Just as she finished, a silver stick was dropped from a dignitary booth on the second floor.
The second and third floors were much farther away from the platform, and it was thus inconvenient to yell to bid, so bidders up there wrote their offer on a silver stick before tossing it down.
A spell had been cast on those silver sticks that made them float to the Pavilion Master without error.
The Second Pavilion Master caught the stick that drifted toward her and gave it a glance, only to be stunned.
At the same time, within the dignitary booth, Chu Wanning casually laid down the brush he had just used and leisurely took a sip of tea. Mo Ran watched from the side, and his lips twitched.
The voice of the Second Pavilion Master rang from below. “From the Tian dignitary booth on the second floor: five-hundred-thousand gold. Do I hear any other offers?”
When these words were spoken, the crowd was abuzz. The Tapir Fragrance Dew was good, sure, but it obviously wasn’t as popular as the Love Pill. The five boxes of Love Pills had gone for three hundred thousand gold altogether, so an offer of five hundred thousand gold for these five bottles of dew was already considerably high.
“Probably an offer from the parents of some little gongzi,” someone grumbled.
“Must be for some rich little gongzi’s training.”
Meanwhile, some cultivators in the crowd had suffered enough of qi deviations. One steeled himself and said, “I’ll take all five. I offer five-hundred-and-fifty-thousand gold.”
“The Tapir Fragrance Dew, now going for five hundred and fifty thousand. Do I hear—”
Before the Second Pavilion Master could finish, another silver stick floated errantly through the air, again tossed from the Tian dignitary booth on the second floor. She glanced at it and her eyes unconsciously widened.
“I apologize, everyone. I misunderstood the initial offer, and I will rectify my error now. What the customer on the second floor actually meant was that he is offering five hundred thousand per bottle, for a total of two million and five hundred thousand…”
Only a fool would fight Chu Wanning at that price point. As Mo Ran watched those five bottles of Tapir Fragrance Dews being delivered into the room, he felt like his soul was leaving his body.
Chu Wanning had spent two-and-a-half million… On sweets…
Sensing Mo Ran’s incredulous look, Chu Wanning asked indifferently, “What is it?”
“Ah ha ha, nothing. I just didn’t think Shizun was partial to stuff like this.”
“Why would I care for childish things?” Chu Wanning replied placidly. “I bought them for Xia Sini.”
Mo Ran had no words. What an act! His brows twitched. Let’s see how much longer you can keep this up.
The auctioned items continued to be presented one by one, and while everything that came afterward was also a unique spiritual medicine or treasure, they held no value for either Mo Ran or Chu Wanning. They sipped tea as they waited for the holy weapon Guilai to appear.
Mo Ran leaned by the window, his black clothes wrapped tightly around his thin waist, emphasizing the broadness of his shoulders and the length of his legs. He glanced down at the lively event below, then looked up to gaze at the reserved Rufeng booth upstairs.
“Come to think of it, Shizun, how did Uncle settle the affair at Peach Blossom Springs? You never gave me the details.”
“It isn’t really settled. We can’t call attention to the affair lest we alert the enemy. Even though the sect leader knows the truth, he can’t make much of a fuss. However, he did entirely sever ties with the feathered tribe and brought both Shi Mei and Xue Meng back to Sisheng Peak. Moreover, our fight was rather intense, and disciples of several sects bore witness to it. Some began to harbor doubts about Peach Blossom Springs and thus departed. I imagine this Ye Wangxi was one of them.” Chu Wanning finished an orange osmanthus cake and reached for a second. “The sect leader told the rest of the world that you caused some trouble and are therefore confined to Sisheng Peak for reflection. That should cover your tracks for a while at least.”
Mo Ran scratched his head. “Sounds like quite the mess. I’ve really troubled Uncle…”
As he was mumbling, the Second Pavilion Master of the Xuanyuan Pavilion, still standing upon the nine-petaled lotus platform, used an amplification spell to clear her throat. Her voice, sonorous and pleasant as the sound of tinkling jade, echoed throughout every nook and cranny: “The next auction item is a rare treasure of the highest grade, extremely difficult to come by. It has ranked among the top ten items in our auction guide for the past three years.”
With those few words, silence fell. After a moment, it was like a spoonful of clear water had splashed into a pot of boiling oil. The audience erupted with murmurs as they whispered to each other, and nearly every eye glinted with interest.
Just what manner of treasure could rank among the top ten items auctioned at Xuanyuan Pavilion in the past three years? Never mind actually buying something like that, for many people, even catching a glimpse of it with their own eyes would be extremely good luck in itself. The buyers became more and more excited, and the air grew so tense that it was almost tangible.
The people below strained their necks to look, and those in the booths also lifted the blinds. All eyes were on the lotus platform.
“Is it the holy weapon Guilai?” Mo Ran wondered in a soft voice.
Chu Wanning didn’t reply.