Chapter 189: Chapter 189: Mysterious Material
What goes around, comes around. Do evil, and you will eventually pay the price. See? Retribution had come so quickly.
If word of today’s events were to get out, the Sixth Prince, Zhao Gang, would immediately be seen as incompetent, ignorant, foolish, and idiotic—the laughingstock of the Royal City.
Seeing the Sixth Prince grinding his teeth with rage, Chen Xing was secretly overjoyed. ’Heh heh, you little brat. Serves you right for messing with me, Third Young Master Chen.’
He felt an incredible sense of satisfaction; he had gotten his revenge for everything. 5.3 million! That was 5.3 million! Even if their entire Chen family was packaged up and sold, they might not be able to scrape together that many Profound Coins! He’d scammed the Sixth Prince out of so much for a single Tier Four Spirit Medicine. It felt so good! So satisfying! So damn refreshing! HA HA HA!
Plonking himself down in a chair, Chen Xing said excitedly, "Xuan-shao, to be honest, my calves were shaking when I was calling out the bids. What would I have done if that brat suddenly backed out and the auction house came after me for the money? You really saw it clearly, Xuan-shao. There was no way that kid was giving up until he got that Dragon Bone Yang Grass."
Chen Xing chuckled. "I wonder just how ’deficient’ that guy is. Has his little brother not gotten hard in centuries? It’s a shame they actually managed to buy the Dragon Bone Yang Grass, though. He’s getting off easy."
Ye Xuan smiled faintly. "Don’t worry. It’s useless even if he takes it back."
The reason for Sixth Prince Zhao Gang’s impotence wasn’t a problem of Yin and Yang deficiency. It was because he had been struck by the power of wind and thunder in the Wind Thunder Cave. The wind-thunder energy had entered his body, leading to his lower body’s dysfunction.
To treat this kind of injury, one needed to carefully guide out the wind-thunder energy and then repair the body’s tissues at a fundamental level, not rely on aphrodisiacs to supplement Yin Yang Qi.
If the Sixth Prince was hoping to rely on the Dragon Bone Yang Grass he’d just bought to restore his virility, it would have absolutely no effect.
Ye Xuan could just imagine the priceless look on the Sixth Prince’s face when he got back and discovered that the Dragon Bone Yang Grass he’d spent millions of Profound Coins on had zero effect.
The auction continued.
In VIP Room Six, after paying 5.3 million Profound Coins, the Sixth Prince carefully wrapped up the Dragon Bone Yang Grass delivered by the auction house, placed it in his Storage Ring, and let out a long sigh of relief.
"An elder of mine needs this Dragon Bone Yang Grass. I was bidding on his behalf. None of you are to speak of this."
If he could, the Sixth Prince would have loved to eat the Dragon Bone Yang Grass on the spot and test its effects immediately. But with so many people around, he forced himself to resist and even came up with an excuse.
"Of course. Rest assured, Sixth Prince, none of us are loose-lipped."
"For Your Highness to go to such lengths for an elder... truly, your filial piety is immense."
"You are a model for our generation."
Seeing the Sixth Prince’s act, everyone had their suspicions, but no one dared to call him out on it. Instead, they all started showering him with flattery.
The Sixth Prince nodded in satisfaction. His gaze passed through the window once more, landing coldly on Ye Xuan’s group of four below. How could he possibly stomach the huge loss Ye Xuan had made him suffer this time?
He gave a few orders to Chen Ming and Qin Tian, who both became extremely excited and nodded repeatedly. "Don’t worry, Your Highness! We’ll be sure to take care of what you’ve asked, no problem."
’You damn brat, you dare to fight me? I’ll make you spend the rest of your life regretting what you did today.’
An incredibly venomous light gleamed in the Sixth Prince’s eyes.
The auction continued, and several more treasures were quickly sold off. However, the Heart Gaze Stone that Ye Xuan wanted still hadn’t appeared.
"Alright, the next item we will be auctioning is a treasure from an ancient ruin!"
The auctioneer’s first sentence startled everyone. Anything related to an ancient ruin was bound to be extraordinary.
In an instant, everyone’s curiosity was piqued. They stared fervently at the auction stage as two young women walked out, carrying a stone platform.
"Wow, what kind of treasure is this? I’m so curious."
"Yeah, and unearthed from an ancient ruin, no less! Our Thirteen Nations Alliance has a place called the Deep Profound Mystic Realm that opens once every ten years. Only the top geniuses from each kingdom get a chance to enter. Could it be from there?"
"It’s very possible! I remember a Tier Six Profound Soldier once appeared from that Deep Profound Mystic Realm. Could this be a similar treasure?"
Under the curious gazes of the entire crowd, the auctioneer whipped the red silk cloth off the stone platform. A smooth, grayish-brown stone with strange patterns appeared before them.
"This item was coincidentally brought back from another kingdom by our Commerce Association. It is said to have come from a certain mysterious mystic realm. We had our best Soul Refiners examine it and found that this item can actually block the penetration of Soul Power. Even the Soul Power of a Third Grade Soul Refiner cannot penetrate its surface. At the same time, our own tests revealed another astonishing fact: this item is incredibly hard. Even a Tier Four Profound Soldier cannot break it! After an evaluation by our Commerce Association’s Appraisers, we have determined that this item is very likely a special, unknown material with unimaginable uses. Everyone, just imagine: a treasure from a mysterious mystic realm that Soul Power cannot penetrate and even a Tier Four Profound Soldier cannot break—could such an item possibly be ordinary?"
"This mysterious material has a starting price of 10,000 Profound Coins, with a minimum bid increment of 1,000. Please, begin the bidding!" After saying this, the auctioneer’s gaze swept over the auction hall before he stepped to the side.
"Tch, and here I was thinking it was some kind of treasure. Turns out it’s just a worthless rock."
"Has the Celestial Cauldron Commerce Association gone crazy from poverty? They’ll auction off anything these days. They don’t even know where this stupid rock is from, just ’some mysterious mystic realm.’ And even if it is from a mystic realm, so what? A rock from a mystic realm is still just a rock."
"10,000 Profound Coins isn’t too high, though. Might be worth a shot. Buying a rock that a Tier Four Profound Soldier can’t even break... it wouldn’t be a total loss even if you just use it as a decoration."
"Haha, then why don’t you try bidding for it?"
A wave of discussion arose, but almost everyone wore a disdainful expression.
"Haha, Xuan-shao, this auction house is ridiculous, putting a rock up for auction." Chen Xing couldn’t help but laugh. "What good is it just being hard? Are you supposed to buy it and use it as a weapon to bash people over the head?"
Ye Xuan also gave a faint smile. The auctioneer was great at building atmosphere, making an unknown rock sound like a priceless treasure in just a few sentences. However, no one here was a fool; those who could be swayed by a few words were in the minority.
Even so, the price of the mysterious stone began to rise slowly. After all, 10,000 Profound Coins wasn’t expensive, and it wouldn’t be a big deal even if you just bought it as a decoration.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Ye Xuan’s expression froze.
He had casually let his Soul Power drift over the stone and had suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon: his Soul Power was gently repelled by it.
This discovery immediately made him curious.
He didn’t pay any mind to the claim that a Tier Four Profound Soldier couldn’t break it. While a Tier Four Profound Soldier was considered decent in the Liuyun Kingdom, it was practically worthless on the Celestial Profound Continent. There were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of materials on the continent that one couldn’t break.
The same went for being undetectable by Soul Power. There were far too many substances on the continent that could block the Soul Power of a Third Grade practitioner.
But this stone... while it blocked his Soul Power, it also caused it to rebound ever so slightly. This tiny anomaly instantly caught his attention.
’Perhaps this stone really is some kind of special material after all.’
"Chen Xing, help me buy this stone," Ye Xuan said via voice transmission.
"What? Xuan-shao, have you lost your mind? You want me to bid on a worthless rock?" Chen Xing asked, stunned.
"Just bid on it. It’s not your money," Ye Xuan said, shooting him a glare.
"HA HA HA, fine! I bid 50,000 Profound Coins!"
Hearing that it wasn’t his money, Chen Xing instantly got excited and shot to his feet.
"It’s that kid again."
"Damn it, the bidding was only up to twenty-eight thousand, and this kid suddenly jumps to fifty thousand. Does he want this rock that badly?"
"The kid’s a madman. Who’s going to bid against him?"
A wave of chatter rippled through the crowd. Unexpectedly, after Chen Xing shouted the price of 50,000, not a single person raised the bid.
The earlier encounter with Chen Ming and the Sixth Prince was still fresh in everyone’s minds.
"Fifty-five thousand!"
Just then, a hesitant voice spoke up.
It was an old man, who was also clearly quite curious about the stone.
"One hundred thousand!"
This time, Chen Xing directly doubled the price.
Since it wasn’t his money, he naturally went with whatever he felt was most impressive.
’Tsk, tsk. It’s a shame this is just a worthless rock, so I can only raise the bid by tens of thousands. If this were a real treasure, I’d definitely be raising it by millions. Now *that* would be impressive,’ he muttered self-righteously as he placed the bid.
"He really is a madman."
Everyone around him was speechless. Who bids like that?
Even the old man lost interest.
In the end, Chen Xing won the stone for 100,000 Profound Coins.
’My destructive power is actually this great.’
Chen Xing was stunned by the result himself.
"Er, Xuan-shao, hehe... I spent a hundred thousand. You don’t mind, do you?"
"As long as we got it, it’s fine." Ye Xuan smiled faintly. To him, 100,000 Profound Coins was nothing. With his abilities, it was merely the price of refining a few Pills.
But finding something that could actually pique his interest was rare.
Seeing Ye Xuan’s nonchalant expression, Chen Xing was once again left speechless.
"Xuan-shao, spending a hundred thousand on a worthless rock... I really don’t get what you’re thinking."
In the time that followed, all sorts of treasures appeared one after another.
Ye Xuan did spot a few rare Spirit Medicines and materials, having Chen Xing bid on and win them.
He even managed to fulfill his main goal, winning the Heart Gaze Stone he had been seeking with a bid of 500,000.
By this point, the Sixth Prince and his group were already short on funds. Even if they wanted to cause trouble, they no longer had the financial power to compete.
