Chapter Sixty-Three: The Demon’s Treasure

After the Oracle accepted the portrait and guaranteed that “resources will be mobilized to help find” the mysterious woman, discussions about her naturally came to a temporary halt.

Of course, even if the Lingyin Merchant Association was incredibly powerful, they definitely wouldn’t be able to find the actual person depicted in the painting. Not to mention the existence of the Mask of the God Fox; expecting to find someone purely based on a single painting among the billions of beings in the Holy Empire and the entire world was downright unrealistic.

The main issue was that this world lacked photographs, and the painting wasn’t made directly from the Priestess herself. It couldn’t be said to bear a complete resemblance to Miss Vilyric; it merely captured a fraction of her expression and her key features of black hair and white robe. If the Priestess had any sisters or cousins, they could easily be mistaken for the person in the painting.

Clearly, as Yuna said, relying solely on the vague recollection of an ordinary ferry old man to perfectly recreate the appearance of someone seen only once was nothing short of a pipe dream. Achieving such a level of recall was already quite impressive, along with the artist’s high skill.

While the three above were chatting idly, the auction below continued to proceed in an orderly fashion, with increasingly rare treasures appearing, including a piece of rather niche spiritual equipment that caused quite a stir.

Indeed, while Vilyric had seen quite a number of strong individuals up to this point, quality high-grade equipment was still exceedingly rare, with substantial gaps in availability.

The Sylvester Burwell, self-proclaimed Demon Alchemist from the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, and Sylvania herself actually possessed the ability to craft equipment above the spiritual artifact level, but as she later mentioned, this was also a skill she had learned from someone else.

That person was also the creator of the peculiar equipment dubbed “Purposeless,” which couldn’t be specifically identified by the Intelligence Detection, yet had incredibly unique effects—one of the true members of the Twilight Council. However, due to certain contractual limitations, Sylvania couldn’t reveal more information about them.

Aside from that, Vilyric hadn’t seen too many rare pieces of equipment. Weapons blessed by Gods such as the Demon Lord’s Gem aside, even the United Kingdom, one of the top five nations in the world, only publicly possessed three spiritual treasures.

Although, after her ascension, a certain Queen once privately told Vilyric that indeed, the royal treasury of the United Kingdom secretly housed several immensely powerful treasures that were at least at the spiritual artifact level. Even she, upon becoming Queen, was surprised when she saw them—she even secretly asked someone whether they’d like to take one out for use…

However, this still did nothing to change the fact that high-level equipment was quite scarce in this world. Thus, for the Lingyin Merchant Association to directly bring out spiritual treasures for sale, even if it was niche and priced high, was already a remarkable achievement.

You should know, today was merely a routine quarterly sale, not a special limited auction.

But even so, that spiritual treasure was still not the star attraction of the entire auction. The real highlight was yet to come.

“Next, we arrive at the final item of this auction. I believe many of you from around the world… have already received news and came specifically for this, right? Ha ha, without further ado, let’s bring out the treasure!”

With hardly any flowery opening remarks, the young auctioneer from the Lingyin Merchant Association snapped his fingers, and the bright magical lights in the hall abruptly extinguished. Instead, an exceptionally bright beam of light shone straight towards him.

Beneath the floor, a round pedestal began to slowly rise, seemingly carrying an unspecified object covered in a red cloth—about the size of an adult’s palm at most.

The handsome auctioneer reached for the red cloth and, as he slowly unveiled it, his voice rose with a professional flair, resonating throughout the hall.

“This is the legendary personal treasure of one of the four Demon Lords, the King of Corrosion—Enchantment Pearl!”

“…?”

Upon hearing such a title, Vilyric instinctively turned her head to glance at the Saint of Bright Light beside her, only to see her still seated with her usual gentle smile, unfazed, as if she had known all along that this would be the final item.

Wow, this is really interesting.

The Lingyin Merchant Association had some serious connections, daring to openly auction off a treasure from a demon right in the Holy Empire’s western capital, in the very castle where the Saint of Bright Light resided. The key point was, Yuna, knowing all this, chose to remain indifferent?

This practically screamed “there’s something fishy going on.”

Meanwhile, the next explanation from the auctioneer flowed back to the Priestess’s ears through the amplification device.

“As everyone knows, demons are the number one historical enemy of the Holy Empire; they are cunning, treacherous, and cruel, with methods that are mysterious and unfathomable. Among them, the four Demon Lords of Chaos, Killing, Corrosion, and Impurity are the most notorious. Surely everyone here has some understanding of them, so I won’t elaborate further.”

“And this Enchantment Pearl is a treasured item from the King of Corrosion’s possession. The association cannot rashly assign an exact rating, but the effects of this item are certainly shocking.”

After a slight pause, seemingly to pique the audience’s curiosity, the auctioneer continued in a loud voice.

“There are many varieties of demons, and each of the four Demon Lords represents a specific signature race. The King of Corrosion primarily symbolizes the Succubus race.”

“Compared to most powerful demon species, a succubus’s combat ability is recognized as one of the weakest among its rank. However, their exceptional abilities to beguile, disguise, and disrupt minds are unparalleled. These creatures often infiltrate enemy lines during large conflicts, causing havoc secretly. Perhaps… some local guests here have had encounters with them and witnessed their enchanting prowess?”

“This Enchantment Pearl is said to be personally forged by the King of Corrosion, a mind-bending item that masterfully combines power and soul manipulation. Once this pearl is unleashed, it can almost compel any level of strong being to bow and submit, at the user’s will!”

As he reached the climax of his speech, the auctioneer perfectly pulled away the red cloth revealing the object within.

There sat a smooth, round crystal orb, radiating a tempting pink hue, yet it shimmered with a myriad of enchanting colors, captivating anyone who glanced at it, leading them to want to drown in its allure. It was somewhat similar to the shape of the Demon Lord’s Gem but only about two-thirds its size; it would seem slightly inadequate as a gem embedded on the top of a staff but fit perfectly in the hand for play.

As the treasure made its appearance, the auctioneer’s excited shout echoed through the hall, nearly hoarse with enthusiasm.

“Today’s final showcase item, the Enchantment Pearl, starting bid ———300 million Holy Light Coins!”

“Now, let the bidding begin!!!!”