Chapter 632: Alchemy Fowl
Eventually, with an ugly expression, Huangfu Hao dropped back down onto his chair and gave up on bidding. He couldn't afford such a price anymore, so what else could he do except give up? He could only watch Li Qiye win the Heavenly Cauldron.
"15,000,000 refined jades of the Rising Era Paragon level! Any higher bids?!" On the stage, the excited auctioneer's hand was shaking while holding his wooden gavel.
Who else would dare to bid when the price was already this high? Eventually, the auctioneer slammed his gavel to conclude this round as he spoke with his trembling voice: "15,000,000 Rising Era Paragon Jades! The cauldron belongs to this Young Noble!"
In the end, the buyers could only come to one conclusion: "There are too many lunatics these days…"
One Demon King couldn't help but utter: "There should be a limit to being wasteful. This level of profligate behavior is just unreasonable."
Only a madman would spend 15,000,000 Rising Era Paragon Jades; this was indeed a supremely prodigal son!
"The next treasure is a weapon from the foreign dao…" Infected by the last auction, the auctioneer's mood was at an all-time high.
In the private room, the workers from the auction house brought the Heavenly Cauldron over. Li Qiye casually handed over a spatial pouch to the workers to pay for the item.
Afterward, he threw the cauldron towards Shi Hao and said: "Keep doing your best. If you want to own this cauldron, you must spend a great deal of effort to harmonize with it. However, as long as you keep working hard, it will eventually accept you. At that point, your achievements in the alchemy dao will be able to reach a much higher level!"
The workers were astounded by Li Qiye's actions. They had seen many wealthy men and big characters, but spending millions of Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades for a cauldron to casually gift to a friend as if it was mere rubbish… Such extravagance was beyond cure! They had never seen this type of person before.
Shi Hao was shaking with fear. When the cauldron was thrown his way, he quickly jumped to grab it tightly as if he was afraid of dropping it. An item worth millions of refined jades made him afraid of it touching anything at all.
He struggled to calm down and prostrated on the ground while exuding his uncontrollable appreciation: "Big Brother… I… I will definitely not let you down!" He was a simple man. Countless words formed in his mind, but only this phrase left his lips.
Li Qiye nodded and said: "Be diligent. This cauldron is indeed great and has a natural affinity towards medicine. With it in the future, you will gain many benefits when cultivating plants. The more important part is that this cauldron has refined imperial pills before, so it will increase your pill refinement level by a notch."
At this point, Shi Hao could only nod his head repeatedly. He didn't know what else to say to express his gratitude while Bai Weng watched on with admiration. Countless alchemists yearned for such a cauldron to no avail. Bai Weng understood that all of this was possible because Li Qiye valued Shi Hao and wanted to train him.
Several auctions went by, and the next item was a living creature.
A fowl was raised to the stage, resulting in quite a dazzling spectacle. It emitted waves of immortal lights along with a medicinal fragrance that caused others to salivate.
An experienced alchemist sniffed the aroma and became lost in his indulgence while murmuring: "Nine Dragon's Saliva Aroma, Dao Wood Profound Aroma, Immortal River Lotus Aroma… How beautiful are these fragrances… So supreme…"
Another famous alchemist stood up in astonishment and stared at the chicken in disbelief as he lost his voice: "Impossible! Could this be a legendary Alchemy Fowl?"
"Sir, you have great insight." The auctioneer replied: "Correct! This is an Alchemy Fowl! They are extremely rare in this world, and this is our first time auctioning one in the Golem Square in the capital."
Other great characters could handle it, but the alchemists here could no longer bear it.
"Is it really an Alchemy Fowl?!" They all stood up and gazed intensely at the fowl.
"An Alchemy Fowl!" Bai Weng couldn't help but shiver while standing next to Li Qiye. He opened his eyes wide and wished to examine every inch of the beast carefully, not wanting to miss even a single feather.
He gasped and said: "So Alchemy Fowls do exist in this world… They are… divine items in the eyes of alchemists… To have one is…"
Bai Weng was at a loss for words since he felt that this was a divine creature. Any alchemist in the world would love to have one.
This prompted Shi Hao's inquiry: "What kind of chicken is an Alchemy Fowl?" He was still young and didn't know the effects of an Alchemy Fowl, but after noticing the many astonished alchemists, he knew that this chicken must be very amazing.
Bai Weng's gaze was still fixated on the chicken as he replied: "It is a long story, but in short, that chicken is everything an alchemist could want."
Li Qiye was also staring at this chicken along with the others. Among them, the alchemists were the most affected since the chicken could only be found in their dreams.
The chicken had been sealed, so it sat motionlessly with its head looking down, acting indifferent before everyone. Although it had been captured, it still showcased its arrogance.
The auctioneer quickly spoke: "Alchemy Fowl — I believe that the fellow alchemists here understand this creature more than I do.
"It can eat insect kings, capture poisonous creatures, protect spirit medicines and grasses, and its excrement is the most fertile soil in this world.
"More importantly, its nature is to protect medicines and plants, so it can find materials that others won't be able to. With one watching your alchemy farm, there would be no need to worry about poisonous insects or anything else. There would also be no need for fertilizing water…"
The auctioneer's continuous explanation made the alchemists salivate. Even without his explanation, these alchemists would know the amazing effects of the Alchemist Fowl. However, the others present began to want it as well.
An alchemist with great achievements in the past watched the fowl for a bit then asked: "Why does this Alchemy Fowl seem so dejected?"
The auctioneer answered: "Honored guest, you should know how hard it is to capture one of them. After all, these creatures would avoid imprisonment at all cost. In order to capture this one, we had to invite three Virtuous Paragons. This was quite difficult and costly. In order to catch it alive and watch it for year after year, the three paragons chased after it for millions of miles before perfectly sealing it.
"Think about it, to eventually be caught after so much struggling, do you think it would still be excited?"
Everyone felt that this answer made sense. It was harder to capture a divine beast like the Alchemy Fowl alive than it was to reach the heavens. Without three paragons, it would have been virtually impossible to catch the fowl.
The auctioneer patted his chest confidently and said: "Of course, our Golem Square guarantees with our reputation that this fowl is unharmed, so fellow guests can buy it without any worries."
It wasn't just alchemists, which lineage didn't grow medicinal grasses? Therefore, all of these sects would have even more grasses if they had an Alchemy Fowl.
"May I take a look at this Alchemy Fowl?" In fact, it wasn't only Bai Weng's group who were interested in the fowl, Li Qiye was staring at the chicken as well.
"Sure." The auctioneer quickly ordered the handler to place the chicken in Li Qiye's hands.
A god of riches like Li Qiye, of course, had special privileges. Not too many people were able to throw around money like trash in such a domineering manner like him.
Li Qiye gazed at the chicken for a long time before voicing his praise: "It is indeed a good chicken." Then, he handed it back to the handler.
The arrogant Jian Wushuang, who was sitting on the balcony of another private room, asked: "Are we about ready to start? What is the starting bid of this Alchemy Fowl?" She seemed to be very interested in the chicken.
The chicken was brought back to the stage whereupon the auctioneer answered: "The starting bid for the Alchemy Fowl is 500,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades!"
"What, 500,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades?!" An honored guest bemoaned: "Are you trying to rob us?"
"Honored guest, this item has great value." The auctioneer calmly spoke: "Fellow honored guests should all know that there are no Virtuous Paragons among the younger generation, and there are only a few paragons among the middle-aged generation — this is common knowledge. Current day Virtuous Paragons all established themselves 30,000 years ago or even earlier; all of them are ancestors of the great powers.
"This little one doesn't need to explain the situation of these ancestors. They are sealed underground and secluded from the world. Think about it, in order to invite three Virtuous Paragons to come out and give chase for millions of miles just to catch this Alchemy Fowl, fellow guests should be able to imagine the monstrous price we had to pay. Refined jades are precious, but Blood Era Stones are even more valuable, right?"
The guests looked at each other and felt that the auctioneer was being quite reasonable. Inviting three Virtuous Paragons to come out was indeed costly.
However, the starting bid of 500,000 Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades was simply too high. Even the most esteemed guests were immediately swept out of the door by this frightening starting bid.
632 TeaserEventually, with an ugly expression, Huangfu Hao dropped back down onto his chair and gave up on bidding. He couldn't afford such a price anymore, so what else could he do except give up? He could only watch Li Qiye win the Heavenly Cauldron.
"15,000,000 refined jades of the Rising Era Paragon level! Any higher bids?!" On the stage, the excited auctioneer's hand was shaking while holding his wooden gavel.
Who else would dare to bid when the price was already this high? Eventually, the auctioneer slammed his gavel to conclude this round as he spoke with his trembling voice: "15,000,000 Rising Era Paragon Jades! The cauldron belongs to this Young Noble!"
In the end, the buyers could only come to one conclusion: "There are too many crazy people these days…"
[collapse]Chapter 633: Priceless Fowl
One alchemist bit his lips and shouted his bid: "510,000!"
However, this alchemist's bid was short-lived since Jian Wushuang from the Jian Clan doubled the bid: "1,000,000."
This type of bidding method made everyone speechless and upset. No one wanted to be a fool by raising the price so much, but what could they do? All the buyers here knew the background of this arrogant girl, so they could only accept it. Who was to blame for her having so much money?
"10,000,000." However, right after Jian Wushuang's bid, another explosive bid was made.
The honored guests' hearts skipped a beat after hearing this bid: "Is he crazy?!"
Everyone looked towards the direction of the bid and found that the person who raised the price to an astronomical amount was Li Qiye.
They were all stunned and had no words to say about this rich baron. Jian Wushuang's doubling of the price was already hard to accept, but Li Qiye raising it by ten times caused them to lose their minds.
They gazed at each other in amazement. 10,000,000 — this was a price not too many people in this room could afford.
The auctioneer shivered on the platform and thought that he had misheard, so he had to repeat: "10,000,000?"
He had been doing this for a while, and this was his first time seeing someone raising the price by ten times — this was simply too outrageous!
"Correct, 10,000,000." Li Qiye nonchalantly replied.
Bai Weng and Shi Hao felt helpless as well, but they had already become numb to such a feeling. In the beginning, Li Qiye's high-bidding style scared them silly, but now, they had gotten used to it.
At this point, Jian Wushuang glared at Li Qiye. It was clear that he wanted to oppose her. After a while, she turned away and arrogantly proclaimed: "20,000,000."
This was met with Li Qiye's relaxed tone: "My bad, my refined jades are of the Rising Era Paragon grade."
Jian Wushuang laughed proudly and retorted: "My refined jades are also of the Rising Era Paragon grade."
She looked at him again and issued a challenge: "No matter how much money you can put out, I will follow it to the very end."
She looked as if she had too much money to spend and wanted to kill someone by throwing money at them. Who was to blame for her being the golden daughter of the Jian Clan? Rumor has it that the clan only had one daughter, so how could she not be arrogant?
The buyers, at this time, were completely speechless. Many alchemists lamented their lack of luck, but they knew better and gave up on this competition since they couldn't compare to these two rich fellas.
Li Qiye only gave her a stern glance then shifted his gaze and smiled before slowly speaking: "You really want to follow along to the end? I'll bid 100 Immortal Emperor Refined Jades."
At this time, countless people stood up all at once and exclaimed: "What!? How could anyone be crazier than this?"
Bai Weng and Shi Hao, who were numbed by this, dropped to the ground. Bai Weng was quivering as he stuttered: "Young Master, this… this… these are Immortal Emperor Refined Jades you are talking about!"
One had to know that Immortal Emperor Refined Jades were a thousand, no, ten thousand times more precious than Virtuous Paragon Refined Jades. It was very difficult to obtain them, so since the start of time, their owners were either Immortal Emperors or imperial lineages. Great powers couldn't get their hands on them, unless their ancestors were once loyal to Immortal Emperors and were rewarded with these jades.
"I know." Li Qiye said with a smile. Li Qiye didn't only go to the dangerous burial grounds. No one else knew that below the Yin Yang Pond in the golden palace, he hid many supreme treasures and even refined jades. After being around for tens of millions of years, his wealth had reached a monstrous amount. Although grooming the group of Immortal Emperors like Min Ren spent an unbelievable amount of wealth, it also allowed him to regather a monstrous amount as well.
In the past, before his departure, Li Qiye conveniently left behind a bunch of refined jades in the golden palace, but Immortal Emperor Qian Li didn't use them, so when he came back, he casually took them away.
The buyers felt that this was too outrageous: "Is this necessary? Using Immortal Emperor Refined Jades to trade for an Alchemy Fowl?"
Although the Alchemy Fowl was indeed very valuable, it wasn't to this degree. Immortal Emperor Refined Jades were extremely rare. A few great powers, after obtaining them, would just hide them away and wouldn't use them without caution.
But now, Li Qiye was using one hundred Immortal Emperor Refined Jades to trade for this chicken, making others think that he was insane.
"Such… a prodigal son!" Many from the previous generation didn't know what to say. They had seen many young masters throwing money away like trash, and they also did the same when they were young.
However, compared to Li Qiye, all of these young masters were quite frugal in comparison. He could scare people to death by spending Immortal Emperor Refined Jades like this. Many people had never even seen this kind of jade their whole life and didn't know what they looked like.
Everyone at this scene had their breaths taken away by Li Qiye's frightening bid.
The auctioneer was completely stunned. The Golem Square was quite famous in the Giant Bamboo Country and the Alchemy Realm, ranking among the top five.
And among the auctions he had hosted, the auctioneer could count the times when Immortal Emperor Refined Jades were used with his hands. However, this was his first time seeing someone immediately bidding one hundred of them in an instant.
Amidst the silence, Li Qiye reminded the auctioneer: "If no one else is bidding, then give the three final calls."
The auctioneer regained his composure and quickly called out: "100 Immortal Emperor Refined Jades, going once!"
Jian Wushuang bit her teeth once and deepened her tone to say: "I bid 105 jades, I can pawn a treasure to provide this amount."
The person in charge of the Golem Square quickly said: "If Miss Jian didn't bring any Immortal Emperor Refined Jades, then you can just write it down as credit; there is no need to pawn anything." He could feel sweat beads dripping down his forehead.
Since Jian Wushuang was the golden daughter of the Jian Clan, the Golem Square allowed her to put it on her credit. An imperial lineage like the Jian Clan wouldn't renege on a payment.
However, she was obviously not confident this time and didn't go about doubling the bid like before. She only added five jades this time.
The truth was that five jades were already scary enough; ordinary people simply couldn't afford this sum.
"200 pieces." Li Qiye, however, threw out this number nonchalantly without even batting an eye.
This time, the doubling of his previous bid finally caused Bai Weng and Shi Hao to directly kneel on the ground. They wanted to scream out: "Boss, these are Immortal Emperor Refined Jades, they're not ordinary jades!"
His bid nearly made Jian Wushuang vomit blood from anger as she sharply glared at him. If they weren't in an auction house right now, she might have already taken care of him.
Li Qiye met her gaze and lazily said: "How high can you go? Just be direct, 1,000 or 10,000?"
His arrogant demeanor enraged her. She had always been arrogant without a care for anyone, but today, Li Qiye had suppressed her pride, so how could she not be furious and burn with an intent to kill?
She sat straight down and didn't say anything, nor did she bid again. Although she was unbridled with her pride, she was not stupid. She couldn't handle Li Qiye's provocation, but she had no choice other than to step down.
Using several hundred or one thousand Immortal Emperor Refined Jades to buy one Alchemy Fowl was too insane. She couldn't spend this many jades for such a creature. As the golden daughter of the Jian Clan, she had always been pampered by her family. They, indeed, had a lot of Immortal Emperor jades, but it wasn't to the point where she could lavishly waste them. Despite her arrogance, she still had a sense of propriety.
"200 Immortal Emperor Refined Jades, going once!" The excited and quivering auctioneer shouted.
Many people were silent. Besides ancestors from imperial lineages, very few could afford to pay this amount.
Eventually, the auctioneer slammed his gavel as Li Qiye spent 200 Immortal Emperor Refined Jades for one Alchemy Fowl. The silent buyers had two separate trains of thoughts. Some of them believed that Li Qiye was crazy while others said that he was the most prodigal son in this world…
Bai Weng stuttered as he asked Li Qiye: "Young Master, was this… worth it?"
Li Qiye only smiled, and others didn't see the nuances in the matter. The others believed that he was being wasteful, but he himself felt that it was completely worth it.
Several other treasures were brought up afterward, but no one bidded as crazily as Li Qiye. Jian Wushuang scored two treasures among them.
Li Qiye no longer bidded. Although these treasures were not bad, they were not worth him taking action.
"It is my honor to introduce the next treasure, a rock left behind by Immortal Emperor Wan Shi." 1
After hearing this, one buyer voiced his concern: "I thought the Golem Square was going to place this rock as the last item of the auction?"
The auctioneer answered: "Honored guest, excuse us, but there was a sudden change. The next item will be the featured item, so this rock could only be considered second to last."
This stirred up the buyers. Prior to this, many honored guests had a list of the items up for auction, but now, there was a sudden change. Such an occurrence was quite rare. This would only happen if this last item had an even more intimidating background!
Wan Shi = Mischievous/Stubborn Era Immortal Emperor. ↩