Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 47
“Idiot, if I didn’t have enough money, would I bid? Don’t forget, this master is a Pill Apprentice,” replied Long Chen.
In reality, Long Chen had constantly been using his divine sense to keep track of his surroundings. Their two private rooms were only a few dozen meters away from each other. Although there was no way to hear what they were saying, by examining their lips, he was able to figure out the approximate details of what they were discussing.
Seeing Xia Changfeng treat this Earth class Battle Skill as a must-have item, he had decided to shout out a higher bid.
Although he appeared at ease on the outside, inside, he was still extremely nervous. If he scared Xia Changfeng off, then it would be him who had to pay the final bill.
Four hundred million was something that an ordinary Pill Apprentice wouldn’t be able to pay back even if they spent their entire life refining. But recalling how Xia Baichi had interfered with him and made him pay twenty million to obtain the Starfusing Grass, it would be depressing for him to let that go without revenge.
“Five hundred million! If you have the guts, then try to bid again!” roared Xia Changfeng angrily. He was about to go mad with rage; he had no idea how Long Chen had obtained so much money.
But according to the Huayun Pavilion’s rules, if someone shouted out a bid higher than their crystal card’s limit, they would be viewed as a troublemaker and be expelled from the auction.
Seeing that nothing happened after Long Chen had made his bid, his only conclusion was that Long Chen really did have that much money.
Xia Changfeng’s angry roar echoed throughout the room like a beast’s howl, shaking people’s eardrums.
“Don’t be so excited. I only had a little left on my card. If you had just added ten thousand then you would have won. I rarely admire someone, but I definitely admire prince Xia Changfeng. To use a hundred million as just ten thousand, you really are amazing.”
Long Chen’s voice was filled with admiration. But in Xia Changfeng’s ears, it turned into the most malicious taunt.
“You!”
Xia Changfeng suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood due to this intense anger. Startled cries came from his private room.
The crowd’s expressions were somewhat strange now. For a moment, no one knew whether Long Chen had been speaking the truth or whether he had been deliberately provoking Xia Changfeng.
“Since no one else is bidding, congratulations prince Xia Changfeng, the Earth class Battle Skill is yours.” Yao Niqian skipped right past counting down because she was certain no one would be as foolish as Xia Changfeng.
Seeing that the Earth class Battle Skill had already been auctioned off, everyone started to get up and prepare to leave. But just at this moment, Yao Niqian’s charming laughter rang out.
“In the past, the auction would end with the Earth class Battle Skill, but this year we have an even more unusual item for the end.”
Everyone was shocked. What could be more precious than an Earth class Battle Skill? They all hastily sat back down and stared closely at the stage.
Long Chen smiled. Hehe, a good show was about to start.
[1] As stated before, Battle Skills are split between Mortal, Earth, and Heaven. And readers should consider the ‘secular world’ to be the opposite of the cultivation world. Technically, this place is the ‘secular world’ since there are no cultivation sects.
Chapter 60 Shocking Methods
Yao Niqian banged her gavel. The red curtain behind her slowly opened, revealing a jade platform.
That jade platform shone brightly; it was actually entirely made from the extremely rare Lantian jade.
Lantian jade was exceptionally rare in the Phoenix Cry Empire. Only people with extremely high status could wear Lantian jade as accessories to display their grandeur.
But now they saw an entire platform made of it. Just that platform alone had to be worth millions.
Atop that perfect white jade table was a golden embroidered case which immediately drew everyone’s gaze.
Long Chen couldn’t help but feel admiration at how grand their methods were. The Huayun Pavilion actually used a table worth millions to show off a single item. If he hadn’t known about this before, he would also be extremely curious.
No wonder Fu Gui had been so confident back then when he had told Long Chen that the pavilion would take a fifty percent commision on the final price. It appeared they really did have the confidence to demand such an amount.
They immediately grabbed hold of everyone’s attention. Everyone was completely focused on that golden case.
Yao Niqian smiled and slowly opened the case in front of their eyes, taking out something small from within.
But people almost coughed up blood when they saw that it was just another small case inside the first case. Was there a point to this anticipation?!
She carefully took out that small case. A maid hastily came forward and gave her a snow-white glove.
Putting on the glove, Yao Niqian carefully opened the smaller case. Her cautiousness caused everyone to hold their breath, and it was so quiet that even the drop of a needle could be heard.
A soft sigh of air escaped from the small case as it was opened.
Following the opening of the case, projections appeared on the walls throughout the hall. All the walls became real-time projections of Yao Niqian’s hand.
Through those projections, people could clearly see that what was inside that small case was a round medicinal pill. A faint, ancient aura circulated around that pill.
When Long Chen first saw that, he actually thought it was a mistake. But sweeping over with his divine sense, he immediately understood what was going on and practically prostrated himself to the Huayun Pavilion in admiration.
“This medicinal pill is something that a small group of adventurers found within an ancient cave after fending off great danger. But that cave had many traps, and just for this medicinal pill, their ten-man group was almost exterminated. Only two of them managed to survive. As for the two survivors, one of them died shortly after. Such a tragic story is truly sorrowful, and every adventurer is worthy of respect. They risked their own lives to scout out that extremely unknown area. They are true warriors.” Yao Niqian’s voice was somewhat subdued. Her eyes were red with tears bubbling up.
Long Chen had been drinking tea when he saw that. He almost spat out the tea in shock. Wasn’t this act of hers a little too much? That was the medicinal pill that he had given them!
Of course, Long Chen had repeatedly warned them that they were not to leak the real origin of this pill. If they did, then he wouldn’t sell it.
And now it seemed that the Huayun Pavilion truly did keep their word. They had actually made up such a story and had done something to the outer layer of the medicinal pill. Now, the medicinal pill appeared extremely ancient, and their technique was so perfect that even Long Chen was unable to tell it was fake. The Huayun Pavilion truly had many experts.
“What is this medicinal pill?” The people present were all powerful figures in their own rights. They naturally wouldn’t care about the deaths of some adventurers. What they wanted to know about were this thing’s price and effect.
Yao Niqian wiped her eyes. Who knew whether or not she had been actually crying, but she quickly recovered back to normal and said, “This medicinal pill is a pill from ancient times.”
“An ancient pill?”
Everyone present was extremely startled. Those ancient pills weren’t necessarily medicinal pills refined in the ancient era, but more accurately, they were from pill formulas that were passed around from the ancient times.
Most such ancient pills had already disappeared. However, they were extremely attractive to alchemists.
If an alchemist could use the medicinal pill to extrapolate the pill formula, that would be equivalent to a new start for a lost inheritance, and that alchemist’s name would ring throughout the land.
“Although this is an ancient pil
l, its age definitely does not surpass a hundred years. Everyone should be aware that a medicinal pill’s effect and strength will not fade as long as it is less than two hundred years old. Therefore, this medicinal pill will still have one hundred percent of its effect,” continued Yao Niqian.
“Miss Yao, don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us the name of the medicinal pill! And tell us the effect as well.” Seeing that Yao Niqian still refused to tell them the important part, someone finally ran out of patience.
Seeing that everyone was sufficiently enticed, Yao Niqian smiled and said, “This medicinal pill has gone through our appraising master. Its name is the Flesh Bone Restoration Pill. Now that you’ve heard its name, I’m sure everyone should know what its effect is.”
Sighs of displeasure immediately followed.
“What, just that little effect?”
“A healing pill? Isn’t that too ordinary?
Yao Niqian seemed to not notice their confusion, continuing, “I’m sure everyone knows my Huayun Pavilion’s reputation. We naturally wouldn’t make a joke of ourselves. If this Flesh Bone Restoration Pill really wasn’t valuable, then we wouldn’t have brought it out as the final and most precious item.”
Hearing that, the crowd quieted down. She wasn’t wrong; the Huayun Pavilion definitely wouldn’t disrespect their own brand. Then, did that mean the medicinal pill had some sort of special use?
“If I could be so bold, I’d like to invite a Blood Condensation expert onto the stage to bear witness to the medicinal pill’s effect.” Yao Niqian smiled at the crowd.
“I’ll go!”
Yao Niqian’s charm went without saying. A man in his thirties immediately volunteered.
Everyone felt this was rather strange. In all the previous auctions of the Huayun Pavilion, it seemed this was the first time anyone had been invited onto the auction stage.
That man walked up to the stage. Due to the proximity with Yao Niqian and with how revealing her chest was, he couldn’t help but stare fixedly.
Yao Niqian smiled slightly and didn’t bother about that. She playfully asked, “Is master afraid of pain?”
“Hey, don’t joke. I, Zhao Yang, have roamed the lands for so many years. It’s offensive to ask me that.” That man was a bit depressed now.
Long Chen, in his private room, laughed at that.[1] Zhao Yang? Zao Yang? His name really was appropriate, as a tragedy was about to befall him.
“In that case, Niqian will apologize in advance.”
Suddenly, a cold light flashed. A sword had appeared in Yao Niqian’s hand, and she slashed it down too quickly to react.
Blood splattered in front of everyone’s shocked eyes. Zhao Yang’s arm had been cut off at the elbow by Yao Niqian.
“You-!”
That man hadn’t even had the time to defend himself. With one of his arms cut off, he was about to angrily say something when a sword was pressed up against his throat, cutting him off.
Everyone was completely shocked. Yao Niqian had always been acting so weak and delicate, and yet her attack just now had been exceptionally smooth. She was definitely an expert.
“Sir has already said that he isn’t afraid of pain. Here, take this.” Yao Niqian handed him the Flesh Bone Restoration Pill.
Zhao Yang was scared witless. He swallowed the pill without even thinking about it.
“What?”
Startled cries rang out as soon as he swallowed it. Almost everyone stood up to get a better look.
Only then did Zhao Yang realize something was happening. Looking at his arm, he was shocked to see it miraculously growing back.
In just the time it took for an incense stick to burn, his arm had completely grown back. Flexing his fingers, he was shocked to find that it was completely fine without the slightest feeling of unfamiliarity.
He was absolutely shocked. If it wasn’t for the bloodstained stage and his severed arm on the ground, he would have thought he was hallucinating.
“Damn, how could you waste such a precious medicinal pill like that?” An old man had stood up, panting with rage. His eyes were practically spitting flames as he cursed at Yao Niqian.
Other people also agreed with him. That medicinal pill was practically a divine pill. For it to just disappear like that enraged everyone.
“Miss Yao, are you trying to play us? Give us a clear explanation!” Some people were unable to hold back their anger.
As for Zhao Yang, he listlessly returned back to his own seat. Even now he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Occasionally, he would rub his hand over and over.
Yao Niqian looked at the angered crowd and smiled. This result was even better than what she had hoped.
“Everyone, please calm down. Let me say it again, my Huayun Pavilion will not make jokes with our reputation.”
Banging the gavel, she caused everyone in the crowd to quickly quiet down. Actually, it wasn’t because of her banging the gavel, but because a maid had come up behind Yao Niqian with an embroidered case.
“Everyone, altogether we had two such Flesh Bone Restoration Pills. But everyone should know that such a shocking effect is something that no one would believe even if I told you. So I could only show you. Please forgive me.”
The crowd calmed down quite a bit after hearing that explanation. It was true; if they hadn’t personally witnessed it, no one would believe that this world had a miraculous medicinal pill like that.
Even having personally witnessed its effect, there were still many who didn’t dare believe their own eyes. Several people even went up to Zhao Yang to examine his arm. But that arm was clearly a new arm that had regenerated. There was no way it was fake.
Plus, with the Huayun Pavilion’s reputation, there was no way they would do something like selling fakes. But that pill was just too shocking. People had to be cautious about it.
Long Chen nodded. These crafty unscrupulous business dealers had truly perfected their art.
Yao Niqian opened the case, revealing a Flesh Bone Restoration Pill exactly the same as the last.
“Flesh Bone Restoration Pill, a second tier medicinal pill. I won’t say any more about its effect, but I want to remind everyone that this medicinal pill is only effective in the Blood Condensation realm and below. We originally had two pills, but now after showing off its effect to everyone, this last one is completely unique. Starting bid, one hundred million.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a huge uproar exploded.
[1] In the Chinese, the thing he laughs at is Zhao Yang () sounds like Zao Yang () which means to suffer a calamity.
Chapter 61 Striking Back
“200,000,000!”
A Blood Condensation expert was the first to shout out a bid. He hadn’t gained anything today as a result of the bidding being so fierce.
Due to the prices steadily climbing, the final prices had already exceeded their market value. Thus, he hadn’t spent anything, which was currently his greatest advantage now.
“300,000,000.”
An aged voice came from a white-haired old man in the corner.
That old man had never made a bid the whole time. But as soon as he spoke, everyone immediately recognized him.
“Isn’t that the Tuoji Empire’s grandmaster alchemist, Wang Luyang?”
Although the Tuoji Empire wasn’t as large as the Phoenix Cry Empire and didn’t have an alchemist guild, it had its own alchemy hall.
If a nation didn’t have the support of medicinal pills or martial weapons, it would eventually be destroyed. And martial weapons came second; after all, iron was never in short supply. However, medicinal pills definitely could not be lacking.
That alchemist Wang Luyang was essentially the master of the Tuoji Empire. His status was even greater than their emperor.
There was no way around that. Without the support of an alchemist, the Tuoji Empire would sooner or later be swallowed by one of its larger neighbors.
That was why as soon as Wang Luyang bid, it immediately sc
ared off many people. That was because he was equivalent to an emperor. His financial resources were incredible.
The reason he had never bid before was because he hadn’t seen anything that interested him. A person like him wouldn’t easily take action; but once he did, it would be a sure win.
An ordinary second tier middle grade medicinal pill normally sold for three to four hundred thousand. But now the price had multiplied by a thousand, meaning that only a few could participate.
Such a treasure was one that could only be found by luck. If someone lost an arm during a battle, then their combat ability would definitely sharply drop and they would eventually be killed.
But the Flesh Bone Restoration Pill was equivalent to a life-saving treasure. Xia Changfeng and Xia Baichi were incredibly regretful that they hadn’t prepared more money and could only watch as this treasure was purchased by someone else.
“400,000,000.”
Marquis Ying’s distinctive voice rang out. No one had expected that he would also participate.
“500,000,000.”
Wang Luyang didn’t hesitate at all and immediately bid higher. That was his confidence. Although Marquis Ying was a noble, his financial resources were not as profound as Wang Luyang who controlled an empire.
The entire crowd was stunned to find that an insignificant middle grade second tier medicinal pill was actually being sold at the same price as an Earth class Battle Skill.
Even Long Chen felt his heart jumping wildly. It appeared this world had lost many pill formulas. Those ancient pill formulas in his Pill Sovereign memories were equivalent to an endless treasure trove.
But he also felt a bit of worry. Just a Flesh Bone Restoration Pill could cause this much of an uproar.
If others were to learn that this medicinal pill had come from him, that would definitely be dangerous. Perhaps he had been too reckless this time.
But since it was already like this, regret was useless. Now he could only hope that the Huayun Pavilion’s reputation would protect this secret.
The entire crowd had turned silent after Wang Luyang’s bid of five hundred million. Even Marquis Ying had become silent. Five hundred million was a price even he couldn’t bear to waste.