Chapter 290 - Sold
Jia Xueqin paused the auction for a moment, indicating to the audience that the break was for him to grab a drink of water. His actual reason was that he’d noticed an incoming message on his device. Since his staff was instructed to hold all but the most crucial communications during an auction, he knew it had to be important.
Chao Su wishes for the next qi-rich material put up to be Fire aspected if possible.
He took another sip of water, thinking hard. Normally, the Premiere Jade Treasures Auction House did not allow any interference in the order of items to be put up for bid. That selection was purely in the control of the auction manager—him.
Jia Xueqin chuckled. That was the auction house’s official position.
In reality, it was quite common to perform small favors for important clients, and Chao Su had earned the house over a quarter of a million greater spirit coins in fees already even though only forty percent of his swords had yet made it to the block.
And the favor was very minor. There were seventeen more such materials. Substituting one for another made little difference to Jia Xueqin.
He decided to hold off on making the call until after the next sword was sold. If it did as well as he hoped, the favor would be no issue. No issue at all.
“In all my years of managing auctions,” Jia Xueqin announced, “I can honestly say that I’ve never had an item on the block more interesting, more unique, more powerful, more paradigm breaking, and potentially more valuable than the next set of swords. In one way, the blade is much like the first set that utilized a user’s input to form a qi attack. In another, it breaks the mold of such a common array in a way that the two cannot even be compared. First, the qi element of the attack does not have to match the input qi of the user. I’ll say that again in another way. Any cultivator can use this sword. Input any qi element into the hilt, and an array converts that qi to the type used for the attack.”
He paused, letting that impossibility sink in.
“It’s an impressive feat of formation creation, worthy of a true Formations Master,” Jia Xueqin said. “Just that one facet of the sword alone would have made it almost priceless. But there’s more.
“The Esteemed Cultivators watching are probably asking, ‘What could possibly be better?’ The elements used in the attack, my dear friends. The element makes the difference. For our first of the next five swords for bid, This lowly one presents … the Gravity Blade.”
Even though Kang Ya-Ting knew of the blade and that it would be auctioned, his heart was still thudding with excitement at the auction manager’s presentation. That sword was one that would be treasured by the sect that won it for centuries, perhaps millennia.