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Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain
The beautiful woman stood on the high platform and bowed elegantly, her glossy red lips curled into the most attractive of smiles as a pleasant voice leaked from them, “Honoured Guests from far away, thank you all for participating in my Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction. I would also like to say a special thank you to Shadow Moon Hall’s Elder Qian Tong for his strong support. This auction was only able to proceed so smoothly thanks to Elder Qian’s contributions.”
As soon as these words were said, several dozen people in the A Block and B private rooms immediately muttered curses. They had all received messages from their disciples just now and knew that Qian Tong had extorted five hundred thousand Saint Crystals from each of them in exchange for a single use of Heavenly Fate City’s Space Array. Knowing this, who would thank him at this time? Not shouting profanities at him right now was already giving Qian Tong a huge amount of face, but thanking him? In his dreams!
Yang Kai, in room C-13, observed this beautiful woman with interest. Although he had never participated in such an auction before, that didn’t mean he knew nothing about them.
The auctioneer played an important part in any auction. A good auctioneer could control the atmosphere of the room, heating it up to the point where prices also rose.
With this woman’s beauty alone, even if she didn’t say a word, she could increase the various bidders’ enthusiasm by several grades. Treasure Trove Pavilion was really sinister.
The beautiful woman on the stage reported her name, then humbly spoke about the hospitality offered by Treasure Trove Pavilion, apologizing for any shortcomings the guests may have experienced. Her words were smooth and sincere, so no one could find fault with her. She kept a fresh, spring-like smile on her face, causing everyone to feel warm and comfortable, as if they were relaxing in their own home. Her elegant eyes also moved about lightly but deliberately, making everyone mistakenly think that she was looking at them, hoping to see them display their valour, and wealth of course.
After speaking for a while, the beautiful woman let out a silver bell-like laughter before saying, “But enough idle talk, let the auction begin! The first item we are auctioning today is a Saint King Grade High-Rank Artefact Armour!”
While the auctioneer spoke, a woman donning an elegant dress slowly walked up on stage holding a large jade plate in her hands. Atop this jade plate was a five coloured Saint King Grade High-Rank Artifact Armour, one that was radiating powerful energy fluctuations and was exquisitely designed, it was no doubt a high-quality defensive artefact.
The beautiful woman paused for a moment, and after everyone had a chance to admire this Artifact Armour, she continued, “This five coloured Artifact Armour is a recent work of my Treasure Trove Pavilion’s Grandmaster Artifact Refiner, Grandmaster Gong. Grandmaster Gong’s reputation precedes himself so I will not elaborate on his skills. This Artifact Armour not only possesses excellent defensive strength, but it can also change size at will so it can be easily used by a man or a woman. The starting price is set at thirty thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals, each new bid must raise the price no less than two thousand Saint Crystals. Everyone, please!”
When this beautiful woman reported the starting price, Yang Kai frowned slightly before glancing over at Yang Yan.
If he remembered correctly, among the first batch of artefacts Yang Yan had refined for him, there was a single Saint King Grade High-Rank auxiliary artefact. That artefact was refined from the wings of an Illusionary Cloud Butterfly and according to Yang Yan was worth about thirty thousand Saint Crystals.
Although they were both Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts, Yang Kai felt that Yang Yan’s wings were far better than this five coloured armour. Not only was it rarer and more beautiful, it also had better functionality.
If those wings were only worth thirty thousand Saint Crystals, could this Artifact Armour also be worth just as much? And this was just the starting price!
While he was thinking so though, someone had already started bidding, the price they offered causing Yang Kai’s eyes to twitch.
“Fifty thousand!”
The person who bid actually raised the price by twenty thousand Saint Crystals right off the bat.
The beautiful woman on the stage smiled and said, “This friend in seat one six nine is indeed a man who knows the quality of goods, he bids fifty thousand for this Artifact Armour, is there any…”
Before she could finish what she was saying though, someone shouted, “Fifty-two thousand!”
“Fifty-five thousand!”
“Fifty-eight thousand!”
The beautiful woman no longer spoke and simply stood atop the high stage while flashing the same enchanting smile she had worn since she appeared. She knew that she didn’t need to say anything more as those who wanted this Artifact Armour would definitely raise the price all on their own.
As the price rose, the cultivators sitting on the auction’s main floor scrambled to bid, none of them willing to show weakness, but the guests in the private rooms remained silent, none of them showing any intention to participate.
Those who could sit in the private rooms belonged to famous great forces on Shadowed Star. Although this Artifact Armour was good, it wasn’t worthy of them lowering themselves to compete with the people in the hall.
In Room C-13, Wu Yi stared at the five coloured armour with envy, her beautiful eyes filled with excitement, but the starting price already being thirty thousand, she could only sigh.
Yang Yan coldly snorted and spat disdainfully, “This kind of thing can also be sold for such a high price? There are too many blind people here.”
Yang Kai also felt the same. The cultivation resources on Shadowed Star were relatively scarce, especially Saint Crystals, so the value of a single piece of Saint Crystal here was much higher than in the outside world. Seeing this kind of defensive artefact still rising in price really made Yang Kai wonder what these people were thinking.
One of the Shadow Moon Hall female disciples who had been waiting by the side chuckled lightly and explained, “They are competing over this artefact due to Grandmaster Gong’s fame. If this Artifact Armour had been refined by an unknown person, it would be impossible for it to have such a high price.”
Yang Kai nodded gently, understanding that fame had an effect no matter where one went. Gong Tai Hong was apparently an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner, so even if the product he produced wasn’t the highest of quality, others would still compete to own it. As such, it was only natural for his artefacts to sell for more than other Artifact Refiners’.
However, after the price of the five coloured armour reached eighty thousand, the rate of new bids slowed down noticeably. It seemed those who were interested in this Artifact Armour were running out of Saint Crystals.
A short time later, this Artifact Armour was purchased for eighty-four thousand Saint Crystals by a young man in the hall.
The Treasure Trove Pavilion female disciple holding the Artifact Armour stepped off the high platform and delivered it to the young man while accepting his payment.
The young man who received the Artifact Armour immediately handed it to the beautiful woman nestled next to him, winning him a kiss his cheek. The young man laughed heartily as if he were the biggest winner in the world.
The second item auctioned was a set of ten King Transformation Pills with a starting price of ten thousand Saint Crystals. These pills eventually sold for twenty-seven thousand Saint Crystals and were similarly purchased by someone on the main floor. From the winner’s appearance, they were obviously here to represent some small family and had purchased them to bring back home with them.
The next items were a variety of pills, artefacts, Secret Arts, Martial Skills, etc. There were even some precious raw materials with high and low starting prices.
The atmosphere in the auction house gradually became hot and as one precious item after another was brought out, countless people rushed to bid. The most expensive item selling for two hundred thousand Saint Crystals, shocking Yang Kai speechless.
He felt that he had greatly underestimated the capital of Shadowed Star’s forces. Most of his understanding of Shadowed Star came from Wu Yi, but Wu Yi came from a relatively small background and didn’t understand the true strength of those great forces or what kind of wealth they possessed.
Apparently there was no lack of rich people on Shadowed Star.
Soon, Yang Kai was infected by the atmosphere of the room and even had the urge to shout out a bid for some items, even knowing they weren’t useful to him.
Fortunately, he was completely broke and had no ability to participate in this auction; however, even if he could participate, he had enough self-control to not do so.
Secretly though, Yang Kai marvelled at these things called auctions. An item worth only ten thousand Saint Crystal could be sold for several times more once it was put up in a good auction, it seemed auctions were definitely a great way to gather money.
Yang Kai was a bit calmer and sensible, but Yang Yan and Wu Yi were completely different. They had become completely caught up in the heat of the auction and even though neither of them were qualified to bid, that didn’t prevent them from standing up, pointing at others, and cheering them on, celebrating when the ones they were rooting for won and sighing forlornly when they failed.
Where had their poised ladylike looks disappear to?
With a slightly blushing face, Yang Kai grabbed two spirit fruits and shoved them into Wu Yi and Yang Yan’s mouths, finally settling them down a bit.
The two female Shadow Moon Hall disciples stood behind them pursing their lips as their shoulders trembled, doing their best to not laugh.
The auction was in full swing, and as time passed, the value of the items Treasure Trove Pavilion brought out was getting higher and higher. For the first hour or two, the auctioned items were basically for the cultivators sitting on the ground floor. Those in the private rooms up above had barely participated up to this point, but after the two-hour mark, voices from the private rooms began calling out with much higher frequency.
The beautiful woman on the stage has been standing there for so long yet the pretty smile on her face never wavered and she didn’t seem the least bit fatigued, her words still ringing out crisp and sweet. At the most appropriate times, she would raise the enthusiasm of those people who were bidding so that every item was sold for a high price.
“The next item to be auctioned is a very special one…” The beautiful woman opened her lips again, her charming voice seemingly drawing Saint Crystals out of the crowd’s pockets, “The reason why this thing is special is that its value may be high or may be low.”
While saying so, the elegantly dressed woman responsible for displaying the auction items stepped out onto the high platform holding a jade plate in her hands. Almost everyone’s eyes were fixed on that jade plate, wanting to know what was being sold as the beautiful woman’s description had been so ambiguous.
Atop the high platform, the woman set down the jade plate and picked up its contents, pinching its corners with her hands and slowly rotating around so that everyone could get a good look at it. Countless Divine Senses swept the stage immediately, and after waiting for everyone to see this item, it was placed back down on the jade plate.
The beautiful female auctioneer giggled and proceeded, “Everyone should have seen it clearly. This is an ancient map! The origin of this ancient map is very special. When one of my Treasure Trove Pavilion’s disciples was out collecting items to be auctioned, he coincidentally saved someone’s life, and in return for his actions, he was given this ancient map. The saved individual said that this was an ancestral relic of his family and according to the research of many experts in my Treasure Trove Pavilion, this ancient map is only a fragment of a much larger map. We don’t know the specific fraction this map is of the complete map, but it is at least several thousand years old. The location pointed to by this ancient map isn’t clear and no one knows what treasures it is hiding. Perhaps there is nothing special at its end, but perhaps… there is amazing wealth, profound inheritance, or high-grade artefacts and Secret Arts just waiting to be discovered!”
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Nine Star Hegemon Body Art has exactly what he said he didnt want. Main Love Interests are constantly seperated. Like constantly they are never all there together. (Ice Waifu is gone for most of the book, and wives are constantly seperated, chapter 2000s) And the romance is ass mc loves any jade like beauty no matter how little interaction or common things they have. His wives also create a cuck squad, and mc doesnt lose his virginity till like chapter 1600+, and guess how he lost it. Fucking non consensual sex. Long Chen(MC) is one hell of a simp. Dude’s wives only kiss him when he gives them money, how laughable hahaha. Lets not even get started on the 11 chapter fights dear fucking god. Enemies constantly get away 3 times before they die. There is so many plot holes it looks like a shower head. So no please dont recommend NSHBA. The only good thing about that novel is comedy, and the ability to piss off more experienced readers. Martial Peak, which is annoying sometimes is one million times better than NSHBA. Anyway. Against the Gods is a fucking MUST read(essentially what NSHBA tries to be). Never gets boring. Martial World, maybe. Shura’s Wrath.
When did ‘Krozam’ mention that *all* the love interests have to constantly be with the MC? Which novel in this genre even does that? Do the novels you recommended have this? Martial World definitely doesn’t, pretty sure the other two also don’t. If this is so, then it would mean that you are actually recommending novels which, according to yourself, are “exactly what [the OP] said he didnt want.” The lack of self-awareness is *astounding*. Was your desire to dish on NSHBA so strong that you couldn’t even stop contradicting yourself?
Since the OP gave importance to become invested in the leads’ romantic relationships, in this context, it would be *extremely* and undeniably weird to say MP is better than NSHBA. The latter has several love interests, each with their own special circumstance and personality, some of them have amazing, mysterious backgrounds, some go through extensive pains for their conviction to become strong enough to protect their love, etc. They often accompany the MC in his battles and adventures (obviously, not *every single one* of them in each of his exploits, duh… weird that this clear thing needs to be explicitly detailed for some people). The MC doesn’t “loves any jade like beauty”, but it’s true that there are many lovers. The lack of interaction before falling in love is a valid criticism. Unfortunately, the author really wastes the love build-up part, however, the partners get a lot of interaction afterward, unlike other authors who at this point push them into the background.
Compare this to MP, where in the past ~1000 Chapters, since the destruction of the High Heaven Pavilion at Chapter 294, the MC has met his two love interests, like what? Two times each? And they have fought together like only once. There are so many women who start having strong romantic feelings for the MC, only to have sad endings. Worse, Qiu Yi Meng, the person who is given the most character development in the novel (arguably, perhaps even more than the MC himself), the woman who spends more time with the MC than his actual love interests and was even willing to commit su*cide rather than have to betray him, is… summarily discarded.
Yeah, this is your “one million times better than NSHBA”, right there.
Regarding other points about NSHBA, MC doesn’t get to be intimate with his wives? Well definitely far better than an MC cheating on his wives with casual hook-ups, and worse, feeling no guilt *at all*? MC’s “wives only kiss him when he gives them money”? Either you are deliberately lying, or too much of an id*ot to even realize that what you’ve said is wrong.
“Enemies constantly get away 3 times before they die”? If we’re being accurate, this is wrong. To shorten this paragraph, basically, this is a common misconception amongst the readers. For example, the first antagonist who follows the three-fight rule comes in Chapter ~260, and in the ~700 chapters leading to around Chapter 1650, iirc, only six antagonists follow this rule. In any case, at least they do actually die, unlike MP where a number of those severely hateful enemies are easily let off to live on happily and probably continue their cruelty, or even worse have the MC be actually grateful to them (Chapter 1150). >_<
Many plot holes? Aside from an instance of forced conflict with one love interest, I didn't come across any major plot holes. Irritate "more experienced readers"? More like only those idiots who give low ratings on Novel Updates after reading just a small portion of the novel.
NSHBA: Meticulous writing (almost everything is given a reason, even tiny things like why do cultivators shout out the names of their martial skills before using them), extensively deeper and richer worldbuilding, multiple important Dao paths (Music, even Wine, and Gambling), much more ancient and grander mysteries, greater stakes, comedy, large scale group battles, battle tactics, combat experience actually matters significantly, a variety of loveable companion monster beasts, weapons and item spirits, some important martial abilities get to grow continuously along with the MC, an MC who usually cares about the lives of innocents, going out of his way to protect them even when there is no advantage to it, deep intricate plots and conspiracies, etc.
vs.
Martial Peak: Up to this chapter, basically less, or none, of the above. And even worse, the MC is quite a bit of a pervert, lecherously looks at women, this counts as harassment (Chapter 151), makes comments demeaning to women (Chapter 436), takes physical advantages of them, even if they are his own allies (Chapter 253) (fortunately, at least these instances are rare); doesn't care much about the deaths of innocents; when the MC commits blunders risking his allies' lives (Chapter 507) or causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands (Chapter 964), he shows not even a tiny bit of guilt and shamelessly makes excuses. Stronger points of MP are quicker overall plot progression (a thousand chapters in, and already the third world/realm), more loner adventures, mutated knowledge seas, more troublesome/detailed Alchemy.
On NSHBA's negative side, it uses some very frustrating plot devices, repeats plots, the Dao of wordcount is at grand completion, the severely lengthy battles, the almost uncountable arrogant young masters. However, there are so many twists and turns and the stakes continue to geometrically rise that the story doesn't become too bland and continues to become even more suspenseful and gripping. NSHBA is not by any means perfect, but most of your criticisms are just plainly ridiculous, *especially* the romance parts.
Thank you all for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter Silavin, PewPewLaserGun, and Leo of Zion Mountain! Can’t wait to see what kind of prices Yang Yan’s equipment and his pills go for.
Can anyone recommend me a novel to read? I’m looking for something along the lines of Martial Peak, Apotheosis and Tales of Demons and Gods. A relatively light-hearted xianxia/xuanhuan, with a relatively humane and intelligent MC. Harem or not, I don’t care, but at least some romance is a must. Also, I hate the trope where the MC’s love interest spends most of her time kidnapped or otherwise held apart from the MC, so preferably something where that doesn’t happen. I have a hard time getting invested in a relationship when the characters barely have any interaction between them. Something like Apotheosis is fine, since the kidnapped girl is his sister, not a love interest.
Hands down, Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. It is sooooooo good. It is right up there with the ones you just mentioned. Truly freaking fantastic. Check it out in wuxiaworld.com. Then there is Versatile Mage, on boxnovel, Crossing to the Future, it’s Not Easy to Be a Man, also on boxnovel, and Eternal Reverence, on creativenovels. I kid you not when I say you cannot go wrong with any of them. I read the latest release from all of them everyday, ontop of what you mentioned, when they are released of course. Enjoy!
Thanks, I’ll check them out. I’m already familiar with Versatile Mage in manhua form (I quite like it), but the others are new for me.
Imperial God Emperor,
Chaotic sword God,
Eternal reverence,
Reverend insanity,
Peerless battle spirit,
Peerless martial God,
Nine star hegemon body art,
Martial world,
Spirit realm,
Ancient strengthening technique,
Sovereign of three realms,
Against the god,
Lord of all realms,…
Against The Gods!