Chapter 174: Priorities, Priorities

I sank into my seat with a crestfallen expression. I should've been more tactful when bidding but I didn't cut them some slack. I just went all in and now, the bidders are a little downtrodden and dumbfounded. Even the highest bidders from last year— Master Shi Yanmei and a few more Sect Masters who now own Shelters of their own— were a bit fazed due to my actions. They never expected a nobody to surface up and bid a ridiculous price on a worthless artifact.

Thankfully, I was seated on one of the VIP seats in the Red Sea Auction Hall, making it easier for me to circumvent the envious and offended gazes, courtesy of the bidders downstairs. My thoughtless actions were what caused this complication so I should just suck it up and bear it... but after seeing their stares that bore through my skull like a power drill, I shrank myself on my seat to the point that I looked like a curled-up fetus instead of a respectable human being.

"Are you all right, Yongrui? You look constipated." Shi Meili concernedly whispered. I am well aware that she knows of my slip-up since the sharp lasers from the bidders' eyes were still shooting at me... but she probably thought that I had a different problem since I'm not the type to act embarrassed.

"I'm fine, just a tad bit uncomfortable." I shrugged her concerns off so she wouldn't fret that much. "What's the next item?"

"A bunch of trinkets from some shelter. They are family heirlooms with little to no value." Ye Zhiyun answered upon overhearing my query. "They're sold at 200 silvers, the whole lot of them."

"200 silvers? Even I don't have that much money." I sarcastically whispered underneath my breath.

Shi Meili chuckled getting my joke. After all, I don't have a single silver coin in my possession.

A few minutes later, Shen Rong came to my quarters with a satisfied expression on his face. "I thought you weren't into auctions?" He teased, patting me on the shoulder when I met him halfway.

"I wasn't... until everyone in this room thought otherwise. I thought this would be an extravagant auction. For a moment, I even felt troubled that the money I brought would not be enough."

"Don't think too much about it. It's written all over your face that you brought more than enough. Indeed, you are full of surprises."

Just from his disposition alone, it was plain that Shen Rong was well-pleased with this year's Red Sea Auction. It's not like it's a bad thing. In fact, it would benefit everyone here in the Lower Plane if he were to hold an auction like this every year. Everyone would have access to unknown treasures and a sense of camaraderie will form over time as the auction brings everyone together. I'm not one to be philosophic about certain things but I know for a fact that this auction would greatly shape this region.

Sigh~ I never expected that the Lower Plane is more established than I thought it would be. In a few years' time, I can see that there will be more alliances if Shen Rong continued to open the doors of the Red Sea Shelter to everyone. Heck, the Red Sea Shelter might as well be the metropolis of every Shelter here.

"The next segment, we'll start displaying your stuff. Are you going to auction your Platinum Rank Spirit Beast Cores? Aside from that, you can sell more items. I'll be the judge on whether they can be auctioned or not."

While Shen Rong was incessantly yammering away, I suddenly remembered something that flew past my mind ever since White appeared on the scene.

That's right, the Red Sea Tournament... what happened about that?

"Shen Rong, before all that, what's the verdict on the Red Sea Tournament? Are Wu Jia and I going to fight in the finals? When are we having our match?" I asked.

"Oh, about that!" Shen Rong clapped his hands as he accessed his storage ring. "Here's your ten Element Orbs. Use them wisely." He said.

"But why are you just giving them to me? My match with Wu Jia was interrupted, right?" I asked, perplexed. As far as I know, I haven't won the Red Sea Tournament. Not yet. Even if my strength far surpasses Wu Jia's we still need to fight it out, not get overruled by means of unannounced disqualification.

Or maybe, Wu Jia forfeited... if that's the case then it's clearly my win. But as of now, I have no clue about the ins and outs of the Red Sea Tournament since White and I had to urgently leave... or more like, I was coerced into going with him to the Void Tower/Dungeon.

"Didn't Wu Jia tell you? She was traumatized by White's sheer strength that she forfeited the match. She witnessed your prowess first-hand when you went head to head with that White and decided that it would be best if she back down from the finals."

"Is she downstairs? I need to talk to her. I mean, after this auction is over, of course. I wouldn't want to disturb her while the crowd's bidding." I said. Now that I've proven how reliable I was on the battlefield, this might be a good time to give her a talking-to about recruitment. If she's willing to side over to my Sect, then that would be beneficial for both parties... or so that's what I think.

"No, she's in one of the Red Sea Shelter clinics." Shen Rong continued. "Yesterday, the effect of having her Qi Core agitated finally set in."

"You mean, she was affected by White's intense pressure? I thought I was the only one."

"All four of us were affected. You, Wu Jia, Shi Yanmei, and me." Shen Rong clarified. "Shi Yanmei and I are already on the Peak Dao Realm so we were able to survive the pressure. But it took us great difficulty to do so as well. The fact that you were able to come out of that pressure and that intense lightning attack is beyond me. I don't know how you do it... did you master the Body Tempering Martial Arts? Or maybe you trained in the Blossom Arts?"

"No, I didn't do anything of the sort." I vehemently denied his accusations. "In any case, how is Wu Jia right now?"

"She's in a critical condition. As it turned out, the effect of the pressure was only felt the day after. In her sleep, her Qi Cores exploded without her noticing. Shi Yanmei and I felt a great disturbance in the Qi Energy around the town and by the time we got there, she was already on the verge of death, her face pale and her breathing erratic. We did what we can but there's no saving her."

As I thought of all the possibilities, I realized that Wu Jia had no chance of survival if she were left on her own. In my years of living on the Lower Plane, I've never found anyone who managed to survive a broken Qi Core. I mean, some of them didn't die, but they were crippled for life. If Shen Rong's conclusion was that she won't make it out of it alive, then I can bet my butt that she surely won't live another day.

And then... the world would be robbed off of another talented cultivator.

I hastily 'rummaged' through my storage rings and handed all the Platinum and Titanium Rank Spirit Beast Qi Cores that I could sell. On top of that, I also handed Shen Rong hundreds of Essences and Pills. Of course, I kept the best ones for myself and just gave Shen Rong what needed to be sold.

"These are everything. And here is the inventory of everything I gave you." I said as I grabbed a piece of paper from my storage ring. I then hurriedly wrote an inventory and passed it to Shen Rong.

After that, I wrote another copy of the inventory and had Shen Rong sign on both papers. "I'll keep the first copy to myself. You can keep the other one and there you can list the final bids after the items are auctioned." I ran my mouth off since I was in a hurry. "Usually the auction gets ten percent of the final bidding price, right? I'll give you twenty percent."

Shen Rong's eyes widened with shock as he held his storage ring close to him (I transferred all the items for auction to his storage ring). He was too astounded to say anything that he just nodded his head off. At how zealously he was nodding his head, I feared it would fall off his neck.

"Right right. All your items will be taken care of, Yongrui. And don't worry about missing out on the auction, the items you gave me are more than enough to hold the auction off for an hour or two. You're going to check Wu Jia's condition, right?" Shen Rong once again, patted me on the back. It only took him a split second to regain his composure, much to my surprise.

I nodded. "Now, where is she?"