Spirit-Nurturing Treasure (Part 2)

Liang Bo looked toward the private room across from them. The bidder was a handsome young man wearing a golden crown and brocade robes. Perhaps sensing Liang Bo's gaze, the man deliberately struck a provocative pose at him.

"So he's deliberately picking a fight with me?" Liang Bo frowned. He did not know this man, nor could he recall ever offending him. Why was this man targeting him for no reason?

Beside him, Liang Wen said in a low voice, "He's from the Ruyang Prince's Residence. Bo'er, have you offended the Ruyang Prince's Residence?"

"The Ruyang Prince's Residence?" Liang Bo's heart gave a jolt.

The current Great Jin Dynasty had been ruled by the Sima Clan, which had founded the nation a thousand years ago.

After the founding emperor of Great Jin established the dynasty, he saw that the lands were plagued by unrest. He therefore decided to enfeoff members of the imperial clan throughout the realm, strengthening the court's control over the land; the Ruyang Prince's Residence was the fief granted to one of the Great Jin founder's nephews, and it had been passed down to this day.

Yet Liang Bo had never, to his knowledge, come into contact with anyone from the Ruyang Prince's Residence, much less offended them.

He shook his head. "I'm certain I have never offended the Ruyang Prince's Residence."

"That's strange." Liang Wen frowned. "Bo'er, is this fragment very important to you?"

Liang Bo answered firmly, "Yes. This fragment is extremely important to your nephew. I must get my hands on it!"

"If that's the case, then keep raising the price! It's only the Ruyang Prince's Residence. Our Liang Clan has no reason to fear them!"

"Thank you, Uncle!" Liang Bo quickly said gratefully.

He had originally worried that the clan head would hesitate because the other party belonged to the imperial clan and urge him to give up this seemingly worthless fragment. He had not expected Liang Wen to support him all the same, and his heart filled with gratitude.

With Liang Wen's backing, Liang Bo's confidence immediately soared. "Sixty thousand taels!"

"Sixty-two thousand taels!" The moment his words fell, the other side called out without yielding an inch.

At this point, only the two of them were competing. No one else intended to intervene, and everyone watched the spectacle with excitement.

Liang Bo said calmly, "Seventy thousand taels!"

This fragment concerned his golden finger, and it was even supposedly a fragment of a Spirit-Nurturing Treasure. No matter how high the price, Liang Bo had to win it.

If it allowed him to discover more functions of his golden finger, then every tael spent would be worth it.

"Seventy-two thousand taels!" The other side raised the bid again.

"Eighty thousand taels!"

"Eighty-two thousand taels!"

"Ninety thousand taels!"

"Ninety-two thousand taels!"

The price climbed rapidly, soon nearing the hundred-thousand-tael mark.

Liang Bo smiled and declared loudly, "One hundred thousand taels! If you dare bid any higher, then this fragment is yours!" With that, he returned to his seat, raised his wine cup, and took a light sip. Yet his heart had already leapt into his throat.

It was not as though he could not continue competing with the other party, but doing so would be completely meaningless.

One hundred thousand taels of silver was already an astronomical price. An ordinary human-tier weapon cost only around one hundred thousand taels of silver, yet they were fighting over nothing more than a fragment whose use could not even be discerned.

Though the young man had crossed paths with Liang Bo for some unknown reason, he seemed to be merely trying to disgust him deliberately, rather than truly wanting the fragment. If Liang Bo really kept competing with him, the other party would likely only grow more enthusiastic.

On the other hand, Liang Bo had now made it clear that if the other party raised the price again, he would give up the fragment. That meant the other party might truly have to spend one hundred thousand taels of silver to buy a fragment originally worth barely over ten thousand taels. Even if he was from the Ruyang Prince's Residence, he presumably would not do something so ruinous.

Sure enough, upon hearing Liang Bo's declaration, the golden-crowned young man across from him stiffened. After hesitating for a moment, he did not raise the bid again.

Seeing this, Liang Bo finally let out a breath of relief, before anticipation rose in his heart once more.

"If no one raises the bid again, then this fragment shall belong to the Liang Clan of Wan City!" On the stage, the Wang Clan's middle-aged man was already beaming from ear to ear. It was merely a fragment of unknown use, yet it had sold for the sky-high price of one hundred thousand taels of silver. He had struck it rich beyond his wildest dreams.

After a short while, Liang Wen personally went to settle the transaction. He quickly completed it, brought back the fragment, and handed it to Liang Bo.

"Thank you, Uncle!" Liang Bo accepted the fragment gleefully. At once, another notification appeared in his mind:

[Spirit-Nurturing Treasure Fragment discovered. Merge?]

"Merge? What does that mean?" Liang Bo froze for a moment. He worried that merging it now might cause some unexpected change and attract unnecessary trouble, so he decided not to merge it for the time being. He would study it after returning to his own room.

"Bo'er, this fragment appears to be part of some treasure. I just tested it, and it truly can slice through iron as if it were mud. However, if what that Wang Clan man said is true and the fragment cannot be further processed, then no matter how sharp it is, it would not be suitable as a weapon. What do you plan to do with it?" Liang Wen asked curiously.

The fragment was only the size of a palm, yet it weighed roughly over ten jin. Its material was exceedingly strange. It seemed to be nothing more than ordinary bronze, but if it truly were ordinary bronze, it could never possibly be so durable.

After thinking for a moment, Liang Bo asked, "Uncle, your nephew has not yet figured out how to use it. By the way, could you tell me exactly how treasure grades are classified?"

"Treasure grades?" Liang Wen crossed his arms over his chest. "Generally speaking, the treasures of this world are divided into four grades: ordinary, human-tier, earth-tier, and heaven-tier. This is the same as the classification of martial artists, as well as cultivation methods and martial techniques."

Liang Bo frowned. "Then above heaven-tier, are there treasures of an even higher grade?"

Liang Wen hesitated. "There should be treasures of higher grades. Legend has it that after the Human Emperor founded the Great Xia Dynasty, he gathered the strength of the entire nation and expended countless resources to forge nine River-Mountain Cauldrons, using them to suppress Great Xia's national fortune. Those nine River-Mountain Cauldrons were said to be treasures one grade higher than heaven-tier treasures. But that is merely a legend; besides, although the Nine Cauldrons were said to suppress Great Xia's national fortune, didn't the Great Xia Dynasty still perish long ago? Even the nine River-Mountain Cauldrons have vanished."

Liang Bo's eyes immediately lit up.

As far as he knew, this world had been ruled by the Demon Race ten thousand years ago. At that time, humanity had been nothing more than the Demon Race's blood food. The way the Demon Race treated humans was like how humans now treated the poultry they raised—slaughtering them at will.

Later, the Human Emperor led humanity in a powerful rise, founding the once-mighty Great Xia Dynasty. He also led humanity's experts in dealing the Demon Race a devastating blow, forcing them to flee to the desolate borderlands and lie low.

Unfortunately, the Human Emperor later vanished without anyone knowing why. The Great Xia Dynasty gradually declined and was eventually replaced by other dynasties. After hundreds and thousands of years of recuperation, the Demon Race returned in force and once more became humanity's great scourge.

Of course, all that was still far too distant for Liang Bo. What truly interested him was what Liang Wen had just mentioned: the Human Emperor forging the Nine Cauldrons.

If the legendary Nine Cauldrons truly existed, what level of treasures were they? Could they be the so-called Spirit-Nurturing Treasures?