Heaven Refining physique-Chapter 85: Making Fool Out of Themselves

"Don’t worry, senior, I was just asking out of curiosity."

Jiang Hao wasn’t really much interested in making things difficult for Blazing Valley. Even if they got the pills, it wouldn’t affect him much, since he had already decided to destroy them; their days were numbered.

As for increasing the prices, he didn’t really have to do anything; those two other sects would definitely do so as much as they could.

As he was thinking, he heard a new bid from room number 5.

"125,000."

"I wonder when others will intervene," Mei Ling said nonchalantly while continuing.

"Don’t forget, there are still some great powers in the eastern region besides those three sects, which are at least equal in wealth to them. Not to mention, Sky Pavilion and Alchemy Hall must have sent someone too. Finding their identities is a little bit tricky, as they always send cultivators in disguise.

Private rooms can be occupied by those who can pay good enough spirit stones; even great clans are capable of doing that.

They are just hesitant to bid at the start, thinking we might have other pills to offer. After all, it’s just the third item we are auctioning so far, and these pills aren’t enough for us to release news like that.

Sky Pavilion might have come just to get news; they don’t even need private rooms.

Alchemy Hall would have definitely sent someone too. They always do, to check if some skilled alchemist has appeared or not, like this time. They will definitely want to contact you.

They will release news at the end of the auction that they want to cooperate with you. This is how they have poached many talented alchemists till now. Their offers are quite hard to refuse, after all—they give new pill recipes and rare spirit herbs in large quantities.

And this is all what alchemists want to increase their Dao, so how can they refuse?

Mainly, alchemists directly go to Alchemy Hall, but sometimes major powers like us nurture some alchemists in secret, and those alchemists are what they aim for.

Forcing an alchemist to sign a contract is considered a grave sin; the whole cultivation world might go against you if you have done that.

So once Alchemy Hall gives them better opportunities and protection, they leave their previous owners easily."

Jiang Hao nodded in understanding. He was happy as long as he got more than two million spirit stones; who paid for it didn’t matter to him anyway.

"130,000." It was from Blazing Valley. Thousand Petal Order had stopped bidding long ago, so only Mountain Sword and Blazing Valley were left.

He wondered what the source of income was for Thousand Petal Order. They surely had a rich heritage because they were one of the oldest sects of all three top sects.

"135,000."

"136,000."

"137,000."

"140,000."

Mountain Sword didn’t bid after hearing this; it looked like they were hesitating.

"Oh my, it looks like these pills belong to the guest in room number 8. This might be your only chance of getting them, so please don’t hesitate right now, or you will regret it later."

Mei Ling encouraged others, and it was effective. People from Mountain Sword Sect bid one more time—maybe their last attempt.

"141,000."

"You lot have become poorer. If you want to bid, then increase it like us—145,000."

It seemed they had already figured out each other’s identities.

Jiang Hao shook his head inwardly. Perhaps Blazing Valley had hit the mark by pointing out that Mountain Sword Sect might really be running low on resources.

This time, no one else bid after 145,000.

"145,000 once, 145,000 twice... and sold. Please complete the transaction."

The transaction was successful, and others looked at Mei Ling intently.

She smiled and waved her hands again.

Others looked toward the tray covered in cloth. They could see through the cloth with their spirit sense, but unless allowed, they wouldn’t use it in the auction—it was an unspoken rule.

Mei Ling removed the cloth immediately when the maid reached her, and as expected, it was again pill bottles.

"Please check them; they are again of similar grade."

Others became excited again. This meant that Heavenly Fortune Pavilion definitely had an Alchemist Grandmaster.

"Please beg my pardon, I hope Heavenly Fortune Pavilion isn’t hiding someone forcefully."

This voice came from room number 6.

Top figures easily understood what this person was implying and that this person was definitely from Alchemy Hall.

Mei Ling looked toward room number 6 and smiled.

"Dear guest, I don’t know what you are implying, but I have heard that Sky Pavilion is quite skilled in figuring out truths. You may go there and verify your claims. If you don’t know where Sky Pavilion is, I can allow some maids to guide you."

Small laughs could be heard among the crowd.

There was no response from room number 6.

Jiang Hao was sure that even Blazing Valley might be feeling a little salty right now. They had spent far more than what they had expected for the first batch.

Now that people knew there might be the possibility of another batch of pills after this, they would hesitate to bid higher prices, as it was still the fourth item of the auction, and usually, the best items came after the initial items were auctioned off in this kind of grand auction.

Not to mention, Heavenly Fortune Pavilion had held a mega auction not long ago; they didn’t have other treasures to sell.

It was obvious now that they had gotten their hands on these pills—definitely in large quantities too.

Maybe they all would be able to get some pills today, of course, if those people in private rooms had really brought a lot of spirit stones today than there chances were bleak.

"Let’s start again, but the starting price will be different. Seeing how much demand there is for them, I am raising the price to 100,000 for the starting bid. Begin."

Jiang Hao was pleased with this outcome. Even if no one bid higher and just bought it at 100,000, he would still get 20,000 spirit stones per pill, which he had expected before.

"105,000."

"110,000."

"112,000."

...

As expected, the bidding was less intensive than before. Blazing Valley didn’t even bid once in this round; they didn’t even try to increase the price to create trouble for the others.

After some time later, Mountain Sword Sect won the bid at 124,000 spirit stones.

After this round, only 10 pills of Grade 5 were sold; there were still 50 left.

Mei Ling continued, and he had already earned 69,000 spirit stones more than he had expected. Auctioning really was the most profitable way to sell anything.

Another two batches of 5 sold without any suspense. One was bought by Thousand Petal Order at 126,000, and the other one was again bought by Blazing Valley, as Mei Ling had stated that this would be the last 5-pill batch.

Due to this, the bidding for the last one reached 155,000.

Jiang Hao was speechless. He knew that there were still 30 more pills to go, so her saying that this would be the last 5-pill batch meant she might increase the number of pills sold per round.

He wondered how Blazing Valley would react once she brought out the next batch.

Mei Ling smiled and waved her hands again; the maid brought the jade tray to her.

"I hope everybody has listened to us and brought enough spirit stones because now the real auction starts."

"Don’t worry, Lady Mei, we never took Heavenly Fortune Pavilion’s advice as a jest," said none other than the person who was bidding for Blazing Valley Sect.

"Good." Mei Ling removed the veil, and there was immediate silence.

"As I had said before, that was the last batch of 5 pills. Here, now we will auction 10 pills. I hope everybody is ready," Mei Ling said with a slightly teasing voice.

Many people weren’t able to control their laughter, and Jiang Hao was sure that he had heard someone gritting their teeth.

The person who was gritting his teeth was none other than the elder of Blazing Valley, who had just said that they never took Heavenly Fortune Pavilion’s advice as a jest.

There were three other elders from Blazing Valley; they had been feeling quite happy after winning 10 peak Grade 5 pills of perfect tier, while Mountain Sword Sect got only 5. But now, seeing those 10 pills on the tray, their eyes were burning with rage.

They had been tricked not once but twice, paying far more than others, not to mention they had made fools of themselves in front of everyone.

But in the end, they could do nothing and only grit their teeth. They couldn’t even leave; in fact, they were even willing to bid on these 10 pills too.

It was just too good to pass on something like this out of anger. Their sect master would refine them into pills if they left without even bidding.

"It’s easier to make fools out of the wealthy and arrogant," Mei Ling commented.

Jiang Hao couldn’t help but think inwardly that she might be the wealthiest of everyone present here. Perhaps she wasn’t arrogant, though—of course, he wasn’t going to ask about it.