Chapter 147: A Grand Gesture

Zhang Nuo was in the private room, casting a disdainful glance at the old man. Crafty merchants, crafty merchants—there truly is no merchant who isn't crafty. A blade that felt heavy in the hand was described by the old man surnamed Du as a hot commodity.

A few cultivators actually stood up to bid, but looking at them, they clearly weren't from a Body Refining background; I fear that after the momentary passion, they would regret it once they bought it back.

In the end, this long blade named "Chongxuan" was auctioned off for a price of nearly ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones. In the subsequent auction, the old man continuously brought out Magic Treasures or Spiritual Medicines, and the bidding grew louder wave after wave. Finally, after a "Heaven-Damage Pill" was auctioned off by a cultivator for the high price of sixty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, the old man nodded in satisfaction.

Zhang Nuo sat in the private room, discussing the previous few Magic Treasures with Zhuge Qing. At this moment, the voice of the old man surnamed Du rang out again.

"Proceeding until now, our auction has been going on for some time. To stimulate everyone's eyes, I have decided to bring out a fine collection piece. I hope the fellow Daoists in the private rooms will not let this old man down."

Hearing this, Zhuge Qing's body stood up all at once. She walked to the front of the light screen, her beautiful eyes looking downward.

"Sure enough, the main event is saved for last. Brother Zhang, come quickly, the good stuff is about to appear!"

Zhang Nuo had long since heard enough of those ordinary things. Just as he felt the auction was also quite uninteresting, the young girl called him over. Looking down through the light screen, he saw a young girl in a pink palace dress, holding a black wooden box in her hands, walking slowly toward the auction floor.

The young girl holding the wooden box was extremely pretty, and as she walked, her sleeves fluttered, which actually caused countless male cultivators to swallow their saliva. Before long, the young girl handed the wooden box in her hands to the old man surnamed Du, and then drifted away, exiting the auction venue.

Holding the black wooden box with one hand, the old man surnamed Du appeared extremely solemn. He gently opened the lid with one hand. The gazes of everyone present followed the gap as the lid was slightly lifted. The old man deliberately slowed down the time it took to open the lid, whetting everyone's appetite.

Finally, when the lid was completely opened, the crowd discovered that there was actually a pitch-black thing inside, only the size of a fist, looking like a stone.

"Oh!"

The crowd had been looking forward to it for a long time, but they didn't expect it to be a "stone" without any Spirit Power fluctuations. Immediately, there was a chorus of boos.

The old man was not in a hurry. He still held the object from the wooden box in one hand, circled the venue once, and finally stopped in the middle to say:

"This item is an Ancient Treasure!"

"Wow!"

Before the old man could finish speaking, the people at the auction were in an uproar again.

"I say, Senior Du! Don't joke with us. You call this broken stone with absolutely no Spirit Power fluctuations an Ancient Treasure?"

At this time, a cultivator in the audience teased, and upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.

"Hehe! This fellow Daoist, listen to me finish first! Why do I say it is an Ancient Treasure? Because its name is: Heaven-Turning Seal!"

The old man spoke the last three words with great resonance and extreme clarity. Everyone at the entire auction site heard them clearly.

Zhang Nuo was indifferent, but the young girl's expression shifted, her gaze fixed on the object held by the old man below.

The entire auction fell silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted into a wave of discussion. Zhuge Qing stood in front of the light screen, resting her chin on her hand, also frowning and thinking incessantly.

Seeing this scene, although Zhang Nuo didn't know what had happened, he felt that the item being auctioned in the old man's hand was an extremely important thing.

"I believe many people still know the reputation of the 'Heaven-Turning Seal'. Six hundred years ago, the Five Great Demon Mountains joined forces to attack our Tianjiang Plain. The result was that the Four Great Sects on the Tianjiang Plain joined forces to repel the cultivators of the Five Great Demon Mountains, but because of this, the Four Great Sects suffered heavy losses. Just the Golden Core stage cultivators lost no fewer than seven!"

Speaking to this point, the old man surnamed Du shed tears, old tears streaming down his aged face, and for a moment he was actually choked with sobs. The people below also fell silent all at once. Every person's face revealed a hint of sadness.

Hearing this, Zhang Nuo looked toward Zhuge Qing, only to see her face full of sadness, her expression also much dimmer. Only at this moment did he understand why the Four Great Sects on the Tianjiang Plain each only had one Golden Core stage cultivator; it turned out they had all fallen at that time.

However, the young girl had never mentioned this matter before. At this time, the old man surnamed Du below collected his emotions and continued:

"At that time, within the North Sect, there was a Golden Core stage Elder named Nangong Yi. This Magic Treasure, the 'Heaven-Turning Seal', was the item he used back then. Elder Nangong Yi used this treasure to slay countless demon people, and in the end, he fell due to exhaustion. His Magic Treasure, the 'Heaven-Turning Seal', also became what it is now because its power was exhausted, changing from an Ancient Treasure to this!"

After listening to the old man finish, the crowd looked up to re-examine the stone-like 'Heaven-Turning Seal', but this time no one raised any objections. Every person's eyes held a sense of reverence!

"Our Tianbao Pavilion workshop went through great hardships and finally acquired this treasure from a cultivator. Although this treasure has been discarded and cannot be used, I believe that many fellow Daoists who know the Artifact Refining Technique will definitely be interested in its structure. Through continuous research, perhaps you can create a replica of the 'Heaven-Turning Seal'! Even if it is a replica, I believe its power will not be small!"

After the old man finished speaking, he held the 'Heaven-Turning Seal' high above his head, his gaze sweeping around the people all around.

"The starting price for this treasure is eighty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, and each bid must not be less than ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones! Now, fellow Daoists, please place your bids!"

At the auction, it suddenly became quiet. Who would buy a discarded Ancient Treasure for eighty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones? The current 'Heaven-Turning Seal' was just a decoration and could not be used at all. Although the old man surnamed Du kept saying that cultivators who knew the Artifact Refining Technique should buy it back to study the structure inside and make replicas, how could the mysteries within an Ancient Treasure be easily understood by ordinary people?

Let alone a discarded Ancient Treasure, even if a complete ancient object were brought out, how many people could fathom the mysteries within it?

For a time, no one bid. A trace of embarrassment appeared on the face of the old man surnamed Du. When this discarded ancient object was first handed to him, he didn't want to take it, but later, because the commission was too high, the old man couldn't resist the temptation and took the job. However, he didn't expect that after half a day of emotional buildup, when the starting price was called, there were still no takers!

Zhang Nuo originally had no intention either, but suddenly the voice of Chunyangzi came into his mind:

"An Ancient Treasure for so cheap! Kid Zhang, hurry up and buy it!"

"Senior, that is a discarded Ancient Treasure!"

Fearing that Chunyangzi had misheard while in the Storage Bag, Zhang Nuo sent a voice transmission back to remind him.

"You stupid kid, don't you have the 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect'? As long as it wakes up from this slumber and produces Mysterious Crystal Stone, are you still afraid you can't fix this treasure?"

One sentence awakened the dreamer. Zhang Nuo's eyes suddenly emitted a brilliant light. That's right! With the Mysterious Heaven Spirit Insect, what was there to fear? Wasn't the Nine Dragon Sword Case from back then repaired the same way?

He immediately walked to the young girl's side, smiled faintly with some embarrassment, and said:

"Qing'er, I want this 'Heaven-Turning Seal'. Can you help me buy it?"

After hearing this, the young girl almost fell from her seat, her bright eyes looking at Zhang Nuo in disbelief, thinking her ears had misheard!

"You want to buy that discarded Ancient Treasure down there?"

Zhang Nuo nodded heavily, his eyes full of longing!

"Do you know the Artifact Refining Technique?"

After confirming, the young girl looked at Zhang Nuo in surprise and said. Having been with Zhang Nuo for so long, she had never heard that he knew the Artifact Refining Technique.

"No, but I have other uses for it!"

After hearing Zhang Nuo's words, the young girl swallowed her saliva helplessly. It seemed that Zhang Nuo, who usually appeared to be uncompetitive and would say he didn't want things when she gave them to him, was actually capable of such a grand gesture the moment he made a move. But if Zhang Nuo were spending tens of thousands of Spirit Stones to buy a useful Magic Treasure, Zhuge Qing would not hesitate to provide the Spirit Stones. Now, the other party actually wanted to spend eighty thousand Spirit Stones to buy a discarded Magic Treasure, which made her heart ache greatly.

The item would be a piece of junk even after buying it back; eighty thousand Spirit Stones would be equivalent to throwing them away for nothing! Just as the young girl hesitated, a voice suddenly came from a certain private room.

"Ninety thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones!"

"Wow!"

The moment this voice rang out, the entire auction floor immediately boiled over. No one expected that someone would actually spend ninety thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones to buy a discarded Ancient Treasure.

Hearing someone bid, the old man surnamed Du standing in the center of the venue immediately showed a smile on his face. If this Magic Treasure had been a flop, he would have lost face.

At the same time Zhang Nuo heard someone bid, his brow furrowed. Who else would be like him and go to buy a discarded Magic Treasure? Could there really be an artifact refiner who considered their technique brilliant enough to forge a replica of the 'Heaven-Turning Seal'?

Seeing Zhang Nuo's troubled expression, the young girl also understood that he was determined to have this discarded Magic Treasure, so she shouted loudly toward the floor below:

"One hundred thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones!"

With a "Wow," the many cultivators below were like a boiling pot, one after another looking up toward the private room where Zhuge Qing was. Whose spendthrift child was this! They were actually willing to spend one hundred thousand Spirit Stones to buy a Magic Treasure that couldn't be used.

But before the crowd could recover their senses, the voice that had previously bid ninety thousand rang out again:

"One hundred and ten thousand!"

This time the entire venue fell silent, and everyone slowly turned back to look at the private room that had called out the one hundred and ten thousand; this was truly a case of a spendthrift meeting a spendthrift! The two of them were actually competing with each other!

Holding the Heaven-Turning Seal in his hands, the old man surnamed Du simply could not believe his ears; a mere discarded Ancient Treasure had actually reached the sky-high price of one hundred and ten thousand, something that had never happened before in the entire history of Tianbao Pavilion auctions. It seemed he had made the right choice in taking on this business, as piles upon piles of Spirit Stones were rolling into his Storage Bag.