"Fine! You're ruthless!"
Qian Duoduo cursed inwardly and helplessly gave up raising the bid again.
The more of a merchant one was, the more they liked to pinch pennies and calculate every coin. He could afford to offer more Spirit Stones, but the Spirit-Gathering Pill had already been priced far too high. It would never cost this much elsewhere—why would he be willing to pay even more?
He knew the inside story. He knew there was still one bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills left, so he could only hope the final bottle would be cheaper. He still had a chance.
"Calm down! Calm down!" Qian Duoduo took a deep breath.
But how could things possibly go as he wished?
When Qian Jinjin's small hammer fell and the fourth auction item was brought out, the maid was still walking over and the red cloth had not yet been lifted when the Long Family Head impatiently shouted, "I bid 1.3 million Spirit Stones!"
"Pfft!" Qian Duoduo was about to cough up blood from anger.
"This is going too far!"
Qian Duoduo cursed furiously. At this moment, his defenses had completely shattered.
He knew full well that this was the last bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills and that he could not hesitate any longer. Gritting his teeth in pain, he immediately shouted, "I bid 1.4 million Spirit Stones!"
There was one opinion he shared with the Long Family Head: a genius's time was precious, and one absolutely could not remain stuck at a single realm for too long. Therefore, he would seize this final bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills at any cost.
This time, however, the Long Family Head did not raise the bid, catching everyone by surprise.
He could certainly produce more Spirit Stones, but in his view, the Lineage had many places where Spirit Stones were needed. Having won three bottles of Spirit-Gathering Pills was already enough; there was no need to invest more.
After all, there were only so many geniuses in a Lineage. It was enough to prioritize supplying the limited number of geniuses with Spirit-Gathering Pills. There were so many Gu Masters at the Spirit Gathering Stage that even if he bought another hundred bottles, he could not possibly take care of them all.
But while he gave up bidding, there was no shortage of others with deep pockets.
Quite a few people seemed to know the inside information. After all, Long Xuan had openly placed four bottles of Spirit-Gathering Pills up for auction. To those with well-informed channels, it truly was not some top-secret matter.
Thus, those who had been watching and waiting with the same mindset as Qian Duoduo could no longer sit still and began joining the bidding one after another.
Especially the people from the other merchant associations—they were all masters who did not lack Spirit Stones. Like Qian Duoduo, they had believed there would be more later, perhaps at a lower price.
Who would have thought such a shit-stirring rod would appear? Before anyone could even name a base price, he would jack it up sky-high, causing every bottle to sell for no small sum. They could only fight desperately over this final bottle.
And so, everyone hoped the last one would be cheaper, yet everyone thought exactly the same way. Their thoughts collided in one place, and because the competition for the final bottle was so fierce and everyone was determined to have it, it not only failed to be cheaper—it became the most expensive one instead.
With one person calling and another answering, they forcibly drove the price up to 2.8 million Spirit Stones before it finally stopped.
Qian Duoduo looked as though he was about to cry. Damn it, he had miscalculated.
The bid of 2.8 million Spirit Stones had been his. His heart was bleeding now; he had lost so badly he was practically back at his grandmother's house.
So the earlier bottles had actually been the cheapest, especially the first one, which had sold for merely 1.1 million Spirit Stones. If he had not greedily waited for something cheaper and had secured it sooner, none of this crap would have happened.
Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world. By now, his intestines had turned green with remorse.
The sky-high price of 2.8 million Spirit Stones sent the entire venue into an uproar. Long Xuan especially could not stop smiling—those Spirit Stones all belonged to him. This time, he had truly struck it rich.
He knew this was only an appetizer. When the Fossil Ore Vein went up for auction later, its selling price would only be higher. These Spirit Stones probably did not even count as a fraction of the Fossil Ore Vein's value. It was still too early to get excited.
Once he successfully sold the Fossil Ore Vein, he would not only have the money to refine the Divine Ice Flame, but also enough for refining his third and fourth Gu Insects afterward. It would be enough for him to spend lavishly for quite some time, and he could not help anticipating the Fossil Ore Vein's final price.
After the auction for the Spirit-Gathering Pills ended, the following auction proceeded steadily. The venue fell quiet, far less heated than before.
The seven family heads in the VIP seats appeared largely uninterested and were not seen bidding on much.
This had not been a particularly high-class auction to begin with. Aside from the Spirit-Gathering Pills and treasure map brought by Long Xuan, the remaining auction items were all quite ordinary.
Half of the auction items were antiques brought out from the Empress's Ancient Tomb. Unfortunately, while antiques had been priceless in Long Xuan's previous life, in this world where strength reigned supreme, they were far less valuable than things that could directly increase one's power.
Although some people showed considerable interest and bid repeatedly, the prices were truly not high.
Long Xuan watched as antique after antique was auctioned off from the stage, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.
As expected, he could see progress bars on every antique as well. But what did the progress on those antiques represent? Their degree of damage? Their shelf life? Or would some change occur once the progress reached full?
Just as Long Xuan was racking his brains, the main event of this auction finally arrived. At that moment, the various family heads seated in front all became alert and straightened in their chairs.
The crowd of spectators in the back also perked up, whispering among themselves. Their earlier drowsiness had vanished without a trace.
"Is it finally beginning?" The Feng Family Head revealed a burning gaze and licked his lips.
The Long Family Head beside him, who had been yawning endlessly, also jolted with imposing momentum, his eyes turning sharp.
"Hehe! I'm sure you have all been waiting impatiently." After sweeping her gaze around the room, Qian Jinjin smiled. "Although the auction house did not have time to publicize this, there are truly quite a few well-informed people. All the heads of the Far West Seven Great Clans have actually arrived. That has rather surprised this little woman."
"To be honest, this is also the first time our Qian Clan Merchant Association has sold a Fossil Ore Vein Treasure Map. I must state in advance that our merchant association has no way of personally verifying whether this item is genuine. We can only use an Integrity Gu to confirm that the seller has not lied."
"But you all understand as well that nothing is absolute. There are abilities in this world that can render the Integrity Gu's lie-detecting power ineffective. Otherwise, if the power of Gu Insects were truly so divine, there would not be so many wrongful cases in the world."
"Here, I can only guarantee that the seller did not lie according to the Integrity Gu's inspection. But should the inspection prove mistaken, the Qian Clan Auction House will bear no responsibility."
Her meaning could not have been clearer: the auction house could only guarantee that it was most likely genuine, but if the information turned out to be false, the auction house would assume no responsibility.
Her words were not wrong either. Every Gu Insect's power had a method of being countered, including the Integrity Gu's ability to detect lies.
But ordinarily, no merchant would foolishly say such a thing. The reason she said it was also to frighten off those whose resolve was weak.
The moment her words fell, some people's expressions shifted between bright and dark as they considered whether they should take the risk.
Yet the heads of the Seven Great Clans merely sneered and were not intimidated by her words.
Though she was not wrong that every Gu Insect's power had a way to be broken, the Integrity Gu's power was hardly so easy to defeat.
If the Integrity Gu's power were truly so easily broken, why would Gu Masters throughout the world trust the Qian Clan Merchant Association so deeply? And how could the Qian Clan Merchant Association have grown so large because of it?
The other merchant associations, which understood the Integrity Gu best, all wore disdainful smiles.
Qian Jinjin's words might deceive others, but they could never deceive fellow merchants. If this information truly carried even a certain degree of risk, would the Qian Clan Merchant Association have skipped all promotion and rushed to auction it so urgently?
Their actions had already indirectly proven that this information was genuine beyond doubt. Whatever they said now was useless.
Before you continue