Having escaped Beitang Rushuang, Long Chen sighed with relief. Whether it was Beitang Rushuang or Nangong Zuiyue, they were both powerful figures with major backgrounds.
Furthermore, it seemed that there was some intense enmity between their two families. Hence, Long Chen didn’t want to get drawn into their muddled waters.
So avoiding those two was definitely a smart decision. He didn’t want Beitang Rushuang to think that he had some relationship with Nangong Zuiyue. If he ended up having to fight Beitang Rushuang over such a thing, that would be a miserable affair.
The reason he spoke like that was to make the two of them look down on him. With their experience, they wouldn’t feel hatred toward him over such a minor matter, but they definitely wouldn’t bother him anymore in the future. At least, that was his goal.
After going to the Heavenly Music Stone, Long Chen’s heart was a bit uneasy. The Dongfang family’s foundation was truly terrifying.
If only he could have taken that stone. The music it released was the music of the Grand Dao. It was extremely beneficial to anyone attempting to comprehend the Heavenly Daos.
It was no wonder the everlasting families possessed so many geniuses and awakened Empyreans. It was no coincidence.
Perhaps even if the great era hadn’t come, their foundation would have allowed them to create an awakened Empyrean anyway.
Compared to those ancient powers, he found that his newfound wealth, which might have made him the richest man on the continent, was now nothing. The resources that these people controlled were many times greater than all the resources on the continent.
Seeing spectacle after spectacle, Long Chen was amazed. The power of the everlasting families was astounding.
“Hello, can I ask if you’re here to attend the auction?” Long Chen was lost in thought when one of the Dongfang family’s attendants came over to him.
Only then did Long Chen realize that he had arrived at the auction area without even noticing. There was an ancient palace here, with a dozen of the Dongfang family’s disciples in front of its gates.
“Ah, how do I participate in the auction?” Long Chen truly was interested.
“The auction starts tomorrow. Other than some precious objects our Dongfang family are auctioning, anyone who wishes to participate can take out their treasures for us to auction off on their behalf. This auction is non-profit, and the purpose is mostly for communication amongst the heroes who have come. Whoever puts up a treasure will get one hundred percent of the bid. Furthermore, the Dongfang family guarantees that no harm will come to your treasures. Our goal is simply to enrich this gathering, and if you have any suggestions or requests, simply ask and we will do our best,” said the attendant.
Long Chen instantly understood that the reason the Dongfang family was so eagerly holding this gathering of past and present heroes was not to make a profit, but to raise their level of fame. They were fine losing money in exchange for that fame.
They were definitely successful. The entire world now knew of the Dongfang family’s name. In fact, there was even a feeling that the Dongfang family was at the top of the everlasting families.
“Can you give me a description of how it will be held? For example, what level of treasures will be present, and is the price in spirit crystals?” asked Long Chen.
“Alright, so what will happen is…” Through that disciple’s explanation, Long Chen learned that this auction’s currency was not spirit crystals but something called underworld spirit beads.
Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked upon hearing that. Underworld spirit beads were divine treasures capable of assisting in a Netherpassage expert’s cultivation.
It was said that where the world of life met the world of death, something called underworld spirit rock could form. The underworld spirit beads were refined from that rock.
This kind of thing was extremely, extremely rare in the current world. It was basically impossible to find one. Only sects with extremely ancient inheritances could have managed to preserve a few.
Long Chen had once heard Qu Jianying say that the leaders of the Martial Heaven Alliance were only qualified to take out three underworld spirit beads. As for Qu Jianying herself, she hadn’t been willing to use those treasures herself. Although she hadn’t said why she was unwilling, when Long Chen had seen her expression at that time, he could tell that she was preparing to leave them to the old man.
However, then the old man had managed to break through to the Netherpassage realm himself, and Qu Jianying had accepted Ye Lingshan as her apprentice. She was most likely going to leave those three underworld spirit beads to Ye Lingshan.
Qu Jianying only had three of the underworld spirit beads. As for the old man, Li Tianxuan, the old patriarch, none of them were qualified to use them. From this, it could be seen just how valuable the underworld spirit beads were.
It was said that the life and death energy within the underworld spirit beads could allow a Life Star expert to grow infinitely closer to breaking through to the Netherpassage realm. In the current world, it was a treasure that no money could buy.
However, in the Dongfang family, the underworld spirit beads were actually treated as the base currency for an auction. That caught Long Chen off guard.
Through her explanation, Long Chen also learned that here, if the underworld spirit beads were exchanged for spirit crystals, it would be around one billion spirit crystals for one underworld spirit bead. But that was just a saying. In truth, no one would ever trade underworld spirit beads for spirit crystals. They would only trade them for different treasures. In the eyes of these people, spirit crystals were a low level currency.
“May I ask if mister Long Chen has any treasures he wishes to auction?”
“Ah, it seems that I’m too poor to bring out anything good.” Long Chen could only smile bitterly. Compared to these ancient monsters, he was truly too poor.
“Mister Long Chen must be joking. A genius like you is definitely blessed with great karmic luck. All kinds of treasures will automatically come to accept you as master. If you were to call yourself poor, then disciples like myself wouldn’t even have the courage to continue living. Don’t worry, we guarantee to protect whatever treasures you wish to bring out. Whether it sells or not, no one will know they came from you,” promised the attendant, thinking that Long Chen was worried about being recognized based on what he wanted to auction off.
Her suspicions of his misgivings were naturally mistaken. Where was Long Chen’s karmic luck? It was more like he was blessed with all the world’s bad luck.
There was really nothing that Long Chen could take out that was as valuable as the underworld spirit beads. If he took something only worth half a bead, wouldn’t he be laughed at?
He flipped through his treasures. Evilmoon was definitely a treasure, and the fragment of the Eastern Wasteland Bell was as well. However, even if he was beaten to death, he couldn’t bring them out to auction.
There were the divine pillars from the Brahma Divine Palace as well, but it seemed that even they weren’t worthy of being traded for underworld spirit beads.
As for those two statues he had taken from the palace, they were treasures, as according to Evilmoon, the stone that they were made out of was extremely rare. But Long Chen couldn’t sell them yet because they were filled with divine energy that Evilmoon and the Heaven Flipping Seal were going to absorb.
The reason that they couldn’t absorb it yet was because they were still absorbing energy from the divine pillars. Only once they were strong enough could they absorb the energy within the statues.
“I truly have nothing valuable to take out. Please let me consider this matter more,” said Long Chen.
“That’s fine as well. I know that every expert has their own secrets and taboos. The auction is tomorrow and starts at noon. Don’t miss it, because all kinds of marvels will be appearing, and they will definitely interest you.” The attendant was only slightly disappointed that Long Chen wouldn’t bring out his treasures to auction. The more treasures there were, the better.
This was naturally the hope of the Dongfang family after inviting so many monsters from the ancient era. They wanted this auction to be as marvelous as possible, and perhaps there would even end up being something that their Dongfang family needed.
Long Chen wasn’t the only one to decline offering up anything as treasures. All these supreme experts had their own trump cards and treasures. But ordinary ones weren’t worth taking out, and the valuable ones were too important for them to part with. Or perhaps some of their treasures had unclear origins, and they didn’t want to cause any trouble.
Some of those people that refused also said that they were poor. For them, it was just an excuse, but for Long Chen, it was the truth.
Leaving the auction area, Long Chen felt bitter. It was his first time feeling so poor since he had stepped out into the cultivation world.
Those spirit crystals that he had plundered had already been given to Qian Duoduo to equip the Dragonblood Legion. As for Long Chen himself, he hadn’t kept that much. With the auction tomorrow, just what was he supposed to do? Just watch as those marvelous treasures were bought by others?
“I can’t plunder these as well, right…?”
Long Chen suddenly had a thought, but then he shook his head. With the monsters here, who knew just who would be plundering who in the end?
After leaving the auction area, he had another thought. There was a trading area he could go to.
The trading area was for experts who had taken out their treasures and put down what they wanted to exchange them for. If anyone had what they wanted, they could directly trade.
Thinking of that, Long Chen wasn’t even in the mood to look at more of the scenery. He went directly to the trading area.
The trading area was at the peak of a mountain. There was a giant stone cliff here that soared into the sky.
There were one-meter stone platforms arranged in front of the cliff. Each platform emitted divine light, protecting a treasure that was lying within.
The first thing that Long Chen saw was an ancient spear. It was covered in blood runes, with each rune emitting a fearsome aura. All together, it was like millions of Magical Beasts were roaring within it.
He was about to go examine the spear more closely when he suddenly saw the object beside it. His heart began to pound wildly.
