Through the efforts of her little devils, the total wealth of the Pink Devils exceeded two thousand high-quality spirit gems, and as the cult master, Iris carried half of that amount with her. Considering that this only took them a couple of months to gather, even major-level forces would be shocked as a low-rank major-level force had an annual income of 500-1000 high-quality spirit gems.
While the amount she had would be enough to afford a few blessed tesora-rank artifacts, she knew she had to prioritise her original reason for coming to the auction.
The bids for the sinister artifact started at fifty high-quality spirit gems and went up by ten each time. The starting bids were mainly done for fun or for the sake of collecting interesting items, so the bids slowed down once the price reached two hundred high-quality spirit gems and eventually stopped at three hundred and fifty high-quality spirit gems.
Two more artifacts were auctioned off before Iris' target finally appeared on stage.
"Compared to the items before it, this mask is certainly plain, but what it lacks in glamour it more than makes up for in utility."
The white mask being introduced by the auctioneer was a blessed tesora-rank artifact with the ability to obfuscate the user's physical features and aura and was effective on those below the Master Realm. Its innate insights had been absorbed, but for the type of people that were guests of this underground auction, this artifact had high appeal. Once again the bidding started at fifty high-quality spirit gems and quickly reached two hundred before slowing down at three hundred.
It was at this time that Iris pressed the button by her chair and said, "Four hundred."
Although there were others who wanted the mask, hearing the confident voice that came from a private room made them hesitate. The sounds coming from the private rooms were disguised to maintain anonymity, but anyone given a private room was someone to be wary of, so those in open seats weren't sure they could outbid them. In fact, so far every time an item caught the interest of someone from a private room, it either ended up with them or another private room resident. For two counts, Iris' bid was uncontested, but before the third and final count, a competitor appeared.
"Five hundred."
Iris couldn't tell who the bidder was since they were also in a private room, but the conceited tone reminded her of the little girl who had confronted her earlier. Iris wasn't sure if she truly wanted this artifact or if she found out that Iris was in this private room, but either way she had expected this to some degree.
"Six hundred."
"Seven hundred."
"Nine hundred."
Regardless of who her competitor was or their purpose, Iris maintained her composure. Once the bid went above 1000 high-quality spirit gems, she would have to dip into her personal funds, but she wouldn't be able to compete if Aria was willing to borrow from her connections. However, that would make things easier in a sense. She wasn't afraid to save money and teach a vixen some manners.
"One thousand."
"One thousand two hundred."
It was uncertain if the other party was at the limit of their wallet or if they sensed her limit and decided to stop before she gave up, but they didn't respond to Iris' final bid. Iris was still upset by how much extra she had to pay, but she was certain she would be able to recoup her investment. After receiving the artifact from the auction staff, Iris began to admire it when suddenly a knife emerged from the shadows and headed for her back. If she had been unprepared, then this would have left her with a fatal wound at the very least, but thanks to Shui's warning, she had been on her guard since reaching the venue.
The knife was deflected by an invisible barrier and returned to the shadow it came from. Soon coughs and wheezes could be heard from that shadow, and eventually a corpse rolled out from it. Iris' barrier was actually the product of an artifact that left a strong poison on any person or thing that threatened to damage the user. It used up a significant amount of energy, so she couldn't always have it active, but it was perfect for ambushes that she was prepared for.
After taking everything of value from the corpse and erasing the body, Iris returned to her seat. She no longer had any reason to stay, but she was interested in seeing the rest of the show.
Once the artifacts were auctioned off, next up was a broad section of items grouped as special knowledge. It included cultivation methods, spells, ancient historical texts, treasure maps, etc. The wide variety made it hard to predict what might appear, so it was one of the most popular sections of the auction.
The audience eagerly awaited the next item up for auction, but it never came. Instead, there was a loud explosion from one of the private seating areas.
"What?!"
"Intruder!"
Within the dust caused by the explosion, Fox silently escaped. She had fended off assassins aiming for her target only to make her move once the special knowledge section started. At the start of each section, the auction staff would prepare all the items of that section to go on stage so she knew that the map fragment would be there.
Once the explosion occurred, people naturally started to escape without waiting for an announcement from the staff. However, there was an abnormally high number of slips and tripped feet, as if someone had intentionally made the floor hard to walk on. While the audience were struggling to move, the lingering assassins decided to take their chances and went all out on the two remaining targets.
Against the group of assassins that charged at her as soon as she left her room, Iris pulled the grey whip that was wrapped around her waist. She didn't know when, but at some point Shui had dropped it off in her room.
"Perfect. I was looking for a chance to break this in."
Even though they couldn't hear what she said, the assailants felt a chill when they saw the look in her eyes. They knew it was risky to take action at this stage, but they didn't want to lose this opportunity to their competition.
The assassins attacked from different directions and with different techniques. They were all determined to kill Iris first and then decide the final victor among themselves afterwards. Although she was a target for their rank advancement mission, they didn't think she would be very strong given how she earned her reputation. Those who reached her the fastest were also the first to learn how mistaken they were.
When she swung her whip, it wrapped around the necks of the three assassins closest to her, and with a tug, those heads fell to the ground. The spurts of blood from their necks stopped the other assassins from getting closer and dyed the hallway red.
"Why stop? Aren't you all here for me?"
They weren't wrong to assume that Iris' demonic method wasn't very useful in battle, but just like she was strict on her son, she was also strict on herself.
From an early age, she learnt a variety of weapons, and even after marrying into the Heaven clan, she secretly kept up her training. Furthermore, after becoming a demonic cultivator, she made a habit of wandering into dangerous areas to hone her skills. This moulded her into a beast that could devour her opponent in two meanings of the word.
Iris looked at the assassins who glared back at her, and raised her whip with a beautiful smile on her face.
"Don't be afraid. I'll be gentle."