Chapter 2505 — I Don't Believe It!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"I don't believe it! There's no way anyone could provide pills of better quality than the ones we sent. You should know, every pill in this batch came from the Mysterious Pill Sect. Are you suggesting someone out there can produce pills superior even to the Mysterious Pill Sect's?" The young man finally could not hold back and rose to his feet to ask.
At auctions past, the representative of the Hidden Right Family had always drawn looks of admiration and reverence from the other cultivators. This time, however, that same treatment did not fall upon the young man. He had pestered his grandfather endlessly for the privilege of attending this auction, and to bask in those admiring gazes he had spent several days rehearsing his airs and postures, all set to toss off a few remarks while everyone scrambled for the pills. Now, all at once, he had no stage on which to perform, and fury surged up in him on the spot.
"Right Pan Gao, if you do not believe it, you are welcome to come up and appraise them yourself." Lu Xiansheng glanced at the young man and said flatly, "Please, do not stand on ceremony!"
"This..." The young man hesitated. His grandfather was a guest elder of the Right family, and because of the old man's Heaven Rank strength, he had been permitted to study pill refinement under the Right family and had even been granted a name in the "Pan" generation. He now counted as a first-grade pill refiner. His skill at the craft left much to be desired, but he could still tell a pill's quality at a glance. So when Lu Xiansheng made the offer, he genuinely wanted to step up and test the truth of it. He truly could not believe that anyone's pill refinement could reach such a level, and he knew the origin of this batch of Right family pills perfectly well: they came from the Mysterious Pill Sect. So even if someone's skill surpassed the Hidden Right Family, surely they could not surpass the Mysterious Pill Sect as well?
"Heh, if you will not come up to appraise them, then our auction must proceed," Lu Xiansheng said with a faint smile. He had no wish to offend the Hidden Right Family, after all. Pills of such fine quality from Wei Zhao might not be available again in the future, so the Cultivators' Merchant Guild still needed to keep its business with the Hidden Right Family going. What he had said earlier was only to drive these pills to a good price—first, to curry favor with Wei Zhao and see whether a long-term partnership might be possible; second, to earn a larger commission for himself.
"Very well. Since Mr. Lu extends such an earnest invitation, I shall serve as appraiser for everyone here!" Right Pan Gao made up his mind in an instant, rose, and walked slowly up to the stage.
No one objected to Right Pan Gao's move. After all, up to now it had only been Mr. Lu singing his own praises; once the auction ended, there would be no way to settle accounts after the fact, for the notion of pill quality was far too vague—whatever anyone claimed could be made to sound reasonable.
Of course, Right Pan Gao dared to go up on stage because his grandfather, the dwarfish bandit, was not present. The dwarfish bandit had really come here only to hold the fort, escorting those pills safely to this place; the rest of the time he cultivated in his room and left all matters to his grandson.
Had the dwarfish bandit been here, Right Pan Gao could never have gone on stage so casually; he would certainly have put on a more proper and well-behaved appearance.
"Here we are. Mr. Right Pan Gao, if you would appraise them for us." Lu Xiansheng pushed a pile of small bottles toward Right Pan Gao, indicating that he might draw out a few from among them to examine.
Right Pan Gao did not stand on ceremony. He picked up a small bottle at random and opened it. Inside was a Minor Qi Gathering Pill. Though he could not refine one himself, he knew it intimately. The instant he laid eyes on it, Right Pan Gao's expression changed!