Blood Duchess
“This is an astral stone. The base price is set at 200 million magic crystals, and every increment set at a minimum of 1 million. You may use resources of equal value to make up any difference! Let the auction begin.”
The presenter waved his hand and the huge screen in front of Leylin lit up immediately in bright colors.
Watching the numbers on the screen clambering up bit by bit, Leylin’s mouth curved into a bitter smile.
His guess had come true; this astral stone was one of the three most valuable items up for auction. The price had soared to an outrageous amount.
It looked like he did not have enough magic crystals at the moment and would need to sell some of his resources.
Leylin was glad that he had no lack of good materials on him. Were he to sell them all, he would still qualify to join the bid.
“1 billion magic crystals!” Leylin immediately yelled his bid with an announcement device in the hopes of scaring off the rest.
“1.1 billion magic crystals!” Another bid was heard immediately. It came from VIP lounge 1. Although no other announcements were made after the first, who didn’t know that the occupant of the VIP lounge was the Morning Star Magus Demon Hunter Cyril?
Leylin stroked his chin and his eyes gleamed with traces of caution.
“Ha ha! Cyril, aren’t you embarrassed to bid so low?”
Another voice was heard from VIP lounge 2. Soon after, the screen refreshed to reflect a new price, “2 billion magic crystals!”
“Huh? This conduct, another Morning Star Magus?”
Leylin’s mouth twitched in a bitter smile, ”Trouble is brewing.....”
Even though he was confident in his wealth, he was not egotistical enough to compare himself to someone at the Morning Star realm.
Moreover, with these two Morning Star Magi nipping at each other, wouldn’t he be courting death if he were to get involved any further?
Yes, the astral stone was truly valuable and losing the opportunity of acquiring it was extremely unfortunate, but compared to his own mortal life, Leylin knew exactly which was more important. He sensibly gave up on contending for it.
On the other hand, Leylin did not lose all hope. There was still the anonymous barter that he was looking forward to after the auction was completed.
In VIP lounge 1, Cyril’s face hardened the moment he head the voice of the other party. “This voice... It must be Emma, that bitch!”
He may have been swearing at her, but his face was actually filled with endless fear.
Blood Duchess Emma, was well-known for her crazy and savage ways. The other party was too a Morning Star Magus, how could she not show him respect?
“3 billion magic crystals!” The astral stone was an important element in the current stage of his astral gate experiments. In the near future, there was a possibility that he could uncover the coordinates of the devils, hence his dire need for it. He knew he had to bid successfully for it, even if it meant paying a sky-high price.
As such, Cyril yelled his bid reluctantly, as if his heart was bleeding.
“Haha... Cyril, your pocket is as poor as your city of sins, I bid 4 billion!” Emma, who was seated at the opposite side, had clearly received some unknown information, hence she was determined to not give in.
The price for this astral stone clearly surpassed its actual value, which made him reluctant to bid. Yet, he was evidently embarrassed by Emma’s mockery a moment ago.
“4.5 billion magic crystals!” Cyril immediately shouted out. Deep in his heart, he made up his mind that if the opposite party dared to bid further, he would give up. He would let her pay the unnecessary magic crystals for it.
“Haha... Cyril, do you think I am going to bid further? Wrong, this astral stone is not such a special item after all. It is no big deal if I were to let go and let you have it.”
Unexpectedly, Emma withdrew and stopped bidding, causing him to feel a rush of anger.
“Honestly, to spend 4.5 billion magic crystals on an astral stone... Cyril, where has your astuteness gone?” she ridiculed sarcastically, adding salt into his wound.
“This bitch! One day... ONE day...” Cyril clenched his teeth in rage, wisps of blood clouding his silver pupils.
The horrifying ripples had caused the other guests in other VIP lounges to feel uneasy.
“Emma, just you wait and see...” after tossing these last words at her, Cyril stood up and left in a hurry, not wanting to linger for another second.
Leylin, on the other hand, upon hearing the name, was slightly taken aback. ‘Blood Duchess? Isn’t that Freya’s mentor?’
Blood Duchess Emma was a Morning Star Warlock, the second elder of the Ouroboros Clan.
‘If it’s her, it’s no wonder she couldn’t see eye to eye with Cyril...’
Leylin drew a deep breath. ‘I didn’t expect someone of such status to be present here. I am sure she has just arrived, otherwise, the Sun’s child bloodline would not have been acquired by him...’
After the favourable harvest from the Quicksand pocket dimension some time back, Leylin and company had immediately relayed all specific details to Duke Gilbert.
Especially Leylin. With the presence of Cyril, they were sure they would never have the chance to step foot in the Forgotten Land again. Therefore, he laid out the route map clearly and specifically, paying special attention to the possibility that Quicksand Castle was the core of the pocket dimension.
His scheme was for the Ouroboros Clan to hanker after the Quicksand pocket dimension. In fact, if they were to successfully seize it from the hands of Cyril, Leylin would then have the opportunity to conduct deeper exploration.
One single pocket dimension would fail to stir the greed of the Ouroboros Clan. However, what if the location in question was an ancient pocket dimension with another pocket dimension in within?
Especially since this pocket dimension was built by Ancient Warlocks at a time where rare natural resources were scarce.
Other than the useful information, Leylin’s bloodline crystals and Blood Vulture egg, as well as Robin’s own harvest, had left Duke Gilbert delighted.
As such, upon his return, Gilbert immediately invited the other two elders in the hope of joining together to go up against Cyril.
According to rumors, after the showing of Ouroboros Clan’s power, not only had they shamed Cyril thoroughly, they also managed to be allocated a share of the pocket dimension, as well as priority purchasing power, amongst other benefits.
Hence, from here on, the relationship between Cyril and the three Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks would naturally deteriorate.
In the past, when the 3 allied against Cyril, they had almost defeated him.
Due to this same reason, Cyril had never forgotten about Leylin or the other two Warlocks. In fact, he had even covertly issued warrants for their arrest.
This was one reason why Leylin had holed up in his territory bitterly for almost a century.
Learning of the positive outcome of the situation at the higher level, Leylin was truly relieved that he could attend the auction held the next day, plus the anonymous barter thereafter.
Otherwise, he would have given up on the idea of attending the exchange.
The frightening probing abilities of a Morning Star Magus could not be underestimated. If Cyril had been present throughout, there was no way Leylin could stay anonymous for long.
And once he was discovered by Cyril, he knew his life would be as insignificant as an ant, being crushed by with just a single finger.
Now, armed with the knowledge that Emma was here, Leylin did not have the slightest amount of intentions of acknowledging her.
If it were Duke Gilbert, he would have stepped up with warm greetings, in the hopes that he might, in a way or two, help Leylin to acquire some astral stones or such, but Emma? Forget it.
She might have been an elder of the Ouroboros Clan, but they were from different factions, which might make the meeting awkward.
His thoughts of Emma naturally led to those of Freya.
This female Warlock was indeed lucky. After the positive transaction of bloodline crystals with Leylin, she had successfully managed to save her family. And thereafter, there were rumours of her research in seclusion. It was as if she was attempting to break through the bottleneck to advance.
It was known that, once a Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock was promoted to the rank of the Morning Star realm, their bloodlines would be purified. This method was naturally preferred compared to that of obtaining it through the easier method of having a pure-blooded Warlock join the family.
What was worth mentioning was the fact that, among the female Warlocks of the Ouroboros Clan, Freya was considered to be one with discipline and self-respect. The only negative characteristic was her eagerness to be first.
Leylin stroked his jaw and pondered over the rumours about her decision enter seclusion. It was as if she was trying to stimulate and break through the Hydro Phase.
Due to this reason, Leylin was even more adamant about not revealing himself to Emma. He dreaded thinking about the possibilities of her forcing him to become a part of the family for the purpose of her advancement. How awful would that be?
On the other hand, if he had been discovered by Cyril first, by hook or by crook, he would definitely seek Emma out and ask for help. Any terms and conditions then would have been agreed upon, as it was all worth keeping his life.
You could only have one life. Once that was lost, nothing else mattered. In such cases, Leylin’s integrity was relegated to the back seat.
With such misgivings, Leylin went low-profile once again. He made sure his spiritual force compression technique and transfiguration spells were in full operation, and made sure his energies were not discovered by the other two Magi.
Luckily, that fateful night, Leylin felt enormous energy undulations transmitted from far beyond Azure Mountain City. It was not only him, many Magi were distracted by it.
Although they were very far away, the energy undulations were frightening and caused Leylin to feel somewhat suffocated.
The lower ranked Magi felt nothing. Only those who were close to the Morning Star realm could notice and be mindful of that terror.
Soon after, Leylin received news of Demon Hunter Cyril and Blood Duchess Emma’s departure from Azure Mountain City. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
With such volatile elements, the fewer there were in his life, the better.
This was probably the similar mindset of the other Magi. Under such circumstances, in the presence of multiple Morning Star Magi, there was no way they could have acquired their desired treasures with their limited magic crystals.
What were they to do if one of the two-eyed what they wanted?
A stifled atmosphere had hung over the auction these past two days. The most dissatisfied of them all was the Oakheart Clan. With the intrusion of the law-breaking Cyril, their revenue had suffered a steep decline.
The third day, the auction erupted in full force, as if finally free of suppression and mounting pressures. The degree of liveliness far exceeded Leylin’s expectations.