Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"..." All three of them felt odd. For some reason, Yan Zaizen felt a sensation of Déjà vu. If by some chance, the next hundred items were things he already had, he felt that he would go literally insane.

"It seems they don't list any minimum price…" Tao stated, trying to shake off the feeling of familiarity of events. The Shangyang Auction does not list minimum prices due to their unique rules. You list, what you believe, an appropriate price you can afford. If you get outbid, then it's your loss for not valuing the item enough. It also tested your knowledge of the items worth.

For example, an Apex Essence Pill's value was about four million low-grade essence crystal in worth. In comparison, a drop of heavenly liquid was worth one quadrillion low-grade essence crystals. To Yan Zaizen, this pill's value was insignificant. Heavenly Genesis experts could, on average, produce one heavenly drop a century, so their wealth allowed them to buy many, many things.

Despite this, what they needed the most for cultivation was heavenly liquid, so obtaining it or using it to purchase things was unlikely. As for the bets at the Xiantu Banquet, a majority of those bets were one to three drops.

Yan Zaizen checked his current wealth. After the Xiantu Banquet bets and robbing the pirate group, specifically the captain, the number of heavenly drops he possessed was seven hundred and six. The captain had one hundred and three drops on his person. This was already a staggering amount of wealth. As for the other things, they probably would be worth a few heavenly drops.

As for the Apex Essence Pill, he had already obtained three in the Asura Phantom Realm, one of which he sold to Wu Kun, and several he obtained from the pirates. In total, he already had eight. Therefore, the pill wasn't valuable to him one bit.

After an hour exactly, the next item was brought forth. Looking at the auctioneer, beside her was a blue longsword that radiated sharp ripples. "Next item: Sky-rank, mid-grade, water-attributed longsword named Ripple Wave Blade. This weapon has the rippling sword conceptual law embedded into the Spirit Form, making it highly complementary to sword cultivators who practice similar water laws!"

"..." Yan Zaizen grew bored. This very item wasn't unique, he actually obtained one just like it from the pirate group. Tao and Bai Lufeng's eyes, however, were shining. They were both sword users and thus felt incredibly fascinated by the sword. With their realms, handling a blade of this level wasn't even possible, at least, they wouldn't be able to bring forth its full strength without true-essence.

Sky-Rank armaments had Spirit Forms that contained conceptual laws and formations that complemented them. However, to fully bring out its full potential, one needed true-essence. The higher the grade, the more this was the case. Not to mention, a single usage of a low-grade, sky-rank armament could drain about ten to fifteen percent of an initial-True Essence experts true-essence. If they tried to, they'd be sucked dry without even getting off a single strike.

Spirit-Rank armaments had True Spirits with intelligence, they were mostly independent and relied on their own strength. For example, Pinaka could kill two-floor Heavenly Genesis experts by herself, even without Yan Zaizen's help. All Yan Zaizen can do is direct and merge his strength with Pinaka's, enhancing both of their capabilities. Therefore, even a Qi Foundation cultivator could wield a Spirit-Rank armament as long as the spirit was willing.

"Next item: …" As the auction continued, Yan Zaizen felt relieved. He didn't have some of the items shown which dissipated that uncomfortable feeling. Unfortunately, they weren't useful to him. Bai Lufeng and Tao didn't even consider asking for anything. Everything in the auction thus far required a True Essence Realm or higher to use, so having it wasn't important for them at the moment. As for pills, elixirs, and crystals for cultivation, they had Yan Zaizen who had the fattest of wallets right next to them, did they need any?

"Next Item: Divine Aqua Stone. A heavenly material useful in constructing heavenly shrines related to water-based conceptual laws! Please, make your bid." The auctioneer announced. Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up as he saw this. To build one's heavenly shrine, you typically needed heavenly-grade materials or materials that contained traces of law energy born naturally beneath the 33 heavens.

He had comprehended Aqua Solar Sphere conceptual law by accident, but with his unique circumstances, reaching the manifestation level was only a matter of time.

In the Heavenly Path, one can construct multiple heavenly shrines. Doing so was rare, mainly because the difficulties in building one was already profoundly high. The comprehension of laws, even a single one, could take far, far too long for advancement. Furthermore, even if you built multiple shrines, your lifespan wouldn't experience an increase. Therefore, doing so was considered foolish unless one had astounding talents. After all, regardless of your race, as long as you belong to a certain species, you're subjected to lifespan limitations.

Therefore, Gunyu, Lycah, or any other humanoid race had similar lifespan limitations at birth. Only when their body cultivation, soul cultivation, and qi/heavenly cultivation increases would this change. Thus, having 33 first-floor heavenly shrines would still leave you with an average of one hundred and fifty thousand years of life for a first-floor Heavenly Genesis expert.

It was a division of limited time that simply wasn't worth it. However, Yan Zaizen currently had space, time, life, death, soul, archery with destruction, and now water laws. He had already reached the requirement to build heavenly shrines for all except water law.

"How much do you think we should bid?" He turned to Tao. Furrowing his brows, Tao was thinking of a good price to obtain the object. However, heavenly-grade material was astoundingly difficult to obtain. After all, they were used in pills, elixirs, heavenly shrines, armaments, talismans, and even formation flags. They had boundless uses and thus were quite pricey.

He also had to consider how much this single material would lead to the completion of a water-attributed heavenly shrine. From his understanding, it'll likely complete about ten percent of a first floor. With all these variables to consider, he felt a little overwhelmed. This bidding method was astonishingly difficult to deal with. If he bid too low, then the object was lost. If he bid too high, then they would lose a lot from the deal.

Even after thirty minutes, Tao couldn't decide. Bai Lufeng was shocked. Was deciding a bid so difficult? Is this why bids were an hour apart? Yan Zaizen, on the other hand, was quite patient. To him, he already had water-attributed heavenly material from the pirate captain. This was a decision of whether he should prepare more for later.

After a while, he decided to simply make a mid.

The average value of something like this was about 30 trillion low-grade essence stones.

"300 trillion low-grade essence stones." He sent the soul transmission. It resounded within the Meteor Ring causing Tao and Bai Lufeng to be shocked.

"Are you sure?" Tao asked cautiously. That was ten times the average price. It's unlikely anyone would buy such a thing at that price. With this, he was confident that Yan Zaizen would win this completely.

"I'm sure." Yan Zaizen smiled. If this was normal bidding standards, he would probably be putting on an arrogant expression, flourishing his sleeves, and shouting domineeringly for someone to challenge him. However, he'll have to settle for a self-satisfied chuckle.

The bid concluded.

"..."

"..."

"..."

All three of them were shocked.

Typically, when a bid was won, the auctioneer would send a soul transmission to the winning party. However…

"Where the hell is my message?!" Yan Zaizen's handsome face was ugly to the extreme. He bid ten times, TEN TIMES, the market price. How the hell did he lose? Who was the bastard that bid higher than that? Were they insane?!?! Did they want to fight?! COME AT ME!

Yan Zaizen's eyes were filled with anger and battle intent, as if he was personally insulted.

Tao and Bai Lufeng looked at Yan Zaizen and realized that...maybe...just maybe...auctioning this way truly did avoid trouble. With Yan Zaizen's temperament, it's likely he'll rob the person who outbid him in a split second. In hindsight, it was probably for the best that Sky Night Royal City's auction was mostly Yan Zaizen's items. After all, anything he considered his was his reverse scale.

Yan Zaizen felt dissatisfied but felt helpless. He just cursed bad luck on whoever took his item, this included eighteen generations of their family.

In the auction room, Yan Zaizen's real body took out a moist, succulent velvet cake atop a golden plate to comfort himself. Projecting a shield to push away the water, he began to eat in frustration. His eyes darted about as he stuffed his face, as if trying to discreetly discover who outbid him.