For the next several hours, John watched as the auction proceeded without pause, as dozens of items were bid on and sold. The items included a wide variety of things, from medicinal herbs, formation disks, weapons, pills, battle arts, and everything in between.
As long as it was an item of high rarity, it was being sold at this auction, which didn't bother to sell anything that could be obtained through everyday trade. As the auction progressed, Caz explained each item to John while he lounged on his comfortable seat, as if he had the details of each and every item memorized.
His explanations were of great help for John, who used them to decide if he wanted to bid on them or not. However, thanks to his time in the Jade Dragon Empire Realm, John had acquired many treasures beyond compare, and didn't want for many things at the moment. As such, he had yet to bid on an item.
While they waited, the attendants stationed in their private booth brought them a constant stream of delicious food and drink, which John happily accepted.
"Sold!" the auctioneer exclaimed with flair, her energy remaining constant despite leading the auction for half a day already.
Shortly after, a new item rose up from beneath the stage, while the auctioneer explained the item to the crowd once more.
"The next item we have is the Eternal Spirit Furnace! Crafted by none other than Pill Sovereign Eternal Spirit! It's an alchemy forge of incredible quality, and you would be hard pressed to find a better forge available for sale anywhere. It contains an Ethereal Wood Spirit Root as its core, which makes it highly compatible with wood constitution alchemists! The bidding starts at five million!" the auctioneer explained, kicking off the next round of bidding.
As he heard this explanation, John raised an eyebrow in interest and leaned forward, which Caz noticed.
"Are you interested in this alchemy forge?" Caz asked curiously.
"Kinda. I have a friend that could use this forge, so I might as well place a bet on it," John replied, as this forge would be something Chase could most definitely use.
"It's not a bad forge," Caz replied as he studied it. "While it's not super amazing either, it's a perfect forge for someone in the Heaven Tribulation Realm, and even the Dao Transformation Realm."
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
The melodious sound of the bidding beeps started ringing out again, and the bid amounts quickly reached forty million spirit crystals. If this was before he obtained his proceeds from his tea leaves, John would never bet this amount on a forge. However, with his proceeds and future tea proceeds, he had more than enough to bet on something like this.
Beep!
A beep rang out directly over John's head as the bidding started to die down, as he placed his hand on the bidding formation on his chair armrest and entered his bid.
Forty-Five Million!
All eyes turned towards John's private booth, as it was one of the first times in the auction that a private booth had bidded on an item.
"Whose that?"
"It seems like two kids, one being from the Mystic Trade Hall."
"Seems like the items are starting to attract the attention of people like them. We need to hurry with our bids coming up, as it seems like the big players will start bidding soon!"
Many discussions broke out amongst the general attendance crowd, who gazed even higher up in the auction theater as another bid was quickly placed right afterwards.
Beep!
Fifty Million!
The bid was placed almost instantly after John's had been placed, and surprisingly had been placed by one of the private booths that hid the identity of those within.
"Who's that?"
"Who knows. They're in a private booth. We'll be unable to tell who just bid on this forge."
"Sigh! As soon as these people start bidding, it's over for small fry like us!"
Many more discussions broke out within the crowd, who were surprised that the big players had placed multiple bids this early.
As his bid was quickly outbid, John glanced over towards the private booth, which was several hundred yards away, and was fully enclosed which hid the identities of those within. He stared at the booth for a moment before placing his hand on the bidding formation once more, raising his bid.
Fifty Five Million!
Beep!
Sixty Million!
The same private booth instantly bid again, besting his bid by five million. A small frown appeared on John's face as this happened, as the two higher bids were done so quickly as if they were watching John directly, waiting for him to bid.
"Motherfucker. Someone is targeting you," Caz said as he started to rise from his seat, while his eyes went wide in realization. "It's them! Isn't it?"
"Who else would it be?" John replied calmly as he stared at the private booth who had outbid him once again.
"What are you going to do?" Caz asked curiously. "Want me to help out so we outbid them?" he asked John, who appreciated the offer of help, but declined.
"Hmm, I guess I could use your help, but not directly," John said as he turned to Caz.
"What help do you need?" he asked curiously.
"To the best of your knowledge, how much money would the trio of Xander, Vivian, and the other one have between them? John asked curiously.
"Hmmm, that's hard to say exactly, but Xander should have several billion at his disposal, while Vivian should have even more, being one of the most important youths of the Starforge Clan. I would guess she has around ten billion spirit crystals on her, but that's just my guess. As for the other, it should be around what Xander has," Caz mused thoughtfully.
"That much?" John exclaimed, but wasn't too shocked. The Starforge Clan was one of the most prominent formations clans in the world, and their young masters were sure to be loaded.
‘I have about one and a half billion spirit crystals, thanks to the proceeds from the tea leaves, as well as the spirit crystals I obtained from the enemies in the Jade Dragon Realm. However, even that seems like it's not nearly enough to compete with Vivian…it seems like I'll need to drain a bit of her funds for now,' John mused as a thought appeared in his mind, and a small, mischievous smile on his face.
‘If she wants to bid on what I bid on, then bring it. Let's see how long this petty tantrum of yours can last before you become destitute, princess Starforge!'
