“We’ve told you, it isn’t a question of money. They really are sold out.”
“A hundred thousand! Won’t a hundred thousand do it…”
The two girls glanced at each other and smiled, but still shook their heads apologetically. “You’d do better to wait a little. After half past nine you can go in.”
“But by then it’ll be too late… I’m truly begging you, I… I’ll pay two hundred thousand, won’t that do it!!” The man was very nearly in tears. The Son of Heaven’s order was that the Undead Spear had to be won, and by now its bidding had been running a long while. Every second wasted meant a little more danger of being punished for it. He had learned what it felt like when a day dragged out like a year.
“Oh! You’d really pay two hundred thousand?” This time the girl on the right did not shake her head. She sounded astonished.
Hearing it, the man’s spirits leapt and he said quickly, “I would, I would, a hundred times over.” He whipped out his funds card. “I’ll pay right now — please just let me in, quickly.”
“Hm? Xiaoqi, you’re not thinking of— but the mistress said—”
“It’s not that.” The girl they called Xiaoqi fidgeted a moment, then drew a ticket out slowly. “It’s mine. I kept one back earlier — I was going to—”
“Ha! Xiaoqi, so you’ve been hiding a ticket away.”
“I have not. I paid 200 gold of my own for this, and I was waiting for it to appreciate… I was completely right to trust the mistress. Less than an hour and it’s worth a thousand times as much. This is such a rush!”
Watching the two of them start chatting in front of him as though he were not there, the wretched member of Wings That Shroud the Sky came close to going down on his knees. He settled up quick as lightning, then took his sky-priced ticket and charged inside…
The price of the Undead Spear climbed steadily through the players’ disorderly shouting, and just then, in the one empty seat still left fairly near the front, white light flashed. A player drenched in sweat appeared in it, and the moment he arrived he shouted through his heavy breathing, “I bid four million eight hundred thousand!”
The Son of Heaven had set his ceiling at five million. Having paid two hundred thousand for the ticket, he had exactly four million eight hundred thousand left on him.
Four million eight hundred thousand — another figure to take the breath away. To call out a price that mad for a piece of virtual equipment in a game world was not something an ordinary rich man had the nerve to do. And this man who had called it was plainly out of sorts — not just hurried in his manner, but soaked through with cold sweat.
Zangshen’s gaze crossed the crowd and settled on him, paused a moment on the emblem stitched at his shoulder, and after a little thought a faint smile touched his lips.
“Mr. Lone Sword Without a Trace has bid four million eight hundred thousand gold. Is there any friend willing to bid higher? Four million eight hundred thousand, going once…”
“Four million eight hundred and ten thousand.” A very flat voice came from a corner.
Hearing that figure, Lone Sword Without a Trace — so full of hope a moment before — simply went blank.
The man who had named the price was Zangshen of the Divine Domain Pact. Unlike the last time, when he had lifted the price in one enormous stride, this time he had raised the previous bid by exactly ten thousand gold. Neither more nor less. It carried, if anything, a certain… pointedness.
And it was precisely that ten thousand gold that showed everyone why Lone Sword Without a Trace had been sweating so hard.
Because four million eight hundred thousand was exactly what he had left. Never mind ten thousand — he could not have produced another thousand if his life depended on it.
“Mr. Zangshen has bid four million eight hundred and ten thousand gold. Is there any friend willing to bid higher? Very well… four million eight hundred and ten thousand, going once…”
Outside the hall, the Son of Heaven all but leapt up from his table, roaring, “Quickly! Transfer gold into his funds card at once — at once!!”
“It’s already too late.” The man with the covered face did not move, and said it helplessly.
“Four million eight hundred and ten thousand, third and final call… This ‘Undead Spear’ likewise goes to Mr. Zangshen.”
The Son of Heaven very nearly brought up three pints of blood on the spot.
He had failed to get the Undead Spear he had wanted the instant he laid eyes on it. And worse — the thing that enraged him and that he could least bear — was this. He had lost to Zangshen, his greatest rival, over a paltry ten thousand gold.
That degree of stifled frustration made him want to spit blood in earnest.
“Young Master, calm yourself first. Gold equipment is beyond precious, and for the July Chamber to produce three pieces is already no small feat. My guess is that this is the limit of what they have. Let us watch a while longer before we say anything.” The masked man said it in a tone that was not altogether certain.
The atmosphere at the July Chamber’s auction eased for the moment.
“The time is now twenty past nine, and three rare pieces of Gold equipment have gone under the hammer. The atmosphere at this auction has truly set the blood racing. We shall take a short break now, and perhaps relax to a little pleasant music… Before that, I ought to tell you all that Gold equipment is far too precious, and the July Chamber’s means are limited; we cannot produce a great deal of it at once. Friends who have not managed to buy Gold equipment should not be discouraged. Tomorrow the July Chamber’s consignment house opens formally, and more than ten pieces of Silver equipment, ranging from Level 10 to Level 25, will go on sale. You are all welcome to come and choose, and friends from across Huaxia are equally welcome to consign goods with the July Chamber. And after the break comes the true headline lot of today’s auction — so do please stay where you are, friends.”
September said it with a smile on her face, and stepped lightly away backstage. At the same moment, gentle music rose over the auction floor, quieting the heart by degrees.
“Big Sister is obviously playing for time.” Zuo Pojun laughed under his breath.
“So what if she is… I’ll bet my own gender on it — even knowing perfectly well that she’s playing for time, not one person is going to leave.” Murong Qiushui’s murmur followed at once.
Zuo Pojun: “……”
Ten minutes went by. The music in the auction hall was comfortable and easy, and nobody grew impatient with it; still less did anyone leave during a wait that was plainly a waste of their time… Because September’s words had made it perfectly clear that what came next was the true headline lot — a headline lot more startling than Gold equipment. How could they possibly miss it? So they waited, guessing among themselves.
At last half past nine came, and September walked out from the back with a smile. She bowed slightly first, and then said, “My apologies for keeping you all waiting so long. Our July Chamber’s first auction has only a handful of pieces in it, but we can say without shame that… few as they are, every one of them is the finest of the fine. What follows is the last piece of today’s auction, and I am confident it will make you feel your journey here was well worth making. So — please look at the big screen…”
On the screen behind her appeared a two-handed greatsword of strange shape, wreathed in savage purple light. Its attributes had not even been displayed yet; the shape of it alone drew a gasp of amazement the moment it showed.
Violet Reaper Sword: Immortal Spirit-grade artifact. Requirement: Level 15 Warrior-class, Strength 75+. An Immortal Spirit sword holding surging bolts of lightning power within it. Stats: Attack +120, Strength +18, Accuracy +10, Attack Speed +35, Luck +2, attacks carry an additional 30–50 Lightning-attribute damage, 3% chance on attack to inflict 2–3 seconds of Paralysis.
Bonus Skill: Flash of Lightning — Gathers lightning power into the blade and, in an instant, unleashes a bolt of lightning to strike the enemy directly ahead. Single-target melee attack, dealing 180% of a normal attack plus 300 Lightning damage, with a 20% chance to inflict 2–4 seconds of Paralysis. Costs 45 MP. Cooldown 30 seconds.
Haaa—
It was as though a muffled clap of thunder had gone off. The players in the City of Stars plaza let out an absolutely outrageous shriek, and well over half the twenty thousand in the auction hall came up out of their seats on the instant.
What had they just seen…
This sword had a shape that shook a man to look at — and its attributes were tens of times, hundreds of times more shocking than the shape. Because this was an Immortal Spirit artifact, a thing that should not have been possible to own at all! And Level 15 at that, exactly the bracket players could actually use right now.
In that moment they understood in full just how enormous a shock the July Chamber’s hand was.
The attributes of an Immortal Spirit artifact — apart from the handful of people around Ye Tianxie, everyone else was seeing them for the first time. Its powerful attributes carried a shock of their own that quickened the heart… Level 15, and the base attributes alone ran far past a Level 20 Gold weapon’s, while the sheer number of attached attributes came to nearly double a Gold artifact’s. And on top of that it carried a skill stronger than any skill of any Warrior class.
If any Warrior could own this Immortal Spirit artifact, his attributes would leap in one stroke, far past those of an ordinary player of the same level. Leveling, PK, showing off — he would sweep all before him.
What was an Immortal Spirit artifact? Set against the powerful attributes of this one, the Gold artifacts that had gone for sky-high prices earlier were simply trash.
The breathing of the players on the auction floor turned visibly ragged, each heart beating faster than the last. The pact bosses with real strength behind them had their eyes fixed hard on the screen, rubbing their hands, wearing the look of men who would win it if it killed them. A good many more pulled out their funds cards and entered their real-world account numbers at top speed to make large transfers, or snatched up communicators and bellowed at the people outside to move money into their cards this instant.
At the same time, word that an Immortal Spirit artifact had turned up at the July Chamber spread outward extremely fast.
“What? A Level 15 Immortal Spirit sword!?” Out in the field, leveling, Cloud-Piercing Sword saw the attributes of the “Violet Reaper Sword” his men had sent through, and his expression froze on the spot. Then he took out a Return Scroll at once and went back to the City of Stars.
“An Immortal Spirit artifact? I’m going right now!!” The first Pact Master of the Under Heaven Pact threw down his communicator and hurried toward the July Chamber.
Red Leaf Raging Wind, Sword Warrior and Pact Master of the Red Leaf Pact. “An Immortal Spirit sword, of all things… I have to win it, whatever it takes! And then I’m confident of breaking into the top ten of the level ranking inside three days… No, I’d better go myself. Wait for me!”
(End of Chapter 230)