Chapter 142 – Life Prolonging Dan
The black metal Sword eventually fell into the hands of that burly Zhong Jian Sect disciple. With such powerful Sects involved in this financial battle, money was likely to become a factor in the final outcome of the tournament.
This event was blatantly exhibiting the importance of money, and unless someone was to procure an ancient treasure like Xiang Wen Tian had, it was quite difficult to arrange the necessary resources for a sustainable martial training over a prolonged period of time.
Bi Fan was beginning to realize this fact very clearly at this moment, and was glad that he joined the Quinyang Sect.
No matter how much bullying he had suffered in Quinyang, and no matter how much he hated the region, he’d have to let go off it, for the sake of his training.
Bi Fan’s recent adventures had made him a rich man, but once he was forced to spend the money on his training, he would eventually run out of it, and when that time comes, his practice pace will eventually slow down, and he wouldn’t be able to achieve his true potential.
But thing were different at this time; Since Bi Fan’s performance was getting better and better, the Quinyang Sect was beginning to value his talents even more than ever before, owing to which he didn’t need to bother about the resources, and could wholeheartedly concentrate on his training.
The auction continued, and presented several different articles like weapons, Dan, and armor. Everyone was busy competing for these articles, and the items were fetching a much higher price than their market price.
The martial Sects present on the scene weren’t acting stingy either, and weren’t afraid to sh.e.l.l out some extra money to procure the necessary items; the Quinyang Sect was no exception to this.
The winning bidder would have to battle it out with several other contenders before he’d have his desire fulfilled.
Bi Fan and the others were learning a lot of new things, since they were getting to learn about various different kinds of martial items, and were quite busy trying to a.s.sess their real values.
“The next item for this auction is a page of the jade book. This page is the master page of the book, and talks about some of the best methods to refine the body’s physical strength. The price is reserved at five hundred spars, and interested bidders can raise the price by ten spars.” Long Xiang Tian stated.
The moment he lifted the red cloth, Bi Fan’s eyes froze.
“That’s the missing part from my battered jade book! This auction house has somehow procured the missing part of that book. If Long Xiang Tian’s description is correct, then this page should be the missing master page of the jade book, which I have in my possession. The heavens must love me, for they have presented me with this rare opportunity. I have to complete the Jade Book’s text.” Bi Fan clenched his fists, and his nervousness was visible in the sweat which was beginning to clot his forehead.
Bi Fan had a lot of spar in his Yin Yang pouch, so he wasn’t afraid of fending off the other bidders.
Bi Fan had looked everywhere, but he hadn’t found the complete book in any store. This was clearly a golden opportunity, and he needed to seize it with both hands.
This wasn’t the complete book, only the master page, which, without the rest of the book was completely useless, otherwise the Heavenly Dragon group wouldn’t have tried to auction it for such a low price.
This page was only a part of the whole book, and Long Xiang Tian had personally investigated it, and had found it to be completely useless. The useless items like this one were locked away, in the hope that they would fetch some money, at the right time.
The Heavenly Dragon business group was trying to take advantage of the heated environment of the auction, to sell this page for a hiked up price.
Long Xiang Tian’s opening statement wasn’t followed by any bids, and it seemed like their plan had failed.
“I’ll give five hundred and ten spars for it.” Bi Fan thought that he would be the only bidder for the page, since no one else had made any effort so far.
Jing Feng smiled: “Brother Bi Fan, this isn’t the whole book. It’s just the master key to the book, which is useless without the rest of the book. I know you like to practice physical strength methods, but spending your money on this item is a complete waste, ah.”
“Brother Jing Feng, I know what I’m doing. It isn’t very expensive, and I can spare that much money. I feel that this page will help me with some research.” Bi Fan smiled.
His heart was practically praying: “Oh come on everyone, don’t make any bids please. Just let me have this one thing; let this go smoothly.”
Unfortunately, the people present on the scene weren’t willing to do his will. Even though the Ba Gua Sect Disciples didn’t understand Bi Fan’s intentions, they still bid the price upwards.
“Six Hundred Spars!”
Each time the Quinyang Sect was trying to buy an item, the Ba Gua Sect would deliberately compete against them, in order to raise the price of the commodity, just to make things more difficult for the Quinyang Sect.
“d.a.m.n it.” Bi Fan already hated them.
However, since he didn’t want the others to know how desperate he was for this item, he didn’t counter the bid immediately, and started looking hesitant instead.
The Ba Gua Sect disciple, who was bidding against him, saw the hesitant look on Bi Fan’s face, and realized that Bi Fan may not bid again, and suddenly, the look on his face changed to a very gloomy one.
Six hundred spars isn’t a small sum of money, and if he ended up using it to buy a completely useless item, then he’d end up becoming the joke of the Sect.
“Six hundred spars going once, are there no other bids?” Long Xiang Tian waited to see if anyone else was making a counter bid.
No one else was making a bid, and Bi Fan was still acting hesitant, as if he was having hard time making up his mind.
“Six hundred going twice.”
Bi Fan stood up, gritted his teeth, and said: “I…. I’m willing to pay six hundred at ten spars!”
He looked like he wasn’t very sure about it, as he made the bid.
Jing Feng pulled Bi Fan down to his seat: “Brother Bi Fan, this page isn’t worth the six hundred and ten spars that you just bid! It’s just the master page!”
“This is the last time I’ll bid for that….if the price goes up, I’ll give up.” Bi Fan raised his voice as he said this.
The Ba Gua Sect disciple who was trying to raise this item’s price heard Bi Fan’s words, and judging by Bi Fan’s hesitant expression, he decided against making any further bids, since he was afraid that Bi Fan may not bid again, and he’d have to pay the whole amount himself for a useless item.
He was also beginning to wonder if Bi Fan was simply trying to provoke him into making a high bid for a useless item, and shame him in the process.
Since no one made any further bids, Bi Fan managed to secure the master page of the Jade Book, by a narrow margin.
“Look, now you managed to win the bid, and you’ll have to pay the six hundred and ten spars for that item. Brother Bi Fan… that was a mistake.” Jing Feng said.
Bi Fan was wearing an aggrieved look on his face, but his heart was already dancing.
“I was trying to fool the Ba Gua Sect, but I didn’t expect that they would stop bidding so soon.” Bi Fan forced a smile.
“Ha ha! What a moron! The Ba Gua Sect obviously had no interest in that item, but look, he took the bait, and they’ve managed to rob this idiot, ah.” Luo Sheng laughed heartily.
That’s exactly what Bi Fan was trying to make this look like.
Luo Xiong had been watching Bi Fan very carefully, and knew well that Bi Fan wasn’t stupid enough to spend over six hundred spars on a completely useless item, but still, he was unable to identify Bi Fan’s true motives.
Ling Xin Ya was sitting a little far from Bi Fan; otherwise he would have loved to say a few words of his own.
The item was taken off the auction stand, and Bi Fan didn’t try to rush over to the counter to pay the amount, and allowed the master page to be returned to its place, since he didn’t want to raise any suspicions.
At the end of the auction, everyone would be walking over to the counters to make their payments, which seemed a more appropriate course of action to Bi Fan.
The auction continued, and a large variety of items was sold.
Bi Fan didn’t partic.i.p.ate in any of the following auctions, and kept his head down at all times. He’d even sigh every now and then; just to make it look as if was already regretting the bid he had placed for that incomplete part of the book.
The auction had been continuing without a break, and it was already afternoon.
As the auction continued, it started to get even more intense, as the auction house was beginning to bring out the real treasures now.
“The next item for today’s item is a Dan, known as the life prolonging Dan. I a.s.sume that everyone already knows its effect. The price of the item is reserved at ten thousand spars, and anyone who wishes to bid, may the raise the amount by one thousand spars.” Long Xiang Tian announced in a very loud and resonant tone.
The life prolonging Dan has the capability to extend the lifespan of a person by almost a hundred years. A hundred extra years can be priceless to any martial artist.
In a hundred extra years, a martial artist can achieve many things; such as breaking through the bottlenecks of the next layers, which would only increase the life expectancy of the martial artist further.
No one wants to die young, which is why this Dan had an unlimited market demand.
As Long Xiang Tian unveiled the item, the eyes of the leaders of all the sects started to shine. They were staring at the life prolonging Dan, unblinkingly, and it was obvious that everyone was very highly interested in this commodity.
It was apparent that fierce compet.i.tion was inevitable, and Long Xiang Tian exposed a smile since he apprehended that the Dan was going to fetch a very high price.