Chapter 149 – Warming Up The Stage

　　17 Sep 2016

　　Although the mantle could hide his image, it had a fatal flaw: It could not be used during fights. If someone started fighting while wearing this, it would immediately break into pieces. This was also the reason why those people who were trying to steal could reveal the identity of their target.

　　The inside of the auction house was very large, but it didn’t appear so from outside. Yang Chen knew that this was some kind of space, like the medicine garden, which had been refined by at least two Da Cheng stage experts. Only then could it have that size.

　　After entering the room, everyone went to the rooms corresponding to their number plates. They only had one exit from where one could leave the auction house at any time, so basically nobody would be able to come in contact with other clients in the auction.

　　Under such circumstances, if other people knew what someone had purchased, who would believe that the auction house had no relation to it? After entering the room Yang Chen carefully sized up everything, but he could not find anything wrong.

　　The number of rooms should be equal to number of plates they had been given. Inside of the room there was only one place to sit. On the other side of the room, a desk was placed with some light refreshments and tea, making it clear that other customers could not access it.

　　In front of the seat was a huge window which was perfect to show the image of the item and the auctioneer, but nothing else could be seen. On the armrest there was a bidding stone, which looked like a gem. As long as one kept their hand on the gem and unleashed their spiritual awareness, one could immediately make his bid known to the auctioneer.

　　The staff was still entering the arena one by one, but the auction of many small things had already begun. Frankly speaking, none of the really precious materials had been displayed. They were only being used to warm up the crowd, so that the customers wouldn’t get bored.

　　Initially Yang Chen did not care about any of these things, but he hadn’t anticipated that the first thing that would come up would shock him.

　　“This item is being shown in the auction for around ten years now, but there has been no one who knew what use it has.”

　　Along with the auctioneer’s words, something appeared in the area where the auction articles were arranged.

　　That item resembled some kind of weapon, it had a handle, but it did not resemble a sword or a metal truncheon. The closest thing would be a ruler. It even had fine marked scales on the top surface.

　　But it could also not be called a ruler, as the marked scales were unevenly distributed, which really confused people as to what this thing actually was.

　　“This thing is not something worth mentioning, even the material is not of very high quality.”

　　The anchor was clearly not very enthusiastic about this thing. His tone was very casual:

　　“The owner of this thing has some relation with the auction house and because of that, it has been shown in the auction house for ten years. The price is starting from one catty of high grade spirit stones. Is anyone interested in buying it?”

　　Although he was the host, he was doing things very half heartedly. Perhaps this was his temperament or maybe these things shown in the beginning were just to warm the stage. As he didn’t even wait for everyone before beginning, it should be insignificant.

　　It was an item whose use was unknown, which was also not suitable for being a magic weapon, while the ingredients of the item were also low levelled, yet they were demanding the high price of one catty. If it were not for the anchor’s words that the master of this item had some relation with the auction house, maybe it would have already been thrown away long ago.

　　But without any hesitation, Yang Chen immediately placed his hand on the bidding stone and issued the base price: one catty of high grade spirit stones.

　　“The only use of this thing is that it can change colour when spirit power is passed through it.”

　　The anchor had the intention to continue the introduction, but he suddenly heard the indication of someone bidding and was completely startled. He confirmed it once again, not daring to believe it but after confirming that someone had indeed bid on it, he immediately shouted:

　　“One catty of high grade spirit stone, is there anyone who wants to bid higher?”

　　Once the anchor’s words came out, it immediately caused a ruckus in all of the rooms. That object, which had been used to warm the stage for so long and was believed to never be sold, surprisingly had someone bid on?

　　Everyone began to discuss if this was a treasure or not, otherwise why would someone have paid such a high price for it?

　　“One catty of high grade spirit stones, is there anyone who wants to bid higher?”

　　The anchor had already asked the second time. But after asking, he continued to incessantly describe the trash attributes of this object as if he was trying to stall for time.

　　The customers coming in one by one, as long as any one of them had participated in auction frequently for the past few years, on hearing the anchor’s words and looking at the object they would immediately be stunned. There was someone who still wanted this thing? Who could be such a wastrel?

　　The auctioneer was also hesitating. This thing was delivered by an old freak and that old freak was very greedy for money. As long as he would get anything to sell there, he would always keep the base price very high, as if he was afraid that he would get a lower price in the auction.

　　But his strength was very high. Ordinary cultivators wouldn’t even dare to tease him. Usually, even if the starting prices were high, it could still be sold, so there was no loss to the auction house, but apart from some products of good quality, most of the things that old freak delivered were just like this: impressive looking, but useless.

　　Until now, nine of the ten items which the auction house had shown while warming the floor, were delivered by that old freak. The reason being, that the auction wanted to give face to the old freak and if people didn’t buy it, then it was not the the auction house’s fault and they would have an explanation for him. Then the old freak would be unable to say anything, for example ‘the auction house hadn’t provided any chance to him’ and become their enemy.

　　But right now someone had paid the high price of one catty of high grade spirit stones for this useless object. How could it not rouse people’s interest?

　　“Who is the bidder?”

　　The master overseeing the affairs immediately asked. Soon after that, someone delivered Yang Chen’s information to him.

　　The name was just some nonsense, ninety nine out of a hundred people use false names. But after he found out that Yang Chen’s strength was only at the initial Foundation stage, the master’s heart immediately relaxed and he quickly instructed:

　　“If other people don’t bid on it, allow him to take it. Keep him under strict surveillance and after auction is over, ask him what this thing is.”

　　The master’s instructions were immediately passed down. The host obtained those instructions in a flash and did not delay any longer. In any case, this thing had been shown there for so long, it was unlikely that someone else would bid. The host immediately began asking for the third time:

　　“One catty of high grade spirit stones, the third!”

　　Although everyone was curious, nobody increased the price. One catty of high grade spirit stones was equivalent to ten thousand low grade spirit stones and no one wanted to fight over something the usage of which wasn’t clear.

　　“One catty of high grade spirit stones, sold!”

　　This time, the host didn’t wait for too long and after a short moment, he struck his hammer for the third time, showing that a deal has been reached.

　　In the eyes of others, one catty of high grade spirit stones were quite a lot, but in Yang Chen’s case, they were just a drop in the ocean and for this thing he would have even been ready to exchange one catty of top grade spirit stones, let alone one catty of high grade spirit stones.

　　Although that thing appeared to be very unremarkable and did not seem to be useful, Yang Chen knew that this thing appeared only in the spiritual world. It was an ordinary and yet again completely extraordinary Heaven Measuring Ruler.

　　The reason why it was ordinary was because it was made from the most common materials of the Spiritual World, but it was also not completely garbage, unlike what the auctioneer was saying. This Heaven Measuring Ruler was currently covered with a layer of ordinary materials of the mortal world to cover up its true colors.

　　As for saying it was extraordinary was because, even in the Spiritual World not everyone could possess something like this. At least as Yang Chen had heard, only people from big sects were in possession of such a thing.

　　Although this thing was named Heaven Measuring Ruler, it didn’t measure the heavens. Instead it was used to measure the spirit power in a person’s body. It would show different colours for different realms and the indicators were used to show at which layer was someone in a particular realm.

　　Although this thing didn’t have many uses, Yang Chen knew that this was a treasure which everyone would covet, especially experts who were at a bottleneck. If they had this Heaven Measuring Ruler, they would be able to quickly reach the edge of the bottleneck and then make their breakthrough.

　　The reason why the indicators on the Heaven Measuring Ruler were distributed unevenly was because the closer you reached to the limit, the more detail it would show in the change of spirit power.

　　Perhaps people could think that just showing the level of spirit power in their cultivation was not very useful, but Yang Chen knew that during the bottleneck period, the Heaven Measuring Ruler was a greatly enviable treasure.

　　It was known as the bottleneck period because during this long time, cultivators were unable to sense the progress they had made and would use all kinds of methods to find that out, so that they could break through.

　　Although it was known as the bottleneck period, in reality it did not mean that the progress completely stopped in that realm. There was merely a small variation which made the cultivator unable to sense their progress, but as long as they diligently trained, small amounts of progress were still made.

　　With the Heaven Measuring Ruler, they could see the transformations in their spirit power cultivation at all times. Even if the variation was very small, the Heaven Measuring Ruler was capable of indicating it clearly.

　　Those cultivators who had never entered the bottleneck period would not be able to imagine being trapped in one stage, with the time needed for a breakthrough being very long. Getting a magic tool which could show that, albeit very slowly, their spirit power was increasing constantly, it could provide a large boost to their confidence.

　　Confidence was one of the most powerful factor for subduing a heart’s devil in the case of a cultivator. This fact could be clearly seen from Great Master Wang Yong. Before he had obtained the Heaven Seizing Pill, Great Master Wang Yong was precisely in the bottleneck period, unable to break through, but since he had received the Heaven Seizing Pill, his cultivation had changed within a single day and he had already become the number one elder in the Pure Yang Palace. The strength of confidence was obvious from this.

　　Wearing the Heaven Measuring Ruler and sensing one’s own cultivation grow every day, was like having no bottleneck period for a cultivator. It would at most be a stage where one’s cultivation was advancing a little slow. The confidence from this was something which the people who hadn’t enjoyed the benefits of the Heaven Measuring Ruler would never be able to enjoy.

　　Yang Chen hadn’t expected that he would obtain such a great treasure in the mortal world and at that at a price of a mere catty of high grade spirit stones.

　　In the auction house, one had to pay on the spot and get the delivery. Within the Greater Thousand Mountains, there wasn’t anyone who could be trusted or to whom the product could be sold on credit. The instant the host had hammered for the third time to complete the deal, it also implied that Yang Chen had to pay immediately.

　　In less time than it takes for half an incense to burn, the Heaven Measuring Ruler was delivered to Yang Chen’s room and put up on Yang Chen’s table. The Heaven Measuring Ruler was covered by a light membrane, making it inaccessible. Furthermore, on the other side of the table a tray appeared. The meaning was clear: Yang Chen was supposed to put the spirit stones on that tray.

　　Regardless of Yang Chen’s doubts, the auction house’s way of doing things was quite authentic, exchanging the goods by one hand and the cash by another. When Yang Chen had placed a sufficient amount of spirit stones on the tray, the membrane covering the Heaven Measuring Ruler very quickly disappeared.

　　With almost lightning speed, Yang Chen grabbed the Heaven Measuring Ruler and placed it into the Achievement Ring without much thinking, to ensure that other people didn’t try to snatch it. Only after putting the Heaven Measuring Ruler away safely did Yang Chen heave a sigh of relief, and began to watch the auction.

　　The period of warming the stage still hadn’t ended yet, but the next thing truly was trash, and it had quite an excessive price without any uses. This period lasted for the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn. Only then did the auction advance to the next stage.

　　Clearly the biggest news of the auction that time was the selling off the Heaven Measuring Ruler at such a high price. All kinds of people with all kind of intentions were asking about the customer as well as what the Heaven Measuring Ruler was, in the end.

　　Yang Chen had certainly anticipated these kind of circumstances, but this was also the result he wanted. The Heaven Measuring Ruler was just a pleasant surprise, if it had not appeared, then the Yang Chen would have bought the best object on display there to give rise to the attention of people and to appear as someone who was rich and overbearing but with low cultivation. Then, if someone later had come looking for trouble with him, the auction house certainly couldn’t shed the responsibility.

　　“Middle grade flying sword, the Red Rainbow Sword. Base price: fifty catties of middle grade spirit stones.”

　　“Forty catties of Profound Metal Essence. Base price: eighty catties of middle grade spirit stones.”

　　“The inner dan of a mid JieDan stage demon beast. Base price: fifty catties of middle grade spirit stones.”

　　“One copy of the rare book MieMo Sha. Base price: sixty catties of middle grade spirit stones.”

　　One by one, all of the items were being shown and were then auctioned. However all of these were just trash to Yang Chen, still he was bidding on every item, increasing the price. Clearly displaying the image of a rich person. Naturally, apart from the people of the auction house, nobody knew that the person who was disrupting the flow of things was Yang Chen.

　　After a very brief period of two hours, all the items in the first stage were shown and sold, moreover all of them were sold at a price at least double the amount of the base price. This clearly showed the prosperity of the auction house.

　　But the more it was like this, the more vigorously the fire of wrath burned in Yang Chen’s heart. If he found the slightest evidence that the auction house had any relation with the attack on his master, he certainly would not mind massacring the entire auction house.

　　Compared to his master, let alone one auction house in the Greater Market, even if it was something which would offend everyone in this world, Yang Chen still wouldn’t mind destroying it.