Chapter 749: Transaction
Aside from the auction, the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion has other businesses as well—information brokerage, improving Secret Treasures, minting Astral Coins, space exploration, mercenaries. They have even auctioned off an entire realm before.
When Xiao Chen heard that, he could not help feeling dizzy. Flabbergasted, he asked mentally, How can that be? With such vast power, they can compete with the Martial God Palace on an even footing.
Ao Jiao smiled faintly and replied, In the future, you will know. The Kunlun Realm's vastness and antiquity far surpass your imagination. Many old sovereign Noble Clans have longer histories than the Martial God Palace. They have been around since ancient times, lasting forever.
Xiao Chen chatted with Ao Jiao about the Kunlun Realm as he strolled around the hall casually, admiring the treasures for auction.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen squinted and focused his gaze on a crystal cabinet. There was a piece of beast-skin paper in there—an Alchemic Recipe.
Breaking Sage Pill, it could improve the chances of a cultivator breaking into Martial Sage. The buyout price was thirty thousand Astral Coins.
The buyout price simply meant that if a customer was willing to pay so many Astral Coins, they could immediately take away this item. They would not need to compete at the auction to get it.
"Strange. This is such a precious Alchemic Recipe. How can it be only thirty thousand Astral Coins?"
Xiao Chen called over a pretty maid and voiced his doubts. The bottleneck to Martial Sage was hard to break. How could this Alchemic Recipe be worth only so much?
The pretty maid smiled and explained, "Guest, this Alchemic Recipe uses the refining methods of the Immortal Epoch. Since someone killed Kunlun Realm's Grandmaster Jin, such refining methods have gone extinct."
Grandmaster Jin was a famous master Alchemist in the Kunlun Realm's history. His accomplishments in Alchemy were so significant that the people who came after could not even begin to catch up, straggling far behind in his dust.
According to legend, Grandmaster Jin was born with spiritual bones and was exceedingly talented. He managed to obtain the refining methods of the Immortal Epoch. After making alterations, he invented many peak grade Alchemic Recipes.
Unfortunately, Grandmaster Jin's appearance interfered with the interests of traditional Alchemists. At a young age of thirty, someone assassinated him.
The Breaking Sage Pill before Xiao Chen was one such peak grade Medicinal Pill. Even Grandmaster Jin's descendants could not learn his refining method. Thus, as Grandmaster Jin passed away early, this Alchemic Recipe could only be a piece of decoration.
Many other Medicinal Pills like this existed, circulating in the Kunlun Realm to a small degree. Several Alchemists did not believe that they could not make it work. So they would buy one to research it.
However, all of them ended up returning the Alchemic Recipes at half price, because they could not make any sense of that strange refining technique.
The necessary refining technique had no relation to the refining technique they knew at all, so they could not make head or tail of it.
After Xiao Chen heard this explanation, his heart thumped wildly. However, his expression remained placid. He smiled and said, "You are rather honest, telling me all this in detail."
The maid smiled and said, "This is not really a secret. That Master Jin must be desperate and ended up selling it. However, with a buyout price of thirty thousand Astral Coins, no one will take it. It is more likely to be auctioned away in two days."
"I'll buy it," Xiao Chen said to the maid as he glanced at the Alchemic Recipe behind the display glass with a fervent gaze.
A look of astonishment flashed in the maid's eyes. She felt it was strange. Xiao Chen knew about the peculiarities of this Alchemic Recipe, but he still wanted to buy it.
However, there were some people who would not give up without trying it for themselves. The maid quickly recovered her wits and said, "In that case, please come with me to settle the bill. After that, I will immediately take out the Alchemic Recipe for you."
"Wait for a moment. You accept dragon bones, right?"
Thirty thousand Astral Coins was actually not a small sum. A regular half-Sage would have about two hundred thousand Astral Coins. Xiao Chen had even less, only about a hundred thousand.
If Xiao Chen spent thirty thousand Astral Coins like that, he would feel a sharp pinch. Then, he recalled the most valuable treasure in his hands.
The maid leading the way replied calmly, "What kind of dragon bones? Coiling dragon bones, earth dragon bones, flame dragon bones, flood dragon bones, or perhaps another kind of dragon bones?"
"True Dragon bones."
The maid stopped cold and spun around to face him. She produced her most sincere smile and said, "True Dragon bones! I will immediately bring you to the VIP room. There will be someone more senior to attend to you personally."
The pretty maid's expression after hearing the words "True Dragon bones" surprised Xiao Chen somewhat.
It looks like I underestimated the value of True Dragon bones.
That has been so from the start. Aside from the Dragon Burial Mound, it is hard to find another place with True Dragon remains in this Kunlun Realm. Furthermore, a True Dragon Cave is not something that one can find with strength. You need an awful lot of luck.
In that case, I can probably get a good price for them. I have more than a hundred segments of True Dragon bones. Perhaps I will be able to raise enough money to buy you back.
Haha! You are too naive. How can I be worth only so many Astral Coins? Just keep it for the things that you need.
While Xiao Chen followed behind the maid, he had a quick mental chat with Ao Jiao. Soon, they arrived at the VIP room on the third floor.
The maid smiled and poured a cup of tea for Xiao Chen. "Please sample the tea. I already got someone to inform the higher-ups. You will not have to wait for long."
After finding out that Xiao Chen was selling True Dragon bones, the maid before him seemed to change her attitude completely, becoming very attentive.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly and accepted the purple crystal jade teacup.
"I am Xiao Mei. I have not asked for Young Master's name yet and which sect you come from."
The maid named Xiao Mei radiated a boundless charm with her entire body. She started to chat casually with Xiao Chen.
After taking a sip of tea, he set down his teacup and glanced at her. Then he answered softly, "Supreme Sky Sect's Xiao Chen."
Naturally, Xiao Chen did not fall for this girl's charms rashly. As they chatted, he did not give away any useful information.
"Creak!"
Soon, the doors to the VIP room opened. An elegant girl in purple phoenix robes entered.
This purple-robed girl had her hair tied in a topknot pinned with a simple phoenix hairpin. Her hairstyle gave off a sense of lofty ambition and the willingness to do what it took to achieve it.
She had beautiful limpid eyes, and her skin gave off a glow like white jade. Of all the girls Xiao Chen had met, only Princess Ying Yue surpassed her in elegance.
"Xiao Mei, you may take your leave. I will entertain this young master." A melodious voice that would linger in one's memories rang out as the purple-robed girl's red lips parted.
Xiao Mei felt somewhat astonished. She could not understand why it was someone as high ranking as Nangong Qiong who came. She answered respectfully and left the room.
"Supreme Sky Sect's Xiao Chen, bearer of the Sky Dome Realm's Luck. Three months ago, you fought Bai Wuxue and held your own. Last night, you fought Wu Yuankai and managed to scare him off with a shout. You were the one who did all these, right?"
This elegant and noble girl looked at Xiao Chen, batting her eyelashes and smiling faintly.
Since Ao Jiao already introduced the background of the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion to Xiao Chen, the girl's mention of Xiao Chen's identity came as no surprise.
Xiao Chen remained calmly seated on the chair as he raised his eyebrows slightly. Then he looked at the girl and said, "It is precisely me. However, I have never liked speaking too much nonsense, especially with strangers. Stop visiting my background."
This girl had never met someone this straightforward before, someone who did not make any pretense of politeness at all but went straight to the point. So she felt somewhat uncomfortable.
"Take out the dragon bones and let me take a look."
Xiao Chen casually waved his hand, and a segment from the True Dragon bones slowly floated over to the girl.
Nangong Qiong quickly moved her dainty hands and received the dragon bone. She only needed a glance to know whether it was fake or real. She looked up and said, "It is indeed a True Dragon bone. Although it is from a rather low-ranking subordinate dragon, it is still very valuable. This segment can be exchanged for two thousand Astral Coins."
Two thousand Astral Coins… Xiao Chen had more than a hundred segments of such bones. He could keep a few for himself to use and sell off a hundred. That would be two hundred thousand Astral Coins.
Xiao Chen had never imagined the True Dragon bones in his hands to be so valuable. Given this, he no longer had to remain a spectator at the auction.
"Deal, I have a hundred segments of True Dragon bones. We can make the transaction now."
Nangong Qiong had not expected him to have so many. She hesitated for a moment, in no rush to say anything.
Xiao Chen frowned and asked, "You don't believe me? Or does your Flourishing Heaven Pavilion not need so many True Dragon bones?"
"No, Young Master, please do not misunderstand me. True Dragon bones have always been rare, and they have many uses. Naturally, the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion will not complain about having too many. However, in Hunluo City, if you sell such a large number of dragon bones to me, you will suffer a great loss."
Xiao Chen asked interestedly, "What do you mean?"
"The Eternal Heavenly Sword School's shop, which is right across the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion, buys dragon bones all year round. They pay twice the market value, taking a big loss."
After understanding what Nangong Qiong meant, Xiao Chen smiled faintly and said while looking at her directly, "You are an interesting person. Even though there is business, you do not accept it, recommending it to someone else instead.
"Bring the Alchemic Recipe to me. I will buy it immediately."
No matter how interesting a person was, Xiao Chen would never let himself suffer a disadvantage, especially at double the price. Naturally, he would not sell the dragon bones here anymore.
Nangong Qiong felt somewhat frustrated. Earlier, this fellow was just praising her. Then, he immediately changed the topic, going straight to what he wanted.
She handed him the Alchemic Recipe for the Breaking Sage Pill, saying, "The buyout price for this Breaking Sage Pill Alchemic Recipe is thirty thousand Astral Coins. This is simply asking for too much. If you really want it, ten thousand Astral Coins will be more than enough to buy it at the auction."
"I see. In that case, I will come back two days from now and do so. I will take my leave first, then," Xiao Chen said and stood up.
Seeing Xiao Chen leave the moment he finished speaking, Nangong Qiong felt extremely depressed. She had not even gotten to say what she wanted, yet he had already opened the doors and disappeared.
Outside the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion, Ao Jiao said suspiciously, Looking at that girl, it's clear that she still had something to say. Why did you not even give her a chance to say it?
Xiao Chen replied softly, I don't know this girl's origins. She is strong and full of schemes. It is best to stay away from her. I wonder, why is this Eternal Heavenly Sword School spending so much money to buy dragon bones?
Ao Jiao analyzed rationally, It should be to refine Medicinal Pills. True Dragon bones are a necessary ingredient in several Sage Grade Medicinal Pills. Since they are buying them in such large quantities, the success rate of this Medicinal Pill is likely to be lower than that of regular Sage Grade Medicinal Pills. Hence, they have to obtain sufficient True Dragon bones.
Xiao Chen raised his head to glance ahead. Then he said, "Eternal Heavenly Herb Store…we have arrived."
Nangong Qiong's words were true. The Eternal Heavenly Sword School did have an herb store right across the Flourishing Heaven Pavilion. Xiao Chen could already see it after a few steps.
After Xiao Chen went in and explained his purpose there, the shopkeeper smiled joyfully and completed the transaction with him.
The hundred True Dragon bones sold for a total of four hundred thousand Astral Coins. This meant that Xiao Chen now had more than five hundred thousand Astral Coins.