Chapter 101 (Patreon)

The bids fell like rain.

“8 million,” the Auctioneer said in a cold robotic tone. “8.7 million. 9 million.”

Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao watched in stupefied silence as the price of the Moonflower was jacked up by the hundreds of thousands and millions. Chen Haoran was similarly impressed, but he’d quite literally dropped bigger numbers before, so the price wasn’t so shocking to him.

“14 million.”

Chen Haoran frowned, and he waved Dreamwater over. “What’s going on with these jumps in prices? He didn’t announce the bidding increments.”

Dreamwater made a sound of realization. “You must have attended an auction in a…” She took a moment to find the words. “…financially challenged area. The Golden Lily Association uses bidding increments in those places to better ensure an item hits its projected sale price. For wealthier places like Daqing—”

“20 million.”

“—such measures don’t typically need to be taken,” she finished.

“I see,” Chen Haoran said. When the clientele had oodles of cash they were willing to throw out at a moments notice then it was indeed better business to let them do so. He had to admit though, given the how much he ended up spending at the Clearsprings Auction it made his eye twitch to hear it called a ‘financially challenged area.’

“30 million.”

Chen Haoran picked a fruit off a platter prepared by Dreamwater and bit into it. Phelps stuck his head out of his cloak and Chen Haoran fed him a few fruits. Wang Xiao looked over, saw how casual Chen Haoran was being, scowled, then schooled his own features into faux nonchalance. Jiang Lei meanwhile was calculating under his breath the taels he’d be getting from his one percent share with every increase in bid. Chen Haoran had to wonder if it was really that big a sum for him or if the Liquid Meridian was just that money obsessed. He couldn’t forget how easily Jiang Lei had given him and Xie Jin spirit stones when they first met. In the month he’d spent in Daqing he’d yet to see even a low-grade spirit stone being sold.

“40 million.”

Now that he had a good ideas as to his funds he could properly plan what items he was going to purchase. Chen Haoran snapped his fingers at Jiang Lei and wordlessly held his hand out to the auction pamphlet in his hands. Whether he was deliberately ignoring him or was truly that focused on counting his money Jiang Lei didn’t respond. The point was made moot when Dreamwater proffered another pamphlet she had pulled from who knew where. He would really have to tip her when all was said and done.

Chen Haoran scanned the pamphlet and picked out the items that caught his eye. Things he could use right now. Things he could feed to Phelps for better returns. Of course, he’d have to reserve some of it to bid on the Heaven-Rank technique. And then keep extra to move to a better villa.

“50 million.” The Auctioneer paused. “Once. Twice. Sold for 50 million gold taels.”

The declaration of sale returned the breath back to Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao. Jiang Lei smiled at him. “Congratulations.”

“I’m a little sad it didn’t go higher,” Chen Haoran said, leaning back into his chair.

“It’s a good price for this area,” Dreamwater said. “While the Moonflower is a powerful Yin treasure there are other Yin spirit herbs superior to it. If you were to auction the Moonflower in the Central Region or the Capital it would not go for nearly as much.”

“She’s not wrong,” Jiang Lei added. “The stronger spirit herbs aren’t circulated as much in Zumulu anymore since the occupation. It was probably purchased by a force that lacks the background to source high level spirit herbs.”

“Interesting,” Chen Haoran murmured. Dreamwater poured a glass of qi-infused water and offered it to him. Chen Haoran swirled it around as the Auctioneer introduced the next item.

“Vermilion Flame-Patterned Steel. 150 thousand taels.”

It was quite the drop compared to the opening. Jiang Lei perked up when he saw it. He held his hand over the bidding crystal and paused. He glanced at Dreamwater.

“You can directly state how much your bidding after inserting your qi,” she said.

Jiang Lei smiled. “Perfect.” He placed his hand on the crystal. “10 thousand taels,” he declared.

“160 thousand taels,” the Auctioneer simultaneously said.

“That’s both cool and creepy,” Chen Haoran said.

Dreamwater nervously laughed. “Thank you, honored guest.”

Jiang Lei continued to bid and eventually looked at Chen Haoran with a pleading expression. “My good friend, could I borrow some taels?”

Chen Haoran snorted and turned to Dreamwater. “Pull 500 thousand taels from my earnings and give it to him.”

“Right away, honored guest.”

“So about those taels,” Jiang Lei said.

“Be happy with your one percent.”

“Damn,” Jiang Lei swore.

Jiang Lei eventually purchased the Flame-Patterned Steel for 230 thousand taels. After being taken down from the main stage it and the gold taels were brought directly to their box. Just another convenience for a Gold Token member. Chen Haoran could get used to it. They watched several items go by. Jiang Lei and even Wang Xiao placed bids on various things that caught their interest.

Then it was Chen Haoran’s turn.

“Profound-Rank Deep Well Pills. Sold”

“Profound-Rank Meridian Cleansing Pills. Sold.”

“400-year-old Paradise Pomegranate. Sold.”

“Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian Jade Elephant Tusk.”

“Earth-Rank Clear Heart Mirror Armor. Sold for 12 million taels.”

Chen Haoran removed his hand from the bidding crystal with a pained expression. He didn’t regret his purchases. Everything he chose was a necessity. That didn’t make spending near 15 million taels any easier though. The level of this auction was certainly higher than that of Clearsprings City that was for certain. There was nary a Mortal-Rank in sight. The worst thing on offer was Profound-Rank at minimum and even then they were several times more expensive than the Profound-Rank’s he’d purchased back then. Chen Haoran didn’t think it was a matter of smuggling markup either. Going by the descriptions of the items in the pamphlet they were on a whole superior despite being the same rank.

It created some interesting questions. Were there quality differences within the ranks themselves? That seemed self-apparent now. It led him to wonder about the ranks more. If cultivation methods and techniques were created by visualizing some greater scenery did the same hold true for artifacts and pills?

He was distracted from further thoughts when a Heavy Core Pill finally showed up. Chen Haoran cycled qi to his eyes and the red pill showed up in sharp relief. It was a Fire-attribute pill, not for him then but there were several other Heavy Core Pills up for auction tonight. Just from the sight of it he could see it was a large pill bigger than any he had seen before. It was a bit intimidating to look at in all honesty. He wasn’t looking forward to scoffing down that choking hazard.

The Fire pill was quickly sold and was followed by a spate of Heavy Core Pill. Chen Haoran half-heartedly bid on a Metal-attribute one but gave up on it in the end. Metal was good but given he was practicing the Scattering Petal Palms now he wanted a Wood-attribute. If he was lucky it would help him improve his use of wood qi. The Wood Heavy Core Pill he wanted came next and Chen Haoran fiercely bid for it, the price shot up all the way to 1.2 million taels before he finally secured it.

Chen Haoran slumped in his chair. “What the hell.”

Jiang Lei laughed. “You didn’t think they’d be cheap did you? The qi density in those pills use some expensive materials to make. On top of that Wood and Water spirit roots are incredibly common in Zumulu, so you’re competing against a lot of people.”

Jiang Lei’s point was proven as the heavy bidding continued for the several Metal and Wood Heavy Core Pills that appeared after. Chen Haoran took one look at the prices and gave up on trying to purchase another one.

He sighed. “There’s no way I’m getting that Heaven-Rank.” Even if he didn’t spend a single tael it was clear he wouldn’t have enough.

Wang Xiao sneered. “As if you ever had a chance.”

Chen Haoran ignored him and instead focused on Dreamwater. She walked to the door and returned pushing a cart with his purchases. He zeroed in on the jade box holding Heavy Core pill and opened it. He was immediately assaulted with a heavy spicy sent like someone had made a concentrate of lawnmower clippings. Just by smelling it he could feel his qi begin to turn to his head. He quickly corked the bottle and stowed it away. He debated feeding it to Phelps but decided against it. Beyond how suspicious it would look to everyone, he wasn’t sure if eating the pill would hurt Phelps or not. He put away the armor and the tusk in his storage bag and took the Paradise Pomegranate in hand. It’s seeds were used a main ingredient in various high-level healing pills and could even be consumed in place of one in a pinch.

He split the fruit open and gave it to Phelps. He took one sniff and immediately stole it from Chen Haoran’s hands with a speed entirely inappropriate for a sloth. The other occupants of the box watched with barely disguised shock as Chen Haoran fed the expensive fruit to Phelps. Even Dreamwater’s professional comportment slipped as she stared wide-eyed. Chen Haoran ignored them all and patted Phelps’s head, occasionally feeding him Meridian Cleansing Pills to help him digest the pomegranate’s qi.

Received Hundred-Fold: 40 thousand-year-old Paradise Pomegranate

Received-Hundred-Fold: Earth-Rank Meridian Purification Pills

Jiang Lei shook his head. “You are definitely some poor family’s profligate scion.”

Chen Haoran smirked. “Sounds like something poor people say.”

Jiang Lei sighed and Wang Xiao’s scowl got even deeper.

The Auctioneers cold voice overwhelmed them all. “Seven-Colored Steps of the Rainbow Stairs. Five-Elements Heaven-Rank. Starting bid 10 million taels.”

It was like blood being dropped into shark infested water. Immediately several auras flared and the air was filled an oppressive presence all too familiar to Chen Haoran.

Crystal Transformation Realm.

He would never forget feeling the Clearspring’s City Lord’s presence weighing down on him like a mountain when they first met. He was a kitten compared to the tigers that were eyeing the auction stage now. Even when they weren’t the focus of their attention Chen Haoran and the rest felt their breathing stifled. Ridiculously the Auctioneer looked unaffected despite being at the forefront of the storm and calmly called out bids.

“20 million. 30 million. 50 million. 80 million. 120 million. 200 million.”

In a matter of moments there was more money dropped on the technique than what Chen Haoran had dropped on Song Yuelin’s head and it was still rising. The Auctioneer was reading the bids so fast that he scarcely finished one before the next came in. The auras of the Crystal Transformation’s grew so intense that Chen Haoran wouldn’t be surprised if at any moment they shattered the windows of their booths and yelled their bids directly.

That was when the ceiling caved in.

Another metal fanged aura sank its teeth into the auction hall as light spilled in and illuminated the shadowed hall.

“Criminals of the Golden Lily Association!” Boomed a powerful voice. The glass window in their box cracked. “How dare you flout the Emperor’s word in my territory!”

A man clad in scarlet armor flew down from the hole he’d made. A wicked halberd was clutched tightly in his hand. He waved it once and the auras of the other Crystal Transformations were scattered to pieces.

“Perish in the name of the Empire.”