Chapter 67: The White River Auction

After bidding farewell to his parents and leaving home, Song Chi found a secluded spot to summon the Firmament, and then headed straight for Baihe City.

The Baihe Firekind Mall was even livelier than usual today, as the triennial Baihe Auction was scheduled to take place at the "Tianhe Auction House" on the top floor of the mall.

Grimm Tloss stood beneath the Firekind starship docking platform on the top floor of the auction house, his face flushed with excitement and awe.

In just half an hour, he had already witnessed over fifty psionic airships landing sequentially on the docking platform. Gazing at those twenty-meter-long steel airships encased in thick layers of armor, his heart surged with boundless emotion.

This was what he aimed for in the future. As for cowering as a mere shop assistant in his uncle's store, it felt nothing short of an insult to him.

Although his father was not a member of the powerful Tloss family, he was an adopted son-in-law who had married into the family, meaning Grimm carried his mother's surname and was indeed a member of the illustrious Tloss family.

Far from harboring any resentment about this, he rejoiced at being a direct descendant of the Tloss family.

Just as Grimm Tloss’s thoughts were racing, another psionic airship, nearly twenty meters in length, descended from the heavens and landed precisely on the platform ahead, which spanned over a hundred meters in diameter and was capable of accommodating frigate-class psionic airships.

Instantly, the mall’s honor guard surrounding the platform straightened up in unison, respectfully welcoming the arrival of the psionic airship. The vessel had concealed its identity, its hull enveloped in a layer of dark energy shields, making even the color of its armor indistinguishable.

Behind him, a solemn expression instinctively surfaced on Grimm's face, his heart tightening slightly.

Judging from the energy fluctuations emitted by the energy shield activated by this airship, the component equipped was clearly not a standard-issue psionic shield. It might even be of blue quality, as white-quality energy shields could hardly emit energy fluctuations of this tier.

An energy shield component of at least blue quality—such a caliber of energy shield could play a pivotal role even when equipped on actual frigates.

Because of this, not only Grimm Tloss, but many sharp-eyed onlookers as well, concluded that the background of this psionic airship was by no means ordinary.

Stepping out from the Firmament, Song Chi still wore a white leather mask, though it looked somewhat more lifelike compared to the one from five days ago.

***

Storing the Firmament back into the acupoint at the center of his brow, he headed straight to the Tianhe Auction House under the guidance of a mall patroller.

There were no tickets as such; any Firekind captain commanding a psionic airship or higher automatically qualified to attend the auction.

Song Chi could understand this logic.

Given the existence of the Firekind Network—a convenient virtual network that allowed for free communication and transactions anywhere and anytime—why did many large malls still insist on holding physical auctions? Wasn't it precisely to attract greater popularity and make their malls more thriving? How could they possibly turn away high-quality customers like First-Rank Firekind captains?

As for Zero-Rank Firekind captains wishing to enter the auction, apologies, but they were required to pay an admission fee of 100 wisps of Zero-Rank Floating Land Origin, which disguisedly raised the tier of the auction.

The Tianhe Auction House was immense. Rows of leather seats were arranged in a circular formation, surrounding a square auction platform right in the center.

Above the countless leather seats, there were also over twenty enclosed private rooms, specially prepared for Second-Rank and higher Firekind captains.

Song Chi swept his peripheral vision across them, and the expression beneath his mask tightened. At this moment, seven of the twenty-odd private rooms were brightly lit, meaning that at least seven Second-Rank or higher Firekind captains had already arrived in the auction hall.

"Doesn't the network say that past Baihe Auctions typically only feature two or three Second-Rank Firekind captains? Why are there so many this time?"

Murmuring to himself, Song Chi found an unoccupied leather seat and sat down, waiting quietly.

There was still about half an hour before the auction began, and quite a few more Firekind captains were expected to arrive successively. He wondered if even more Second-Rank captains would show up.

Closing his eyes, he sank his consciousness deep into his mind. Taking advantage of this time, Song Chi prepared to meditate for a while on the "Dragon-Spine Tyrant Whale - Mythological Mecha Projection."

This visualization diagram was directly tied to the combat strength of the Firmament when it advanced to higher tiers in the future. He had never slackened in his visualization of it and dedicated all his free time to the practice.

Although once the rubbings were successfully imprinted, one's consciousness would slowly improve even without deliberate meditation, how could active, concentrated meditation compare to the rubbing operating passively on its own?

Due to frequent active meditation over the past two months, Song Chi had distinctly felt an enhancement in his own mental strength—a feat that passive operation of the rubbing could never achieve.

Take the battle against the Void Demon a few days ago, for instance. Even when expending his mental strength to such an extreme, he had managed to hold on for nearly an hour. If it were back when he had first awakened, lasting even half a minute would have been a stretch.

***

Had he simply let the rubbing operate on its own over these past two months, he estimated he would have lasted forty minutes at most. That was the difference initiative made.

Gathering his consciousness onto the imprinted Mythological Mecha Projection diagram, Song Chi’s mental energy was rapidly consumed, yet amidst this continuous depletion, his spiritual power steadily and slowly grew.

Suddenly, a series of exclamations from nearby interrupted his meditation. Opening his eyes, Song Chi quickly grasped the reason behind the commotion.

Just moments ago, the tenth Second-Rank Firekind captain had entered the auction hall. For ten Second-Rank Firekind captains to simultaneously attend this Tianhe Auction was clearly abnormal.

"Could it be that this auction features high-quality ship-mounted components? Or perhaps extremely rare starship reinforcement resources?"

Song Chi fell into deep thought, but quickly dismissed the notion after failing to deduce any definitive answers. Deciding against trying to visualize the rubbing diagram again, he straightened his posture and fixed his gaze on the square auction platform below.

Judging by the time, the auction was about to officially begin.

Roughly two minutes later, a figure leaped down from high above.

Thud!

Following a heavy impact, the figure landed precisely on the stone auction platform. As the person raised his gaze to scan the surroundings, Song Chi caught sight of the figure's appearance, and a flash of solemnity crossed his eyes.

The man had completely white hair, right down to his beard, indicating that he was clearly advanced in years.

What surprised Song Chi and the guests in the auction hall was the overwhelming oppressive aura emanating from this white-haired elder. Despite his advanced age, the fluctuations of blood qi within his body were exceptionally vigorous.

"His Guidance Technique is at least level 20 or higher. A Second-Rank Firekind captain!"