The auction continued to proceed in an orderly manner. Qi Shaorong didn't have much interest in the majority of the goods at the auction, and those who were interested had already given up long ago because the prices were too high and there were too many people competing.
By the time more than 40 items had been auctioned off, the heated atmosphere at the auction gradually cooled down.
"Next up for auction are Xueyan flowers, this type of flower can make people look radiant and glowing, as well as delay aging, letting you look forever youthful. I believe that the ladies present probably already know of its effectiveness, so I won't say any more. The Xueyan flowers' starting price is 50,000 gold coins, the bidding starts now." The auctioneer said.
Qi Shaorong's eyes lit up with a burning intensity, "A-Heng, bid on it."
Qi Heng nodded and said, "Okay."
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong with a strange expression, "Young Master Qi, are you also afraid of aging?"
Qi Shaorong smiled and said, "You could think of it that way."
Chen Yuan scratched his head, the higher the cultivation, the slower you'll age. With Qi Shaorong's talent, he shouldn't have to worry about aging this early on.
The Xueyan flowers' starting price was 50,000 gold coins, and the price had already increased to more than 200,000 by now. Qi Shaorong couldn't resist letting out a sigh, in any world, money was always the easiest to make from women!
Yi Chuxue's face was flushed red, she had originally only come here because of the Xueyan flowers, but her bid was quickly overwhelmed by a mad rush of other bids.
Mu Xuelan looked at Yi Chuxue's ugly expression, but didn't rub it in her face. Mu Xuelan was also interested in the Xueyan flowers, however, she was really short on money so she didn't participate in the bidding.
"400,000!"
Mu Xuelan frowned and looked towards the booth on the second floor, saying, "That seemed to be Zhuang Hao's voice. I didn't expect Young Master Zhuang to also be interested in the Xueyan flowers!"
Yi Chuxue pursed her lips. Yi Chuxue liked to believe that she still understood Zhuang Hao at least a little. Under normal circumstances, Zhuang Hao wouldn't be interested in the Xueyan flowers, so the reason why Zhuang Hao joined the bidding this time was probably because there was someone else who was interested.
Mu Xuelan looked at Yi Chuxue and said, "Sister Chuxue, maybe Zhuang Hao's bidding on the Xueyan flowers for you."
Yi Chuxue heard Mu Xuelan's taunting words and her mood was a little ruined, but in her heart there was also some hope. If Zhuang Hao really bid on the Xueyan flowers for her, then that would be great.
The auction house sent the Xueyan flowers to Zhuang Hao's booth, and Zhuang Hao immediately threw the Xueyan flowers to Qi Shaorong.
The Xueyan flowers were enveloped in a glass case, and the bottom of the case was filled with spiritual liquid and crystal minerals for nourishing the flowers.
Qi Shaorong looked at the Xueyan flowers and nodded, saying, "These things are pretty good!" Yi Chuxue seemed to have bid on them too, but unfortunately, that girl's too poor to afford it.
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Fourth Young Master Qi, what are you going to do with it?"
Qi Shaorong shrugged and said, "Let me see, I want to try refining this thing into a high-end cosmetic product."
High-end cosmetics, Chen Yuan's heart jumped violently. Chen Manwu once said that Qi Shaorong might have something to do with the Allure Cosmetics Stores.
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Cosmetics?"
Zhuang Qian frowned and said with some suspicion, "Fourth Young Master Qi, you also make cosmetic products? You're acquainted with a lot of people, right, are you familiar with that guy who runs that fraudulent store [1]? "
"Fraudulent store?" Qi Shaorong asked.
Chen Yuan nodded and said, "Yes! Allure Cosmetics is a scam! The boss is a black-hearted and rotten guy! Everyone knows that!"
Qi Shaorong: "…"
Zhuang Hao: " …"
"A-Qian, you shut up." Zhuang Hao shouted.
Zhuang Qian felt aggrieved and said, "Elder Brother, what are you doing?"
Zhuang Hao looked at Zhuang Qian's gloomy face and thought to himself: What am I doing? Stopping you from courting death.
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and Chen Yuan's expressions and thought to himself: Sure enough, his relationship with Allure Cosmetics has already been exposed. Both the Zhuang Family and Chen Family seem to know something.
Item after item were displayed until finally…
"The next item to be auctioned off is a level-five wood mage, with a wood-spirit body. Through the use of dual-cultivation, you will be able to gain many great benefits."
Qi Shaorong clenched his fists, and a cold light flashed through his eyes.
On the first floor, Yi Fan, who had been keeping his eyes closed the entire time, finally opened his eyes at once, his gaze frosty.
Mu Tingxuan, whose cultivation had been sealed, was pulled out. Zhuang Hao looked at the person on the auction stage below and was dumbfounded for a moment. Mu Tingxuan's face was covered in a thin gauze veil, leaving only his smooth forehead and two clear eyes exposed, "It's hard to tell whether his face is disfigured or not, could we have gotten the wrong person?" Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "No, it's him. There are scars on his face beneath the veil, it's just covered right now. If Tingxuan weren't disfigured, he'd truly be incredibly good-looking, but it's a pity… Tingxuan didn't want me to remove the scars for him. "
As Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong were talking, the bidding had already started.
Zhuang Hao was just about to raise his card and place a bid, but Qi Shaorong stopped his hand, "Don't join in."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Aren't you going to rescue him?"
"This is such a good opportunity to show off, let someone else have a chance instead. Besides, no matter how many gold coins he gives away, after deducting the 4% fee of the auction house, it'll still return to his hands eventually." Qi Shaorong said.
Zhuang Hao heard this and didn't pursue the matter and further, but his heart sank a little. What Qi Shaorong said was basically an indirect confession, the people from the Mohe Mercenary Corps really were all killed by "him". If he connected this with Qi Shaorong's reaction when they had talked about the Mohe Mercenary Corps previously, Qi Shaorong seemed to have already known that someone would make a move.
Seeing that Qi Shaorong was pressing his hand down on his own hand, Zhuang Hao's heart felt hot.
Chen Yuan looked at the interaction between Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong, and he felt a little envious in his heart.
He and Zhuang Hao had always been the best of friends, and Chen Yuan had thought that he knew Zhuang Hao pretty well, but he couldn't understand this conversation between Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong at all.
Chen Yuan lowered his head and mulled over what Qi Shaorong said. Besides, no matter how many gold coins he gives away, after deducting the 4% fee of the auction house, it'll still return to his hands eventually. The Mohe Mercenary Corps was wiped out recently, could it be, the murderer was also going to join the auction?
"One million."
Originally, the people competing had only kept their bids at the price of around a few hundred thousands of gold coins, but now that it suddenly jumped a large amount all at once, the scene immediately fell silent.
Chen Yuan looked downwards, "It's Qian Mian! That guy is a water mage, water and wood are both very compatible, so the wood mage would indeed be of great benefit to him. That guy looks like a decent and respectable person, I didn't expect that he'd actually be interested in dual cultivation."
[T/n: Ok so it's been said that Yi Fan (Qian Mian) is an ice/fire mage, but ice is basically just water.]
"1.2 million."
Chen Yuan froze for a moment and said, "There's actually someone else who's bidding too."
A ghastly voice rang out, "This student, don't be fooled by the auction house. That guy's face has already been disfigured for a long time, he's very ugly and simply isn't suitable for dual-cultivating. This auctioneer, can't you remove this guy's veil and let everyone see the true face of this person? "
The expression of the auctioneer standing on the stage changed.
"No need, 1.2 million." Yi Fan said coldly, without waiting for the auctioneer to say anything.
"Alright! Alright then! Boy, you seem to be determined to go against me, since you're so willing to be tricked by the auction house, I won't stop you anymore." Elder Yan Xin grumbled.
"Who's that old man?" Qi Shaorong asked.
"Elder Yan Xin is a troublesome poison refiner." Chen Yuan said.
Qi Shaorong froze for a moment and said, "Poison refiner?"
"Yes, it's said that Elder Yan Xin likes to refine drugs using live people, so the wood-spirit physique has a lot of appeal for Elder Yan Xin." Chen Yuan said.
Qi Shaorong raised his eyebrows and said, "So it's like that!"
"Looking at his attitude, Elder Yan Xin probably won't back down easily." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong was unconcerned and said, "It's fine, Qian Mian is a lot more powerful than I am. If Elder Yan Xin really goes looking for trouble, he probably won't be able to actually do anything about it."
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Qian Mian is more powerful than you, Young Master Qi, don't you think you're exaggerating a little too much."
Qi Shaorong looked at Chen Yuan and said, "You'll know in the future."
Chen Yuan: "…"
Mu Xuelan turned her head and looked at Qian Mian, saying, "Classmate Qian Mian, you seemed to have offended Elder Yan Xin. "
Yi Fan opened his eyes, glanced coldly at Mu Xuelan, and said, "It doesn't matter. "
"Classmate Qian Mian, maybe you don't know this, but Elder Yan Xin didn't lie to you. This person really is disfigured, his face is covered in scars underneath the veil. I think you should just yield to Elder Yan Xin this time, otherwise, I'm afraid that..." Nothing good will come out of this for you.
Yi Fan raised his gaze and looked at Mu Xuelan sharply, "Shut up, you talk too much."
Mu Xuelan was snapped at by Yi Fan and her face immediately reddened.
Yi Fan ignored Mu Xuelan after this, and Yi Chuxue looked at Mu Xuelan and laughed at her, "Tsk tks, Miss Mu, you sure are good at meddling in other people's business, but they don't even appreciate it at all."
Mu Xuelan clenched her fists and didn't speak.
Yi Chuxue glanced at Qian Mian and couldn't help feeling a little unwilling to accept the facts [2]. She thought to herself: Qian Mian, this guy, who's someone that just showed up out of nowhere, is trying to buy this nameless person who no one knows, and his first bid was actually one million. Yet she, lady of the Yi Family, only has a small, pitiful amount of money as her entire net worth.
Qi Family's private booth.
Qi Shaofu stared at Qian Mian, who was sitting in the ordinary seating area, and muttered, "Qian Mian this guy sure is rich!"
"Previously, Fourth Brother had won more than 30 million gold coins from his bets, 30% was given to Hu Feng and 20% was given to Qian Mian. Of course this guy has a lot of money." Qi Shaokang said enviously.
Qi Shaofu touched his chin and couldn't help but say, "Fourth Brother that fellow is really generous!" If you followed Fourth Brother, you'd be following a "path to money"! Unfortunately, Qi Shaorong couldn't care less about the Qi Family, nor did he have any care towards this older brother of his either.
"Qi Shaorong that guy lived off of us for the longest time [3], yet he'd prefer to help others rather than his own people." Qi Shaoru said resentfully.
Qi Shaokang glanced at Qi Shaoru, who was filled with righteous indignation [4], and said, "Enough, Shaoru, stop complaining."
Qi Shaokang looked at the people below them and said, "This wood-based mage probably isn't a simple person. He was captured by the Mohe Mercenary Corps and sent to the auction house, but as a result, the entire Mohe Mercenary Corps was wiped out two days ago."
Qi Shaofu frowned and said, "Why were they completely wiped out?"
Qi Shaokang shook his head and said, "I don't know, the Mohe Mercenary Corps was completely destroyed, and no one even went to retrieve the bodies and give them a proper burial. The people from the Mohe Mercenary Corps all died of poisoning, their corpses were full of toxins, so no one dared to touch them."
Qi Shaofu: "…"
Footnotes:
Fraudulent store: "Black shop". Often in traditional fiction, the original phrase is used to describe an inn that kills and robs guests. It could also mean a fraudulent store or hotel notorious for cheating or scamming customers, or "daylight robbery".
Unwilling to accept the facts: Don't know how to translate this exactly, it basically just means to be unresigned or unreconciled to something (in Chinese it's literally just the words for "unwilling/unresigned/unreconciled on its own, without the part after it). In this case, Yi Chuxue's not willing to accept the fact that someone like Qian Mian is actually wealthier than she is.
Lived off of us: Live off one person while secretly helping another.
Righteous indignation: To feel indignant at injustice.