Free Web NovelChapter 233: Chapter 233: A Swarm of Hungry Locusts
Following the roaring, stampeding crowd like two ghosts drifting through a storm, Shen Yu and Bai Ruolan made their way toward the grand central headquarters of the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union.
Long before they even reached the main gates, the surrounding avenues were already entirely choked with people.
Cultivators of all descriptions, wealthy merchant leaders in heavy silks, grim-faced rogue experts, and local clan elders with long flowing beards, were aggressively forcing their way toward the grand entrance.
The energy in the air was frantic, buzzing with an electric anticipation.
Because the union leadership meticulously planned for this massive influx of traffic, they hadn’t just limited the event to a single pill release.
To maximize the psychological blow to the Cao Clan and extract every single spiritual stone floating around the city, they had transformed the sudden gathering into a surprise Grand Auction. freewebnσvel.cѳm
They threw open the high-security VIP vaults, bringing out a massive catalog ranging from standard, high-demand cultivation necessities to incredibly rare, exotic goods. free𝑤ebnovel.com
Using her authority the excited Bai Ruolan guided Shen Yu towards an exclusive, concealed viewing balcony on the third floor.
The room was private, hidden behind a one-way spiritual ward that overlooked the entire panoramic sweep of the grand auction hall below.
"Look at them down there," Ruolan whispered, her voice a childishly sweet, delighted giggle as she pulled back her deep black hood.
She hopped slightly on her toes, her large, heavy breasts bouncing beneath her loose white silk robes.
"They’re practically climbing over each other! Our disciples didn’t even have time to arrange the premium velvet seats before the main hall was entirely packed!"
Shen Yu leaned loosely against the stone railing, his playful, eccentric energy fully on display as he twirled a small jade token between his slender fingers.
"A swarm of hungry locusts will always descend wherever the sweetest crop is revealed, Little Alchemist."
"The more frantic they are to spend their gold coins here, the faster the Cao Clan’s economy turns into ash."
Down below, the central stage was illuminated with a sudden, brilliant flash of crimson spiritual fire.
The crowd’s roaring chatter instantly died down to a sharp, suffocating silence as a senior auctioneer, an elderly man with a booming, qi-amplified voice, stepped onto the platform.
"Welcome, esteemed path-seekers of Crimson Iron City, to this emergency gathering of the Golden Cauldron!" the old man roared, his voice rattling the wooden beams of the hall.
"We know why you have broken through our doors today."
"But before we reveal the crown jewel of our recent alchemical breakthrough, the union has decided to open our vaults to treat our loyal patrons to an unprecedented showcase of treasures!"
He paused, a sharp, theatrical smile splitting his wrinkled face as he raised a heavy wooden gavel.
"Without further ado, let the bidding begin!"
The auction kicked off with high-demand, practical items to warm up the crowd’s wallets.
First came batches of refined, mid-grade Tier 2 defensive talismans, which were instantly snapped up by rogue cultivators for one thousand five hundred gold coins a set.
Next were crates of rare Violet-Spotted Refined Steel, driving local blacksmiths into a brief bidding war that capped at seven thousand stones.
As the hours passed, the items grew progressively rarer.
A beautifully preserved, two-hundred-year-old Five-Leaf Blood-Soul Ginseng drove the rogue herbalists and medical elders into a frantic frenzy.
The fierce bidding war escalated rapidly, finally hammering down at a staggering fifty low-grade spirit stones.
In a mortal kingdom, fifty spirit stones was a small fortune.
Because a single spirit stone possessed enough condensed spiritual energy to easily trade for a thousand mortal gold coins, this single root had just fetched the equivalent of fifty thousand gold coins.
It was a massive sum that no ordinary citizen could ever dream of holding, spent in a matter of seconds by desperate cultivators chasing a sliver of longevity.
It was immediately followed by a pristine, mid-tier Earth-Grade Defensive Array Flag that fetched an incredible one hundred and fifty stones from a terrified local clan leader seeking protection.
The atmosphere inside the hall was now entirely boiling, the frantic, competitive energy reaching a fever pitch.
The sheer amount of wealth shifting into the Golden Cauldron’s vaults within a single afternoon was staggering.
Up on the viewing balcony, Bai Ruolan leaned over the railing, her chin resting on her hands as she watched the bid numbers fly up with a childishly amused pout.
"Hmph, they’re fighting over these things like they’re immortal meat. Senior Brother Mo, look at that fat merchant in the corner, he’s sweating so much his makeup is running!"
"The value of an object is entirely dictated by the illusion of scarcity, Little Alchemist," Shen Yu chuckled darkly, his green pupils reflecting the chaotic bidding below.
"When people believe a storm is coming, they will pay a king’s ransom for even a broken umbrella."
Down on the stage, the old auctioneer smiled, sensing the crowd was thoroughly primed.
He raised his hands, commanding absolute silence as burly disciples hauled up a heavily warded, reinforced iron chest.
"And now, before we transition to our highly anticipated medical showcase, we bring you a true anomaly recovered from a hidden, ancient skeleton found in the deepest, untested depths of the Crimson Mountain Range," the auctioneer whispered, yet his voice echoed clearly in every corner.
"A mystery left behind by a forgotten traveler."
The chest was unlocked, and the old man carefully lifted a piece of heavily weathered, tattered parchment from a protective jade box.
At first glance, it looked entirely ordinary, frayed at the edges and stained by centuries of dust, bearing faint, faded ink lines that formed a partial, broken geography.
"A tattered fragment of a forgotten ancient map!" the auctioneer announced.
"Though its script is partially unreadable and its origins remain a mystery even to our grand appraisers, the parchment itself is crafted from high-grade, spirit-resistant Beast King hide, proving its original owner was no ordinary expert."
"For any collector or explorer brave enough to seek out lost heritages, this is an entry key to the unknown! We open the bidding at two hundred low-grade spiritual stones!"
