Chapter 4022 — Honorary Vice President

Starting tomorrow, the individual auctions would begin. Anyone who had come to North Island and possessed something of value could put it up for bid, and all manner of rare treasures, unheard of and unseen, would only then surface.

As for today's auction alone, however, the hundred-odd top-grade pills that Wei Zhao had personally refined had, without any surprise, become the linchpin of the entire affair and the most eye-catching grand finale.

Top-grade pills—even those of no especially high rank—were strategic-grade elixirs that only the core scions of the top powers had the right to enjoy; the common folk could scarcely hope for even a glimpse.

Counting the ten from the Middle Island Pill Hall and those from the other great merchant guilds, the total number of top-grade pills at this Four Islands Auction reached an unprecedented hundred and thirty, and eighty percent of them came from the Hong Clan Merchant Guild.

In lots of three, in lots of five, even in lots of ten, each batch of top-grade pills inevitably became a bomb that set the auction ablaze, ceaselessly shattering one record price after another.

These astronomical figures, at which the very mention made one's mouth run dry, drove home to everyone present one and the same concept: what it truly meant to have a price but no market.

In the end, the Hong Clan Merchant Guild reaped a tremendous harvest. On the strength of Wei Zhao's hundred-odd top-grade pills alone, the final total hammer price actually reached a million spirit jades—a figure simply jaw-dropping to behold.

At that price, averaged out, nearly every top-grade pill was worth upward of ten thousand spirit jades apiece—a miracle altogether unimaginable in ordinary times.

When Wei Zhao had first sold the top-grade Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills to the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, the discounted price had been a mere eight hundred spirit jades; here their value had multiplied more than tenfold. One had to admit that auction venues were indeed full of fools with more spirit jades than sense—no wonder so many top-tier merchant guilds regarded this auction as a battlefield where no quarter could be given, racking their brains and nursing boundless ambition.

Be that as it may, after this battle the Hong Clan Merchant Guild could truly hold its head high. From being ganged up on and targeted on every side at the outset to this day's great harvest, this battle of reversal had been fought beautifully indeed, and its significance ran far deeper than the mere earning of a million spirit jades.

Without those hundred-odd top-grade pills, this Four Islands Auction—under the combined assault of the Grand Gates Association, the Wantong Grand Gathering, and so many other top-tier merchant guilds—would in all likelihood have become the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's Waterloo, after which it would have been carved up and dismantled by the victors. Such an outcome was not merely possible; it was highly probable.

But now, with this turn of events, the Hong Clan Merchant Guild had not only dissolved the crisis into thin air but firmly planted its feet. Even the capital for a counterstrike was in place. Next, turning from defense to offense, if handled properly, they would suffer no losses at all—instead they might seize the chance to advance further and launch a challenge at the Five Elements Apothecary, ranked first in the Merchant Alliance.

For all of this, Wei Zhao's merit was paramount. Without exaggeration, to the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, Wei Zhao was the great benefactor who had turned back the raging tide when all seemed lost.

"Young Hero Lin, for this great kindness and virtue, this old man shall never forget it so long as he lives!" Even a man as seasoned and steady as Hong Zhong could not keep from brimming with delight as he looked over the accounts, bowing and saluting Wei Zhao again and again.

This time, Wei Zhao had not only saved the Hong Clan Merchant Guild; more crucially, he had saved Hong Zhong himself. Otherwise, had Wei Zhao not stepped in, Hong Zhong would long since have become the scapegoat thrust forward by the higher-ups to take the blame.

"Manager Hong, you exaggerate. We have worked together in sincere cooperation for so long—helping you is helping myself. To speak of kindness or debt is far too distant a thing between us." Wei Zhao hastened to raise him up.

But Hong Zhong waved his hand and shook his head. "Cooperation is cooperation, and kindness is kindness. This old man can tell the two apart. This time, for a great kindness, no thanks are needed—but I shall engrave it on my heart."

Seeing Hong Zhong so set on it, Wei Zhao could only let him have his way, nodding. "Very well. In the days to come there will be much on which I must rely on Manager Hong. We have a long road ahead of us."

Hong Zhong chuckled and stroked his beard. "Easily said, easily said. Whatever Young Hero Lin commands, this old man will undertake without shirking fire or water. But this time, Young Hero Lin has shown kindness not only to me personally—it is a great kindness to the entire Hong Clan Merchant Guild, and I must see to it that the higher-ups make some gesture."

"That… ought not to be necessary, surely?" Wei Zhao felt some misgiving. If Hong Zhong truly said such a thing to the guild's higher-ups, would it not smack of trading on a favor to demand repayment? That seemed hardly proper.

Hong Zhong, old and shrewd, saw Wei Zhao's concern at once and laughed. "Have no worry, Young Hero Lin. Between us, in private, we speak of gratitude and righteousness, but merchants have always chased profit; theirs is ever the language of buy-and-sell cooperation, never of gratitude and righteousness. So this time you must likewise treat it as a transaction. You resolved so great a crisis for the Hong Clan Merchant Guild—to ask for a return is only right and proper, and no one can fault you for it. Let time pass and the chance is wasted, so you had best think carefully about what return to ask."

This reasoning was not hard to grasp. Between Wei Zhao and Hong Zhong, gratitude and righteousness might hold; but the Hong Clan Merchant Guild itself might not care a whit for such things. By both sentiment and principle, Wei Zhao still had to secure concrete benefits as quickly as possible.

For the moment, however, Wei Zhao could not think of any benefit, and so asked for counsel: "As to what return specifically, Manager Hong, would you be so good as to decide for me?"

"In this old man's view, there are but two kinds. One is to ask directly for spirit jades. Given Young Hero Lin's merit this time, not only should all the proceeds of the auction go to you, but to demand a reward of several hundred thousand spirit jades besides would not be excessive. This is a solid, tangible benefit—simple and substantial. Does Young Hero Lin lean toward it?" Hong Zhong probed.

"And the second?" Wei Zhao asked in turn. A reward of several hundred thousand spirit jades was indeed tempting, but for Wei Zhao, so long as he had the Divine Farmer's Cauldron and could refine pills, he could earn any amount of spirit jades in the days to come, and so its appeal was not so very great.

"As for the second, it sounds rather insubstantial at first hearing: seize the chance to secure a post within the Hong Clan Merchant Guild. But after all, Young Hero Lin, you are an outsider—no matter how great your merit this time, they could not give you a position of real power. At most it would be a nominal title, an empty honor. For instance, this time you might contrive to obtain the title of Honorary Vice President." Hong Zhong smiled with a look of profundity.

"Honorary Vice President? Is that not a bit much?" Wei Zhao's eyelid twitched.