Making a Fortune and Great Terror
"Now!"
"We present the second-to-last lot of the auction!"
"Ten bottles of Yang-Strengthening Pill! Three pills per bottle, with a starting price of three hundred taels of white silver, or trade for spiritual items!"
At Qin Xiao's gesture.
Ten maidservants lined up in succession, holding trays bearing bottles of Blood-Strengthening Pills that tempted the crowd like courtesans in a brothel!
At this moment-
The true carnival had begun!
How could ordinary spiritual items compare to the effect of precious pills? These could serve as a lineage's foundation!
Moreover, many mortal merchants in attendance were here precisely for this Yang-Strengthening Pill, willing to spend a thousand pieces of gold without regret!
To mortals...
Possessing this pill was akin to defying the heavens and changing one's fate; even becoming the lowest, most humble existence in the realm of cultivation meant becoming a cultivator.
It meant becoming an existence transcending the mortal realm!
Even-
Some commoners began pooling funds together just to gamble on a chance to turn their fate around, and a foreman surnamed Xiao even threw down four hundred taels of silver.
He snatched a bottle right out of the hands of many powerful figures!
"The first bottle, three hundred and seventy taels, sold!"
"The second bottle, three hundred and ninety taels..."
"The third bottle..."
The Yang-Strengthening Pills sold quickly, and the bidding cries were endless!
One finished and another took the stage, going back and forth as prices rose steadily!
Rationality still occupied the mainstream, though.
Yet the atmosphere had been hyped to this point, and the bids grew increasingly absurd, already far exceeding market value...
The final bottle of Yang-Strengthening Pill was even bid up to four hundred and fifty taels of silver-by market price, that could buy four Yang-Strengthening Pills!
Of course-
Buying at market price was certainly impossible; after all, production was limited, and demand far exceeded supply...
Immediately following-
The grand finale lot, the Muxuan Pill, made its debut!
This time, the number of bidders dropped significantly.
It was not that they were unwilling to compete, but that they truly could not afford it. This already exceeded their financial capacity, with the starting price set at a baseline of one Spirit Stone!
Only the Zhang, Wang, and Chen...
Along with slightly weaker lineages, tested each other in secret!
The bids shouted out were also all over the place, with the Wang Family bidding 1.1 Spirit Stones, the Chen Family bidding 1.15 Spirit Stones, and so it was slowly driven up!
It seemed like a comical scene, yet among the several hundred people present.
How many could pull out a complete Spirit Stone?
Spirit stones were not so easily earned, and even when selling one's life to the immortal lineages, payment was mostly made in spiritual materials to substitute for spirit stones...
Spiritual materials obtained at the cost of one's life.
Might be traded for pills to elevate realms before the warmth had even set in.
Even knowing full well that they were destined to have no affinity for Qi Condensation in this lifetime...
Countless people still rushed forward like moths to a flame, willing to crash their heads bloody and shatter to pieces...
Knowing clearly that it was a sea of fire, yet still plunging in recklessly-all for the sake of a few more years of lifespan, to leave a trace of their existence...
Or perhaps...
For nothing at all, save for that unwillingness to be ordinary...
Ultimately-
The six bottles of Muxuan Pill sold at an average price of 1.3 Spirit Stones per bottle, yielding a total of six complete Spirit Stones, as well as dozens of...
First-Tier medicinal herbs aged anywhere from twenty to forty years.
With this-
The auction ended, but not entirely...
Just within Qin Lu's perception, dozens of people were lying in ambush around the venue, and some had even set their sights on him!
"Heh~"
"There really are those who don't fear death..."
Qin Lu sneered, ignoring them. If anyone dared to make a move, he wouldn't mind earning a little extra pocket money.
He dared to amass wealth so blatantly not only because of his own strength, but also because of Wang Jian and the hundred-man troop under his command.
Not to mention the company of Chu Shan, Zhao Zhen, and others!
Aside from the four great lineages in the county city, this configuration was enough to annihilate the vast majority of lineage forces in Yingchuan County!
As long as Qi Condensation experts did not step out, even if True Martial Ninth Realm experts made a move.
Qin Lu only needed to entangle them briefly, and once the hundred-man military formation closed in and surrounded them, even True Martial Ninth Realm experts would die with hatred in their hearts-you could bury them just by piling up lives!
This was Qin Lu's foundation.
He was not stupid, nor did he consider himself invincible under heaven.
Besides-
Some mortal merchants were in no hurry to move either.
Some even swallowed the pills on the spot, attempting to touch the True Martial Realm!
They were very smart; as mortals harboring supreme treasures, this was no different from a child carrying gold through a bustling market-suicide was not done this way...
Therefore, rather than being robbed.
It was better to use them on the spot. If they broke through, everyone would be happy.
If they failed, there would be no reason for others to make a move.
Among them-
The foreman surnamed Xiao and Liu Ji swallowed the Yang-Strengthening Pill together, surrounded by a dozen or so boatman brothers who built a wall of human bodies for them.
Before long...
The foreman surnamed Xiao let out a long sigh; he had failed, his Qi and Blood were insufficient, and the True Martial gate remained unopened...
In contrast, looking at Liu Ji beside him, his blood Qi surged and True Essence condensed. When he opened his eyes, he had abruptly stepped into the True Martial First Realm, achieving a martial body!
"Ha~ It worked!"
Liu Ji laughed heartily as he stood up, wielding a three-foot sword with quite the air of a chivalrous swordsman!
He then cupped his fists in a bow to all the brothers, saying:
"Today!"
"My brothers pooled funds and wealth to assist me in achieving my martial body. In days to come, I, Liu Ji, will surely repay it a thousand and hundredfold!"
Hearing these words-
Everyone rejoiced and congratulated him together, and shortly afterward, they banded together and departed...
Not far away, a pugilistic sorcerer.
Fingering the copper coins scattered all over the ground, his eyes completely white, a trace of terror appeared on his face!
"What is going on?"
"How can such a tiny county seat harbor so many fates of lords and kings!"
"No, that's not right!"
"This shouldn't be! How could a tiny county seat gather such terrifying fates!"
At the same time-inside the Li Household of the county city.
The magistrate Li stripped off his official robes, his expression haggard as though he had aged a hundred years...
"The Qin Family is powerful, and my Li Household dares not fight, nor can we fight..."
"That being the case, then my Li Household shall leave."
"We originally had no enmity with the Qin Family, and there's no need to forge a grudge. It's simply that time does not favor my Li Household; there is no need to fight to mutual destruction and throw away the lives of our clansmen..."
"It is merely a century-old family business. As long as people remain, the heritage will never be cut off, and hope will continue to propagate until eternity..."
"Instruct the clansmen to pack up. As of today, we of the Li Household will yielding the place to the Great Alchemist Qin!"
"Understood, Patriarch."
The clansmen surnamed Li acknowledged the order and stepped down. Though they felt humiliated, they still obeyed.
Their Li Household had been passed down for a century, and what they relied on was unity!
As long as the lineage could be preserved, personal emotions were merely a flake of white snow in the wind and snow-whether it was you, or me...
Both were utterly insignificant!
And in the not-too-distant future-
Magistrate Li... no, Li Bing, welcomed his youngest son.
And named him: Yuan!
Outside the county city, in a dilapidated temple.
A bald monk ate alms-begged vegetarian food, his mouth greasy...
Yet there were no precepts burned on his forehead.
He looked rather like a fake monk, still carrying a rustic, honest kindness native only to farmers...
He cared nothing for the bustling port in the distance.
In his eyes, nothing was greater than a bite of food; if his parents had been able to have a bite to eat back then, they would not have died in the famine...
"May the world be like this place, and all the common people have clothes and food..."