This auction was a small-scale event hastily organized by the Myriad Treasures Tower.
Since the Foundation Establishment Pills had attracted so much attention, someone as astute as Sima Jing wouldn't just stop at selling three pills.
To maximize the effects of the three Foundation Establishment Pills and extract every possible benefit, careful planning was required.
Myriad Treasures Tower gathered a batch of treasures for this occasion, intending to sell them alongside the auction. Due to the competitive nature of auctions, the final prices often exceeded the market value.
The auction officially began, and the hostess for the event was a woman who appeared to be in her thirties, exuding a charm that hinted at both youth and maturity.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining this auction. I am Jiang Yue, and I appreciate your presence," the woman courteously greeted.
"Now, for the first item, we have a high-grade defensive Magical Weapon, the Red Gold Shield. The starting bid is five hundred Spirit Stones, with increments of no less than one hundred Spirit Stones."
The Qi Cultivation Disciples in the venue were spirited, eagerly bidding for the item. High-grade defensive Magical Weapons like the Red Gold Shield were attractive to them.
Wang Hong, who was once like them, engaged in fierce competition for Magical Weapons in previous auctions. However, such items no longer caught his eye; things he once considered precious now seemed ordinary.
Seated in the front row of the auction venue were ten Foundation Building cultivators, observing the proceedings with unwavering calmness.
They were the true power players of this auction, the big spenders whose sole focus was the Foundation Establishment Pills; they paid little attention to the smaller items.
Among them were the cultivators who had previously approached Wang Hong, seeking to purchase Foundation Establishment Pills from him.
Although Qingxu Sect had thousands of Foundation Building disciples, not every one of them could afford the tens of thousands of Spirit Stones required for a pill. Some lacked the funds, others were away, and some were busy in seclusion or cultivation.
This led to the presence of these ten Foundation Building cultivators.
After the auction of ten Magical Weapons, the first Foundation Establishment Pill finally appeared, causing an explosion of excitement in the venue.
Numerous Qi Cultivation Disciples eagerly joined the bidding. When the price reached fifty thousand, only a few dozen participants were still holding on.
As the price surpassed one hundred thousand, only around ten individuals continued to bid desperately. The ten Foundation Building cultivators in the front row remained silent throughout, showing no sign of participation.
When the bids reached two hundred thousand, one of the front-row cultivators calmly spoke, "Two hundred and twenty thousand." The other nine remained silent.
"Two hundred and thirty thousand!" A square-faced cultivator in the rear increased the bid by ten thousand.
"Two hundred and fifty thousand!" Another front-row Foundation Building cultivator raised the stakes by twenty thousand.
"Two hundred and sixty thousand!"
"Two hundred and eighty thousand!" The bid came from another front-row cultivator.
The rear cultivator seemed to have run out of Spirit Stones and did not bid further.
The auction venue fell silent, waiting for others to bid. At this moment, all was still.
The ten Foundation Building cultivators in the front row, including the one who had placed the last bid, maintained an indifferent demeanor, showing no interest in the ongoing auction.
The situation became somewhat bizarre; these ten individuals seemed to act as one.
Whenever someone else placed a bid, they immediately suppressed it. If one of them bid, the other nine remained silent.
"Two hundred and eighty thousand Spirit Stones! Any other bids?" Jiang Yue loudly inquired from the auction stage. It was rare for a Foundation Establishment Pill to go for less than three hundred thousand.
Clearly, these ten Foundation Building cultivators had coordinated in advance. If anyone else bid, they would collectively suppress it. If there were no other bidders, they could secure the Foundation Establishment Pill at a lower price, saving tens of thousands of Spirit Stones eacha considerable amount.
Wang Hong signaled to Zhang Chunfeng in the opposite corner, thankful for the precautions he had taken.
"Three hundred thousand!" Zhang Chunfeng bid, directly raising it by twenty thousand, reaching Wang Hong's expected price.
"Three hundred and ten thousand!" Another front-row cultivator placed a bid.
After bidding once, Zhang Chunfeng remained silent. With limited Spirit Stones on hand, he didn't want to risk buying the pill back at a higher price, plus paying additional auction commissions.
Moreover, there were still two more pills to go. He needed to conserve some resources to prevent a repeat in the subsequent auctions.
In the end, the first Foundation Establishment Pill was sold for three hundred and ten thousand, claimed by a Foundation Building cultivator in the front row.
Several first-tier Spiritual Objects were auctioned before the second Foundation Establishment Pill was presented.
Similar to the first pill, the front-row cultivators raised the bid to two hundred and eighty thousand, plunging the auction into a brief silence.
Until Zhang Chunfeng boldly called out three hundred thousand. Again, the same front-row Foundation Building cultivator claimed it for three hundred and ten thousand.
By now, the suspicions about Zhang Chunfeng's identity had grown among the front-row ten.
Some auctions hired individuals to artificially inflate prices during the bidding, creating an illusion of high demand and intense competition to sell items at higher prices.
Now, they suspected Zhang Chunfeng might be one of these individuals hired to boost prices.
The ten secretly communicated via Message Transmission, quickly reaching a consensus.
Soon, the competition for the third Foundation Establishment Pill began.
"Three hundred thousand!" Zhang Chunfeng once again shouted the bid.
"I request fund verification. I suspect he's bidding falsely and doesn't actually have this many Spirit Stones."
Auction houses had strict penalties for false bidding. Deliberately inflating prices without possessing the corresponding amount of Spirit Stones or resources could lead to severe consequences, including the loss of the entrance deposit or, in extreme cases, even one's life.
Due to the auction of Foundation Establishment Pills, each person had deposited twenty thousand Spirit Stones as an entrance fee.
If the party raising the concern turned out to be unfounded, they would still need to compensate the other party. This compensation was usually based on the value of the auctioned item, typically one-tenth of its value.
"Fellow Daoist, at the request of Zhang Fellow Daoist, we need to verify your funds. Please present the Spirit Stones you intend to use for the purchase," an old man from the auction venue announced. Judging by his cultivation level, he had reached the later stages of Foundation Building, a formidable figure.
"I indeed don't have three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, but I can offer other items as compensation. Would these items be sufficient?" Zhang Chunfeng handed over a Storage Bag to the old man.
Accepting the Storage Bag, the old man immediately erected a Light Shield around him, Zhang Chunfeng, and the cultivator who had raised the question. This shield prevented external scrutiny and protected the privacy of the party being verified.
After setting up the Light Shield, the old man emptied the contents of Zhang Chunfeng's Storage Bag on the ground, revealing a pile of bottles, jars, and Jade Boxes.
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