Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 338 - Xuanyu Auction House

The two resolved that they wouldn't live in disgrace if anything happened to Liu Wuxie. They felt guilty because they were the cause of this incident.

Watching them leave, Liu Wuxie turned and darted in another direction. When the person tailing behind them saw the three had split up, he hesitated briefly before choosing to follow Liu Wuxie.

This was because Hou Chi had explicitly instructed this person to closely watch Liu Wuxie and had mentioned nothing about the other two.

As the street grew busier, a sneer crept onto Liu Wuxie's lips. With a sudden burst of speed, he compelled his pursuer to match his pace.

When faced with a fork in the road ahead, Liu Wuxie executed the Seven Dipper Steps, creating three afterimages that darted into each of the diverging paths.

No one could tell which was his actual body, and this placed the youth tailing him in a difficult position, unsure of which one to pursue.

Stomping his foot on the ground, the youth chose the path on the right. But he could only roar in frustration when the afterimage gradually faded through his pursuit.

Liu Wuxie emerged from a corner, donning a bamboo hat to conceal himself. After shaking off his tail, he found a shop to enquire where he could find Earth Essence.

The youth following Liu Wuxie gave up and left helplessly, returning to the Hou Clan to report the situation.

Hou Chi had just awakened and was being attended to by two maids—one assisting with his dressing and the other with washing his face.

"Why have you returned?" Hou Chi came out to see the youth. This youth was his trusted aide, known for his cautiousness.

"Young Master, I've made a mistake and lost him." The youth fell onto his knees. He had never encountered someone so cunning before, and his tracking skills had only failed him when he met Liu Wuxie.

"Trash!" Hou Chi sent the youth flying with one kick, who threw up blood but didn't dare to complain.

"Young Master, please be rest assured that I will find him!" The youth continued to kneel in the courtyard, not daring to wipe the blood off his lips. This was enough to prove how terrifying Hou Chi was in their eyes.

"Hmph, do you think that I only sent you?" Hou Chi sneered. How could he possibly send one person to tail Liu Wuxie? He still had a chess piece in the dark, just that it was unknown to anyone else.

There are many ways to track someone; the most foolish method was to tail behind someone, which would be easily noticed.

The highest level of tracking someone was to hide in the crowd. The tracker might be a coachman or commoner, and they were indistinguishable from ordinary people.

"Young Master is wise!" the young master flattered like a lapdog.

"Get lost! The auction is about to start. Once it's over, it will be the end of him!" Hou Chi roared, and the youth scurried away.

After losing the pursuer, Liu Wuxie entered a large shop with many displayed items. There was even a counter that sold low-grade spiritual treasures. Pills, weapons, talismans, and talisman papers were also on sale.

"Hello, how can I help you? I believe our shop can fulfill your needs." An old man in his fifties approached Liu Wuxie.

The shop spanned thousands of square meters, the largest Liu Wuxie had ever seen, and it showcased a dazzling array of goods.

When Liu Wuxie came in, he had scanned through every item with Ghost Eye, and there weren't many things that caught his eye except for some sixth-grade pills. After all, most spiritual treasures were too weak for him.

"I wish to buy some Earth Essence. Do you have it?" Liu Wuxie asked. The Earth Essence was precious; each grain was worth a few hundred spirit stones. Liu Wuxie estimated that he needed a few thousand grains to reforge the Heretic Blade, costing tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Most people couldn't afford it except for experts in the Heavenly Phase Realm.

Then again, Liu Wuxie was well-stocked in spirit stones soon after obtaining over four hundred thousand from Yu Huai and tens of thousands on him.

"Young Master, please don't joke around. How can something as precious as Earth Essence be sold in our shop?" The old man said helplessly. This shop was huge, but they also didn’t have treasures like Earth Essence for sale.

This was because ordinary spiritual treasures wouldn't need Earth Essences. Once the cost was too high, a spiritual treasure would cost over a hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones even if they were forged, and this wasn't something affordable for those in the Heavenly Dipper Realm.

Those in the Heavenly Phase Realm could refine the Xiantian Spirit, which was on a higher grade than spiritual treasures. So, it was impossible for someone to spend over a hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones to buy a low-grade spiritual treasure.

After all, most spiritual treasures were priced around tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Secondly, most blacksmiths couldn't melt the Earth's essence, making it impossible to forge a perfect spiritual treasure even if they had it.

But it was different for Liu Wuxie. In the long run, Liu Wuxie would rather spend more resources to allow the Heretic Blade to grow with him.

A few thousand grains of Earth Essences could buy several spiritual treasures, so they weren't available here.

"Then, where can I buy Earth Essence?" Liu Wuxie asked. He could only settle for the second best if he couldn't find any. But he wouldn't give up as long as there was a glimmer of hope.

"There's an auction in Fan City today, and it should start soon. You can try your luck there, but I'm unsure if there will be any for sale," the old man said and left to attend to the other customers.

Coming out of the shop, Liu Wuxie went on the street to ask a passerby for the auction's location. Auctions had been passed down since ancient times.

Most treasures would be sold through auctions, and if Liu Wuxie had something he didn't need, he could pass it to the auction to sell for him. For the service, they would only draw a commission from the proceeds.

The commission rates varied, but the average rate was three percent. Selling an item for a hundred thousand spirit stones resulted in a commission fee of three thousand spirit stones, which ensured the auction house made a profit.

In addition to treasures assigned by others to sell, the auctioneers also sold their own treasures, with the highest bidder winning. In an auction, the price of an item generally exceeded its market value because of its rarity.

The auction houses were like beasts devouring money, but people still flocked to them to buy items.

Liu Wuxie had attended massive auctions in the past as an Immortal Emperor, and each item could cause a sensation in the Celestial Realm.

He had once assigned the auction to sell a rare spiritual pill, which was sold for a trillion immortal crystals.

After finding out the auction house's location, Liu Wuxie sped up. Not long after he left, a peddler quietly followed behind him, blending into the crowd with a load on his shoulder.

Liu Wuxie walked for roughly an hour before a majestic building appeared.

"Xuanyu Auction House!" The three golden words emitted a faint pressure, and an expert in the True Profound Realm had written these words.

The entrance was packed with people, all gathered for the auction. Liu Wuxie arrived relatively late and suspected that few seats would remain available.

"To enter the auction house, you must pay a thousand mid-grade spirit stones as an entry fee," said the two burly guards at the entrance. This was the other way for the auction house to make money.

A large-scale auction house could accommodate tens of thousands of people, while a smaller one could accommodate seven to eight thousand.

A powerful force backed every auction house, and they often had close ties with the ten major sects.

When the sect acquired treasures they had no use for and found inconvenient to sell themselves, they would commission the auction house to handle their sale.

The entry fee deterred many people, and Liu Wuxie blended into the crowd while moving closer to the entrance. However, several people were still ahead of him.

"Hurry up! The seats are running out! Get lost if you don't have any spirit stones to pay the entry fee!" The two guards yelled while collecting spirit stones.

Few would genuinely benefit from an auction, and most people spent a thousand mid-grade spirit stones to join the fun.

"There aren't any more seats. All of you can leave!" The auction house ran out of seats when it was Liu Wuxie's turn.

"Here are a thousand spirit stones. Please make an exception for me." Liu Wuxie said, holding onto the spirit stones. Even if he couldn't buy Earth Essence, he still planned to take a look.

"I'm sorry, but we're out of seats." The two burly guards looked helpless. The auction was about to start, and they also wanted to watch.

However, a figure flew out from the auction house when they were about to close the gate.

"How dare you cause trouble in Xuanyu Auction House! Don't you know the meaning of death?!" The figure crashed onto the street, and he was probably thrown out for causing trouble. After all, every auction house had an unwritten rule, and fighting was prohibited.

If someone bought a treasure and someone attacked him to seize it, the auction house would fall into chaos. However, that was only limited to the auction, and individuals were responsible for themselves once they left.

"There should be a vacant seat now that someone was thrown out!" Liu Wuxie said, taking out a hundred more spirit stones and handing them to the guards.

The guards smiled as they accepted the spirit stones and reopened the door. "Go on in!"

As Liu Wuxie entered the auction house, he felt like he had entered a new world. The auction house was majestic, like an upside-down dome with seats all around, and was densely packed with people.

The bottom of the dome had several tables, and items were being transported there for auction.

When Liu Wuxie came in, he soon found his seat. It was decent, as it was very close to the front.

Beside him sat a youth who still had anger on his face. If Liu Wuxie hadn't been mistaken, the man thrown out earlier must have had a conflict with this person.

To his right was a beautiful woman. She might not be comparable to Xu Lingxue, but she was still a rare beauty who only appeared slightly older than Liu Wuxie. When she saw Liu Wuxie, she nodded her head gently.

After entering, Liu Wuxie removed his bamboo hat because no one would recognize him there.