章 245: Temporary alliance.
The entire area descended into a short silence after the auctioneer made his pitch, everyone fully focused on the palm-sized tower lying in the box. The people here weren't so stupid as to think that just anyone could properly utilize the arrays within the tower, it would require either a large amount of Spirit Stones or a vast amount of Qi.
Most of the people here would likely only be able to speed up time within the tower by a few times with their current strength, the strongest ones might be able to go up to 100 times the normal speed. But even so, getting their hands on a treasure like this would give them a great advantage over everyone else, provided they were able to keep it safe.
People seemed a bit hesitant to make the first bid, unsure what would be considered an acceptable first bid that wouldn't embarrass them. Yao Jun, however, did not care about getting embarrassed, calling out his bid after observing the tower for a short moment.
"150 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones."
Yao Jun knew that he had no chance to acquire this item through bidding, but he figured that he might as well throw out his max bid and then see what would happen. And just as he expected, his bid became the weight that broke the camel's back, a multitude of shouts quickly following.
"500 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones!"
"725 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones!"
"1500 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones!"
"8290 Heaven Grade Spirit Stones!"
"1 Primordial Grade Spirit Stone!"
The shouts and bids continued to sound out, the price quickly reaching staggering heights that prevented most of the audience from bidding. But even so, no one left the auction early, they waited quietly and kept an eye out for who might get their hands on the tower. After allowing the price to go up for a bit, Xiao Yan made his bid, signifying that the real contenders for the item were now making their move.
"10 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones."
One simple bid almost immediately shut out over 99% of the audience from further bidding, this was the advantage brought about by having both great strength and a strong clan behind you. But his bid didn't remain uncontested for long, Yuri Jahad calling out her own bid.
"Cripes, you people sure love adding on little by little so that you can drag this out needlessly. 45 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones, anyone who can outbid that can feel free to take the tower."
Xiao Yan frowned upon hearing Yuri's bid, but he didn't call out another bid, sitting down in his seat and lightly chewing on the tip of his thumb. Yuri swept the audience with her gaze, waiting to see if anyone was going to make another bid. The next people to make their bids were Baam Noctris and Mascheny Materius, both of them calling out their bids at the same time.
"Fuck it, we'll do as Sister Yuri suggests. 75 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones, that's all I have on me right now."
"85 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones, I will not place another bid."
With these two bids, only Berius Daemon and Luosho Li remained, everyone's gazes landing on the two. Berius only gave a casual shrug of his shoulders and a light shake of his head, indicating that he had no way of outbidding the current Baam and Mascheny. Luosho Li, on the other hand, raised her slender arm high and called out her own bid.
"120 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones. That tower will be mine."
120 Primordial Grade Spirit Stones was enough money to run several medium-sized clans for several years, one could buy several hundreds of planets with that money, it was a sum that was unthinkable for most of the people here. Yao Jun looked at Luosho Li with a somewhat curious expression, wondering just how she had come about so much wealth. She had no clan to back her, and no clan would be willing to give her such expensive gifts in an attempt to win her over, so just where did all her wealth come from?
Just as expected, no one else called out any bids after Luosho Li's, the auctioneer quickly ending the bidding process. Yao Jun could see that Mascheny's brows twitched slightly, and even the friendly-looking Baam's expression had sunk slightly. Clearly, neither of them were too happy about their rival acquiring such a strong treasure. Yao Jun felt much the same, he had to kill Luosho Li after all, the stronger she got the harder it would be for him.
But right now there was nothing he could do about it, attacking her here was out of the question, he could only figure something out in the future. The tower was the last item up for sale, the audience seating area slowly emptying as people started to leave. Yao Jun went down to the stage, heading through a door and walking down a long hallway that led to the room where he could pick up all his items. A guard stood outside the door to the room, bowing and excusing himself when Yao Jun handed over the money for the items as well as proof of his identity.
Yao Jun entered the room, which was completely empty except for a single square table which had an interspatial ring placed on it. He walked over to the table and sat down at it, the table was rather short so he had to sit on a pillow on the ground. He picked up the interspatial ring and checked over the contents, making sure that everything was there.
The ring contained only three items, the corpse of a frog-type Demonic beast, the corpse of a mosquito-like Demonic beast, as well as a rainbow-colored palm-sized jade slip that contained the nameless soul cultivation technique he had bought. Yao Jun didn't immediately go over the jade slip, storing the three items into his own interspatial ring and then speaking out to the empty room.
"I didn't take you for the type of person to wait patiently outside the door. If you're here, you might as well just enter."
The door to the room was pushed open mere moments after he finished his words, the black-haired and crimson-eyed Yuri entering the room. She looked at Yao Jun with a gaze that contained a mixture of excitement and curiosity, walking to the opposite side of the table and sitting down, the corners of her lips pulling up slightly.
"You discovered me, I guess you really are the boy from the forest. Well, I guess your name should be Yao Jun, no?"
Yuri's eyes seemed to pierce directly through Yao Jun's disguise, a pot of spiced wine and two cups appearing on the table with a wave of her hand. She filled both cups and took one for herself, sipping the wine with a content expression while talking.
"You really managed to hide yourself well, I wouldn't have managed to find you again had it not been for Ysolde screaming out in such a deranged manner and alerting me to your presence. If it makes you feel better, I guessed your name even before Ysolde started screaming it out. After all, who else than the one who managed to crack Luosho Li's shields could rise as quickly in the rankings as you did? You went from unknown to the front parts of the ranking, in the top billion already, I imagine there are quite a few clans already looking into who you are."
Yuri's main passion was fighting and improving herself, she would jump on almost any chance that would let her do that. So when she had encountered Yao Jun, someone who might be able to not only battle with her but also help her improve, she had done everything in her power to figure out just who he was. She kept a very close eye on the rankings ever since she met Yao Jun, so she noticed the moment Ardet vanished from the rankings and Yao Jun's own rank started to rise, rapidly rising over the next days as he continued to hunt Demonic beasts and other cultivators.
Of course, it was just a guess of hers that this Yao Jun was the boy she was looking for, it might have all just been a coincidence. But Yuri trusted her instincts, they had yet to betray her. Yao Jun stretched out his arm, grabbing the cup of wine and giving it a taste, shrugging his shoulders as his disguise vanished.
"I doubt you came all the way here just for that, and I certainly hope you didn't come here just to ask me to be your sparring partner again, so, what exactly is it that you want?"
She wouldn't have waited outside the door so quietly if she came here to fight him again, at least Yao Jun hoped so. He would prefer to not start running again just so he could avoid a pointless battle with her. Yuri's grin grew a bit larger when Yao Jun removed his disguise, proving that her theory had been correct.
"Straight to the point, I like it. We could probably get along over a few glasses of strong liquor, how about it? We can use the drinks as an after-battle excersice, it'll be great."
Yuri took out a jug filled with a crystal clear liquid that released a strong alcoholic scent, waving it in front of Yao Jun for a short moment, as if to entice him with treats. She put the alcohol away after a short moment, chuckling lightly.
"Yeah yeah, no need to look all gruff. Although, the look does suit you, gives you a certain wicked charm. Anyway, I imagine you are rather interested in getting your hands on that tower that Luosho Li just bought?"
Yuri rested both her elbows on the table as she spoke, weaving her fingers together and resting her chin on her interwoven hands. Yao Jun's eyes lit up slightly, his body leaning a bit forward as he motioned with his hand for Yuri to continue, which she did with an excited expression.
"Yeah, that caught your interest. Well, you're not the only one, even Baam and Mascheny are interested in that tower, and I mean really interested. The moment Luosho Li leaves this city, everyone interested in that tower is going to make a move on her in an attempt to steal it, it'll be a magnificent free-for-all brawl that even the likely top three of this competition are going to take part in. What do you say, want to join me in snagging that tower away from everyone else? Once we've gotten the tower in our hands and reached a safe spot, we can duke it out between us to decide who gets to keep the tower. It'll be nice and fair."
How much greed would a treasure like that tower induce? Just how many people would show up here after receiving the news, hoping to steal it for themselves? Yao Jun tapped the table with his finger for a short moment, not immediately giving his response.
"I'm not entirely against it, but why me?"
Yuri was famous popular, and she had the strength required to gather people beneath her banner, there was no need for her to go out of her way to ask Yao Jun for an alliance. In fact, allying with him might inconvenience her in the future in case he should be the one to get his hands on the tower. Yuri simply grinned at him, her sharp canine teeth on full display as she looked at him with blazing eyes.
"Didn't I tell you back when we first met? I'm never wrong about fun people. And right now, you look countless times more fun than you did back then, to the point where every fiber of my being is screaming at me to fight you, to observe your slightest move, to copy you and grow stronger. Even if I end up losing the tower to you, I'll have gotten to fight you properly, and that'll be good enough for me. For now, at least."
Yuri was a bonafide battle maniac, someone who found ecstasy in battles and sparring. Rather than acquire one excellent treasure she would rather have one excellent and exhilarating fight. And she felt that Yao Jun, someone whose depth she found herself completely unable to see, would be able to give her one such fight, most likely even a better fight. Yao Jun studied Yuri's expression for a short moment, eventually nodding his head when he did not detect the slightest trace of deceit in her.
"Alright, I'm in, I'll join you in snatching that tower."
And just like that, the queen of violence and the uncrowned god of demons entered an alliance to acquire the treasure that even the top three in this competition would fight tooth and nail for.
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