Paragon of Sin

The Golden Auction. It had a simple name, but its origins began during the dawn of the Golden Life Pavilion's creation. It carried with its an intensity that belied hectic competition, unimaginable joy, and unexpected suffering. It was only held when deciding the price for a product, generally this product was new and defining in its era.

It was marketed as such, so the Golden Auction was only held thirteen times throughout the Aeternal Sky Starfield's inception, after the chaos and terror of the preceding war for the right to reign. While it was held far more times than that since its inception, as the Golden Life Pavilion's reach and reputation rose, so did the Golden Auction. It represented the entire Golden Life Pavilion.

That being said, the unexpected suffering wasn't very unexpected, fueled and resulted by the hectic competition. This stemmed from its rules.

The first rule: All forces that were bidding must pay the minimum price settled for the product in question. This minimum wasn't exaggerated, but it meant that from the moment it began, just entering the Golden Auction meant entering at a loss. This incentivized participants to fight harder, fiercer with titanic viciousness in their bids with their monetary investments already set.

The second rule: Sacrificial Bidding. A whopping five percent of the final bid of any participant, whether they've won or not, must be paid out at the time of the bid. This further brought unimaginable suffering and deepened investment, but it also caused each of the bids to be carefully considered and deliberated over.

The third rule, the most punishing: Set-Maximum Rule. All participants must prove their funds, be it planets, world realms, lunar satellites, solar stars, unique materials, high-level resources, special items or tools, or essence stones. The registered values were often astronomical, and each bidder had a hidden maximum bid that only they and the Golden Life Pavilion knew.

Even if one reaches the maximum limit they registered, if outbid, they would still lose a full five percent of that bid without the ability to bid further. At times, this five percent caused cataclysmic tremors that caused entire collapses of certain clans within factions or forces. All of these things, especially the maximum limit, were all verified during the three hours break with remarkably efficient speeds.

Not all of the rules were unfavorable, however.

The Exclusivity Access Rule: As long as one participates in the Golden Auction, the Golden Life Pavilion offers some exclusive contracts for their other products, products they wouldn't sell otherwise. These products included unique materials or resources, special items that required immense wealth and time to cultivate, or access to their specific cultivation realms.

The Devil War Realm, bought from the True Element Sect and greatly modified to become a supreme cultivation realm, was one such example of an exclusive contract. Without the resources of mystic-tier forces, the inhabitants were capable of reaching the Realmlord level in great numbers, indicating how rich the resources and conditions were.

The Eight Noble Clans, such as the Tang Clan and He Clan, who specialized in fire and water cultivators respectively, had bought access from the last Golden Auction. For the last several thousand years, they had fostered great talents using the Devil War Realms' ideal elemental cultivation circumstances of the four seasons and its inhabitants.

That was just one of their many cultivation fields suitable for certain cultivators, even areas that greatly benefitted cultivators at specific stages, such as areas rich in refined yang or yin energies. The Golden Life Pavilion's assets were unfathomably varied and useful, especially as they continued to develop each one with their ever-growing wealth and resources.

This was enough to urge most to participate, even if just to be included in the Golden Auction to witness the great competition. Furthermore, they didn't have to pay the minimum or register a maximum, just buy a seat to gain access to these exclusive contracts. It was an absolute steal in their eyes.

If Wei Wuyin learned of these practices by the Golden Life Pavilion, he would only perform a few actions:

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Awed applause. Fantastic!

Everything was profitable. They even taxed others to spend money on their products. Whoever conceived of this idea was ingenious, pursuing wealth at all cost without holding anything back, just making it harder to obtain. The only flaw he could see was that they needed strength to protect it all. If one was weak, then all of this wealth would crumble into dust, owned by another after they stepped on your cold corpse.

If not careful, the Golden Life Pavilion could be ganged up upon by the greedy and malicious. And the Golden Life Pavilion had suffered this before, even experiencing several hostile takeovers by other forces. Its original owners were forcefully annexed, the name even changing overtime. Still, those same original owners still existed, understanding how to survive, to remain patient. It was not without its risks, but the benefits were abundantly clear.

Similar to the Grand Demonstration, the Golden Auction was performed through the Spiritual Projection Obelisk. However, this time, each individual was an elite expert of some sort or elite youngsters. By turning the functions up, the incarnations of these individuals could descend. While these incarnations had only a little bit of spiritual strength, they still contained their terrifying presences.

There was no anonymity within the Golden Auction. If you can buy whatever is auctioned, you should be able to protect it. Brutal, but it carried its truths.

Not a single force that could obtain this pill was afraid others would steal it in transit, and had confidence in protecting it after obtaining it. After all, stealing it in transit was almost impossible and even if performed would offend the Golden Life Pavilion. It simply wasn't worth it.

The others were just intrigued observers. The cultivation world, especially for Ascended, was oftentimes long and tedious, grueling and boring. It was the act of cultivation and threat of stagnation. There were many cultivators that plateaued, capable of enjoying their remaining time after coming to terms with their remaining lifespan. They would find beautiful wives, suitable husbands, develop forces, or invent an art, spell, or method that encapsulated their cultivation base and identity to last beyond their lifetime. But for those who strove for greater heights, filled with the gnawing desire and need to cultivate again and again, more and more.

Some secluded cultivation sessions, even refining alchemical products, would take years, sometimes even decades for certain cultivators.

Furthermore, after reaching extraordinary heights, battles were very limited in quantity outside of sparring. The power they wielded was just too devastating.

There was an event that happened in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region a few thousand years ago. Two genuine Ascended at the Third Stage fought ferociously, causing incredible damage as they did. They flew and chased about through the Dark Void in a tit for tat, almost equal in strength and means.

These Ascended were accompanied by other Ascended and War-Class Voidship's piloted by numerous high-level Astral Core Realm cultivators. The war took a massive toll on the entire Grand Cyclic Stellar Region and it affected the Aeternal Sky Starfield.

They destroyed several planets and lunar satellites in the Domain, causing unimaginable damage to the rest. After the seventh planet was destroyed, an Earthly Saint of the Imperial Clan arrived and crippled them both, destroying every Voidship without mercy. She forcefully ripped out their innate energies, using it to restore the damaged celestial bodies. Next, she eradicated their respective clans completely. Then, she forbade foreign Ascended combat in the Tian Clan's Aeternal Sky Starfield.

As for those within, wars were restricted in who could participate. If Ascended wished to fight it out to the death, they had to take it outside any active starfield. If not, the Earthly Saints would take action. No one wanted that.

-----

Ma Sujiang stood at the center of the platform, dressed as beautifully as ever. The natural charm she exuded was drool-inducing. She looked at the seats placed before her. In a few moments, these seats will be filled with experts and utmost talents accompanying their seniors.

The Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill had sent the Grand Cyclic Region in an uproar, enough to even bring the top forces of other starfields. They were the genuine powerhouses of their vast stellar region.

Her eyes were steady, but a particular light glinted in them. °I wonder if this silver-eyed alchemist is connected to the King of Everlore. If he is, if he has a similar potential or greater as father says, then that Ascended I met was right; the very foundation of this world will be shaken.° That particular light within her eyes grew oddly excited.

The era of the King of Everlore was too brief, but the seniors spoke endlessly about him and how it shaped the world.

A high-pitched droning sound echoed as the seats were flooded with spiritual light for several minutes.

Ma Sujiang gracefully bowed, "I welcome you all to the 108th Golden Auction of our Golden Life Pavilion." Then, she lifted herself upright, her delightful curves fully revealed by this motion, and fully observed the thousands of incarnations before her. Despite her strength and status, her heart couldn't help but begin to uncontrollably race.

"The item for today is the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill, a low-quality, peak-tier, ninth-grade pill and the priority rights for the first twenty-four pills, all low-quality. As a reminder: The Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill will only hit public availability within twenty-four years from today. We'll begin the bidding with the starting price: Thirty-two Mystic Essence Stones."

"..."

There was silence. It was incredibly tense, sufficient enough to be visible, thick enough to be sliced. The first bid will set the tone for the rest. The sacrificial bidding was painful, so the first was extremely dangerous, but oftentimes explosive.

A powerful, thunderous voice exploded out, shaking the entire building and Grand Horse Realm with its limited spiritual strength, "My Chen Clan bids our Obsidian Furnace Realm, two small-sized, astral-graded Herbal Planets, and forty Mystic Essence Stones!"