novelraw Chapter 1081 - 591: Hidden Adversaries
Chapter 1081 - 591: Hidden Adversaries
When Steward Wu returned to Box 732, Ning Xiaoxian was still gazing at the venue, her back turned to him. However, his footsteps were light and brisk, suggesting that the matter was taken care of.
She curled her lips into a smile, and her nerves, which had been tightly wound, finally relaxed.
Sure enough, Steward Wu beamed and said, "Mission accomplished! The elder council has sent the Xuantian Dao Fruit for appraisal. During this period, the Nanming Lihuo Sword will definitely not be sold!" With this assurance, the big stone in Ning Xiaoxian’s heart finally fell. It seemed that Heavenly Residence was greatly interested in the Xuantian Dao Fruit, so the subsequent deal to exchange it for the Divine Sword was likely to succeed!
Standing aside, Jiu Mo and Qi Zai also let out a long sigh of relief upon hearing this. Speaking of the auction on the floor, the scene was so intense that even their mental state cultivation found it hard to bear watching.
Under the hype of these wealthy and capricious fellows, the price of the Nanming Lihuo Sword had soared to a sky-high three million nine hundred thousand spirit stones!
At this point, beside each bidder’s box or esteemed guest stood a steward to ensure they indeed had the wealth they claimed and were not just inflating prices. Such a price was something most people could only look up to, so now there were only six bidders left!
"Who are these few families?" Ning Xiaoxian murmured. Steward Wu stood by her side, smiled, but did not reply. She hadn’t really expected him to answer.
Keeping buyer confidentiality is the most basic ethic of the Chamber of Commerce, and it was natural for him not to disclose anything. But she also understood, there are no secrets that the wind won’t carry away. What is a secret now will likely be uncovered by interested parties outside of Bai Yujing, especially given the weight of the sky-high Divine Sword. However, the channels for such inquiry would be varied, and it might take several days for the truth to come to light.
How powerful is the purchasing power of four million spirit stones? Not to mention, she knew that this amount is almost a decade’s income for a small sect—and that’s assuming they neither eat nor spend anything, and a few centuries if they calculate profits. Now this money was being poured here, just for a weapon.
This world is simply too crazy.
However, the bidding had indeed slowed down. Now, perhaps only once every few tens of breaths would one or two people place a bid, often waiting until the auctioneer began the countdown before someone would show their paddle. Before Steward Wu had walked in, the three of them in the box were on edge, afraid of when the auctioneer’s mallet would suddenly descend with a thud on the table, giving away this Divine Sword to someone else!
Fortunately, Heavenly Residence acted quickly. Since they had promised her to delay the sale procedure of the Divine Sword, they promptly took action.
At this moment, two men who appeared to be appraisers suddenly rushed to the center of the seventh-floor hall, speaking nervously with the auctioneer, causing the auctioneer to also be taken aback.
The Bai Yujing Auction hadn’t seen such a situation for a long time, yet in this session, there were two instances where staff intervened midway, both related to the sale of the Nanming Lihuo Sword. The onlookers in the venue were instantly intrigued, wondering what surprises this time might bring. After all, the Divine Sword wasn’t going to end up in their pockets regardless, so a spectacle was just what they wanted. But the few buyers in the box were frowning frequently, with a faint sense of foreboding.
Sure enough, after listening, the auctioneer, with a look of surprise, turned to the audience, first apologizing, and then said slowly, "Just now, the appraisers from Heavenly Residence found that two Spirit Talismans on the sword box sealing the Nanming Lihuo Sword have loosened! The elder council has decided to first return this auction item to the back, for the talismanic records master to create Spirit Talismans to reinforce it. However, crafting these Spirit Talismans is rather troublesome, so the sale of the Nanming Lihuo Sword is temporarily halted and will continue once the reinforcement is complete!"
As soon as these words were spoken, a murmur of protest rose from the audience below! Everyone was enjoying the spectacle, who would have thought Heavenly Residence would pull such a stunt. But as things stood, they still had control over it; wasn’t it up to them to decide?
Clever individuals saw there had to be more behind this; could it be that some buyer was pressing Heavenly Residence? Thus, the few big buyers who had good relations with Heavenly Residence immediately frowned and sent people backstage to probe insiders for information. Unfortunately, as it involved such an immense secret as the Xuantian Dao Fruit, all the elders’ mouths were shut tight as clam shells, unwilling to release a single word.