Chapter 58
When Chen Zhen saw his portrait on the wall, he was surprised because it held not only his normal appearance, but also his bloodline appearance. When he discussed things with Lou Tian and Shanggu Feng they already warned him this might happen. Show they changed Chen Zhen's appearance as much as possible using make-up before he entered Shangren City.
As Chen Zhen was he heading to buy some horses he was directed to head past the auction house. One of the females servants of the auction house was handing out fliers promoting their upcoming auction.
"Look thru the list of special items that are being auctioned. See if there are any fire or lightning attributed cultivations materials being auctioned." Shanggu Feng said.
"Do we even have time for that? Shouldn't we get back on the road as soon as possible to avoid the Diako Clan's people?" Chen Zhen asked feeling a little nervous about finding his wanted poster already.
"It will be fine. No one has been able to recognize you yet. This is a great opportunity we shouldn't let pa.s.s." Shanggu Feng said
"I agree with Shanggu Feng on this point. You never know what kind of rare items will appear at an auction." Lou Tian added.
"Ok, fine I will go and see if there is anything worthwhile being auctioned." Chen Zhen said as he took a flier from one of the young ladies outside of the auction house.
As Chen was looking at the flier his face started to grow gloomy. The most items listed for auction were slaves. There were detailed descriptions of what the different slaves looked like. As Chen Zhen read the descriptions he saw something that made his heart stir. A couple of the slaves were called foreigners who didn't understand spoken language. Their complexions were described in different tones that didn't belong in the Abyss World.
"There are some slaves from my world being auctioned. We have to free them immediately!" Chen Zhen said wanting to rush into the auction house right away.
"You can't do that! They have very powerful people that are the backbone of the auction house. If you try to rush in there they will easy kill you for your troubles." Shanggu Feng warned
"Then what should we do?" Chen Zhen asked.
"Go to the auction and see who buys the slaves from your world. Then we can follow them when they leave the city. Depending on how strong their guards are we should be able to attack them and get the slaves back that way." Shanggu Feng suggested
"Ok…. I'll listen to your suggestion." Chen Zhen entered the auction house still frustrated with his own weakness.
Chen Zhen paid for a ticket to enter the auction and followed the crowd to the seating area. As he looked around Shanggu Feng and Lou Tian explained how the auction houses worked. The main hall was very grand with many opulent decorations on display. The upper floors had private rooms with two-way mirror to allow VIP's to be able hide their ident.i.ties. Each VIP room had a maiden who communicated their bids to the auctioneer.
The auction soon started and many of the lower ranked items
"We have a Rank 9 spirit core of the Mantle Spider. This spider lived deep inside of active volcanos. Its spirit core is br.i.m.m.i.n.g with pure fire attribute spirit energy. This will great help anyone with a fire attribute energy core to increase their cultivation. Depending on your current level this could easily save you five to ten years of cultivating!" the auctioneer was really trying to drum up interest in this spirit core, but since it was still considered a low rank item the starting price wouldn't be that high, "The starting price is 50 gold coins. Each bid must be and increase of at least 5 gold coins. The bidding begins now!"
"55 gold coins"
"60 gold coins"
"70 gold coins"
"85 gold coins"
Chen Zhen didn't bid right away. Even though he wasn't familiar with auction houses he was definitely familiar with bidding for items. Back on Earth he was an avid user of E-bay. He knew to wait till the last minute to place his bid to gain the greatest effect.
Since Chen Zhen and everyone had been hunting regularly to gain experience they had ama.s.sed quite a large sum of spirit beast cores. Excluding the higher Rank 8 and Rank 9 cores Chen Zhen kept for himself, there were 300 Rank 5, 200 Rank 6 and 150 Rank 7 that he sold already. He kept the nearly 1,000 Rank 1-4 beast cores for cultivation resources for the members of his group. Still he was able to get over 5,000 gold coins for what he sold, Chen Zhen was not short of money at all.
"The final bid of 105 gold coins. Going once…."
"130 gold coins" Chen Zhen nonchalantly spoke out.
Many people were shocked at this amount. Normally a Rank 9 beast core sold for between 50 to 75 gold coins. The especially rare ones could sell for as much as 100 gold coins. The previous bid of 105 gold coins already exceed its true value, so Chen Zhen's bid seemed extremely extravagant.
"130 gold coins, do we have any other bids.... Going once..... going twice….. sold for 130 gold coins." The auctioneer was very happy since he would receive a ten percent commission for all the sales.
Chen Zhen stopped paying attention again until it was Shanggu Feng who asked him to bid this time. This time it was a lightning attributed spirit core of the Rank 9 Devil May Spider. This was a much rarer beast core, so the bidding was quite fierce for a while. It finally slowed down when it reached 140 gold coins.
"Are there any final bids….."
"160 gold coins" Chen Zhen once again shocked everyone with is bid that was considered extremely high.
The auctioneer had a huge grin on his face as he tried to get people to bid some more, but ultimately it went to Chen Zhen in the end.
Not long after this the lower rank items came to an end. Next the slave auction would begin. Chen Zhen spread out his spiritual sense, so he could be aware of who ever bid on the slaves from Earth. Since they were considered an exotic item they were the last ones to be brought out. Seeing them on display like common property, shackled around the neck, wrist and ankles, made a burning rage ignite inside of Chen Zhen. His killing intent leaked out a little causing those next to him to begin feeling uncomfortable.
Chen Zhen was shocked to find that all of the earth slaves were purchased by the same person in one of the VIP rooms. Chen Zhen noticed that as soon as this person began to bid all other bidders would immediately stop bidding. Shanggu Feng warned Chen Zhen that this was probably someone from a very influential family who no one dared to offend. Chen Zhen didn't care who they were. He was hoping that since they were used to receiving such impartial treatment that they security would be a little lax. This would make rescuing his fellow Terrans much easier.
As discreetly as possible Chen Zhen followed them from the auction house after picking up his purchases. The highest guard he found was only at Level 1 of the Liquid Core Stage. They loaded they wagons with their purchases and headed north out of the city.
Chen Zhen purchased the horses he needed then left the city to find his group. After explaining what happened at the auction house, no one discouraged him from trying to set the other people from Earth free. Chen Zhen made plans for rendezvousing with the group after he rescued the slaves. Even though he could run much faster then the horses Chen Zhen took some along, so he could bring the freed slaves back easier.
The small caravan didn't seem to be in a hurry, so it didn't take long for Chen Zhen to catch up to them. Chen Zhen followed them for a while before heading into the woods and sneaking a head of the caravan. Chen Zhen hid the horses in the woods along side the road, and then found an ambush spot. After waiting for quite a while without anyone showing up Chen Zhen became a little confused. When he crept back down the road, to his surprise he found the caravan had stopped and set up a campsite near the road.
Chen Zhen could see the person from the VIP sitting on a log laughing with some of his servants when sudden a voice rang out in his head, "He my friend don't hide there in the woods why don't you come join us."