Chapter 642: Caught in the Spotlight

Seeing Ding Huan walk away, the man glanced at the jade box in his hand, as if remembering something—he immediately rose and hurried to a secluded corner, unlocking the jade box's seal.

When he clearly saw that it was indeed a Nine-Colored Void Lotus inside, his eyes turned red with excitement.

"Brother, you're saved—I'll be back soon." With those words, the man left Dao Xu Street at top speed.

But the exit he used was different from the one Ding Huan used.

Dao Xu Street had three entrances and exits.

If you entered Dao Xu Street from the Lower Divine Realm without proper procedures and identity verification, you could only leave through the Lower Divine Realm exit.

If you entered Dao Xu Street from the Middle Divine Realm, you could exit through either the Middle Divine Realm or the Lower Divine Realm entrance.

The man exited Dao Xu Street through the Middle Divine Realm entrance—clearly, he came from the Middle Divine Realm.

If the Divine Realm had Divine Rice, why bother cultivating Immortal Rice into Divine Rice?

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Unfortunately, Ding Huan overthought it—his price had barely appeared when it was instantly surpassed by 120,000 high-grade Divine Crystals.

As Ding Huan was brooding, he noticed two new bids surge past his ten catties of Divine Rice on the bidding screen.

Divine Realm cultivators rarely closed their eyes for only four months during a cultivation break.

Ding Huan had already decided: as soon as he obtained the Divine Lotus, he would immediately head to Dao Xu to find Wen Jiyue.

It wasn't his Divine Rice that was valuable—it was that the Divine Realm had long since run out of Divine Rice.

If he waited just a little longer, his ten catties of high-grade Divine Rice might reclaim the top spot again.

As long as his spiritual sense couldn't constantly scan his private booth.

Not everyone was like Ding Huan, who cultivated the Great Cosmos Art and needed not advancement opportunities but advancement resources.

Yet Immortal Rice simply could not be cultivated into Divine Rice—a fact proven countless times by countless Spirit Plant Masters and Immortal Alchemists.

This thing, aside from being slightly troublesome to plant, required a growth cycle that was nearly instantaneous to Divine Realm cultivators.

Auctions in Dao Xu Street happened almost daily, sometimes even multiple auctions opening simultaneously.

One was 200,000 high-grade Divine Crystals, the other 210,000 high-grade Divine Crystals.

He cultivated the Great Cosmos Art, mastering the laws of all things to the extreme—so he could cultivate Immortal Rice into Divine Rice in the Divine Realm, but that didn't mean others could.

A red-clad youth slammed his palm onto the table before him: "Bold! Daring to falsely bid in my Feiyang Auction House!"

Divine Rice will be reborn at Feiyang Merchant Guild—Feiyang won't just gain these ten catties of Divine Rice, but also the friendship of the Geda Sects and a reputation praised throughout the Divine Realm.

A calm, unhurried voice spoke.

In the Divine Realm, the best remedy for poison is Divine Rice.

In Ding Huan's mind, ten catties of Divine Rice could never sell for 200,000 high-grade Divine Crystals.

Don't risk revealing your identity because of that entry tablet to Dao Xu.

The auction began; Ding Huan entered the auction hall with the crowd and found his private booth.

With his current cultivation level, he had to be careful.

Someone with a Spirit Eye might only encounter this once in a lifetime. This Nine-Colored Void Lotus has a starting price of 60,000 high-grade Divine Crystals—highest bidder wins."

It stirred the entire hall again.

Proven by countless years of history.

Ding Huan immediately bid all the Divine Crystals he had on him—telling everyone he would not let go of this Divine Lotus.

Ding Huan went again to purchase an entry ticket for the Feiyang Merchant Guild auction, but this time he had ample Divine Crystals—he spent one thousand low-grade Divine Crystals to buy a simple private booth.

Though only a 30% chance, every additional 10% increase in cultivation advancement chance is a tremendous opportunity—let alone a 30% increase.

As Ding Huan grew drowsy, the auctioneer finally produced the Divine Lotus: "The value of the Divine Lotus, I believe many of you know. There are indeed more than one such lotus in Dao Xu, but I believe each one is a treasure."

Everyone in the booth understood: this ten catties of Divine Rice must not fall into anyone else's hands.

Even the Nongnong Sect couldn't cultivate it—who else could?

He hadn't realized such a simple matter.

This attendance rate was quite high.

The Feiyang Merchant Guild auction hall was large; Ding Huan's spiritual sense swept through—it estimated the attendance rate at 70 to 80 percent.

Everyone came here seeking what they needed; the auctioneer knew this well, so he wasted no time—he immediately produced an ancient, simple jade slip and said:

His spiritual sense also swept outward.

"Divine Rice still exists in the Divine Realm? And high-grade? I don't believe it."

"Slap!"

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the bidding screen's price shot up, reaching 200,000 in mere moments.

"One five-star low-grade Divine Core Crystal, plus the seller must compensate me with some high-grade Divine Crystals—the exact amount to be negotiated." Ding Huan announced his bid again.

These ten catties of high-grade Divine Rice were certainly not worth 500,000 high-grade Divine Crystals—but if they were seeds, then not even 500,000, but 5 million or even 50 million might be possible.

It was eventually sold for 260,000 low-grade Divine Crystals.

He was reminding the red-clad youth: the withdrawal of the bid was legitimate and compliant. Ding Huan immediately understood what had happened and unhesitatingly withdrew his ten catties of Divine Rice.

"Wu Zhishi, this isn't false bidding—the ten catties of high-grade Divine Rice were withdrawn when its price had already dropped to third place."

…These murmurs made Ding Huan understand the reason—his expression darkened.

He was just testing the waters, then adjusting his bid based on the situation—if the ten catties of Divine Rice didn't stir any reaction, he'd increase the quantity.

Immortal Rice still existed.

For now, he shouldn't use the Dao Xu entry tablet on him—he suspected everyone who bought such a tablet was recorded.

"That's unlikely—Divine Rice vanished long ago. I've only heard of Immortal Rice, but Immortal Rice can't become Divine Rice." "Right, I heard the Nongnong Sect tried to elevate Immortal Rice into Divine Rice, but failed in the end."

After that, the old man's next items, besides cultivation techniques and artifacts, were most valuable: a Ningjun Divine Pill—a pill capable of helping a Heavenly God cultivator ascend to the Divine Lord realm.

A clear voice whispered into Ding Huan's ear: "I want your ten catties of high-grade Divine Rice—I'll give you 500,000 high-grade Divine Crystals."

If the Feiyang Merchant Association obtained these ten jin of Divine Spirit Rice, then the Feiyang Merchant Association would prosper.

Ding Huan hesitated for a moment, but still took out the Divine Spirit Rice.

The auction began, and the one presiding over the auction was an old man.

In just a dozen or so breaths, the price of this one stalk of Divine Lotus Clover had reached 160,000 upper-grade Divine Crystals.

Violating the rules at the auction means the Feiyang Merchant Association can deal with him as it pleases.

Ding Huan sighed; he knew he must have been targeted.

Therefore, to attract cultivators, every major auction would bring out the best items it had.

Even if Ding Huan was unclear on the price of Divine Core Crystals, he knew that one five-star lower-grade Divine Core Crystal was worth far more than a single stalk of Divine Lotus Clover.

When ten jin of upper-grade Divine Spirit Rice appeared on the bidding screen, the venue actually fell into a brief silence.

This was a middle-aged male cultivator, whose status seemed no worse than that of the red-robed youth.

"What do we do now?" Steward Wu clenched his fists.

Ding Huan understood clearly why this was happening — it was because ten jin of upper-grade Divine Spirit Rice had suddenly appeared, and the people appraising its value hadn't had time to react yet.

"Who would dare to bid a fake item?"

The private room had a tier-three shielding Divine Array; Ding Huan did not touch it.

Only when there was no more Divine Spirit Rice did Old Ji say he could cultivate Immortal Spirit Rice into Divine Spirit Rice.

No matter how valuable Divine Spirit Rice was, it absolutely could not be worth that much.

He had been done in by Old Ji — Old Ji had only said he could help him cultivate Immortal Spirit Rice into Divine Spirit Rice, but Old Ji never said the God Realm didn't have Divine Spirit Rice, did he?

If Divine Spirit Rice were really that valuable, wouldn't everyone go and plant Divine Spirit Rice?

Ding Huan slapped his own head — could he really blame Old Ji?

Although many people were watching Ding Huan, the price of the Divine Lotus Clover had already reached 220,000 upper-grade Divine Crystals.

"As long as the price isn't first place, anyone has the right to withdraw their bid at any time."

The truth was, Ding Huan simply didn't know how many Divine Crystals per jin the Divine Spirit Rice could fetch, so he simply wrote down ten jin.

Looking at the old man's withered spirit and vigor, he estimated the man had no hope of advancing, which was why he had come to the auction to acquire some cultivation resources.

Unfortunately, it was said that after the last Cosmic Tribulation, Divine Spirit Rice had vanished completely.

"Then that proves it's not fake — that person really does have upper-grade Divine Spirit Rice…"

Ding Huan was shocked — how could that be?

Very quickly, over a hundred Divine Senses swept toward Ding Huan's side, and even the restrictions on his private room were broken open by someone.

"This is an auction — to dare to fake something here, don't you want to live?"

"This jade slip contains one of the Five Element Escape Arts; I won't go into specifics. The starting price is 100,000 lower-grade Divine Crystals, with no limit on increments — bidding begins now…"

Almost at the same moment Ding Huan withdrew his bid, behind the Feiyang Auction a woman said with a pale face: "The bid for those ten jin of upper-grade Divine Spirit Rice can't reach first place anymore — the bid was, was withdrawn…"

Let alone 200,000 upper-grade Divine Crystals, even 10,000 upper-grade Divine Crystals probably couldn't be sold for.

Yet now he had no choice but to sell; if he placed a bid and ultimately didn't sell, that would mean violating the Feiyang Merchant Association's rules.

"100,000 upper-grade Divine Crystals."

As long as the bid doesn't occupy first place, it can be withdrawn at any time.

Ding Huan hadn't originally wanted to bring out a Divine Core Crystal, but seeing the situation, if he didn't bring out a Divine Core Crystal, he probably wouldn't be able to buy the Divine Lotus Clover.

With one hour still left before the auction, Ding Huan went and purchased an array token for entering the Dao Ruins.

Someone actually brought out a five-star Divine Core Crystal to buy a Divine Lotus Clover — are they crazy?

From the earlier upper-grade Divine Spirit Rice to a five-star Divine Core Crystal, this auction really is jaw-dropping.

Soon most people realized that this five-star Divine Core Crystal had also been bid by that fellow who bid the Divine Spirit Rice.

Ding Huan was also quite helpless — he didn't want to steal the spotlight, but any valuable item he had on him, once brought out, was bound to draw attention.

(End of this chapter)