Chapter 180: Reputation
Evidently, this meant that Zen possessed heavenly essence in a large quantity. More importantly, he might have even known how to make the heavenly essence.
Zen nodded. “Wurth, I want to sell the heavenly essence through an auction at Blessed Auction House which I have come to realize is a win-win situation for your family. That sounds right?” Zen laid down the incentives.
Wurth expressed his agreement with a rather enthusiastic nod.
“By now you must have gotten a thorough understanding of my doubts. I fear that your family must be under great pressure if the heavenly essence is to be auctioned several more times. Can you handle that?” asked Zen. He tried to express his concerns.
Wurth took a deep and heavy sigh.
Zen was right to worry and be concerned about that.
After all nothing in this world was certain and any thing could happen under any circumstance.
Even though Zhang Family was strong in terms of both their political and financial standing, it was still inferior to the top seven noble clans.
It was normal and easy for the Zhang Family to auction the heavenly essence once, because there had been other extremely lucky warriors who could get ahold of it.
However, if the Zhang Family were to auction heavenly essence every month, it would most certainly arouse suspicion and draw uneccesary attention.
And all of this would mean only one thing. Either some clients of the Zhang Family must have a large inventory of the heavenly essence or they had the very method of producing it in mass.
Once the noble clans chanced upon this significant development, they would put an enormous amount of pressure on the Zhang Family. One way or another, the Zhang Family would break under stress and confess as to how they came upon the heavenly essence.
There was a risk there, no man could deny it.
All of a sudden, Wurth chuckled and then addressed Zen, “You are getting too worked up and stressed, Zen.”
This change in tone surprised Zen. After pausing for a moment Zen said, “Can you do anything to avoid this pertinent risk? Can you control your family completely?”
A smile appeared on Wurth's face as he spoke, “Zen, you barely know my family. With that said, you have no idea of how my family deals with troubles or reacts under any circumstance. Our auction house has been handling business for many years and has always managed to work out solutions for all sorts of problems. You'd be surprised at what all we can handle. Many warriors shared your doubts and were reluctant to sell their treasures at our auction house. What's more, some warriors, after killing people and taking away their weapons, wanted to sell them. However, since those weapons were illegal possessions, they also didn't want to face troubles and bypass the law. We had to come up with some ideas to ensure that they remained safe while selling those illegally-procured weapons at our premises.”
Killing owners and taking away treasures had become a common occurrence reported almost every day and night.
Even those young men from the noble clans could be robbed of their spiritual and mysterious weapons and get killed in broad daylight.
Some spiritual weapons were taken away from others. Therefore, they couldn't be auctioned easily at the auction houses as there always ran the risk of previous owners of those weapons finding clues or even traces indicating the robbers or even killers identity.
The Zhang Family was clever and always managed to find alternative methods to solve problems and avoid the potential risks in this illegal business.
Right before the auction, the treasures would be hidden at some secret spots, and the addresses to these places were written on a piece of paper by some third parties. Then, this piece of parchment would be sent across to a responsible man from the Blessed Auction House, who would pick the treasures. In this inconspicuous manner, the entire auction would be conducted without even shedding light on the owners or the purchasers of the treasures.
Even employees of the Blessed Auction House didn't have a clue about who bought or sold the treasures.
When the auction was safely carried out, the auction house would make a small charge. The collected cubic crystals would be stored in an unregistered token and sent to the sellers. Then the whole transaction ended.
Wurth explained this entire sequence to Zen and then added, “Please don't worry. I'll tell my family to ensure the entire transaction to be carried out in this way. That way, your identity will remain unknown to everybody but me. In fact, no one will ever know you're involved.”
Zen took a deep breath as he replied, “I understand.” All this while he was concerned about how to hide his identity and sell the heavenly essence secretly. Now Wurth had worked out a clear path out of the transaction. Besides, the Blessed Auction House had been doing this for so many years that the sellers' interest was a matter of the utmost importance and would be protected.
“But, I will ask you again, are you sure you want me to sell the 55 drops of heavenly essence for you?” Wurth tried to crack a sly joke without even smiling.
“Haha, those cubic crystals may be a big fortune for other people, but not you, the third son of the powerful and wealthy Zhang Family. I have confidence in you, my friend,” said Zen. Wurth had a big picture in his mind and wouldn't sacrifice his long-term goals for some shortsighted profits. Besides, Zen told him that he had already taken possession of more heavenly essence than these drops. Wurth would be a fool to illegally grab those 55 drops of heavenly essence and give up more of them.
He knew for sure that if he really did that, Zen would not sell any more heavely essences to him. Besides, Zen would get extremely annoyed. Wurth couldn't stay at the Drizzle Peak and had to guard carefully against Zen. His sacrifices would mean much more than a half million of cubic crystals.
Wurth took the heavenly essences from Zen and delicately stuffed them into a beautiful emerald ring which was carefully on the ring finger of his left hand. It was a space ring.
When it was done, Wurth sighed and spoke out, “There will be an uproar if so many heavenly essences are sold in the Imperial Capital.”
Heavenly essence was precious and immensely valuable because it could be applied to the weapons directly.
For example, a top-grade spiritual weapon could have qualitative changes if enough heavenly essences were applied to it. There was even a possibility of producing a fairy weapon from it.
Although considerable time and effort was required and lots of heavenly essences were consumed, the fairy weapon deserved it. Its holder would make huge profits even after the making costs were taken into account.
That explained why the heavenly essence was so valuable.
Wurth stopped practicing his martial arts and took off his heavy load suit. They returned to the main peak where they were to meet Sean and Nory.
“Zen and Wurth, I was looking for you,” said Nory. He flashed a warm smile at them.
“What's up?” asked Zen. He felt confused.
Wurth patted Zen on his shoulder as he smiled, “Oh so, have you forgotten? A few days ago Nory very clearly mentioned that a party would be held among his clan men. He invited us to this party,” Wurth replied.
Zen came from a humble clan which was even inferior to Mo Clan.
Therefore, he had very little knowledge about the great noble clans, their conventions or even norms.
However, Wurth had a better understanding of everything, and simply sympathized with Nory who felt helpless and sad living under the burden of a noble clan's name.
“I have been quite busy recently and almost forgot about this gathering. I must apologise. Will the party be held today?” asked Zen.
Nory nodded and answered, “Yes, today is the day.”
They had made a promise to attend the party. So, they followed Nory and went to his house.
The Mo Clan, living in the northern part of the city, was commonly considered a declining one among the other clans of various sizes.
The hereditary system, in place, ensured that the descendants of a declining family could still hold onto the same title or rank despite the circumstance.
However, despite all of this, some clans remained unlucky, and disappeared completely.
For instance, once upon a time there was a powerful noble clan called Xiao Clan. Although it wasn't among the most ancient clans, in fact it was actually better and more powerful than the seven noble clans, since a galaxy of talents came from its descendants. This great clan held important posts both in the imperial army and in the Burning Sky Empire. Besides, some of them were even unprecedented masters of martial arts.
Once it became powerful and influential, their ambition too began to swell. Their people were busy in expanding the territory, contending for power and profits. There was a time when nobody could challenge them both in and out of the court.
Even members from the seven noble clans had to bow and show their respect to this expanding and powerful clan.
However, sooner than later the circumstances changed and the Xiao Clan was accused of conspiring against the royal family, which changed their fate forever. The whole Xiao Clan was destroyed and almost all of its people were executed within days of the accusation. Despite a few people surviving, the Xiao Clan could never recover from the disaster. The blow was too strong.
This tragedy served as a warning for everybody to whom privileges and power of noble clans were given by the emperor. He could withdraw these opportunities as fast as he had granted them when the situation arose.
The Mo family in the northern part of the city too had declined rapidly in the recent years, and no talents had come from this family. They would be deprived of their privileges and titles very soon if their situation didn't improve or they didn't find other powerful noble clans to live on.
A broad street stretched out in the northern part of the Imperial Capital and at the end of it stood a tall door almost 10 meters high. The gigantic door was painted red, two giant bronze lions were lying on their stomaches while appearing threatening and dangerous.
Those regular citizens living in the Imperial Capital could only imagine how wealthy those noble clans were, even the declining clans were beyond their reach.
Nory took Zen, Wurth and Sean through this grand door to the other world of cheer and luxurious indulgences.
The Mo family's mansion was spotlessly clean and was permeated with a jubilant atmosphere owing to the party and the never-ending line of arriving guests.
Four carp lanterns hung on the door. The bronze had been cleansed. A butler and two servants were standing before the gate, welcoming guests courteously.
The butler had been repeating the same action of smiling and bowing for several hours with unwavering enthusiasm. All of the guests were respected and esteemed members of the society. The butler had to make sure that they were satisfied with the service. So, he worked hard to please everyone. The smile on his face was professional and his manners were perfect.
However, when he saw Nory and his group, his behaviour suddenly changed. His fake smile disappeared, and instead he wore an arrogant and scornful look. “Young master, why are you back?”
Nory too evidently never liked this butler. Since his mother died, this mansion was no longer his home. In response to the butler's cold question, Nory answered, “What's wrong? So are you telling me that I shouldn't come back home today?”
The butler shook his head and responded, “You really misunderstood what I was saying. However, you're an outer disciple of the Cloud Sect now. Whether you come back home or not isn't important any more. Ha-ha,” the butler chuckled nervously.
The butler emphasized on the words “outer disciple”. He actually meant that even though the Mo Family was declining, they still didn't think highly of any outer disciple of the Cloud Sect or care. Besides, he warned that Nory would be a big fool to think that his position at the Mo Family had changed even the slightest bit.