Chapter 102: Bratty Kid

Li Luo followed Lv Qing'er through the great hall and into a spacious corridor partitioned by beaded curtains. The two walked close together, close enough that Li Luo could even catch a faint, girlish fragrance.

"Your Xiangli seems to have improved a lot... Have you broken into the Xiangshi Realm?" Li Luo suddenly asked.

Lv Qing'er nodded lightly and said, "I broke through a few days ago. What about you?"

"Probably still need a bit more time," Li Luo said with a smile. He had entered the Ten-Seal Realm some time ago, and was now beginning to prepare for his assault on the Xiangshi Realm.

"Keep at it. In less than half a month, the Sacred Mystic Star Academy will be starting its term, and the competition then is going to be quite fierce," Lv Qing'er said.

Li Luo smiled and nodded, just as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly shifted. He turned his head to look at his side, where an unknown when a little boy of about eight years old had slipped in, hiding in the shadow of his body.

The little boy had jet-black eyes and an exceptionally cute appearance, but the way he was hiding and skulking made him look furtive.

"Little brat, go play somewhere else," Li Luo said with a curl of his lip.

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

The little boy whispered, "Help me hide for a bit."

Though his voice was soft, there was a hint of ordering in it. He probably came from a well-off family, perhaps a young master from some noble house.

But Li Luo couldn't be bothered to pay attention. With a flick of his sleeve, he was about to shoo him away.

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

"Do I look like I'm short on money to you?" Li Luo frowned, feeling a bit insulted. Do you think I'm the kind of person like Seeing Yu Lang?

Bratty kids are really annoying.

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

Hearing this, the little boy didn't hesitate, immediately pulling out a Golden Dragon Bank Note with a face value of five thousand gold and handing it to Li Luo.

Seeing how readily the other agreed, Li Luo was momentarily stunned. He quickly tucked the Golden Dragon Bank Note into his sleeve and said calmly, "To champion the weak against the strong is the bounden duty of our generation."

Then he placed his palm on the little boy's shoulder and released a Water Shadow Art. Instantly under the lamplight, the little boy's figure became much fainter.

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

Meanwhile, the few figures not far away, after weaving through for a while, gradually drifted away.

Li Luo didn't bother with the child any longer and continued forward with Lv Qing'er. She didn't stop Li Luo's little act. This child was clearly a young master from some noble house, and those searching for him were probably his guards. As long as he stayed within the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall, nothing could go wrong.

The two turned through the corridor and, under Lv Qing'er's lead, finally entered a circular auction room, where some figures were already seated.

Li Luo and Lv Qing'er casually found an empty seat. But the moment he sat down, he saw someone take the seat on his left.

He glanced over and saw it was the little boy from earlier. He frowned and said somewhat sternly, "What are you following me for? You're not trying to take the money back, are you? You little kid, not even old, and already your integrity is in serious question."

The little boy pouted, just about to speak, when he suddenly coughed, his small face turning somewhat pale.

His body looked as if it were even frailer than Li Luo's.

Seeing this, Li Luo grew a little worried. This bratty kid isn't trying to scam me, is he?

Lv Qing'er, however, just smiled and said, "Let him stay here for now."

Li Luo had already helped hide the little boy earlier. If they let him run around now and he caused trouble, that wouldn't be good. Better to leave him here, and later she would notify the people at the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall to come take over and find out which family he belonged to.

Li Luo nodded, then looked again at the little boy's violent coughing. He suddenly tossed over a small glass vial containing some Source Water he had condensed.

"If you feel bad, drink it."

Although he didn't know why this bratty kid was so frail, the Source Water he had condensed using Water-Light Xiangli did have some special healing effects. It should make the bratty kid feel a bit better, so the kid wouldn't actually try to scam him later.

The bratty kid caught the glass vial and was clearly a bit surprised. He looked at the unknown liquid inside, his gaze a little strange. This person seemed a bit stupid—how could he possibly take something from a stranger?

But since it had already been tossed over, it would be rude to refuse, so he casually tucked it into his chest and continued curiously staring at the auction floor.

Seeing that the bratty kid completely rejected his goodwill, Li Luo was so angry he laughed. Forget it, suit yourself. He immediately turned his head away and paid no more attention to him.

While Li Luo was waiting for the auction to begin, in another direction in the hall, Duze Duze Beixuan and Ning Zhao also found seats and sat down.

Duze Duze Beixuan smiled as he looked in Li Luo's direction and said softly, "What does this young prefectural lord want with wood and earth-attribute rare materials?"

Ning Zhao shook his head. He looked at Lv Qing'er sitting with Li Luo, his expression somewhat gloomy.

But Duze Duze Beixuan didn't care about that. When Li Luo had first arrived at Daxia City, he had planned to cause trouble for him, but was stopped by Si Si Qiuying of House House Jinque. Happening to run into him here today, he ought to have a little fun, right?

The Duze Prefecture and the House Luolan Prefecture had deep enmity. As long as he could make Li Luo uncomfortable, he would be very happy.

Although he couldn't really harm Li Luo here, disgusting the other party a bit would also be quite pleasing.

So, in Duze Duze Beixuan's slightly expectant mood, half an hour of waiting passed, and suddenly the sound of bells and drums rang out in the hall.

This meant the auction had begun.

On the auction stage, an auctioneer appeared—a middle-aged man. He gave the crowd the usual opening remarks, then directly announced the start of the auction.

The auction here didn't go one item at a time; instead, several materials were brought out at once and bid on simultaneously.

So the scene quickly livened up.

"Item number one, an eight-hundred-year Fire Python Fruit, ten-thousand-measure rare material, starting price eleven thousand gold. Do I have twelve thousand?"

"Item number two, Wind Spirit Stone, ten-thousand-measure rare material, starting price sixteen thousand. Do I have thirteen thousand?"

"Item number three..."

The auctioneer's impassioned voice kept ringing out. Every time someone in the hall 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 what he wanted.

Amid the heated atmosphere, one ten-thousand-measure rare material after another was successfully auctioned off. After waiting ten minutes, Li Luo finally saw what he wanted.

This round had four materials up for auction, exactly two wood and two earth, each with a bidding price around fifteen thousand gold.

All four materials were ten-thousand-measure, perfectly meeting Li Luo's requirements.

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

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

"......"

As soon as these four rare materials appeared, Li Luo didn't hesitate. He directly raised his paddle and pushed the price up to twenty thousand. From his earlier observations, he had found that most of these ten-thousand-measure rare materials went for around twenty thousand, so he couldn't be bothered to compete bit by bit and directly showed his determination to win.

With that, others who were also interested in these materials should hesitate.

And the situation was indeed just as Li Luo had predicted. When he raised the bid on all four materials to twenty thousand each, the others present understood his resolve, and after a moment's hesitation, they lowered their flags and beat a retreat.

After all, ten-thousand-grade materials were worth only this price; bidding too high was clearly not worth it. Besides, these were not unique items — gone today, they would appear again tomorrow, so there was no rush.

"Any bids higher than twenty thousand?"

The auctioneer surveyed the entire hall and announced loudly.

"If there are none, then these four materials..."

And just as the auctioneer's words had barely fallen, finally a placard was raised, and a soft chuckle rang out unhurriedly.

"Twenty-five thousand."

Hearing this sudden price bump, Li Luo let out a wistful sigh. Sure enough, the legendary auction-house-must-be-prodded event had appeared.