護花近衛 - 第4854章 參與競拍 - 翰墨軒

"Three million!" Wei Zhao raised the price again without the slightest hesitation, and every one of his competitors felt their eyelids twitch in unison. Compared to ordinary folk they might all count as wealthy men, but before Wei Zhao they were merely rich in pretence—he alone was the true magnate.

"Three million and fifty thousand!" An old man with hair already white as snow gritted his teeth and croaked out the bid, every word scraped painfully from him.

Wei Zhao glanced at him. This was an expert at the very peak of late Nascent Soul, and judging by the look of him he was making one final gamble on his own behalf. Cultivators might enjoy long lives, but once a man grew too old his sharp spirit drained away, and any decisive breakthrough became nearly impossible. If he could not surge through to the Profound Ascension stage in one stroke this time, then in all likelihood there would never be another chance.

It was enough to make one sigh. But Wei Zhao was not about to pity a total stranger. He was determined to have this stalk of Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass today, so without so much as a blink he said, "Three million two hundred thousand!"

The white-haired old man's expression froze at once. Gazing at the utterly unruffled Wei Zhao, he looked grief-stricken beyond words. His body trembling, he worked his mouth several times, but in the end no sound came out, and he could only sink back into his seat, desolate.

Three million and fifty thousand had been his absolute limit—a sum he had already had to borrow from others. Anything higher he simply could not bear. Not that it mattered whether he could outbid the deep-pocketed Wei Zhao; even if by some fluke he had won the Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass, it would have been useless, for hiring someone to refine it into a Nourishing Essence Pill would require yet another vast sum of spirit jade.

"Three million three hundred thousand!" No sooner had the white-haired old man been frightened off than a young woman on the other side immediately picked up the bidding. She was one of the academy's second-generation cultivators, far more formidable in resources than the old man, and she too was set on obtaining the Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass.

Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng were delighted at the sight. It was precisely for this scene that they had steeled themselves to put the Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass up for auction: as long as Wei Zhao and these people refused to yield to one another, tempers would inevitably flare before the end, and even if no feud existed, one would be forged.

Yet even that was secondary. The man Su Kesheng had tailored for Wei Zhao had still not opened his mouth. And well one might know it—that man's thirst for the Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass surpassed even Wei Zhao's.

"Three million eight hundred thousand!" Wei Zhao glanced at the woman, and the figure that burst from his lips staggered a great many on the spot. This was no ready-made Nourishing Essence Pill, after all—merely a stalk of Nourishing Essence Demonic Gold Grass. Was there any need to bid such an astronomical price?

There was no help for it. A magnate is a magnate, and he does as he pleases.

"Three... three million nine hundred thousand!" The young woman glared at Wei Zhao, her face suffused with anger. After a moment's hesitation she gritted her teeth and named her bid.

"Four million two hundred thousand!" Wei Zhao's expression remained as placid as ever; he did not even deign to look at her. With his resources, on an occasion like this where no great magnates or giants were present, he was destined to be an invincible presence. However remarkable a second-generation cultivator might be, in his eyes they were but passing clouds. In the past it had always been they who crushed others with spirit jade; now it was time they learned what it felt like to be crushed to death by spirit jade.