CH 340

340: Ai Lin’s Back

LeXue opened it with a big smile. “The first lot is a magic sword crafted by Master X. It is made with fifteen high-grade ores and has a ninth-level demon core embedded in the hilt. It is an extremely swift sword that high-level users won’t be able to resist. The master has named it Wind Chaser.

The reserve price for this sword is five hundred gold, at minimum increases of fifty gold increments. There is no upper limit. Let’s start bidding!”

“A thousand gold!”

“One thousand one hundred!”

“One thousand two hundred!”

“One thousand five hundred gold!”

The bidding went on like that. Ming Xi’s group could see the auction clearly but were themselves shielded from outside eyes.

“That’s a really good sword. It’s just the first lot and it’s already priced in the thousands. I had wanted to do some bidding, but didn’t expect it to get so expensive so fast,” lamented Margaret. She felt poor.

“That kind of sword would go for up to five thousand gold in the open market, but it may not do so here. That’s the allure of an auction.” Ming Xi said before taking a sip of fruity tea.

“That’s true. I always feel like if I’m not the final bid, then I’m missing something.” Ink nodded in agreement.

Feng Wu: These dishes are delicious.

“Six thousand five hundred gold, going once... going twice... going three times – sold!” LeXue knocked her gavel three times and officially ended the bidding for the first lot. “Wind Chaser is sold to customer number 117 at six thousand five hundred gold. Let’s all congratulate customer number 117 for his winning bid!”

A wave of enthusiastic applause followed. The thin middle-aged man, who greatly resembled a bean pole, blushed at the attention. It was probably the first time in his life he was noticed.

The second lot, a magic wand, was brought out and auctioned off at about the same price as the sword before it.

At the same time in another box, a girl in an indigo robe with waist length indigo hair was looking through the auction catalog.

“Ai Lin,[notes] is there anything you want? Let me know if there is. I’ll help you get it if you don’t have enough funds for it,” said a girl playfully. She was dressed all in white.

The girl offering was not your ordinary person. Her name was Eliza and she was a young princess of Water Cloud. she was a cute little thing.

Ai Lin had heard the news about the sea emperor’s tomb after completing the mission with her team. She knew the tomb opening was a big opportunity for the heroine.

It was inside the tomb that Zi Cheng would get what every water magician dreamed of – the heart of water – the physical embodiment of the magical elements of a water system. It was extremely rare as it took tens of thousands of years to form a single drop, so rare that only one ever formed on any continent.

Anyone who obtained it would have their cultivation level soar without suffering any side effects.

Zi Cheng was originally a five-elemental magician, so the heart of water was very useful to her. It was because she obtained the heart of water that she came to see how useful the hearts were. She eventually went on to look for all the other elemental hearts as well.

By the end of the novel, she ascended to the god realm after collecting all the hearts – gold, wood, fire and earth.

A favorability system was already too good. Ai Lin couldn’t let Zi Cheng have any more advantages, so she knew she couldn’t let Zi Cheng get the heart of water.

But that wasn’t why Ai Lin was at the auction house; she was there to keep Zi Cheng from realizing a different opportunity, and that was the ancient rui beast egg.

The auction house would auction it off and Zi Cheng would be the winning bid. Of course, the auction house had no idea the egg was that of an ancient beast. It had been up for auction thirty-six times before.

Rui beasts liked to attach themselves to other more powerful attackers, like sacred beasts and humans. They used their abilities to seek the protection of the strong because their own offensive abilities were so weak.

Ruis were strong, smart, and had wonderful support capabilities. This one in particular had the peculiar ability to predict.

Zi Cheng contracted with it after spotting it at the auction. From then on, its prescient abilities helped her to avoid all kinds of catastrophes.

Seeing into the future. It was such a powerful ability, even Ai Lin’s heart was moved. This time, her goal was to snatch the egg from Zi Cheng.

She met her companion, Princess Eliza, on the way to the Bilou islands. The princess had a kind heart. She had allowed Ai Lin to ride with her on her boat when she saw that Ai Lin was looking for passage to Bilou. The two had chatted and became good friends on the trip.

The tomb was a dangerous expedition, so Ai Lin’s team captain had decided against bringing the newbies to explore it. She had rushed over on her own after the team had handed in their mission assignment.

It didn’t matter how dangerous it was, Ai Lin wasn’t going to let Zi Cheng get any more advantages. But just thinking about the maritime world gave her a headache. It was practically dedicated to giving Zi Cheng all kinds of overpowered equipment. The demon suppression sword,[notes] the rui egg, the heart of water, all three items were obtained from the maritime world.

The worse of it was the harm she did there. Despite victimizing all the different nations of the maritime world, she was idolized and showered with gratitude. The adoration they gave her was intoxicating.

Zi Cheng met her love interest here as well. The man wasn’t an ordinary person either. The young master, who was engaged to Princess Eliza, was from a powerful and illustrious family.

According to the original story line, Zi Cheng should have met him in the virtual world. At the meeting both parties developed a mutual appreciation and admiration for one another.

Eventually they would meet in real life inside the sea emperor’s tomb and Zi Cheng would have a lock on his heart. From then on, there was no space for Eliza. She became cannon fodder for their love story.

Originally, Zi Cheng wasn’t aware her male lead was engaged. She only found out about it when Eliza tracked her down and confronted her, asking her to leave her fiancé alone.

Zi Cheng realized she unintentionally became the other woman in a relationship. To be put in such a role, she was angry and resentful, so of course she promised to leave the male lead alone.

But when the male lead found out about it, about how Eliza was the one responsible for destroying his relationship with Zi Cheng, he broke all contact with Eliza and dissolved their engagement contract.