Chapter 2506 — Price Climbing

Wei Zhao's eyes lit up at once. Lu Xiansheng had made the pure yellow jade sound enormous, but in truth it was not large at all—no bigger than a fist. Still, jade of such unblemished color had always commanded a high market price, so a million was really quite modest.

Of course, an auction was never going to settle at the starting bid—especially not in a place like this. Before Wei Zhao could even make an offer, someone else had already called one out.

"Fifteen million!" A cultivator raised the paddle in his hand and spoke outright.

Wei Zhao followed the voice and was surprised to find it belonged to the Heaven Rank cultivator who had traded for the turtle-spit ice crystal. Upon returning, the man had clearly intended to reforge his weapon, so bidding on pure yellow jade now was only natural—nothing unusual about it.

Yet Wei Zhao quietly regretted it. Had he known this fellow would come butting in, he would have done better to wait until the auction ended and then go make the exchange. Before the man had the turtle-spit ice crystal in hand, he might not have been so eager to bid on a piece of pure yellow jade.

"Twenty million!" Another voice rang out—it was actually You Pangao!

Wei Zhao had not expected the pure yellow jade to be so popular. Even You Pangao wanted it?

"Twenty-one million." A lanky, tall cultivator made a bid as well, though his increment was not as aggressive as the first two.

"Twenty-five million." The Heaven Rank cultivator bid again.

"Thirty million!" You Pangao raised his hand as well.

"Thirty-one million." The lanky one hesitated a moment, then named his price.

The value of this pure yellow jade was climbing fast—faster than any item before it. In the blink of an eye it had passed thirty million, and by the look of things the price was still rising!

A faint smile flickered at the corner of Lu Xiansheng's mouth. This was precisely the situation he loved to see. An auction did not fear competition—what it feared was an item that drew no bids at all! Unblemished jade of this kind had appeared at auctions before, but sometimes it had gone for a paltry ten-odd million, and the sight had made Lu Xiansheng's heart bleed.

After all, a piece of unblemished jade could fetch nearly the same price on the ordinary jewelry market—let alone at a cultivators' auction.

But such things were all a matter of luck. Lu Xiansheng understood: when no one wanted to buy, an item was worthless no matter how fine; when someone did want it, even a trinket was worth money.

"Thirty-five million!" The Heaven Rank cultivator pushed the price up once more.

"Fifty million!" You Pangao shot the Heaven Rank cultivator an impatient glance. He knew the man was a Heaven Rank cultivator, but in his view, what match was a lone wanderer against the Hidden Right Family? So You Pangao simply slammed down a staggering fifty million.

The Heaven Rank cultivator seemed furious at You Pangao's bid. But he was a lone Heaven Rank wanderer: though he had never pledged himself to any family or sect, he had earned a good deal serving as a bodyguard for wealthy merchants, and now and then he had secretly taken on international bounty-hunter contracts as well. His savings were far from trifling.

"Sixty million!" The Heaven Rank cultivator named his price again. If he had not urgently needed jade to take back and forge a weapon, he would never have spent sixty million on such a thing—was he a man with money to burn?

The lanky cultivator was stunned. He had never imagined a piece of pure yellow jade could be driven to sixty million. That had already passed the limit he could bear, so he shook his head, set down his paddle, and withdrew from the bidding.

But You Pangao would not let it go. He had no idea what others wanted this pure yellow jade for, but he was determined to have it! Because this was a task handed down by Old Master You—and word had it this matter was, in some vague way, tangled up with the Xuandan Sect...

"Eighty million!" You Pangao was livid. Why was this man competing with him? Couldn't he buy anything else? Must he snatch this very thing from under his nose?

"One hundred million!" The Heaven Rank cultivator was anxious now too. He did not absolutely have to buy it, but the opportunity had presented itself here, and if he gave up, hunting down fine pure jade later would hardly be worth the cost. So he too shouted an astronomical figure—if it worked, fine; if not, he would have to give up. After all, his resources were nothing compared to the Hidden Right Family's.

"One hundred and ten million!" You Pangao kept raising the bid. No matter what, he was determined to have this piece of pure yellow jade!

The Heaven Rank cultivator gave up with some reluctance, laying his paddle on the table and bidding no further.

Lu Xiansheng felt a touch of regret that no one was pushing the price higher, but for a single piece of pure yellow jade to sell for over a hundred million was all but unheard of. At the last auction, a piece of pure purple jade had gone for only thirty-two million—less than a third of this.

"One hundred and ten million, going once..." Lu Xiansheng began the call.

"One hundred and twenty million." Wei Zhao raised the paddle in his hand. The price had already exceeded his expectations. If his pills had not sold for nearly three hundred million—leaving him over two hundred million after the commission—he would not even have had the money to buy it.

"Gah!" You Pangao had not expected the Heaven Rank cultivator to drop out, only for a Cheng Yaojin to come charging out of nowhere and start bidding against him! His face turned hideous, and he turned to look at Wei Zhao, wanting to see whether the man was a shill hired by the auction house.

Wei Zhao paid You Pangao no mind. Having named his price, he simply sat there at his ease.

"One hundred and thirty million!" You Pangao probed, unwilling to yield.

"One hundred and thirty-one million." Wei Zhao had money in hand, but he could not go throwing it about. Wouldn't the extra be better given to Yu Xiaoke to develop the orphanage?

Damn it! Hearing Wei Zhao bid in that manner, You Pangao flew into a towering rage. Who raised a bid like that? Was this some kind of game? True, the minimum increment was a million, but in practice, once an item's price reached a certain height, no one did such a thing—it was as good as deliberately thumbing your nose at your opponent.

"One hundred and fifty million!" You Pangao glared venomously at Wei Zhao.

"One hundred and fifty-one million," Wei Zhao said mildly, though inwardly he was growing anxious. He had made a good deal of money from the pills, but even money should not be squandered like this—in the blink of an eye it had reached a hundred and fifty million. The ingredients for those pills had come from the Right Family, so it had been a case of producing and selling his own goods with little real cost; but that was essentially a one-time deal, and there was no hoping to get more ingredients out of the Right Family.