Chapter 904: Operating At a Loss

“Bai Yunfei again!? He’s doing it again!”

“I guess it’s to be expected? Who else but a crafter would be interested in crafting materials? But the problem is…why’s he using a soul armament to bid for the materials!?”

“Use a soul armament if you want, but whatever a high-earth tier for?! Is he right in the head?! This material has the chance of being crafted into being a high-earth tier soul armament, but what’s the point of trading a high-earth tier soul armament for that?!”

“Sh…aren’t you the one with a problem in your head if you’re saying that out loud? Do you want to die?! Maybe he sees something special in the material and is confident he can craft another high-earth tier soul armament even better than the one he’s trading! Why not trade soul armaments in that case? He’s the guy who can craft mid-heaven tier soul armaments! What’s crafting an earth-tier but child’s play for him? And look at the size of that unit of wood, what kind of soul armament do you think he can craft with that?”

“‘Living in the moment’. Has he even heard of the phrase before? But then again, we might see it as being too much, but what if what that person said is right, what if there’s some sort of secret use that makes it even better than we thought?”

“This part of the auction is only selling crafting materials, it’s all over…no one better think they can buy any today. With Bai Yunfei here, do we even have a chance?”

“Pah, those people who decided to sell their crafting materials today must be happy. Trading crafting materials for already crafted soul armaments?! They can sell the soul armaments for primal stones if they can’t use it!”

“……”

A lot of confusion and chatter was had when Bai Yunfei made his bid, but no one was willing to make a bid after him.

In the end, Bai Yunfei traded a high-earth tier soul armament worth ninety-thousand low-grade primal stones for the desert goldwood.

“The next item is a thousand-year-old thundervine. A special type of vine that has been bathed in lightning for a thousand years. It has gained an affinity for both lightning and wood. Many leathery types of armor can be crafted with this spectacular material. Our starting bid will begin at fifty-thousand primal stones. Please begin bidding now.”

Plenty of people were excited to hear of such a material, but not a single person made a bid for the item. Everyone’s eyes were placed solely onto one of the booths on the third floor rather than the item being auctioned.

“I bid a high-earth tier soul armament.”

Two short seconds later, everyone heard what they all thought to be a predictable bid.

“It’s all over. I was right guys. None of us should even think about buying a crafting material…”

“Another high-earth tier soul armament. That thundervine should be only capable of being made into a high-earth tier soul armament just like the desert goldwood. Even if that Bai Yunfei is super strong, he shouldn’t be able to succeed in crafting a soul armament even stronger than that all the time, right? He’s buying at a loss! What’s wrong with his bra—I mean what is he even thinking?!”

“Maybe he has more soul armaments than he knows what to do with them? He must have seen more soul armaments than we ever have on a regular basis. Maybe his mindset on soul armaments is drastically different than to ours!”

“Ah, the Crafting School! I curse myself! Why didn’t I go join the Crafting School when I had the chance!?”

“Oh stow it, you wouldn’t even have passed their examinations with your attitude. What chance did you have to begin with!”

“……”

It went without saying that it was Bai Yunfei that had made a bid for the thundervine. An employee came scurrying out from his room with an earth-tier soul armament in hand before the thundervine was shortly brought up to him.

“Our next item is a volcanic hearthstone. A very rare stone born in the heart of a volcano. This is an item that is capable of crafting a high-earth tier soul armament. Our starting bid will begin at sixty-thousand low-grade primal stones. Please begin bidding.”

Wu Mei’er announced towards the audience, but her eyes were glued to one of the booths on the third floor with high expectations.

“I bid a high-earth tier soul armament.”

As if to answer to those expectations, Bai Yunfei made a bid shortly afterward.

No one made a sound this time. No one bothered to make a bid either. They were all looking at Wu Mei’er as if to say ‘Hurry up and announce the conclusion’.

“Our next item is a piece of icy marinite…”

“I bid a low-earth tier soul armament!”

“The next item is a wind jade…”

“I bid a low-earth tier soul armament!”

“……”

The following items were all materials that could be used as the main material to craft a high-earth tier soul armament. Each item was being introduced with great speed due to the fact that each time Wu Mei’er announced the item, Bai Yunfei would make a bid with an earth-tier soul armament...

Everyone thought Bai Yunfei was simply buying up things with a net loss. Others thought Bai Yunfei was simply trying to ‘show off’ his wealth with such an extravagant spending style.

Bai Yunfei had actually planned for these materials and wasn’t buying them for either of the reasons said…

It was true that this type of bidding style earned him little profits. If anything, he was losing out as others said. But Bai Yunfei was really after the materials rather than the profits.

Good crafting materials were hard to get. From when he became a soul cultivator to now, Bai Yunfei used an immeasurable amount of materials and equipment for his Equipment Upgrade Technique. Tianhun Academy had been kind to him with their material warehouse, but Bai Yunfei’s stores were essentially running dry now. Crafting low-tier soul armaments were useless for him, so he had no need to buy the low-tier materials. Having come across this auction where they were selling many high-tier materials was a great boon for him.

The ‘loss’ he was operating under wasn’t even an issue for Bai Yunfei. He was poor in many things, but soul armaments were not one of those aspects.

Most of the equipment he was pulling out was mid-earth tier soul armaments that had been upgraded to the +10 level and had no special effects to think of. There was no need for those type of soul armaments, so Bai Yunfei decided to ‘swap’ them out for materials to try and craft soul armaments that could potentially be ‘better’.

……

“The next item is a zephyr stone. A wonderful wind-type material that can be used to craft a heaven-tier soul armament. Our beginning bid will start at a hundred and fifty-thousand low-grade primal stones. Please begin bidding.”

Wu Mei’er held up a green crystal the size of her own face. This piece of stone—according to her own introduction—was a very particular one. It was translucent with just a sliver of green light to be seen leaking out from it. There was also some type of small gust of wind that could be seen swirling inside of it, as if swimming. A rich flow of elemental wind could also be felt from it.

“It’s here! A material that can craft a heaven-tier soul armament! This must be one of the treasures everyone has been waiting for, but…”

Someone cried out in joy at the chance of being able to see such a noteworthy material, but his voice trailed off as he looked to the third floor.

“I bid a low-heaven tier soul armament.”

To nobodies ‘disappointment’, Bai Yunfei offered yet another soul armament. This time it was a heaven-tier soul armament.

Sighs could be heard throughout the halls at his bid. They were disappointed and reluctant to give up this chance. But it was pointless.

Clearly, many of the Soul Kings had their eyes on such an item, but there was no chance of fighting Bai Yunfei for it if he was bidding for it.

There was a very big problem most of the people here had unfortunately realized. Even if they decided to contest and succeed in bidding for the material over Bai Yunfei, their dreams of getting a soul armament crafted would probably not come true.

It was Bai Yunfei of the Crafting School they were bidding against. Even if they got the material and went to the Crafting School, would Bai Yunfei not pull the strings in the school to make sure they didn’t craft a soul armament for them?

Wu Mei’er swiftly declared Bai Yunfei as the winner of the bid.

……

“Our next item can be used in crafting a soul armament, but is not limited to just being a material. The Crafting School has named this type of stone as the ‘crafting stone’ due to its abilities in increasing the chances of a soul armament being crafted. Taking this stone to the Crafting School would see to any potential soul armament being elevated by a tier or two. An earth-tier soul armament can become a low-heaven tier soul armament, for example. The crafting stone is worth at least two high-earth tier soul armaments as a result. Our starting bid will begin at a hundred and eighty-thousand low-grade primal stones. Please begin bidding.”

Up on the third floor, Bai Yunfei’s eyes were sparkling with intense light. He hadn’t seen mention of this stone back in the catalogue—someone must’ve had the stone added after the catalog was sent out.

“An upgrade stone!!” His eyes gleamed at the sight of the pristine stone. The special stone most people knew as the ‘crafting stone’ was the highly treasured ‘upgrade stone’! And this was definitely a low-heaven tier upgrade stone! He never had such a stone before! A high-earth tier upgrade stone had a seventy percent chance of succeeding, but what about a low-heaven tier upgrade stone?

“I bid a low-heaven tier soul armament!!”

Bai Yunfei was already opening his mouth to make an opening bid before Wu Mei’er was even finished speaking.

As Wu Mei’er mentioned before, the crafting stone could be exchanged for two high-earth tier soul armaments in the Crafting School. But Bai Yunfei was bidding a low-heaven tier soul armament. This was an exchange that made even the audience gasp.

Feeling satisfied by his purchase of the upgrade stone, Bai Yunfei waited for the item to be delivered to him. As he waited, the next item was already being shown up on the podium.

The light in Bai Yunfei’s eyes froze the moment he saw the item being shown. Every fiber of concentration in his body traveled into his eyes to focus on the item, and his body froze in shock!

“This is…”

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