Chapter 50: The Auction House

Ye Rong activated Soaring Sword Heavenward. It was like pouring diesel on a fire, and his Sword Light surged.

At this point, the 30% boost to Sword Flight Speed from Soaring Sword Heavenward wasn’t very noticeable. But once he upgraded to a higher-tier Flying Sword, the difference would become immense—hundreds or even thousands of points.

Before leaving, Ye Rong remembered to toss his daily-use Lesser Yang Divine Thunder at Young Master Wei. He was pleased to receive the System Notification: “You have killed Wudang Registered Disciple Young Master Wei. 200 Karma Points deducted.”

With his five layers of Qingcheng Sword Art, the bonuses from the Earth Fowl Set, and the boost from Soaring Sword Heavenward, it only took Ye Rong three to five minutes to shake off the pursuers behind him, leaving them far behind and completely out of sight.

“Could that Green Jade Gourd be a high-tier Magic Treasure? Young Master Wei looked as devastated as if he had lost a loved one. His eyes were filled with grief and a vow of revenge—truly pitiful!”

Only now did Ye Rong have time to take out the Green Jade Gourd and examine it carefully, wondering what it could be.

Green Jade Jingsheng Wine Gourd, Curio, Purpose Unknown.

“Not a Magic Treasure?”

After the game update, all equipment dropped by monsters remained unidentified. Players either had to pay an Appraiser in the Main City to reveal its attributes or ask their Sect elders for help. But at the very least, the item’s tier—such as which rank of Flying Sword or Magic Treasure—should have been indicated. It shouldn’t just be labeled vaguely as a “Curio.”

“Forget it. I’ll take it back and ask Senior Brother Chen Taizhen to appraise it. Then I’ll know for sure.”

Next, he took out the Green Snail Sachet and checked inside. It had already collected 160 portions of pollen, meaning that killing the Pink-winged Butterfly King had rewarded Ye Rong with a full 100 portions of pollen.

Seeing that the time limit was almost up, Ye Rong headed straight to the Governor’s Mansion to turn in the quest.

…

The Hundred-refined Silk Universe Pouch had 60 storage slots.

This was the reward Ye Rong received after completing the quest. It was three times larger than the original version—not the best, but it would do for now.

Next to the Governor’s Mansion stood another large building of similar size: the auction house of Chengdu City.

This was Ye Rong’s first time entering an auction house, and he was startled by the densely packed crowd, swarming like ants. He squeezed his way to a corner with great effort, where translucent, crystal-like leaves the size of washbasins hung on the wall, their veins and patterns clearly visible.

When he tapped a finger on one of these translucent leaves, a screen full of auction items would appear. Players could set various search conditions and use simple procedures to list or purchase items.

Listing an item would incur a 7% transaction fee upon sale, while purchasing did not require any extra fee.

Ye Rong searched for Flying Swords and Magic Treasures and found that not all of them were garbage. Some were even better than the gear he currently wore. But when he saw the prices—all in gold—he twitched at the corner of his mouth, crossed them out, and gave up.

He searched for Fourth-Rank Flying Swords and found 17 of them, along with 21 Fourth-Rank Magic Treasures. He then searched for Fifth-Rank Flying Swords and found only two, plus three Fifth-Rank Magical Treasures.

Since auction houses across the nine Main Cities shared their listings, the number of fourth- and fifth-tier Magic Treasures and Flying Swords available was normal. There were always a few incredibly lucky players who managed to obtain high-tier treasures.

As for items of even higher tiers, there were none to be found in the auction house.

It made sense—anyone who had a Sixth-Rank Flying Sword or Magic Treasure wouldn’t list it for auction. Even if they didn’t need it and wanted to sell it for money, the true value of Sixth-Rank items couldn’t be fully realized yet. Most players were still too low-level to equip them, so the prices wouldn’t be driven up.

Ye Rong checked his equipment slots and typed a few keywords to search for the gear he was currently missing.

Leaving clothing slots empty and using non-stat Taoist robes was fine, but leaving accessory slots empty felt like a waste. Speaking of Taoist robes, the Qingcheng Taoist Robe Ye Rong received upon joining Qingcheng did have stats and didn’t take up an equipment slot. It offered 100 defense and came with the spell Parting Waters, which increased Sword Flight Speed by 10% in rivers or seas.

Only when a Sword Art Form reached 20 layers could a player use Sword Flight underwater, though Sword Flight Speed would be halved.

Of course, if one had water-related treasures like the Water-repelling Pearl or Tide-parting Stake, or had learned water-repelling spells from cultivation techniques, they could enter water without any issues even without a 20-layer Sword Art Form.

So, for Ye Rong at this stage, the spell was completely useless.

Unlike clothing, accessory equipment often came with useful minor attributes, like the Earth Fowl Set he had unintentionally collected. At the auction house, Ye Rong focused his search on items like belts and bracelets.

After observing for a long time and comparing value for money, he reluctantly spent ten taels of silver on a Rainbow Bracelet with 30 storage slots.

The amount of storage space a player had directly affected how many supplies they could carry, which was crucial for both PvP and boss fights.

Imagine two sides fighting intensely. One suddenly finds their pouch empty and their pills used up, while the other remains energetic, swallows another handful of pills, and seizes the chance to strike their opponent down. This kind of situation was common when both sides were evenly matched and neither had mastered overwhelmingly powerful spells.

Of course, Ye Rong’s pursuit of larger storage space was mainly because he wanted to gather more materials while grinding monsters and leveling up, so nothing would go to waste.

“Whoa, am I seeing things? What in the world is this?”

After purchasing the Rainbow Bracelet, Ye Rong didn’t leave the auction house immediately. Instead, he browsed through the listed items page by page, hoping to find mispriced bargains from uninformed players.

The image displayed on the leaf was a real “Thirty Thousand” mahjong tile, labeled as a First-Rank Magic Treasure. Attack: 1–1. No other special effects. Collect 144 tiles to form the Fifth-Rank Magical Treasure Supreme Mahjong Set.

Ye Rong froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but chuckle as he imagined the expression of the player who obtained this item. It was just too amusing.

A mahjong Magic Treasure? Hah! To complete a quest with great effort and receive a reward like this—that player’s reaction must have been priceless!

Aside from such amusing treasures, Ye Rong also found two Magic Treasures with decent stats that would significantly boost his current strength. Unfortunately, their prices made him hesitate and ultimately back off.

“Time to go kill monsters! The sooner I gather ten refined iron fragments to activate Tiancanzi’s Chain Quest, the sooner I can get my hands on a high-tier Flying Sword!”

Setting this goal for himself, Ye Rong headed straight for the Endless Forest Sea.

As for supplies, he had already stocked up generously at the Sect’s alchemy hall. Even if he needed to buy more, he would return to the Sect for them—the prices at the Main City’s medicine shops were twice as high as those at the Sect.