Chapter 4019 — An Outright Bid
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
His grandfather was a deputy hall master of the Pill Hall, so spirit jade was something his family had in abundance, enough to squander endlessly without ever running dry. Unless the top merchant guilds stepped forward to compete with him, no one else present was his match, not even in the same league.
"This country bumpkin..." Wei Zhao cursed inwardly, at a loss for words. If this fellow had not been at Tianchan's side, he would not even have bothered to spare him a glance, but now he had no choice but to keep a close eye on him.
Yet in the very next moment, Wei Zhao discovered that he had run into trouble. This country bumpkin who did not lack for spirit jade was, at certain times, nothing short of a top-tier pain in the neck.
"A ten-piece artifact-crafting set, every piece recognized by artifact masters as superior crafting material, with a compatibility rate of over eighty percent. Starting price: ten thousand spirit jade." No sooner had Steward Song finished his introduction than the hall surged into its first small climax. This was the first lot in the entire auction to carry a starting price in five figures.
Hearing this description, Wei Zhao could not help but freeze. On the very first day he arrived on this far northern island, he had already scouted the area and found four of the six artifact-crafting materials he needed. Yesterday he had tracked down the remaining two as well. To bid on and win all of these materials, he had expected today to be a drawn-out battle, never anticipating such an unexpected turn of events.
A great many crafting materials had actually been combined into a single set and put up for auction together, and all six of the materials he needed were among them!
This turn caught Wei Zhao completely off guard. He had never even considered a bidding strategy for such a scenario, and more critically, this was still Zheng Tianjie's personal showcase.
Wei Zhao currently had fifteen thousand spirit jade on hand. If the six materials had been auctioned separately, that would have been more than enough, but with this ten-piece set, he found himself somewhat outmatched.
There was no time to lose. Wei Zhao could only grit his teeth and strike first: "Fifteen thousand spirit jade."
The hall erupted in an uproar, and every gaze instantly converged on Wei Zhao. They had all along assumed, as a matter of first impression, that Wei Zhao was nothing more than a lowly clerk in the Hong Clan Merchant Guild. But clearly that was no longer the case. After all, at an occasion this important, what merchant guild would be so frivolous as to send a mere clerk out to bid?
The crowd was merely astonished, but among them were three whose gazes fell on Wei Zhao and who were left dumbstruck. These three were none other than Nan Tianxiong, Nan Tianguan, and Yu Jiang, the very men Wei Zhao had been cautiously guarding against all along!
With Nan Tianxiong's background and status, he naturally had ways to secure entry slots to a grand affair like the North Island Auction. However, they had come purely to bid, so unlike Wei Zhao and Hong Zhong, they had not arrived early; they had only reached the far northern island last night and were utterly unaware of the commotion that had previously roiled the merchant guilds.
No sane person would ever believe that a grassroots newcomer like Wei Zhao could show up in such an exclusive place. Had he not spoken up to bid, Nan Tianxiong and the other two might never have noticed his presence even after the auction ended.
"How did that brat end up here? Narrow paths for foes indeed. Looks like even if we don't win anything good this trip, it won't be a wasted journey." Nan Tianxiong bared his teeth, and Nan Tianguan and Yu Jiang both flashed savage grins.