Chapter 152: First Glimpse of a Dao Pill
At this point in the bidding, everyone had already fallen silent. It wasn't that no one could afford this price, it was just that the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads simply didn't seem worth such a steep price to them.
After all, they were disposable treasures, and a sum of 1,000 top-grade spirit stones was potentially enough to purchase a low-quality Acquired Immortal Treasure.
Hence, everyone was merely watching Han Li and the bald man in silence, interested in seeing how far they were willing to go.
Of course, this was an extremely welcome sight for the auctioneer, Wen Hua.
The higher the final selling prices of the auction items, the higher his commission would be, and his reputation as an auctioneer would also be enhanced.
"1,000 top-grade spirit stones going once! Are there any more bidders?" Even though this was a question that appeared to have been directed at everyone, Wen Hua was looking straight at Han Li.
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he sat in silence, and a triumphant look appeared in the bald man's eyes upon seeing this before he looked away in a casual manner.
No further bids were made, and as Wen Hua declared that the price of 1,000 top-grade spirit stones was going twice, the triumph in the bald man's eyes became even more pronounced.
Right as Wen Hua was about to finalize the sale, Han Li suddenly interjected, "I don't have enough spirit stones on me, but I have something I would like to have appraised."
This declaration created quite a stir, and the bald man also faltered slightly before a derisive sneer appeared on his face.
Meanwhile, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a rectangular jade box, which he handed to the female attendant beside him.
The attendant hurriedly took the jade box from Han Li, then rushed over to the table beside the auction platform under the scrutiny of tens of thousands of people before setting the box down onto the table.
The blue-robed man and the middle-aged woman weren't even looking at the box, clearly displaying no interest in what Han Li was offering.
At this point in the auction, they had already appraised countless treasures, and the vast majority of them were quite mediocre, with the most valuable one being a Sea Soul Rock that contained a wisp of water law powers, but even that item was only appraised to be worth 480 top-grade spirit stones.
With the other two appraisers showing a complete lack of interest, it was left to the grey-robed elderly man to appraise the item, and he gently opened the box, upon which a surprised look immediately appeared on his face.
He took a glance in Han Li's direction, then passed the jade box to the blue-robed man beside him.
The blue-robed man had witnessed the change in the elderly man's expression, and a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes as he took a glance at the item in the box as well. A similar look of surprise immediately appeared on his face, and he passed the box to the middle-aged woman, who displayed the same reaction as the other two appraisers.
The three of them then held a discussion through voice transmission, and the gray-robed elderly man turned to Han Li as he said, "We have appraised this item to be worth 1,000 top-grade spirit stones. Is that a satisfactory price for you, Fellow Daoist?"
The smile on the bald man's face instantly stiffened in the wake of this declaration, and a flurry of chatter immediately rang out.
"What?"
"Did I mishear him? What could possibly be worth 1,000 top-grade spirit stones?"
"Could it be an Acquired Immortal Treasure? It doesn't look like something like that would fit in such a small box!"
"Could it be some type of pill?"
……
According to the rules of the auction, the appraisers had no obligation to reveal to everyone what the items that they appraised were. Hence, everyone was left to speculate about what could possibly have been in the box.
Han Li contemplated this price for a moment, then gave the gray-robed elderly man a nod to indicate that he accepted the offer, following which he immediately placed a bid of 1,100 top-grade spirit stones.
The box contained the Soulbirth Flower that he had matured to 30,000 years of age, and it would've definitely been an extremely sought-after item in the Black Wind Sea. Hence, he was actually not very pleased with this price, but he was in need of spirit stones, and with the Heaven Controlling Vial, it hadn't been all that difficult for him to nurture the flower, so he decided to accept the price after some thought.
After some hesitation, the bald man placed another bid as well. "1,150!"
"1,200!"
"1,300!"
"1,500!"
The bald man hesitated momentarily, then gave a cold harrumph as he leaned back against his chair with his arms crossed, bowing out of the bidding war.
"Sold for 1,500 spirit stones!" Wen Hua immediately declared with an elated expression.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li was approached by a young woman in black, who asked, "Would you like to finalize the transaction now or wait until the end of the auction, Senior? If you want to finalize the transaction now, I'll have to ask you to come to the rear hall with me."
"I'll do it now," Han Li replied, then rose to his feet and followed the woman toward the rear hall.
Seated inside one of the booths on the third floor were Lu Jun and Lu Yuqing, and the latter's gaze fell upon Han Li through the booth, upon which her brows furrowed slightly.
"What is it, Yuqing?" Lu Jun asked.
"For some reason, that man seems a bit familiar to me," Lu Yuqing replied as she cocked her head to the side in a contemplative manner.
"Have you met him before?" Lu Jun followed her gaze and took a glance at Han Li, who just so happened to making his way toward the rear hall.
"Maybe it's just my imagination," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head, ridding herself of that train of thought.
The auction continued, and her gaze was immediately drawn to the next auction item.
Meanwhile, inside the rear hall, a black-robed elderly man was seated with his legs crossed, and there was a rectangular jade box placed beside him.
"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist," the elderly man said with a warm smile as he rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li sat down across from the elderly man, then immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a small pile of precisely 500 top-grade spirit stones onto the table.
"I see you like to do things quickly, Fellow Daoist," the black-robed elderly man chuckled, and with a sweep of his sleeve, three jade boxes appeared on the table.
Han Li removed the lids of the jade boxes with a sweep of his own sleeve to examine the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads for verification, following which he gave a pleased nod.
With the transaction complete, he gave the elderly man a nod, then rose to his feet to depart.
"Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist," the black-robed elderly man hurriedly called out as he also rose to his feet.
"Can I help you?" Han Li asked.
"I have been requested by someone to ask if you have any more Soulbirth Flowers that you'd like to sell. It only has to be above 20,000 years of age, and of course, we'll be sure to offer you a satisfactory price," the black-robed elderly man said.
"If I had more Soulbirth Flowers, I would've already brought them out earlier in the auction instead of watching all those treasures slip away from right under my nose," Han Li replied in a rather self-deprecating manner. "I only managed to obtain this one by chance."
A hint of disappointment appeared on the elderly man's face upon hearing this.
With that, Han Li turned to leave once again, only to suddenly turn back around as he said, "Come to think of it, I also have something I'd like to ask you, Fellow Daoist. Do you know these Heavy Water Lightning Beads were refined by?"
The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "These beads were also purchased by our auction house by chance, and we don't know who they were refined by. However, I've heard that they were refined by a powerful being outside of the Black Wind Sea."
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way out of the rear hall and returned to his seat in the auction venue.
His return naturally attracted a great deal of attention and scrutiny, but he paid those prying eyes no heed.
"The next item is a pair of horns from the late-True Immortal Stage spirit beast, the Sky Splitting Roar. The horns have been perfectly preserved with no loss of spiritual nature whatsoever. The base price is 600 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones."
With a wave of Wen Hua's hand, a pair of glowing purple horns appeared on the stage, emanating dazzling purple radiance.
All of the cultivators in the hall were extremely excited to see this, and a fierce bidding war immediately commenced.
Han Li naturally had no intention of taking part, but he continued to remain in the venue and watch the auction.
Close to three hours later.
"And now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for! The next item will be the final item of our grand auction!" Wen Hua declared in an excited voice as he placed an item onto the auction platform.
It was a red wooden box that was extremely tightly sealed with a bunch of spirit talismans plastered onto its surface.
Even so, the world's origin qi around the box was still fluctuating slightly as rippling light that resembled surging flames appeared around it.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li's eyes upon seeing this.
There were other cultivators who couldn't wait to see what was in the box, and they released their spiritual sense to try and inspect the box's contents, only to be thwarted by the spirit talismans on the box.
Wen Hu wasn't bothered at all by this, and his smile remained unchanged as he chanted an incantation while casting a series of incantation seals through the air.
The spirit talismans on the box flew off one after another, and upon the removal of the final talisman, the wooden box sprang open on its own to reveal a crimson pill.
The pill was only around the size of a thumbnail, and it was giving off fiery red light that was proliferating outward in rings around it.
There was an extremely eye-catching crimson line on the surface of the pill, and upon closer inspection, one would find that it was formed by countless runes, giving it an extremely profound and mystical appearance.
Countless stunned voices rang out one after another, and the entire hall quickly erupted into a frenzy.
"Your eyes do not deceive you, fellow daoists. What you're looking at is a dao pill, renowned as the kings of all pills!" Wen Hua declared, and there was a hint of genuine excitement in his voice.
As an Earthly Pill Master, his pursuit and longing for improvement in the art of pill refinement was something that the average person simply couldn't comprehend.
"I'm sure all of you are aware of just how valuable dao pills are, so I won't say too much about it here. This is a first-tier fire-attribute dao pill. If any of you are using fire-attribute cultivation arts, there's a chance that you'll be able to master the laws of fire using this dao pill! The base price is 2,000 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 100 top-grade spirit stones!" Wen Hua declared, promptly commencing the bidding.
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