Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
The three Withered Pills were auctioned separately. The first one’s starting bid was 100 million Spiritual Crystals.
After a dozen bids, the price reached 1,370,000 Spiritual Crystals. The Withered Pill was indeed precious, but many largescale pill clans could make them. It wasn’t monopolized. Thus, its price was mostly stable and was controlled within 150 million Spiritual Crystals. The variations weren’t that big.
“One hundred thirty-seven million, once.”
“One hundred thirty-seven million, twice.”
Just as Qi Feiyu raised her jade gavel, Zhang Ruochen bid for the first time. “One hundred fifty million Spiritual Crystals.”
Many Monks at the auction looked over at Zhang Ruochen, a bit surprised. The Blood God Sect’s Deity was very high-key today. He showed off his wealth whenever possible. Now, he’d directly bid the highest price for one Withered Pill.
No one continued bidding. After all, the Withered Pill was at most worth 150 million.
Sitting across from Zhang Ruochen, Kong Hongbi sneered coldly. He’d finally found a chance to take revenge. Thus, he called out, “One hundred fifty-one million.”
Hearing Kong Hongbi’s bid, all the Monks present smiled. They knew he was purposely going against Gu Linfeng.
Eyes not even twitching, Zhang Ruochen called, “Two hundred million.”
“Two hundred and one million,” Kong Hongbi continued provoking him.
“Three hundred million Spiritual Crystals.”
“Three hundred and one million.”
…
The price continued rising. Zhang Ruochen soon called out 600 million. Finally, Kong Hongbi didn’t continue bidding. If he continued, it would become risky. Kong Hongbi worried that he would fall into Zhang Ruochen’s trap.
He already felt proud and accomplished for raising a Withered Pill, worth 150 million Spiritual Crystals, to 600 million.
Many Monks at the auction were smiling. They thought that the Blood God Sect’s Deity was a foolish spender. After all, 600 million Spiritual Crystals could buy four or five Withered Pills.
Only Murong Yue knew that 600 million Spiritual Crystals was too insignificant for Zhang Ruochen to care.
After that, the auction for the second Withered Pill began. The starting price was still 100 million and each bid needed to be at least 100 thousand higher.
This time, Kong Hongbi went against Zhang Ruochen again. He didn’t stop until he raised the price to 600 million again. In the end, Zhang Ruochen bought the second Withered Pill, again with the price of 600 million Spiritual Crystals.
Now, Kong Hongbi was very happy. His depression from before was gone. Smiling, he prepared to help raise the price for Zhang Ruochen again.
The other Monks just watched the show and didn’t get involved.
“Next, we will begin bidding for the third Withered Pill. The starting bid is 100 million Spiritual Crystals.”
Qi Feiyu looked toward Kong Hongbi and Gu Linfeng. She was curious if they could continue fighting with the price.
Kong Hongbi stared at Zhang Ruochen, looking as if he wanted to try.
Zhang Ruochen finally opened his eyes and glanced at Kong Hongbi. “Kong Hongbi, will you continue competing if I wish to buy the third Withered Pill?”
Proud, Kong Hongbi chuckled. “You took Beauty Shi and you won’t let me compete for the Withered Pill?”
“Well, no,” Zhang Ruochen said, unhurried. “I just wanted to tell you that since I could take Beauty Shi, taking this Withered Pill is easy too. You’re destined to be unable to win from me.”
With that, Zhang Ruochen called out a price that shocked everyone. “Six hundred million.”
Kong Hongbi clenched his fists. His eyes shone with cold light while anger burned inside his heart. No one had dared to speak to him like this throughout his entire life.
It was a simple phrase, but it was like a harsh slap in his face.
“Gu Linfeng is too wild. He actually called out 600 million like that. This time, Kong Hongbi won’t dare to continue bidding.”
Someone unknown said that and Kong Hongbi managed to hear it. He sneered coldly. Six hundred million Spiritual Crystals was a small number to him. Earlier, he hadn’t continued bidding because he had some worries.
It was different now. Gu Linfeng was obviously provoking him. How could he lose this time?
“Seven hundred million,” Kong Hongbi called.
Without even blinking, Zhang Ruochen said, “One billion Spiritual Crystals.”
Without hesitating, Kong Hongbi once again bid, “One billion one hundred million Spiritual…Crystals…”
He already started regretting it before he’d even finished bidding. Oh no, he thought.
As expected, Zhang Ruochen didn’t continue. Clearly, he was giving the third Withered Pill to Kong Hongbi. Seeing this, Qi Feiyu shook her head softly, feeling disappointed toward Kong Hongbi.
She’d heard many rumors about Kong Hongbi before meeting him. He’d defeated the saints of the imperial court and slaughtered Beast Kings in the Savage Barren Territory.
Both disciples of the Yin and Yang Sect and Demonic Sect made him sound like a perfect god. He was undefeatable and was known as the top fighter of the humans below the Saint Realm.
However, after meeting him, Qi Feiyu discovered that he had too many obvious flaws. He was too easily angered by others and couldn’t control his emotions at all.
Kong Hongbi couldn’t be compared to flawless people like Ouyang Huan and Zhang Ruochen. He was a bit weaker than Gu Linfeng too.
Gu Linfeng seemed lustful and arrogant, but he was actually very wise. He wasn’t that easy to deal with.
In the end, Kong Hongbi used 1.1 billion Spiritual Crystals to buy the third Withered Pill.
In this battle, both Kong Hongbi and Zhang Ruochen suffered losses. Zhang Ruochen only had a bit of an upper hand.
The following few treasures included secret scriptures of the saint level, spiritual medicines that were thousands of years old, saint weapons, and saint pills.
None caught Zhang Ruochen’s attention, so he didn’t buy any. Sikong One, though, had his eyes on a 7,000-year-old gold Bodhi fruit. He spent 1.7 billion Spiritual Crystals to buy it.
Finally, they entered the last half of the auction. The saint soul of a Green Armor Divine Elephant was brought forward as the 57th item. The elephant soul was sealed in an incense burner the size of one’s hand.
Rays of blue-green light shot out of the holes in the burner, forming overlapping patterns. One could vaguely hear an elephant screaming inside the burner.
Qi Feiyu held the burner daintily in her hands. Gracefully, she said, “The Green Armor Divine Elephant is a seventh level lower savage beast. One of our palace lords had killed it in the Savage Barren Territory. The starting bid for the elephant soul is 5,000 saint stones. Each bid must be one saint stone higher.
“Begin.”
Five thousand saint stones was equal to 50 billion Spiritual Crystals. Evidently, a seventh level savage beast’s soul was too expensive for even a saint family. Only two forces bid for the elephant soul: the Inscription Guild and an ancient clan with a rich heritage.
The Green Armor Divine Elephant’s soul was not only used to create a pill. It could also be used as the spirit of a saint weapon. It was naturally very valuable. If it was made into a pot of Divine Elephant Quenching Pills, it could produce a value of 8,000 to 10,000 saint stones. Thus, the alchemist elder of the Inscription Guild insisted on getting the elephant soul.
Finally, the alchemist elder called out 6,000 saint stones, causing the Taishang Elder of the ancient clan to stop bidding.
Just then, Sikong One started bidding from beside Zhang Ruochen, “Six thousand five hundred saint stones.”
His voice was very loud. It shook the walls and ground of the auction arena. Everyone looked over at him and shook their heads. Many people wondered how a monk could be so rich.
“If this monk buys the elephant soul, he might want to cultivate some mysterious Buddhist technique,” the cultivators present started discussing.
Actually, it was Zhang Ruochen who’d wanted to buy it. However, he was worried that Kong Hongbi would get in his way again. If that happened, he might not even be able to buy the elephant soul with 20,000 saint stones.
Zhang Ruochen wasn’t afraid of that cost. It was just that his clash with Kong Hongbi would let the Demonic Sect get an advantage. This wasn’t wise.
But no matter how he bought it, he had to have the Green Armor Divine Elephant’s soul.
Kong Hongbi glanced at Gu Linfeng. Seeing that the man had his eyes closed, he also looked away and didn’t get involved. He didn’t think that Sikong One was bidding for Gu Linfeng.
In his opinion, Gu Linfeng was a very arrogant man. If he could bid for himself, why would he have someone else do it?
Right now, the most annoyed person present had to be the alchemist elder of the Inscription Guild. He was about to get the elephant soul. Who would’ve expected that a savage monk would come out of nowhere?
The alchemist elder thought carefully for a moment. Gritting his teeth, he called out, “Six thousand six hundred saint stones.”
“Seven thousand saint stones,” Sikong One called, facing the alchemist elder. The sound waves flooded out, making the old man dizzy.
He glared at Sikong One. Shakily, he extended a wrinkled finger and said, “Monk…you…”
“Seven thousand saint stones, once.”
“Seven thousand saint stones, twice.”
“Seven thousand saint stones, sold!”
Seeing Qi Feiyu bang the jade gavel, Sikong One’s expression instantly turned ecstatic. Rubbing his hands, he laughed and said, “Senior Uncle, I said I could buy it under 10,000 saint stones and you didn’t believe me.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded with satisfaction. “I’ll still give you 10,000 saint stones. Pay 7,000 to the Pearl Light Pavilion and the remaining 3,000 is yours.”
Sikong One’s eyes widened. “Three thousand saint stones all for me?”
“No need to be so shocked,” Zhang Ruochen said nonchalantly. “These are saint stones you earned with your skills.”
Kong Hongbi naturally heard their conversation and grew more furious. He felt like he’d been toyed with. If he’d known that Gu Linfeng was the one buying the elephant soul, he would have at least doubled the price.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t even see Kong Hongbi’s murderous eyes. He stood up immediately to leave the auction. Since he’d gotten the Green Armor Divine Elephant’s soul, there was no point in staying here.
“The next item in the auction is the national treasure weapon of the past Sacred Central Empire,” Qi Feiyu’s lovely voice sounded at the auction podium.
Zhang Ruochen had already stood up, but then his body trembled and stopped abruptly. He sat back into his seat.
