Chapter 2028, Black Jade Furnace
Yang Kai and Kang Si Ran took their seats and began chatting, but soon after, drums played and down in the auction hall, a short old man with white hair and beard jumped onto the auction platform all of a sudden.
This man’s appearance was quite eye-catching. He wore loose and baggy clothes, his hair was unkempt, and he had the red nose of a drunk. On his waist, there was a big green wine gourd. At first glance, everyone would think of him as a beggar from the streets.
As soon as the old man stepped on the stage, he let out a hearty laugh, lifted the big gourd on his waist like there was no one watching, removed the cork, and poured a strong-smelling wine straight down his throat.
After a few loud gulps, he actually gave a loud burp and narrowed his eyes slightly in satisfaction. He looked as if he would have no regrets even if he ended up dying right this moment.
The smell of wine quickly permeated through the hall.
“This…” Yang Kai was dumbstruck at this sight, his eyes looking as if they were ready to pop out at any moment.
He had participated in several auctions in his native Star Field, but in every one of those, the host had either been a sophisticated or seductive woman, or a scholarly well-kept man. He had never seen a host as unique as this old man on the high platform.
“Alchemist Yang, you only arrived in Maplewood City recently, so it’s not a surprise you don’t know him,” Kang Si Ran broke into a fit of laughter, and before Yang Kai could ask anything, he explained. “He is one of the two Vice City Lords of Maplewood City, no one knows his exact name, but since he calls himself Drunkard, everyone else does as well.”
“He’s one of the two Vice City Lords? Wouldn’t that make him a Dao Source Realm master?” Yang Kai was extremely shocked.
“Yes! He is a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, but as for his specific strengths, that’s unknown. Rumour has it that his true strength isn’t much worse than that of City Lord Duan’s and he is actually capable of fighting cultivators above his realm,” Kang Si Ran said.
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement as he asked with a smile, “Is it okay to let him preside over the auction? I think he’s already drunk.”
To that, Kang Si Ran just smiled and said, “Don’t judge him by his appearance, Drunkard has a very prestigious reputation in Maplewood City, beating up ruffians and helping the down-trodden, being generous and kind to the poor. He is a good man.”
Yang Kai nodded, “If that’s the case, then there should be no problem.”
At that moment, Drunkard seemed to be reminiscing about the taste of his wine, but after a moment, he returned to his senses, glanced around, and cupped his fist, “I believe all our honoured guests recognize this old man already. En, it doesn’t matter if you don’t recognize me either. This old man isn’t here to make friends, but to host an auction anyways, so don’t stare at this old man; just focus on the auction items.”
Just as he said this, many cultivators in the hall broke into laughter. Yang Kai also found him quite interesting. This old man didn’t seem to have the slightest aloofness and arrogance a Dao Source master should have, but was instead calm and carefree.
“Good, this old man despises troublesome things, so obviously this old man didn’t want to host this auction, but Sir City Lord suddenly came out and offered me some good wine, getting me to agree to this while I was drunk. Sir City Lord is really too sinister, damn it all! Anyway, this old man is in a hurry, so act decisively during the auction because this old man won’t wait, he has to go out and bask in the sun as soon as possible,” Drunkard quickly said as he walked up to the dais.
Hearing what he said, many people put on serious expressions.
“Good, enough nonsense, let the auction begin,” Drunkard said in a low voice as he gestured towards the back.
A maid of the City Lord’s Mansion immediately came out from backstage, carrying a jade plate. On this jade plate was a white porcelain bottle. From the looks of it, the first item going to be auctioned today was a pill.
“Soul Condensing Pills, an ancient lost pill, three pills in total to be auctioned off together, the starting bid is 30,000 Source Crystals, and each raise should not be less than 1,000 Source Crystals, begin.” Finished with the introduction, Drunkard stood in place silently.
“Soul Condensing Pill, it’s really a Soul Condensing Pill!? If Soul Condensing Pills are being auctioned first, just what kind of treasures will appear next?”
“It’s said that taking a Soul Condensing Pill can temper one’s Soul, making their Spiritual Energy and Divine Sense stronger. I wonder if it’s true or not.”
“This is an Origin King Grade High-Rank pill! It can’t be refined by any of Maplewood City’s Alchemists under normal circumstances.”
After hearing the words ‘Soul Condensing Pill’, all the cultivators present instantly became enthusiastic; after all, it was difficult to increase the strength of one’s Soul, and a powerful Divine Sense was useful for many things, including searching, concealment, and even direct confrontations. These Soul Condensing Pills were useful to all cultivators.
“31,000!”
“32,000!”
“35,000!”
The bids kept rising in the hall, one after another, and even some from the private rooms participated. Not long after, the bottle of Soul Condensing Pills broke through the 50,000 Source Crystals mark.
It wasn’t until someone called out 60,000 Source Crystals that the hall temporarily turned calm.
“60,000 going once, going twice, going thrice, and sold! This bottle of Soul Condensing Pill is sold to the friend who just made the bid, please take your Source Crystals and go backstage to claim your item. Now, let’s move on to the next item!”
Drunkard, who had been standing on the high platform with his eyes closed, closed the deal all of a sudden and moved on to the next item without giving others even a chance to react.
“This…”
“So fast!”
“Is this an auction or selling by compulsion!?”
“Senior Drunkard’s conduct is really too much!”
An uproar immediately broke out in the hall, with many objecting. Obviously, no cultivator had experienced such an auction before. Normally, auction hosts would ask again and again for higher bids, like they feared selling the item at lower than the deserved price, but Drunkard didn’t seem to care about it at all.
It really seemed like he wanted to end the auction as early as possible and then go to sleep under the sun…
For a moment, the cultivators who had been hesitating on whether to increase the bid or not just now were extremely annoyed, while on the other hand, the man who made the last bid of 60,000 got up from his seat with a face filled with joy at having picked up a bargain and immediately rushed to the backstage to finalize the deal.
After having come to learn about Drunkard’s impatient style, every cultivator bid passionately during the subsequent auctions. When they found something they wanted, they didn’t hesitate, and the rate of bids coming in only grew faster and faster. Everyone was afraid that Drunkard would call the winner before they managed to call their bid.
This way, the auction suddenly progressed extremely quickly, and in less than half an hour, more than forty items had been auctioned off.
This was completely the opposite of all auctions Yang Kai had participated in before.
Pills, artifacts, Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, all appeared one by one. Some of these were put up for auctions by cultivators themselves from their personal or family collections, but most items originated from the Five Colored Treasure Pagoda.
These relics of the ancient battlefield naturally caused a lot of people to vie for them, making the atmosphere of the entire auction site extremely hot.
Yang Kai also gained a rough understanding of the market prices of the items sold.
An ordinary Dao Source Grade artifact apparently cost between 700,000 to 800,000 Source Crystals, and if its grade was slightly higher, then the price reaching a million to several millions was pretty normal.
Originally, Yang Kai felt that with a million Source Crystals, he was sufficiently wealthy, but now he realized he was still quite poor.
“Dao Source Grade Low-Rank Tiger Battle Armor, 1.8 million, going once, going twice, going thrice, and sold! Friend, please take your Source Crystals backstage to claim your item. Let’s move on to the next item,” Drunkard, having finished speaking, continued moving things along.
From backstage, a maidservant walked out, carrying a mysterious auction item on a jade tray which was covered by a red cloth. The audience could not see this item’s true appearance and could only tell it was about the size of a melon.
When the maid came closer, Drunkard suddenly grinned as he looked out at the audience meaningfully, “This item is extremely precious and would normally have been auctioned as the finale, but is being auctioned in advance under this old man’s strong suggestion. Presumably, many people here can guess what it is. Now then… let’s begin.”
Saying so, he lifted the red cloth on the jade plate, revealing its true appearance to everyone.
It was a small furnace that seemed to fit in one’s hand. This furnace had a black lustre to it and had many dragons and phoenixes carved into its surface, giving it an extraordinary appearance while an ancient and desolate aura permeated it.
Drunkard picked up the furnace with one hand and said with a laugh, “This Black Jade Furnace has been studied for many days by this old man and Sir City Lord, but we cannot tell what material it is refined from. We were only able to determine it is an Alchemy Furnace, and a Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank one at that.”
“A Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Alchemy Furnace!” The audience in the hall cried out in shock.
Many priceless treasures and artifacts had appeared in the auction thus far, but only a few were Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank.
More importantly, this was an Alchemy Furnace, a treasure all Alchemists would fight desperately over.
Alchemists were extremely wealthy, but they wouldn’t hesitate to spend enormous amounts of money on a good Alchemy Furnace. What’s more, big Sects and families always cultivated their own Alchemists, so this Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Alchemy Furnace would definitely make them excited.
With a good Alchemy Furnace, Alchemists could not only improve their chances of successfully refining pills, but also improve the quality of their pills, so the value of high-grade Alchemy Furnaces could be imagined.
Even Yang Kai, who had not bid on anything during the auction, couldn’t help his eyes from flashing when he saw this Alchemy Furnace, immediately sending out his Divine Sense to the stage to scan it carefully.
Many people were doing the same as him, so numerous powerful Divine Senses quickly surged forth and covered the stage, making for a lively scene.
“Is Alchemist Yang interested in this Alchemy Furnace?” Kang Si Ran asked with a slight smile as he was paying attention to Yang Kai’s every word and expression.
“I am somewhat, but…” Yang Kai wryly smiled and shook his head, “I probably can’t snatch it.”
Kang Si Ran thought for a moment before saying, “How would you know whether you can win it or not if you don’t try? Alchemist Yang, please don’t hesitate. If you are lacking in Source Crystals, this Kang can lend them to you.”
“Let’s wait and watch first,” Yang Kai remained noncommittal.
He knew that Kang Si Ran had brought a lot of Source Crystals to this auction, but those were for the Dao Source Fruit. If Kang Si Ran couldn’t obtain the Dao Source Fruit because of him, Yang Kai would feel troubled.
While he wanted this Alchemy Furnace, it wasn’t a necessity.
