Demon Immortal

Chapter 214 Hidden Rules

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"780"

"800"

"830"

The bidding was in full swing. Those who had the idea of trying out had exhausted their resources and couldn't keep up with the rise in the bid amount. Gradually, they all began to opt out one after the other. 

By now, only the representatives of cultivation clans were bidding for Leia. Despite the fervent bidding that was happening because of her or rather because of it, there was no ripple of emotion in Leia's eyes. Only despondency engulfed her heart.

She never expected her life to take such a strange turn. One year ago, she had been happy and content with her life. Within a year, everything had changed. One betrayal after the other had made her question life a lot. Now, even being a slave, didn't seem to elicit much reaction in her heart.

Just then, a domineering voice echoed in her ears like a bolt of lightning.

"1300"

Silence engulfed the auction hall after the bid. Currently, the bid has just crossed 900 spirit stones. Even some cultivation clans were beginning to hesitate. While the promise of a talented future generation was incredibly attractive, the members of these cultivation clans have some knowledge that wasn't disclosed by the auction house.

The possibility of a Spirit Clan descendant conceiving a child with a Violet Palace realm cultivator was abysmally low. If not for that, how can there still be descendants of the Spirit Clan roaming freely in the world?

While the presence of the mark wasn't in a region that could be easily seen, it wasn't as if the cultivators didn't have other means to locate these people. Centuries ago, when this was first found out, the cultivation clans went mad searching for the descendants of the Spirit Clan.

At that time, the entire world was scoured and almost all the descendants were rounded up. After forcefully trying to use them for breeding, the cultivation clans found a few rare phenomena that occurred only with the descendants of the Spirit Clan.

For one, only the female descendants bore the mark. The mark was absent amongst the males. While this facilitated the search a lot, the phenomenon made people realize that some hidden rules were in play.

Next, the possibility of such a female either breaking through the Violet Palace realm or conceiving a child with a Violet Palace realm cultivator was abysmally low. Only on rare occasions, such things happened. Even then, said child would only inherit the cultivation talent if they were female.

This caused the fervor to die down quickly. All kinds of bizarre unknown rules were in play when it came to descendants of the Spirit Clan. So, the cultivation clans gave up on the venture and let nature take its course. 

While they wouldn't give up on descendants who actively came to their doors, they wouldn't seek them out personally either. Furthermore, only those first-rate cultivation clans had some in-depth knowledge of the various hidden rules that applied to the descendants of the Spirit Clan.

Once, a Nascent Soul cultivator studied the mark for several years and came out with the conclusion that the mark was some kind of bloodline lock. Only when the lock was unlocked will the descendant be able to break into the Violet Palace realm or give birth to a child with a Violet Palace realm cultivator. 

As for how to break the bloodline lock, several experiments were carried out and yet everyone came up with no permanent solution. Hence, the interest in the descendants of the Spirit Clan faded away. Right now, the descendants of the cultivation clans were considered to be some passing curiosity. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

The representatives of these cultivation clans were willing to give it a try. But, the premise was that they didn't spend much. This was like a gamble and no one wanted to invest more. Even the price of 900 low-grade spirit stones was already reaching their bottom line.

The only reason they were still interested in her was because of her potential to become an entry-level alchemist. They were willing to gamble on Leia because she had something else going for her other than being a potential breeding stock. However, the sudden bid of 1300 spirit stones really threw them off. 

The sharp increase of almost 400 spirit stones really made them hesitate a lot. Even with her added qualification, the representatives of the cultivation clans didn't think this was a sound investment. They all looked at the cultivator who was wearing a wolf mask, who just bid, with a little wariness.

Duncan felt the numerous gazes on him. But, he didn't think about them much. He too knew that his initial worries may be a little overboard. By now, he had already realized that there was something wrong with the information given by the auction house.

If Leia had that much potential, then she wouldn't probably be auctioned tonight. She would have probably been auctioned a week later during their Grand Auction. There must be other information that he didn't know. Duncan was sure of that.

While he didn't think that the auction house necessarily lied, Duncan realized due to interest in bidding for Leia fizzling out midway that there may be some hidden difficulties in this as well. 

Duncan keenly noticed that compared to the initial fervor, the interest the representatives of the cultivation clans had towards Leia was only minimal. It was those people who didn't know what the mark was all about who were fervent at the initial stage.

Realizing this, Duncan saw an opportunity. The moment Duncan bid was precisely calculated. He had already noticed the trend of those unaware cultivators dropping out one after the other due to insufficient wealth. Right now, only the representatives of cultivation clans were vying for Leia. And the interest they had wasn't as fervent as those who were not in the know.

So, at the exact moment of the transition, Duncan sharply increased the price. The reason was two-fold. Duncan wanted to intimidate those who were not in the know and make them completely give up their thoughts. He also wanted to showcase his desire to obtain Leia to the cultivation clans.

Just like Duncan predicted, his gamble paid off. The representatives of the cultivation clans began to oscillate in their hearts. Those who were not in the know and didn't have enough wealth were also hesitant to bid further.

But, it didn't mean that the bid ended there. Even though Duncan's sharp increase scared off a lot of potential bidders, there were still a few stubborn men who were bidding for Leia. Duncan didn't participate back immediately. He calmly watched them increase the price slowly.

While Duncan was immersed in the new thrill of dismantling the bidding competition, there was a ripple of emotion in Leia's eyes for the first time when she heard his voice.

She vaguely recognized this voice to be a familiar one and was a little flustered hearing it. She didn't know who it was, but she was grateful that at least one of her acquaintances was trying to get her out of her current predicament.

The past year had been hell. She had been repeatedly betrayed by people she trusted and considered to be her friends. It was their betrayal that had led her into this ditch of debt slavery. No one in the Starmist City had been willing to help her at all.

So, when she heard a vaguely familiar voice, her despondent heart couldn't help but stir. She didn't know who it was that was trying to acquire her. She didn't care about their motives either. The fact that someone she knew was trying to acquire her and spare her the humiliation of being sold as a slave was enough for her.

For someone who had lost all hope in humanity, that voice was like a drizzle on dry sand. Even though it wasn't enough to quench her needs, the fact that it was present was enough for her at this moment.

"1470"

"1500"

Duncan watched like a hawk as the bid rose slowly and several cultivation clan representatives withdrew from the competition. He could have increased the bidding price at any time and intimidated a lot more people, but he didn't want to be too high-profile.

While Duncan had enough spirit stones looking at the current predicament, he didn't think it was prudent to poke the egos of these cultivation clans. Who knows, his rampant bidding may dissatisfy some prodigals and would later create a bidding war. Duncan wasn't frivolous with his money. 

So, he decided to play it safe and waited till most of the bidders were beginning to vacillate. When he felt the moment was right, Duncan once more shouted out his bid and increased the price sharply to curb the thoughts of several bidders.

"1750" 

Duncan stated in a domineering manner causing everyone to look at him in askance. Duncan paid no heed to those looks. He could understand their incredulity. 

It was clear that the bid was already high according to their calculations. Duncan sharply increasing another 150 spirit stones was just wasteful in their opinion. They also began to realize that this man in the wolf mask was determined to win the slave.

"2000"

Just then, another domineering bid came from one of the private VIP rooms causing everyone to become silent. Duncan furrowed his brows and looked at the room from where the bid came. He couldn't see who was in it, but he could feel that the other person was also interested in Leia from the tone of the bid.

Since things have come to this stage, there was no use in hiding it. Duncan's face relaxed and he increased the bid without giving much thought.

"2200"

"2300"

"2500"

This time, there was a pause. Duncan directly raised another 200 spirit stones causing the other party to know that he was very serious. The silence lasted for a while before the other party bidded again.

"2550"

Duncan could hear the other party's frustration clearly. It was clear to him that the other party was at their limit. So, Duncan decided to strike while the iron was hot and end the auction in a domineering manner.

"2750"

This time, no one bid in the end. As a result, Duncan finally obtained the slave deed for Leia without much struggle.

*****

A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...

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