Chapter 329: One Step Too Late

Ding Huan said coolly, "I have no interest in the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus. If you want to ascend to the Immortal-Mortal Bridge realm, rely on your own cultivation to gain insight—why use any spirit herbs or pills? Just tell me: will you trade or not?"

"Trade." The gloomy-faced man unhesitatingly pulled out a jade box.

Ding Huan directly tossed his ring to the gloomy-faced man.

The gloomy-faced man grasped the ring, utterly confused—wasn't the exchange supposed to happen simultaneously? He hadn't even given his item yet, yet the other's item was already in his hand?

He scanned the ring with his spiritual sense, confirmed everything was inside, then handed the jade box to Ding Huan: "You're a good trading partner."

Ding Huan's spiritual sense settled on the jade box—he confirmed it indeed contained a Xian Quan Flower, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He had indeed overpaid for the Xian Quan Flower—and by a lot.

But as long as the Xian Quan Flower was in his hands, Lou Xihe would never get it.

"There's one more thing I'd like your help with," Ding Huan said, tucking away the jade box and bowing.

"Speak," the gloomy-faced man said, forgetting to maintain his fake scowl—his expression suddenly seemed almost cheerful.

"I just came in and have nowhere to sit—may I stay in your private booth for a while?" Ding Huan said.

Upon hearing this, the gloomy-faced man's face darkened again, even without his disguise.

He even suspected Ding Huan had some ulterior motive.

"No. But I bought a private booth and a seat—Seat Ding Zi 1321. You may sit there."

With that, the gloomy-faced man tossed a formation talisman to Ding Huan.

Ding Huan was overjoyed—he truly needed a place to sit.

"Thank you," he said, taking the talisman and turning to leave.

The gloomy-faced man watched Ding Huan's retreating figure, puzzled—could this man really have just wanted a place to sit?

After a long silence in the auction hall, Fu Ji Yuan Qi finally shouted: "Just now, a friend said he's going to gather spirit stones and spirit veins to bid for the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus."

Since I previously stated that the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus permits resource gathering, our Ten Thousand Worlds Auction House grants the bidder one incense stick's time. After one incense stick, the auction resumes."

During this one-incense-stick break, our auction house will provide spirit fruits and spirit wine for all to enjoy."

After saying this, Fu Ji Yuan Qi hurriedly left.

The cultivators attending the auction were stunned—when had he ever said we could wait while someone gathered spirit stones?

You only said participants could seek help from outside, allow others to bring spirit stones into the hall, and even permit post-auction transactions.

But you never said we could wait on-site.

Yet the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild's influence was too great—though everyone was dissatisfied, no one dared speak up. After all, one incense stick's time would pass quickly.

Before heading to Ding Zi 1321, Ding Huan passed by Jia Baihe's seat and handed her a ring:

"Remember two things: first, follow my instructions during the transaction; second, the ring contains a teleportation talisman. Once you acquire the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus, do not open it—use the talisman immediately to teleport here."

After saying this, Ding Huan quickly left Jia Baihe's seat, arrived at Ding Zi 1321, activated the talisman to dispel the seat's restrictions, and sat down.

As if welcoming him, spirit fruits and spirit wine instantly appeared before Ding Huan the moment he sat.

…

Behind the auction hall, a beautiful woman coldly watched the young man seated before her; beside them sat two others—an old man and a middle-aged man.

"Elder Peng, you told us to raise the bid, claiming the other side had more ten-million-year sea marrow and seabed blue crystal—so where is it now? They've stopped raising their bid entirely."

The young man was the heir of the Peng family of the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild, and also one of its elders.

The Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild did hold Peng family shares—though small, the young man's status within the guild was far from low.

Moreover, he was the youngest elder in the entire guild.

The beautiful woman was Jin Lingzi, head of the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild's Void Flying City.

Meaning, all commercial matters on the Void Flying City fell under Jin Lingzi's jurisdiction.

The old man was Guan Qifeng, one of the heads of the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild's headquarters, primarily responsible for liaison with the Void Flying City.

The middle-aged man was a recording officer, codenamed Fifty-One.

Every discussion within the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild required a recording officer to document it; the officer had no right or duty to participate in the discussions.

Recording officers had no names—only numbers.

Their sole task was to record everything on the Void Flying City, including major events like auctions—but they were forbidden from forming any bonds with any guild members, so they never spoke.

"What exactly happened? Why did the guild raise the bid without cause? Who did this?" Fu Ji Yuan Qi's angry voice rang out.

Though he was merely the auction host, his status surpassed everyone present.

Jin Lingzi took a deep breath and pointed at the young man: "The bid for the ten-million-year sea marrow was already sufficient. More importantly, we urgently need it."

Peng Sa believed the price could still rise—he thought the other side possessed even more ten-million-year sea marrow and seabed blue crystal. Worse, Peng Sa secretly ordered the bid raised."

"Peng Sa, are you interfering with the Ten Thousand Worlds Void Flying City's auction?" Fu Ji Yuan Qi's gaze at Peng Sa carried a hint of killing intent.

Peng Sa snorted: "Elder Fu, don't threaten me—you can't threaten me. I'm acting for the guild's interests."

Fu Ji Yuan Qi said coldly: "I can't threaten you? The guild will deal with your Peng family. Your family holds a mere sliver of shares in the guild, yet you meddle in everything."

Don't think I don't know your dirty intentions—you only want the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus for yourself."

If you have the goods to back your bid, fine—give it to you. But if you can't produce them, yet still try to delay the auction for the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus, you might even cause us to lose the ten-million-year sea marrow entirely."

"You're lying!" Peng Sa roared.

"Whether I'm lying or not, everyone knows—and you know it too. The guild will investigate."

Fu Ji Yuan Qi turned to the old man: "Elder Guan, how should we handle this?"

Guan Qifeng sighed—he had no standing to intervene in the conflict between the Peng family and Fu Ji Yuan Qi, so he said:

"Let it go unsold. Withdraw the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus for now. When we reach the grand finale, present it again as a second Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus and reopen bidding."

Jin Lingzi said coldly: "If we do that, the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild's reputation will plummet. All the trust we've built over decades will collapse."

That's worse than a failed auction, Elder Guan—do you think you can bear this responsibility?"

Guan Qifeng fell silent—he could not bear it.

Now, taking back the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus is fine, but if we bring it out to auction again, that would be grinding other people's intelligence beneath our feet.

How many fools would come here to attend an auction?

Just at this moment, the restriction outside was knocked.

Jin Lingzi opened the restriction, and an attendant said urgently:

"Steward Jin, just now a man in red found me. He said he's willing to spend two supreme-grade spirit veins, twenty high-grade spirit veins, two billion high-grade spirit stones, and a pot of million-year stone-shoot marrow to buy that one Celestial Cudrania Flower.

And he said the price is negotiable."

"What?" Everyone was stunned.

After a long while, Jin Lingzi asked, "Did you misspeak just now? What the other party wants is the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus, right? Where do we have a Celestial Cudrania Flower?"

The attendant explained, "I didn't misspeak. The other party really did say Celestial Cudrania Flower. He said he went to ask the cultivator who had the Celestial Cudrania Flower, and that person said it had already been bought by someone.

He said this is the auction venue, so the only ones who could have bought it is our auction house, so he came directly to us to purchase it."

Everyone sucked in a cold breath.

This was more than a premium? This was simply delivering spirit stones and spirit veins. When did a single Celestial Cudrania Flower become so valuable? These things could buy dozens of Celestial Cudrania Flowers and still not be used up.

But no one doubted what the attendant said.

In the Flying City Commerce Guild, no attendant would dare tell such a lie.

Moreover, if the other party truly had a collapsing physical body, then the Celestial Cudrania Flower would be priceless to them.

No matter how many treasures you have, if you don't even have a physical body, what's the point of keeping them?

The other party offering this price means an urgent need to restore their physical body, not even wanting to delay a single breath.

"See who bought the Celestial Cudrania Flower?" Fu Ji Yuan Qi said immediately.

Soon the image from the monitoring array was pulled up—the one who bought the Celestial Cudrania Flower was Ding Huan.

"It's the one who came with the million-year sea marrow and the Spirit-Awakening Blue-Faced Fruit to buy the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus. Seeing no hope of buying the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus, he simply used these things to buy the Celestial Cudrania Flower instead. We were one step too late."

Jin Lingzi said in a deep voice.

"This person is sitting at Ding Zi number one thousand three hundred and twenty-one. We can buy it from him. If he's unwilling, our auction house can completely forcibly detain him." Peng Sa said sharply.

Everyone glanced at Peng Sa with contempt. From the commerce guild's perspective, doing so would indeed maximize value.

But Peng Sa really is disgusting.

The Myriad Realms Commerce Guild's reputation and goodwill today were built up bit by bit.

It's not that a commerce guild can never do such a thing, but doing it over a single Celestial Cudrania Flower would be squandering all the credibility the Myriad Realms Commerce Guild has accumulated over the years.

Unless you never do such a thing, once you do—even just once—it will definitely spread.

Fu Ji Yuan Qi said coldly, "We can't use that method. I have another way."

"What way?" Everyone looked at Fu Ji Yuan Qi.

Fu Ji Yuan Qi said calmly, "We must obtain the million-year sea marrow, and we must also obtain the Celestial Cudrania Flower.

As the commerce guild, we cannot forcibly purchase. The commercial reputation the Myriad Realms Commerce Guild has built up over all these years—once destroyed, no one could bear the consequences.

My meaning is, we must find a legitimate means to obtain these two things…"