statue, while the smallest measured no longer than a finger.

Every item remained wrapped in cloth and sealed under strict restrictions, ensuring no information leaked out before it officially went up for bidding.

The elder standing at the forefront was none other than Wu Hen, the host of this year’s auction.

The moment the hundred women appeared, exclamations rippled through the crowd.

“What beauties and what high cultivation!” A roar of astonishment surged through the hall, because the hundred women were all in the Earth Immortal Realm without exception. Most of them were at the lower levels of the Earth Immortal Realm, which was already astonishing enough. Combined with their appearance, they instantly captured everyone’s attention.

“Those thousand astral crystals were worth paying to see so many beauties,” commotion continued to roll through the auction house. The auction platform rose to over 300 meters, and the private rooms were high enough to overlook the entire hall.

That also meant those seated in the common area could only tilt their heads up toward the platform.

The central region belonged to third-tier sects, granting them a slightly better view of the auction platform.

“Welcome to Vermilion Star. The auction will now begin. As in past years, we will present one hundred items today,” Wu Hen said, and his voice rolled outward like a sonic wave, crushing the noise into silence.

A Quasi-Immortal’s ability truly felt extraordinary, and the hall fell quiet once more.

“We will now display the first ten items,” Wu Hen said. The ten women at the forefront stepped forward, took their positions beside him, and began unveiling the items one by one.

The instant each veil came off, some people narrowed their eyes, some stayed indifferent, and others rubbed their palms together in anticipation.

Not only could those in the private rooms bid, but those in the common area could bid as well. Yet by past trends, most items would still be claimed by first-tier sects, while second-tier sects could only snatch what remained, and ordinary people would end up picking up scraps.

That was the foundation of forces with legacies spanning over a million years.

Everyone from the Heavenly Dao Society moved at once, some starting to record while others analyzed. Liu Wuxie swept his gaze across the platform and locked all ten items into his sight.

The truly exceptional treasures would appear in the final batch, while the early batches mostly catered to second- and third-tier sects.

After all, the Skybrim Pavilion had to accommodate everyone, and the items’ values rose steadily as the auction progressed.

All ten items were displayed. Among them were three mythical arts, two artifacts comparable to the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, several rare pills, and two blacksmithing materials.

Liu Wuxie lacked no mythical arts, and he already possessed the Heretic Blade as an artifact at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm. Once he reached the appropriate cultivation, he could retrieve Nightmare City as well and unleash the Heavenly Deity Monument’s power. He also didn’t lack eighth-grade spiritual pills, because the Heavenly Dao Society’s upper echelons had all reached the Earth Immortal Realm without exception.

Blacksmithing materials mattered even less to him because the Heavenly Dao Society currently focused on developing blacksmithing runes. The fiercest competition would come from smaller sects that urgently needed mythical arts and artifacts.

“Now, let us begin the bidding process for the first item: Heavenly Dragon Sound Seal, a compelling mythical art that can seal off a radius of ten thousand meters once executed. The bid will start at fifty thousand astral crystals, and each increment must be no less than ten thousand,” Elder Wu Hen announced.

The woman holding the Heavenly Dragon Sound Seal stepped forward and circled the platform, ensuring everyone could see the item clearly.

The auction was scheduled to last for three full days, and no one was allowed to enter or leave during that time.

The hundreds of private rooms remained in absolute silence, as no prominent sect bothered to speak. Those sects never lacked mythical arts, and they even created powerful ones specifically to sell to weaker sects.

“Sixty thousand!”

“Seventy thousand!”

“Eighty thousand!”

“…” Bidding erupted from the common area, and the price surged to one hundred thousand in less than a minute.

Liu Wuxie watched without a word, and the scene made him realize that selling mythical arts could also become a path to wealth, given how many mythical arts he held in his mind.

He soon shook his head, though, because most of those mythical arts originated from the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm, and letting them appear in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain would invite unwanted attention and trouble.

In the end, a third-tier sect purchased the mythical art for 150,000 astral crystals. The woman personally delivered the mythical art to the bidder and collected the astral crystals, and the first bidding concluded that way.

The price and the item both felt average, yet it still served as a good opening for the auction, because the first item in the previous auction had sold for only 130,000 astral crystals.

The second item followed, and once again, the common area competed fiercely while the private rooms stayed quiet. Second-tier sects would only start stepping in from the thirty-first item onward, because the value would rise progressively. That had remained an unchanging rule since ancient times: the finale always brought the greatest excitement and madness.

Item after item vanished from the auction platform, and four hours later, the bidding for the first ten items had ended. Wu Hen granted everyone fifteen minutes to rest before moving on to the next batch.

After the break ended, Wu Hen stepped forward again to continue the proceedings. Another ten women emerged, each carrying an auction item as they lined up beside Elder Wu Hen.

“We will now display the next ten items,” Elder Wu Hen said, and the ten women immediately unveiled their goods, sending a fresh wave of astonishment through the hall.

“The Heart-Seated Lotus Blossom, this is a treasure suitable for you ladies,” Liu Wuxie said as his gaze locked onto the fifth woman, who held a white lotus in her hands. It formed a heart shape and released powerful energy fluctuations.

“We don’t need it. Save the astral crystals for the critical moment to buy what we actually need,” Xu Lingxue said, sitting beside Liu Wuxie.

Over the years, they felt they hadn’t been able to help him much, aside from the battle in Mount Dragon City, and guilt weighed heavily on them. It wasn’t that their cultivation was low; they possessed terrifying cultivation on par with that of ancient beings in various sects.

However, Liu Wuxie preferred that his wives remain out of public view unless a true crisis arose.

Except for Hua Feiyu, no one knew that Liu Wuxie had borrowed fifteen million astral crystals from Death Mountain, and the price of a Heart-Seated Lotus Blossom would only cost about two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand astral crystals.

“This isn’t an ordinary lotus, and it can bring unexpected effects once you refine it,” Liu Wuxie said with a devilish smile.

“Big Brother Liu, what’s the use of this lotus?” Chen Ruoyan asked curiously.

“It can help you conceive,” Liu Wuxie blurted out.

The four ladies rolled their eyes at his words, and even Xiao Luo stuck out her tongue at Liu Wuxie. Only Vanya sat there with a face full of grievance.