Broke

On the table of four inside a busy inn, Yan Lenglei's group had some tea with a young man who ordered a lot of food and wine. Not saying anything, the young man had said that he would be footing the bill. The only problem with this was that the ring on his finger wasn't a real spatial ring, and only an imitation covered in talismans to trick others.

There was no money in his pockets either. Leaving the young man alone, the trio wanted to see what would play next if they didn't expose the strange young man. After the meal, the young man got up and spoke politely with a poetic touch to the way he spoke. "Dear brothers, it seems to me like I must head to the pot house, wait for me to come back and I'll take care of the bill." he said, before quickly scurrying off.

Once the young man was gone, Long He Yu flicked his hand, as silver taels were left on the table they were on, as they followed the strange young man. Following the young man silently without being discovered, they eventually ended up in a place that was a little far from the main City of Paper.

The surrounding was solemn and a poor atmosphere could be felt. This area was extremely different from the rich interior of the City of Paper. Obviously, this place was where the poor lived and were outcasts of the city.

The young man looked around to make sure nobody was following him, before standing in front of an old broken house with the door half missing. The young man moved and held onto the old lion statue that guarded the entrance, and rotated his palm.

Click!

A sound was heard, as the leg of the lion was shifted, causing the door of the broken house to change into a brand new door. Pushing the door open, the young man took out a talisman from his pocket and injected Spiritual Qi into it. Throwing it forward, the talisman flew towards the door and opened it completely before the talisman burnt to crisps. Entering through the door, the young man disappeared as the door shut quickly and returned to being the old broken door.

"That's interesting." Mo Jidong said, leaving the place with Yan Lenglei and Long He Yu. Staying at an inn, they stayed for the night and came out during the day. During the morning, there was a commotion, causing many within the City of Paper to gossip.

Listening to the conversation, it was easy to summarize all the information. In short, the Talisman Crafting Tournament that was held once every three years would be held once again within the city. There was less than a month until it began, in which many experts would begin to head for the city to participate or join in on the fun.

The Talisman Crafting Tournament was simple. Anyone participating would be given a chance to create a Talisman that suits the needs of a random request. The best Talisman Crafter would win with the best Talisman. The tournament was several rounds, which would easily take up more than half a day to complete.

After the Talisman Crafting Tournament, the annual Youth Combat Tournament would be held. Anyone below the age of thirty would be allowed to participate as long as they were at least of the Noble Realm. It was impossible to cheat since there were stones that could detect a person's true age. The tournament had prizes for the top three participants, while the Talisman Crafting Tournament allowed one be basked in glory and honor.

Since both tournaments would be held together, it became the talk of the city extremely early in the morning. Leaving the inn, Yan Lenglei's trio explored the City of Paper slowly. Filled with people, the city was as bustling as if was the previous day. With two upcoming tournaments, the streets would only be busier and busier.

Heading towards the commercial street, where many either sold items or were in search of items that could be found, the trio explored the commercial street. Coming back, they hid among the crowd within attracting attention to themselves as though they were invisible. Having looked around, they didn't find anything worthwhile and headed towards the Golden Street Auction House.

The Golden Street Auction House was quite literally an auction house. They were the largest commercial group within the Great Solar Realm which extends to even the Middle Realms where they were based. This Golden Street Auction House but was one of many branches of the group. Inside, many kinds of things could be found. Spiritual Tools, Demonic Beast carcasses, Cultivation Techniques, and many more.

As the largest business within the entire Great Solar Realm, the things auctioned were all of a high quality and couldn't be easily found on the streets. Just to be able to enter, one must be from a influential family with great backing or have a strong cultivation base. Other than that, there was no other requirement to be able to enter the auction house.

Stepping foot within the auction house after striking fear into the heart of the clerk at the front, the trio entered the auction house, where there were hundreds of people in the stands, waiting for the auction to start. Looking around, the seats were almost completely full, while there were private rooms for VIP guests at the very top of the auction house. The VIP rooms were protected so that nobody could see within from the outside, while those within could see everything outside of the room.

A while later, the seats were completely filled with people. The lights dimmed, as the center of the stage down below lit up, and a beautiful young woman appeared. "Welcome guests to the Golden Street Auction House. I Qin Lan will be the hostess for today's auction, I hope you don't mind." the young woman introduced herself.

Some men who were familiar with the hostess in the crowd cheered for her. Soon, she introduced the very first item. A veil covered the first item, but couldn't contain the aura hiding underneath. Just this first item alone attracted a lot of attention from the crowd.

Judging by the shape of the object underneath veil, it was almost certain to be a sword Spiritual Tool. Holding gently onto the veil, Qin Lan, the hostess slowly unraveled the object, revealing the splendid silver Spiritual Tool underneath.

The sword was roughly one and a half meters long, with a slightly thin blade. The design was quite simple but looked both elegant and domineering at the same time. This Spiritual Tool was of a high grade, which boosted both the power of attacks, as well as increasing the speed of attacks. This Spiritual Tool would be great for both men and women alike.

"This Spiritual Tool is known as Silver. Forged from high-grade Spiritual Alloy, as well as one-tenth of a catty of Silver Meteoric Alloy by a Master Forger, its design and ability is top-notch. In the past, this sword belonged to the Silver family, a long line of sword masters who had long fallen during the passage of time when their descendants grew weaker and weaker."

"Now, any one of you could become the next Sword Saint with this Spiritual Tool in hand. The starting price is two hundred Baron Stones, with minimum bidding increasements of one hundred Baron Stones. Let the auction begin!"

"Five hundred!"

"Six hundred Baron Stones!"

"Seven hundred!"

The price slowly increased over time, while none of the guests in the VIP rooms had made their bid. Baron Stones were the currency used in the Great Three Thousand Worlds. They were a type of stone that contained Spiritual Qi within and could be used for cultivation. Instead, they were used as currency within the Three Thousand Worlds. These stones had different levels. Awakening Stones, Noble Stones, Baron Stones and you know the rest. The stones corresponded to the levels of cultivation, in which they held greater amounts of Spiritual Qi.

One Noble Stone was worth one hundred Awakening Stones, while one Baron Stone was worth one hundred Noble Stones. The reason why people didn't cultivate using them, was that Spiritual Stones the given name contained large amounts of Spiritual Qi that were almost impossible to absorb within a single-use. If one couldn't absorb it all within one use, they would immediately be overfilled with Spiritual Qi and explode as a result.

Soon, a voice came out from one of the VIP rooms, bidding an astronomical amount of Spiritual Stones. "Thirty Viscount Stones."

"Thirty Viscount Stones. The guest in VIP room four has bid thirty Viscount Stones, will anyone be willing to bid more?" Qin Lan asked. Looking around, it seemed like nobody would contend against this price. Thirty Viscount Stones was equal to three thousand Baron Stones. Whether it was because of the price, it may also be because nobody wanted to offend the guest inside the VIP room.

After all, the voice that came out earlier was a voice transmission. Only a Viscount could send out a voice transmission using their Divine Will. Offending a Viscount over a Spiritual Tool wasn't worth it. Even if they won, it was another question of whether or not they could keep it on them.

"Congratulations to the guest in VIP room four. Please come to the back to collect your item after the auction."

Moving on to the next item, a spear forged from meteoric fire alloy, and other kinds of fire attribute materials were used in the process. The spear was over two meters long, weighing one hundred jin. This was considered to be quite heavy since a majority of cultivators weren't Body Refiners. Usually, only those at the Baron Realm would be able to swing such a weapon around with ease. Its design was simple, but asserted a strong fiery might.

Any attacks that were related to fire would be boosted by a significant amount when wielding this spear. Soon, the bidding began, before the spear was settled at a price of Two Thousand Baron Stones. After a few more weapon type Spiritual Tools came up, utility Spiritual Tools such as mounts and armor were brought up.

Once all the Spiritual Tools were sold, pills and various other kinds of items such as talismans were also sold. After the auction was over, Yan Lenglei's trio left the Golden Street Auction House.

*****

"Fellow brothers, it is great to see you again. Alas, I had forgotten to bring some silver taels with me last time, fear not, I will surely foot the bill this time." a handsome young man dressed in brown said. The same young man sat down on the table and took the fourth spot, where Yan Lenglei's trio was sitting.

This same young man was the one that had fled after saying that he would foot the bill previously. His clothes were designed well, obviously expensive. His long hair was neatly hanging behind him, as well as on his front shoulders. Only, his eyes were shut completely, which would cause many to wonder how he could tell things apart.

While his eyes were shut, the Spiritual Qi inside his body seemed to be flowing slowly without any rigorous s movements, as though it was contained inside a cell. Sitting down, he ordered some food without Yan Lenglei's group commenting. Silently on the table, the young man in brown ate a hearty meal, before getting up and walked towards the front. As he walked, someone suddenly covered him for a short moment, before the youth completely disappeared from the inn.

Leaving silver taels on the table, Yan Lenglei's group silently disappeared from the inn and followed the young man once again.