novelraw Chapter 165 : The Real Game, Now Began
Chapter 165 : The Real Game, Now Began
Chapter 165: The Real Game, Now Began
Three million!
When this number was spat out from the Auctioneer’s mouth, the entire Heaven-Piercing Auction House seemed as if it had been plunged into an invisible deep-sea bomb.
More than ninety percent of the cultivators in the venue, in that very instant, were robbed of their ability to breathe by this terrifying number.
What concept was three million top-grade spirit stones?
It was enough to buy out the entire foundation of a second-rate sect in the Eastern Wasteland—from the mountain-protecting grand formation to the Scripture Repository—packaged and taken away in one go, with a large pile of loose change still left over!
It was enough to allow a cultivator at the early Nascent Soul stage to replace everything from head to toe with top-tier magic treasures, armed to the teeth!
And now, this was merely the starting price.
Countless representatives of second-rate forces who had still been harboring a sliver of wishful thinking now turned ashen-faced, silently lowering the bidding plaques in their hands.
They finally, painfully realized that the game that followed was no longer something “retail investors” like them were qualified to participate in.
This was a battlefield that belonged exclusively to top-tier “institutions” and “giant crocodiles”.
“Humph, a bunch of bumpkins who have never seen the world.”
Inside the Lei Family’s private room, Lei Qianjue looked at the stunned faces below, the corner of his mouth hooking into a disdainful cold smile.
Purple lightning coiled around his body, crackling with sharp “pa pa” sounds from his excitement, casting his already overbearing face into an even more majestic and imposing light.
His gaze, like that of a male lion inspecting his territory, brimmed with aggression and possessiveness as it locked firmly onto the metallic skeleton on the display platform.
For this thing, the Lei Family had prepared for a full ten years!
The family’s council of elders had even gone so far as to activate the clan’s “strategic reserve fund” that had been accumulated over tens of thousands of years. The last time this fund had been used was three thousand years ago, when they had fought an extermination war against another first-rate aristocratic family over the right to a top-grade spirit vein!
It could be said that the Lei Family was determined to obtain this skeleton at all costs!
It was tied to whether the Lei Family could break free from the shackles of traditional aristocratic families, whether they could achieve “overtaking on the curve” on the brand-new “track” of mechanical puppets, and become a one-of-a-kind existence among the Major Families of the Western Regions, and even the entire Mortal Realm!
“Four million!”
Just as the Auctioneer’s voice had fallen, while the entire venue was still immersed in the shock of three million, Lei Qianjue’s overwhelmingly domineering voice thundered through the hall like rolling heavenly thunder!
He did not follow any bidding conventions at all, directly adding one million on top of the starting price!
This was no longer bidding. This was naked flaunting of wealth. It was a declaration!
He was telling everyone:
This thing, he, Lei Qianjue, wanted it! All of them could step aside!
Sure enough, this bid was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, instantly extinguishing the last flickers of enthusiasm among the few remaining first-rate force representatives in the venue.
They exchanged glances, each seeing the bitterness and helplessness in the other’s eyes.
To clash head-on with a madman like the Lei Family was not worth it.
Even the Auctioneer was stunned by this move for half a second, before his face bloomed into a chrysanthemum-like smile as he was about to loudly announce the bid.
“Four million one hundred thousand.”
A calm, even somewhat lazy voice sounded unhurriedly from the Ascension Group’s private room, landing clearly in everyone’s ears.
The entire venue instantly fell into dead silence.
Everyone’s gazes snapped over in unison, as if they had seen a ghost, toward that Eastern Wasteland private room which had just given up on the “Supreme Void Illusory Dream Flower” due to being “short on funds”.
What was going on?
Just now, they could not even compete with the Blood God Palace over a mere few hundred thousand worth of medicinal materials, yet now they dared to challenge the Lei Family’s madman at a sky-high price of four million?
And they were doing it in this provocative manner of adding only the minimum increment?
Lei Qianjue’s expression instantly darkened, the dominance in his eyes transforming into icy killing intent.
“An ignorant thing courting death.”
He snorted coldly.
“Five million!”
Another crushing one-million increment!
The atmosphere of the entire venue was no longer boiling—it had frozen solid.
Everyone held their breath, hearts pounding wildly, watching this sudden, completely uneven gamble.
Inside the Ascension Group’s private room.
Even Jian Wuxin’s eternally icy, expressionless face was beaded with fine cold sweat.
His hand clenched tightly around the sword hilt, as if what he was holding was not a sword, but the entirety of the Myriad Sword Sect’s assets.
“Chu… Chu Daoist,”
his voice sounded dry,
“the Lei Family has gone mad! Five million… this has already exceeded our estimated maximum price!”
“Don’t rush.”
Chu Feng remained as steady as an old dog. He even had the leisure to send a message to Zhao Wuji via his spirit-communication jade.
Zhao Wuji’s spirit-communication jade chimed with a “ding” as it lit up. He lowered his head to look, only to see a line of small text written on it:
【Director Zhao, start recording now. This is a classic ‘limit-pressure negotiation strategy’, attempting to break through the opponent’s ‘psychological defense line’ through high early-stage bids, creating a cognitive illusion of ‘unequal financial strength’, thereby forcing the opponent to withdraw early. This is a textbook case. Write it down—there will be a test when we get back.】
Zhao Wuji’s entire body trembled as he instantly straightened his back. The tension on his face vanished without a trace, replaced by a pilgrimage-like fervor.
He took out a small notebook and began scribbling furiously, his gaze toward the Lei Family’s private room filled with pity.
Poor Lei Qianjue. He had no idea that his every move had become live teaching material for the President’s on-site lesson!
“Consultant Feng,”
Chu Feng turned to look at Feng Zhiruo,
“it’s your turn.”
Feng Zhiruo took a deep breath, nodded, and raised the bidding plaque.
“Five million one hundred thousand.”
Still that unhurried, infuriating manner of adding only one hundred thousand.
“Boom!”
Inside Lei Qianjue’s private room, the armrest was smashed into powder by a single palm strike!
“Good! Very good!”
He laughed in extreme anger.
“I want to see just how much capital you bunch of Eastern Wasteland mudlegs have to play with me!”
He did not place another bid. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Jian Wuxin’s direction, his voice as piercingly cold as ice:
“Jian Wuxin! Your Myriad Sword Sect is determined to stand against my Lei Family?”
“Don’t think I don’t know—by relying on this bunch of Eastern Wasteland trash, they could never take out this many spirit stones! It’s your Myriad Sword Sect backing them, isn’t it?”
“I advise you to think carefully. For the sake of some unknown ‘heterodox path’, is it worth offending my Lei Family and destroying the tens of thousands of years of ‘orthodox sword path’ reputation of your Myriad Sword Sect?!”
These words struck straight at the heart!
He was not merely threatening—he was shaking Jian Wuxin’s Dao heart!