Chapter 42

"Fine! You are ruthless!"

Qian Duoduo cursed inwardly, helpless to give up on raising the bid again.

The more of a merchant one was, the more one liked to calculate carefully. He could afford more Spirit Stones, but the price of the Spirit Gathering Pill was already high; it was not this price anywhere else, so why would he be willing to spend more?

He knew the inside story and knew there was still one bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills left. He could only pin his hopes on the last bottle being cheaper, giving him another chance.

"Calm down! Calm down!" Qian Duoduo took a deep breath.

However, how could things go as he wished?

When Qian Jinjin's small hammer fell and the fourth auction item entered, the maid was still walking over and the red cloth had not yet been lifted, but the Head of the Long Clan shouted impatiently: "I bid 1.3 million Spirit Stones!"

"Pfft!" Qian Duoduo was about to vomit blood from anger.

"This is bullying!"

Qian Duoduo cursed angrily; he was completely broken at this moment.

He knew well that this was the last bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills and he could not hesitate any longer, so he immediately shouted with a pained heart: "I bid 1.4 million Spirit Stones!"

He shared one viewpoint with the Head of the Long Clan: a genius's time was precious and must not be stuck at one realm for too long, so he would spare no cost to win this last bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills.

This time, the Head of the Long Clan did not raise the bid, which exceeded everyone's expectations.

Although he could also produce more Spirit Stones, in his view, the clan had many places where Spirit Stones were needed. Winning three bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills was already enough; there was no need to invest more.

After all, the number of geniuses in a clan was limited; it was enough to prioritize providing the Spirit Gathering Pills to the limited geniuses. There were so many Spirit Gathering Stage Gu Cultivators that even if he bought another hundred bottles, he could not take care of them all.

However, while he had given up on raising the bid, there were certainly no shortage of others with deep pockets.

It seemed many people knew the inside information; after all, Long Xuan had placed the four bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills for auction in public. For those well-informed, it really could not be considered top secret.

Thus, those who had the same mentality as Qian Duoduo and were still watching could no longer sit still and joined the bidding one after another.

Especially the people from the other merchant associations; they were all people who did not lack Spirit Stones. Just now, they had the same mentality as Qian Duoduo, thinking there were more to come and perhaps they would be cheaper.

Who knew such a troublemaker would appear, raising the price sky-high before the base price was even mentioned, causing the transaction price of each bottle to be high. They could only fight with all their might on this last bottle.

Consequently, everyone thought the last one would be cheaper, but everyone thought the same way, leading to the last bottle being the most expensive instead of cheaper because the competition was too fierce and everyone was determined to win.

In the end, with one bid after another, the price was driven up to 2.8 million Spirit Stones before it stopped.

Qian Duoduo had an expression like he was about to cry. Damn it, he had miscalculated.

2.8 million Spirit Stones was exactly what he had bid. His heart was bleeding; he had lost more than he could afford.

It turned out the first few bottles were the cheapest, especially the first one which he could have won for only 1.1 million Spirit Stones. If he hadn't been greedy for a cheaper price and had won it earlier, none of this would have happened.

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world; his intestines were green with regret.

The high price of 2.8 million made the whole venue boil, especially Long Xuan, whose mouth could not close from smiling. These Spirit Stones all belonged to him; he had made a fortune.

He knew this was just an appetizer. When the fossil mine vein was auctioned later, the transaction price would only be higher. These Spirit Stones were probably not even a fraction of the fossil mine vein; it was too early to be excited.

Once he successfully offloaded the fossil mine vein, he would not only have the money to refine the Ice Cold Divine Flame, but also the money to refine his third and fourth Gu worms, enough for him to squander for a long time. He could not help but look forward to the transaction price of the fossil mine vein.

After the auction of the Spirit Gathering Pills ended, the subsequent auction became stable, and the back was quiet, far from the previous heat.

The seven clan heads in the VIP seats all showed little interest and were not seen bidding on anything.

This was not a high-standard auction to begin with; apart from the Spirit Gathering Pills and the treasure map brought by Long Xuan, the other auction items were very ordinary.

Half of the auction items were antiques brought out from that Female Emperor's ancient tomb. Unfortunately, while antiques were worth a fortune in his past life, in this world where martial power was supreme, their value was far inferior to things that could directly improve strength.

Although some people showed considerable interest and bid frequently, the prices were truly not high.

Long Xuan looked at one antique after another being auctioned off on the stage, revealing a thoughtful expression.

Unsurprisingly, he could see progress on every antique, but what did the progress on the antiques mean? Degree of incompleteness? Shelf life? Or what changes would occur after the progress was full?

Just as Long Xuan was deep in thought, the highlight of this auction finally arrived. At this moment, the clan heads in the front row all perked up and sat straight.

The crowd of onlookers in the back also became excited and whispered to each other, no longer sleepy as before.

"Is it finally starting?" The Head of the Feng Clan revealed a fiery gaze and licked his lips.

The Head of the Long Clan, who had been yawning beside him, also had his momentum shaken, and his eyes became sharp.

"Hehe! I presume you have all been waiting impatiently." After looking around, Qian Jinjin smiled and said: "Although the auction house did not have time to promote it, there are truly many well-informed people. The heads of the seven great clans of the Far West have all arrived, which is quite a surprise to this little girl."

"To be honest, this is the first time our Qian Clan Merchant Association has sold a fossil mine vein treasure map. I must declare beforehand that our association cannot go personally to confirm the authenticity; we can only use the Honesty Gu to confirm that the seller is not lying."

"But you also know that nothing is absolute. In this world, there are abilities that can render the Honesty Gu's lie-detecting ability ineffective; otherwise, if the power of Gu worms were truly that divine, there would not be so many unjust cases in the world."

"Here, I can only guarantee that through the Honesty Gu's test, that seller did not lie, but if the test is wrong, our Qian Clan Auction House will not bear any responsibility."

Her meaning was already clear: the auction house could only guarantee a high probability of authenticity, but if the information were false, the auction house would not bear any responsibility.

She was not wrong; any Gu worm's power had a way to be broken, including the Honesty Gu's lie-detecting ability.

But logically, a merchant would not be foolish enough to say this. The reason she said this was also to scare away some people with weak wills.

As soon as her voice fell, some people indeed had uncertain expressions, considering whether they should take the risk.

But the heads of the seven great clans sneered and were not scared by these words.

Although her words were true and any Gu worm's power indeed had a way to be broken, the power of the Honesty Gu was not so easily broken.

If the power of the Honesty Gu were really that easy to break, why would Gu Cultivators in the world trust the Qian Clan Merchant Association so much, and why would the Qian Clan Merchant Association have grown so large?

The other merchant associations that knew the Honesty Gu best all revealed disdainful smiles.

Qian Jinjin's words could deceive others but definitely not her peers. If this information really had a certain degree of risk, would the Qian Clan Merchant Association not have made any promotion and be in such a hurry to auction it?

Their actions had indirectly proven that this information was one hundred percent true; it was useless for them to say anything else.

(End of this chapter)