Bab 225: Fighting
In the end, the box called the Ancient Jade Cube still ended up with Mo Qingkuang.
When Huo Qun came back to Mo Qingkuang's private room to finalize the transaction, he had a flattering smile on his face.
Mo Qingkuang ignored him, took the Ancient Jade Cube, and observed it for a while.
However, he couldn't determine anything special about the cube just by looking at it, so he casually played with it for a bit before storing it in his spatial ring.
Huo Qun kept sneaking glances at Mo Qingkuang's hands, still hoping to discover some secret about the box.
Why would someone spend over 300,000 low-grade spirit stones on an item that had stumped so many auction appraisers?
If he could learn anything about the box's secret, he could sell that information to those who had asked him earlier.
He had done this sort of thing before.
However, he was disappointed when Mo Qingkuang didn't open the box in front of him, only playing with it briefly before storing it away.
Huo Qun had no choice but to leave.
The auction house had its rules. If they couldn't identify the value of an item and someone else bought it, even if it turned out to be a divine skill or a supreme weapon, it was their own inadequacy to blame, not the fault of the buyer.
Mo Fan also didn't immediately tell Mo Qingkuang how to open the Ancient Jade Cube. Instead, he advised him to focus on the upcoming auction items and deal with the cube later.
But to Mo Qingkuang's surprise, Lin Yang bid on a newly introduced fifth-grade demon beast's inner core.
"50,000 low-grade spirit stones!" The starting price was only 10,000, but Lin Yang started with 50,000.
Mo Qingkuang was about to bid when Mo Fan stopped him. "There's nothing special about this inner core, let's wait."
The market value of a fifth-grade demon beast's inner core was between 150,000 to 200,000, and it was also a material for alchemy. Lin Yang's interest was understandable.
However, Mo Fan clearly remembered that he didn't arrange for Lin Yang to bid on this material. Why was Lin Yang bidding so aggressively? Did something go wrong?
Had he remembered incorrectly? Or had Lin Yang recently acquired something that required the fifth-grade demon beast's inner core?
With Lin Yang's bid, everyone instinctively looked towards VIP room 108. According to the pattern of the previous bids, whenever VIP 857 bid, VIP 108 would follow and outbid by the minimum increment.
Until finally securing the items VIP 857 wanted.
So, everyone waited for Mo Qingkuang to bid.
But after a while, there was no sound from VIP room 108; it was completely silent.
Everyone was puzzled. Had they run out of money? Or had they lost interest? Were the previous bids against VIP 857 just coincidences?
Lin Yang was also surprised. Why had this VIP 108, who had always opposed him, suddenly stopped?
Did they disdain this fifth-grade demon beast's inner core, or had they seen through his intention to drive up the price?
After waiting for a while with no bid from Mo Qingkuang, some other interested guests started bidding again.
The price of the inner core slowly rose, soon approaching the minimum market price of 150,000 low-grade spirit stones.
Lin Yang hesitated. "Master, should I keep bidding?"
"Go ahead. The high market value of this inner core is 200,000 low-grade spirit stones. With auction premiums, the final price should overrun by about twenty percent, meaning it could go up to 240,000. We can bid up to 220,000 and see how the people upstairs respond. If it does not go over 220,000, it means they've seen through our ploy, and we should give up."
Lin Yang nodded and re-entered the bidding.
With Mo Fan's deliberation, the auction price for the fifth-grade demon beast's inner core quickly rose to 210,000, and it was Lin Yang who made the bid.
Mo Qingkuang was getting anxious. "Ancestor? He seems to really want it. Should we snatch it?"
He wasn't Mo Fan and didn't know which items were useful to Lin Yang; he just didn't want Lin Yang to gain any advantage whatsoever.
If possible, he would buy everything at the auction just to ensure Lin Yang went home empty-handed.
Mo Fan was also very conflicted. While a fifth-grade demon beast's inner core was indeed valuable, it didn't have any decisive significance in his understanding.
But he was also very worried that this particular inner core might have some other important use for Lin Yang.
After all, the person across from them was the Saint Alchemist, whose understanding of alchemical materials was unparalleled. There might be some unknown elixirs involved.
What if…
Clenching his teeth, Mo Fan said, "Let's win it first and then figure it out!"
With that directive, Mo Qingkuang was very excited. Great, let's get it. He immediately bid, "211,000."
"VIP 108 bids 211,000!" Hearing it was VIP 108, the auctioneer quickly announced.
The crowd had a look of realization. They had thought VIP 108 was giving up, but it turned out they were just waiting.
They figured it must have been because the price was too low earlier to be worth their effort. Now that it was approaching the market value, they stepped in.
They must be very wealthy! They wouldn't bother with lower prices but would come in to buy once others had driven the price up.
Hearing Mo Qingkuang's bid, Lin Yang finally felt at ease, a smile returning to his face.
He had feared they wouldn't take the bait!
He immediately raised his bid. "220,000 low-grade spirit stones!"
With Mo Fan's approval, Mo Qingkuang had no fear. Before Lin Yang's voice had even faded, he bid, "221,000."
Their bids echoed back and forth, resuming the familiar rhythm everyone knew.
Seeing such intense competition between the two, those originally interested in the inner core gradually withdrew.
According to their usual pattern, these two would drive the price up well beyond its value before stopping. Those who weren't involved in their rivalry decided it wasn't worth it to continue bidding.
"300,000!"
"301,000!"
"310,000!"
"311,000!"
When Mo Qingkuang bid 311,000, Lin Yang suddenly stopped. In the end, the fifth-grade demon beast's inner core was awarded to Mo Qingkuang after three calls from the auctioneer.
The crowd now had a clear idea. This VIP 857 seemed to only have around 300,000 low-grade spirit stones at their disposal.
As for VIP 108 upstairs, they clearly had no shortage of money and were just determined to oppose VIP 857!
Mo Qingkuang casually stored the inner core that Huo Qun brought over in his spatial ring, then coldly glanced at Lin Yang downstairs.
It didn't matter how much it overran its value or whether it was useful to him; the important thing was that Lin Yang didn't get it!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone