Having all the cultivators' undivided attention, the flirtatious auctioneer felt pleased. What had hooked
the audience was obviously the Illusory Swordsmanship. But now as she smiled her sweet and
seductive smile, the audience felt weak in the knees.
"As the name says, the Illusory Swordsmanship is almost too good to be true. It can release hundreds
of Sword-lights if its owner has attained the Major Achievement Stage. In fact, the energy of each
Sword-light is powerful enough to kill. This is what makes it a daunting weapon," she said as the
introduction to the weapon. On hearing this, a wave of murmurs and gasps spread across the room.
"However," the auctioneer took a pause, "the Ganges Auction House has always been honest with its
customers. We only deal in fair trade. Period. So, it is only obvious that we will tell you both the
swordsmanship's merits and demerits. Especially the latter. Now, it has two shortcomings.
First, it consumes a lot of vital energy when used. This is very easy to understand. Its owner's vital
energy would be the source of its Sword-lights, and we are talking about hundreds of Sword-lights
here. So just imagine the amount it requires.
Second, its power could be too fragmented. It is true that the large amount of Sword-light it produces is
very hard for your opponent to avoid, yet each of the lights might not be strong enough as the energy
gets divided. It could be weaker than one focused attack in some circumstances," the auctioneer
explained patiently.
"But then these are problems only for cultivators that have a weak cultivation base.
For those with a refined level of cultivation, who can absorb and unleash immense amount of high-
quality vital energy, these weaknesses can easily become strengths.
In a word, this Illusory Swordsmanship is meant for the strong—the ones with a solid cultivation base
and abundant vital energy.
So please think twice before you bid," she concluded. Austin was a bit surprised by the frankness and
the detail in which the setbacks of the Swordsmanship were spelled out.
But then this was the very reason why the Ganges Auction House was so popular in the Violet Orchid
Empire. It spoke of both, an item's merits and demerits. The House enabled the bidders to make a wise
decision as they were fully informed. The bidders could then think of their needs and strike as fair a
deal as possible.
So after the shortcomings of the Swordsmanship were articulated to the audience, many interested
cultivators balked at the idea of bidding.
This was because most cultivators aimed at making as many breakthroughs and reaching a higher
realm in the shortest time possible.
So for such cultivators, investing in medicinal pills or elixirs was big on their agenda. But as every coin
has two sides, this kind of refinement wouldn't ensure a solid base in their cultivation and again, when it
came to their vital energy, it would in all possibility be inferior and unrefined.
So after much mulling over, over half of the cultivators' enthusiasm to acquire the Illusory
Swordsmanship wore off when its truth was bared to the audience.
But not Austin's. Austin was not to be deterred. He instead was all tense and excited to know how
phenomenal the Illusory Swordsmanship was. 'Of course, its sapping immense vital energy to activate
is a big drawback, but not for me. The vital energy stone in my elixir field can store enough vital energy
to activate it in full throttle. The stone is my failsafe until I practice to harness the powers of the
swordsmanship with proficiency, ' thought Austin to himself.
'In the worst case scenario, if my stone doesn't store the amount required, I'll just have to find a way to
up my reserves in the stone somehow.'
After turning all these facts over in his mind, Austin decided to bid for it.
"Alright, I think all of you have fully understood this item's pros and cons. Let the auction begin," she
announced. "The starting price of it is two hundred thousand vital energy crystals, you may only bid in
multiples of ten thousand at a time!"
she informed in a saccharine tone.
There was almost pin-drop silence in the room when she finished speaking.
Two hundred thousand vital energy crystals was a great fortune for most people, great enough to make
another chunk of cultivators abandon their plans once and for all to bid for the swordsmanship.
Still, giving up on such a dream object wasn't easy. They cudgeled their brains to see if they could not
acquire the Swordsmanship. After all, everyone knew equally well that the object in front of them was a
great martial arts skill worthy of its level despite the shortcomings. When they thought practically, they
knew that a level 4 martial arts skill at two hundred thousand vital energy crystals, on the contrary, was
truly a bargain!
So some cultivators with supposedly deep pockets were itching to give its auction a try. For them,
buying a level 4 martial arts skill at such a low price was a great source of pride! It would be a great
thing to boast of, never mind that they would hardly use the Swordsmanship in the future.
Seeing her audience numb into silence, the auctioneer's heart fluttered anxiously. 'So no one wants to
buy it?' she thought as she nervously scanned faces of all the bidders seated in the house in front of
her. This was the last thing she wanted to see in her career. It would be truly awkward.
Fortunately, a voice finally resounded in the room, bringing great relief to the auctioneer.
"I offer two hundred and ten thousand vital energy crystals for it!"
It was a hoarse voice that startled the others with its audacity to be the only bidder for such a
distinguished object.
Almost everyone turned to look who this brave soul was.
As hundreds of eyes swept the room, the slim figure of a boy in a corner caught everyone's attention.
Half in shadow, he was so well hidden that many couldn't clearly see his face.
Those who saw him couldn't place him from Adam. So murmurs, guesses and gossip began to brew to
answer the two most important questions: "Who is he? Where is he from?"
A person plucky enough to be the first and the only bidder yet for the Swordsmanship had to be
someone remarkable. After all, very few cultivators could afford an amount like this and had the girth to
pay in one straight go. So many started to think that this mysterious bidder wasn't a local, just like
Raymond from the Flaming Sun Valley.
The boy was none other than Austin. He felt that the moment to bid was now and never and so decided
to jumpstart the race with a probing quote.
What he didn't expect was the unwanted attention of possibly everyone in the room. On the inside, he
groaned. He tried to avoid curious stares to conceal his embarrassment.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda