by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Long Chen couldn’t help but shake his head. Businessmen truly were all evil.
They truly were planning on plucking away everyone’s money. This golden armor would definitely be sold for over a million.
That was why Yao Niqian had tossed out such a low starting price. It was in order to slowly entice everyone and gradually excite everyone’s mood.
This was just like boiling a frog. If Yao Niqian’s display was too seductive, many people would be on alert inside. Although most men thought with their lower halves, it didn’t mean all people were fools.
Now, Yao Niqian was acting extremely tranquil. She would only occasionally say a few words. But whenever someone shouted out a high price, her roving gaze would always brighten and pause over that person for a while.
“Give up Shi Feng. That thing is definitely not cheap. Don’t be fooled by the beginning price,” advised Long Chen.
Although that golden armor looked good for an auction, and its defense was irrefutable, it wasn’t actually that practical. It was only useful in small battles. In a large battle, who would wear such a gaudy armor? And if you were to wear such a cumbersome heavy armor at other times, you would be asking for death.
And even if it was a small battle, if you were to wear such a shiny armor without the strong enough martial might, it would also be no different than asking for death.
In a battle between armies, the main hope was to kill the opposing officers. Wearing something that gaudy would inevitably attract trouble.
Frankly speaking, this armor was just for looks. If it really was something good, the Huayun Pavilion wouldn’t be foolish enough to bring it out as the first item.
Normally, the first item to be auctioned was always the hardest to pick for the auctioneers. It had to attract people’s eyes, but it couldn’t be too expensive. Otherwise, it might negatively impact the items following it.
And thus, this golden armor, which appeared awe-inspiring yet didn’t have much use, had been chosen to start the auction. As expected, it ended up attracting quite a few people.
After Shi Feng heard Long Chen, he also gave up on it. Originally, he had thought that with a starting price of a hundred thousand, he should be able to get it for less than three hundred thousand. He hadn’t thought of the other’s shenanigans.
In just a couple of breaths’ time, the golden armor’s price had already exceeded eight hundred thousand. And furthermore, the bids had yet to stop. This caused Shi Feng to completely give up any thoughts of it.
“Damn, are these even people anymore? How can they spend that much money?” Shou Hou gulped.
“All the people qualified to be invited here have the cash to spare. Just the first item is like this. I can’t even imagine what kind of intensity the bidding will reach for the rest of the items,” sighed fatty Yu.
Although they were all part of the nobility as noble heirs, they were still speechless at the amount of gold coins being spent.
Back when Long Chen had fought with Li Hao, the person with the most money in their group had been fatty Yu. He had saved all his money since his childhood and still only had eighty thousand gold coins.
Just as they were sighing, the bidding of the golden armor easily broke through a million gold coins.
“1,050,000!”
“1,080,000!”
“1,150,000!”
Even after going past a million, there were still a dozen people bidding. They had been completely enraptured with the golden armor, and even their eyes had turned somewhat red.
“1,500,000!”
Suddenly, Xia Changfeng’s voice came from his private room, calming down the bids by quite a lot.
“He really is worthy of being the Grand Xia’s crown prince. With just one look, he managed to see just how valuable the golden armor is. Are there any higher bids?” Yao Niqian exclaimed in admiration.
“1,510,000!” shouted a middle-aged man.
“1,800,000.”
Xia Changfeng’s voice was still as calm as ever, giving off the impression that he was just playing around. His voice caused others to feel uneasy.
That middle-aged man’s face became a bit unsightly. Shaking his head, he didn’t continue bidding. It was obvious that one million eight hundred thousand gold coins had already surpassed his max.
“One million eight hundred going once!”
“One million eight hundred going twice!”
“Sold for one million eight hundred thousand. Congratulations Grand Xia’s prince! By purchasing this golden armor, you’ve become the first winner of the auction this time. Congratulations!”
Yao Niqian’s words were perfectly tuned in order to let people feel comfortable and at ease. Long Chen had no choice but to admit she was a truly skilled businesswoman.
“Haha, it’s just a bit of money. I wonder whether this prince has the qualifications to invite young miss to an evening meal?” Xia Changfeng suddenly walked out of his private room and asked Yao Niqian out to dinner.
“Respected Grand Xia prince, this little one cannot bear such glory. However, now is not the time to talk about that,” laughed Yao Niqian.
“This prince was too rude. Please continue.” Xia Changfeng indifferently smiled. He returned to his private room confidently and with ease.
A disdainful smile appeared on Long Chen’s face when he looked at Xia Changfeng. With just his intelligence, he dared to have a battle of wits with a skilled woman like Yao Niqian?
The second item was brought out, and as Long Chen had expected, it was not a ‘flashy but useless’ item like that golden armor.
This item truly was not flashy; it was a deed to a plot of land. Long Chen didn’t know much about it, but that deed caused quite a commotion when it was brought out.
It seemed that deed truly was quite attractive to some of the people. That was also due to the Huayun Pavilion’s brilliance.
Their auction wares were meant to be attractive to everyone. Anyone who came to the auction would find something that they were interested in.
The diverse items being auctioned were only collected by them after spending a year saving up. And for them to prepare such an auction, it naturally required a great deal of manpower.
After the bidding competition, that deed was won by a rich merchant for eight million gold coins. When he obtained it, he went crazy with joy. It seemed that he had made a profit.
Another three items were brought out. Although everything was very novel, none of those items drew Long Chen’s interest.
But what gave Long Chen a surprise was the sixth item; it was actually a living creature.
A young tiger was trapped in a cage. It was five feet long, but its fur clearly showed that it had only just been born. Its eyes opened wide, and it looked extremely adorable.
“Second rank Magical Beast – Golden Striped Tiger. Special golden stripes grow over its fur and will appear extremely beautiful once it is fully grown. I’m sure everyone knows that amongst second rank Magical Beasts, the Golden Striped Tiger is the easiest to tame. In other words, even someone without a cultivation base would be able to raise it. The Golden Striped Tiger only mates five times in its lifetime, so this infant is very precious. Everyone should take advantage of this rare opportunity. Infant Golden Striped Tiger, starting bid of five hundred thousand gold coins.”
As soon as she stopped speaking, the crowd went crazy as they shouted out bids.
“600,000!”
“800,000!”
“1,100,000!”
Once an infant second rank Magical Beast grew up, that would be equivalent to a Blood Condensation expert! Moreover, its combat ability would be even greater than most Blood Condensation cultivators. Who wouldn’t be tempted?
“Damn, I really want it, but the price is definitely going to be sky-high.” Shi Feng rarely cursed, but this time he couldn’t help it. The Golden Striped Tiger was simply too attractive.
It wasn’t just Shi Feng; Long Chen was also tempted. Back then, he ha
d especially admired Meng Qi’s Magical Beast.
Although he wasn’t a Beast Tamer, as long as he raised this Magical Beast to trust him, then he would also be able to use it for fights.
The current price had already broken through one million five hundred thousand when Long Chen suddenly shouted:
“3,000,000!”
Long Chen immediately doubled the price, causing quite a few people to give up. Three million was already a price to cause many people to shrink back, and the crowd became silent.
Long Chen couldn’t help but celebrate inside. If it had continued by slow increments, three million would probably not have been able to stop everyone. Now that he had increased the price so sharply, it seemed he should be able to win.
“3,010,000!”
Just as Long Chen thought the infant Golden Striped Tiger would land in his hands, a woman’s voice that was filled with hatred rang out.
Chapter 56 Starfusing Grass
As soon as he heard that voice, Long Chen recognized that it was from Xia Baichi.
After she had lost the pill battle to him and angrily revealed the scandal between her and Wei Cang, it was as if she had completely disappeared.
Now, it seemed that this idiot woman would not let him obtain the infant Golden Striped Tiger so easily.
“3,500,000.”
“3,510,000.”
As soon as Long Chen countered, Xia Baichi immediately followed without hesitation. The rest of the crowd was completely silent.
In reality, an average Golden Striped Tiger’s price was somewhere between two million to two million five hundred thousand. But due to the lack of supply, it wasn’t something that could be bought so easily.
As soon as the infant was taken from its mother, it had to be immediately sold off. Otherwise, if even just a couple weeks passed, the infant would have grown too much, and the difficulty in taming it would shoot up, making it not worth the price.
That was why Long Chen’s bid of three million was actually quite reasonable. Since such an opportunity was rather rare, it was worth it to spend a bit of extra money.
Now that the price had surpassed three million five hundred, Long Chen had already given up on it. However, since it was Xia Baichi, he couldn’t just let it go so easily.
He needed to get the Starfusing Grass. It should be coming up extremely quickly, and if that idiot woman deliberately messed with him, the price of the Starfusing Grass might skyrocket past his reach.
“4,000,000.” Long Chen ground his teeth, and a trace of anger had entered his voice.
“4,010,000.” Xia Baichi seemed to have heard Long Chen’s anger. Her mood improved greatly, and her voice even had some joy in it.
Long Chen was even more sure that this idiot woman was trying to mess with him. She probably wasn’t even interested in this Golden Spotted Tiger; her target was him.
“5,000,000,” retorted Long Chen angrily.
“5,010,000.”
As expected, as soon as Long Chen put his bid, Xia Baichi’s voice would immediately follow. The crowd was watching both of the private rooms; everyone understood that the two of them were at odds with each other.
“That woman is a Grand Xia princess. But as for the other private room, it sounds like he’s very young. I don’t think I recognize the voice.”
“Wow, do you even get any news? You don’t recognize the voice of Phoenix Cry’s number one warrior of the junior generation?”
With this reminder, that person immediately understood. No wonder the Grand Xia’s princess would go against him; so it was Long Chen!
On the day of the Phoenix Cry Lantern Festival, everyone had seen Xia Baichi lose to Long Chen, and she had fallen into disrepute. The reason everyone despised her now was because of Long Chen, so it was obvious that she was now aiming for him.
Yao Niqian looked from Long Chen’s private room to Xia Baichi’s private room. No one knew what she was thinking, but a bright smile appeared on her charming lips.
“Baichi, don’t waste too much. The auction has just started, and we still have to see whether there will be other good things in the auction later. We can’t spend too much just for revenge against him,” Xia Changfeng advised Xia Baichi.
This was just the start. The best items had yet to appear, and if they were to run out of money too early, then they would only be able to watch as the precious items were taken away by others.
“No, I definitely can’t let him off after he humiliated me. I also lost the beast flame to that scoundrel. Don’t worry, I’ll use my personal money. I definitely won’t dip into yours.” Xia Baichi was viciously glaring at Long Chen’s private room.
“Then fine. But there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, so calm down a bit. Just let it go if he raises the price again.”
Seeing how obstinate Xia Baichi was acting now, Xia Changfeng also had no way to calm her down. He really didn’t have any way to handle this younger sister of his. After all, she was a Pill Apprentice who could even be counted as having reached Pill Adept, and that status was even slightly greater than his status as a prince.
Long Chen smiled slightly. If she wanted to play, then he’d play. In any case, just waiting around was boring.
“Congratulations to princess Baichi on obtaining the infant Golden Spotted Tiger,” smiled Yao Niqian. A couple of aides brought the infant down.
Since the price for it had already reached a sky-high five million gold coins, there was no need for her to call out any ‘going once, going twice’. She directly skipped that, as it would only result in an awkward silence.
Xia Baichi was surprised. When she realized that Long Chen had schemed to make her waste her money, she couldn’t help but angrily curse, “Long Chen, you definitely won’t have a good death!”
When encountering a random crazy person’s shouting and cursing, you absolutely could not try to argue with them. One, you’d never be able to win an argument against an idiot, and two, even if you won, it would still be a kind of disgrace.
So, Long Chen just laughed and hid inside his private room. He could imagine what Xia Baichi’s current expression was.
The auction continued, and all kinds of precious items and oddities were brought out, dazzling the crowd. But Long Chen was no longer low-key like he had been for the previous items. He practically shouted out at least one bid for every single item.
The result was that as long as Long Chen bid, Xia Baichi would immediately follow. She would always bid an extra ten thousand against him, and for a while, the auction became just a battlefield between the two of them.
“1,800,000!”
“1,810,000!”
“2,500,000!”
“2,510,000!”
…
Yao Niqian laughed to the side. She didn’t say anything as both parties shouted with all their force.
“Baichi, stop making trouble. He’s clearly just playing you. No matter how much money you have, it won’t be enough,” said Xia Changfeng angrily.
Under Long Chen’s enthusiastic help, Xia Baichi had already bought over a dozen items, most of them being absolutely useless to her. She had already spent over two hundred million gold coins.
Xia Changfeng couldn’t help but feel a bit regretful. Originally, Xia Baichi hadn’t even wanted to come. Due to the details of her affair with Wei Cang spreading out to the whole city, she had kept hiding in her room without daring to show herself.
But Xia Changfeng had wanted her to come out to this auction in order to get her out of the mood she was in, as well as for financial assistance to bid for the things he wanted. After all, as a Pill Apprentice, she had plenty of money.
However, Xia Baichi had thrown out two hundred million gold coins in just a short time. He couldn’t help but feel distressed at how much money she was wasting.
At this time, Xia Baichi had also become clear-headed. No matter how much money she had, there was no way she could buy everything here. If she continued on like this, then she
would just be playing into Long Chen’s scheme.
“You don’t need to be so worried, princess. If you want revenge, wait until Long Chen truly goes for something. Taking revenge then won’t be too late,” smiled crown prince Chu Yang.
“Yes, brother Chu Yang is correct. Since he has a private room, the Huayun Pavilion must expect that he is planning on buying some important things,” advised Xia Changfeng.
Hearing the two of them, Xia Baichi’s anger calmed a bit. But her hatred of Long Chen only continued to grow.
Ever since she had first met Long Chen, she had suffered defeat after defeat. Long Chen was her nemesis, completely suppressing her.
Xia Baichi now stopped competing with Long Chen over the bids. Once the two of them calmed down, the auction once more returned to its normal state.
At this time, the sky had already darkened. The auction paused temporarily in order to serve dinner. They opened the curtains, and hundreds of women walked out with dining cars covered in delicious foods and alcohol.
This dinner was offered for free by the Huayun Pavilion. They were worried people might leave if they got hungry.
“Brother Long, we should go down too. To be honest, we were so nervous with what was happening with you and Xia Baichi that we’re now incredibly hungry,” said fatty Yu.
“No need to go down.”
Long Chen shook his head. Two beautiful maids came in with a long table and set it down.
There were dozens of rich dishes on the table. The smell coming off of them caused people to drool in anticipation.
But that fatty Yu only foolishly looked at the two maids, completely forgetting his hunger.
“Everyone, please eat. We’ll pour the alcohol.” Those two maids paid no attention to fatty Yu’s gaze. Their gazes swept over Long Chen with some delight.
“Oh, so it’s you guys.”
Long Chen was a bit surprised that these two were two of the four who had welcomed him when he had come to the Huayun Pavilion earlier.
“Ah, young master Long Chen, so you actually remember us.”
