Mo Wushuang was awestruck; he couldn’t speak for the longest time. The young man before him had time and again overturned everything he knew. He was blown out of his element.
“You’re going to turn the world upside down, young lord Zhen.” Emperor Peerless sighed after a long while. “The Emperor Supremacy Pill, the Emperor Ascension Pill, the Pinecrane Pill… any one of these appearing in the world would consume the entire human domain. But you…”
Jiang Chen smiled slightly. “Old Brother Mo, the Divine Abyss Continent is a big place. The heritage of the ancients is an amazing thing. Why should we be limited to what’s feasible in the human domain? If a martial cultivator can’t even see beyond the boundaries of the human domain, what else is there left for him?”
Any normal youth professing such boastful words would be summarily dismissed by the emperor. However, a declaration from Veluriyam’s young lord was nothing short from thought provoking.
He was right. Why should one’s scope be limited to the human domain? The Divine Abyss Continent was tremendously large. The human domain was just a small corner of that immense s.p.a.ce.
Young lord Zhen has lofty ambitions!
Thinking to this point, Emperor Peerless laughed broadly. “Young lord Zhen, I used to feel satisfied at having come so far in my life. If you hadn’t pointed out my error, I would no longer have any pursuits left. After hearing your opinion, I am somewhat ashamed. From now on, I’ll be right behind you. I’d like to see just how far you can lead us!”
The emperor’s own pride was ignited. He felt young once again.
Jiang Chen put away the twenty-six Eight Treasure Cordyceps carefully, then smiled. “These Cordyceps can be used to refine over a hundred Emperor Ascension Pills. What do you think a single pill should be valued at, Old Brother Mo?”
Advancing one emperor realm level for free was a priceless proposition!
“Emperor realm experts are obviously less wealthy than their greater peers. Even so, a price of two to three hundred million would sell like hotcakes. There’s plenty of emperor realm wandering cultivators with that kind of purchasing power, and you can definitely add many more sect-affiliated experts to that list!”
“What about the Emperor Supremacy Pill?” Jiang Chen asked smilingly.
“The Emperor Supremacy Pill, huh…” Mo Wushuang sighed. “The Emperor Supremacy Pill is probably the highest rank pill beneath the heavens. I can’t attach a price to it. Personally speaking, if I had a hard time breaking through within the great emperor realm and found out the help that this pill could offer, I would spend everything I had for a single pill.”
The draw of the Emperor Supremacy Pill was quite different from that of the Emperor Ascension Pill. Its target audience was the most elite stratum of the human domain. Experts at this level commanded the most wealth everywhere in the world of martial dao. Correspondingly, their purchasing power was equally astonis.h.i.+ng.
When men reached this level of cultivation, they held an almost incomprehensible fixation for progressing ever forward. In the world of martial dao, the breaking through of levels and realms was the tireless goal of almost every cultivator. Many experts placed themselves in dangerous situations constantly in order to chase the truth of dao between life and death.
Such ‘martial madmen’ were never in short supply.
Both True Heavensfall Iron and Eight Treasure Cordyceps had appeared in the trading segment of the meet. Unfortunately, there was still no news whatsoever of the Goldencrown Cloudcrane.
“Is the Cloudcrane really this rare?” Jiang Chen was a little perplexed.
The three days concluded with nary a fowl in sight. Veluriyam’s young lord was a little depressed. He’d thought that the Goldencrown Cloudcrane was the most likely to appear. Reality was quite the opposite.
He didn’t have a fervent desire for the Goldencrown Cloudcrane. It stayed on his mind because of his transaction with the group of wandering great emperors. The Goldencrown Cloudcrane was one of the keys to refining the Pinecrane Pill.
Ten wandering cultivators had partic.i.p.ated in Emperor Shura’s encirclement. Aside from Emperor Wellspring, no one else had received their reward yet.
It appeared though, that many benefited a great deal through the three-day trading segment. Even the wandering cultivator great emperors were well pleased. It seemed that they were extremely satisfied.
Standing in their midst, Jiang Chen performed a cupped fist salute. “Everyone, I’m sure you’ve benefited a good deal from the three-day trading segment. And now, please register if there’s a treasure you’d like Veluriyam Capital to auction off. Don’t miss out the right timing! Any treasures lower than sky rank will be eliminated from the list, and even treasures that are sky rank will not necessarily make it. For the attendees, absolutely the best and most valuable will be chosen from among sky rank and higher treasures.”
There was only a single day for the auction. Not many treasures would pa.s.s through the auction process. Therefore, the details required Jiang Chen’s personal attention.
Sign-ups concluded in two hours. The list of treasures submitted for auction was fifty-six items long.
“Young lord, all these treasures are from wandering cultivators. Neither sects nor wandering cultivator t.i.tans signed up.”
“That’s understandable. Sects, factions, and wandering cultivator giants hardly want for money. Instead, they seek treasure to an almost obsessive degree.” Jiang Chen found nothing strange about this.
a.n.a.lyzing the list a bit more, he estimated that only four things could be auctioned off in a single two-hour slot. If the auction was allowed to continue for sixteen, only thirty-two treasures were eligible. Of course, an excessive number of items auctioned reduced its quality.
Jiang Chen carefully examined the list’s details. With a broad pen stroke, he removed any treasure that was either insufficient or common. It took no time at all for the list to reach the final sixteen.
“I think these sixteen will be fine. Twelve will be listed earlier on, and four will be sold at the end.” Finally finalizing the list, the young lord handed it to his subordinates.
Pill King Bu was the one responsible for breaking the news to the registrants that only sixteen had been chosen. When the forty wandering cultivators heard that their treasures hadn’t made the cut, they were all very upset indeed. All of them requested a meeting with young lord Zhen.
The pill king wasn’t in a position to make decisions on the young lord’s behalf, so he sought the latter’s advice once more. Jiang Chen thought about it for a moment before waving his hand. “Take me to them.”
The young man walked over, the Jiao brothers and Emperor Peerless trailing closely behind.
“You’re finally here, young lord Zhen!”
“You must help us, young lord Zhen. We came to the Dragon and Tiger Meet because of your reputation alone. Why are we barred from selling our goods?”
“Isn’t that right? There’s nothing wrong with our stuff. Auctions elsewhere would move really quickly to s.n.a.t.c.h it up. How come it didn’t make it past the selection process with you guys?”
Jiang Chen listened to their pleas with a smile.
“Gentlemen, I picked out a list of items to sell myself. Your stuff is perfectly fine, but time for the auction is limited. Everything being sold is extremely valuable. The only reason your things didn’t make the cut is that pricier things edged you out.” The young man patiently explained.
“Young lord Zhen, your words hurt us a great deal.”
“I agree. Just how high rank are the selected treasures? I don’t believe that my treasure is possibly worse!”
“We would like transparency, young lord Zhen!”
“I can’t announce the selected treasures right now,” Jiang Chen retorted coolly. “You’ll see them soon enough – tomorrow at the auction. These are the rules. There’s no need for argument.”
The wandering cultivators wanted to protest further, but was stopped by a frowning Jiao Yun behind Jiang Chen’s back. “What? Is young lord Zhen’s kindness being taken advantage of here? You’d better not take a mile for a given inch.”
“Young lord Zhen is the organizer of the event. It’s his freedom to pick whatever treasures he likes. Do you intend to force him differently?”
The Jiao brothers of Mt. Huai were reasonably famous seniors in the world of martial dao. Moreover, they were rumored to be pretty fierce. The wandering cultivators were cowed as soon as they opened their mouths.
“It’s not easy for us either, young lord Zhen. It’s rare to find someone that thinks on our behalf. If we miss this chance, next time… ah!”
“That’s it exactly. Please, young lord Zhen, add another day to the auction.”
“Shut up!” Jiao Yun barked angrily.
Jiang Chen waved a hand. “Please, please. Gentlemen, I admit that your treasures were indeed sky rank. I’ve even publicly identified some of them myself. There’s a very good reason they didn’t make the cut. Your treasures aren’t better than the ones selected for the auction, and more importantly, they’re not rare in the world of cultivation. As they say, rare things fetch a higher price. The level of tomorrow’s auction is particularly high. When your treasures are compared to the others there, they’ll seem quite plain. You won’t fetch an ideal price for your goods, nor will you actualize the value of your treasure.”
He was speaking nothing but the truth. If there were two treasures of the same level, with one rarer than the other, then the first would command a higher following. Supply and demand dictated this to be the case.
The treasures that had failed to make the cut weren’t gutter trash, but they were treasures that could be found elsewhere. In an auction setting, the attendees’ wealth was generally focused upon the rare treasures available for sale. It was unlikely for relatively common treasures to fetch commanding prices. Far more likely was the opposite. It wasn’t unreasonable to expect some items to be left with no bidders.
This more detailed explanation injected moroseness into the wandering cultivators.
“I’d like to add a few words, my friends.” Emperor Peerless spoke up. “If the rules aren’t followed, then standards wouldn’t exist. Young lord Zhen has spent a lot of time and effort on the gathering, so he has to take responsibility for its operations. There’s no question that he selected the treasures fairly for the auction. Your treasures’ removal from the list was hardly out of selfishness. In fact, he did so partially for your benefit. It’s not often that a wandering cultivator gets his hands on a valuable treasure. Ending an auction without any bids is a potential hit to the value of any treasure. Plus, are you really worried about not being able to sell something expensive you own? Are you taking the wandering cultivator meet as an opportunity to get rich quick? If something isn’t impossible to find worldwide, then it cannot be sold for much higher or lower than its real price.”
Emperor Peerless was a respectable and moral man. His words were far more convincing than the Jiao brothers’ intimidation.