The Rise of the Black Plain

"The Eternal Flame Phoenix technique is one of the most advanced and powerful skills in the Divine Bird World, specially designed for those with a deep affinity for fire. By mastering it, the cultivator can summon a majestic phoenix made of pure flame that possesses devastating offensive and defensive powers."

The moment the auctioneer presented the second item of the evening, the entire audience at the event was stirred by the sensation emanating from the semi-transparent scroll, especially those with an affinity for flames.

"That technique..." Lily stood up and clenched her fists, feeling a numb sensation as her body heat rose.

Her eyes turned completely red as she felt the figure of a reddish-orange bird emerge from that technique, screaming in her mind.

Minos narrowed his eyes as he noticed his daughter's situation, seeing the truth with a single glance. "You two are meant to be." He opened his mouth when he saw he had to get this technique.

Meanwhile, in another VIP room, a creature with horns on its head and parts of its horse-shaped body burning with black flames couldn't help but take a closer look at the thing.

"Bird World, huh?" he muttered when his fellow group members saw his interest in the sacred art of a legendary fire master similar to himself.

"This technique can be useful even for a cultivator who aspires to the highest level. Whoever masters this technique will be respected and feared, even in the great Zocarro! This is the technique of someone who aspires to the Upper Realm!" This guy said as a smile appeared on his humanoid face.

"I will buy this technique!"

While other auction participants commented on the origin of the technique or the Bird World—a legendary planet with special birds—the auctioneer presented the starting price for someone to join the battle for the technique.

"The Eternal Flame Phoenix can be purchased for a starting price of 2.2 million Qilnats, with a minimum increase of 100,000 Qilnats. The contest for this technique is open!"

"3 million Qilnats!" Minos raised his nameplate and started the bidding with a significant increase in value.

Bids higher than his soon followed, but the entire auction realized how interested this level 104 Sovereign was in the technique.

"4.3 million Qilnats!" said the being with the body of a horse and black flames covering parts of his body.

"4.5 million!" Minos raised his bid again, while the people thinking about the technique considered whether to continue bidding.

'If one of them falls below 5 million, I'll bid higher. One individual thought, not sure if it would be worth it for him to actively participate in the bidding and end up unintentionally increasing the cost of acquiring the item being auctioned.

The being of black flames looked at Minos with an unfriendly gaze, raising his aura as he tried to show who he was to this foolish low-level Sovereign.

"This friend, this technique is of great value to me and you have no affinity with it. Why don't you withdraw for now and we'll talk later?" He said this so that only Minos would hear.

But Minos would not be intimidated by a level 106 Sovereign. He said out loud so that all present could hear. "If you have the Qilnats, beat me at the auction!"

With these words, Minos also revealed his aura, proving his power was not that of a normal low-level Sovereign, but that of a peak mid-level Sovereign.

The auctioneer saw this situation but did nothing, even though he was a powerful level 111 cultivator. 'That level 104 guy is a bit strange... It looks like he can handle it himself.'

The being in a horse's body sensed the feeling that Minos was emitting and felt a little overwhelmed. "Tsk! 5 million!" He raised his bid, following what Minos himself had recommended.

"5.1 million Qilnats." Minos said as he looked at the person with the black flames, who couldn't help but glare at him, but without being able to do much other than continue bidding.

A minute later, the item reached a value of 6.6 million Qilnats, a value that the level 106 being himself thought was beyond what he thought the technique was worth.

Shaking with rage, he stopped bidding, while no one else in the auction house showed any interest in bidding higher than Minos.

"If there are no higher bids, the Eternal Flame Phoenix technique goes to the lord of room 112 for 6.6 million Qilnats!" the auctioneer announced the result.

At the same time as the man's words, Hollie and Lily were celebrating with Ruth, Abby, and Gloria in the group booth.

...

Half an hour into the auction, the 6th item of the night was sold for 13.6 million Qilnats, making it the second item of the night to go to the Minos group!

After Lily's compatible technique, the other three auctioned items were also impressive in their own right, but no one in their group had any compatibility with them.

When one reached such a high level of cultivation, the artifacts that could make a difference for them were those that were highly compatible and could cultivate future divine abilities.

Not just any artifact of great power and value would change a cultivator's life!

But the sixth item of the evening caught Callie's eye: an absorbable artifact that could greatly enhance the powers of cultivators with an affinity for ice.

After Minos won the battle for this item, Callie didn't hesitate to thank her leader, feeling immense joy in her heart and eager to absorb the frozen crystal and increase her spiritual abilities.

Immediately after her thanks, Minos made the payment before Callie received the item in the VIP room, already planning to absorb it over the next few days.

Just like Lily's technique, this item couldn't be perfectly integrated into its user without some time and effort to absorb and understand it.

It wasn't as slow as completely mastering a technique, but it would take Callie at least three days to successfully absorb it.

Callie and Lily continued to pay attention to the auction when the auctioneer presented the seventh item of the evening, already entering the last part of this event with 13 items to be auctioned today.