Chapter 8- Auction

As soon as the auctioneer walked onto the podium where all the items would be displayed, everyone became silent. The auctioneer was a brown haired, middle-aged man with a moustache that curved slightly at its ends. He cleared his throat before speaking with qi amplifying his voice.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to another auction of The Treasure Pavilion. Some of you might be new here so let me explain how it works. First, I will showcase the item and give everyone some information about it and then I will tell you the starting price. Anyone who wishes to bid should yell out the price and raise their auction paddles that is numbered."

"Now that I have explained how the bidding works, let me tell you something about this auction. There is going to be a treasure sought by many cultivators, but you will have to wait till the very end."

His words caused a lot of whispering among the crowd and some contacted their superiors for more spirit stones.

"Now for the first item, a bottle of Rank 2, Medium Grade Foundation Building pills. As everyone knows, these pills help a cultivator to build their foundation. These pills will start at a price of 5 Mortal Grade Spirit Stones."

"10 Spirit Stones." A cultivator from the crowd who did not get a private room increased the bid. Like this, many items were auctioned off that did not catch the eyes of the influential people.

This whole time Orphelia and Maxwell had been figuring out the functions of the carriage. Maxwell managed to figure out how to expand the carriage, but it was draining on his qi. The carriage was very beautiful with a full gold body and blue accents and curtains. As soon as Maxwell looked at the carriage he felt pain.

"Aaaaaah!" He screamed in pain. In Maxwell's spiritual sea his cracked soul resided. The cracks glowed and seemed to burn, hurting Maxwell.

'This carriage! It is no coincidence, is it? They must have sensed my soul and travelled here.'

Orphelia held Maxwell who writhed in pain, unable to help him. After a few minutes of a pain worse than any other Maxwell's soul seemed to have healed a bit. A male voice from the carriage weakly spoke as if it was slowly dying.

"My liege, I am out of soul force, I will go into a long sleep now."

Soul force was the force used by the soul, so it could survive outside of a spiritual sea or divine sea and what it used to attack other souls. Artifact spirits also used it to exist.

"Carter?"

"Oh, it's the Blossoming Sword Empress, thank you for being by my liege's side."

These words were said as a slow whisper.

'Carter took Maxwell as his master? He must have died then to save me and maybe the others from dying.' Orphelia sighed sadly. 'I will make sure he didn't die in vain.'

"Urgh."

"Are you ok now?"

"Yes, I feel better than ever"

Maxwell put back the carriage in his spatial ring and sat back onto the sofa, watching the auction.

Outside the room, the auctioneer just displayed the 2 lotuses and told everyone their effects, the lotuses would be auctioned separately. Many people were excited, especially a certain elder of one of the three top sects, Roaring Dragon Sect. He had a lightning affinity and was stuck at a bottleneck in his lightning cultivation.

"The starting price is 50 Earth Grade Spirit Stones."

"200!" a voice boomed from a private room. This was the first item that a bid had been placed by anyone in a private room. As time passed more bidders came from private rooms and the price rose to 3000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones exceeding Maxwell's prediction. In the end it was sold to the elder of the Roaring Dragon Sect, who was delighted to win it. The other was sold for 2900 Earth Grade Spirit Stones.

The next item was a map of a volcano where Earth Fires could be located if someone was lucky.

"Orphelia, get this, if you're lucky then we can check if you have a fire affinity."

Many alchemists joined the bid since Earth Fire would help them increase their rank. In the end Orphelia bought it for 4000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones.

"Ow, my wallet is now going to be devoid of any savings."

"It's better to take this opportunity to get it than to get stuck at a bottleneck later."

"You are right, but it pains nonetheless."

The final item that was the main attraction of the auction was a branch. Someone in the crowd shouted.

"What is the point of a useless stick?"

"Woah, what's that?" Orphelia looked at the stick greedily.

"That's a strong wood qi aura! This is an excellent material for healing pills and wood cultivation. I don't know what that is either." Maxwell responded.

The auctioneer then spoke to the excited crowd.

"This branch is said to be a piece of the world tree. The world tree is said to have been destroyed long ago, any piece of it is very valuable and it can be used to make the best healing pills with a good alchemist. It is the most valuable material for anyone with wood element especially alchemists and healers. The bidding will start at 10000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones. The bids can only be increased by 500 Spirit Stones Each Time."

An uproar started in the auction house, everyone scrambled to contact their superiors for even more Spirit Stones.

"15000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones."

"16000."

"16500."

"17000."

Like this the price slowly rose to 40000 Spirit Stones.

"45000 Spirit Stones." Maxwell finally spoke. The cultivators in the private rooms were surprised by the massive jump since even major powers would not part with so many Spirit Stones easily.

"45500." Someone else bid, unwilling to give up the piece of the World Tree.

"50000." Maxwell increased it even further.

People continued to bid but Maxwell jumped the price each time and, in the end, he purchased it for 100000 Earth Grade Spirit Stones. The price was a fortune for even a major power.

"Max how are you so rich?"

"That's a secret, it's safer you don't ask much."

"Hmph, fine keep your secrets." Orphelia sulked while pouting.

"Our items are here, let's take them and teleport away."

*Knock, Knock*

"Enter."

Leonidas walked in, holding a spatial ring. He gave it to Maxwell and said, "The payment has been settled using your previous earning. Thank you for your patronage." He then left.

"Orphelia, come hold me. Let's teleport away just in case trouble comes."

Orphelia gripped Maxwell's hand and they teleported away. Teleporting caused a lot of dizziness and disorientation, so Orphelia fell onto Maxwell face first.

"What's this soft lumps I feel. Oh…" Maxwell opened his eyes, rather disoriented.

"Orphelia, do you want to get up or are you trying to kiss me." Orphelia's face was on the verge of contacting Maxwell's face.

'She is really beautiful.'

Orphelia got up blushing and turned away.

"W-why would I want to kiss you?"

"Anyways, welcome to my house in the capital."

Orphelia quickly recovered and looked around.

"Woah, this is beautiful. The architecture in the capital is something else."

"Follow me."

Orphelia followed Maxwell and he led her to a room.

"What room is this?"

"This is my room; the other rooms are unused and are uncared for."

"Max, why are you bringing me to your room at night? Don't tell me you have other intentions?" Orphelia teased him back as revenge for all his teasing.

"Huh, no. I placed many formations here, so it is the safest place." Maxwell responded while blushing slightly.

He then brought out the piece of the world tree and placed it.

"We can't use this yet to cultivate but we can absorb the qi it gives out to heal us. We should get used to this aura, so we can recognize other parts of the world tree if we ever find them."

"Okay."

After an hour both had absorbed the qi it gave and strengthened their body. They felt their life essence increasing, indicating that it had increased their lifespan.

"Woah, our life essence increased. I'll preserve the branch so too much qi does not leak from it."

"You do that, I have to return before the others start looking for me."

"Oh, Bye. Come here tomorrow."

"Only if you are going to invite me to lunch."

"Sure, wherever you want to eat."

Once Orphelia left Maxwell entered his carriage and discovered it had a huge space inside but a lot of it was destroyed and he would have to fix it with space element slowly without any mistakes. The only intact part was the cultivation room and the bedroom. There were formations superior to every other formation seen by Maxwell everywhere. The qi gathering formation collected very dense qi quickly. Maxwell broke through in that one night using the dense qi to stage 3.

Maxwell woke up late, sleepy from staying up cultivating. He had a late breakfast and was just done when Orphelia arrived. He showed Orphelia around the house and afterwards took her to the garden.

She looked like she belonged among all the flowers with her beautiful long pink hair fluttering in the breeze. Orphelia admired all the flowers and told Maxwell. "This sight is so beautiful and captivating."

"Yes, it is." Maxwell said, himself unsure whether he was talking about her or the garden.

'Why did I say that?'

"Orphelia, take this flower I found, it goes beautifully with your hair and looks just like your eyes."

Maxwell put a deep blue orchid that he found by the edge of a pond in Orphelia's braided hair.

"Ahem."

Maxwell and Orphelia were caught off guard by Maxwell's father.

"Sorry to interrupt the mood but Maxwell, come spar with me. I need to see your skills."

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

"Daughter-in-law, I'm sorry for interrupting your time but this is the only time I have to test him."

"It's okay." Orphelia responded rather shy after being called that.

Maxwell was dragged to a small training field.

"Take out your spear."

Maxwell took out his blazing red spear and his father got out a gold and white naginata. They both took their stances and Maxwell leaped forward. His father brought down his spear on Maxwell's head.

*Thud*

Maxwell blocked the naginata's shaft with his spears shaft. His arms shook from the force

Maxwell then swept the naginata to the side and pierced his spear toward his father. His father then attacked with a slash. Maxwell had to dodge backward. His father took advantage of this and dealt multiple blows to him with the shaft of the naginata.

Maxwell quickly recovered, impressing his father. He then aimed for his father's left hand.

*Clang*

Maxwell's attack was deflected by the naginata blade easily and Maxwell had to break his stance to avoid losing balance. His father counterattacked with a slash towards Maxwell's neck. Maxwell shifted his grip on his spear and blocked the attack with the back of the spear. His spear went to the ground and he then struck at his father's face.

His attack was blocked easily but it impressed his father.

"Good, you are improving a lot. You feinted at a good situation."

They continued to exchange blows with Orphelia watching like an excited fan.