The Lord’s Empire

Almost all of the player factions were gathering money in anticipation for this auction, and of course, Zhao Fu was interested as well. He had a massive amount of money but had nowhere to spend it, and there were many things that he wanted to buy. However, Zhao Fu was not interested in anything sold in shops, so he would definitely participate in this auction. As such, he also started to make preparations.

The day passed quite quickly, and soon, Zhao Fu brought Bai Qi and went to a massive building. This was the Auction House of the Red Flower Merchant Alliance.

The Red Flower Merchant Alliance was undoubtedly the largest Merchant Alliance in the Forest of Horrors, and it had countless assets in the three main cities. In fact, its reach spread to even beyond the Forest of Horrors, and its background was quite profound. Even Qin Nan warned Zhao Fu not to offend it.

The outside of the Auction House was crowded with people, and after hearing the 8 guards say that the entrance fee was 1 gold coin, countless players felt an ache in their hearts. 1 gold coin was equivalent to 10,000 copper coins, which was equivalent to $100,000 in the real world. This caused many of the ordinary players to dispel any thoughts of going in and even taking a look.

The Auction House was big enough to accommodate thousands of people, so it had already earned thousands of gold coins just by holding this auction.

Zhao Fu brought along Bai Qi and paid 2 gold coins before walking in, attracting the admiration of many people in the crowd. The Auction House was about 1,500 square meters in area. Apart from the main hall on the first floor, there were private rooms on the second floor, VIP rooms on the third floor, and Sovereign rooms on the fourth floor.

There were 24 white, glowing gemstones embedded into the ceiling so that it was not dark at all inside the Auction House; instead, it seemed as bright as day.

The first, second, and third floors were open to everyone, but the fourth floor was only available to the truly powerful and influential figures, so most players didn’t even think about going there. Zhao Fu did not have any dealings with the Red Flower Merchant Alliance, so he, of course, did not have a VIP card. However, he could at least pay some money to buy a private room.

The Auction Hall was currently packed with people. There were players and fairly well-off residents. It was chaotic with so many people in an enclosed space, and with everyone talking amongst themselves, it was quite noisy. Zhao Fu wanted to spend some money to hire a private room, but it was a pity that they were all full. As such, he could only ask if there were any VIP rooms, but they were also full. Zhao Fu was dumbfounded – there were that many powerful and rich people here? He felt the feeling of having money but no place to go, and he could only resign himself to pushing through the crowd. When he saw the iron-wall like crowd, he couldn’t help but sigh and start to squeeze through.

“Fudge! What are you squeezing in for, you poor sod?” the player in front of him cursed just as Zhao Fu started pushing through.

“I…” Zhao Fu was speechless. He most likely had more money than everyone in this crowd combined, but he had been taken to be someone who had no money and had just come to watch a good show.

Bai Qi’s expression became cold. Even though he wasn’t sure what that player meant, he could tell that he was insulting Zhao Fu. Just as he was planning to teach him a lesson, Zhao Fu grabbed Bai Qi – Zhao Fu didn’t want to cause any trouble, so he and Bai Qi went to a corner at the edge of the crowd.

Following this, a beautiful, alluring woman in a red dress walked onto the stage and announced that the auction had officially begun.

The first item was an Exquisite Blue grade weapon. It was a large saber that gave three stat points and had a reserve price of 800 silver coins.

As soon as the beautiful woman announced the reserve price, someone immediately shouted, “900 silver coins!”

In the next second, someone outbid him, and was, in turn, immediately outbid by someone else. The price of this Exquisite Blue grade weapon continued to climb until it was finally sold for 3,800 silver coins.

In the end, it was sold for more than what ordinary Silver grade weapons would have sold for. This high price caused the atmosphere within the Auction Hall to become more intense, and everyone started to feel more excited.

Of course, Zhao Fu was disinterested in this item, so he did not participate. Everyone who shouted out bids was on the first floor, and there was no noise at all from the second, third, and fourth floors.

Following this, a bottle was brought up, and it contained some kind of medicinal pill. The beautiful woman’s hips swayed as she walked, and she took this item to the center of the stage. Her mature curves were barely hidden by her red dress, and the large patch of white flesh on her chest caused many people to cry out and whistle. After everyone settled down, she said, “This is a bottle of Little Spirit Pills, which can increase cultivation speed by 200%. There are 50 pills in this bottle, and the reserve price is 2,500 silver coins.”

“3,000 silver coins!” someone yelled.

Zhao Fu’s people had already refined over 90,000 Little Spirit Pills, so, of course, he was not interested in that either. Seeing everyone shouting out prices, there started to be some interest from the second floor. In the end, the bottle of Little Spirit Pills was sold for 6,000 silver coins.

Following this, the third item was brought up – it was a blueprint.

“This is a blueprint for forging Everlight Armour, a Blue grade armor. Reserve price is 4,000 silver coins!” the beautiful woman announced.

Zhao Fu had long since obtained something similar for free. After conquering Rhode Village, his people had been able to forge Blue grade armor.

Many people started to fight over the blueprint. There were many people on the second floor who were interested in this blueprint, and those on the first floor could only stand by and watch. In the end, it was mainly those from the second floor who were bidding, and the price soon reached 10,000 silver coins.

Zhao Fu could tell that most of the people bidding from the second floor were players – residents did not value the blueprint at all. Zhao Fu could have easily bought the blueprint to deny others from obtaining it, but after seeing how intense the scene became, he realized that he would draw too much hatred.

As such, Zhao Fu did not participate – first, this was not something he lacked, and second, since he did not have the strength to destroy others, he could not afford to be hated. If he was viewed with enmity and seen as a threat by everyone else, he would be doomed. After all, many heroes throughout history had died from a pack of wolves. There were no benefits to making enemies.

Zhao Fu did not dare to think that he was the main character of the world simply because he had run into some good luck. There were countless ‘main characters’ in the world, and although a strong person could take on 2 or 3 people, how could someone defeat 30 or so people? Zhao Fu was not like an overpowered main character from a novel who could mock everyone he met and still be fine.

In reality, if someone did such a thing, that person would have long since been buried in his or her grave, and that person’s enemies would come and trample on his or her grave, mocking him or her for his or her stupidity.

Of course, Zhao Fu did not fear anyone; however, it was not the right time to burn bridges yet. Sometimes, revealing one’s strength too early was detrimental.

Back then, the State of Qin had been incredibly powerful, and it didn’t retreat when facing the Alliance of the Six States. In the end, it had to let go of its pride and keep its enemies close, destroying the alliance. Since ancient times, those who laughed at the end were not necessarily the strongest.

This blueprint would definitely benefit whoever obtained it, but it was only a Blue grade blueprint and was not very rare. Even if he denied someone from obtaining this blueprint, there would still be many other people who would still be able to obtain blueprints, and he would not be able to stop them.

Moreover, if a faction became too powerful, Zhao Fu could pretend to be weak and ally with others to attack that faction. In the end, development was the true priority, not showing off.