Chapter 96 – To the highest bidder goes the pill

The first round of the competition had ended. Some people were very happy while others looked gloomy.

However, Qushui City’s Yi Hao and Shentu City’s Xu Zhen didn’t leave the stage yet. This was because after the first round, the competitors will each auction off their pill.

Muyun Old Devil didn’t want to give these ingredients to the competitors for nothing. Thus, she came up with a great idea. She had the audience pay for the ingredients. During the auction, she will get 50% of the profits that the competitors receive.

“Big brother rough guy, you’re the one that basically concocted the pills. I won’t take a single gold coin from you later.”

Liu Bingqian’s was all smiles. She had actually advanced to the second round!

She didn’t care for the auction at all so she had Ye Zifeng take care of it.

Ye Zifeng smiled, looked at the audience and then looked back at Bingiqan.

“If you really don’t want a single gold coin, I’m afraid that you’ll cry later.”

Liu Bingqian giggled, “That’s what you think. Do you think that I, Bingqian, am someone greedy for money? This time you helped me get rid of my past embarrassments. I still have to thank you. Why would I take your things?”

Ye Zifeng smiled and then sighed.

Ye Zifeng treated Liu Bingqian as a close friend because she was treated him very sincerely. Back then, he didn’t even care for her last name and became friends with her.

If she wasn’t sincere in the beginning, then he probably would not care about anyone from the Liu clan because of what Liu Ningzi did.

　　……

“Shentu City Xu Zhen’s pill. Is there anyone going to bid higher. Four hundred gold coins going once. Four hundred gold coins going twice. Sold!”

Xu Zhen smiled towards Yi Hao. Yi Hao’s pill only sold for three hundred gold coins.

Since the competition was stopped for the auction, everyone started to gossip around again.

“A common tier cauldron is worth at most 300 gold coins. Who would’ve that Senior Muyun is so crafty. She made three hundred fifty gold coins from these two pills alone. This was worth way more than the ingredients already!”

“That’s not it. This is only the beginning. The better pills have yet to come. Who knows how many gold coins the pills from the other three are worth.”

Muyun Old Devil smiled and continued to host the auction.

Everyone saw how the pills were concocted. There were no tricks involved. Some people were here to buy the pills for their own personal use while some were here to flaunt their wealth.

“Hua Shao’s Yuan Increasing Pill. The quality of this pill is guaranteed. Hua Shao already told me that the starting price will be six hundred gold coins. He won’t sell for any less!”

“Seven Hundred. I’ll bid seven hundred!” From the group of audience, a voice called out.

“I……I bid seven hundred fifty!”

“Eight hundred gold coins!”

No one else dared to raise the price. Eight hundred gold coins was a lot.

This was double the amount used to buy Xu Zhen’s pill. In reality, Hua Shao’s pill was worth at most six hundred gold coins.

Ye Zifeng smiled and looked at Bingqian, “What do you think of the price?”

Liu Bingqian thought for a bit and then spoke, “I feel that it’s a bit expensive for it. However, it’s not beyond reasonable limits.”

Ye Zifeng nodded and looked at the group of people, “If I’m not wrong, this Hua Shao invited someone over to drive up the price of his pill.”

“You can even see through this?”

Ye Zifeng laughed and pointed at the person who bid seven hundred fifty gold coins, “When everyone was concocting, I notice that Hua Shao had looked at this person quite a few times. From my experience, they must be colluding together.”

“Weren’t you guiding me at that time? Could it be that you weren’t paying attention to what I was doing?”

Liu Bingqian was stunned. She had her back towards Ye Zifeng the entire time and couldn’t see what he was doing at all.

“This…..well….” In reality, Ye Zifeng had been looking around and didn’t pay any attention to her since the beginning.

Liu Bingqian’s expression changed, “Back to what we were talking about. I don’t think that’s possible. You should know that this is against the rules.”

“Against the rule? Not really. That Hua Shao is pretty smart. The auctioneer is someone close to him. Even if the auctioneer wasn’t there, Muyun Old Devil wouldn’t care that much unless it goes out of hand. Eight hundred gold coins for a Yuan Increasing Pill like his was a bit much but not too much. In the eyes of the other people, this was very impressive. Hua Shao wanted to show off and had achieved his goal.”

Liu Bingqian gasped and then nodded, “I thought that this Hua Shao was very arrogant and unruly but now, he seems like someone who is cautious and calculative. And… Big brother rough guy. How about you? What kind of person are you?”

“Me?” Ye Zifeng caught off guard by Liu Bingqian’s question.

Luckily, Ye Zifeng was called up for the auction so he didn’t answer Liu Bingqian’s sudden question.

“Next. Liu Bingqian, it’s your turn.”

Muyun Old Devil was happy for her own disciple’s success and thus when she looked at Ye Zifeng, she had a kind expression on her face.

“Bingqian, will you also make a starting price like Hua Shao?”

Liu Bingqian smiled and looked over at Ye Zifeng, indicating that everyone was up to his choice.

Ye Zifeng thought about it and then asked, “Can I make it any price?”

Muyun Old Devil’s heart shook and felt that his kid was about to make some moves. She quickly reminded him, “Yes, any price is fine. However, I suggest that you don’t make it too high.”

Ye Zifeng smiled, “It won’t be that high. I’ve decided to make it one gold coin.”

“A starting price of one gold coin?”

Everyone in the audience was surprised. The previous pills sold for three hundred, four hundred and eight hundred respectively. Hua Shao’s starting price was at six hundred!”

Right now, Ye Zifeng had put the starting price at one gold coin! No one knew what he was thinking about.

Suddenly, before everything can return to their senses, a deep voice called out.

“Nine hundred gold coins!”

Everyone looked towards where the voice came from. They wanted to see what kind person has so much money to burn.

After hearing this, Hua Shao’s face turned green. He had prepared so many things to make his pill worth eight hundred gold coins. However, in just a few seconds, Ye Zifeng easily surpassed him.

It was a middle age man wearing a purple crane robe, tied together with a blue tiger striped belt. Looking at this person, some people around him couldn’t help but take a step back.

“Oh my god. Look at that attire. He’s an elder from the Profound Sect. No wonder!”

“But you heard it too. He raised the price up to nine hundred gold coins from one gold coin in one go. No matter how rich he is, he shouldn’t be wasting it like this.”

“What do you know? This one gold coin starting price is only a feint. It is a strategy. How can rich people go around bidding five or ten gold coins? They would definitely raise the price up by a lot with the first bid.”

“Oh!….. So that’s how it is. Even though this Ye Zifeng doesn’t look like he can concoct pills, he’s pretty smart. He has potential in the business field!”

An elder from the Profound Sect had personally raised the bid on the pill. Normal people had to think about the consequences before they offend this big shot.

The entire place was quiet. No one else dared to increase the price.

No one except Liang Nine!

“Nine hundred and one gold coin…..”

Liang Nine’s voice was trembling. The people who didn’t know him would think that he was sick.

“One thousand gold coins!” The elder furrowed his brows and raised the bid once again.

“One thousand…… One thousand one gold coins…..” Liang Nine was in pain. It was as if someone was stabbing his heart over and over again.

“One thousand two hundred gold coins……”

The elder’s expression started to change. Anyone normal person would respect him due to his status as an elder in the Profound Sect and give him some face. However, this Liang Nine had been increasing the price one gold coin at a time. It was obvious that Liang Nine wanted to fight.

“One thousand two hundred and one gold coins……”

As expected, Liang Nine once again increased the price by one gold coin.

When Ye Zifeng was betting with him, Ye Zifeng took out one thousand two hundred gold coins to bet. Now, not only will Liang Nine not win this one thousand two hundred gold coins, he had to use this much to buy Ye Zifeng’s pill.

The elder’s finally flipped and coldly looked at Liang Nine, “This brother. Why are you trying to fight me with for this pill?”

Liang Nine bitterly laughed, “Boss. I don’t want to either but I don’t have a choice!”

“What do you mean you don’t have a choice? Fine. I’ll bid one thousand five hundred gold coins. Try and add one more gold coin to the bid!” The elder was definitely angry now.

“Then….. One thousand five hundred and one gold coin.” Liang Nine’s expression was extremely ugly. It looked like his entire family had died or something. He hated himself for signing the blood contract with Ye Zifeng.

“You……..!” The elder’s face turned pale. It doesn’t matter how much money he bids. It looks like this guy will try to one up him no matter what.