Chapter 630: Imperial Cauldron
One grand character immediately asked in a serious tone: "A cauldron from the Alchemy Kingdom? Which Alchemy Emperor did this belong to?"
"Dear honored guest, this cauldron was owned by the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor and followed him when the emperor was still young. Anyone who studied the Alchemy Kingdom knows that the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor was one of the greatest regarding plant cultivation since the start of time. His usage of the cauldron was not limited to pill refinement, it contains many benefits regarding growing plants.
"Because of his great skill at cultivating plants, he was called the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor. However, after becoming an emperor, he focused on immortal pill refinement instead, so he thought about switching to a different cauldron. Eventually, he found one that was more suitable for pill refinement, so he exchanged it with the cauldron that he had used for the first half of his life." The auctioneer was able to provide the history of the cauldron quite well. Surely the Golem Square had spent a lot of effort on this matter.
A Demon King inquired: "If this Heavenly Cauldron belonged to the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor, then why did the Alchemy Kingdom let it be lost in the outside world?"
The Alchemy Kingdom was a behemoth in the Alchemy Realm as well the entire Stone Medicine World. One sect with three emperors — how formidable was this? Not to mention that it even produced four Alchemy Emperors.
Although Alchemy Emperors were not comparable to Immortal Emperors since they couldn't sweep through the world in an invincible manner, they had a prestigious status and great fame. Since the start of time, both eternal existences and Godkings would need an Alchemy Emperor eventually. Sometimes, even Immortal Emperors would need Alchemy Emperors.
The kingdom's first Immortal Emperor was also its progenitor, Immortal Emperor Yao Zu. He used the dao of alchemy to become an emperor, so he was not only an Immortal Emperor but also an Alchemy Emperor. Thus, he was both the first Immortal Emperor and the top Alchemy Emperor among the four in the Alchemy Kingdom. 1
Thus beckoning this question: how could such a monster let the cauldron that belonged to the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor be lost to the outside world?
The auctioneer calmly answered: "Honored guests, you can rest assured about this matter. Anything auctioned by our Golem Square definitely has no problems and won't be asked to be returned. However, if everyone is still worried, then I will reveal the true origin of the cauldron."
He paused for a moment before continuing: "After the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor changed his cauldron, he gave his old one to a close friend. This friend treated this cauldron as his family heirloom for generations. If it wasn't for the fact that the master of the cauldron needed a huge amount of spirit medicines, he wouldn't have been able to bear giving up this treasure."
The auctioneer guaranteed once more: "This cauldron is up for auction, so our Golem Square can guarantee that the Alchemy Kingdom will definitely not ask for it back from whoever wins it!"
The guests couldn't be blamed for showing such concerns. After all, a monster like the Alchemy Kingdom was a source of dread for the other big characters. It would be big trouble if obtaining this cauldron with a dubious origin would provoke the Alchemy Kingdom in any way.
After the guarantee from the square, one person quickly asked: "What is the starting bid for this cauldron?"
The auctioneer answered: "The starting point for this cauldron is 80,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades, and each successive bid must be in increments of 10,000. The highest bidder will win."
Many people became dejected after hearing this. Even 80,000 of the lowest grade Virtuous Paragon Refined Jade were still Virtuous Paragon jades after all — something extremely incredible.
How frightening was this starting price? Many big shots here were startled by this price since it already eliminated a lot of the guests without enough money.
The auctioneer continued on: "I won't expand on the preciousness of a Heavenly Cauldron. We'll begin now. 80,000 to start, bid!"
Although this price could scare people to death, an alchemist was unperturbed and gave his bid: "90,000!"
The cauldron that belonged to the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor was too tempting. This emperor was quite renowned, after all. Think about it, a cauldron that had been with this emperor for half of his life — how priceless was this?
Despite its monstrous price, many people still desired it: "100,000!"
The arrogant Jian Wushuang raised her voice: "200,000!" She immediately doubled the bid in one go.
In an auction, this type of bidding would surely cause annoyance. Although some bidders were very unhappy with Jian Wushuang, they had to swallow it as they didn't dare to utter a word. Who would want to mess with the golden daughter of the Jian Clan?
Bai Weng and Shi Hao's hearts were beating fast from the bidding of hundreds of thousands of Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades. They didn't dare to imagine such a monstrous sum.
Another alchemist bidded: "210,000."
At this time, the generous young man also called out: "250,000!" He was a golem with a body made out of flesh and blood, but his eyes were a golden color. He had a stout stature that made him seem like a majestic and powerful mountain.
However, Jian Wushuang didn't bother looking at the young man and raised the bid once more: "500,000!"
Her approach made others gasp helplessly. Whose fault was it that she was so rich? She could afford to raise it to any price!
A Demon King followed along: "510,000!"
The young man was much more cautious compared to Jian Wushuang: "530,000." It seemed like he didn't want to offend her.
"1,000,000." But this time, Li Qiye casually threw out his bid.
His bid caused everyone to jump. The generous young man looked towards Li Qiye, and the same went for Jian Wushuang. She coldly glared at him with a sight that pierced through his very being.
However, despite all the gazes, Li Qiye still leisurely sat there on the balcony. Of course, Bai Weng and Shi Hao were not as calm, their rapidly beating hearts were palpitating and their legs were quivering. Nevertheless, they noticed that Li Qiye was still very relaxed; it was as if his bid wasn't 1,000,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades and instead just a few dozen coins that he could afford to throw into a river without a care.
Bai Weng couldn't help but wryly smile. Just imagine, Li Qiye could casually throw out 100 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades, then he gave the Vermillion Flame Cauldron to him. At the same time, Li Qiye intended on grooming Shi Hao, so perhaps 1,000,000 refined jades were nothing to him.
"2,000,000." Jian Wushuang bidded. Her style was still the same, doubling the sum.
Li Qiye only smiled and didn't respond to her provocation. However, the generous young man didn't stay silent. Compared to Jian Wushuang with her bottomless pockets, he was a lot more cautious: "2,050,000." This type of bidding was meant to show his determination to own the cauldron, but at the same time, his intent of not offending Jian Wushuang.
"3,000,000." Jian Wushuang didn't double the bid this time, but it was still a frightening number.
The remaining bidders simply shut up and didn't dare to bid any longer since they couldn't match Jian Wushuang.
"3,050,000." The generous young man raised it by 50,000 once more.
However, no one could stop Jian Wushuang's momentum as she continued to raise her bid to an intimidating level: "4,000,000!"
The auction became the playground of the young man and Jian Wushuang.
Her bids made it very difficult for the young man. He had no choice but to stand up and slightly bow down towards her direction: "Goddess Jian, I know you are interested in this cauldron, but you are not an alchemist so you might not need such a cauldron."
However, Jian Wushuang was always arrogant and never gave anyone face no matter who they were: "Whether I need it or not is none of your business."
The generous young man was still courteously bowing as he said: "Of course, it is none of my business. But honorable Goddess Jian, this cauldron is very important to me. My Huangfu Clan and the Alchemy Kingdom are in-laws, so now that the kingdom's cauldron has been lost like this, it makes me, an alchemist, feel very terrible. I want to win this auction and then give it back to the Alchemy Kingdom.
"I hope that Goddess Jian will show magnanimity. As long as you agree to let me have this cauldron, you can ask for anything from me."
"What? Are you saying that this young lady is coveting something that belongs to you?! Also, this young lady doesn’t lack anything!" Jian Wushuang spoke with an imposing aura. Her arrogance was boundless regardless of her opponent. Although her attitude was distasteful in the eyes of others, it also showed that she was an arrogant and confident person.
"No, no!" The generous young man understood her personality, so he hurriedly apologized: "That is not what I meant. What I was trying to say is that, in the future, if Goddess Jian has any order, then just say a word and I'll carry it out right away."
Her arrogant character loved it the most when people flattered her. She nodded her head and said: "Very well, Huangfu Hao. Today, this young lady will give you some face. If you bid 5,000,000, then I won't compete with you anymore."
The young man named Huangfu Hao quickly told the auctioneer: "I bid 5,000,000!"
Although such practices were not compliant with the rules, today, the price of this cauldron was exorbitant already so even the Golem Square chose to turn a blind eye to what had just played out.
Sure enough, Jian Wushuang kept her word and no longer bidded after Huangfu Hao raised the price to 5,000,000.
630 TeaserOne grand character immediately asked with a serious tone: "A cauldron from the Alchemy Kingdom? Which Alchemy Emperor did this belong to?"
"Dear honored guest, this cauldron was owned by the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor and followed him when the emperor was still young. Anyone who studied the Alchemy Kingdom knows that the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor was one of the best regarding plant cultivation since the start of time. His usage of the cauldron was not limited to pill refinement, it contains many benefits regarding growing plants.
"Because of his great skill at plant cultivation, he was called the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor. However, after becoming an emperor, he focused on immortal pill refinement instead, so he thought about switching to a different cauldron. Eventually, he found one that was more suitable for pill refinement, so he exchanged it with the cauldron that he had used for the first half of his life." The auctioneer was able to provide the history of the cauldron quite well. Surely the Golem Square had spent a lot of effort on this matter.
A Demon King inquired: "If this Heavenly Cauldron belonged to the Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor, then why did the Alchemy Kingdom let it be lost in the outside world?
[collapse] Yao Zu = Alchemy Ancestor Immortal Emperor. ↩Chapter 631: Money Is One Thing I Don't Lack
The auctioneer declared: "5,000,000! Going once! Does anyone want to bid higher?"
At this time, no one else wanted to bid. Although this cauldron was very amazing, this was a price as high as the heavens, a price that very few people could afford. It was not worth it to utilize all of their wealth just for one cauldron.
Huangfu Hao was relieved to see no one else bidding. With this cauldron, he could earn some favor with the Alchemist Kingdom.
However, before he could finish heaving his sigh of relief, a voice came along: "10,000,000."
The bidder was Li Qiye, sitting leisurely on his balcony. His calm demeanor rendered others into disbelief; it was hard to imagine that this huge number came out of his mouth.
After naming such a price, Shi Hao and Bai Weng both shivered and felt their knees giving way.
Huangfu Hao wanted to vomit blood from anger. It was a struggle to convince Jian Wushuang to show mercy, but now another troublemaker came out of nowhere. What was even more frustrating was that this trouble maker doubled the price! 1
"This… is crazy!" The crowd gasped and was rendered silly. This price was insane! One cauldron was not worth this much.
The buyers, including the big characters on the balconies and the ancestors hiding in the dark, all stared at Li Qiye. Someone who could easily take out 10,000,000 refined jades of this grade must have an earth-shattering background.
At this time, Shi Hao couldn't help but try to convince Li Qiye: "Big Brother, this is… not worth it." With such a monstrous price, he wouldn't dare to accept it even if Li Qiye bought it for him.
Li Qiye dismissively replied: "It's not a matter of whether it's worth or not. Although I can find another cauldron for you, my time is limited. It is better to buy this one instead of wasting time finding another."
Items like refined jades were nothing to the current Li Qiye. He had entered the forbidden grounds so his wealth was extremely rich. It could even be said that refined jades were nothing more than a number to him. Only supreme immortal treasures or jewels across the epochs would be able to tempt him.
Huangfu Hao suddenly had the impulse to kill Li Qiye. After struggling to deal with Jian Wushuang, Li Qiye doubling the price made him go crazy.
Huangfu Hao took a deep breath and lowered his tone to declare: "11,000,000!"
At this point, all the buyers present held their breaths and felt that the whole matter was too outrageous. If this cauldron had refined imperial or immortal pills, then it would be worth it. However, legend states that after becoming an Alchemy Emperor, Hundred-grass changed his cauldron. Some even speculated that he had changed it way before his ascension, so it was hard to say whether it had refined imperial pills or not. However, one thing was certain — it had never refined immortal pills.
If a cauldron had refined pills of this level before, then its value would be completely different since its medicinal trove would have incredible changes.
Therefore, in the current situation where it was hard to determine the past level of this cauldron's refinement, bidding such a high price was a huge gamble.
Li Qiye still smiled and spoke nonchalantly as if he was just stating a mere number: "15,000,000."
At this point, Shi Hao and Bei Weng could no longer stand as sweat ran down their backs. This price had completely stunned them.
An experienced alchemist couldn't help but speculate: "This is too crazy. Does he have too much money with no place to spend it or something? In my opinion, I think that if this cauldron had refined imperial pills before, then it would be worth 20,000,000 at best; no one would pay much more. The Hundred-grass Alchemy Emperor swapped out this cauldron early on or very shortly after becoming an emperor. Let's take a step back and pretend that this cauldron had refined imperial pills. Even then, the number of pills would still be very limited — one or two batches at best."
Everyone knew that although Alchemy Emperors were capable of refining imperial pills, it was still very difficult to find the materials, so the imperial pills they refined throughout their lives were limited. To be able to refine eight to ten batches in the generation of a single Immortal Emperor was already not bad.
As for the cauldrons, the more it refines these types of pills, the better. If it was only one batch, then its potential was also much more limited.
One Demon King from a great power murmured: "Using millions to gamble… Truly insane."
Even if they went bankrupt in the process, a few great powers wouldn't be able to procure so many Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades. Those who were able to do so were extremely rich great powers, and only imperial lineages would be able to easily part with such an amount.
It wasn't just the buyers, even the auctioneer on the platform was drenched with cold sweat. This price had exceeded his imagination.
"You!" Huangfu Hao angrily glared at Li Qiye. 10,000,000 refined jades had already exceeded his budget. Although the Huangfu Clan was very rich, he needed the support of the ancestors to be able to spend so much. Since his intent was to use this cauldron to befriend the Alchemy Kingdom, the ancestors would surely support him. However, the issue was that the price had risen to 15,000,000. Even with the ancestors' support, he himself would have to spend everything.
Noticing Huangfu Hao's unfriendly glare, Bai Weng quietly reminded Li Qiye: "Young Noble, Huangfu Hao's background is quite amazing. He is the oldest son of the Huangfu Clan and also its inheritor. This clan itself has a marriage pact with the Alchemy Kingdom that has been going on for several generations; it could be said that the clan has many relatives in the kingdom, and all of them are great characters in the imperial families. I heard that Huangfu Hao and the current main descendant of the Alchemy Kingdom are also relatives, so his backing is quite formidable."
Bai Weng's explanation was indeed on point. With the Alchemy Kingdom as their backing, the Huangfu Clan's power was quite frightening. Outside of being the oldest and having high talents, another reason why Huangfu Hao was able to become the clan inheritor was due to him being a relative of the Alchemy Kingdom's current main descendant.
Outsiders couldn't conclude how close they were. Some said that they were very close while others said that they were quite distant. Nevertheless, this blood-tie was indeed real.
The kingdom had three Immortal Emperors and four Alchemy Emperors; to be backed by such a monstrous existence, who in the Stone Medicine World would dare to mess with them?
Bai Weng was reminding Li Qiye that it was best not to create animosity with Huangfu Hao.
Li Qiye sat on his balcony and nonchalantly asked: "What does all of that have to do with me?"
Bai Weng didn't know what else to say. He wasn't clear whether Li Qiye didn't get the point or if he was just extremely confident. Very few in this world dared to not put the Huangfu Clan into their sight like this.
Bai Weng took a deep breath and whispered again: "Young Noble, Huangfu Hao himself is quite formidable as well. He is considered the fifth alchemy prodigy and has great talents. If he didn't spend so much effort on cultivation, then perhaps he would be part of the four. I heard that he had reached the Heavenly King realm for some time, but the more dreadful part is that his golden stone gaze has the same power as his forefathers."
Bai Weng was only a minor character. If he could take a step back to realize the immensity of the heaven and earth, he would do so, unlike Li Qiye's more aggressive approach.
Just as he said, Huangfu Hao was indeed strong. He was a golem with an indescribable noble background and a flesh and blood body at birth. However, his eyes remained that of stone; this was a pair of invincible golden stone eyes that could be found from his forefathers — quite a rare occurrence.
Normally, Atavism would result in the body reverting to stone and becoming weaker. It was very rare that someone undergoing Atavism would inherit their forefathers' strongest bloodline.
"And?" Li Qiye was still as calm as ever.
At this point, Bai Weng knew better and kept his mouth shut. Li Qiye was not a kid that was seeing the world for the first time. His nonchalant attitude regarding Huangfu Hao made Bai Weng think that Li Qiye was even stronger than what he had imagined and that he had underestimated him.
At this time, Huangfu Hao really wanted to kill Li Qiye. His glare towards Li Qiye contained a murderous glint. He took a deep breath and bit his teeth, deciding to risk it all: "16,000,000!"
"That won't do." Li Qiye said with a smile: "You have to understand that I am no longer bidding with the lowest grade of refined jades. I am bidding 16,000,000 jades of the Rising Era Paragon grade. If you are simply bidding jades of the conventional level, then you have to bid more than 30,000,000."
When most people talked about Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades, they would refer to the lowest grade used by Early Era Paragons. Although both were Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades, one grade’s gap was the difference between heaven and earth. One Virtuous Paragon Refined Jade contained an unbelievable amount of worldly energy, so the difference of just a single grade had an unreachable gap.
Everyone present became dumbstruck after hearing this. One of the Demon Kings stood up and lost his voice: "Refined Jades meant for Rising Era Paragons…? What the hell?!"
Everyone felt that Li Qiye was messing around too much. Normally, people would use the lowest grade for any given level of refined jade unless further specified.
Huangfu Hao became red due to uncontrollable anger. Even if he had the support of the elders, 15,000,000 regular jades alone was pretty much all of his wealth. However, if they were of the Rising Era Paragon level, then even if the Golem Square allowed for him to trade and the buyers agreed to take his Early Era Paragon jades, he would have to spend at least 30,000,000… This was an amount that he simply couldn't afford!
At this point, the auctioneer on the stage couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. This number was simply too scary.
The raw for troublemaker was Cheng Yaojin, a general from the Tang Dynasty. I believe I've written this footnote before since authors use this expression a lot. ↩