Chapter 760: The Skysnatcher Cauldron
Young master Ji smiled easily, “Little brat Wang, I was fully aware you would come up with this trick, I played along with your bidding just now merely to tease you. What Longevity Pill, our Clan obtained it a long time ago already! What need do I have to squander money here for no reason? I hear that your Majestic Clan has earned quite a fortune with underhanded methods these years, so I think you guys are better suited the part of being the foolish buyer, hahaha!”
With young master Ji’s sudden withdrawal, he could posture any way he wanted. His words immediately caused an uproar. Sure enough, there were schemes a-plenty between the scions of great clans. Everyone thought at the start that Wang Teng was the one toying with young master Ji, baiting him hook, line, and sinker like a fisherman. But no one imagined the one fishing was young master Ji instead, and the Majestic Clan had been the ones reeled in like a sucker!
This spectacular play had been a perfect face slapping and counter face slapping! Wang Teng was struck utterly dumb. He was very dubious about the truth of young master Ji’s words. However, what about it even if young master Ji was merely putting up appearances? He was the one who needed to fork the money!
Though the Majestic Clan had been the ones to secretly supply these pills, he still couldn’t openly say that he was taking them back, could he? Their Clan would down in spittle if word of this got out! What was this if not dishonest business in maliciously raising the price of his own auction items?
If everyone was left with such a bad impression, they would be labeled as unscrupulous, dishonest businessmen before they even launched the Longevity Pill. On top of that, young master Ji was obviously not going to let go of him before he completed the transaction today!
Wang Teng’s face turned white from anger. He had no choice but to pool the money. It was fortunate that Wang Teng had deep pockets. The several of them could still pool together the one hundred twenty million and avoid losing shame.
His heart was bleeding. Though the greater part of this hundred twenty million would go back into his pocket, Joined Ridges Pavilion would still take their twenty percent commission from it. The auction house’s share was usually ten percent. However, as to not expose Majestic Clan itself, Wang Teng hadn’t provided his real name when putting the three pills up for auction. Instead, he’d chosen an anonymous auction.
An anonymous auction was when the consigner’s identity was hidden. Because the consigner’s identity was hidden, the auction house would shoulder some risk. That was the reason why the auction house’s commission was double in the case of an anonymous auction, the ten percent becoming twenty percent. The final price was one hundred twenty million, so the twenty percent share amounted to forty four million. In other words, the Majestic Clan had lost forty million for their troubles in offering up the pills for sale and then taking them back. The items came from their clan, while the money also came from their clan. Apart from some advertising for the Longevity Pill, they squandered forty four million for absolutely nothing, and they’d even been cruelly toyed with by young master Ji, making a disgrace of themselves.
Wang Ten really felt like crying, even though he had no tears. He wasn’t willing to accept this! Young master Ji was someone Wang Teng understood very well. This guy liked to posture, attract attention, and affect some elegant style, but his schemes weren’t sophisticated and his acting nothing to sniff at. The sense of urgency young master Ji had just moments ago when competing for the Longevity Pills had definitely not been an act. What’d made him suddenly give up out of the blue? This was what completely puzzled Wang Teng, no matter how hard he racked his brain.
The auctioning of the Longevity Pills had experienced twists and turns, all kinds of face slapping and counter face slapping. The plot had come fast and furious, overwhelming the crowd, making them shout with pleasure and satisfaction. The curtains finally closed on this farce after Sikou Nan finalized the payment with a bitter face and took away the items. Joined Ridges Pavilion had ended up the biggest winner. Its young master was secretly beaming, his face simply radiant. He’d gotten twenty percent from this sale alone, forty four million! This was even wilder than daylight robbery!
Two items followed after the pills. Both of those items were uncommon, both their initial bids starting above six million. Only, neither of these two auction items aroused private grudges or various schemes, so no sparks were seen during their auctioning. The bidding was also very intense, but as a whole, the proceedings tended towards the smooth. No matter how hard the auction house’s young master fanned the flames, the atmosphere fell a little short. The previous dispute had clearly spoiled everyone’s appetite already, making them a little numb.
“Our fifth item is different from the previous items. It’s a cauldron for pill refining. This pill cauldron is called the Skysnatcher Cauldron and is emperor realm, something very seldomly seen. It was allegedly once been used by a high-level pill king. The bidding starts at twenty million saint spirit stones!” The young master’s word once against set the crowd’s enthusiasm ablaze.
An emperor realm pill cauldron! That was an uncommon item! One had to remember that while pills were easy to find, pill cauldrons were rare goods. This was particularly true for good pill-refining cauldrons which were even more of a rarity. The scene was in uproar as soon as the cauldron appeared. The eyes of quite a few younger generations were shining bright with desire.
Wei Jie couldn’t help but feel self conscious. He’d previously given Jiang Chen a million saint spirit stones, and also promised he could make the call for bids below five million. However, the level of this auction had clearly exceeded House Wei’s estimations. Five million was only an appetizer here! The starting price of this emperor real pill cauldron was twenty million already! This sky-high price was simply astounding!
However, considering it was an emperor realm pill cauldron, this price was high, but not excessive beyond reason. One could read the restlessness and eagerness on the faces of many. Everyone was very much looking forward to it. Even Jiang Chen felt a rush of excitement. He’d refined pills for so many years, but the only good pill cauldron he’d ever had was one of Regal Pill Palace’s five treasures, the Skyweave Cauldron. In the Myriad Domain, the Skyweave Cauldron was indeed an outstanding cauldron amongst all the outstanding cauldrons. However, now that he was in the Veluriyam Capital, its level was clearly lagging a little behind.
Now that he saw this emperor realm treasure, the relic of a high-level pill king, he could tell with a single glance that this cauldron was at least two levels above the Skyweave Cauldron. I should actually fight for this cauldron. It was the only one of the five items in which Jiang Cheng actually felt temptation. Twenty million saint spirit stones would have been an astronomical number for Jiang Chen back in the Myriad Domain, far from what he would have been able to afford. However, he’d gathered the rings of roughly four thousand persons after the battle at Infant Shriek. Converting the spirit stones he had on hand to saint spirit stones, he had quite a few hundred millions. Twenty million was naturally something he could afford!
“I bid twenty one million!”
“Twenty three million!”
“I’ll bid twenty five million!”
“I’m bidding thirty million…” The rich folk of the Capital were once again exhibiting their domineering temperament, as though the prices they quoted weren’t in saint spirit stones, but rather in common stones one could pick up anywhere off the street. Such an imposing style didn’t even leave Jiang Chen a window with which to quote a price. When he very slowly bid thirty two million, three or four persons immediately upped the price, shooting the price to forty million in a few blinks.
Madmen, what a bunch of madmen! Jiang Chen swore silently. It wasn’t that he lacked money, but with his present status, if he were to bid too high a price, it would be difficult to avoid undue attention. Competing with a bunch of descendents from the great clans? To say nothing about his present status as a mere second level pill king, even House Wei that Wei Jie represented might not be able to afford it.
There was nothing Jiang Chen could do. All those bidding were from great clans. In such a vast Capital with territories spreading over millions of miles, the resources were innumerable, but those who controlled the vast majority of those resources were still the twenty eight great clans, and only those twenty eight clans. One could deduce from this that each great clan was fully deserving of the title of a local king. Those scions of great clans could bid any amount they wished as long as they felt it was appropriate.
Otherwise, the previous three Longevity Pills couldn’t have shot to a hundred twenty million. It had ended as a battle between the Majestic Clan and the Coiling Dragon Clan, but it had indeed been a straight competition between scions of great clans in its early phase. It was the same for Skysnatcher now. These guys were bidding with extreme frenzy because they liked it, because they felt it was appropriate. It was far from the imaginary scenes where a long time brewed between each bid.
Jiang Chen was inwardly depressed. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it, but it’d truly be unwise to compete on wealth with these fellows. The most crucial thing was that as an outsider, he would attract attention in seconds if his attitude was too flamboyant. It would be too easy to attract enmity. Inspiration suddenly struck. His eyes stopped on young master Ji San. There was a helping hand readily available, why not make use of it?
“Young master Ji San, I’m determined to obtain the Skysnatcher. Lend me your name and help me bid for it. I will account for all the expense later. The price for the upper rank Longevity Pill is still as we previously agreed on!”
With young master Ji helping him bid, he wouldn’t need to expose his own wealth and wouldn’t attract enmity. Jiang Chen’s sudden inspiration was a bright chess move.
What Jiang Chen didn’t expect was while young master Ji had still been somewhat skeptical of him before, the young master suddenly believed Jiang Chen wholeheartedly after hearing this request. If he didn’t truly have a Longevity Pill, then he wouldn’t dare order Ji San about even as House Wei’s guest pill king. Young master Ji’s temperament of a wealthy scion suddenly flared, his bold daring suddenly soaring. He said in a loud voice, “I’m in a good mood today, I fancy this cauldron. Fifty million. I will fight all challengers to the bitter end!”
This sudden outburst of imposing momentum routed quite a few. Everyone had already witnessed his imposing dominance back when he’d bid against Sikou Nan. No one was keen to butt heads with this god of pestilence. If by any chance this young master Ji were to become angry and raise the price to insane levels, if it ultimately fell in their own lap, wouldn’t they look like a fool just like Sikou Nan? All of a sudden, the voices previously bidding faded away one by one. They couldn’t afford to offend the Coiling Dragon Clan for one, and secondly, Sikou Nan served as an example that still lingered in everyone’s mind. The scene instantly became absolute silence. There were still two who wanted to keep bidding, but they were also wavering with indecision. The previous scene of young master Ji flipping the situation onto Sikou Nan’s head had obviously left shadows in everyone’s hearts.