“One hundred million Jade from our Ten Aristocratic Houses for the twenty-four Central Spirit-Vein Nodes! We’ll fence them off into private noble hot-spring resorts!”
Grand Preceptor Sima Quan slammed his golden clan bidding token onto the balcony rail of the Imperial Box.
The heavy gold token hit the stone with a resounding crack, sending a sharp wave of Golden Core pressure rippling across the fourth floor. Sima Quan stood tall, his long grey beard trembling with arrogant triumph. Above his jeweled crown, a dark, sickly crimson score hovered in Lin Mo’s vision: [Sima Quan | Goodness: -38/100].
Behind Sima Quan, twelve aristocratic patriarchs in shimmering brocade chuckled in deep satisfaction.
Down on the central stage, twenty-four massive pedestals of white spirit-jade rose into the spotlight.
Unlike the twelve dry provincial nodes auctioned moments earlier, these twenty-four Central Planetary Spirit-Vein Core Nodes were alive and vibrant. Carved from radiant white quartz and celestial granite, the core spheres pulsed with swirling currents of emerald, azure, and gold.
Warm mineral mist billowed from their surface, filling the grand auditorium with the invigorating scent of sweet mountain springs and morning lotus blossoms. These twenty-four nodes controlled the entire water and Qi distribution grid of the Central Plains, feeding millions of fertile farm fields and commoner wells around the capital.
