Breathless

“The Ganwu Universe Nation possesses immense power, something even your teacher cannot compare to. Even Immortals must bow their noble heads before the vast Ganwu Universe Nation! After all, the Ganwu Universe Nation has strength in numbers! Of course, an unattached, incredibly powerful Immortal lone wolf like your teacher isn't someone the Ganwu Universe Nation would easily provoke. But if it truly came to a fight... with enough cost, eliminating your teacher wouldn't be an issue.” Babata sighed with emotion, “There's no other way, they have strength in numbers!”

Luo Feng nodded.

Gazing at the endless rows of seats in the auction hall, filled with Sector Lords stretching as far as the eye could see... he finally understood the meaning of ‘strength in numbers’.

***

Three hours later.

“Esteemed guests!”

A clear voice instantly spread, echoing throughout the entire auction hall. The vast hall immediately fell silent, everyone instinctively ceasing their chatter.

Luo Feng looked towards the center of the auction hall.

A bald old man with a black turtle shell on his back stood at the center of the auction hall, while above him, a nearly thousand-meter-tall ‘3D holographic projection’ of the old man appeared.

“Welcome everyone to this session of the Ganwu Auction! We extend our gratitude to the Virtual Universe Company, Universe First Bank, Cosmic River Bank, Giant Axe Martial Arena, Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, and the Ganwu Universe Nation for their strong support.” The old man smiled, “I believe many of you recognize me. You can call me Old Barto. Once again, Old Barto will be your host for this top-tier grand event!”

“At the last Ganwu Auction, we had 1,316,038 participants. The statistics for this auction have just come out, and do you know... how many people are here?”

“1,823,959 people! 1.82 million, over 500,000 more than last time!”

Immediately, a wave-like clamor swept through the entire auction hall.

The minimum requirement to attend is Three-Star Tier client status...

Amidst the densely packed seats, Luo Feng clicked his tongue, sighing inwardly, “In the Heilong Mountain Starfield, my wealth might rank in the top 100, but in the entire Ganwu Universe Nation...” Different statuses truly offer different perspectives. Without even reaching the Three-Star Tier client threshold, one wouldn't even qualify to participate in this Ganwu Auction.

“Without further ado!”

“The official start time for this auction is fast approaching. Before the main event begins, as per tradition, we'll have a warm-up auction.” The turtle-shelled old man pointed to the side, and a huge screen immediately appeared, displaying a magnificent cosmic galaxy. Galaxies swept past, each containing numerous life planets, and many powerful beings on those life planets.

“This is the Tana Starfield!”

“Among the Ganwu Universe Nation's thirteen thousand-plus starfields, this is a smaller one, ranking lower. The entire starfield comprises 668 galaxies. Previously, it was the territory of an Immortal. However, this Immortal is preparing for a life-or-death adventure and wishes to divest themselves of the entire starfield. Therefore, our warm-up auction item is this very starfield—the Tana Starfield!” the turtle-shelled old man announced loudly.

A commotion erupted in the auction hall.

Luo Feng, seated in his massive chair, was also somewhat shocked: “The Tana Starfield? They're auctioning an entire starfield right off the bat?”

One must remember that the Silverblue Empire, a cosmic primary civilization nation, only has eight galaxies. While the Tana Starfield is a small starfield, it still contains over six hundred galaxies.

“A small starfield for a warm-up auction. It seems this auction will feature many incredibly high-priced items!”

“I heard a long time ago that the grand finale of this auction is a slot to comprehend the ‘Original Universe’. This auction is definitely one of the top one or two in the last ten thousand years.” Some murmurs of discussion came from the massive seats beside Luo Feng.

The Ganwu Auction is held once every three years.

However, each auction is slightly different. Occasionally, every few thousand or even ten thousand years, an auction with a ‘higher tier of treasures’ will appear. Generally, the so-called ‘warm-up auction’ can indicate the caliber of the entire event.

“The Tana Starfield!”

“An independent starfield! As long as you don't establish a nation, you'll receive protection from the Ganwu Universe Nation.”

“Such a starfield can absolutely serve as the foundation for a family's legacy for billions of years! You can cultivate warrior bases, develop slave galaxies. There are only so many starfields in the entire universe nation, and even fewer that come up for auction. Now, let's begin the bidding! Starting bid—300 mixed yuan units!” the turtle-shelled old man announced loudly, “Each bid increment must be a whole number multiple of mixed yuan units.”

Immediately, a line of numbers appeared on the large screen beside him—“300 mixed yuan units”.

“400 mixed yuan units.”

The price immediately soared.

This scene made Luo Feng, in his distant seat, puzzled: “Babata, a single galaxy costs between 1,000 and 10,000 universe coins. This starfield has 668 galaxies, so logically, around two to three hundred mixed yuan units should be about right.”

“Luo Feng, what you're talking about is selling galaxies individually!”

“But now, an entire starfield is for sale! It's different. Scattered galaxies are easily bullied by surrounding powers and are difficult to develop! An entire starfield, however, is a cohesive unit.” Babata explained, “The starfield's internal components support each other, making it very difficult for surrounding powers to exert pressure.”

“Therefore, the price for an independent starfield will be very high,” Babata concluded.

Luo Feng held the black token, gazing at the central large screen in the distance. The numbers on the screen continuously refreshed—

400 mixed yuan units! 420 mixed yuan units! 460 mixed yuan units!...

In the blink of an eye, it reached ‘860 mixed yuan units’!

861... 868... 876... the rate of increase slowed.

“1000 mixed yuan units!” A number that suddenly appeared silenced the auction hall. No one dared to bid further.

“1000 mixed yuan units! Counting down three seconds: 3, 2, 1... Congratulations to guest KBR38293! You have successfully bid for the Tana Starfield and become its owner!” The turtle-shelled old man's voice was incredibly resonant, “The official start time for this Ganwu Auction is almost here! 58, 57... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

The voice boomed like a deity.

The center of the entire auction hall became dazzling, its light reflecting on the faces of the powerful beings in their massive surrounding seats.

“This auction officially begins!”

“Now for the first batch of auction items! On your auction tokens, you can all see the 1000 items about to be auctioned. Those who wish to purchase, please prepare your bids.” The turtle-shelled old man announced loudly, “First item—92 members of the Bona race, a metal lifeform!”

“Bona metal lifeforms can merge with spaceships, granting them self-recovery and self-upgrading capabilities.”

“There are a total of 92 Bona metal lifeforms, with a starting bid of 200 billion universe coins! The 92 highest bids will acquire these Bona metal lifeforms.” the turtle-shelled old man called out.

Immediately, many in the auction hall began to bid.

Amidst the crowd, Luo Feng sat on his grand seat, looking down at the black token in his hand: “Auctioning 92 items at once, that's fast. This metal lifeform can actually merge with a spaceship, and as the metal lifeform's strength increases, it will continuously upgrade the spaceship? Interesting!”

Luo Feng watched the continuously rising auction price, then shook his head and didn't bid further.

***

Item after item was auctioned off like flowing water.

Even the lowest transaction price was tens of billions of universe coins, normally hundreds of billions of universe coins. After all, the initial warm-up auction was a special case.

1000 mixed yuan units. Those who dared to bid that much were likely Four-Star Tier clients.

***

“Lanke Fruit, the best item for cultivating spirit beasts and plant life. Even if severely injured, consuming Lanke Fruit has healing effects. 100 Lanke Fruit constitute one unit. There are a total of 39 units of Lanke Fruit here, with a minimum bid of 100 billion universe coins per unit.”

Bids immediately started again.

Typically, a galaxy with hundreds of thousands of planets costs between 100 billion and 1 trillion universe coins. Any single item here is generally worth tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of life planets.

“Luo Feng, buy one unit! These Lanke Fruit have an excellent cultivation effect on the Moyun Vine!”

And so...

Luo Feng ultimately spent 180 billion and 181 billion universe coins, purchasing two units of Lanke Fruit.

***

“Mechanical Race battle armor provides perfect full-body protection. The outermost layer of the Mechanical Race battle armor naturally forms an energy shield, and the energy source for this shield comes from the energy crystals within the armor. This particular piece of Mechanical Race battle armor is D8-grade. Once worn, even a Planet-level junior, with this armor, can withstand attacks from a fifth or sixth-tier Domain Lord; they wouldn't even dream of breaking through this armor, nor would their spiritual force penetrate it. This Mechanical Race battle armor is one of a kind, absolutely the best gift for a beloved disciple or descendant. Possessing it will make them much safer.”

“Starting bid: 1 mixed yuan unit!” the turtle-shelled old man announced loudly.

This item astonished Luo Feng.

It could resist attacks without requiring any personal strength. Luo Feng had never heard of this Mechanical Race battle armor before. However, this item would be useless for a Sector Lord.

“Damn, the price is rising so fast.” Luo Feng finally looked at the jaw-dropping result—“9.8 mixed yuan units”.

This was the final transaction price, nearly 10 mixed yuan units.

A gift purely for a beloved disciple or descendant actually approached the total value of all the treasures Luo Feng obtained from the Realm-within-a-Realm!

“Luo Feng, this type of Mechanical Race battle armor, with such strong defensive capabilities, is extremely rare. Forget D8-grade, you probably haven't even seen C-grade Mechanical Race battle armor. This kind of item is pure luxury. The one who bought this Mechanical Race battle armor is likely an Immortal,” Babata said.

***

Auction items flowed past.

The variety of auction items was dazzling; any single one would be enough to drive Domain Lords wild. But at this top-tier event in the Ganwu Universe Nation, with over a million Sector Lords gathered, and even some Immortals among them, bids were made without hesitation.

Three consecutive batches of items, a total of 3000 pieces, were quickly sold.

“Now for the fourth batch of auction items! On your auction tokens, you can all see the 1000 items about to be auctioned. Those who wish to bid, please prepare yourselves.” The turtle-shelled old man continued to speak with a smile.

Immediately, the auction hall fell silent.

The powerful beings on countless grand seats all looked at the 1000 items about to be auctioned on their tokens.

“Yan Shen Blade, Yan Shen Blade! One of the nine divine weapons for Spirit Reader Controllers, the ‘Yan Shen Blade’! Luo Feng, this is the most suitable psychic weapon for you! You absolutely must bid for this Yan Shen Blade!” As Luo Feng was just looking, Babata's excited shout rang out in his mind.