“So, young’un number seven, in your eyes, how much is this old man’s face worth?”

Elder Shui smiled coldly. Like electricity, his glare zapped straight towards the number seven’s veiled face.

“El… Elder, please do not be angry. I am a member of the Feng family. The Shui’s and the Feng’s should be close like family. I hope that Elder Shui can cease your anger on account of your relationship with my elders.”

At the late stage of the Qi Ocean stage, Elder Shui’s level of cultivation was incredibly strong. The feeling of oppression that came out of his glare had number seven tremble uncontrollably.

“Hmph, a spineless rat!”

Elder Shui turned his gaze to the rest of the room and sternly said, “1150 gold! Old Li, you can strike the pommel!”

“1150 gold going once, 1150 gold going twice…”

Just as the silver pommel in the silver-robed elder’s hand was about to drop, a voice rang out. “1200 gold!”

The voice was hoarse and a little weak. But when it spoke, the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.

Without any doubt, the one who voiced out was Xu Yi.

At that point, he had already thought things through clearly. His heart was determined to get what he wanted.

Money gone can be earned again. If he missed such a divine defensive item like the Dragon Alligator hide, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Furthermore, he knew that he was about to face an endless death match. The defensive abilities of the Dragon Alligator hide was what he desperately needed.

As for Elder Shui breaking the rules, he could scare others but definitely not Xu Yi. He already dared to gravely offend a saint like Zhou Daogan, who had supposedly already entered the Fluid Condensation stage, why would he be scared of a mere Elder Shui?

“You rat! How dare you!”

Elder Shui was furious. His eyes flashed as he stared at the close-by Xu Yi.

An overwhelming pressure was given off, causing those around Xu Yi to tremble uncontrollably. Xu Yi however, did not shake in the least.

With his strong soul power, this bit of pressure barely even caused him an itch. Speaking in his hoarse voice again, he calmly said, “Don’t go too far, you old thief! This here is Linglong Hall; we follow rules here to do business. It is no place for you to seize whatever you want!”

!!!

A huge tremor could be felt across the room as all eyes gathered towards Xu Yi.

The Shui family was a behemoth of a family that had held power within Guang’an for over hundreds of years. When the Shui family head celebrated his birthday, even the Guang’an Governor had to pay his respects.

Elder Shui himself was a powerhouse at the late stage of the Qi Ocean stage. To say that he could have his way in Guang’an was no exaggeration at all.

Today, he was called an “old thief” in front of a crowd of people. Just thinking about it felt unreal.

“How bold of you, you rat! I dare you to give me your name; I’ll make sure to show you!”

Elder Shui’s nose was almost contorted from his anger, and he was just that close to spewing out blood. After having his way in Guang’an for all these years, he had finally seen something today.

“Old Li, I have already raised the bid. Please continue to call. If no one else raises, this Dragon Alligator hide will be mine.”

Xu Yi simply ignored the maniacal Elder Shui, coldly giving the silver-robed elder a reminder. He purposely changed his voice to make it sound older. Hence, when he addressed the silver-robed elder, he spoke as an older person would.

Xu Yi knew clearly that no matter how wildly Elder Shui behaved, he still could not afford to incur the wrath of the entire crowd. Furthermore, Linglong Hall had been prosperous in Guang’an for many years and had completed many large transactions, and it was clearly not a company that could be run over by just a single practitioner at the Qi Ocean stage.

Indeed, the silver-robed elder spoke. “Elder Shui, this is an auction. If the two of you have any feud, please settle it privately. We will now continue with the auction procedures. Number twenty-three bids 1200 gold. 1200 gold going once, 1200 gold going twice…”

The silver-robed elder was already unhappy with Elder Shui. As a professional auctioneer, anyone who openly suppressed other bidders was seen as an enemy to him.

Earlier on, Qi Ming was still considered alright. He was reasonable, and even said that he would sell the Divine Origin Qi Pills here at Linglong Hall if he managed to concoct them, giving quite some face to Linglong Hall.

But this Elder Shui was completely unreasonable and was purely acting as a tyrant. The silver-robed elder was, however, stopped by the influence of the Shui family. As he had already let Qi Ming have his way earlier, he could not easily step in this time.

At this moment, with Xu Yi opposing Elder Shui fiercely, he was naturally very glad.

“1300 gold!”

Elder Shui’s eyes opened wide as they glared angrily at Xu Yi, as though he hoped to glare him to death.

Indeed, no matter how strong the Shui family was or how high the level of his cultivation was, he still did not dare openly seize anything here at Linglong Hall.

“1350 gold!” Xu Yi raised without a hint of hesitation.

He had made up his mind to put in his all. Even if he failed in the end, at least he would have no regrets.

“1400 gold!”

The corners of Elder Shui’s eyes twitched. He forcefully held back the anger boiling in his veins and coldly said, “Number twenty-three, if you stop here, I will take it as though everything earlier on never happened.”

The moment Elder Shui spoke those words, the audience all shuddered. Since when did the high and mighty Elder Shui speak words of compromise?

Those who were more attentive were beginning to wonder which family Xu Yi hailed from.

Xu Yi himself was also shaken in his mind, but what followed was joy. He wondered, could it be that Elder Shui had spent too much earlier and was close to emptying his wallet? “1450 gold!”

“1500 gold! Number twenty-three, are you really trying to go head to head with my Shui family!?”

Elder Shui was about to go mad!

Xu Yi had guessed it half right. Elder Shui was not even close to emptying his wallet, but he had to reserve the money for other uses.

The Shui family was incredibly wealthy, and as an elder of the Shui family, he naturally had no shortage of money. This time, for the auction, Elder Shui had prepared a total of ten thousand gold.

Little did he imagine that each and every item auctioned by Linglong Hall was so exquisite. From the three items that he had fought to buy, he had already lost over four thousand gold.

Calculating it this way, Elder Shui still had over five thousand gold with him, and under ordinary circumstances, him being able to outbid others for the Dragon Alligator hide was almost guaranteed.

However, Elder Shui was absolutely determined to obtain the finale item for this auction. With that factored in, the amount he had left to spare for the Dragon Alligator skin was not much.

What was worse was that this number twenty-three had come out of nowhere, yielding neither to coercion nor persuasion, and willing to fight it out tooth and nail. Elder Shui had absolutely no idea how much longer he had to keep outbidding him in order to obtain the Dragon Alligator hide.

Also, Linglong Hall’s regulations stipulated that the fees had to be paid the moment the auction ended, and temporarily owing them was not allowed. Even if Elder Shui wanted to return home to get more money, he would not have the chance.

It was not that Elder Shui had not planned well in advance. It was just that the Dragon Alligator hide’s appearance was too sudden, and it was totally outside of his expectations. His trip here was purely for the finale item.

The other three items that he had gotten were just done in passing. He had not known that the Dragon Alligator hide would pop up, catching him off guard.

Others might not know how precious the Dragon Alligator hide was, but Elder Shui knew exactly how precious. Thirty years ago, he had once explored the Northern lands with his grand uncle. In a ring of ancient volcanoes, they had encountered a Dragon Alligator.

That thirty-meter-long, terrifying monster with a dragon’s body and an alligator’s head had left a deep impression on him. At that time, his grand uncle, who had entered the fluid condensation stage and wielded the family’s treasure, the Azure Phoenix Sword, had only managed to battle the Dragon Alligator to a draw.

He remembered vividly that back then, a few of his grand uncle’s ultimate moves had struck the Dragon Alligator on its head but had failed to even leave a scratch.

Still to the present, Elder Shui found it hard to forget such a terrifying defensive ability.

Today, with the appearance of the Dragon Alligator hide, Linglong Hall seemed to not know its worth. They had allowed Gao Junmo who was merely at the middle stage of the Qi Ocean stage to test it, and they had not even allowed him to use his Seven Absolute Swords. It would be a wonder if they could manage to test the true capabilities of the Dragon Alligator hide.