Ninety Middle-Grade Spirit Stones were the most Xiao Lan could fork out right now.
But it was clearly not enough.
"If only I knew someone from the Elixir Flame Peak..."
She muttered softly in distress, biting her lip sadly.
It had been quite a while since she entered the Foundation Establishment Realm, but she was still in the early stage.
If she wanted to break through to the middle stage quickly, she knew her talent alone wasn't enough.
That's why she had tried to grab this lotus in the auction, but it seemed she had hoped too much.
"Elixir Flame Peak? My wife is a disciple of the Peak Elder there. Senior, do you need my help?"
Mo Zhiran, who had been silently observing the auction, heard Xiao Lan's words and asked with a slight smile.
"Hmm? Wife?"
However, when Xiao Lan heard his words, she was stunned speechless.
After all, she didn't know Zhiran had a wife, and that, too, she was a disciple of the Peak Elder?
When the heck did that happen? Why didn't she know?
"Mo Zhiran, can you please stop joking around with me?"
The shock hit her first, then realization followed. Xiao Lan clearly felt Zhiran was mocking her.
With a faint frown and a flicker of irritation, she lightly reprimanded him, then turned her attention elsewhere and ignored him completely in anger.
"A Peak Elder's disciple is your wife? Ghosts wouldn't believe such nonsense."
But Zhiran could still hear her mumble, cursing him for lying.
"Well, it is the truth. What can I do if you don't believe me?"
Mo Zhiran just shrugged at her words, not taking them seriously.
After all, before they had arrived yesterday, Elder Chu Yuxuan had already accepted Su Ruyue as a disciple and taken her away.
Of course, Xiao Lan wouldn't believe it immediately.
Zhiran figured it would take a few days for the news to spread through the Divine Cauldron Sect, since Elder Hua certainly wouldn't announce it himself.
So, after some time had passed, she would naturally know about Ruyue.
As for her being his wife... well, he didn't think Ruyue would mind.
"120 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones. Do any of you want to bid further?"
Yan Xi's voice echoed throughout the entire auction house, silencing the whole crowd in the process.
120... nobody thought the price for such a lotus would reach twelve thousand low-grade spirit stones. They felt that even the last item might not reach such a high price.
After all, the current offer had already far exceeded the market value of the Xuan-Rank Spirit-Nurturing Lotus.
That was why, at this point, only the occupants of Room 5 and Room 6 were still competing. Both clearly seemed desperate to obtain the lotus.
Just as the crowd held its breath, wondering if Room 6 would raise the stakes once more, the auction suddenly went silent.
It seemed the person inside Room 6 had decided to drop the bid.
"120 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones once..."
Seeing that the situation had calmed down, Yan Xi also began to finalize the bid.
"120 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones twice..."
"125 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones!"
When Yan Xi was about to say "sold," suddenly another voice interrupted her in the middle.
However, this wasn't the voice from Room 6 as everyone expected.
Rather, it came from another room on the first floor that had never participated in this bidding from the start.
Tianyu?
As soon as Yan Xi saw the room the voice was coming from, even though it was disguised, she immediately recognized who it was.
Why does he want the Spirit-Nurturing Lotus?
But that only made her more confused, since Tianyu wasn't someone who needed a pill to increase his realm.
Not to mention, he hadn't even entered the Foundation Establishment Realm yet.
"130 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones!"
Yan Xi didn't have time to think much as the person from Room 5 bid once again. But everyone in the audience could feel the thick dissatisfaction in the voice.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, bidding just as the deal was about to finalize seemed like a taunt.
Of course, anyone would get angry.
"135 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones."
"..."
Unfortunately, Tianyu didn't seem to care about his dissatisfaction at all and continued to bid like normal.
From his nonchalant tone, it was clear that he would snatch this lotus no matter what today.
For a moment, the situation inside the auction venue weirdly turned silent, as if some kind of heavy storm was brewing within.
Only after a while did the voice from Room 5 come again, this time dripping with extreme coldness and thick murderous intent.
"150 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones. Fellow Daoist, it is better to stop while there's still time. It isn't a good idea to make enemies for nothing."
Although the voice was reasoning, everyone could feel the underlying threat. It seemed Tianyu had managed to piss the guy off with his antics.
'Tch... tch... this idiot really knows how to get on someone's nerves. Are all the protagonists like this? But will a protagonist yield just because of a threat?'
Mo Zhiran, who was witnessing everything silently, shook his head slightly. But from his elated face, it was clear that he was enjoying the show.
'But that guy is really loaded.'
"160 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones."
Sure enough, as Zhiran thought, Tianyu didn't care about the warning and directly added another ten Middle-Grade Spirit Stones on top.
This lotus was his first gift to his master, after all. He couldn't be stingy.
Even to make it more worthy and memorable, he waited until the end of the bid before snatching it forcefully with flair.
He didn't believe his Master Xueyin would notice his effort.
Poor guy didn't know that Master Xueyin was rolling her eyes at him from the side.
'Such a childish trick.'
She was completely speechless. Sometimes, she felt that Tianyu's brain worked completely differently.
Even though she thought that way, she didn't try to stop him. Her disciple was trying to gift her something for the first time; of course, she felt good.
Besides, she really needed a treasure that could work on the soul, as her soul was extremely weak. But such treasures were rare and hard to find in a place like this.
"Good, good, good. I'll remember you."
The person from Room 5 was completely enraged by Tianyu's behavior.
But knowing he wasn't in the right place, he silently withdrew his growing aura and calmed down.
It was also because he noticed the faint aura of the auctioneer directed at his room that he didn't become reckless.
But everyone knew this incident wasn't truly over.
Although the guests on the first floor were generally hidden by the auction hall, there were many methods to discover one's identity.
And if the one who clashed was weaker than the other, it was no surprise what would happen next.
"160 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones once..."
"160 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones twice..."
"Sold!"
As soon as the situation calmed down, Yan Xi loudly concluded the deal in an instant.
Nobody noticed that, unlike before, she seemed more eager to finalize the deal, as she didn't even wait a second before saying "sold."
Well, except Mo Zhiran, of course.