Chapter 1096: A Premium Auction

The excitement in the surrounding chambers continued for a while before dying down bit by bit.

Everyone basically knew everyone here; even if they were not personally on familiar terms, they would also have at least heard of them. Everyone had a clear idea of whoever was in each chamber, so there was no longer any real need for anonymity in this auction.

As such, some chambers had their curtains straight-out drawn apart, intending to bid openly.

Out of the five chambers in first-class, only three were occupied.

In the first chamber in first-class were, without a doubt, the Dharma Supreme and the people from the Law-Enforcement headquarters; the second chamber was, of course, the Teacher-disciple duo, Bu Liuqing and Mo Qingwu. As for the third chamber, it was, as expected, the Feng and Yue couple.

There were five chambers respectively in second and third-class. Other than Chu Yang in the third chamber in third-class, the Nine Super Clans each occupied one chamber per clan. However, there was no-one in the chamber assigned to the Lan Clan.

Lan Muxue’s attention was focused solely on treating his injuries at the moment. Adding on to that was the fact that he was only left with two Supreme Martial Artists who not only had no men under them, but also had to guard him while he was treating himself, so all the more they would not be present.

And so, out of the Nine Super Clans, only eight were present.

In the second first-class chamber, Mo Qingwu, dressed in robes of crimson, rested her head in her hands, moody and unhappy. After a long while, she finally asked, “Teacher, will Big Brother Chu Yang be here or not?”

Bu Liuqing had an air of absolute certainty around him as he answered, “Your Big Brother Chu Yang definitely will not be here!”

He thought, “Your Big Brother Chu Yang is a nobody right now, how can he even hope to appear in an event of this scale? Besides… even if he could somehow make his way here, would I bring you here knowing that he’s here?”

This was something that went without saying.

Supreme Martial Artist Bu felt extremely triumphant.

It was to the extent that he was even toying with what he thought was an extremely ingenious idea — if the auction had something suitable for her and was of sufficient quantity, then he would leave with her immediately after getting the items.

Far, far away from this place where they could bump into Chu Yang anytime!

So that his disciple would not fall any further!

Then, he would exchange living quarters with Ning Tianya right away, find an area devoid of human presence, and cultivate for 180 years or so with his disciple. By the time they emerge, Chu Yang would probably be all old and wrinkly!

Even the most passionate of love would have died down after 180 years. And to see an old wrinkly fellow after that… Chu Yang should already count himself lucky if Qingwu didn’t spit at him in disgust. To still dream of her sweetly calling him Big Brother Chu? F*ck off!

Bu Liuqing was very pleased with himself as he indulged in this fantasy of his.

Mo Qingwu’s eyes swiveled thoughtfully. In her mind, she thought: It’s obvious that Teacher doesn’t want to let me see Big Brother Chu Yang. He’s so mean; when this auction is over, I’ll run away secretly!

And when I find Big Brother Chu Yang, I won’t come out anymore, hmph! What an ungrateful man, I didn’t even want to be his disciple in the beginning, if not for Big Brother Chu Yang who tried his best to persuade me to!

Mo Qingwu stuck out her tongue at Bu Liuqing’s back and rolled her eyes. Then she sat in the corner sulkily and refused to speak anymore.

The event slowly rolled off to a start, and a figure in white stood in the middle of the elevated stage. He had a head of silver hair but his complexion was rosy and healthy. His form was robust and he had a benevolent look on his face.

An excited buzz went through the crowd.

They realized the extraordinariness of this particular auction at once, because this person on the stage was the high priest of Medicine Valley, who ranked only below the Valley Master!

He was the universally acknowledged number one legendary physician, as well as the number one pharmacist!

It was extremely rare to see him make an appearance usually, no matter what. His presence this moment was a clear indication that the scale of this auction had far exceeded everyone’s initial expectations.

“Cough, cough… Dear all, please allow this old man to say a few words.” The high priest chuckled happily before clearing his throat.

Just from this sentence alone, the sharp ones within the audience could catch the hint of excitement hidden in his voice at once.

Could it be that there were really quite a fair number of Heavenly Treasures here today?

In a chamber on the 14th level, Diwu Qingrou knitted his brows. He instructed, “We’ll start bidding the moment they open. Only bid on the herbs that we’ll use and that are in the middle to low-grade, we’ll take whatever we can get. We shall not bother with the premium-grade ones!”

The elder next to him was puzzled. “We are not short of Purple Crystals now. Why are we not going for the good herbs?”

Diwu Qingrou had a grave look in his eyes as he replied, “Even the high priest of the Medicine Valley is beside himself with excitement. This shows that this particular batch of herbs is no ordinary article. We would be considered lucky if we can even get the middle to low-grade ones.”

The elderly man next to him nodded in response, though he was not entirely convinced. He thought, “We’ll see how it goes later. I’m sure there will be good ones and average ones.”

At this point, the high priest on stage was already in the midst of his speech. “As all are aware, our Medicine Valley is placing quite a fair amount of importance on this auction. We have a huge variety of medicinal herbs today, and every one of them is extremely precious! I can say with absolute confidence that the herbs today are all of extraordinary quality! I have personally checked each and every one of them and written an evaluation for them all. My hand-written certificates of evaluation are in the cases storing the herbs, and contain my seal as proof of authenticity!”

The crowd went into a state of uproar.

Everyone knew the high priest’s temper — cantankerous and stubborn!

To get him to conduct a diagnosis, sure, he wouldn’t even charge a single cent, as long as the person was to his liking. If not, he wouldn’t even bat an eyelid even if a Purple Crystal mine was placed right before him!

Leaving someone to die was his specialty.

And getting him to assess and evaluate medicinal herbs was even harder!

He had an ironclad rule — no evaluation unless it was a Heavenly Treasure! And no certificate of evaluation unless the Heavenly Treasure was mid-grade and above!

If one was sure that what they had was a Heavenly Treasure and brought it to him for evaluation, thinking that they could earn big money from the certificate of evaluation… then they’d better pray real hard.

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Because this old guy would first charge an exorbitant evaluation fee, and then if he were to decide that it didn’t meet the standards of a Heavenly Treasure, then it would be turned into dust on the spot with a swing of his palm!

Thinking of taking it back whole? Dream on!

Therefore, there was a saying in the world — As long as there was a certificate of evaluation by the high priest, it must be a mid-grade Heavenly Treasure! And… this was a basic benchmark!

And now the high priest actually said… that every herb in this batch came with his certificate of evaluation!

This piece of news was simply earth-shaking!

To use the word ‘batch’, that must mean that the quantity was very high. Could it really be that in this entire batch of herbs, even those of the lowest grade were Heavenly Treasures too? Where in the world could one possibly find so many Heavenly Treasures?

“An overwhelming portion of this batch of herbs hails from the Black Blood Forest!” The high priest increased the emphasis within his tone of voice as he went on, “…’s core!”

The core of the Black Blood Forest!

This piece of news stunned even Bu Liuqing.

Bu Liuqing had also been to the edge of the core of the Black Blood Forest before. However, he could faintly feel an extremely dangerous presence within and after much hesitation, still decided to avoid the area and take another path instead.

He had never told even Ning Tianya about this.

And now, to hear that someone had harvested herbs from the core of the Black Blood Forest! How could Bu Liuqing not receive a shock?

“In an effort to reduce the monotony of this auction, we have exhausted the capabilities of Medicine Valley and the power of the Medicine Banquet to come up with a few more Heavenly Treasures for the auction.”

His voice loud and clear, the high priest of the Medicine Valley declared, “Today’s auction starts from a minimum bid of Purple Crystals! You can use Heavenly Treasures, as well as rare ingredients, as part of payment too. This is by request of the seller, so do keep this in mind, everyone.”

This had already been previously specified on the invitation, so everyone had come prepared. As such, no one was particularly surprised by the announcement.

Everyone’s curiosity had been successfully aroused by the old fellow and couldn’t wait for the auction to begin.

The high priest was all smiles as he said, “I can tell that nobody can wait anymore and so I shall not go on too much anymore. With no further ado, let the auction begin!”

Thereafter, the old fellow leaped into the air without further delay, back to the Medicine Valley’s chamber.

A white figure and a black figure subsequently flew out of the same chamber and landed on the stage.

One of them held an auctioneer hammer made of gold, while the other carried in his hands a case with a piece of red fabric draped on top.

It was apparent that the auctioneer was also someone from the Medicine Valley making a cameo. The way he held the hammer was beyond awkward, as if holding a large saber instead, ready to chop someone to pieces at any moment. He sported the signature poker face of someone from Medicine Valley, all rigid and expressionless.

Everyone present sighed.

If not for the fact that these medicinal herbs were simply just too hard to come by, just the mere sight of the auctioneer was enough to chase everyone away. His zombie-like face alone was enough to wreck the whole auction…

“Your attention, please, everyone. Here is the first item up for auction!” the auctioneer said rigidly with the stiffest expression ever.

Everyone participating in the auction practically cursed in unison!

Could you even call yourself an auctioneer like this?!

What the hell, surely no one at home just died, right? Would it kill him to have a bit of a smile, or have a bit more of an enthusiastic tone, or just be a bit more passionate?!

The red fabric was yanked off.

A Purple Crystal case laid underneath.

The auctioneer said stiffly, “Please be reminded that upon winning an item, it is advisable to switch the case to one made of Purple Crystal Core. The Medicine Valley’s financial capability is limited, so we could only use Purple Crystal cases for now. While there is no risk of loss of the medicinal properties for the time being, once enough time passes, there will be a negative effect for sure. Please beware.”

Everyone below nodded in a lackadaisical manner, not even bothering to make even a grunt of acknowledgment. No one was in any mood to even respond when forced to look at such a face and such an expression.

The auctioneer was just about to open the Purple Crystal case when he suddenly raised his head again. “Just one more reminder — time is tight and responsibilities are heavy today, so please make sure to be fast when calling out bids. Because my speed when counting down to the fall of the hammer will also be very fast.”

Everyone seriously took their hats off him.

Wow, this had to be the most outstanding auctioneer ever! Every other auctioneer usually tried to extend the bidding window period for as long as they could. Only when there was really no one calling out bids anymore would they let the hammer fall. This guy had the nerve to say that the speed of his countdown was very fast instead…

The figure in black next to the auctioneer had already come forward, the Purple Crystal case in his hands.

The auctioneer reached for the lid and then suddenly halted his movements. “Just one more reminder…”

“To hell with your reminder!” An irritated slew of swearing rang out from one of the second-class chambers. “Will it kill you to just move on?!”

The auctioneer was stunned for a moment before he said icily, “If the Li Clan has any dissatisfactions, you can feel free to leave in advance!”

To actually speak so harshly to the Li Clan, who was part of the Nine Super Clans! His attitude was practically as tough and uncompromising as steel.

Chu Yang was taken aback, rubbing his chin absent-mindedly as he looked at the zombie-like face from afar. He murmured, “This guy is pretty interesting…”

At his side, Wei Wuyan, who had been silent all this while, finally opened his mouth. “That’s the young master of Medicine Valley!”

Chu Yang was astonished.

So that was the young master of the entire Medicine Valley. No wonder he was so arrogant. Just that it was rather surprising that the young master of the Medicine Valley actually behaved like that.