Chapter 330 - Walk Into The Club Like Whatup, I Got A Big-
She's not even running the auction. She's definitely not the well-known, respected figures that brought it to fruition. In the aftermath of her proclamation, the silence is astounding.
She grins wide, walking confidently along the main thoroughfare of the auction house. The space is massive, a true amphitheater in scale, and she can track the ways that people isolate and mingle amongst each other. Cultivators with glowing eyes hover on small palanquins, the space beneath them occupied by servants and lesser souls. Carved alcoves and seating boxes festoon the walls, filled with beings that match or surpass the weight of the elders to her back, even as the public seating all along the front of the stage are filled with loose cultivators, unaffiliated and hungry for a potential windfall.
And what a stage it is! Massive curtains, taller than most buildings she's seen in Morae, drape in thick velvet waves down to a plateau all its own, carved intricately with a formation she can't begin to guess at. The stage has a presence to it, like an artifact in and of itself, capable of wielding Qi to some unknown purpose.
And it is positively calling her name.
But not yet. Gotta leave them wanting more. Patience.
She bows as she approaches the center of the main lane between seats, waving her pipe to one side as she does, letting the smoke drift around her.
"This one is honored to find so many esteemed members of the Jianghu interested in her product. Truly, it is more than a joy to be so widely desired. Please, enjoy the preliminaries- but remember to save your appetites. There are meatier entries yet to come."
A little showmanship, a little arrogance, a tasty concoction of underestimation and planned manipulation. She does so love having an advantage over others.
Having no discernable Qi, being a total unknown, introducing herself as brashly as she has- all of it points to her being a joke, some scammer, which is an image much easier to foster than someone with credibility. It might seem like that'll just make people less interested- but in this case, it's the opposite.
This auction is sponsored by two entire sects, the Watchful Fields and Dancing Clouds groups, both well known and reputable. Which means, politically speaking, that her brashness hides something that valuable, that they'd risk political embarrassment for it… or that they've made a mistake, and this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of them.
Fuck memorizing all these losers' names. This is way easier.
Qin Yana is a step behind her, the glow of her eyes iridescent with rage such that Bin Wei doesn't even try to stop her- and Raika ignores them both, continuing to walk forward just fast enough to be an inconvenience.
"We have quite a show here tonight!" she continues, strolling between the main sections of seating. "Sponsored by my esteemed hosts and seniors, who are overjoyed to share such a valuable opportunity with the Jianghu and their fellow sects. Why, I do think we have a unique opportunity here! And a big thank you to the auction house! Getting all of this arranged so last minute is no mean feat! Come on everyone, let's give them some applause!"
She claps her hands, and a few confused souls in the crowd follow along before silence re-conquers the chamber. She can feel the way people are cringing. Hard to make this more awkward if she tried.
She does love a challenge.
"As one uniquely unsuited to the manipulation of Qi, it's truly an honor to be held in such high regard by all of you. But please! Let's start the festivities! I'm sure the Dancing Clouds auction house has a wonderful lineup for us today, and I'm eager to wet your tastes for what's to come. Please, grant me just a touch of patience- I'm sure you won't be disappointed!"
Hmm. Yeah, that should do it.
She bows at the waist, making sure that the motion is as close to human baseline as she can make it. Walking up the stairs on foot, clearly demonstrating her inability to wield Qi or possess a cultivation aura, making a big show of walking on foot towards where a very harried looking servant is guiding her- all part of the plan.
She's so excited. This is going to be great.
Qin Yana has, at this point, blatantly abandoned her, taking a grinning Bin Wei with her off to the section of the private boxes reserved for the Watchful Fields sect. It was always intended that they'd split, but the look on Qin Yana's face ensures that everyone will see it as a hurried action, something to put distance between their faction and the supposed expert with the supposed secret treasures that Raika is failing to present herself as.
Besides- it's nicer to have some privacy. She doesn't mind Bin Wei, he's pretty chill, but having the elders breathing down her neck is almost as bad as having the dozens of lesser cultivators and servants they try to surround her with.
Almost. They're not as afraid of her.
The sounds of the auction house resume slowly as she is guided by a servant in the Dancing Clouds' heraldry, voices intermingling in hushed tones. Everyone is talking excitedly, most of them about how embarrassing this might be, but the smart ones have their eyes on her and the Watchful Fields sect.
Good. Balanced just right.
"Honored one, this humble servant has prepared quarters suitable for such a being honored by Heaven's Will."
The servant opens a door, an array of runes along its frame lighting up and opening into a room that doesn't exist at the floor level. By the taste of the air and the echoes she can hear through it, it seems that the door opened onto a private viewing box several layers up, beneath that of the highest-ranked sects but above and separate from the majority.
"Thank you," she says simply as she enters, letting the performance slip away. "I assume that the location is secured against scrying of any sort?"
"With the sole exception of the summoning bell," the servant says, stepping in behind her to the luscious private quarters and pointing to a small hand-bell. "When touched, it will transmit sound directly to the servant's quarters, which will automatically respond. One ring for simple service, two rings for our specials, and three for management, which can assist you with any questions you might have about the products you're placing on bid."
"Good."
"I was informed that the honored one would wait for the… right moment to provide the promised items. Perhaps it would be prudent to have them analyzed by the managers, such that-"
"No."
"I… see. Thank you for your patience, honored guest. I apologize for the inconsiderateness of my request. Please, ring if you have any questions or desires during your stay."
And the servant steps back through the doors, the framework of Qi surrounding it cutting off and leaving only a carved doorframe behind.
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She exhales, finally "alone". She's under no illusions about the fact that she's being watched, the minute traces of Qi embedded in the rocks and near microscopic carvings make sure of that- but she's along enough.
She continues exhaling, longer than human lungs allow, and relaxes a part of her body that she's kept tensed throughout the trip here.
From beneath her robes, two portals open up, quickly disgorging Ko and Aria out and into the chamber. She sighs, rolling her shoulders now that the flesh-connection between two points has finally been relieved.
"Still don't know why you two were so damn iffy about just walking in," she grumbles.
Ko shakes his head, trying to clear a smell out of his nose (rude! She smells quite nice, all meat and copper!), while Aria manages to disguise her similar act a bit better. "Apologies, master. We just figured it might lead to unfortunate conclusions if we were seen accompanying you. Considering how we were sent out on-mission, returning alongside an ally of the Watchful Fields sect-"
"Yeah, yeah, politics. Doesn't matter, if I'm being super honest, but we're here now. Keep an eye out. If I miss something, I want to know about it, and you know these people better than I do."
Aria nods, while Ko finally finishes shaking off the scent of the transfer and shakes himself off like a dog. "What about me, boss?"
She shrugs. "You're here as security, if you want to be. Might be you notice something we both miss, but otherwise, couldn't care less."
"Yes, Master."
She grimaces, and he shoots a cheeky grin at her reaction to the term.
It doesn't take much longer for the proper event to begin.
Raika catches sight of Li Tianfeng, stepping out from behind the room-length curtains with a flourish of Qi and bowing before the assembled dignitaries. They're clearly putting him out as a sacrificial lamb if this all goes wrong, but he seems to take it in stride, a proper performer stepping on-stage at long last. A small stone appears from out of a storage ring, crystals embedded in it, to float alongside his movements, centered in front of his throat, and when he speaks, his voice echoes out into the massive chamber.
"Honored cultivators, one and all, this lowly Li Tianfeng greets you, and thanks you for your presence! We have a vast array of glorious items up for auction tonight, certain to skyrocket cultivation, surpass bottlenecks, and provide impeccable foundations for young masters and paragons alike. This humble disciple of the Dancing Clouds sect is honored to be hosting such an event, shrouded, as all good things are, in great mystery, for our loyal allies of the Watchful Fields sect have approached us with a truly unique set of natural treasures, soon to be unveiled!
"But let us not drown ourselves in the main event so quickly! Let there be no doubt of the Dancing Clouds sect's generosity, or our connection! Many individuals and sects alike have joined us in providing treasures, artifacts, and rewards of all kinds, guaranteed by the sterling history of our trading house. I'm sure you all are as eager as I to catch a glimpse of them! So come! Let us begin!"
Hidden artifacts in the rafters shine bright, sending down rays of illumination to focus directly onto the stage- and onto a part of it that has called on properties all its own. The ground seems to shift, like a cloud is forming out of dust, only to unveil a pedestal surrounded on either side by a jade beauty. The two young women, dressed in Dancing Clouds sect colors, remove a veil hung over the pedestal's top, allowing a wash of water-aspected Qi to sprinkle out into the room, unveiling a bouquet of flowers.
"The Emblem Waterlilies, so named for their status as the very marker of the Ten Rivers Hidden Pools, possesses miraculous life-extending properties, capable of purifying even the darkest of impurities! Favored as a treasure for its balanced ability to approach both bottlenecks and physical infirmity, these elusive plants are known for their once-ubiquitous nature, now have become vanishingly rare in spite of being the most valuable of the known treasures of that lovely waterway. Bidding for each lily begins at one-hundred high-grade spirit stones!"
Immediately, hands are shooting up into the air, particularly from those sitting at the front of the auction. It seems that, despite the supposed value of the object, those most interested remain the independent and "lesser" cultivators arrayed closest to the stage. The private viewing boxes above remain silent, at least for these opening bids.
Most of the flowers end up sold at an average of one-fifty to one-seventy high grade stones, with the last three taken as a bundle for two-fifty, and the stage manifests again, vanishing the young women and the artifact once more.
"Of course, natural treasures, rare as they are, can often be eclipsed by the value of an artisan's touch! Killed during the War of Twin Flames just last year, Kai Sho-In was well known for his valuable storage artifacts, but most famous for his fire-aspected weaponsmithing! His inventory, thought lost along with his body, was recently uncovered and gifted to this auction by the auspicious Raging Firestorm sect, and are presented here for you now!"
The stage transforms, a whirl of cloud-like dust rising and then falling again to reveal a dozen pedestals and a new set of jade beauties, stepping between them to highlight different swords, spears, and other assorted weapons.
"We begin with the heaven-aspected, flame-touched 'Spirit of Firelight', a hand-crafted sword that one can clearly see…"
Raika sighs, leaning back in the rather luscious accommodations prepared for them. She doesn't need to be sitting upright to properly see what's going on, and considering how he's talking, things are going to keep moving at this pace for a while.
"How long do these things usually last?" she asks Aria, pulling on her pipe and then grimacing, patting out the ash that's left over.
"If my master had bothered to read the information provided, she would know the number of items prepared as a preliminary set for auction, honored one. Most auctions take hours, and some take days."
Raika grins, discarding the pipe with an afterthought to summon the supplies for proper cigarettes. "Why, Aria of the Crashing Rainfall sect, I'd say you were sassing me with comments like that!"
"I do only as my master wishes," Aria replies, the slightest tilt of her lip the only indication that she's in on the joke.
Raika grins, throwing her head back to laugh. "A pity! And here I thought you were witty enough to come up with that on your own.
The first weapon is purchased, the second coming up to bid, and still, the higher booths, protected by privacy arrays and left obscured from the lower masses and each other, remain silent. Raika sighs, stretching as she usually does when she's bored and a little anxious.
"Shit. None of the upper assholes are bidding yet."
"They won't for a while," Aria replies. Raika can smell just a hint of porcelain and ivy in her posture, focused around her disciples eyes as she scans the surroundings. "Many of these auctions are a way to get face from the lesser cultivators and be seen as generous while offloading their more worthless goods. The real bids, the ones that come from surprise acquisitions, rogue agents or the actual sects proper, will only come after the lower audience has had their fill. They'll gradually ramp up in value as the evening progresses, phasing out the lower tiers bit by bit to avoid seeming premeditated."
"Rich people buy all the rich people shit, the leftovers for everyone else," Ko says, standing at attention on the other side of Raika, also scanning the crowds. "Half of the bids are rigged anyways. No one pushes back when certain people want something."
That perks her attention up a bit.
"Oh? How do you mean?"
He shrugs. "If some of the big-big names bid, everyone just lets them. They get shit for cheap that way."
"What Ko is referring to is the potential danger of starting a bidding war with the wrong individuals," Aria says with a bit of contrition in her tone. "Some individual cultivators or lesser sects might be able to outbid on an item, make it too expensive for the higher sects to care about, but in doing so, they may receive retaliation from them later. The auction house itself is neutral ground, but there are plenty of examples of bid-winners getting attacked on their return home, or facing sanctions and political attacks later for daring to defy the great sects."
Raika nods. She hasn't memorized all the messy sects and their relationships, but the big five, each sitting at the tallest peak of each finger on the hand of "Morae's Lament", she knows.
Named as the "Peak of" whatever their sect is, the five grand sects at the height of power in the Republic of Morae are the Peak of the Azure Serpent, Golden Tiger, Flaming Phoenix, Iron Tortoise, and Thundering Tempest. Unofficially, the rich farmland at the base of the mountains is known as the Land of the Verdant Dragon, but she wouldn't be surprised if that title was a concession to the lower sects, relied on by all the others but derided for their distance from the peaks.
So. No one bids against them, for fear of making enemies of them.
…She can fit that into the plan.
A request is sent back through her connection to her greater Self, and the sense of delight that returns at the thought makes her grin.
She really is herself, isn't she?
Yeah. She can work with this.
The auction progresses below them, and she sits forward, ringing the bell at her side for food service. If she's going to fuck with these people, she might as well do it in style.