733 The Holy Crest Sect! (2/2)
”Come on, guys. Today's the last day. We must dismantle the remaining three hundred houses with the most valuable building materials!”
”Let's work together to overcome this challenge. Let's complete the mission our sect has assigned us!”
”Tomorrow morning, the Grand Supreme Elder will begin the auction. All bidders will have two hours to tear down any building they want!”
”We have to dismantle the most valuable ones now. We can't leave those to the bidders!”
Cheers continued to resound in the air. As they did, Wang Baole stood frozen to the spot, stunned. It took him a while before he understood what was going on. The sect had reached a state of poverty where the Grand Supreme Elder had no choice but to auction off parts of the sect's assets. It wasn't a fixed auction with designated auction items though, it was a timed auction. The number of participants and their levels of cultivation were restricted. They were also forbidden from using their storage bags to store anything. During the predetermined duration, save for certain specified items, these participants were allowed to take away anything that was in the sect!
Tomorrow was the first day of the auction, which was why the Grand Supreme Elder had ordered the disciples to tear down the buildings with the most value before the auction…
What's going on here… Wang Baole rubbed his forehead. He contemplated whether he should switch his current identity for someone else's. It was then that someone noticed his arrival and shouted at him.
”Long Nanzi, you're back? Quick, come and help. The Grand Supreme Elder's handing out rewards. For every building torn down during the time he specified, every participant will be given a superior-grade spirit stone!”
Wang Baole smiled wryly. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to leave now. He flew over and joined the group dismantling the buildings. He was an expert in refining artifacts and had absorbed Long Nanzi's memories, so it took him only a brief period of observation to learn the ropes quickly. It wasn't his best work, but at least he wasn't lagging behind the others.
Wang Baole couldn't help his surprise during the process of dismantling though. The buildings might appear to be a singular entity, but it had actually been pieced together from different parts. It was like a composite artifact formed from numerous smaller components. They weren't held together by inscriptions but by numerous energy threads. That caught Wang Baole's interest. He began chatting with the cultivators around him, finding out more about the sect and the Divine Eye civilization's current state of affairs while examining the fascinating buildings that resembled artifacts.
They're like the Dharmic Armaments that I found on the three unlucky idiots. There are no inscriptions on them. They don't need a spirit stone to serve as a core component either. They are fueled directly by a stellar source… This civilization is very skilled in refining artifacts. Their approach may be different from the Federation's, but the principles seem to be the same. Wang Baole concluded. Then, he remembered the tri-colored flying sword and ribbon that he had acquired.
The sword had been destroyed, and while he still had the ribbon, it was in a severely damaged state. Wang Baole had thought of repairing it, but there was a problem. He had decoded its core and introduced inscriptions. The inscriptions had then served as strings to a puppet that had allowed him to control the two artifacts. Without prior knowledge of how the artifacts actually functioned, it would be challenging to repair them.
But now, as he continued to dismantle the buildings around him, Wang Baole's eyes began to glow increasingly brighter. He could feel the gates of knowledge swinging wide open before him. He had been considering whether he should switch to another identity, but that thought vanished from his mind completely then.
Wang Baole poured even more effort into the work. They finally completed their mission late into the night. They had dismantled hundreds of buildings with the greatest value and gotten themselves hundreds of spirit stones in return. Relying on the knowledge he had gained from reading the high officials' autobiographies and his experience honed from years of mingling with Federation officials, Wang Baole had a few words with a few people and successfully mapped out his network of friends and enemies. He then made his way to the Holy Crest Sect's library.
There, he exchanged the spirit stones he had earned for volumes of documents regarding the refinement of artifacts and bought himself a star map. It should have cost a fortune, but the sect was in desperate need of money now, so everything was heavily discounted. After paying the required number of spirit stones, Wang Baole grabbed his loot and hurriedly looked for an unoccupied residence. Then, he began studying furiously.
Days went by. During this period, the auction took place. It was like a storm. The sect became emptied of most of its possessions after days of auctioning. Wang Baole had been forced to relocate himself a few times. Nevertheless, it seemed that the Holy Crest Sect managed to survive its current crisis. While not all disciples who had been out during this period returned, there were at least a few hundred of them who did.
The Grand Supreme Elder declared that he would lead the sect to prosperity and power again. It was then that Wang Baole finished flipping through the records and studying the star map. His eyes had grown increasingly brighter during this time. By the end of it all, his breathing had quickened considerably as well.
I was right… I'm not far from the Solar System. As long as I play my cards right, I can definitely send my avatar back to take over the presidential office!