Many precious and rare gu worms were put up for auction. The atmosphere was lively in the auction hall. Most people had their sights on a specific item they wanted. Their demand outweighing the items auctioned, they couldn't help but enter into a bidding war until their pockets were empty in many cases. This was usually the case if a wealthy buyer didn't put up a particularly high bid to deter the competition.
"Item number fifty-three. This next item is a rare gu worm: Unprocessed Jade gu. This gu worm is extraordinary, it can raise the user's aptitude and enhance their earth path affinity. It is most suitable for earth path gu masters."
"Oh, interesting. Another gu to raise aptitude!"
"Regrettably, it's only good for earth path..."
"So what if it's earth path? I can worry about it after I've broken through with the raised aptitude!"
"Mm, earth path is still the second most cultivated path."
"The demand for this gu worm should be lesser than the Reform gu or the Wood Origin gu, I might have a chance to get it."
These were the thoughts of some of the people.
"For the Unprocessed Jade gu, the bidding starts at seven thousand primeval stones!" - Announced the auction host.
"Eight thousand primeval stones!"
"Nine thousand!"
"Nine thousand five h-"
"Ten thousand primeval stones!"
...
As the bidding continued on, the cost of the Unprocessed Jade gu was steadily increasing.
The final price of the Unprocessed Jade gu reached over fourteen thousand primeval stones.
Bao Zhi waited for his other inheritance to come up next. In the meanwhile, he was observing the events. He occasionally took a sip of his tea as he thought:
"Why did the city lord put forth these gu? Why now?"
"The timing is too coincidental, this should be the immortals' doing."
"Otherwise, why would he act so? Feeling sentimental with one foot in the grave? Very unlikely."
"I have to make use of this trend while I can."
With this thought, he signaled to his attendant.
"Credit me a hundred thousand primeval stones." - Bao Zhi said plainly.
The attendant lady was perplexed at the sudden request.
"S-Sir, this auction house does not conduct lending business, I'm afraid. If you wa-"
"You already sold one of my items for sixty thousand primeval stones, and there's another one of similar value still left. Think of this more as a kind of prepayment."
"I can't make a decision on this, I have to ask the auction hall master."
"Let me talk to her."
"You don't need to. Please wait here until I return."
"Go then."
The attendant left respectfully.
After a short while she returned and explained:
"The auction hall master has agreed, with the following terms: The auction house is willing to prepay the sixty thousand primeval stones and lend forty thousand primeval stones for the duration of the auction. The balance of the second item will be handled as normal." - She reported factually. The auction hall master's attitude surprised her to grant this request. Now she paid extra attention to this important customer, not wanting to displease him.
Bao Zhi: "Mm. Good."
"Is there anything else I can help our esteemed customer with?" - She humbly asked.
"No, thank you."
Bao Zhi turned back his attention to the main stage of the auction. The items were going up one by one, not idling for long in the spotlight as they were quickly snatched by the highest bidders.
Bao Zhi had just received an initial sum of one hundred thousand primeval stones as credit from the auction house. Now he could freely bid if something would catch his eye.
"The next item for auction is a rank four gu master inheritance. It is a wood path inheritance, covering all the basic aspects. The movement technique is at the level of a wood path master! It's been verified by our expert."
"Woah, Wood path master!"
"Those who can reach master attainment are very few in one generation. This is from a great expert, I must get it."
"It is a rank four inheritance, yet the creator had master attainment. Why have I not heard of such a genius?" - Pondered Ding Shuren. He was sitting in the middle of the front row of the main hall.
"This is it. The other one is here." - Noticed Zhao Feng, ready to start bidding as soon as the introduction ended.
Bao Zhi frowned a little: "Rank four is rare enough, master attainment is even more uncommon. It seems I didn't hold back enough."
"Does this one have gu worms?" - Shouted someone from the last rows.
A scene played out in a similar manner as the other inheritance's case, the cat was out of the bag.
"No gu worms again?"
"Was this wood path master a pauper? Where are his gu?"
The same young man who spoke up at the previous inheritance's turn now turned the public sentiment back in a favorable direction again.
Bao Zhi was keeping an eye on him. He noticed that he was one of the few men the auction hall planted among the crowd.
They even made bids to raise the prices! The cut of the auction house was a fixed percentage, thus they benefited from higher prices.
Bao Zhi did not mind it, he would not uncover it either as this was also beneficial to him currently, his items would sell for more.
To keep things discreet, the undercover personnel took turns jacking up the prices, they also only bid on the high-value items.
"The starting bid for the rank four inheritance is thirty thousand primeval stones!" - The host announced.
"Thirty-five thousand primeval stones!"
"Forty thousand!"
"Forty-two thousand primeval stones!"
...
Each individual family struggled to outbid their rivals in order to acquire the rank four gu master inheritance.
Zhao Feng made his first bid:
"Fifty thousand primeval stones!" - He shouted with moderation.
This got the crowd's attention as they looked at Zhao Feng with contempt.
"Tsk, little Feng wants to obstruct me? Fine by me." - Called out an aged voice. It was old master Ye.
"Fifty-one thousand primeval stones." - He announced with a grin showing his yellow teeth.
"Fifty-five thousand! Don't bite off more than you can chew, old man." - Retorted Zhao Feng.
"This senile fool! Why does he want this inheritance too?" - Grumbled Zhao Feng internally.
The atmosphere turned awkward. This was no longer a fair auction, but a political fight of two great houses. Nobody dared to interrupt their bidding war.
"Seventy thousand!" - Roared Zhao Feng, his anger obvious in his voice.
"Seventy-one thousand primeval stones!" - Came the reply.
Old man Ye laughed heartily. He seemed to enjoy toying with the other party.
Zhao Feng: "Eighty thousand primeval stones! Ye Ruogang! Now you are going too far! Don't drag family matters into this!"
Ye Ruogang: "You are right, little Feng. I changed my mind, I don't need this inheritance, you can have it." He smiled meaningfully as he thought to himself: "I already got the inheritance I came for. I don't mind letting you have the other one, but I paid sixty thousand primeval stones for it, I can't let you have yours for any less..."
Zhao Feng sat back in his seat, his head still having a tinge of red from the previous shouting from the bidding war. As he collected his calm, he released a letter gu to inform the patriarch of his success. He did not mention the part about old man Ye interfering.
"Eighty thousand? You had to spend eighty thousand primeval stones, just to contact the Scholarly Merchant Association?"
He could already imagine the patriarch's reply. But he wouldn't care to explain further. The patriarch being dissatisfied with him was the status quo to him already.
"I will not forget this... Old man Ye."
Up in the gallery, Bao Zhi was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events.
"There is a conflict between Ye Rougang and Zhao Feng? It seems my inheritance was like fuel to fire." - He thought.
"Congratulations on selling another item." - Praised his attendant with a high spirit.
But Bao Zhi's face showed no such jubilation. He simply nodded.
The auction was still not over. About a third of the items were still left, but so far he hasn't found anything exceptional he wanted.
...
Bao Zhi looked at the list of auction items.
The list wasn't exhaustive, there were some special items that were not disclosed ahead of time.
He quickly combed through and gathered the remaining portion in his mind.
"There are still some aptitude-raising gu left, I should get one for Jin Ju. I need him to advance quickly and reach rank two, the sooner the better."
"The reckless bidders should have already emptied their pockets, the ones remaining should be waiting for an opportunity, not wanting to overspend. But the last few items's price will shoot up again as the people who couldn't get one panic."
This was part of human nature, everyone wanted a good deal. But how could everyone succeed? Someone had to get the short end as well as people competed.
Bao Zhi bid for a rank two Wood Origin Gu. The price kept increasing as two other parties entered a bidding war. It soon exceeded the limit Bao Zhi mentally allotted for it.
"Forget the Wood Origin Gu, it is too popular. I'll wait for the next Unprocessed Jade Gu."
...
"Item number ninety, rank two Unprocessed Jade. Starting bid is seven thousand primeval stones."
There was way less interest in the Unprocessed Jade Gu compared to the Wood Origin Gu, the difference was clear.
"Seven thousand primeval stones!" - Someone offered.
Bao Zhi: "Eight thousand."
"Eight thousand and five hundred primeval stones." - Called out the same bidder as before. He looked anxiously in the VIP room's direction. He could not see Bao Zhi.
Bao Zhi: "Nine thousand."
No other bids came after this. The people were either not interested or they wanted it but already spent their money.
The Unprocessed Jade Gu was sold to Bao Zhi.
"That was easy." - The lack of resistance pleasantly surprised Bao Zhi.
"Ninety-first item coming up. Our next item is the highlight of our auction. This is a rare rank three gu worm, it was thought to be extinct! It is the Five Fruit Golden Sapling Gu. This gu worm can provide rank one consumable gu, Golden Fruit Gu. The Golden Fruit Gu can strengthen the body of wood path cultivators."
The crowd burst into an uproar!
Gu worms that could produce other gu worms were not common. More importantly, they could provide an abundant source of income. Especially if it was an extinct gu worm. What did that mean? There would be no competition on the market for Golden Fruit Gu, it would be a monopoly!
Bao Zhi was also interested!
"The starting bid is thirty thousand primeval stones."
"Thirty-five thousand primeval stones!
"Forty thousand primeval stones!"
"Fifty thousand!" - A wealthy bidder upped the limit by ten thousand directly.
"Fifty-five thousand primeval stones!" - Old man Ye, stood up and looked around for anyone daring to up his limit.
Zhao Feng was contemplating if he should take the opportunity to get back at old man Ye. But he didn't want to embarrass himself again, what if old man Ye is just baiting him to act and humiliate him further in public? He decided to watch from the sidelines.
"Seventy thousand!" - The voice came from one of the VIP rooms.
"A fifteen thousand increment. What is this?"
"Who dares?" - Bellowed old man Ye.
"Such guts. I wonder if it's another big family."
Old man Ye narrowed his eyes in displeasure:
"Seventy-three thousand primeval stones!"
"Ninety thousand!" - Replied Bao Zhi plainly.
"..."
The mass went into silence.
"Too overbearing!"
"Another huge increment, an even bigger this time."
"Shouldn't the increments keep decreasing? Does he not know how auctions work?"
"Who is tired of his life to this degree to dare to offend the Ye family?"
Nobody said a word, the silence was deafening.
What broke the silence was the host's announcement:
"Ninety thousand, going once... Going twice..."
"Since there are no higher bids, the Five Fruit Golden Sapling Gu is sold to the sixteenth VIP room for ninety thousand primeval stones."
"Thank you all for attending our auction. You can proceed to claim your items in the next two hours."
Zhao Feng looked at the sixteenth VIP room as many others did too. He was satisfied that old man Ye had his face slapped in public. It made his previous embarrassment disappear.
Zhao Feng: "Who is the other party? I should contact him."
Bao Zhi was collating his losses and gains after the auction.
"With the fee of the auction hall deducted, I should have almost thirty thousand primeval stones left and a rank two Unprocessed Jade Gu and the rank three Five Fruit Golden Sapling Gu."
"What a bountiful day!"