Chapter 102: The Brat

Li Luo followed Lu Qinger through the main hall and into a spacious corridor partitioned by beaded curtains; the two were close enough that Li Luo could even smell a faint, youthful fragrance.

"Your resonance power seems to have improved quite a bit... could it be that you've entered the Resonance Master stage?" Li Luo asked suddenly.

Lu Qinger nodded gently and said, "I broke through a few days ago. What about you?"

"It should still take a little time," Li Luo laughed. He had been at the Ten-Seal stage for a while now and was currently beginning to prepare for the push toward the Resonance Master stage.

"Keep it up. In less than half a month, the Saint Profound Star Academy will begin its term, and the competition then will be quite intense," Lu Qinger said.

Li Luo nodded with a smile. Just as he was about to speak, his expression shifted suddenly. He turned his head to his side, where a little boy of about eight years old had appeared from who knows where, hiding in the shadow of his body.

The little boy had pitch-black eyes and looked exceptionally cute, but his furtive, hiding behavior made him seem sneaky.

"Little brat, go play somewhere else," Li Luo said, curling his lip.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few figures not far away weaving through the crowd, looking left and right, clearly searching for someone.

The little boy said quietly, "Help me hide."

Although the voice was soft, it had a tone of command to it. It seemed his family background must be quite good; perhaps he was a young master from some noble house.

However, Li Luo couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind and flicked his sleeve, intending to shoo him away.

"I'll give you three thousand gold!" The little boy sensed something was wrong and spoke up hurriedly.

"Do I look like someone who is short on money?" Li Luo frowned, feeling somewhat insulted. Do you think I’m someone like Yu Lang?

Bratty kids are truly annoying.

So, Li Luo extended his palm and said in a low voice, "Five thousand."

Upon hearing this, the little boy didn't say a word and immediately whipped out a five-thousand-gold Golden Dragon Note and handed it to Li Luo.

Seeing the other party was so straightforward, Li Luo was momentarily stunned. He immediately stuffed the Golden Dragon Note into his sleeve and said indifferently, "To help the weak and uphold justice is a duty our kind cannot shirk."

He then placed his palm on the little boy's shoulder and released a Water Shadow Art; instantly, under the lights, the little boy's figure became much more faded.

The little boy touched his body curiously, finding it quite interesting.

Meanwhile, the few figures not far away, after weaving through the area for a while, gradually moved further off.

Li Luo didn't pay any more attention to the child and continued walking with Lu Qinger. She didn't stop Li Luo's actions; the child was clearly a young master from some noble house, and those searching for him were likely guards. As long as he was still in Long Baoxing, there wouldn't be any issues.

The two turned the corner of the corridor and, led by Lu Qinger, finally entered a circular auction room, where some people were already seated.

Li Luo and Lu Qinger found empty seats and sat down at random, but no sooner had he sat down than he saw someone else sit in the seat to his left.

He took a look and discovered it was the little boy from before, so he frowned and said somewhat sternly, "Why are you following me? Don't tell me you want your money back? You’re just a kid, but your integrity is seriously lacking."

The little boy curled his lip, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly coughed, his small face looking somewhat pale.

This body looked even frailer than Li Luo's.

Seeing this, Li Luo felt a bit worried. Is this brat trying to scam him?

Lu Qinger, on the other hand, smiled and said, "Just let him stay here for now."

Since Li Luo had already hidden the boy, it wouldn't be good to let him run around and cause trouble now. It was better to leave him here; later, she would notify the people at Long Baoxing to take over and investigate which family he belonged to.

Li Luo nodded, then looked at the little boy's violent coughing and suddenly tossed a small glass bottle over, which contained some Source Water he had refined.

"Drink this if you're feeling uncomfortable."

Although he didn't know why this brat was so frail, the Source Water he refined with his Water-Light resonance had some special healing effects. It should make the brat feel better and prevent him from actually trying to scam him later.

The brat caught the glass bottle, clearly a bit surprised. He looked at the unknown liquid inside, his eyes showing a strange expression. This person seemed a bit stupid; how could he possibly consume something given by a stranger?

However, it wouldn't be good to throw it away, so he casually tucked it into his robes and continued to look curiously at the auction floor.

Seeing the brat completely ignore his good intentions, Li Luo was amused to the point of anger. Forget it, do whatever you want. He immediately turned his head and stopped paying attention to him.

While Li Luo was waiting for the auction to begin, Duze Beixuan and Ning Zhao also found seats in another part of the room.

Duze Beixuan looked toward Li Luo's direction with a smile and said softly, "What is this Young Manor Master doing buying wood and earth-attribute rare materials?"

Ning Zhao shook his head. He looked at Lu Qinger, who was sitting with Li Luo, his expression somewhat gloomy.

However, Duze Beixuan didn't care about that. When Li Luo first arrived in Great Xia City, he had intended to cause trouble for him, but he had been blocked by Si Qiuying of the Golden Sparrow Manor. Meeting him here today, he just had to have a little fun.

The grudge between the Duze Manor and the Luolan Manor was deep; as long as he could make Li Luo uncomfortable, he would be very happy.

Although he couldn't cause any real harm to Li Luo here, just disgusting the other party was enough to make him feel quite satisfied.

And so, with Duze Beixuan in a state of slight anticipation, the half-hour waiting period passed, and suddenly, the sound of bells and drums rang out in the hall.

The auction had begun.

A professional auctioneer appeared on the stage—a middle-aged man. He went through the routine opening remarks to the crowd and then directly announced the start of the auction.

The auction here didn't proceed item by item; instead, several batches of materials were brought out at once to be auctioned simultaneously.

The scene quickly became lively.

"Item number one, eight-hundred-year Fire Python Fruit, a ten-thousand-quantity-level rare material, starting price eleven thousand gold, someone has bid twelve thousand!"

"Item number two, Wind Spirit Stone, a ten-thousand-quantity-level rare material, starting price sixteen thousand, someone has bid thirteen thousand!"

"Item number three..."

The auctioneer's passionate voice rang out continuously. Whenever someone in the room raised a paddle, he would immediately shout out the bid.

The atmosphere was lively, but Li Luo found it slightly boring because he hadn't yet seen the items he wanted.

Amidst the heated atmosphere, one ten-thousand-quantity-level rare material after another was successfully auctioned off. After waiting for ten minutes, Li Luo finally saw the items he wanted.

This round of the auction featured four batches of materials, exactly two wood and two earth, with each batch having a starting price of around fifteen thousand gold.

These four batches were all ten-thousand-quantity-level, fitting Li Luo's requirements perfectly.

"Millennium Green Wood Heart, ten-thousand-quantity-level rare material, starting price fifteen thousand!"

"Dragon Earth Essence, ten-thousand-quantity-level rare material, starting price fifteen thousand!"

"......"

As soon as these four rare materials appeared, Li Luo didn't hesitate and directly raised his paddle, pushing the price to twenty thousand. Based on his earlier observations, he found that the price for these ten-thousand-quantity-level materials was mostly around twenty thousand, so he couldn't be bothered to compete bit by bit and directly displayed his determination to win them.

In this way, others who were interested in these materials would likely hesitate.

The situation was indeed as Li Luo had expected. When he raised the price of the four batches to twenty thousand each, everyone else in the room understood his determination and, after a moment of hesitation, gave up.

After all, ten-thousand-quantity-level materials were only worth this much; raising the price too high clearly wasn't cost-effective. Besides, these weren't one-of-a-kind items; if they were gone today, they would appear again tomorrow, so there was no rush.

"Is there any bid higher than twenty thousand?"

The auctioneer scanned the entire room and announced loudly.

"If there is no one, then these four batches..."

Just as the auctioneer's words fell, a paddle was finally raised, and a soft, leisurely chuckle rang out.

"Twenty-five thousand."

Hearing this sudden price increase, Li Luo sighed with some melancholy. Sure enough, the legendary auction house provocation event had arrived.