Chapter 89: Provocation

"Fifty thousand!’

Within a minute, the halberd was sold for a staggering three hundred and fifty thousand Aetherium Crystals to a mid-tier clan leader.

Up in the Solari Clan’s VIP box, Rhain sat lazily on the velvet couch, chewing on a grape.

He didn’t bid for those petty items.

To a man, the Crescent Gale Halberd was nothing more than useless scrap metal

Several more items were brought onto the stage. Rare-grade pills, beast cores, and rare grade cultivation manuals.

Rhain watched with a completely indifferent expression, waiting patiently for the right moment.

Thirty minutes later, an attendant walked out carrying an exquisite box.

Vanya opened the box, revealing a shriveled, blood-red root that pulsed with a faint, rhythmic heartbeat.

"A Rare-Grade medicinal herb, Thousand-Year Blood Vein Root!" Vanya announced. "An essential main ingredient to make the Epic Grade healing elixirs. Starting bid: Seventy thousand Aetherium Crystals!"

Before the crowd below could even raise their paddles, a heavy, authoritative voice boomed from the VIP balcony directly across from Rhain’s.

"One Hundred thousand Aetherium Crystals!"

The massive jump in price instantly silenced the lower floor.

All eyes turned upward toward the opposing balcony.

An older man dressed in the luxurious green robes of the Ashvele Clan stepped up to the railing. His face was stern, carrying the heavy pressure of a Level 3 Spirit Manifestation expert.

"I am Matthias from the Ashvele Clan," the man declared, his voice echoing through the venue. "I have a dire, urgent need for this Blood Vein Root to concoct a life-saving pill for my clan. I ask that my fellow cultivators give me face and allow me to take this item." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The crowd murmured, but no one raised their paddles.

No one in their right mind would willingly offend a prominent elder of the Ashvele Clan over a single medicinal herb.

Matthias nodded in satisfaction, turning back to his seat.

Vanya was unhappy. Matthias’s words just now reduced the profit they could make from this item. But she chose to endure it once, for the person belonged to Ashvele Clan.

She raised her golden gavel, "One Hundred thousand going once! One Hundred thous—"

"One hundred and fifty thousand!"

An obnoxious, slurred voice suddenly exploded from the Solari Clan’s balcony.

Matthias halted mid-step.

His head snapped toward the opposing balcony, his eyes burning with sudden fury.

Rhain stood up, resting his boot casually on the balcony railing. He held a cup of wine in one hand, completely embodying Jarek Solari’s arrogant, punch-worthy demeanor.

"Friend," Matthias said, his voice dropping to a dangerously low pitch. "Did you not hear me? I said the Ashvele Clan urgently needs this item."

Rhain threw his head back and let out a boisterous, mocking laugh.

"Who the hell cares what you need?" Rhain shouted, his voice dripping with absolute contempt. "You think I’m afraid of an Ashvele Clan? I am Jarek Solari! If I want to buy this root just to feed it to my dog, I will do it! One hundred and fifty thousand!"

The crowd inhaled sharply.

The blatant disrespect was staggering.

The old Solari Clan elder sitting nearby jumped slightly, surprised by Jarek’s sudden interest. "Jarek? What do you need a Blood Lotus for?"

"I don’t," Rhain replied with an abrasive laugh. "I just don’t like looking at those Ashvele dogs acting so high and mighty."

The old Solari elder chuckled.

It was entirely in Jarek’s character to pick a fight over absolutely nothing, and honestly, making the Ashvele Clan suffer was always a plus in their books.

Across the hall, the Matthias frowned deeply.

He knew exactly who Jarek Solari was.

An arrogant, brainless degenerate who threw away Aetherium Crystals like dirt just to stroke his own ego.

"You insolent bastard! One hundred and sixty thousand!" Matthias roared.

"Two hundred thousand!" Rhain instantly countered, waving his wine cup lazily.

"Two hundred and twenty thousand!"

"Three hundred thousand!"

"Three hundred and fifty thousand!"

"Four hundred thousand!"

"Five hundred thousand!"

Five hundred thousand Aetherium Crystals!

The crowd was completely paralyzed.

That was at least three times the actual value of the Blood Vein Root!

To pay that much was utter financial suicide, but Matthias had been entirely blinded by his rage and the necessity to uphold his clan’s honor.

Down on the stage, Madame Vanya’s eyes gleamed with delight. "One million Aetherium Crystals going once! Do we have a higher bid from Young Master Jarek?"

Every eye in the room shifted back to the Solari Clan VIP box, waiting for the madman to escalate it further.

Rhain paused, taking his time to lazily swirl his wine.

Then, a mocking smile stretched across his face

"Nah," Rhain shrugged dramatically, his voice dripping with condescension. "If the Ashvele dogs are that desperate to overpay for a trash root, they can have it. I was just getting bored anyway."

Up in his balcony, Matthias stood with a stupified face as the realisation hit him.

He had just been effortlessly baited into paying nearly three times the actual value of the herb.

"Five hundred thousand Aetherium Crystal going twice! Sold! To Elder Matthias of the Ashvele Clan!"

Bang!

The golden gavel in Vanya’s hand struck the podium sharply.

Up in the Ashvele VIP box, Matthias stood with ashen face.

The blood drained from his face before violently rushing back, turning his skin a deep, furious crimson.

He had won the item.

But he had just been effortlessly humiliated and extorted in front of the entire Mirravele City elite.

Across the hall, in the Solari Clan’s balcony, a moment of stunned silence hung in the air before erupting into boisterous, uncontrollable laughter.

"Pwahahaha!" The old Solari elder slapped his thigh, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Amazing! Absolutely Amazing! Jarek, you brilliant bastard! I never expected you to use your brain to play them like that!"

Rhain simply leaned back into the velvet cushions, waving his wine cup lazily.

"Like I said," Rhain slurred, maintaining his arrogant, intoxicated facade. "Just playing with dogs."

As the auction continued, the atmosphere in the grand hall completely shifted.

Every single time a member of the Ashvele Clan raised their paddle for an item, the obnoxious, slurred voice of "Jarek Solari" would immediately echo across the hall, ruthlessly jacking up the price.

"Two hundred thousand!" an Ashvele member would bid on a Rare-Grade artifact

"Three hundred thousand!" Rhain would instantly counter, not even bothering to look at the item.

Eventually, the Ashvele Clan caught on to his malicious tactics.

When a pristine Rare-Grade defensive armor set was brought out, Matthias sneered and intentionally bid the price up to four hundred thousand, before abruptly dropping out.

He fully intended to trap the arrogant fool into ruining himself.

"Let the brainless ape buy it," Matthias sneered to his furious clansmen. "He will bleed his own clan’s funds dry before the finale!"

But when Vanya announced Jarek as the winner, Rhain didn’t even blink.

With a casual flick of his wrist, a mountain of glowing Aetherium Crystals materialized from his spatial ring and floated directly down to the stage attendants.

He paid the astronomical sum instantly, without breaking a sweat.

What the Ashvele Clan didn’t know was that Rhain’s wealth was simply incomprehensible.

Between the ten million Aetherium Crystals gifted by Harmon Vael, and the three million he had casually looted from the real Jarek’s spatial ring last night, Rhain possessed a staggering thirteen million liquid crystals.

His personal wealth easily dwarfed the treasuries of most Spirit Manifestation Realm experts in Mirravele City.

To him, dropping a few hundred thousand crystals was like flicking away dust.

The auction dragged on.

While the Ashvele Clan occasionally succeeded in forcing Rhain to buy useless items, there were certain lots they simply could not afford to back down on.

When a batch of peak Rare-Grade medicinal pills—essential for nurturing their clan’s younger generation—came onto the block, Rhain mercilessly grabbed them by the throat.

He relentlessly pushed the bid into the stratosphere.

"Eight hundred thousand!" Rhain shouted, his heavy boots kicked up onto the balcony railing.

Matthias’s hands gripped the edge of his balcony so hard the polished redwood splintered under his fingers.

"Eight hundred and fifty thousand!" Matthias roared, his eyes bloodshot with hatred.

Rhain smirked.

He didn’t bid again, casually letting them have it.

By the time the auction was nearing its end, the Ashvele Clan had successfully secured their desired items, but at a catastrophic cost.

They had hemorrhaged atleast four million of Aetherium Crystals, severely crippling the massive funds they had meticulously liquidated for the Epic-Grade finale.

Inside the Ashvele VIP box.

The Ashvele Clan memebers were fuming with rage, their auras violently fluctuating as they glared daggers at the Solari Clan’s VIP box.

"Ahhhhhh! That bastard... that arrogant, filthy bastard!" Matthias hissed like a venemous snake, tearing at his hair. "The day I get the chance, I will castrate that lustful worm, and feed it to dogs! "

Every single Ashvele Clan member in the booth wished for nothing more than to drag Jarek out into the streets and tear him apart limb from limb.