After successfully getting the Agkistrodon Acutus eggs, Ye Lingyue was in a great mood.
"I couldn't tell that Sister's likes are rather special." The girl smiled with her lips pursed. Seeing that Ye Lingyue looked pretty and playful, she thought that Ye Lingyue liked jewelry and makeup like normal girls do. Who knew that Ye Lingyue would buy a scary thing like Agkistrodon Acutus eggs?
"It's just a personal preference. I noticed that Sister said nothing so far. Do you not like any of them?"
After many rounds of bidding, the girl never properly looked at any of the items. From her gestures and speaking, Ye Lingyue knew that she came from a noble family. But she had no idea what kind of item would be enough to make the girl take part in the bids.
"The thing that I'm interested in is coming up. I came today to bid for a gift for my father. It will be his fiftieth birthday in a few days." The girl hid nothing and told Ye Lingyue that she had moved to Glass City a year ago with her parents.
The two merrily chatted for a while more before Extraordinary House's manager ordered someone to carry the last item up on the stage.
All they saw were two palm-sized, black things that looked like a stone and yet a wood at the same time.
The moment they brought the item up, it filled the entire Treasure House with a calming fragrance that made people feel at ease..
"The things I want to buy are those hundred-year aloes." The girl briefly explained the origin of the aloes to Ye Lingyue.
The aloes were a type of crystal that grew on a fragrant tree in the southern parts of Great Xia. One just had to cut a small piece out and use it to burn incense or crush it into powder. It was commonly used to treat many illnesses and was a treasure that was better than pills.
The girl's father had an old injury, so the aloes would be greatly beneficial for his healing. After finding out that today's Treasure House's auction was selling those particular aloes, the girl had rushed over.
"I believe that many people came for these hundred-year aloes. The starting price of these aloes is ten thousand taels." The manager of Extraordinary House didn't introduce the aloes too much. After all, aloes were a rare find and the people interested in it were all respectable people in the city.
Just a small piece of thing needed ten thousand taels?! Was wood more expensive than gold during this age?!
Ye Lingyue stared at those aloes with great amazement. At first, she thought that her Blue-Patterned Dark Yin Pills were already worth a lot, but it was incomparable to those aloes.
"Eleven thousand taels." The girl spoke first, taking the first bid with a thousand more taels.
There were people wary of the girl's status. Since the price of these aloes was quite high as well, only a few placed their bids.
"Twenty thousand taels." Towards the end, a fat merchant-looking man continued to call for bids with the girl.
"Sister, don't you think that fatty is pushing the price higher? He kept chatting with his partner beside him as if they're calculating something." Just as they pushed the price up to thirty thousand taels, Ye Lingyue couldn't help but whisper to the girl beside her.
She had been staring at that fat merchant the whole time and felt that something about him looked wrong.
With Ye Lingyue's reminder, the girl carefully observed that fatty and her eyebrows furrowed together tightly.
The thought of getting the aloes earlier had muddled her mind. But after recollecting her thoughts and looking at the situation more carefully, she realized that the fatty was one of the infamous dishonest merchants in the city.
This person usually earned from selling counterfeit items or stolen items. Could those aloes be…
"Wait a moment. Manager, I would like to take a look at those aloes." The girl stopped the auction. According to Extraordinary House's rules, the buyer can check the item in the middle of the auction.
She believed in Extraordinary House, that was why she didn't suspect whether or not the aloes were real. However, after taking a closer look, the origin of the aloes might be problematic.
The manager of Extraordinary House recognized the girl as well, so he invited her up to the stage.
The girl flipped the aloes over. It was definitely hundred-year aloes, but…
The girl stared at the aloes and found traces of blood at the bottom.
A few days ago, a merchant association was escorting a piece of hundred-year aloes and passed by Glass City. Halfway through, a gang attacked them and looted from them and even killed over twenty people from the merchant association!
The girl's face paled as she quietly put down the piece of aloes and stopped giving her bid.
Seeing that the girl suddenly gave up on bidding, it confused the fat merchant and his partner. So they had no choice but to 'buy' that piece of bloodied aloes with thirty thousand taels.
The first half of the auction ended and it was time for the second half, which was the time for treasure validation.
The second half was different. People would just validate items and not sell them out. For those people known for collecting rare items and are well-experienced with validating treasures in the city, this part was a lot more interesting than the auction.
The manager of Extraordinary House ordered his men to carry the items awaiting validation onto the stage and placed them in the middle.
At a glance, Ye Lingyue saw at least twenty different items awaiting validation.
The people from the Extraordinary House had already validated the mine stone Ye Lingyue brought. But since the validation master in the Extraordinary House couldn't tell what kind of stone it was, they placed it in an inconspicuous corner.
Ye Lingyue quietly wished for someone to be able to identify where that piece of stone came from.
The girl in red was a little depressed about not being able to buy the hundred-year aloes, so she remained disinterested and just casually glanced at the items. Just as she was about to turn around and leave, her eyes suddenly rested on a corner of the Treasure Hall.
At the same time, the vice-president of the Alchemist Association noticed the stone. The two hurriedly approached it.
"This is?" That girl was already in front of the stone, her voice filled with uncertainty.
She picked up the stone and carefully looked at it. The more she looked at it, the more surprised she was.
The Alchemist Association's vice-president also picked up that stone. He weighed it with his hands. His fingers carefully tapped against that stone before he shook it by his ears.
The sound of water gushing rang in his ears.
"Ambergris iron!" Both the vice-president and the girl were sure that this piece was the third-ranked legendary iron amongst all iron, the Ambergris iron.
"Sister, what is the ambergris iron?" Ye Lingyue walked towards the girl.
The girl casually told Ye Lingyue about the origin of the stone.
The Ambergris iron was one of the best stones. Along with the famed Nirvana iron and Meteor iron, the Ambergris iron is one of the top three valuable iron in the land.
Its origin was legendary. An ancient dragon's ambergris dripped on a piece of dark iron ore, which led the ore to mutate into a different type of iron. The weapons Ambergris iron made were extremely flexible and it could casually stretch out and constrict.
Weapons made of Ambergris Iron were excellent weapons that every martial arts practitioner hoped to get.
"Does this mean that this piece of stone is worth a lot? How does it compare to the hundred-year aloes earlier?" Ye Lingyue's eyes sparkled brightly that took the form of a golden coin.