Chapter 26: Contend for the Cauldron

When the auction was about the begin, there was a knock on the door to their private room. Yun Lan frowned unconsciously and the guard standing behind him immediately opened the door.

Shopkeeper Lu entered with the Seventh Princess and her company and said with a smile: “Third Prince, just now a very distinguished guest came to participate in the auction, but he wanted his own private room. The superiors of the Imperial Family decided that the private room for the Seventh Princess was to be made available, so is it possible for the Princess and her company to share this private room with you?”

Shopkeeper Lu had no other choice. He couldn’t offend that distinguished guest and five of the private rooms for distinguished guest were booked by the Royal Family, so he could only go and negotiate with them. Their answer was to give the private room of the Seventh Princess to that distinguished guest, so he had to come forward to coordinate.

“Who is this very distinguished guest?” Yun Luo asked aloud what everyone wondered.

Shopkeeper Lu thought for a while and said: “A Sword Monarch expert. As for the rest, please forgive this one for being unable to answer.”

Solemnity filled the room, and they didn’t ask anymore.

After they agreed, Shopkeeper Lu asked the attendants to add a few more chairs. As the private room was designed to be relatively large, adding a few more seats for the Seventh Princess and her company didn’t make it feel any more crowded.

“Sorry to bother Brother Third Prince.” Yun Xin managed a smile. She felt very uncomfortable about the situation, but that person wasn’t someone she could offend, so she could only bear it.

Yun Lan smiled softly and shook his head, saying: “No matter.” Adding a few more people was nothing.

Yun Xin took Gu Yan Ran, Zeng Rou and two other women to sit down, then the auction officially started.

On the auction stage, an elegant middle-aged man entered with a gentle smile.

“Today is the triennial auction. I am Ni Jun, today’s auctioneer. Everyone knows the credibility of our Alliance, and I believe that the auction this time won’t disappoint everyone either.”

Ni Jun paused, then continued: “Today the auction also deliberately added three finale items, all of which are rare and of the finest quality. So everyone must seize the opportunity.

Seeing that most of the people below displayed looks of anticipation and excitement, he said with a smile: “I presume everyone can’t wait any longer, so I won’t say anymore. Let the auction officially begin now. Let’s auction the first item.”

Ni Jun clapped his hands, and a young woman walked out holding a tray with a jade slip on it. 

“This is a Mortal Class Top-Grade manual suitable for wind attribute Sword Masters. Cultivating this technique can not only enhance the power of wind-based sword skills, but also build a defensive wall that could attack and defend, which is very rare.” The auctioneer smiled, and after the introduction, he began to guide the people below to bid, “It starts at one hundred thousand black-gold coins.”

The manuals on this land were divided into Mortal Class, Earth Class, Sky Class, Saint Class and Deity Class. Each class was divided into three grades: Top-Grade, Middle-Grade and Low-Grade.

The Mortal Class Top-Grade manuals were vied for eagerly by Sword King Stage Sword Masters and below. Good manuals couldn’t always be bought with money, and sometimes it was even impossible to find them, so being able to auction manuals was also a demonstration of the Ming Alliance of Merchant’s vast resources.

Lou Mu Yan wasn’t interested in this manual, however. Even if a Sky Rank manual was presented to her, she wouldn’t necessarily be interested.

In her previous life, when she trained in her sect and explored numerous Secret Realms, she obtained many copies of manuals that would make numerous cultivators crazy. Now, those manuals still existed in her Sea of Consciousness, and was also a valuable asset.

She was still going to practice the manuals from her precious life as they weren’t only the most suitable for her, but it also prevented her from taking a lot of detours.

Lou Mu Yan was calm, but Gu Yan Ran couldn’t remain calm. She was a Sword Master with the wind attribute and the best manual in the Gu Clan was Mortal Class Middle-Grade. A fire of desire burned in her eyes, and she clenched her fists—she must obtain this manual.

“Five hundred thousand.” When the price for the manual reached three hundred and fifty thousand, Gu Yan Ran directly raised the price.

Gu Yan Ran’s Clan was the richest clan in the Empire, so she had strong financial strength. Even the Lou Clan couldn’t compare, but the Lou Clan’s true worth was something that the Gu Clan couldn’t compare to. That’s why even though Imperial Noble Consort Gu was very arrogant in the palace, she couldn’t supersede the Empress.

This time, as Gu Yan Ran participated in the auction, the Gu Clan gave her eight million black-gold coins. Even the core children and disciples of old distinguished families of the Empire couldn’t take out this figure of money. It was enough for her to be proud of.

Yun Lan casually glanced at the excited and proud Gu Yan Ran. His eyes darkened and looked at Lou Mu Yan: “Does Mu Yan not want this manual? I remember you also cultivated wind attribute skills. If you like it, I’ll bid for it and gift it to you.”

Lou Mu Yan was taken aback for a moment, then her heart warmed, and she glanced at Gu Yan Ran in her peripheral vision whose expression immediately changed. She shook her head, uninterested: “Thank you cousin, but there’s no need. I’m not interested.”

She wasn’t so bored as to act on impulse and contend for this manual with Gu Yan Ran, wasting Yun Lan’s black-gold coins.

Gu Yan Ran felt relieved when she heard Lou Mu Yan wasn’t interested, but she also felt unpleasant. Why did it feel like she was picking up an insignificant manual that the trash didn’t want? A vicious look crossed her eyes—after the Academy’s annual competition, she would definitely step on Lou Mu Yan.

In the end, the wind attribute skill was bought by Gu Yan Ran with the price of three million black-gold coins.

After that, six or seven more items were auctioned one after another, but Lou Mu Yan wasn’t interested in any of them, and not a single person bid for them in the private room.

It wasn’t until the auctioneer unveiled a piece of red cloth, revealing a small, dark blue cauldron did she straightened up in her seat, her eyes bright.

“This is a cauldron left behind by a senior Grade 4 Alchemist, and this cauldron is a High-Quality Spirit Tool. It could withstand the internal fire of a Sword Monarch Stage expert and could even increase the rate of pills refined. I believe everyone understands how valuable it is for Alchemists without me saying anymore.”

Though Ni Jun saw that most people revealed uninterested expressions, he didn’t mind. Alchemists were originally very rare professions, and it would be useless for anyone else to buy this cauldron. He turned the auction hammer and announced with a smile: “The starting price of the blue cauldron is three hundred thousand black-gold coins. The bid begins.”

Lou Mu Yan discovered that the auctions held by the Ming Alliance of Merchants were indeed very high-class. The starting price was already three hundred thousand—that was the income of many years for many clans in Yan’zhou Country.

Then she discovered that she was rather poor—the one million black-gold coins given by Ye Qing Han plus the money from the Lou Clan was only three million black-gold coins altogether. If she couldn’t afford this, then she’d have to buy the cauldron by selling some of her things.

“Three million.” Lu Mu Yan was too lazy to bid slowly, so she directly reported all her money.

“PU!” Yun Jin couldn’t stop himself from spitting out his Spiritual Tea, lifted his head and said: “Lou Mu Yan. You’re ruthless.”

Even a spendthrift wouldn’t waste money like this. What was a Sword Master buying an unusable cauldron for? And the very first bid was three million black-gold coins—was the Lou Clan this rich? Why didn’t he know…

“Lou Mu Yan, you’re deliberately punishing me right?” Xiao Zi Ang was just about to bid five hundred thousand when Lou Mu Yan beat him to it. He was really gloomy. What’s all this about?

Lou Mu Yan rolled her eyes at Xiao Zi Ang: “What am I doing punishing you? I’ve got no bones to pick with you at all, I really just want to get this cauldron.”

“Then I’m sorry, this cauldron is also very useful to me.” Xiao Zi Ang shrugged, then bid ‘three million five hundred thousand’.

Lou Mu Yan knew it would be like this—this blue cauldron was very tempting to Alchemists. But she didn’t have a cauldron that was convenient for her to use right now, and this cauldron just met her requirements, so she could only bleed heavily1.