Chapter 0068 – The Auction
“The bidding price for this exquisite Spear starts at 800 Low Grade Spirit Stones, the bidding for it starts now.” Just as the middle aged man’s voice, who was standing on the Auction Stage fell, someone immediately offered 1000 Low Grade Spirit Stones.
Just as the first offer was called out, the competition for it immediately became fierce, and the price quickly surpassed 1500 Low Grade Spirit Stones, and was quickly approaching 2000 Spirit Stones.
Tai Shu Shi looked at Ning Cheng in an embarrassing way, “I did not think that the price of this Artefact would reach this high, I knew I should have studied Crafting.”
Ning Cheng did not mind and smiled and said, “Let alone the fact that I do not have the necessary Spirit Stones, even if I did have the funds, I would not make a move on that Spear.”
After several rounds of offers, this 7 Star Gold Spear was purchased by someone for 3600 Low Grade Spirit Stones.
After the middle aged man who managed the auction sold the Spear Artefact, he held up a leather volume and said in a clear voice, “This is a map, everybody please do not think that it is a treasure map. This is definitely not a treasure map, but rather it is a map of a dangerous place. Many of our friends want to go to the Hua Continent, but because of the dangers in the Thunder Fall Desert which basically does not allow for the ordinary people to pass through the desert. But this map will allow you to pass safely through the Thunder Desert, but truthfully it has not been verified, so whether it really is real or fake is still debatable.”
Just as Ning Cheng listened to those words, he was immediately pleased in his heart, while thinking that he had to find a way to purchase this map. Since this map was not verified, so the price would definitely not be high, and even the people who would want to buy it would also be not many. But actually the map had only a little interest for him, he already had a map, the main reason why he wanted to buy the map was to make a comparison between the two maps. After all, the map that he obtained before was just a simple one.
“The base price of this map is 1000 Spirit Stones, and each increment will be of at least 100 Spirit Stones or more, the bidding for it starts now……”
The words spoken by the middle aged man who managed the auction immediately made Ning Cheng to think deeply, the map was said to be not verified, but still he actually set the base price for 1000 Spirit Stones, wouldn’t it mean that if the map was actually verified then wouldn’t it sell for several tens of thousands of Spirit Stones?
The more Ning Cheng thought about it, the more he felt puzzled, while he was thinking about it someone already offered 1100 Spirit Stones for it, even when they did not know if the map was genuine or fake, the price of the map had already risen up to 1500 Spirit Stones.
Thus from this it could be seen, that there were many people who wanted to go to the Hua Continent. Finally, this map was purchased by someone for 3100 Spirit Stones.
For the following items in the auction, Ning Cheng thoroughly did not have any idea about what was going on, he only had about 300 Spirit Stones with him, other than the first item in the auction, the Blue Tea Grass, he basically could not even place the starting bid. In the low levelled continents, Spirit Stones are already extremely difficult to obtain, but when it came to the use of Spirit Stones, Ning Cheng found that not all people used the Spirit Stones like him.
After quite a while passed by, Ning Cheng finally heard the middle aged man who managed the auction to finally say, “What I am going to bring out next is a Spiritual Grass, I believe that many of the people here have come especially for this Spiritual Grass. That’s right, this is a Rank 4 Spiritual Grass, the Rainbow Light Grass….”
Even if they were in a private booth, Ning Cheng could certainly feel that when the Rainbow Light Grass came out, it finally caused a large scale commotion. The middle aged man who was handling the auction had said nothing wrong, as many of the people here had indeed come here for the Rainbow Light Grass.
“The effect of this Rainbow Light Grass is pretty well known to everybody here, which is the ability to repair and replenish one’s Core Sea, basically it’s value is something that can’t be estimated. For now, the base price for this item is 5000 Low Grade Spirit Stones, and one can only increase the price in the minimum increments of 500 Spirit Stones each time, the bidding for this item starts now.”
Ning Cheng found that the person who managed this auction would always set the price for the items a bit low, so that when the people started bidding, the final price of the item would always end up several times more than the original base price.
Once the Rainbow Light Grass was taken out, Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi were staring at it in a very nervous way. 5000 Low Grade Spirit Stones, even if nobody increased the price, they would still be able to obtain 2500 Spirit Stones, relatively speaking, for them it was almost enough.
“6000 Spirit Stones.”
“7000 Spirit Stones.”
……
The price quickly rose to 12,000 Spirit Stones, obviously there were many people who wanted the Rainbow Light Grass, and also knew how precious the Rainbow Light Grass was.
When the price actually reached 19,000 Spirit Stones, suddenly a cold voice came from inside a private booth, “This old man bids 20,000 Spirit Stones, who dares to increase the price again?”
The people in the private booths would always pass on their offers through other people, but for one of them to directly quote a price with an arrogant voice, this was really a first.
There seemed to be a lot of people who knew this man, after this man with a cold voice spoke out his offer, nobody dared to give out a counter offer.
Ning Cheng in his heart was really hating this man, he knew from the atmosphere in the auction house, that this Rainbow Light Grass’ final price was definitely much more than 20,000 Spirit Stones. This bastard of an old man wanted to buy his Rainbow Light Grass for only 20,000 Spirit Stones, this was simply robbing of Spirit Stones.
Although he was really hating him in his heart, Ning Cheng did not speak out, he along with the other people in the action had already tacitly approved of his existence, he was only a cultivator at the Qi Gathering 9th Level, trying to compete with him would only be courting death.
“This old thing is too shameless.” Tai Shu Shi said that sentence in a bitter tone.
Ning Cheng said helplessly, “This shameless man does not concern about face because he has the strength, if he did not have the strength to back it up then would he still be so shameless and throw away his face. For us to obtain 10,000 Spirit Stones, is already sufficient for our purpose.”
It was no suspense that the Rainbow Light Grass was finally bought by the old man for 20,000 Spirit Stones, after the auction was concluded, Ning Cheng did not have any interest in staying there.
Tai Shu Shi also had the same idea as that of Ning Cheng, and stood up after the Rainbow Light Grass was sold and said, “Big Brother, we are good to go now.”
At this time, the middle aged man presiding over the auction loudly said, “Next, we will be bringing out a low grade airship Type Artefact for the auction……”
“Let’s wait.” Ning Cheng, when he heard that it was an Airship Type Artefact, was immediately moved in his heart.
With his current cultivation level, using the Flying Sword to fly made him too tired, and if he had to encounter an emergency situation, like encountering an enemy with his exhausted body, it would be really dangerous for him. If he had an airship Type Artefact then would be different, an airship Type Artefact only needed a little bit of one’s Spiritual Sense, as the airship Type Artefact would need mostly Spirit Stones to operate, and the resulting effect on one’s Spiritual Sense would be extremely minimal.
“This airship Type Artefact has a base price of 600 Spirit Stones, and each bid cannot be lower than 100 Spirit Stones….”
Ning Cheng was amazed and asked, “Even the best quality Spear Type Artefact had the base price of 800 Low Grade Spirit Stones, so why is this airship Type Artefact this expensive?”
Tai Shu Shi knew that Ning Cheng was from the Ping Continent, so he knew that his understanding of the conditions in the Yuan Continent was not very much, and immediately answered, “Among all the types of Artefacts, the price of the airship Type Artefact is the highest. A price of just a low grade airship Type Artefact, is almost equal to a high grade offensive Type Artefacts. The airship Type Artefact’s final price will not be much lower than that of that Spear from before.”
Sure enough the price of the airship Type Artefact had already reached 1300 Spirit Stones, and besides it didn’t seem to be stopping anywhere soon.
“Let’s go.” Ning Cheng did not have any more ideas on trying to buy the airship Type Artefact.
……
“Let’s go look for the Pill Master Mulberry.” After the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi had already collected the 10,000 Spirit Stones and had come out of the Auction House.
The auction provided him with a great deal of excitement, although there were a lot of things that he wished to buy, but obviously he did not have the Spirit Stones to purchase them. The Rainbow Light Grass obviously could be sold for an even higher price, but for an unavoidable reason it was sold for a low price.
After analysing it for a time, it was because his strength was too low. He must find a Pill Master to immediately refine a True Condensation Pill, and begin his preparation to advance to the True Condensation Realm. As long as he was able to advance to the True Condensation Realm, he would be able to immediately go to the Hua Continent.
Tai Shu Shi also had the same idea as that of Ning Cheng, but he does not have an idea to go to the Hua Continent immediately, he first wanted to save Lian’e, once the issues with Lian’e were settled, only then would he make his way to the Hua Continent.
“The Pill Master Mulberry is an eccentric, as far as possible try not to bargain with him, what he hates the most is someone trying to bargain with him.”
……
The place where the Pill Master Mulberry lived had a very ordinary appearance, even the courtyard in front of the house was very simple. But when Ning Cheng arrived here, he immediately discovered that there was a Defensive Array Formation all around the house and the courtyard.
As Tai Shu Shi stood in front of the outside door, he clapped his hands 3 times in the air. Then while looking at the expression on Ning Cheng’s face, he whispered, “We will be waiting right here, as long as the Pill Master Mulberry has the time, he will ask us to come in.”
Sure enough, after a few breaths, Ning Cheng saw that the Defensive Array Formation in front of them open wide, and immediately a voice arrived, “Come in.”
As Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi pushed open the gates of the compound, they found that the courtyard in front of them was actually a big Spiritual Grass Garden, inside there were numerous Rank 1 and Rank 2 Spiritual Grasses, there were even several Rank 3 Spiritual Grasses. A boy could be seen checking a stub of a Spiritual Grass. When Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi came in, the boy did not seem to see them, and was taking care of his own thing.
In the middle of this large Spiritual Grass garden, there was a winding path, that lead to a narrow door.
Ning Cheng along with Tai Shu Shi walked through this winding path, and entered through the narrow door, and immediately saw a large pill furnace. There were flames underneath the pill furnace emitting rumbling like noises.
Behind the pill furnace, there was a man sitting on a cushion, while holding a Spiritual Grass in his hand and appearing to be lost in some deep thought. Ning Cheng could not see this person’s cultivation level, so he guessed that the person in front of him was a cultivator in the Essence Building Realm.
“These juniors, Tai Shu Shi and Ning Cheng, greets Senior Mulberry, the reason why these juniors disturb senior this time, is to ask the senior to help us in refining a pill.” Tai Shu Shi’s tone was extremely respectful and even bent his waist while he said those word while clasping his fist.
Ning Cheng also slightly bowed, and cupped his fists. He was thinking about the Rainbow Light Grass that he had sold in the auction house, this Pill Master seemed to like Spiritual Grasses, so it was probably right to think that he would have an interest in it, but then why did he not even show an interest in it?
This Pill Master Mulberry had probably not seen them, nor heard the words that were spoken by Tai Shu Shi, and was still staring at the Spiritual Grass in his hands while frowning as he contemplated something.
Ning Cheng was secretly despising this person in heart, this fellow was just a Tier 3 Pill Master. At the beginning, he had even met the old woman in the Nan Yuan City, he knew that her level of Alchemy was much higher than this person who called himself Pill Master Mulberry, other people may not know about it but how could he not recognise such a thing.
It was regrettable that the reason why he had to come here today was because he also wanted to help Tai Shu Shi.
Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi waited for nearly the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, but this Pill Master Mulberry still had not spoken to them. Just when Ning Cheng was going to ask again, this Pill Master Mulberry suddenly asked, “What medicinal pill do you want to refine?”
“This junior wants to refine a True Condensation Pill.” Tai Shu Shi replied quickly.
“True Condensation Pill?” The Pill Master Mulberry finally put down the Spiritual Grass in his hands, and turned around and stared at Ning Cheng and Tai Shu Shi.
“Yes, that’s right.” Tai Shu Shi immediately replied in an affirmative tone.