Chapter 4835 — The First Session Ends

"Six million!" Box Two immediately outbid them.

"Seven million!" This time Box Four refused to yield. For the sake of a single Lightning Profound Pill, the occupant of Box Two would simply have to be offended.

"Eight million!" This time it was Box One who spoke, and the impassioned crowd instantly fell silent; even Box Two and Box Four, without prior agreement, chose to hold their tongues.

Outsiders might not be certain, but they knew the master of Box One as clearly as a mirror in their hearts. This was, beyond all doubt, the foremost figure of Morning Star Academy. Since even he had named a price, everyone ought to yield a step, in reason and in courtesy alike—that was the bare minimum of respect.

In the end, the first superior-grade Lightning Profound Pill fell into the hands of Box One. Though the price did not even match that of the Beauty-Enhancing Pill moments before, it could hardly be called low.

In truth, everyone felt a measure of unease. This was only the first Lightning Profound Pill; what if he bid on the remaining four as well? When that time came, would they yield or not? They could hardly offend the foremost man of Morning Star over a few Lightning Profound Pills—yet if they yielded, the pills would slip through their fingers. And these were superior-grade Lightning Profound Pills!

Fortunately, Box One proved to have the bearing of a true master: after that single bid, he never spoke again, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Eight million!" When the second Lightning Profound Pill came up, Box Four once again seized the initiative, driving the price to eight million at the very outset and stunning the crowd. Those hoping to slip in and snatch a bargain found their hopes dashed at once.

"Ten million!" Box Two called without hesitation, and the whole hall erupted—the previous sky-high record for the Beauty-Enhancing Pill had actually been broken!

"Eleven million!" Box Four pressed the bid higher.

"Twelve million!" Box Two snorted coldly. At that, Box Four lost the nerve to compete; at such a price even he found it hard to bear, for he had already spent nearly twenty million spirit jade. However much spirit jade one held, it could not withstand such depletion.

Wei Zhao watched this silent drama and smiled without a word. Judging by the way things stood, the master of Box Two was very likely Wei Hebei. Among the three giants of Morning Star Academy, he alone carried himself with such domineering arrogance, and he had disciples beyond counting. He was also no stranger to spirit jade, and parting with twelve million at a stroke was nothing to him.

Next came the third Lightning Profound Pill, and this time the first to bid was Box Three: "Ten million spirit jade!"

All eyes instinctively turned toward Box Two and Box Four, only to find that neither had entered the bidding—both, as if by tacit agreement, kept silent.

And once the price reached the ten-million mark, the other guest boxes found it hard to remain competitive. Even those who could scrape together such a sum had to weigh the matter carefully: was it worth paying such a price to offend Box Three?!

Box One said nothing; Box Two said nothing. But this time Box Four could not hold back. This was already the fourth pill—carry on like this, and he would not even get a taste of the broth. He would regret it to his dying day!

"Eleven million!" Box Four cried at once.

"Twelve million!" Box Three would not yield an inch.

"Fifteen million!" This time Box Four had burned his boats. Having already spent so much spirit jade, fifteen million was his absolute limit—another hundred thousand would be difficult.

In the end, this Lightning Profound Pill finally fell to Box Four. It seemed that even Box Three did not have spirit jade enough to casually drop fifteen million on a single Lightning Profound Pill.

The first four Lightning Profound Pills had all found their owners, leaving only the last. The one who spoke was still Box Three: "Twelve million!"

Clearly, Box Three was determined to have it. Though everyone could see that twelve million was her limit, to be honest, by this stage there were precious few heavyweight buyers left who could outbid her.

Box Four was utterly spent, while Box One and Box Two, with perfect understanding, said not a word. As for the other buyers, scraping together twelve million spirit jade at short notice was truly no easy matter.

Yet just as everyone thought the matter settled, someone in the floor area below suddenly rose to his feet and called out in a ringing voice: "Twenty-four million!"

The crowd went wild at once, every gaze snapping to this man. Even the top-ranked guest boxes had raised the price by a few million at most; this fellow, by contrast, had doubled it outright at the first call!

This time even Wei Zhao was astonished. He looked the man up and down from a distance. He had assumed that all the truly capable top figures were in the guest boxes—never had he imagined that such a hidden tycoon lurked here in the plaza.

"Who is that man?" Wei Zhao could not help asking curiously.

"The steward of the Central Chamber of Commerce's Morning Star branch—Zhao Donglai," Chai Laoshi introduced.

"The Central Chamber of Commerce? No wonder!" Wei Zhao understood at once. If one spoke of tycoons, the Central Chamber of Commerce was the true tycoon of tycoons, rolling in wealth. Bring up a few low-end technological trinkets from the mundane world and one could rake in vast piles of spirit jade—what in this world could be more profitable than that?

Twenty-four million spirit jade—this was an astronomical figure among astronomical figures. Everyone, high and low, could only fall silent. The last Lightning Profound Pill fell to Zhao Donglai beyond all doubt. This was truly the tycoon's way: spend as one pleases.

"Heh heh, twenty-four million spirit jade—old Zhao Donglai really has the guts!" Chai Laoshi's eyes shone, and then he added: "Still, it's only because this is the Morning Star Auction Gala. At any other auction, however much spirit jade he had on hand, I reckon he wouldn't dare bid openly before the crowd."

"Why not?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Anywhere else, showing off like that would be asking for trouble outright. But here everything is presided over by the Academy—no fear of offending anyone. And the top guest boxes are all Academy bigwigs; even for the sake of appearances, they couldn't single him out for trouble unless they had no shame at all," Chai Laoshi analyzed.

That was indeed the way of it. Everyone understood that wealth should not be flaunted, and making enemies over it would be an even poorer bargain. It was precisely for this reason that Zhao Donglai dared to bid—he had the Central Chamber of Commerce at his back and feared no petty schemer, so naturally he bid as he pleased.

And so the Morning Star Auction Gala's first session—the Chamber of Commerce auction—drew to a complete close! (To be continued.)