There was no words all night, and in the blink of an eye it was dawn.
As the annoying chirping of cicadas woke him up from his dream, Li Xiuyuan sat up lazily. Since arriving in Fucheng, he has never slept as well as he did today, and his whole mind is on the mountain of books.
He leaned against the bed and sluggishly for a while, breathed quietly for a while, and circulated the Taixuan Sutra that had not been running for a long time for two days. Then he got dressed, got up, and pushed out the door.
He is wearing a silk green shirt that Huangfu Qingmei bought for him today. If it weren't for the mask on his face, he would look more like a handsome young man.
"I don't know what I will gain today." Li Xiuyuan said to himself softly, remembering what Huangfu Qingmei said to him yesterday.
A thousand-year-old elixir? That is what Huangfu Qingmei should be concerned about! He couldn't afford a peerless magic weapon, and there was no need for it. It seems that he has no use for the peerless martial arts right now. The only things that interest him are the casting materials and fairy spirit stones.
"Leave it to fate." Li Xiuyuan, who was washing up, was about to open the door and go out, but the door was slapped open by Ximen Lone Star. He looked at the confused Li Xiuyuan and laughed.
"I said you're not in a hurry? Hurry, the auction is about to begin."
Li Xiuyuan responded and followed him out.
When the two of them walked out of the door, they discovered that Huangfu Qingmei and Ximen Xiaoyu were also waiting outside. The two women looked at Li Xiuyuan and shouted, "You are shivering more than a woman, and you haven't been out for a long time."
Ximen Xiaoyu looked at him and muttered.
"Isn't it just an auction? Is it necessary to be so grand?" Li Xiuyuan said, walking forward behind Ximen Lone Star.
"There are a lot of people going today. I'm afraid I won't find a good place if I go there later." Huangfu Qingmei looked at him and said, "Hurry up, we'll have to start soon."
Li Xiuyuan wanted to say something, but looked at the appearance of the three people and held his voice.
Ximen Lone Star looked at him and coughed dryly, and said, "Don't worry! I have the spirit stone here!"
After speaking, he took Li Xiuyuan's hand and walked towards the Marshal's Mansion.
"Brother, wait for us." Ximen Xiaoyu shouted from behind, holding Huangfu Qingmei's hand with one hand.
Ximen Lone Star looked back at her and smiled: "What are you afraid of when you are with the princess? It seems that people in this city should be afraid of you. Have you been living here in vain all these years?"
"It's safer if I follow you." The little girl yelled from behind.
Today's auction is held at Izumo House, a chamber of commerce that integrates auctions, acquisitions, and sales.
In Fucheng, close to the Marshal's Mansion, there is an inconspicuous but most famous two-story attic. Therefore, the four of them did not need to take a carriage, but just walked a few steps to get here.
This is a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and it is the place where Fucheng has held large-scale auctions over the years.
At this moment, monks and merchants from all directions gathered outside the Izumo Tower. Some were shouting loudly and some were keeping a low profile. The business was very lively for a while.
By the time a group of four people arrived outside the building, the front door of Izumo Tower was already crowded with people.
While people were talking about it, the door of Izumo Tower slowly opened, making a heavy roar.
As the door slowly opened, an old man in black shirts walked in. Behind him were several young people also in black shirts, presumably his subordinates.
Following the old man, several more old men followed and walked in.
All of a sudden, monks and merchants came one after another and rushed into the Izumo Tower.
"Let's go in too." After they were almost gone, Ximen Guxing looked at Li Xiuyuan and said, as if he wasn't worried at all about not finding a good seat.
Li Xiuyuan asked Huangfu Qingmei and the others to walk in front, and he followed behind and walked slowly. Since he was here, he would not be in a hurry.
It wasn't until the four of them entered the hall that Li Xiuyuan discovered that this inconspicuous Izumo Pavilion was actually a world of its own, and it wouldn't be a problem to accommodate tens of thousands of people.
The first floor is the lobby, and the second floor has private rooms. Even the flowers and plants placed around are full of aura.
"What a great place! No wonder so many people come." Shaking his head, Li Xiuyuan sighed.
The monks and businessmen who came in quickly found their respective places in the hall. Whether it was the monks who came to participate in the auction for the first time, or the monks and businessmen who had been here before, they all sat quietly and waited.
"Princess, please come with me. There is a seat reserved for you on the second floor." The maid who received her recognized Huangfu Qingmei and led a group of four people to the private room on the second floor.
"How's it going? I told you don't worry!" Ximen Lone Star followed his wife and turned around to chatter to Li Xiuyuan.
"Hurry up, you talk so much, and I am convinced by you." Li Xiuyuan smiled lightly.
The maid led Huangfu Qingmei to the outside of Seating No. 3, gently opened the door, looked at her and asked: "Princess, tea and snacks are prepared for you. Please let me know if you need anything else."
Huangfu Qingmei waved her hand and said, "Okay, I'll come back to you if I need anything." After saying that, she took Ximen Xiaoyu's hand and walked inside.
Ximen Lone Star followed behind and walked in. He chose a place by the window and sat down. He looked at Li Xiuyuan and said, "Come over here and you can see clearly."
"The monks from Huangzhucheng have arrived."
"Is that the monk from Wangtian City? He's here too."
"I didn't expect that the Shangguan family from Donghong City would also come."
The monks and merchants in the hall were whispering, and for a while there was some noise.
"Is there no one coming to your Marshal's Mansion?" Glancing at the monks who kept walking in at the door, Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but look back at Huangfu Qingmei.
"Here we come!" Huangfu Qingmei, who was eating a piece of pastry, looked at Li Xiuyuan and said with a smile, "Well, aren't there just the four of us? It's not like we're fighting here, so why do we need so many people?"
"The generals from Wenchang City are here too." Someone shouted again.
Hearing this, Ximen Lone Star and Li Xiuyuan lowered their heads and looked over, only to see a middle-aged man in armor walking into the door with several monks behind him. Between the dragon's movement and the tiger's step, the military's vigorous and resolute movement is fully demonstrated.
...
As the discussion continued downstairs, Li Xiuyuan became numb. He simply turned back and sat at the table, poured himself a cup of herbal tea, and reached out to the table to pick up a piece of pastry. He hadn't had breakfast yet today.
When everyone went up to the second floor, the door of Izumo Pavilion was slowly closed again. In order to ensure the fairness of the auction and prevent accidents, no more people would be allowed in until the end.
"It seems that today's auction may not be that simple." Some monks downstairs were talking because there were so many people coming, including many aristocratic families and generals.
On a high platform in the hall, a figure slowly walked up. People here called him the fortune teller.
"Everyone knows the rules here, and they are also stated on the invitations given to you." After finishing speaking, the fortune teller clapped his hands and said quietly: "Now the auction begins."
Before he finished speaking, a maid came up holding a long sword and stood quietly behind him.
I saw that the long sword was alive, with a faint blue light lingering around the sword body, and the sword's sharp edge was menacing. It lay quietly on the tray, like a clear spirit about to fly away.
"The blue light sword has a base price of 10,000 spirit stones. The one with the highest price will get it. Each increase in price must not be less than 500." The fortune teller said in a deep voice.
"I'll pay eleven thousand." Before the fortune teller finished speaking, someone in the hall held up a sign.
"I'll pay 13,000." Some monks were unwilling to lag behind.
"Thirty thousand! Look how stingy you are..." A monk suddenly increased the price.
In less than half a stick of incense, the price of a spiritual sword increased several times. As the price continued to increase, the auction stage became lively.
"This is simply a money grab. I'd better take a look." Li Xiuyuan looked at Huangfu Qingmei and shook his head. The price of the first auction item was so high that the spiritual stones he carried were not even a fraction of others.
Ximen Lone Star looked back at him and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, be more generous! If not, the princess and I will lend it to you. You can sell the wine back to Ding'an City and return it to me."
Ximen Xiaoyu also said: "The first one is expensive, but there should be cheaper items later. Just wait."
"Well, I'll pay you 50,000 spirit stones to see how stingy you are." A monk increased the price.
"Sixty-five thousand, is there anyone higher than me?" A merchant asked the price.
"Ninety thousand." At this moment, a voice came from the second floor, and the bidder was the last general of Wenchang City who entered Izumo Pavilion.
Ninety thousand? A group of monks in the hall stopped raising prices. They haven't gone crazy yet.
"If no one raises the price, this blue light sword belongs to Wenchang City." Shensuan looked at the people in the audience and saw that no one raised the price, so he ordered the seat girl to send the blue light sword to the second floor for delivery.
Ximen Lone Star looked at the group of people in the audience and muttered: "It's really worthless."
Just as everyone was shouting, there was another maid holding a small medicine stove in the audience. The medicine stove was full of talismans and there was nothing special about it, which made everyone in the audience shine with light.
The divine fortune teller looked at the group of people in the audience and said calmly: "The Suzaku medicine refining furnace has a base price of 20,000 yuan. Bidding starts now."
"I'll pay 30,000!" A monk bid from below and added 10,000 spiritual stones in one breath.
"Fifty thousand. This is mine!" Another person raised the price.
"Sixty-five thousand, what are you talking about? I want my medicine stove." A merchant laughed and wrote.
"I'll give you 80,000 yuan. You country bumpkins, don't run away from me. I'll take it from you."
The monks in the hall kept raising prices one after another. No one was convinced, and everyone wanted to get this small medicine stove.
Li Xiuyuan glanced at Ximen Lone Star and said with a smile: "This small stove is good, it is a good thing."
Ximen Lone Star glared at him and said with a smile: "I don't know how to make medicine, why do I use it?"
"Are you playing with it?" Li Xiuyuan said with a smile.
Ximen Lone Star shook his head and said, "Go and stand aside. I might as well count tens of thousands of stones for fun."
"One hundred and fifty thousand, I, the Lord of Huangzhucheng, have taken it." The voice of General Huangzhucheng came from the second floor.
A group of monks below were all mute. Not to mention how much the 150,000 spirit stones were worth, the Huangzhu City Lord's Mansion alone was not something that ordinary monks would dare to provoke.
"Does anyone else want to raise the price? If no one raises the price, this medicine furnace will belong to Huang Zhucheng." The fortune teller looked at the people below, with a hint of majesty on his smiling face.
Waving her hand, the maid carried the medicine stove and walked to the Huangzhucheng seating area on the second floor.
Next there was a maid carrying a spiritual weapon, which was a fragment of a mirror. As the maid walked onto the auction stage step by step, a terrifying aura spread around. This was a fragment of a treasure.
The fortune teller looked down and said coldly: "This is a fragment of the Universe Mirror, one-third of it. The auction starts with a base price of 80,000 yuan. Please bid."
"I'm willing to bid one hundred thousand." A monk in green clothes bid from below.
"I said, these are fragments of the Universe Mirror. You're not so stingy, are you?" A white-haired old man sneered, "I'll pay 120,000 yuan."
The monk in green clothes was startled and shouted coldly: "It's more than money. I'll pay 130,000."
The white-haired old man glanced at him, snorted, and said, "I'll offer you 150,000 yuan."
In the hall of Izumo Pavilion, the only sounds of two people bidding were heard.
It's like two roosters trying to compete with each other, neither of them surrendering to the other. The words between the two of them seemed to be full of coldness. Even if they lost everything, they would be willing to overpower each other.
However, the two of them forgot that this was Izumo Pavilion and there was always no shortage of big buyers.
"Two hundred thousand." A new bidder joined.
"I'll pay 220,000 yuan." The fourth monk also shouted out his bid.
The competition for a fragment of the Universe Mirror was so fierce that a group of monks refused to accept the other, and all bid to outbid each other. Isn't it just the spiritual stone? Who is afraid of whom?
"Stop arguing, the old man is willing to pay 280,000 spiritual stones." As he spoke, an inconspicuous old man sitting in the corner shouted, suppressing all the quarrels in the hall.
A group of people fought for a long time, and finally the fragment of the Universe Mirror was bought by the old man.
