Chapter 199: We Are Just Selling a BallTranslator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Seeing that, Qiao Anping immediately declined, saying, “I couldn’t- It’s better that you keep it for yo- No, no, I have mostly recovered thanks to your medicine last time, you don’t have to do this.”
Not returning the pleasantries, Fang Ning pa.s.sed the medicine to Zheng Dao beside him and instructed, “Butler Zheng, arrange for this to be sent to Fellow cultivator Qiao’s residence.”
Everyone else stared blankly at the scene. None of the partic.i.p.ants were so dumb that they could not recognize the quality of the three Nine Transformations Soul Rejuvenation Pills. They looked strikingly ethereal and smelled otherworldly fragrant, unlike those they used to buy from the Azure Mountain…
“Looks like he really is a true dragon with a strong support. No wonder he doesn’t fear the Azure Mountain,” another wave of silent communication was underway.
“But why did he not use it for himself? Could it be that the injury to his spirit was difficult to cure even with medicines like this?” Some people started speculating.
Never underestimate how rich a human’s imagination could go…
Time pa.s.sed slowly and Gu Buwei of the Azure Mountain had finally appeared!
Different from other people’s method of walking in through the entrance, he appeared directly on top of the stage suddenly.
It was as if he had been there the whole time and had just dismissed his invisibility to reveal himself to the whole hall.
Some people rejoiced at the fact that they did not approach Vigilante A. ‘If I did and was witnessed by the Azure Mountain, where would I stand in the future?’
However, the Azure Mountain had always been so arrogant that they did not mingle with other people. Every three years, they would appoint two people to attend the convention. That had left everybody else who wanted to make connections with no way to do so.
The only way they could mingle was through the Treasure Trading Convention. Whenever they appear in a different situation, it would usually mean that someone in their sects would be taken away… If the sect does not allow it to happen, they would be able to witness the Azure Mountain’s abilities just like the Spirit King a.s.sociation.
At this point, three staff members from the Truth Department had gone on the stage, ready to unveil the silk covering the items.
Gu Buwei raised his hand and motioned for them to stop. The three staff members were confused, but they stopped immediately regardless.
Gu Buwei began to walk down the stage toward Vigilante A who was sitting in the first row!
Everyone’s hearts were strung high. ‘Are these two gonna start fighting?’
Some people had already planned their escape route. They had been in the hall three years ago and had memorized the escape route to the hall. Burrowing was not allowed in the hall as it had already been disabled with the use of formations. They could only escape through the entrance of the hall.
It was only a short distance, but to many people, Gu Buwei had spent an awfully long time to approach Vigilante A.
Following that, they saw Gu Buwei said to Vigilante A, “Vigilante A, it’s time. Name me your price…”
The audience was stunned mouth gaping. Being supported by the Azure Mountain, Gu Buwei should have everything he needed. Why would he buy anything from Vigilante A?
Some powerhouses had some guesses, but they did not want to believe such a wild thought.
However, everyone could see that Gu Buwei was not shocked nor surprised, and there was no sadness or joy on his face, it was as if he was just buying a regular item.
Vigilante A did not stand up. He sat quietly and looked at Gu Buwei.
Similarly, Qiao Anping did not stand up and just looked.
Zheng Dao thought, ‘I shall sit quietly as well…’
The System said, “What is he trying to do?”
Fang Ning said, “What else? To ransom their disciple, of course. Doing it so publicly, it’s making us look like we’re kidnappers…”
The System said, “That’s right. I’m a heroic system, so even though I want to receive his ransom payment, it can’t be so obvious…”
Fang Ning said, “Sir, don’t be so straightforward, lemme think… Right, if you make the spirit of Qi Mei into a ball and sell it to him, it would be alright. We aren’t ransoming her, we’re just selling a ball…”
The System said, “Fair enough. That woman looked fierce, but as soon as she entered the isolation cell, she yielded to the tortures pretty easily. Such a difference from the other two with strong beliefs. The information had already been processed by Anderson, I think they would soon let you read the report.”
Soon after, everyone saw a purple ball appear in Vigilante A’s hand.
Gu Buwei’s eyes flickered but he did not reach out for the ball — Vigilante A had yet to name his price.
Fang Ning said slowly, “How much do you think this ball costs? But firstly, a disclaimer. I only need materials from the current realm. I do not care for your simple tools and medicines, those are crudely made at best.”
Having heard that, everyone wiped an imaginary sweat on their faces. Things they called treasures were not even in the consideration for the Venerable One.
Gu Buwei did not say anything. Instead, he beckoned his hand toward his back as one after another porcelain plates disappeared, leaving only the tags in their places…
The rare materials that were in high demand had been retrieved by Gu Buwei.
It was not long before everyone realized more than half of the porcelain plates had disappeared…
Many other people were puzzled. ‘What exactly is that thing in his hand?’
It was so expensive, almost half of the materials onstage were gone. Moreover, many of the materials were specialties of the Azure Mountain.
Vigilante A did not nod his head even as the plates on the stage continued to disappear.
The materials onstage went from half to a quarter to a tenth, and until only artifacts and medicines were left when Vigilante A finally nodded.
“Looks like you do know the concept of fairness. Deal. Just remember, I will not be so easily swayed in the future…”
As he said that, he pushed at the purple ball which hovered slowly toward Gu Buwei.
A bronze-colored ring appeared in Gu Buwei’s hand and, similarly, hovered toward Vigilante A.
Seeing that, everyone else seemed to be in shock. After the telepathic communication a few minutes ago, most of them knew that Vigilante A was heavily injured, but he still dared to talk down to Gu Buwei as he did!
‘Could it be that Vigilante A was really that strong to the point that the Azure Mountain was forced to submit to him?
‘Or was it that they had a secret transaction?
‘Wait, no. Maybe the Azure Mountain was only wary of his background and was worried that other dragons might descend onto Earth…’
The eyes of many people who did not know the truth were filled with regret. ‘I should have gone and shown Vigilante A some hospitality. I heard he looked arrogant but was actually pretty easy to talk to.
‘Unlike the Azure Mountain who had always been on their high horse and had never tried to even make connections with other people…’
A few of the powerhouses were smirking in silence, regarding the two-faced ma.s.ses in disdain.
They had already realized what the purple ball was. There was a spirit of a woman in the ball, and so Gu Buwei needed to take that jab without complaints.
‘His weakness was being held in another person’s hands, so naturally, he would need to bow to the other person’s wishes.’
However, they believe that after Gu Buwei had sent Qi Mei’s spirit back onto the mountain, he would begin to target Vigilante A!
In the eyes of the few most powerful powerhouses, the Descended Ones were not as scary as they were rumored to be. After their descent, they would still need to follow the Maxims of the current realm. Moreover, their strength would be weakened and had to recultivate little by little even if they had a high cultivation base… If they were unlucky, they might not even get the chance to recover their strength.
The worst of them would have been Xue Ba and Brett, the two dogs. They were Pond-level powerhouses, however, were it not for Vigilante A, they could have become dog stew…
Additionally, true dragons belonged to a tiny race. It would have been at their limits to have one descending at one time. The next descended dragon could be more than a century away. They did not think the Azure Mountain would be afraid of merely one true dragon after a century of development.
They have probably ascended by then.
Receiving the purple ball, Gu Buwei returned to the stage and said as if nothing happened, “The triennial Treasure Trading Convention of the Azure Mountain shall start now… Everybody can look at the prices on the screen and the descriptions of each item before deliberating on your intent to purchase.”
The three staff members promptly unveiled the remaining silk cloths, revealing the artifacts and medicines.
The artifacts looked alright, but people were disappointed when they saw the medicines. In comparison to the Venerable Dragon G.o.d’s jade-like Nine Transformations Soul Rejuvenation Pills, it was as if they were made of debris.
On the large screen, items after items were shown together with their base price — the minimum amount of materials they needed to even think about buying them.
Of course, if more than one parties wanted the same items, they could only bid or consider a compromise.
To everyone’s surprise, Vigilante A, who had just swiped all the materials onstage, was staring at the artifacts as seriously as anyone else. They all thought with a chill down their spine, ‘If he decided to join the bidding, who would be able to outbid him?’
Fortunately, the purchase of the first artifact indicated the absence of Vigilante A’s intention to bid. He had been sitting and sipping on his tea the whole time.
Qiao Anping had heard from Ren Ruofeng that the Azure Mountain had other plans and would not pick a fight with Vigilante A yet.
He was confident that Gu Buwei would not make a move, so he sat there without interfering.
The Azure Mountain was in the wrong in this matter. It was Qi Mei who looked for trouble first. Even if Gu Buwei would attack, the current Nets Above Snares Below could easily restrict him without using any of their other trump cards.
Furthermore, he had heard the other five said that Shang Qingshan, the chairman of the Azure Mountain who would not appear unless something severe had happened, had sworn a Heavenly Oath or something…
When an unknown powerhouse aura appeared above the Pacific Ocean, the chairman was alerted. Clearly, to him, that was a new and serious threat…
However, it was unknown what had transpired, but none of the overseas networks or even Nets Above Snares Below was able to capture any hints of its activities.
Days had pa.s.sed since then, it was like the powerhouse had vanished from the world. It was said that the chairman had wanted to investigate on his own, but he had to postpone it to refocus as the incident happened.
That was why a battle would not have happened, and that would have disappointed many people in and out of China.
There would always be people who complained that the Truth Department’s ruling was too strict, and every time they thought a blunder was going to happen, they would never get their wish…
At this point, the ambiance in the hall had relaxed as the first batch of artifacts were sold out. Many people had started whispering again instead of talking to each other telepathically.
“Looks like the Truth Department had already dealt with this problem. I bet they were only putting it on the table to show us their might…”
“I think so. They are sending a message that even the powerful Azure Mountain needed to trade with Vigilante A under their rule and not duking it out in the Chinese border.”
“That is such a good plan. With that, their words would hold much more water. The spiritually-controlled mech tournament one month later would have many more partic.i.p.ants once they announce it.”
“True, too bad we could only continue to live under their iron fist with no freedom, grasping at straws.”
“Then why don’t you go out of China? I hear many smaller countries welcome Extraordinaire immigrants. They would even give them positions like chancellors or knighthood like the ancient times…”
“Yeah, it’ll be a good life if I move there. I’ll be free too, but if someday a mighty monster appeared, I will be tied down and die in that place! If I run away without caring about the citizens, I would have owed them a huge responsibility, and my conviction for cultivation would not be stable.”
Everyone was discussing among themselves, and soon the first treasure-trading session of the season had officially opened in the calm ambiance.