64 The Mystery Object Sale 3

In Van's palm was a round blue object emitting a brilliant glow. The blue light cast a weird shadow on the multitude of people in the crowd staring at it.

The crowd was flabbergasted. Their mouths gaped open as they witnessed the miraculous scene in front of them. Just its appearance was enough to show that it was definitely high quality goods worth several thousand taels.

That meant… the auctioneer had lost the bet. The auctioneer would have to give the kid a whopping 15,000 silver taels!

Delphine was even more shocked than them.

[Could Van have been telling the truth when he said all five contained treasures?]

The auctioneer fell to the ground, legs weak. He recognised that pill.

A knowledgeable person in the crowd pushed forwards and screamed hoarsely, "The ancient Brimming Spirit pill! It really is the ancient Brimming Spirit pill!"

"It is super effective for people below the 6th level of Qi Distillation has a 25% chance of raising cultivation by one level. In today's market, it is worth 9,000 silver taels!"

There were still people who were sceptical, "How do you know so much about an ancient pill?"

The person who spoke up before replied, "Someone found one last year too!"

Van stowed away the Brimming Spirit pill. The strong fragrance remained in the air.

The crowd were disappointed they couldn't look at it for longer. Though they were bitter and jealous, they weren't stupid enough to try and steal it.

The people who operated the Mystery Object Sale tolerated no criminal behaviour. They had many people guarding the surrounding streets. It was of utmost importance to them that their customers felt safe – otherwise, how could they make money?

The collapsed auctioneer bitterly pulled out 15,000 taels and handed them quickly to Van. His appearance was like a defeated rooster.

The auctioneer couldn't bear to see the boy for a moment longer, "J-just take it!"

"Thank you!" Van said brightly. He ignored the auctioneer's bitter laugh.

Whistling, Van moved on to the next chest.

Delphine followed, "Wait, Van!"

Van stopped and turned his head.

"Do you have a talent for identifying treasures? Do you have a master who taught you? Is it the way they look or smell? How did you know?!" Her mouth did not stop spewing questions.

Van felt a headache coming on. To stop her from speaking, he nodded, "I only discovered it just now, but I have a strange talent for identifying treasures. It is too hard to explain what I know."

Delphine was impressed, "Um, I'm sorry I laughed at you earlier."

Van accepted her apology. As he moved down the street and approached the next large chest, he saw Ryan running towards him.

Earlier, the grey-eyed boy had expression his wish to go exploring on his own and Van had acquiesced.

Ryan had wanted to go and try his luck. He felt that Van had helped him so many times in the past month; he knew he should be relying on himself more, instead of burdening Van.

"Van!" Ryan shouted as he ran forwards. His grey hair was messed up and his eyes gleamed. A mystery object was clenched in his fist.

The ring in Van's mind became alert, [That treasure… it's pretty good! Interestingly, it has picked that kid and won't accept anyone else.]

Van was surprised, [Treasures can pick people?]

Jet scoffed.

[Dumbass! If I didn't choose you why am I stuck in your stinking teenage mind!?]

Van scratched his head sheepishly, [You have a point.]

The ring spun, [Damn right I do! Should have chosen a brighter fella, sheesh.]

Ryan showed Van the crusty ancient artefact, "When I was walking around, I felt a strange tugging sensation in my navel. Before I knew it, I was already buying it. I feel like it has a strong affinity with me. Should I open it?"

Van closed Ryan's fist, "No. If it is something that good, we don't want to attract undue attention."

Ryan calmed down, he nodded.He cast a look around the street. There were still thousands of people milling about, making noise and exchanging coins.

"You are wise, Van. I will refrain from opening it until we return to the outer sect dorms," Ryan said as he put the object away.

Van nodded, "If you open it and it contains something very good, don't show anyone else."

With the Brimming Spirit Pills, he had made a calculated risk to earn 15,000 silver taels in one shot. If the pills weren't effective only for those under the 6th level of QI Distillation, Van wouldn't have shown it for any amount of money. This was because Van had confidence, he could deal with anyone in those cultivation levels. Anything higher was risky.

Hearing Van's advice to keep his treasure secret, Ryan nodded seriously. Delphine was curious but didn't press.

The trio continued forwards. As they approached the next big chest, a new auctioneer approached them - a middle-aged man with slanted eyes.

"How can I help you, sirs and madame?"

"There is no need. We will look for ourselves," Van said.

Unlike the other auctioneer, this one had far more sense and tact. When he saw that they were uninterested in his services, he backed off and spoke to other people.

Van walked up to the massive chest. There were already many people around it, so he had to squeeze in between a fat man and a frantic lady. Behind them, steely eyed assistants made sure no one was running off with the goods.

Van peered down; a dull mass of crusty artefacts greeted him. He began to sift through.

Ten minutes later, his eyes noticed an object in the very bottom corner of the chest.

Jet clamoured in his brain.

[A Myriad Light Dimensional Ring! You fool, pick it up before someone else does!]

Jet shouted and hollered, spinning violently around in Van's mindscape and generally being a terror.

Van's heart beat fast as he looked at the crusty object in the bottom corner. He sidled up to a thin hook-nosed man standing closest to it and squeezed himself into the right spot. His hand closed over it.

A that moment, another hand reached for it at the same time!

Van was alarmed

[Who?!]

"Shit. Sorry, kid!"

The thin hook-nosed man apologized for accidentally grabbed Van's hand.

Van smiled thinly. His heart was still beating at a hundred kilometres per hour. He thought that someone was trying to snatch this precious treasure from him!

Jet kept making a racket, [Yes! This Myriad Light Dimensional Ring was rare even in the ancient times. It is undoubtedly one of the top objects they would have been able to extract from a place like the Forgotten Tombs!]

Van held it tightly, [Is it really that good?]

Jet continued, happy just thinking about treasure, [Of course. Unlike most dimensional rings, you can store living beings in it! Why? Because it can store small amounts of spiritual energy, the most basic form of sustenance for living spiritual items. Plus, the inner storage space is rather large, being 10 x 10 x 10 metres.]

Van was shocked. 1000 cubic metres was many times more than the Ebony Dimensional Ring in the Cedar Sect's Point Exchange Centre.

Plus, this ring could store living items! Wasn't it just too powerful?

Van could carry pots of living herbs to cultivate wherever he went, and he could put Blackie in there if he ever needed to hide him.

Jet was smug, [You should say 'thank you' to this granddaddy! If not for me, this treasure would have fallen into someone else's hands!]

Van rolled his eyes, "Thank you, Jet."

The ring spun, [The Myriad Light Dimensional Ring requires blood to accept you as it's new owner. You will have to spend time refining it to remove the old owner's imprint. There might be some old treasures in there, but you should be careful in case there are any traps.]

Van nodded. He continued to look through the chest but found nothing worth note.

The five items he had found in the first chest were Brimming Spirit Pills of varying quality. He had only opened the lowest quality one to show the auctioneer.

Van randomly grabbed a few more pebble-sized mystery objects and bought them from the auctioneer for one hundred taels total. He did this so decrease attention towards himself.

"Let's go," he said to Ryan and Delphine, who were casually perusing the chest. Delphine had something in her hand.

"That's trash. Just throw it away," Van told Delphine. She bit her lip but acquiesced.

[Why is he so rude!]

Van felt that she strongly resembled Finn on a bad day just then. He felt slightly bad so he picked up something from the chest and threw it her way.

Delphine brightened, "What's in this?"

"Ancient children's' toy," Van replied blandly.

Steam rose off the top of Delphine's head, "You!" She shouted, her face red with embarrassment.

Van and Ryan laughed.

"Ugh! I can't deal with you guys!" Delphine said petulantly.

She bought the mystery object; Van could not fathom why.

They continued to look through the remaining chests. Van did not end up finding anything as good as the Myriad Light Dimensional Ring or even the Brimming Spirit Pills.

Van turned to the others, "Let's visit the 12th auction room."

_____

[Inside the Golden Hall.]

A lady in golden uniform directed them into the 12th room in the Golden Hall. It was furthest to the left.

As they walked in, a furore of noise greeted them.

"Going once, going twice – Sold to the senior over there for four thousand silver taels!"

The auctioneer standing on the stage banged the gavel. A young boy wearing a small golden hat ran over to take the goods off the stage.

"The next item is a mystery object just less than the size of a palm! This shape of object we at the Golden Hall are very familiar with, it resembles the shape of bottle or a vial. Bottles and vials often indicate a priceless ancient potion or pill bottle. Extremely precious items could be inside. The starting bid is 1,000 silver taels!"

"Two thousand!"

Someone quickly raised the price for the mystery object.

[Hm?] Jet swam off his usual place in the centre of Van's mindscape and moved to the forefront as if to peer through Van's eyes.

[That vial seems to contain a bloodline inheritance from an ancient beast! It's worth is immeasurable – ancient beasts were bigger and more powerful compared to the pitiful demon beasts today. It's worth at least 100,000 spirit stones…]

Van heard Jet talk in terms of spirit stones for the first time. As far as Van knew, even 1,000 silvers could barely buy a single spirit stone. That meant that vial up there was worth more than one million silver taels? These were crazy numbers!

"Which bloodline does it contain?" Van asked.

[I cannot tell from here. However, the bloodline signature is potent despite its dilution. I highly recommend you get your hands on it. You can use it to upgrade the bloodline of your pet wolf!]

Van heard the price of the vial continue to rise. It was currently being auctioned for 6,000 silver taels. No one was bidding. After all, six-thousand was a lot to pay for an object that might contain nothing at all.

Van squeezed his way into the crowd below the stage, "I bid 8,000 silver taels!"

The crowd hushed. Everyone turned to look at him. They were stunned by how young he was!

"This young kid must have been kicked in the brains to bid 8,000 taels – didn't he know that the probability of it containing a treasure is only 1:1000?"

"Shit, how rich is he? I wish I could afford to gamble so much money."

More comments rumbled through the crowd.

The auctioneer brightened, "This young man bids 8,000 silver taels. Does anyone challenge this?"