Chapter 22: Too Much Trouble? Then Forget It
Si Chen paid no further attention to that group and walked straight into the auction hall.
When he was young in Yunjin City, he had always sat in the finest private box at Wanbao Pavilion, surrounded by handmaidens and clan guards.
This time, he was nobody in particular — just Si Chen.
He casually found a seat in the open floor section with a decent view and settled in, entirely unaware that his age and cultivation level made him stand out somewhat in the crowd.
The Liuyun Sword Sect disciples, seeing him ignore them so completely, looked even more displeased.
Lü Yan, however, remained perfectly calm, as though nothing had happened at all. His gaze lingered briefly on Si Chen, and a faint, barely perceptible cold smile passed through his heart.
All the better. Sitting in the open section made it far easier to become a target.
He led his group upstairs, where their elevated position gave them a clear, unobstructed view of the main hall below — including Si Chen's every move.
Dong!
A clear, resonant bell rang out, silencing the noise in the hall. A host with a beaming smile and a booming voice stepped onto the stage, delivered a warm and enthusiastic opening speech, and the auction officially began.
The first few lots were mostly rare-ish materials or Artifacts — nothing that impressed Si Chen in the slightest.
He leaned back in his chair, thoroughly disinterested, and even began to feel a little bored. He thought he might as well go find something good to eat instead.
Then a new item was carefully carried up by a handmaiden.
It was a warm, lustrous jade box. When opened, it revealed a spirit plant resting quietly inside — shaped like a lingzhi mushroom, yet suffused from root to tip with a soft, moonlit-white radiance.
"The next lot — the Spirit-Nourishing Zhi!"
The host's voice rose with excitement: "The greatest virtue of this treasure lies in its ability to nourish the soul and tend to the Divine Sense. For Fellow Daoists who have suffered depletion of their divine will or damage to their soul, this is a rare and precious find. Starting bid: one thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones!"
Nourish the soul?
Si Chen's gaze settled on the Spirit-Nourishing Zhi. He recalled how, before he had left home, his mother Ye Fu would sometimes rub her temples and softly complain that she couldn't sleep well at night.
He hadn't quite understood it then, but thinking back now — perhaps her soul needed nourishment?
What he didn't know was that Ye Fu's insomnia was purely the result of years of worry accumulated over his Body Tempering ordeals...
And at Ye Fu's level of cultivation, this Spirit-Nourishing Zhi would be utterly useless to her.
He also didn't know that any random trinket from his clan sitting in his Storage Ring was worth far more than the Spirit-Nourishing Zhi before him.
He simply remembered the faint furrow of his mother's brow, and thought this thing might bring her some comfort.
So when the bidding began, he joined in for the first time.
"Fifteen hundred."
Quite a few people glanced over curiously, surprised that this seemingly young and unfamiliar face had such financial means.
Up in the second-floor box, Lü Yan let out a low, quiet laugh.
The moment had come.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for. He didn't need to act directly — just a gentle push was enough.
"Sixteen hundred."
Lü Yan's calm voice drifted out from the box and echoed through the hall.
Si Chen looked up, glanced toward that box, and his brow furrowed slightly. Them again.
"Three thousand." He spoke again.
"Three thousand one hundred." Lü Yan's voice remained steady, raising by only one hundred Spirit Stones each time — seemingly deliberate.
Quiet murmurs began to ripple through the hall.
Anyone with eyes could see that the Liuyun Sword Sect Elder appeared to be deliberately targeting that young man in blue-grey robes.
The Spirit-Nourishing Zhi was a fine item, but at this price, it was already inflated well beyond its worth.
A vague, inexplicable irritation quietly crept into Si Chen's heart.
These people had tried to kill him in the forest, tried to block him at the restaurant, and now, even when he simply wanted to buy something for his mother, they had to come and stick their noses in.
"Five thousand." Si Chen's voice cooled slightly.
"Five thousand one hundred." Lü Yan followed almost without hesitation, even lifting his teacup and blowing gently across the surface, his manner utterly unhurried.
Si Chen didn't care about Spirit Stones — his Storage Ring held mountains of them, and he hadn't spent a single one of those so-called high-grade Spirit Stones yet.
It was just that the Liuyun Sword Sect's behavior buzzed around him like a fly, more grating than outright provocation.
That thought — "it would have been better if I'd just killed them all back then" — surfaced in his mind again, unbidden, stronger than before.
He drew a slow breath and spoke one final time:
"Ten thousand."
The bid sent a low wave of commotion through the hall. Either this young man had a frighteningly deep purse, or he had been pushed past his limit entirely.
At this point, the bidding had far exceeded the Spirit-Nourishing Zhi's actual value, and all eyes turned toward the second-floor box.
Lü Yan knew the moment was ripe — push it any further and he'd be the one playing the fool.
Besides... he had already successfully branded Si Chen as a "fat sheep" in front of everyone.
He let a perfectly timed silence pass, then spoke through the Array Formation with a tone of feigned regret: "Heh heh, young friend's wealth is truly impressive. I shall not rob you of what you desire."
The gavel fell. The Spirit-Nourishing Zhi went to Si Chen.
A handmaiden promptly delivered the jade box to him. Si Chen tucked it into his Storage Ring without even glancing at it.
His expression was blank, but anyone who knew him well would have understood that his mood was anything but pleasant.
For the next several lots, he couldn't even be bothered to look up.
Some ancient cultivator's incomplete formation diagram, some Pills — none of it meant anything to him.
He just wanted this farce to end so he could find a quiet spot and try the almond pudding he'd spotted that morning on his way past.
Just as his mind was wandering elsewhere, the host's voice on the stage suddenly surged upward, carrying a deliberately crafted air of mystery and excitement:
"Ladies and gentlemen! What follows is the crown jewel of today's auction!"
A handmaiden carried a refined cold-jade box with both hands and stepped lightly onto the stage.
The moment the jade box opened, a cool, rich, exotic fragrance instantly flooded the entire auction hall, sharpening every mind in an instant.
Nestled against bright yellow silk inside the box lay a single fruit, deep crimson from end to end, its surface traced with what appeared to be faint, flowing flame patterns.
"Fellow Daoists, the final treasure of today's event — the Crimson Yang Fruit!"
The host's voice climbed with mounting excitement: "This fruit grows at the edge of underground fire and molten rock, flowering once a century and bearing fruit once a century. For senior cultivators at the Early Core Formation Stage, it is a rare and precious aid to advancing one's cultivation!"
"While its effects are not heaven-defying, all of you know full well that for a Core Formation Stage powerhouse, even the slightest advance is extraordinarily difficult. This fruit may spare decades of bitter cultivation!"
"Starting bid: ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones!"
The moment those words fell, the entire hall erupted!
A natural material capable of aiding Core Formation Stage cultivation was a truly rare commodity in the Wanggu City region — the stuff of dreams for countless Core Formation cultivators stuck at a bottleneck!
Until now, most of the bidding had come from Foundation Establishment cultivators. But now, several figures from private boxes and the back of the open floor — those with dense, powerful auras — let out exclamations of surprise.
Lü Yan shot upright in his seat, his eyes blazing with extraordinary intensity!
He had been stuck at the Early Core Formation Stage for decades, his progress grinding to a halt. This Crimson Yang Fruit was nothing short of offering coal in the dead of winter for him!
He had never imagined this auction would hold such a surprise!
"Fifteen thousand!"
"Twenty thousand!"
Bids rang out one after another, the price climbing rapidly. Lü Yan drew a deep breath and threw himself into the contest: "Thirty thousand!"
"Thirty-five thousand!" A raspy voice drifted from a nearby private box.
"Forty thousand!" Lü Yan refused to yield.
Only a handful of bidders remained — all influential figures from the surrounding area, none of whom seemed particularly intimidated by the Liuyun Sword Sect's name.
Lü Yan's expression grew increasingly strained as the price kept soaring, quickly surpassing one hundred thousand!
The Liuyun Sword Sect was wealthy, to be sure, but the Spirit Stones being spent here were coming from his personal savings.
"Two hundred thousand!"
Lü Yan declared in a deep, forceful voice. The price had already far exceeded the Crimson Yang Fruit's conventional value, but he was determined to have it — it was his hope for breaking through the bottleneck!
The hall fell briefly quiet. The remaining competitors withdrew. Draining one's entire fortune for a single fruit and a modest cultivation advance seemed hardly worth it.
The host, flushed with excitement, swept his gaze across the hall: "Two hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones! Does any Fellow Daoist wish to bid higher?"
A smile of absolute certainty finally spread across Lü Yan's face as he waited for the gavel to fall, already envisioning the moment his cultivation broke through.
At that very moment, a calm voice rose clearly from the open floor section below, carrying across the entire hall.
"Two hundred thousand..."
"...and one hundred."
Every gaze in the hall snapped toward the source of that voice.
It was none other than the young man in plain blue-grey cloth robes who had earlier paid ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones for the Spirit-Nourishing Zhi!
Si Chen, however, seemed entirely oblivious. Having said his piece, he leaned back in his chair again, even picking up the spirit tea a nearby handmaiden had just refilled, and blew gently across the surface.
His manner was a perfect mirror image of the unhurried ease Lü Yan had deliberately performed earlier!
The smile on Lü Yan's face froze instantly. His complexion turned a livid iron-grey. He fixed his gaze on Si Chen below, his chest heaving violently.
This brat — he was clearly taking revenge!
"Two hundred and ten thousand!" Lü Yan ground the bid out through clenched teeth.
"Two hundred and ten thousand... and one hundred." Si Chen didn't even lift his eyelids, lazily following with another bid.
"Two hundred and twenty thousand!"
"Two hundred and twenty thousand... and one hundred."
The price climbed back and forth between the two, with Si Chen adding the minimum one hundred Spirit Stones each time — exactly as Lü Yan had done before.
The other Core Formation cultivators who had withdrawn from the bidding now wore amused smiles, perfectly content to enjoy the show.
Every bid Lü Yan made felt like cutting flesh from his own body, but he had to have the Crimson Yang Fruit — it represented his hope of breaking through the bottleneck!
After several more rounds, the price reached a staggering three hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones. This had long since surpassed any reasonable value for the Crimson Yang Fruit. The veins on Lü Yan's forehead bulged, and his breathing had grown noticeably labored.
He wanted nothing more than to charge down there and tear Si Chen apart!
At that moment, Si Chen set down his teacup, mimicked the exact tone Lü Yan had used when graciously conceding earlier, and clasped his hands toward the second-floor box:
"Heh heh, Elder Lü's wealth is truly impressive. This junior shall not rob you of what you desire."
The exact same words, returned without a single change.
"Pfft—" From a nearby private box, a Core Formation cultivator who had been watching the spectacle couldn't hold back a laugh.
Lü Yan's face instantly flushed the color of pig liver. His blood and qi surged violently — he nearly vomited blood on the spot. Three hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones! That was nearly the savings of half a lifetime!
And it had happened in full view of everyone present — a Foundation Establishment junior had used his own tactics against him and made him look like a complete fool! In all his centuries of cultivation, this was the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered!
The gavel fell. The Crimson Yang Fruit went to Lü Yan, but there was not a trace of joy on his face — only towering fury and murderous intent.
Si Chen had already risen from his seat and was strolling leisurely toward the exit, watched by a crowd of deeply complicated expressions.
After this bout of tit-for-tat, he felt the irritation in his chest had largely dissipated.
Now, at last, he could go in peace and try the almond pudding he had been thinking about all day.
As for having thoroughly enraged a Core Formation cultivator in the process...
The moment that thought of "I should have just killed them all" had flashed through his mind, it had already ceased to be a problem worth considering.