Hearing Shi Feng's suggestion, Shui Se Qiangwei and Bai Qingxue both stared at him in disbelief.
They couldn't understand why Shi Feng would pass up such a golden opportunity to make money, only to ask the War Soul guild for a simple favor—what was the point?
While Shi Feng was conversing with Mu Lingsha, Yuan Tiexin brought the gavel down for the second time.
"Six hundred and thirty thousand gold, second call! Is anyone willing to bid higher?" Yuan Tiexin swept his gaze across the crowd.
Though the price of six hundred and thirty thousand gold had already exceeded the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's original estimates, a little extra profit was always welcome.
"The greedy bastard! Why hasn't he struck the third time yet?" Lu Xingluo furrowed his brow slightly, watching Yuan Tiexin's querying expression with some impatience.
Six hundred and thirty thousand gold had already surpassed his projections. He hadn't expected the War Soul guild to produce that much money. Recouping that kind of investment from the mana crystal vein would take an enormous amount of time, not to mention the additional cost of stationing a hundred-thousand-strong army to guard the vein—which would only stretch the timeline further.
The only consolation was that the mana crystals and rare ores produced by the vein were items nearly impossible to acquire on the open market. They would be enough to sustain the entire guild's daily operations for quite some time, freeing them from worrying about mana crystal expenditures.
Meanwhile, in Shi Feng's private box.
"Fine. I accept your terms." Mu Lingsha looked at Shi Feng and nodded.
Though she wasn't the guild master or vice-guild master of the War Soul guild, she was the heir to its largest shareholder. Moreover, for this auction, the War Soul guild had granted her full authority. Having the guild do a single favor for the Zero Wing guild was well within her power.
"Good. I'll draft the contract right away. Go ahead and place your bid first," Shi Feng said with a faint smile upon hearing Mu Lingsha's agreement.
With the full support of a super-first-rate guild like War Soul, his subsequent plans could proceed smoothly. The interest he'd earn from this arrangement was insignificant by comparison.
Once the contract was sealed between them, Mu Lingsha immediately jumped back into the bidding.
"Six hundred and thirty-two thousand gold!" Mu Lingsha called out.
Unlike bidding in the Divine Realm, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's internal auction didn't have a mechanism to verify whether a bidder actually had the funds. All that mattered was that the buyer could pay in full after winning the item.
Her bid instantly reinvigorated the auction hall, which had lapsed into silence.
"How does the War Soul guild still have money?" Lu Xingluo glanced toward Mu Lingsha's private box, his gaze turning cold. "Six hundred and forty thousand gold!"
He had thought it was over, but Mu Lingsha refused to back down. He raised the price another notch, intending to crush her outright.
"Six hundred and forty-two thousand gold!"
"Six hundred and fifty thousand gold!"
"Six hundred and fifty-two thousand gold!"
...
Lu Xingluo raised the price frantically, but Mu Lingsha kept pace without hesitation. Soon the price had climbed to six hundred and seventy-two thousand gold—a figure that sent a faint tremor through every super-faction present.
All the major powers were well aware of how much capital the others commanded. Even the strongest among them didn't have vastly more than the rest. But this price had absolutely surpassed the normal range. This was no longer about deploying leftover funds—it was a life-or-death struggle.
"That's impossible! The War Soul guild can't possibly have that much money!" Lu Xingluo stared hard at Mu Lingsha's box. Through its window, he could see Mu Lingsha and Shi Feng signing some sort of contract. "Damn it! A tiny insect actually dared to lend money to War Soul!"
Even the densest person in the room could figure it out by now—Zero Wing must have loaned War Soul a considerable sum, which was why they could keep the pressure on so relentlessly.
"Mu Lingsha, you think borrowing money from a little insect will let you beat our Star Navigation Consortium?" Lu Xingluo immediately announced a new price. "Seven hundred thousand gold!"
Though Zero Wing had lent money to War Soul, a newly established guild barely on par with a first-rate guild would be remarkable to have even seventy or eighty thousand gold to spare. Factoring in Zero Wing's prior expenditures, they could have at most fifty or sixty thousand gold left. Mu Lingsha's earlier hesitation at six hundred and thirty thousand gold suggested their ceiling was six hundred and thirty thousand—plus fifty or sixty thousand, that put them at six hundred and ninety thousand, tops.
Seven hundred thousand gold would annihilate her.
The entire hall drew a sharp breath at Lu Xingluo's new bid. That much capital would take roughly three months to recoup from the mana crystal vein alone. But seven hundred thousand gold today was worth far more than seven hundred thousand gold three months from now—gold coin and mana crystal prices in the Divine Realm hadn't yet stabilized and were still inflated.
That said, there was a silver lining: seven hundred thousand gold would ultimately be converted into mana crystals and rare ores, which made it a solid long-term investment.
But just as the crowd was marveling at Lu Xingluo's bold move and Yuan Tiexin was about to bring the gavel down for the first time, Mu Lingsha announced a new price.
"Seven hundred and ten thousand gold!"