Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-57

Hearing that the thousand-year-old Starfusing Grass was about to be auctioned, Long Chen’s heart jumped. This was the real reason he had come to the auction; he absolutely had to obtain it!

If he could get the thousand-year-old Starfusing Grass, he would be one hundred percent certain of being able to refine an upper quality Starfusing Pill. And such a Starfusing Pill would have a one hundred percent chance of resolving the foreign spiritual energies within Chu Yao’s body.

Originally, Long Chen hadn’t planned on using thousand-year-old Starfusing Grass; he had thought that just hundred-year-old Starfusing Grass was already good enough. After all, even just hundred-year-old Starfusing Grass was difficult to obtain. That was because Starfusing Grass was an essential ingredient in many different second tier medicinal pills.

It was also extremely hard to gather Starfusing Grass, so it was in extremely low supply. Using ordinary Starfusing Grass vs thousand-year-old Starfusing Grass to refine pills simply could not be compared.

For Chu Yao, he didn’t care how much money he had to fork over. Originally, he hadn’t thought that it would be a problem to obtain this Starfusing Grass, and thus, he hadn’t attempted to try buying it through back channels.

But truthfully, that most likely would not have worked anyways. The Huayun Pavilion refused all backdoor channels, since if news of that were leaked, it would hurt their reputation.

Although the Starfusing Grass was rare, it wasn’t as if there were many alchemists. Long Chen had been highly confident in purchasing it with his current financial ability.

But now, that idiot Xia Baichi had decided to start messing with him… If he let her realize what his goal was, then that idiot woman would force Long Chen to fork out all his money, bankrupting him of even the clothes he was wearing.

That was also the reason why Long Chen had shouted out a bid on every item before, no matter what it was. And as expected, she also shouted out a higher bid every time. He deliberately set himself against her, forcing her to lose money. That was him setting up for the Starfusing Grass.

“Ten stalks of thousand-year-old Starfusing Grass, an essential ingredient for second tier medicinal pills. I don’t need to explain just how precious such a thing is. The starting price is five hundred thousand gold coins!” announced Yao Niqian.

“700,000!”

“800,000!”

….

At least ten people immediately started bidding. Most of them were all elderly faces.

Long Chen was familiar with a few of them. They were all the people he had seen in the alchemist guild. But they were all Pill Apprentices.

There were a few unfamiliar faces, but they were most likely alchemists as well. Other people wouldn’t know exactly just how precious such an item was or how to use it.

“Two million!”

One of the seniors had shouted a bid of one million eight hundred thousand and suppressed all the other bidders. Yao Niqian had begun to start her count when Long Chen finally shouted his bid.

Originally, he had been praying that Xia Baichi would shout a bid before him. If he then bid against that, it would be seen as him trying to provoke her.

That kind of situation had the highest chance of him obtaining it at the lowest price.

But it appeared that the heavens were not in a listening mood. Despite being a Pill Apprentice, Xia Baichi had no interest in the Starfusing Grass, causing Long Chen to curse inside.

“Little idiot sister, do you want to come out to test the waters?” As soon as he shouted the bid, he also sent some indifferent words to Xia Baichi’s private room.

The crowd was quiet. Was Long Chen trying to use this as a pretext to intimidate Xia Baichi?

“Don’t take the bait Baichi. He’s intentionally trying to infuriate you.” Xai Changfeng hastily tried to calm her down, afraid that she would get angry and once more foolishly waste money.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I won’t fall for such an inferior trick,” replied Xia Baichi coldly. She was filled with contempt for Long Chen.

Hearing her reply, Long Chen celebrated inside. Of course, he didn’t dare show that outside. In a peculiar voice, he said, “Little idiot sister, could it be that you’re embarrassed about running out of money?”

“You! … Don’t worry, this lady has enough money to bury you alive!” Xia Baichi retorted angrily. She actually ran out of her private room and cursed right at Long Chen’s private room.

A stately imperial princess actually revealed her vulgar, uncouth side publically. Everyone’s expressions were strange as they exchanged glances.

Xia Changfeng’s face darkened, hastily pulling Xia Baichi who was cursing madly back into the private room. This time, Xia Baichi had truly lost the Grand Xia’s face.

Seeing that the atmosphere had become a bit strange and suppressed, Yao Niqian hastily said, “Young master Long Chen bids two million. Are there any higher bids?”

“Two million going once.”

“Two million going twice….”

Long Chen finally relaxed when he saw Yao Niqian begin counting down. It seemed he had managed to trick that idiot Baichi again.

“Two million going-“

“Three million.” A soft voice rang out calmly from another private room.

Long Chen’s expression changed, and he turned to look at that private room. If he hadn’t remembered wrong, then that was Marquis Ying’s private room!

He wasn’t a pill cultivator and also wasn’t a merchant; he couldn’t possibly know the true value of the Starfusing Grass!

And Long Chen’s bid of two million already counted as a high price. Although the Starfusing Grass was rare, it was something that could be collected if given enough time.

If Long Chen wasn’t in urgent need of it, he also wouldn’t have offered such a price. But now Marquis Ying had raised the price by fifty percent!

Although nothing could be obtained cheaply at an auction, this price was far too high. And more importantly, Starfusing Grass had absolutely no use to Marquis Ying.

A cold light flashed in Long Chen’s eyes. This Marquis Ying was even more difficult to handle than what he had thought. He had underestimated him; as one of the three peak experts in the Phoenix Cry Empire, he was truly worthy of having his name stand alongside his father. He had easily seen through his ruse.

“Three million ten thousand.”

Long Chen indifferently shouted out this bid. The only bidders were him and Marquis Ying. If he didn’t give up, then his only choice was to continue until the end.

“Haha, I really did have some use for this Starfusing Grass, but since you want it, I’d feel bad quibbling with someone from the junior generation over it. You can have it.” Marquis Ying’s soft, feminine voice rang out.

Long Chen was filled with anger. This Marquis Ying was definitely an unscrupulous old killer!

“Four million!”

As expected, as soon as Marquis Ying said that, Xia Baichi woke up and shouted out a new bid.

Long Chen’s face darkened. Fatty Yu and the others also had unsightly expressions. They could all tell that Marquis Ying had played a trick on him.

“This junior does not dare accept your generosity. My father is an upright man who guards the wild border, protecting the empire and its people. I have my father’s upright blood in my veins, so I simply cannot accept senior Marquis Ying’s kindness.”

Long Chen originally didn’t plan on saying these things. But being schemed against by Marquis Ying had immediately revealed his fatal weak point. Long Chen’s anger exploded, and if he didn’t say a bit, then he would feel too irritated.

Long Chen’s words caused the noisy crowd to become deathly silent. Only Long Chen’s words continued to echo.

Every member of the Phoenix Cry Empire felt that Long Chen was being far too brazen. How could he nakedly give a slap to Marquis Ying’s face?

Marquis Ying was one of the backbones of the empire. Even the Empress Dowager and the crown prince had paid deferential respect to him. In fact, even Long Tianxiao wouldn’t be so impolite!

Although Long Chen’s words didn’t have a single real curse or insult, anyone who wasn’t an idiot could tell that Long Chen was implicitly cursing Marquis Ying.

“Haha, young people really are hot-tempered. You need to train more. If you can’t hold your anger in for such small things, then you won’t be able to grow up properly.”

What no one had expected was that the high and mighty Marquis Ying didn’t show any anger at all and just indifferently laughed.

Quite a few people sighed inside. He really was worthy of being one of the empire’s apex experts. That kind of bearing was something no one could aspire to.

“Four million. Long Chen, are you embarrassed at your lack of money? Hahaha.” Xia Baichi’s ridiculing laughter came from the side.

Xia Baichi wasn’t actually stupid. With just a small prod from Marquis Ying, she realized that Long Chen actually greatly desired this Starfusing Grass.

Having suffered such a loss before, how could Xia Baichi give up this opportunity to make things difficult for him?

Long Chen took a deep breath. It really was the case of having your worries come true. Xia Baichi hated him deeply, so he would need to be prepared to bleed his money dry in order to obtain this Starfusing Grass.

“Five million,” said Long Chen indifferently.

An uproar shook the crowd. It seemed Long Chen viewed the Starfusing Grass as a must-have item; otherwise, there was no way he would make such a sky-high bid.

“Ten million!”

What caused everyone’s hearts to jump was that Xia Baichi was even more vicious and immediately doubled the price.

Long Chen merely nodded. There was nothing else for him to think about. Who asked Marquis Ying to point out his weak point?

He had to obtain the Starfusing Grass. Time was too pressing and he couldn’t allow this chance to pass him.

And even if Long Chen gave in now, with the temperament of that idiot woman, it would only be a disgrace for him.

“Fifteen million!” shouted Long Chen.

“Eighteen million!”

Xia Baichi immediately bid after him. She had already descended into madness. She no longer cared about money. All she knew right now was that if Long Chen wanted it, she would definitely not let him have it.

“Twenty million!”

Long Chen paused, but in the end, he still shouted out this bid. The entire crowd was shocked. That number couldn’t just be randomly shouted! That was money! The price had already multiplied crazily, and even if it was just to relieve anger, wasn’t that still too expensive?

“If you bid again, I’ll guarantee that this Starfusing Grass will be yours.” After Long Chen shouted out his bid, his heart calmed.

Having handed his medicinal pills to the Huayun Pavilion, he had obtained a twenty million credit limit. In other words, he had obtained a twenty million gold coin loan from them.

Thus, after using up all that, he calmed back down. If Xia Baichi continued, he could only let the Starfusing Grass go to her.

But he had also made another decision. If Xia Baichi dared to bid again, he wouldn’t mind killing her for it.

“Baichi, that’s enough revenge. Now that you’ve raised the price so high, it’s enough to relieve your anger.” Xia Changfeng hastily pulled on Xia Baichi. He was afraid she would become too wound up and really spend twenty million gold coins on something completely useless to her.

“Right, Baichi, let it go. This time, Long Chen has suffered a crushing defeat. Your anger has also been relieved.” Crown prince Chu Yang also advised her.

Xia Baichi nodded. She also felt that some of her anger had been relieved now that she had forced him to buy it for ten times the price. And in truth, Starfusing Grass wasn’t useful to her. Twenty million wasn’t a small number so she was also somewhat unwilling to part with so much money.

“Hmph, this lady will have some pity on a peasant like you. This trash medicinal grass is yours.”

Long Chen had finally succeeded in obtaining ten strands of Starfusing Grass for the sky-high price of twenty million gold coins. Although he was somewhat pained, he did relax slightly. Killing people for their treasure was definitely something he wouldn’t do unless pushed to the breaking point.

Following this, the atmosphere in the auction gradually heated up and the prices slowly climbed.

After just two items had passed, a hidden door opened in Long Chen’s private room and a man walked in.