Chapter 4853 — The Boat Rises with the Tide

"You'd better have this planned out down to the last detail, kid. I've sunk a fortune into this—if it ends up not landing him a few formidable enemies, I won't let you off the hook!" Bao Zuoliang said, his heart still uneasy.

His sole purpose in bringing this item out was to borrow another's blade to kill. If, in the end, he failed to bring Wei Zhao down and the thing simply ended up in Wei Zhao's hands through the auction, then no matter how astronomical the price, Bao Zuoliang would only be sick with frustration to the point of spitting blood. After all, this item's rarity was nearly on par with the Thunder Mystery Pill—ordinarily, no amount of spirit jade could buy one.

"Rest easy, rest easy. I've had everything arranged for ages, little brother here. This enemy is weighty enough that even if that fellow surnamed Lin crosses him, he'll be left with more than he can swallow, and I guarantee sparks will fly. That one is in no mood for reasoned talk—heh heh!" Su Kesheng smiled with an air of unfathomable mystery.

"Good!" Seeing that expression, Bao Zuoliang was at once brimming with confidence again, for every time Su Kesheng wore that look, he had never once failed. This time would be no exception.

"Next up is the eighth lot—Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass!" Before the white-bearded elder had even finished speaking, the whole hall erupted, the response far more fervent than for all the previous lots combined. And this time, exactly as Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng had predicted, Wei Zhao, who had been unmoved throughout, finally let his eyes light up.

Wei Zhao was himself an alchemist and was hardly a stranger to the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass, for it was the principal ingredient in refining the Nurturing Origin Pill—its rarity rivaling even that of the Thunder Mystery Vine!

The Nurturing Origin Pill, though effective only on Nascent Soul-stage experts, was a bona fide seventh-grade pill, and its effect was plain and simple: any Nascent Soul cultivator who took one would advance a full level.

To a Nascent Soul expert, this was undeniably a dream-come-true holy pill, a top-tier enhanced version of the Nascent Soul Condensation Golden Pill. After all, the Golden Pill worked wonders only when condensing a Nascent Soul; once one entered the Nascent Soul stage, it could still be taken as an experience pill, but the effect was quite limited—commonplace, even—a squandering of heaven's bounty.

To level up purely by taking Nascent Soul Condensation Golden Pills—well, it was not absolutely impossible, but without eight or ten of them, don't even think about it. The Nurturing Origin Pill was different: whether you were an early-stage or late-stage Nascent Soul expert, a single pill would directly raise you one level! Yet it could not replace the Golden Pill's power to break through barriers—a Golden Core grand completion cultivator who dared to take a Nurturing Origin Pill would, in all likelihood, burst apart and die on the spot.

Just as Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng had speculated, Wei Zhao could not possibly have no thoughts at all about such a thing. In truth, so long as one's strength had not reached Nascent Soul grand completion, no Nascent Soul expert—whatever his background—could remain indifferent.

"The judging panel has determined that this stalk of Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass can be divided into five portions—meaning, in theory, up to five Nurturing Origin Pills can be refined from it. The starting price is one million spirit jade," the white-bearded elder announced.

"Two million," Wei Zhao said at once, doubling the starting price outright. Two million spirit jade for a single stalk of Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass was in fact a little high—after all, this was no ready-made Nurturing Origin Pill.

But in Wei Zhao's hands, this thing was as good as the pill itself—especially at a time like this. No amount of spirit jade was too much; besides, a few million spirit jade was merely a number to Wei Zhao. Now that the chance to buy the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass had come, that in itself was already a gain.

At that moment, Wang Xinyan suddenly gave a small gasp of surprise. In a low voice, she said to Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, "I think I've seen this stalk of Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass before?"

"Hm?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"Oh right, I remember now too—isn't this that Bao Wuliang's?" Huang Xiaotao clapped a hand to her head as recollection struck.

"Bao Wuliang?" Wei Zhao was startled again. People actually named their children that?

Seeing Wei Zhao's look of utter bewilderment, Wang Xinyan explained with a smile, "Bao Wuliang is a nickname we gave him. His real name is Bao Zuoliang—the only son of Bao Fala, the city lord of Morning Star City."

With a glance, she indicated a table in the distance—precisely where Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng sat. Wei Zhao took an unobtrusive look, and something stirred faintly in his heart. In fact, he had noticed from the start that these two had been staring at him all along; he simply hadn't paid it any mind.

After all, he was a figure standing at the crest of the wave now, and he was hardly the only one in the hall drawing attention—only no one else was quite so persistent as these two. Wei Zhao could not help wondering: did these two have some other scheme in mind, rather than merely enjoying the show?

"By the way, how do you two know this Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass is his?" Wei Zhao asked, somewhat puzzled. Keeping one's wealth hidden was the most basic common sense in the cultivation world; whoever obtained the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass would hardly go around proclaiming it to all and sundry. Being a fop did not mean being a fool—unless one's brain was defective.

"Because that Bao Wuliang brought it out to show us himself, and even put on a show of saying he wanted to give it to Sister Xinyan. His filthy little intentions were obvious even to an idiot. And guess what Sister Xinyan said?" Huang Xiaotao teased, deliberately drawing it out.

"What did she say?" Wei Zhao was instantly intrigued. He glanced with a half-smile at Wang Xinyan beside him, whose cheeks had faintly flushed. The girl was gentle and kind by nature—he truly could not guess how she would have reacted to the pestering of a spoiled rich brat like Bao Zuoliang.

"Sister Xinyan only said three words, and it scared that toad Bao Wuliang into turning tail and running—because what she said was..." Huang Xiaotao drew out the suspense to the fullest before revealing the answer: "Deaf Granny!"

Wei Zhao smiled at that. Deaf Granny certainly couldn't hear it—who would have thought Bao Zuoliang was so timid! Still, he really ought to find a chance to thank Deaf Granny properly. Without her, not only Wang Xinyan, one of the Three Fairies, but likely even Huang Xiaotao would have been plagued endlessly. This place, the East Continent Academy, had no shortage of overweening cultivation heirs—if they didn't come pestering the two girls, that would be the real ghost story.

While the three were talking, several people around them had already called out bids in succession, and the price of the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass was quickly pushed up to two million seven hundred thousand spirit jade.

At any other time, that price would have been enough to secure the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass, but things were different now. The grand trial of the way of the giants was about to open, and the value of the Nurturing Origin Pill in everyone's eyes had invisibly soared; as the principal ingredient for refining it, the Nurturing Origin Demonic Gold Grass had naturally risen with the tide. (To be continued.)