Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1512 - Interlocking Schemes
Chapter 1512 – Interlocking Schemes
Hua Feiyu’s declaration dropped a weight over the hall, and dead silence swallowed every corner.
Everyone knew the Grand Unity Sect only had 2,300,000 astral crystals left, while the Heavenly Dragon Sect had just taken seven million. Even if the Grand Unity Sect somehow pushed its bid to 2,300,000, it still couldn’t buy this Boundless Heavenly Tome.
“Damn it!” the members of the Grand Unity Sect cursed as the reality hit them head-on. Any further bidding would only serve the purpose of making the Heavenly Dragon Sect spend a little more.
Yet the Heavenly Dragon Sect no longer lacked astral crystals. If the Grand Unity Sect quit, it would look like they had been frightened into retreat, effectively admitting they stood beneath the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Either outcome tasted bitter, and neither matched what they could accept.
Liu Wuxie swept the Ghost Pupil across the Boundless Heavenly Tome, and he found a few recorded lines inside, but nothing of real worth.
“They can sell this kind of trash for millions of astral crystals? I could scribble a few of these myself,” Liu Wuxie said with a wry smile. As the reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor, he could pen countless insights like this, but in the eyes of ordinary people, immortals remained untouchable and beyond reach. If he honestly wrote them and let the Skybrim Pavilion sell them, he would become everyone’s target overnight, and even Hua Feiyu wouldn’t be able to shield him.
“1,100,000!” the Grand Unity Sect called, forcing the price upward again. Even if they couldn’t win, they could still make the Heavenly Dragon Sect pay more.
“1,200,000!” Zhuge Ming answered for Hua Feiyu, his voice calm and steady.
“1,500,000!” the Grand Unity Sect pushed, determined to make the Heavenly Dragon Sect burn astral crystals.
The Nine Dragon Palace had wanted to join earlier, but once the price hit 1,500,000, the bidding no longer made sense. The Boundless Heavenly Tome wouldn’t exceed the price of a million astral crystals, and sects with long legacies that produced immortals didn’t lack such insights.
“1,600,000!” Zhuge Ming raised again, never showing the slightest impatience.
“2,000,000!” The Grand Unity Sect followed through, as if wasting another million for the Heavenly Dragon Sect would at least soothe their fury.
“Congratulations! The Boundless Heavenly Tome belongs to your Grand Unity Sect now,” Zhuge Ming said, cupping his hands together.
“What?” The members of the Grand Unity Sect froze, and everyone else followed in stunned silence. Hadn’t Hua Feiyu just declared the Heavenly Dragon Sect would add one hundred thousand above whatever price the Grand Unity Sect offered? Where did that integrity and credibility go now?
That single turn meant the Grand Unity Sect had paid two million, double what a book of insights should have ever cost.
“Hahaha! The Grand Unity Sect made the Heavenly Dragon Sect pay more to buy the Giant Spirit Beast’s teardrop, and the situation has turned around now. The Heavenly Dragon Sect made the Grand Unity Sect spend nearly twice the amount of astral crystals.” Only then did the crowd snap into understanding. Hua Feiyu had thrown those words out on purpose, baiting the Grand Unity Sect into competing until they trapped themselves.
“Was this another one of Liu Wuxie’s schemes?” More and more people instinctively turned to look at the Heavenly Dao Society’s private room.
Hua Feiyu’s line had served as another hook in the plan, tugging the Grand Unity Sect forward. They didn’t just want to drain the Grand Unity Sect’s astral crystals; they wanted to humiliate them completely, and the result spoke for itself.
“Damn it! Hua Feiyu fooled us!” several elders of the Grand Unity Sect shouted, jumping to their feet, teeth clenched in hatred as they stared at the cruelty of a sect master who could twist words so smoothly.
That depended on where you stood. Outside, Hua Feiyu’s words would carry weight, but inside an auction, no one trusted promises, because every promise could be bait you had to see through.
“The auction house is a battlefield where you force the other side to spend more. They outplayed us,” Venerable Grand Unity said, his grim expression tightening as he reassessed the Grand Unity Sect’s feud with the Heavenly Dao Society.
He spoke plainly but correctly. An auction not only tested resources, but it also tested wits, and when astral crystals fell short, you could still burn your opponent’s reserves to gain an edge in the battles ahead.
The Heavenly Dragon Sect didn’t need to burn anyone’s resources to win, so Hua Feiyu had done this for one reason alone: to humiliate the Grand Unity Sect rather than to secure victory.
The Grand Unity Sect only had 2,300,000 astral crystals left, and they had just thrown two million at the Boundless Heavenly Tome. That decision had ended the Grand Unity Sect’s participation in the auction on the spot because their remaining astral crystals couldn’t even cover the starting price.
“Liu Wuxie is really ruthless. He must’ve deliberately left 2,300,000 astral crystals behind for the Grand Unity Sect on purpose to trade for Cypressia Star’s rights. It turns out that he had already dug a pit for them here,” an elder of the Comet Temple said, and a chill ran down people’s spines as they recalled Hua Feiyu leaving over two million for the Grand Unity Sect earlier.
The speculation had been correct. Liu Wuxie had left them that amount on purpose to exchange for Cypressia Star’s rights, and now he had dug yet another pit to burn the Grand Unity Sect’s remaining astral crystals to ash.
So the Boundless Heavenly Tome went to the Grand Unity Sect at an absurd price, and when they received it, heat flared across their faces as though the hall itself had slapped them.
The Heavenly Dragon Sect had spent extra astral crystals on the Giant Spirit Beast’s teardrop to set up a trap, and the Heavenly Dao Society had tricked the Grand Unity Sect into paying more for a so-called treasure of insight.
That sharp contrast left the Grand Unity Sect seething, and their gaze drifted toward the Heavenly Dao Society, because they knew Liu Wuxie had planned it. He had fooled them from the start.
Venerable Grand Unity flipped through the Boundless Heavenly Tome, then rose to his feet in a sudden motion. A ball of fire burst from the book and devoured it, reducing it to ashes before anyone could react.
“This is outrageous! How dare the Skybrim Pavilion deceive us!” a Grand Unity Sect elder roared, turning his rage toward the Skybrim Pavilion as though he wanted to tear the hall apart.
All at once, the flame twisted and took the shape of Liu Wuxie’s face.
“This is a small gift, and it’s nothing worth mentioning.” The fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and everyone understood what it had been: Soul Fire that Liu Wuxie had slipped into the Boundless Heavenly Tome.
“Liu Wuxie, I’m going to kill you!” A furious roar thundered through the auction, sharp enough that even Elder Wu Hen paused and turned toward the Grand Unity Sect’s private room.
“What happened? The Grand Unity Sect has only spent an additional one million astral crystals, and it shouldn’t be enough to make them this furious, right?” Confusion rippled through the crowd below because they didn’t yet know the Boundless Heavenly Tome had burned itself into ashes.
“Right back at you,” Liu Wuxie replied with a smile, and his voice carried clearly throughout the hall.
From the moment the Grand Unity Sect had tried to kill him during the Myriad Race Ceremony, he had sworn to destroy them at all costs, no matter the method. Back in Nightmare City, he had only escaped by relying on the Martial Soul Art; otherwise, the outcome would have been mutual destruction. Even if he had somehow survived, the Heavenly Dao Society would have suffered catastrophic losses.
Liu Wuxie’s vindictive nature had long spread across the world. The Grand Unity Sect had tried to kill him repeatedly, and now he had finally begun striking back.
The Grand Unity Sect had paid two million astral crystals for a pile of ash, so their fury made perfect sense. They had come with seven million astral crystals, and now they only had three hundred thousand left while losing the rights to Cypressia Star in the process. With losses amounting to ten million, rage became inevitable.
In this auction, Liu Wuxie intended to crush the Divine Alchemy Sect and bleed the Grand Unity Sect dry.
The Grand Unity Sect carried a long legacy and had produced immortals, so destroying them outright wouldn’t be easy, but he could cripple their foundation and make them feel it.
In past auctions, the Grand Unity Sect had always ended as the ultimate winner because it held the most astral crystals. They also ranked strongest in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, so others naturally gave them face and withdrew whenever they wanted an item.
This auction shattered that tradition. The Grand Unity Sect had exhausted most of its resources, and it had bought nothing that mattered.
The auction continued, and the earlier commotion faded as quickly as it had erupted.
Elder Wu Hen moved briskly to the fifth item, and first- and second-tier sects began competing again. Strangely, whenever the Heavenly Dragon Sect placed a bid, the others backed off without hesitation.
In the past, the Grand Unity Sect had enjoyed that treatment, but now the Heavenly Dragon Sect wore that crown. Everyone felt intimidated because no one could tell whether another trap waited beneath the next bidding. They preferred to step aside rather than compete and risk falling into the trap.
As a result, the Heavenly Dragon Sect bought what they wanted at the lowest price.
Soon, the auction reached the sixth item: the Great Dao of Metal’s fragment. If Liu Wuxie could obtain it, he would be able to break through into the ninth-level Void Realm, and the power of the Great Five Elemental Mythical Art would surge.
With so many items still ahead, Liu Wuxie believed treasures capable of helping him step into the Earth Immortal Realm would appear sooner or later.
“This is a Great Dao of Metal’s fragment, and this is a blessing for swordsmen. If they can refine this fragment, they’ll be able to comprehend the supreme sword intent. The starting bid will be at four hundred thousand, with each increment no less than fifty thousand,” Elder Wu Hen announced. That rule knocked the Grand Unity Sect out of the competition because they had only 300,000 left and couldn’t even qualify to bid.
“Five hundred thousand!” The Divine Sun-Moon Palace called out the first bid.
“Six hundred thousand!” Azure Profound Gate followed immediately.
“Seven hundred thousand!” Nine Dragon Palace joined in without delay.
Because the Heavenly Dragon Sect didn’t bid this time, the various sects clashed more fiercely as the competition intensified.
“Eight hundred thousand!” Azure Profound Gate pressed again.
“One million!” Liu Wuxie spoke.
The Great Dao of Wood’s fragment he had obtained from the Outer Astral Spacetime had already drawn pursuit from cultivators at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm, and that alone made the value here obvious.
The entire hall fell quiet as everyone weighed whether to keep competing, even while knowing it was impossible to win against the Heavenly Dao Society’s reserves of astral crystals.
Even if the Heavenly Dao Society fell short, the Heavenly Dragon Sect could still support them. With Hua Feiyu and Liu Wuxie’s astral crystals combined, they now had thirty million astral crystals in total; a number no one could contend with. Anyone who still insisted on competing would be begging for trouble.
“We can’t let Liu Wuxie buy this Great Dao of Metal’s fragment! He’s already at the eighth-level Void Realm, and he will surely reach the ninth-level if he manages to refine it. We have to find a way to stop him!” Grand Unity Sect’s elders finally realized the weight of the threat.
Liu Wuxie’s monstrous combat strength had already made him infamous. He could kill experts at the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal Realm while still in the Void Realm. If he reached the Earth Immortal Realm, even experts at the Heaven Gaze Realm would fall beneath him. They had to kill him before he stepped into the Earth Immortal Realm, because they couldn’t allow him to grow any further.
“Send a message to the Azure Profound Gate to stop him,” Venerable Grand Unity said, but his voice no longer carried the old dominance. He knew the Azure Profound Gate couldn’t truly halt Liu Wuxie’s advance; at best, they could delay him by forcing him to spend more astral crystals.
“1,100,000!” Azure Profound Gate followed.
Liu Wuxie didn’t look the slightest bit surprised when Azure Profound Gate raised the price.
