The young man grumbled a reply and the auctioneer resumed the auction.
"If Tian'er wants a beast core, just use Xue Lang." Rong Jian advised. "Or, I could get you an even better one. Just a Netherworld Siren, I can get it's core for you or even that of a more powerful demonic beast." Rong Jian tried to console.
Shen Tianyu raised a brow, not looking at him. "Who said I wanted it?"
"Huh? But Tian'er, just now..." Rong Jian reminded her of her recent bidding.
"Since he wanted it so much, why couldn't I milk more out of him? He has the money." She replied.
"Then, why did you stop at 60 million yuan?" Rong Jian deliberately ignored the fact that that counted as malicious bidding.
"Didn't you hear the desperate tone in his voice? That as probably his limit for now. If I bid any higher, I might have had to pay the price. In addition, he might come after me for real." Shen Tianyu informed him.
Understanding her intentions, Rong Jian kept quiet again.
The second item was a Phoenix Pill. "This Phoenix Pill was refined by a great mysterious pill master! It can heal even critical injuries with no repercussions! If you're lucky, you might even make a breakthrough!" The auctioneer advertised. Again, a deafening roar swept the auction hall. This was akin to a second lifeline! Who would't want such a great pill! Of course, Lotus Pavilion would never accept sub-par goods, especially for this specialty auction so it must be genuine!
The auctioneer gave a friendly smile. "Since this is our first time auctioning off this kind of pill, the starting bid is 50,000 yuan."
Though the starting price is not nearly as high as the would be market price of such a miraculous pill, it nonetheless filtered out the small and declining powers. Where would these suppressed powers even get 10,000 yuan? As expected, the end off the specialty auction was reserved exclusively for the well-off sects and organizations and rulers of kingdoms if any were here.
"70,000 yuan!" A male voice sounded from the first floor. At this, however, the nearby people sneered. "Only an increase of 20,000? Dream on!"
"If this kind of miraculous pill is only worth 70,000 yuan, pills would not be so expensive and pill masters would not be so revered!"
"Which family's idiot heir placed the bid? Bringing such shame upon the family name!"
At the ridicule of the surrounding guests, the man who placed the bid reddened in embarrassment. He was only trying his luck, it would be beneficial for his family to get such a lifeline. But now that he looked back, it really was embarrassing. The big sects would definitely want this pill, if he really won the pill, it would be even more strange. His whole clan could be wiped out without anyone knowing if he really did win it. He shrunk his head into his shoulders and tried to make himself as small as possible.
"10 million yuan!" A shout from the fourth floor immediately raised the bid by several folds. This was from a different room than the previous young master.
"50 million!"
"100 million!"
"300 million!" All the guests of the fourth and fifth floor, save the young master that got the Netherworld Siren core and Shen Tianyu, threw in their bids. Th fifth floor barely had anyone in the rooms but these people could not be disregarded just because of their small numbers. Each were a powerhouse of their own, otherwise, they would not have enough money to spend to get into the 5th Tier of Lotus Pavilion.
"450 million!"
"500 million!" The gap in bid prices were getting smaller and smaller. There were more and more voices of desperation and bids through gritted teeth and clenched fists. Even so, Shen Tianyu's smile got brighter with each successive bid.
'As expected, it was indeed a good business deal.' Shen Tianyu thought. This Phoenix Pill was refined by the famous phusician and pill master, Tian Yu. When he came back and thanked Shen Tianyu for introducing such a talented disciple as Luo Shue to her, she had managed to get a deal out of him. The deal was to refine a good pill that could be sold off in Lotus Pavilion's specialty auction every year and besides the commission price, he would get the remaining proceeds. He agreed quite readily. With his skill, refining high end pills were not as hard as it would be for other medics. This applied both financially and intellectually. Such a famous doctor would never be short on money and favors. And he would not be so famous and highly sought after if he didn't have the knowledge and skills. In addition, he had a whole year to refine it and Yoadu would help him find the ingredients, he just had to do the labor. Being asked to do merely that as payback for his dear disciple was quite a steal in his opinion. Little did he know, only he could refine these great pills and they always sold for a blood spilling price. The pill sold usually repaid all the effort and materials put into it and some more leftover money. To express his gratefulness as he felt they got the short end of the stick in the deal, Tian Yu would also refine some lesser pills for Yoadu, and let them take care of what to do with them. They could keep them or sell them. Since they had Luo Shue, unless the pill was unusually rare and useful and Luo Shue could not refine it in the foreseeable future, most of the time, they were sold as one of the top three items of an auction or they would be sold as regular items at the specialty auction. And since Yaodu was selling them, there was no commission price and all proceeds went to the organization.
'I really did not make a wrong decision to send Luo Shue to Tian Yu.' Shen Tianyu thought as she looked on at the bidding.
One more required class to add! Yay! Is anyone living in the West Coast of the US? Anyone planning on going to Fanime?
Luo Shue would also sometimes sell some pills through Lotus Pavilion on behalf of Yaodu. Lotus Pavilion eventually became known as the best place to find rare pills. They took no action to stop the spread of this information, but instead help spread it further. First, it was great business advertisement. Second, it was true. Third, it brought in more profit for not only the pills but also all the other items. Medicinal herbs and fruits were not as pricey as pills on average. This was because once someone bought medicinal herbs or fruits, unless they were pill masters themselves, they still had to find someone to refine the pills for them. After all medicinal herbs and fruits still had impurities, and sometimes poison in them, such as in the case of the Skull herbs. So, they could not be consumed directly. Only pills would allow for minimal risk and maximum benefits. That's why the price of pills were higher and people were willing to pay more.
With Lotus Pavilion being known to sell pills, due to excitement and self-interested beliefs, the other items were also worth more in the eyes of others. After all, they regularly auctioned off pills like it was nothing, doesn't that mean they were acquainted with or even employing one or more pill masters? How could their items be normal?
And so, Lotus Pavilion became more or less became a brand name, even though it was an auction house and not a store. As long as someone said something of theirs was bought from Lotus Pavilion, even their shoes would be elevated to a higher position in the view of others.
"550 million!" The price of all the herbs make to use the phoenix pill were definitely rare. The price of all of them combined was around a few hundred million.
"600 million!" 'Including the price for labor, it's almost there.' Shen Tianyu thought as she opened her mouth.
"600 million 1,000." A female voice sounded in the auction hall form the fifth floor again. 'This should give them some hope to continue bidding.' She thought.
"600 million 5,000!" Another voice that had been bidding sounded right after.
In the end, the precious Phoenix Pill was sold for 750 million 5 hundred thousand yuan. This at least could repay the price of the herbs and the labor costs involved in finding them and making the pill.
"This next item is the last one for this specialty auction of Lotus Pavilion!" The auctioneer announced as the woman from before came up with a covered tray again. After the cover was pulled off, what was revealed was a jade bottle.
"This here is a really precious item... one could say." The auctioneer introduced mysteriously and looked at everyone present. "Samhain(1) Poison." He said simply.
The crowd buzzed with confusion. Samhain? What language was that? They've never heard of this word. But since the auctioneer called it poison, it must be quite... useful.
"I've been told by the honored guest selling this that Samhain means the 'coming of winter' in another language." The auctioneer explained. "This special poison causes the body of the one who takes it to take in Yin or Cold energy. It also agitates the Cold energy already existing in the body and even spiritual power can't help. This causes the victim to become cold. Of course, it isn't this simple. It causes cold from within the body as it makes the body take in more Cold energy from the surroundings. This way, even if they were to bundle themselves up or surround themselves with fire they will still feel cold. In the end the person's organs will start to malfunction and shut down as a result of having too much Cold energy and die. Even the corpse will seem as if the person froze and died in an ice cave. The poison is odorless and tastes like water so you will never be found out." The auctioneer's smile was still on his face as he explained the effects of the poison.
The effects don't sound like much but actually experiencing it is a different thing entirely. The effects sound simple but in actuality, they are actually quite malicious. This was a perfect item for those big sects. They don't have to hide it because it's not something lifesaving. Heck, they can publicize it and use it to threaten others to do their bidding.
On the fifth floor, Shen Tianyu was smiling sneakily. Of course, the word Samhain did not exist in this world. 'Glad to see all that work has come in handy. I hope it'll sell well.' She thought. 'As for what happens after...' She squinted her eyes. '...it has nothing to do with me. I'm not a saint, why should I care what the buyer does with it? If they use it against us... of course I have the antidote, there won't be any problem.'
As she was thinking, the bidding had already started. Perhaps it was because the curtains hid their faces, and therefore their identity, many of the more powerful sects were fervently bidding for it.
"80,500!" Shen Tianyu frowned. Compared to the other items, the price for this poison was unbelievably low. She called for a servant by shaking a bell on the table. She wrote something down on a piece of paper and had the servant give it to the auctioneer.
The auctioneer below who was repeating the bids stopped and took the piece of paper after the servant said something, and read it.
"Excuse us, the honored guest selling this just sent word." The auctioneer looked down at the paper. "They said, 'If no one wants it then I'll take it back.'" That was saying the prices were not satisfactory. Indeed, they were sorely lacking compared to the previous two items. Not to mention, this was the last item, should it not fetch the best price? It could also be perceived as an insult to both the Lotus Pavilion and the auctioneer, for being unable to fetch a higher price for the item.
"Ahem." The auctioneer coughed. "The guests here can be rest assured, the Lotus Pavilion will not divulge any information about it's customers and clients."
1: It's Gaelic, which is the language for the Celtics of Ireland who existed around 400BC. That's what Mr. Google says.
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