Chapter 0593: To requite evil with good
Once someone quoted 10,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, the auction hall immediately turned silent before bursting into a discussion. Although 10,000 Perpetual Moon Pills looked like a low number, no one thought that someone would actually try to purchase a Sky Treasure Silk using Perpetual Moon Pills.
Cultivators generally reserved Perpetual Moon Pills for purchasing top-grade treasures. Moreover, if an ordinary cultivator managed to get their hands on some Perpetual Moon Pills, he or she would rarely take them out to purchase something and would instead use it for cultivation. More importantly, Sky Treasure Silk simply was not worth such a price.
Unlike other disposable medicinal pills, Perpetual Moon Pills were more than just cultivation resources. These were not something refined using a Pill Furnaces, rather these ‘pills’ were actually starry skies’ Essence Qi in its purest form, condensed into crystalline pills; as such, this resource was a hundred times better than cultivating using starry skies’ Essence Qi.
Moreover, it could even be used as fuel for the starry sky-grade battleships, apart from powering a variety of other technological weapons. At the same time, it provided a much better effect compared to ordinary starry sky crystals. To put it bluntly, Perpetual Moon Pills were a type of starry sky crystal that had little or no impurities at all.
These kinds of ‘pills’ had only two sources, one of which involves generation through a natural environment. It was not rare for cultivators to encounter such natural environments in the form of Perpetual Moon Pill Ponds, Pill Rivers, and even Pill Oceans. Moreover, Perpetual Moon Pill had a fixed size, once the quantity of purified starry skies’ Essence Qi it contained exceeded the limit, it would automatically split into two, and if it were less, it would continue to coalesce.
The other source was through artificial extractions. Some starry sky powerhouses could use their powerful abilities to extract Perpetual Moon Pills from the areas that had vibrant starry skies’ Essence Qi. They would either use their own Celestial Essence or take the help of top-grade weapons to accomplish such a task. However, a weapon with the ability to extract Perpetual Moon Pills would have already surpassed the level of Dao Artefacts.
However, there was one drawback using artificial extraction. If the cultivator did not have pure Celestial Essence, the extracted Perpetual Moon Pills would be much worse than the naturally condensed Perpetual Moon Pills.
The starry skies also contained a more precious kind of pill compared to the Perpetual Moon Pills, called Permanent Essence Pills. However, the conditions needed to form these Permanent Essence Pills were even more demanding.
Therefore, hearing someone finally put up a quote with Perpetual Moon Pills, Dai Jia’s tone turned even more excited and even contained hints of flattery. She did not care about the fact that 10,000 Perpetual Moon Pills were equivalent to 100 million purple coins in value, which also meant that she implicitly agreed with price not increasing theoretically. Instead, she directly spoke up, “A friend has offered 10,000 Perpetual Moon Pills. Are there no higher offers. If no higher offers, the Sky Treasure Silk will end up in this friend’s hand. One could often find Perpetual Moon Pills, but not the Sky Treasure Silk…….”
“11,000 Perpetual Moon Pills……” With Dai Jia’s encouragement, someone immediately raised the price.
Ning Cheng gave a snort. He had set his mind to obtain this Sky Treasure Silk. Although he could possibly get Sky Treasure Silk at other places, he still felt that the sooner he could upgrade his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Clouds, the better it would be for him. After all, it was a matter of preserving his life.
Ning Cheng did not hesitate to enter 20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills as an offer. He decided to scare this fellow off with such a mark-up.
“20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills……” The moment 20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills appeared on the big screen, not to mention Dai Jia turning even more excited, even the cultivators within the auction hall felt stunned. Who was this fellow? How could this fellow be so stupid? With 20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, one could easily buy a few Sky Treasure Silks. They had already felt it ridiculous when someone quoted 10,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, but someone had now directly increased the price to 20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills.
“20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, the friend from booth 391 quoted 20,000…..” Dai Jia’s tone grew even crisper.
“21,000 Perpetual Moon Pills.” To Ning Cheng’s anger, even after he raised the price to 20,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, this fellow once again raised the price.
“30,000 Perpetual Moon Pills.” Ning Cheng added another nine thousand. He did not believe that someone wanted this thing as much as he did. He planned to prepare beforehand for the upcoming trip to Immortal Jade Star. Did this fellow also feel the same way?
“31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills.” Over the huge quotation screen, someone added another one thousand over Ning Cheng’s already quoted price.
The cultivators on the auction floor immediately sucked in a breath of cold air as they thought, ‘it’s good to be rich’. If such a person wanted to increase the price of something at will, one simply did not need to think about anything else before doing it. Using 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills to buy a Sky Treasure Silk, if this was not someone crazy rich, then who was.
Dai Jia excitedly shouted, “A friend just quoted 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills; 31,000, is there any higher bid. If someone does not offer a higher quote, then this Sky Treasure Silk, a precious raw material to upgrade flight-type weapons, would go to this friend……”
The cultivators in the hall did not even think about it. A small Sky Treasure Silk could actually reach such a price was not worth it. Most of the people here anyway came to see the Time Stone. None of them thought that they would end up seeing such an amuse-bouche[1] before the main event.
Ning Cheng did not place another quote. He could feel that something was out of place. Each price increase was only of a thousand Perpetual Moon Pills. Any fellow, who could quote a price of 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills definitely had the money to splurge. Moreover, was it not a similar price increase to when they bid using purple coins, was it not identical to what was happening right now?
What’s more, it was truly not worth emptying his coffers for a piece of Sky Treasure Silk. Whether or not this fellow wanted to target him, Ning Cheng decided to give up. He was not a mule, and although he could not obtain the Sky Treasure Silk right now, he could definitely get it with some patience. This kind of item was not as precious as the Time Stone anyway. As such, letting him pay several times its actual price made him feel a little reluctant.
The price this time stayed at 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills, but Dai Jia kept shouting, “31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills going twice, are there no other quotes? Without another increase, this Sky Treasure Silk will belong to this friend…….. 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills going thrice, congratulation to this friend for obtaining the Sky Treasure Silk…..”
At this time, sitting in the corner of the auction hall, a round-faced teenager stared at the congratulation message in front of his seat and the words 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills with a pale face. He did not even have a single Perpetual Moon Pill.
He felt furious that Ning Cheng used Perpetual Moon Pills for bidding and wanted Ning Cheng to cough up more Perpetual Moon Pills. Therefore, as soon as Ning Cheng quoted a price, he would immediately add another thousand to the previous quote. However, the round-faced teenager did not expect that this fellow would not raise the price again and would instead actually stop quoting. What should he do now?
Cold sweat trickled down the face of this round-faced teenager. He knew that he could not offer anything in exchange for this quote, which was tantamount to provoking the auction house. The only result in this scenario would be immediate death.
“This friend, please pay the quoted Perpetual Moon Pills. Only after the closure of this deal can the next item come out. Please do not waste everyone’s time here…..” As ten breaths passed by, the Sky Treasure Silk had still not changed hands. This caused Dai Jia, who presided over the auction, to speak up with displeasure.
The moment Dai Jia’s remark came out, some of the people within the auction house guessed that someone had malicious intentions for increasing the price to such a level. The fellow who raised the price to 31,000 Perpetual Moon Pills most likely did not expect that the opponent to suddenly back off. Such a tactic was equivalent to lifting a heavy stone and purposefully smashing it down on their own feet.
“I don’t have any Perpetual Moon Pills, but I am willing to mortgage it with something else…..” Someone spoke up with an almost crying-like voice, causing everyone’s gaze to swivel to a seat in the corner.
Because this fellow did not sit inside a booth, the display also did not show a booth number. But now that this fellow spoke up, others naturally figured out his location.
When Dai Jia heard this, her expression immediately turned cold, “Go ahead. Report the items you want to mortgage. Let us determine if they can cover the full amount.”
At this auction, one could also purchase items with collateral of the same value; however, one had to report this in advance, and the auctioneer could only continue bidding after the valuation. If this cultivator could not come up with something equivalent to the auction price, even if the cultivator offered himself up, it would be a direct violation of the auction house’s regulations. Since Dai Jia let the cultivator talk about collateral, it was already showing enough mercy.
Perhaps she showed such mercy due to the cultivator not looking very old. However, even if she showed compassion, the other party must take out the said items for collateral and valuation.
As Dai Jia said this, the restrictions around the cultivator immediately dissipated and everyone saw the fellow who had made the mess. It was a round-faced teenager with a distinct Celestial Novice Cultivation, who really did not look too old.
“I’m sorry, I do not have enough collateral on me right now, but I am willing to write a promissory note. I just need to find my Uncle-master, and I can pay the amount in double…..” The round-faced teenager also seemed to have realised that the situation had turned severe for him. Although his tone had not devolved into a crying fit, it still contained a few tremors.
Dai Jia gave a snort and had nothing more to say.
An abrupt voice then resounded, “No reason to disrupt the proceedings of the auction house, kill without mercy……”
Suddenly, a huge palm reached out containing a powerful oppressive aura. Even the cultivators in the Celestial River Realm felt suffocated under the oppression to the point that they could not even breathe properly. This also indicated that this was a powerhouse in the Life and Death Realm. One could imagine that once this huge palm closed, this teenager with the Celestial Novice Cultivation would definitely turn into a meat paste.
Some of the cultivators sitting near the low-end areas of the auction hall felt even more frightened. They immediately realised that they should never even think of creating a mess unless they had grown tired of living.
“Don’t kill me, I am looking for my Uncle-master. My Uncle-master and my master are both powerhouses. I will definitely repay all the Perpetual Moon Pills. Hey…….” The boy finally started to cry and spoke up while whining.
“Wait….. I’ll help him pay those Perpetual Moon Pills.” After seeing the round-faced boy, Ning Cheng suddenly spoke up with a Celestial Essence-infused voice.
The people within the auction hall felt surprised. The person who offered to pay the Perpetual Moon Pills turned out to be the one from booth 391. Just now, this round-faced teenager had butted heads with this cultivator from box 391 and had deliberately marked-up the price to such ridiculous levels for the cultivator in box 391 before that cultivator finally backed off. This caused the round-faced teenager unable to cough up the quoted Perpetual Moon Pills. Because of this violation, the auction house had immediately moved to kill this ignorant fellow.
However, none amongst the cultivators present in the auction hall expected that the fellow from booth 391 would show a willingness to pay the Perpetual Moon Pills that the other fellow owed. Such people who requited evil with good were something rare within the world.
The round-faced teenager also felt surprised and even stopped crying. He did not think that he would encounter such people who requited evil with good.
Whether this round-faced teenager looked too young, or because this round-faced teenager said that his master and uncle-master were both powerhouses, Dai Jia actually agreed to Ning Cheng’s proposition. “Since our friend from booth 391 is willing to help pay the quoted Perpetual Moon Pills, our auction house will transfer the ownership of the Sky Treasure Silk to this friend from booth 391. Hopefully, such an incident would not happen in the subsequent auctions.”
Although Dai Jia spoke with a friendly tone, everyone could feel the unmistakable murderous intent from her words. Ning Cheng also felt impressed with Dai Jia that not only did she agree for him to pay the Perpetual Moon Pills, she even transferred the ownership of the Sky Treasure Silk to him. Dai Jia had figuratively gifted the Sky Treasure Silk to him, which was tantamount to doing him a favour.
[1] Amuse-bouche is a type of appetizer, often accompanied by a glass of complimentary wine, and served both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse of the chef’s style. The term is French and literally means “mouth amuser.”