Chapter 84: The Weapon Refining Principle
In the end, the Heaven-shaking Dagger-axe sold for as much as five thousand cubic crystals.
Zen curled his lips but did not regret that it had fallen into someone else's hands.
He knew that he could buy another inferior spiritual weapon from the market at a much lower price. Anyway, what he cared about was the iron essence contained in spiritual weapons, not their power.
Nestor soon auctioned off several more items.
Suddenly, Nestor's tone changed. “The next item to be auctioned is the halftime grand finale of today's auction. As you all know, two years ago, Chase, our weapon refining guru in the Imperial Capital, passed away. This is a significant loss for our whole empire. Fortunately, Chase had many disciples, and some of them have taken over his mantle,” Nestor said grimly. “Next up for auction is Chase's Weapon Refining Principle. It is said that Chase kept it a secret. If someone wants to make an impact in weapon refining, with this book in hand, you can get Chase's knowledge and achieve great progress!”
As soon as Nestor finished speaking, the crowd simmered with excitement.
There were three weapon refining gurus in the Burning Sky Empire, but none of them could compare with Chase.
Chase kept the Weapon Refining Principle a secret presumably recording his experience and skills in weapon refining.
Every noble clan dreamed of owning a top weapon refiner.
But weapon refiners were not easy to hire.
The noble Wang family had employed one of the three weapon refining gurus, another had been employed by Cloud Sect and the third by the Burning Sky Palace. It was hard to hire them, no matter how much the clans offered.
Therefore, if a family produced a weapon refining guru, it would benefit the whole family.
Everybody knew that even if they got the Weapon Refining Principle, they would not necessarily become a weapon refining guru. After all, Chase had taught many disciples, and so did his disciples, but they all failed to produce a guru. Yet, none of the noble clans were willing to give up this rare chance.
“The Weapon Refining Principle belonged to our teacher. Please return it to us!”
“It's our teacher's relic. You can't auction it at will!” eight people objected.
They were dressed similarly in long red robes with a small furnace embroidered on their chests.
Most people in the auction house recognized the furnace on their clothes and knew where they had come from.
It turned out that Chase had set up a school, Magical Refining School, which recruited disciples and nurtured them into weapon refiners. The furnace was the emblem of the Magical Refining School.
Over the years, although the Magical Refining School had never created a guru in weapon refining, it had trained a lot of weapon refiners. These weapon refiners had tremendous talent, and had been employed by noble clans. They were also a force to be reckoned with in the empire.
No one expected the disciples from Magical Refining School to make trouble at the auction house today.
“How can this book be yours when it is being auctioned at the auction house?”
“How funny! You guys didn't take good care of Chase's belongings. Now it has come here to be auctioned. How dare you prevent the auction?”
retorted several noblemen who had wanted to bid for the book.
“We don't care about that. We only know that the Weapon Refining Principle belonged to our late teacher, and now we are going to get it back!” The leader of the group of disciples pointed to Nestor and snarled, “You, Blessed Auction House, give us back the Weapon Refining Principle!”
At the moment, Nestor, who was always smiling, simmered in anger. “Since our Blessed Auction House was established, we have made it a rule not to ask about the provenance of items for sale. We will auction this book for whoever gave it to us. It is impossible for you to reclaim it!” he snarled.
The disciples of the Magical Refining School were incensed at what he said, and their leader threatened, “In that case, we shall have to offend your auction house!” Then they tried to rush onto the platform and snatch the book.
“Offend our auction house? Humph, you're not strong enough to offend our Blessed Auction House!” Nestor retorted haughtily. When he waved his hand, two men emerged from each side of the platform.
Although they were dressed as ordinary guards, no one present dared to look down upon them. They were at the ninth grade of the nature level!
With a wink at the two men, Nestor ordered curtly, “Teach them a lesson, and throw them out!”
The two guards nodded and like wolves in a flock of sheep, fought the disciples of the Magical Refining School.
The eight disciples were nature creatures, but as weapon refiners, their life vitality was a variety of weapon refining fire...
In terms of weapon refining, they were experts. But when it came to fighting, they were no match for the two guards.
In the twinkling of an eye, the sound of flesh meeting flesh filled the salesroom. The guards had knocked out the disciples with the power of their slap. When the eight disciples lay on the ground, motionless, many servants entered and carried them out. Soon the site was cleaned up, and order was restored in the salesroom.
After that, Nestor placed a casket on the table and solemnly said, “I'm sorry that the auction was rudely interrupted. Now we will proceed with the auctioning of the Weapon Refining Principle. Starting price is 5, 000 cubic crystals. Now, bid freely!”
As soon as he had finished speaking, someone raised the price. “6, 000 cubic crystals,” said a bored voice.
The price went up a thousand at a time. The crowd looked curiously at the bidder.
In one corner sat a young man dressed in silk. He casually leant against a young woman's lap, looking rather tired.
When they saw the Eight Diagrams embroidered on the chest of the young man's clothes, they realized that the young man was from the Zhuge family. Some people even recognized that he was Fren Zhuge, the third Young Master of the Zhuge family.
Fren was known as the loony. He was a cunning, devilish, and ill-tempered man. Everyone wondered why he was bidding for the Weapon Refining Principle.
Frankly, many people were reluctant to bid against Fren because he was utterly unreasonable. Should he be offended, it would cause considerable trouble for the other party.
“6, 100 cubic crystals,” shouted an old man. For some people, the Weapon Refining Principle was a must-have. They couldn't make any concession.
“7, 000!” Fren's lazy voice rose again.
“8, 000!” Another person joined in the bidding.
“9, 000!”
“12, 000!”
“14, 000!”
The Weapon Refining Principle contained only a few sheets of paper. But its price kept rising during the auction.
When its cost climbed to nearly 20, 000 cubic crystals, most people gave up.
Only the old man, who competed with Fren in the first place, and Fren were still making offers.
“20, 000!” This time, Fren had raised the price by 6, 000 cubic crystals!
Hearing Fren's offer, the old man winced and shook his head. It was not that he was willing to give up the book, but that he could not afford any more cubic crystals.
Not many people in the world could afford 20, 000 cubic crystals at one time.
Glancing at the old man's dejected look, Fren gave a wry smile. The old man had followed behind Fren's offer like plaster to raise the price, until Fren raised his bid by six thousand!
“Anyone else wants to make a higher bid?” inquired Nestor from the platform. “If not, Mr. Zhuge will win the Weapon Refining Principle!”
Just then a voice came from one of the wings.
“I'll pay 20, 100!” The speaker was Zen.
He joined the bidding with an astronomical figure, which shocked Sean and Nory.
“Zen, are you crazy?”
“Do you have that many cubic crystals?”
Nory and Sean whispered anxiously, their foreheads sweating.
They had asked Wurth to bring them to the auction house today just for fun.
The items auctioned were worth at least hundreds or thousands of cubic crystals, which was impossible for an ordinary outer disciple to afford.
That was why Nory and Sean were both pretty shaken up when Zen quoted 20, 100.
Casual bidding was not allowed at an auction. If a bidder won something in a bid, but could not afford it... The result was no joke!