Chapter 4124 — The Central Island Grand Auction
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Brother Diao, have you not paid any attention to the talk going around these past days? Cai Zhongxuan of the Five Elements Merchant Guild has already sent word to the Pill Alliance. The Heavenly Pill Pavilion, the Pill Hall, and the Five Elements Merchant Guild are all one of a kind—one family. If anyone uses underhanded means against them, they do so at their own peril." Tong Yangxi gave Diao Huanshan a look of astonishment.
"What? Even the Five Elements Merchant Guild has stepped in?" Diao Huanshan was struck dumb on the spot, his face written all over with unwillingness. Tian Chan's property the Heavenly Pill Pavilion might be, but that even the Five Elements Merchant Guild would come forward to shelter it—that was truly beyond all expectation.
Di Xingdao, a Deputy Island Lord of the Central Island, was not enough—now here came the Five Elements Merchant Guild as well, dragging in the Pill Hall behind it. How could this tiny Heavenly Pill Pavilion have such formidable connections?
"And so you see—small as it is, the Heavenly Pill Pavilion is genuinely not an easy thing to provoke. Our masters behind the scenes want us to lie low for now, to give it a wide berth for the time being and watch how matters develop before doing anything." Tong Yangxi relayed the instructions.
"Very well, I shall do as ordered." Diao Huanshan nodded helplessly, and could not resist adding a complaint: "But our masters are really something else—Tian Chan did after all come out of the Pill Hall, and yet they cannot even interfere with her—"
"Shh! Brother Diao, mind your words!" Tong Yangxi started in fright and hurriedly gestured for him to be silent, then went on: "There is no use in complaining further. We had best turn our energies to the Grand Auction—it opens in a couple of days, and from what I hear, the Heavenly Pill Pavilion has already registered to take part."
"Is that true? What could they possibly put up for auction with their meager stock? Do they think having Di Xingdao at their back makes them untouchable?" Diao Huanshan was taken aback at the news.
For merchants, the Central Island Grand Auction had always been open only to the very top-tier great merchant guilds. Ordinary small traders, unable to produce anything presentable, could forget about seizing the chance to rake in spirit jade—they did not even qualify to register.
"I imagine they mean to use the occasion to make a name for themselves. Did you not say they had put out a good number of top-grade fourth-grade pills? Low-grade as that may be by Central Island standards, it is still just barely enough to qualify for registration." Tong Yangxi gave a faint, cold smile. "But that suits us perfectly—it hands us a chance to suppress them fair and square. Let us make haste and prepare. This time we must not let them have their way; we simply must outshine them."
"Quite so, quite so—that way even Di Xingdao and the Five Elements Merchant Guild will have nothing to say." Diao Huanshan nodded again and again in agreement.
Several days later, the Central Island Grand Auction formally raised its curtain. As the most prestigious auction gathering of the Central Island—indeed of all five islands of the Heavenly Tier—its scale was naturally beyond compare.
This much was plain from its venue alone: the very heart of the Central Island, Mount Zhongding.
Those who could come and go on Mount Zhongding either possessed the deep backing of a top-tier sect or were themselves of extraordinary strength. The saying went that none who entered was weak—such was the natural threshold of the Central Island Grand Auction.
The auction itself was held atop a highly renowned peak on Mount Zhongding, one known as the Ten Thousand Heavens Peak.