Yan Rulie was somewhat taken aback by Lin Xin's sudden words.
What did that mean?
He had prepared an auction item himself; how did that concern Yan Rulie?
Though puzzled, Yan Rulie dared not speak his mind and said respectfully, "The item Elder Lin presents is certainly the best."
Lin Xin scoffed, "No need for your insincere flattery. You'll know when you see it later."
Yan Rulie awkwardly touched his nose, unsure how to respond.
He felt that the Lin Xin he saw today was somewhat different from before, perhaps a bit more arrogant.
But why was that?
Why would a venerable elder lower himself to such arrogance in this setting?
Reality, however, did not allow him to ponder further. Someone knocked on the door, asking him to pay the crystal coins.
Seeing the basin of longevity grass the person carried, Yan Rulie's earlier unease reignited with fervor.
This was something he had longed for for years, and he had finally obtained it.
The poisoning and cursing of Yuan Fang earlier was precisely to force Yao Huang Gu's Yuan Heng to produce this longevity grass.
Unfortunately, it had not succeeded.
Thankfully, heaven helps those who help themselves; he had still obtained it.
However, the thought of having to fork out five million blue crystal coins made Yan Rulie's heart ache.
Under the other person's look of disdain, Yan Rulie finally gritted his teeth and produced a spatial ring.
The person checked the spatial ring, confirmed the five million blue crystal coins within, and handed the longevity grass to Yan Rulie. "Elder Yan, please examine it thoroughly. If there are no issues, sign here."
Saying this, the person produced a piece of paper.
The paper contained a contract. After the exchange of goods and money, such a contract was always signed to prevent any disputes.
Yan Rulie was familiar with this procedure, so he was not surprised.
He carefully examined the longevity grass. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he signed the contract, keeping one copy for himself and giving the other to the person.
The person glanced at Yan Rulie's signature on the contract and then smiled as they took their leave.
After exiting the private room, the person's smile took on a rather meaningful quality.
This hot potato had finally been sold. Would the shopkeeper praise and reward them handsomely for this?
Thinking this, the person's smile deepened, and they strode away from the door of room number eight.
Meanwhile, everyone finally saw the third auction item presented by Consort Xiang for the evening.
It was still planted in a flowerpot, but the flowerpot itself was not particularly valuable.
Even the soil in the pot looked like it had just been put in.
It made people wonder if these were items hastily put together.
Indeed, their guess was correct. This was a flowerpot Mi Le Fo had found temporarily, and the soil was dug from outside the auction venue. He had simply watered it with some Immortal Spring Water mixed with ordinary water, as per Shen Xiaoyan's instructions.
What Mi Le Fo had not expected was that even the diluted Immortal Spring Water, after being poured into the flowerpot, caused the longevity grass to quickly root and sprout, as if it had always grown there.
Though he was curious as to why, Mi Le Fo remembered Shen Xiaoyan's mission and quickly took the flowerpot to the auction organizer. After the appraisers authenticated it, the longevity grass was directly placed as the third auction item, and someone was assigned to present it to Consort Xiang.
Consort Xiang's mouth gaped wide enough to fit an egg when she saw the longevity grass.
She clearly remembered that there was only one longevity grass at the auction tonight. How could there be another one now, right after the first one was auctioned?
More importantly, this one clearly looked better than the previous one.
The previous one had already fetched an astronomical price of five million blue crystal coins. So, how much would this one fetch to be considered reasonable?
In reality, none of that mattered. What mattered was that Yan Rulie, that fool, had gone bankrupt buying the previous longevity grass. Where would he get the crystal coins to buy this one now?
Could this one actually be sold?
A flicker of worry crossed Consort Xiang's eyes. She glanced around at the surrounding private rooms, her face regaining its practiced smile.
After the previous two successful auctions, her capacity for shock had been tempered.
She felt that no matter what price this longevity grass in her hand would fetch, she could accept it.
However, this auction would likely be postponed. The ten items originally scheduled to be auctioned in one night would certainly not be finished due to various unforeseen circumstances.
"Ahem, everyone can see that what I have before me is also a longevity grass. The difference between this longevity grass and the one just presented is negligible. Consort Xiang believes everyone has discerning eyes; even if Consort Xiang says nothing, you will surely see it. Therefore, Consort Xiang will not say more. The bidding starts now. The base price is the same as before, still ten thousand blue crystal coins. Each increment must be no less than ten thousand. The auction begins now."
Consort Xiang's words were met with an eerie silence.
Indeed, everyone was momentarily stunned. The appearance of the second longevity grass had dealt a considerable blow.
And among them, Yan Rulie was the most devastated.
He had exhausted his thoughts, his wealth, and even offended Lin Xin, the second elder of Chang Qiu Hall, to finally obtain this longevity grass. Now, another one appeared.
Were they treating him like a fool?
He recalled Lin Xin saying earlier that he had an item to be auctioned, and it was scheduled third.
The first was Feng Yu Xian Lu, the second was this longevity grass in his hand, so wouldn't this subsequent longevity grass be the third?
Lin Xin actually possessed longevity grass, and such a high-quality specimen at that.
The longevity grass below looked vibrant and full of life. If it were cared for properly, it could likely be divided within a few years.
Then, look at the pot in his hand; it looked half-dead. Whether such a thing could even survive after being taken back was uncertain, yet he had spent such a huge sum to buy it.
Likely, everyone in the auction hall now considered Yan Rulie a complete idiot?
Not only had he offended Lin Xin, but he had also bought a semi-crippled item, and spent so much crystal coins.
It was estimated that soon, the entire Eastern Immortal Territory would know of Yan Rulie's foolish act.
The thought of this made Yan Rulie's anger surge.
In an instant, he coughed up blood.
His condition, seen by Long Ting and Long Xuan, terrified them both.
They had come to an auction, and it had turned out like this?
He was actually so angered that he coughed up blood.
Long Ting sighed inwardly. Their sect leader was truly too... foolish.
But seeing Yan Rulie's despairing look, the words on Long Ting's lips changed.
"Sect Leader, don't be like this. Although the one below looks like good quality, the better it looks, the more expensive it will be. Who knows how fierce the bidding will be later. We acted first to gain an advantage."
Long Ting's attempt at consolation was rather forced, but it was all he could think of at the moment.
He really couldn't say anything against his conscience.
After all, anyone with eyes could see the difference between these two longevity grasses; even describing it as a world apart would be an understatement.
And after a period of eerie silence, everyone immediately went wild.
This statement was not an exaggeration; they were truly going wild.
Shen Xiaoyan, sitting in room number one, listened to the continuous, unceasing bidding from outside, feeling as if a continuous stream of crystal coins was flowing towards her.
This reminded her of when they first arrived in the Sacred Spirit Continent, penniless, selling vegetables in Yingcheng.
Back then, they would wake up early and sleep late in their space, bending their backs like dogs, and how many crystal coins could they earn from a day's hard labor?
But now, all Shen Xiaoyan had to do was occasionally water the longevity grass with Immortal Spring Water, dig one up when needed, place it in any pot, and it would fetch over a million blue crystal coins.
Indeed, comparing oneself to others leads to despair, and comparing goods leads to shame.
Because this longevity grass's appearance was so exceptional, everyone bid with all their might.
After taking some healing pills, Yan Rulie finally recovered.
Having recovered, Yan Rulie still decided he needed an explanation.
Since Lin Xin already had such good longevity grass, why did he compete with him earlier?
If he didn't have it, then fine. But if he did, why did he still compete? Was he deliberately bullying him?
If he was indeed being bullied, then even if their strengths were unequal, he would get to the bottom of it.
Ignoring Long Ting's dissuasion, Yan Rulie raised his voice and said, "Elder Lin, Yan has a question that he doesn't understand. Elder Lin, please give me an explanation."
Lin Xin had been waiting for his inquiry, so he said calmly, "What explanation?"
Yan Rulie took a deep breath. "Since Elder Lin had longevity grass, why did you bid against Yan earlier?"
Upon hearing Yan Rulie's question, Lin Xin burst into loud laughter, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"That's a ridiculous statement. Who made the rule that just because I have longevity grass, I can't participate in the bidding?"
"This..."
Yan Rulie was speechless for a moment. There was indeed no such rule.
But wasn't it common sense?
For such a rare item, if you already had it, why wouldn't you let someone else have it? Why would you still compete for it?
"Then why did Elder Lin stop bidding in the end?" Yan Rulie asked, suppressing his rage.
"That price was already ridiculously high. I'm not an idiot; why would I continue bidding?" Lin Xin answered as a matter of course.
Hearing this, Yan Rulie's partially recovered injuries threatened to flare up again.
He bit his lip to prevent himself from spitting blood.
Lin Xin was truly going too far.
"Elder Lin, don't you think what you did was too much?" Yan Rulie gritted out.
"I don't think so. It's not like it was forced buying or selling, was it?" Lin Xin said innocently.
There was no fault in his words. No matter how angry Yan Rulie was, he couldn't say anything more.
Furthermore, because he had interrupted, the lively auction had been halted, and the door to his private room, room number eight, was being knocked on with loud thuds.
Yan Rulie endured it, and finally said, "Consort Xiang, I apologize for disrupting the auction. You may continue now."
Upon hearing Yan Rulie's apology, Consort Xiang's expression improved slightly.
However, she did not reply to Yan Rulie but directly addressed everyone, "The current price has reached two million blue crystal coins. Is there anyone who wishes to bid further?"
As soon as her voice fell, someone immediately bid, adding one million.
Every time someone bid, Shen Xiaoyan's smile became more genuine. To her, these were crystal coins, her spiritual sustenance. How could she not be happy?
If she wasn't afraid of leveling up too quickly, she would have liked to bring out another ten or twenty stalks of longevity grass to auction.
But she also understood that such items were often about quality, not quantity.
Just like this auction in Saint Language City; the entire auction had only prepared ten items.
In an ordinary small city, what could ten auction items achieve?
But here, not to mention ten auction items, the price fetched by just this one longevity grass was equivalent to a year's income for an auction in some cities.
Therefore, no matter where one was, the saying "quality over quantity" held true.
After a short while, the second longevity grass was won by someone in room number nine for five million one hundred thousand blue crystal coins.
Consort Xiang then breathed a sigh of relief and announced the end of the evening's auction.
"I sincerely apologize to everyone. The auction that was supposed to end tonight must be postponed to tomorrow evening due to various reasons. It is already too late, and I believe everyone wishes to return to rest or discuss matters. Therefore, tonight's auction concludes here. Attendants will escort everyone back to their respective accommodations. Tomorrow, before the auction begins, attendants will also escort everyone from their accommodations. Consort Xiang looks forward to everyone's arrival tomorrow."
It must be said that Consort Xiang's interpersonal skills were indeed excellent. In just a few sentences, she clearly explained the cause and effect.
Not only did she explain why everyone had to stay, but she also prevented them from feeling resentful.
As Consort Xiang's voice faded, the lights in the auction hall were extinguished, leaving only the faint glow from each private room.
This light was insufficient to see people clearly, only giving a general impression.
Presumably to maintain the privacy of the occupants in each room, the time for the attendants to knock and escort people out varied.
Shen Xiaoyan listened; the attendants seemed to start from the second floor downwards, thus effectively ensuring the privacy of those above.
Fortunately, these people were not in a hurry to leave, so they allowed the attendants to call out to people room by room.
By the time Shen Xiaoyan and the others heard voices outside their room, it was half an hour later.