“No.7, excuse me for my rudeness. Since I have no idea who you are, let me just call you No.7. I hope you don’t mind. Given the social status of my Shui Family, would you please just stop here so that I can save my face.” Elder Shui fixed his pale eyes on No.7.

“Elder.. Elder Shui, I’m actually one of the younger generation of the Feng Family. So I will..I will give up. Look, the Shui Family and Feng Family are in the same alliance, I will not be so foolish as to take this Long’er scalp at the cost of our family’s friendship.” No.7 shivered a little bit due to the coercive stare of Elder Shui.

“Haha, you’re such a coward! Alright, 1150 gold coins. Elder Li, just drop that damn hammer and call it the final bid.” Elder Shui said with contempt.

“1150 gold coin, once, and 1150 twice...”

When the old man in the silver gown, named Elder Li, was just about to land the last drop of the hammer, someone from the rear row raised his hands and exclaimed: “1200 gold coins!”

The crowd all jerked their heads towards this bold challenger. Without a doubt, this man was Xu Yi.

Xu Yi was determined to get this Long’er scalp at any cost. Because this was the thing he longed for badly, which would help him out in his upcoming fierce fight.

Even though the rest of the people were all frightened by Elder Shui’s social status, as well as his intimidating remarks, Xu Yi didn’t care much about all of this. The only thing he cared for, was how to protect himself in the upcoming fight with the Black Dragon Palace.

“How dare you!” Flames of anger burned brightly in Elder Shui’s eyes, as he ferociously stared at Xu Yi.

All of the participants could sense that something ominous was about to happen, they curled up in their seats, quivering. Surprisingly, Xu Yi remained firmly seated and even craned his head over the crowd, staring straight back at Elder Shui.

“Elder Shui, as a senior, you should set a good example for us. Now, look at you, you’ve broken the rules of fairness of this auction. Shame on you!”

The crowd was totally dumbfounded by Xu Yi’s boldness. No one had ever spoken to Elder Shui in such a despiteful way.

As one of the leading families in Guanan, the Shui Family had maintained its social status for hundreds of years. Even the Magistrate of the Guanan Government would go and celebrate the birthday of Elder Shui.

Apart from his family background, Elder Shui’s individual achievement – entering into the middle state of an ocean of qi, was another reason why he was a revered elder in Guanan.

Hearing Xu Yi’s unfriendly remarks, Elder Shui felt like it was completely surreal. Never in his lifetime had he encountered such a straightforward person, who just blurted out what was on his mind.

“You despicable creature! Who are you? I’ll show you how to be polite to your elders!” Elder Shui wrinkled his nose, while he spat these words out.

“Elder Li, I have made a bid of 1200 gold coins, if no one follows, I guess I’m the owner of this Long’er Scalp.” Disregarding Elder Shui’s fury, Xu Yi turned back to Elder Li.

Xu Yi was crystal clear that, despite the influence of the Shui Family, Elder Shui would not risk arousing public wrath on this matter. After all, the Exquisite Pavilion was patronized by various kinds of guests, including those in higher realms than Elder Shui.

“Elder Shui, this is an auction, we have to proceed as per the procedure. No.23 has bid for 1,200 gold coins, ok, 1,200 gold coins, once; 1,200 gold coins, twice..” Elder Li interrupted. He despised Elder Shui, or anyone else who publicly deterred the process of bidding and asked for privileges.

When Qi Ming stood up and revealed his identity on purpose, it was tolerable for Elder Li, because Qi Ming promised that he would sell the Shen Yuan Pill to the Exquisite Pavilion for auction.

Nevertheless, Elder Li was annoyed by Elder Shui’s browbeating tactics. Now, since Xu Yi had taken the lead, he seized this opportunity to embarrass Elder Shui.

“1,300 gold coins!” Elder Shui’s glaring eyes didn’t move away from Xu Yi for even a second, as he called out a new bid.

Despite the prominence of the Shui Family, Elder Shui wouldn’t be imprudent and force Elder Li to sell the Long’er Scalp to him. In other words, he had to respect the standard procedures of the auction.

“1,350 gold coins!” Xu Yi shouted, without any delay.

“1,400 gold coins!” With the twitching of his eyelids, Elder Shui continued, “No.23, if you stop here, you’ll still be my friend. Let bygones be bygones, ok?”

Everyone was shocked by Elder Shui’s sudden change in attitude; they couldn’t believe their ears, that these soft and nice words were actually coming from Elder Shui’s mouth. He was such a ‘diehard’, how could it be possible that he would make such a compromise.

Meanwhile, some guests started to wonder who the hell this No.23 was, was he a reckless newcomer or a revered old cultivator? They were extremely curious about Xu Yi.

At the same time, Xu Yi pondered for a second, before he confidently called out: “1,450 gold coins!” He was sure that Elder Shui must’ve run out of money, due to his extravagant spending on the previous three items.

“1,500 gold coins! No.23, Why are you being so difficult?!” Elder Shui was on the verge of losing his mind.

Actually, Xu Yi got half of the picture right – Elder Shui didn’t have much of his budget left for the Long’er Scalp, but he still had some reserves.

Originally, Elder Shui had brought 10,000 gold coins, later, 4,000 of those gold coins were spent on the previous three auctioned items. Now, he was left with only 6,000 gold coins, with which he planned to buy the most-valued item in this auction. If he spent too much on the Long’er Scalp, he wouldn’t be able to buy the planned item. It was the consequence of his shopping spree at the beginning of the auction, that had turned the situation off the planned track.

Now, that Xu Yi kept on bidding, Elder Shui wasn’t sure at what price he’d be able to outbid this bastard. Plus, there were rules in the Exquisite Pavilion, anything auctioned should be paid instantly, no delay was allowed. Thus, it’d be too late for him to go back home and refill his pocket.

Elder Shui’s main purpose of his trip to the Exquisite Pavilion, was to obtain the most-valued item, which had yet to be shown. He began to regret randomly buying the previous three items. As he hated to lose this precious Long’er Scalp.

Thirty years ago, Elder Shui and his uncle had encountered a real Long’er in an ancient volcanic cluster. This creature was so unique, that up until now, Elder Shui could vividly remember what had happened at that time.

The Long’er looked like a hybrid of a dragon and a crocodile, or more exactly, it had a dragon’s head and a crocodile’s body. Elder Shui’s uncle was in the realm of the liquidation of the qi; however, he could only obtain a draw in his fight against the Long’er. When he had slammed his fist on the head of the Long’er, he felt his efforts to be almost in vain, as there wasn’t even so much as a mark left on its head.

The terrifying defensive ability of the Long’er had haunted Elder Shui ever since. Now, the Long’er Scalp was at his fingertips and there was almost no reason for him to quit scrambling for this rare item.