"Apologies, I should have mentioned that before you bid on the seal, but yes, Daoist Eternal Weapon will only craft with what you give him to craft with," the Trade Master confirmed. "At a minimum, you must provide the material for the blade of the weapon. For a sword, this would be almost the entire weapon, while something like an axe would only require you to provide the blade, while the shaft materials will be provided by Daoist Eternal Weapon. The higher quality materials you give him, the higher quality materials he will use for the other components of the weapon, depending on what weapon you want him to make."
John fell silent upon hearing this, as his thoughts swirled with how to obtain the parts needed for his scythe. After thinking about it for some time, his eyes lit up for a moment as he thought of something, something that the Trade Master noticed.
"It seems you have some ideas for the weapon's materials. That's good. I'll just give you this one piece of advice. Daoist Eternal Weapon is a weapon forging maniac, and will only deal with the most heavenly of materials. If you give him lackluster materials, he'll most likely refuse to craft your weapon, seal or not," the Trade Master said to John.
"Noted, but I don't think that will be a problem," John replied confidently, his confidence causing some curiosity within the Trade Master.
With an idea for how to proceed regarding the weapon, John's attention shifted back towards the auction, as new items were brought forth and bid on. Another half-day passed by before an item rose up from beneath the stage that caught everyone's attention, including John's. An intrigued look appeared on his face as he looked forward to seeing how the item would be bid on.
"For the next item, I don't think I need to give any explanations," the auctioneer exclaimed to the excited crowd, who were hoping for an opportunity to obtain the most discussed item in recent items.
"It's here," the Trade Master stated before glancing at Caz, who appeared both excited and nervous at the same time. "I do look forward to seeing how you structured this auction," he mused, his words causing Caz's nervousness to further increase.
"That's right! The next item for auction is none other than the Heaven-Dao Tea Leaves that have been taking the continent by storm!" the auctioneer exclaimed, causing further excited frenzy to erupt through the crowd.
The tea leaves had obtained legendary status incredibly quickly due to the fact that they could help one break through a cultivation bottleneck with efficiency that no other material in the world could match. Its effects interested everyone from the Heaven Tribulation Realm all the way up to the World Expansion realm, of which there were millions and tens of millions of cultivators, all eager to obtain even a single leaf to advance their cultivation.
As the false floor rose up from beneath the stage, it revealed a singular closed jar sitting atop a pedestal. The ornately-detailed jar was two feet tall, and the heavenly aura radiating outwards from within was unmistakable.
"For this auction, this jar of Heaven-Dao Leaves contains exactly one hundred leaves!" the auctioneer exclaimed, her words causing some excitement to fade as the number of leaves was much lower than the crowd had hoped.
"However, by purchasing this jar, the winning bidder will also acquire a guaranteed annual supply of one hundred leaves for the next decade, sold at the rate established with this bid!" the auctioneer explained, her words sending a jolt of excitement through the crowd once more.
"What? A guaranteed annual supply of one hundred leaves?"
"How enticing. Just think of the breakthroughs one could have with that many leaves! And even if the leaves lose their efficacy after multiple uses, the winning bidder could just sell any excess leaves, making a profit themselves each year!"
"Not only that, but with more and more tales of cultivation bottlenecks being broken through with the help of these leaves, their value will most likely only continue to go up. And yet the winning bidder will be able to acquire them at the cost established today! What a deal!"
"Whoever came up with this plan is quite cunning. This way the overall price would be something many could afford, and with the added annual sale bonus, it will only increase the desire to obtain this bid. That will raise the price per leaf even more, which will serve as a benchmark going forward for future tea leaf prices!"
The crowd eagerly discussed the upcoming bid, while the Trade Master nodded his head in approval.
"Nicely done, Caz. This method you're using will raise the price per leaf far more than if you had just sold a large batch all at once with no other caveats. Very well done," the Trade Master praised Caz, as Caz had over a thousand leaves at his disposal to sell, but opted to only sell one hundred at this time.
"Thank you for your praise, Trade Master!" Caz hastily thanked his trade hall master, feeling both relief and overwhelming joy at having his plan approved by the Trade Master himself.
"I wonder how much the leaves will sell for," John mused as the auctioneer started the bidding process, at which point hundreds of formation lights flared all across the auction theater as a frenzied bidding war broke out.
Flash!
Flash!
Flash!
New bids continued to be placed as the price of the one hundred leaves quickly rose. Based on the previously established price of the leaves, the price for the jar of one hundred leaves should have been valued at thirty-five million spirit crystals per leaf, putting the total value of the jar at three and a half billion spirit crystals. However, the bids for the jar of Heaven-Dao Tea Leaves quickly shattered right through this number as the bidding frenzy amplified.
Four Billion!
Five Billion!
Six Billion!
Flash!
Flash
Flash!
The auction theater lit up like a lightning storm as bidding hologram after bidding hologram flared, some even coming from the private booths controlled by the World Expansion experts that had joined the auction. For them, such a sum of spirit crystals was miniscule when compared to the hopes of using the leaves to break through their cultivation bottlenecks and step onto the next stage of the cultivation world.
Flash!
Flash!
Flash!
The bids continued to amplify, but eventually the flashes began to die down as the number rose to a level that most couldn't hope to match. The number had quickly approached a number even the wealthiest felt was no longer reasonable, and so the number of bids died down.
Based on the fact that the guaranteed annual supply was a bonus to this purchase, it was also revealed that the seller most likely had more in supply than what was being sold currently. With this in mind, future auctions would no doubt have leaves to be sold, and would most likely be able to be acquired at a more reasonable rate.
Flash!
Flash!
Flash!
The flashes came in slowly at the end, and after ten seconds, no further bids were placed cementing the sale of the bids to one of the private booths at the top of the auction theater.
"Sold! To Private Booth twenty two, for Ten Billion Spirit Crystals!" the auctioneer exclaimed excitedly, bringing an end to the Heaven-Dao Tea Leaf bidding war.
