Chapter 4129 — Golden Core Pill

"Correct. What can be certain is that they must have some special channel to procure these goods from the mortal realm, but not a single word of it will ever be divulged. It is the same with our Five Elements Chamber of Commerce: certain rare and special medicinal herbs cannot be found anywhere out in the world, and are nearly impossible to discover even deep in the mountains, yet we alone can cultivate them artificially. That is our closely guarded secret, and it is on this that the chamber of commerce maintains its core competitiveness. They are no different," Cai Zhongxuan explained.

In the end, this single-lens reflex camera was bid away for the astronomical sum of sixty-eight thousand spirit jade, and the several lots that followed were all provided by the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce—technological products from the mortal realm, every last one.

Walkie-talkies, surveillance cameras, foot-soaking basins... there even appeared all manner of canned goods from the mortal realm. Though not so practical as the technological products, these things, being rare, likewise fetched no small price, leaving Wei Zhao shocked and, beyond that, secretly envious.

To casually haul back a bit of common trash from the mortal realm, at practically no cost at all, and sell it on Cloud Stair Island for such astonishing, heaven-high prices—was there any more profitable trade under the sun?

What did one call exorbitant profit? This was true exorbitant profit, so staggering it defied all decency. Wei Zhao had always considered pill refining profitable enough, exorbitant enough in its spirit jade returns, but set beside this Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce, it was utterly dwarfed—no comparison at all.

If he could uncover the secret of how the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce shuttled between Cloud Stair Island and the mortal realm, then with Wei Zhao's methods, aided by a divine artifact like the jade pendant's space, even working alone he could run this trade and by no means come off much the worse against that Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce.

Of course, for the moment this was no more than idle fancy; the crux was that secret, and he could only wait for an opportunity to slowly dig it out.

Yet no matter how well the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce kept its secrets, there was no wall in this world that let no wind through. Wei Zhao believed that one day he would master this secret, and when that time came, he could return to the mortal realm!

Beginning with the digital SLR, ten lots in all were presented one after another, all of them technological products from the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce, each fetching a jaw-dropping, sky-high price, and igniting the first peak of this Central Island grand auction!

In an instant, the great name of the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce was deeply engraved upon the heart of every person present. Even those who had never bought a thing from them would from then on bear the impression indelibly, and never easily forget it.

Yet hard on its heels, another merchant's name entered everyone's field of view, and with a mere few pills it achieved almost the same effect as the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce. Its name was the Heavenly Pill Pavilion.

"The next lot comes from an obscure little merchant, the Heavenly Pill Pavilion, which has only recently opened its doors in the Central Island market. But the lot it provides is anything but simple. A top-grade Golden Core Pill—what wondrous effects it has, I need hardly elaborate. Starting bid: thirty thousand spirit jade," the female auctioneer said with a winsome smile.

Before her voice had died away, the breathing of everyone in the hall grew heavy at once. Golden Core Pills were rare enough to begin with, to say nothing of top-grade ones. To any Golden Core cultivator, it was nothing short of a fatal temptation—one for which they would not scruple to ruin themselves!

The Golden Core Pill, as its name suggests, is like the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill: once taken, it advances one by a full grade. The difference between the two, however, is that this one works upon Golden Core cultivators.

The rarity of the Golden Core Pill lies not only in how difficult a fifth-rank pill it is to refine, but even more in how hard its ingredients are to find. Chief and most essential among them is the Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit.

Wei Zhao had three Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits in his possession, but this thing was, after all, a fruit, ill-suited to long keeping; over time its medicinal potency was apt to leach away. So he had taken them and refined them into Golden Core Pills.

From three Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits, five Golden Core Pills had finally been successfully produced—the greatest harvest Wei Zhao had reaped from his recent spell of pill refining.

"Young Hero Lin, a top-grade Golden Core Pill—this is a munificence without precedent!" Cai Zhongxuan at his side was only now learning for the first time that Wei Zhao had actually put such a thing up for auction, and could not help exclaiming in astonishment, clicking his tongue.

After all, even within their Five Elements Chamber of Commerce, such Golden Core Pills were good things fit to be kept as a treasure at the bottom of the chest—to say nothing of top-grade ones, which were a stroke of fortune one could not seek even if one wished for it!

"I was loath to part with it myself, but to make the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's name resound, I had no choice but to stake everything and risk it all. One cannot catch the wolf without risking the child," Wei Zhao replied with a bitter smile.

This was the honest truth. Seeing himself draw ever closer to his own attempt at the Golden Core, who would want to put a Golden Core Pill up for auction? To any normal person, that was simply folly.

Still, if a single top-grade Golden Core Pill could buy the Heavenly Pill Pavilion's meteoric rise, then it was no great loss. This time Wei Zhao had truly staked his lifeblood.

"Forty thousand spirit jade!" This contest over a top-grade Golden Core Pill was doomed from the outset to fall into the hands of some great personage in the Section A area. Everyone else could only look on with greedy eyes, for they simply did not command such capital.

"Fifty thousand spirit jade!"

"Seventy thousand spirit jade!"

"Ninety thousand spirit jade!"

For the earlier lots, even the technological products the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce had put up, bids had climbed only by a few thousand at a time. Now that a top-grade Golden Core Pill had come up, the raises leapt straight to twenty thousand at a bound, setting the blood racing just to hear it.

In the blink of an eye the bidding, with irresistible momentum, broke through the hundred-thousand spirit jade mark—and was still climbing madly, desperately upward!

No one found it strange; it was only to be expected. Even a Golden Core Pill of the very worst quality would cost at least thirty thousand spirit jade at the Five Elements Chamber of Commerce—fifty thousand for a slightly better one, or even more.

And this top-grade Golden Core Pill, in the hands of a Golden Core cultivator of decent talent, might well, with a bit of luck, spur a breakthrough of a grade and a half outright, its success rate far surpassing that of ordinary quality. To snap it up for a hundred thousand spirit jade would already be a stroke of rare fortune.

Alas, this was the Central Island grand auction, and every person in the Section A area was deep of purse. If they truly set their eyes on something and got serious, a hundred thousand spirit jade was for them no more than an opening bid.