Chapter 39: Calling Bids

As soon as Jiang Yu finished speaking, many eyes in the main hall turned toward her, and she faced them calmly.

The senior brothers and sisters at the same table sent her messages and gave her looks, each in their own way.

Ye Lian, irritated, said, "Jiang Yu, if you can't outbid, you can't, why would you say it so bluntly?"

By saying that, the other party would add an extra thousand spiritual stones to save face.

But Uncle Xia (Xia Bing) sent a different message: "Jiang Yu, you're not deliberately picking an item to auction, hoping to lure the other side into raising the price, are you?"

Under normal circumstances, a Qi‑refining cultivator who has spiritual stones would buy more pills and artifacts, not spend a high price on a conspicuous storage tool to wear.

However, it is said that Jiang Yu's pills are plentiful.

"If you raise the bid by five thousand at once and the other side sees through it, the item will fall into your hands.

Check whether you have enough spiritual stones on you?" Xia Bing wasn't worried about flaunting wealth in the hall; cultivators on the first‑floor generally don't bid on especially expensive items, as their power doesn't allow it.

Moreover, the whole Quxi City belongs to sects, so a disciple from our sect buying something need not hide it.

"Uncle, I have my eye on this item and don't want to haggle over each thousand.

I'll need to borrow twenty thousand spiritual stones from you or the sect," Jiang Yu said, betting that the other side wasn't sincere about buying it.

Uncle Xia laughed in exasperation, "Even your starting bid isn't enough.

Fine, go get Fan Zhou, who handles spiritual stones, and take interest."

Jiang Yu will repay the sect later; Jiang Tu, nervous, asked, "If the other party really buys it, you really won't raise the price again? Don't mess it up."

"I won't add, but if the other side raises the price, the senior brothers and sisters can help increase it.

The cultivators I'm talking about aren't just the one in the booth." Jiang Yu didn't say she wouldn't find a proxy; nothing is impossible with a thick skin, it's better to be bold.

As she expected, the auctioneer on the platform called out twice, "Twenty‑five thousand spiritual stones, any more bids?" and no one on the upper floors responded.

Now, many cultivators' gazes flickered, barely, over that private booth.

In a C‑shaped private booth on the second floor, the red‑skirted female cultivator Xue Miao frowned slightly; the person beside her heard the auctioneer's third call from the platform: "Twenty‑five thousand spiritual stones, any cultivator willing to raise?"

That person saw her stay still, was about to speak a bid, but she stopped him: "Senior brother, no need."

"It's only a thousand spiritual stones; we don't lack that amount."

"I have a bunch of storage bracelets and storage rings.

Let this jade token fall into that little girl's hand, so she can learn a lesson."

The person drinking tea nearby laughed, "Cultivator Xue, I'm only afraid that the little girl downstairs is taking advantage of the situation."

Xue Miao's spirit sense swept toward Jiang Yu, who had just received the Taiji Fish Token from a partner and was happily paying spiritual stones.

"Is this really the item she's after?" she couldn't help squinting.

Jiang Yu certainly didn't play empty‑handed, but she didn't dare to probe the fish token with her spirit sense now, handing it to Jiang Tu to play with.

Then she refocused on the auction platform; this time she intended to bid for a technique listed on the catalog.

This item is always a hot commodity; she wasn't sure she could snatch it.

The only relief was that when fellow sect members rebid on other items, the people in the second‑floor booth didn't deliberately raise the price.

But when her target item came up, the auctioneer finished introducing it—a sword doctrine from an ancient sword sect—and it immediately caused a stir.

Although it can only be cultivated to the Core Binding stage, its price started at 150,000 spiritual stones and surged to 300,000, still climbing.

"Three hundred twenty thousand."

"Three hundred forty thousand."

"Three hundred seventy thousand."

"Four hundred thousand spiritual stones."

Jiang Yu called out with great insecurity, because from the start, none of the low‑rank cultivators in the main hall dared to bid; all the bids came from the second, third, and fourth floors.

It was obvious they were either Core Binding true persons or Nascent Soul old monsters.

But there was no choice; she would fight for as much as she could.

Yet when someone on the fourth floor bid five hundred thousand and another raised it to five hundred twenty thousand, Jiang Yu loosened her clenched fist and said, "Phew, finally I don't have to keep bidding."

For this entry, the final purchase price of each item could not exceed the quota granted by the sect.

The senior sister beside her, seeing sweat on her forehead, sighed, "If it were me, I wouldn't dare to shout tens of thousands like that."

"There's no mission target left, can we leave early?" another senior brother, whose earlier bid failed because his price was a notch lower, spoke up now that Jiang Yu also didn't win.

At that moment, Xia Bing came over, "There are a few items left at the back; you can stay to finish watching, or come with me now to the inn to rest."

The seven disciples glanced at each other, and Ye Lian said, "Uncle, I want to see the end.

Could you keep the items we just won for us?"

"Who wins takes it; we'll set out at dawn, I'll wait for you at the western city inn." Hearing this, the disciples hurried off with her.

Unexpectedly, just as they reached the gate, they ran into Xue Miao's party.

The other side approached with a smile, stopped before Jiang Yu, gave her a sideways glance, and said, "Xia Bing, what a rare encounter; I'll treat you to wine at Drunken Immortal Tower."

"Not today; we still have a mission, so we must take our leave," Xia Bing replied decisively.

Yet as soon as they lifted a foot, a gust of wind blew from behind them, flipping over more than ten people from both sides.

Jiang Yu had people on both sides; she couldn't even roll on the spot, and when Jiang Tu tried to help her up, he heard someone behind a stone screen roar, "Close the doors!"

Buzz, the gate's sealing aura flickered; several Core Binding cultivators rushed out, flipping the screen that blocked the door from afar.

Inside the hall, low‑rank cultivators were suppressed by the raging Nascent Soul's pressure, their bodies stiffening.

Little Turtle Jiang Tu also couldn't hold on and accidentally fell back into his spirit‑beast bag.

Meanwhile, many people in the private booths followed with their spirit senses.

"Ghost Hand Si Tu Kong Kong."

"What did he steal?"

A figure was instantly rebounded by the gate's light shield, it was the slender Si Tu Kong Kong.

He threw a talisman at the light shield and grabbed the familiar Xue Miao to block the blade.

Unexpectedly, this woman shoved Jiang Yu, who was pulling his senior sister back at his side, into him.

At that moment, the transmission jade token could not break the restriction to send people away; Jiang Yu could only dodge urgently.

However, Situ Kongkong is a Nascent Soul cultivator; seeing the Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators rushing in, he realized they had to avoid causing casualties.

Then, with a wave of spiritual power, he smashed everyone at the door, including Jiang Yu, toward the incoming person.

And the several pursuers not only failed to catch them, they flicked their sleeves to blast them to both sides, then rushed straight at Situ Kongkong at the door.

But his talisman exploded with a boom, breaking the barrier; he laughed as he flew out the door, and they gritted their teeth in anger, pursuing him all the way.

Everything happened too fast; Xia Bing and the others hadn't reacted yet when they repeatedly slammed into the pillars or walls.

The little black turtle sent a mental message: "Jiang Yu."

"It's fine." Fortunately, Jiang Yu was wearing inner armor.

Also, he timely activated the defensive bracelet, thus he wasn't injured by the stone pillar; you should know, just now the ones who waved her away front and back were likely Nascent Soul cultivators.

In the end, the defensive bracelet blocked everything; as she landed, it cracked open two seams.

"Damn, they don't regard low-level cultivators as people." Jiang Yu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and immediately swallowed a pill.

She looked toward the nearby fellow sect members; two or three were already unconscious.

Looking at the other side, the Falling Moon Sect people—hey, they happened to meet Xue Miao who was assisting with setting a broken arm.