Sky High Priced Pills

Finally, it was time. The sale of random items was finished. Li Bai wasn't interested in any of them and ended up buying nothing, even with all the massive wealth he had brought. They were just too worthless for him to even flick a glance.

He, too, expected more from this auction, considering the items that were up for auction last time. The Zodiac Pot and the Fools' Gold just to name a few of the treasures he acquired.

When the auctioned items turned out to be a bunch of trash items that had decoration as the only use, Li Bai was truly disappointed. Even when used as decorations, the only plus they had was that they looked antique. The decorations weren't even good!

Like his son, Li Fu was also underwhelmed by the sheer number of useless items auctioned. He had a good eye for value, and the items auctioned didn't make much of an impression on him.

Other than the father and son duo, all the clans were satisfied with the results of the auction. Besides, the main item that was anticipated hasn't even been revealed yet. It was only arriving now.

The man that carried the items to the stand appeared on the stage holding what appeared to be multiple bottles covered with cloth. These were obviously the promised pills!

"See, I told you they didn't lose it!"

"Bah, covering their losses."

Opinions were halved across the hall. Some were ecstatic, the sight of the bottle figures covered with a cloth made all of their doubts go away. Some were skeptical, wondering why the cloth was needed when they so pridefully announced the pills the last auction.

Yu Fang saw the audience's reaction and grinned. She already knew that the pills were inside these very bottles, but she decided to tease the doubtful ones.

"This is the final item in the auction."

The incredulous part of the crowd heard this remark and raised their suspicion even more. The last item? Shouldn't it be the pills?

Yu Fang walked closer to the stand at the center of the elevated stage and put her hand on the cloth over the bottles. She then pulled it off!

The bottles on the stand were now visible to the masses. The bottles were made of glass, the most exquisite material they could have used. Being made of glass, the bottles were transparent, making the contents of the bottles visible. They all had 5 pure blue pills inside each!

All of the mistrust of the unbelieving commoners had been swept away by this magnificent sight! With pure blue pills galore right in front of them, how could they not be astonished?

The clan heads though, their reactions weren't as extravagant as the people below. They were still a bit cautious about these pills. Sure, they were pure blue pills, which meant they were of the highest quality but were these pills of high-level? Pure blue pills looked pretty, but if it was only a low-level pill, it would be pretty useless unless one a commoner in which case this would be incredibly useful for him.

Yu Fang saw the noble's mistrusting reactions and was grinning inside.

"Ahem, these are all Gem Light Pills."

After this comment, doubts were once again swept away, but this time inside the nobles. They now wanted to get their hands on these no matter what!

Liu Gong was no exception. He was frantically shaking on his seat, with Li Fu beside him. Li Fu expected this kind of reaction, but he was still amazed. The prideful Liu Gong, wagging his tail for a bunch of pills? What's more, the creator was his own son! Li Fu was brimming with pride for his son Li Bai.

Even the Zhou clan's representative felt an unmeasurable desire to buy every last one of those pure blue pills. They tried to squeeze these out of the Hou clan before, to no avail. They were cautious not to drive the Hou auction out, bringing the pills with them.

The Hou clan had also sent their representative, oblivious to how the Hou auction house was handling the pills. The Hou auction house made the right decision putting the pills inside the glass bottles. Everyone got excited about these pills.

Li Bai, wondering why his name hasn't spread yet following his first sale, decided to spectate the second. Li Bao surely couldn't have forgotten to supply the Hou auction the information about the source of these pills. He had expectant looks yet again, recovering from his previous disappointment.

His ultimate goal with these pills wasn't for the money, but rather for the fame after all. He couldn't care less about whether he had some money or not, as he thought he could easily earn that. The fame was what he was after, he wanted to raise some disciples.

He waited patiently, leaning on the railings, for Yu Fang to announce the source of the pills. This was his goal, he wanted to be noticed.

"It's taking too long..."

Yu Fang actually didn't know that it was Li Bai who created the pills she was about to sell. Hou Ju was supposed to tell her, but she forgot as well, so the information was never passed. Even when Li Bao made a scene because she insisted that the pill maker was her brother, it was completely erased from Hou Ju's mind.

If the presenter didn't know the source, they should just leave it out, that was the rule that Yu Fang abided with. She didn't mention anything about the source, so it meant that she didn't know the source, everyone knew this. Except for Li Bai, who was still expecting Yu Fang to mention something, everyone else's mind was not on who the source was, but instead, it was on whether they could get a batch of the pills or not.

"The pills are going to be sold in batches of 5, for a total of 10 batches this time."

The crowd went crazy, especially the major clans! If they got a hold of even just one batch, they would prosper and be more prestigious than ever before! These were high-level high-quality pills, they could resell it somewhere outside Backwater City, for a higher price! The profits would be enormous! The overall amount of wealth in Backwater City wasn't even comparable to the amount of wealth of a noble in the capital, Red Dragon City!

Acquiring the source had absolutely slipped everyone's minds. Therefore, Li Bai remained unnoticed. His face was getting more impatient by the second.

"The starting price for one batch is... 5000 gold!"

The 5000 gold looked like a bargain, considering that one Gem Light Pill was extremely rare enough, more so a high-level one. This made the Hou auction house's image get higher in the minds of the nobles. They thought that the Hou auction house was being generous, setting the starting price at an absolutely low price!

The truth was, this was just another one of the tricks that the Hou auction house had to raise their reputation. They already knew that the clan heads would fight for the batches fiercely, and would get the price high enough regardless!

The tactic worked; the Hou auction house's image was getting higher! The commoners were all eager to buy so one person started the bidding.

"5050 gold!"

Soon after this man talked, much more people bid. All of them were bidding, yes, but they, as the poor people they are, couldn't add that much to the current price, instead, adding in increments of one gold.

"5051 gold!"

"5052 gold!"

"5053 gold!"

.....

"9050 gold!"

Liu Gong glanced around him, looking for movement from the other major clans. He, himself, was getting fed up with the farce the commoners were doing and sought to disrupt it himself. He wanted to know if any other clan heads were planning this because if there weren't, he would bid 20000 gold all at once making an extravagant entrance to the bidding!

There was no annoyance from the other clan heads, in fact, they seemed to be used at the sight of the commoners fighting with one gold! Liu Gong wasn't as patient as the rest of them, so he decided it was time to make his move. Just as a commoner was about to speak, he said his bid out loud.

"9143 gol-"

"20000 gold."

All of the attention was redirected to him. Almost everyone in the room looked at the direction the voice came from and wasn't surprised when they saw who the bidder was. It was the prideful Liu Gong! This kind of jump was only natural in the face of the major clans!

The major clan's heads and representatives who remained silent and docile at first suddenly became fierce in bidding!

"25000 gold!"

"27500 gold!"

"33000 gold!"

.....

"51000 gold!"

The price reached 51000 gold, an unprecedented amount! This was mainly because of the rivalry between the Liu and Lu clans, who upped each other every time one bid! Their momentum was only broken because the Zhou clan stepped in, bidding 51000 gold.

The Zhou clan brought a tremendous amount of money at this auction, wanting to buy every single one of the batches. They also made sure they threatened the minor clans and some of the major clans into not outbidding them. Their plan would go flawlessly if it wasn't for the three next major clans!

The Sun (孙) clan, the second of the eight major clans, wasn't far from the Zhou clan in terms of wealth. They had no intention of letting the Zhou clan dominate the auction.

"52000 gold."

This sudden bid took the Zhou clam by the surprise. The Zhou clan's representative had a grin on his face while thinking about what to do. So you want to do this, huh?

"53000 gold!"

Liu Gong bid again, really wanting to get the first batch! Seeing Liu Gong bid, the Lu clan knew that they couldn't just sit still and bid yet again!

"55000 gold!"

The four major clans duked it out, raising the bid by a thousand gold every time! The rest of the people inside the hall were green with envy from the wealth of the first four of the major clans. They wished they had money to spend like that!

"65000 gold!"

"70000 gold!"

The amount was skyrocketing, overwhelming the Hou clan. They saw the price of a single batch of the pills raise higher than most of the treasures they had auctioned! The Hou clan was satisfied with this result, even if they get none of the pills, they get most of the money earned from this!

"100000 gold!"

The Sun clan made the final bid. The Zhou, Lu, and Liu clans pulled back, aiming for the other batches instead. The price was much too high for only one batch, but the Sun clan looked like they didn't regret it. Rather, they were filled with glee, getting the first batch.

Everyone expected the Sun clan to shiver at the sight of the price they bid, so when they saw the smiling Sun clan representative, they thought that the Sun clan must have brought an incredible amount of money, much more than they thought the Sun clan brought in the first place!

"100000 gold going once, going twice, going thrice... sold! Congratulations to the Sun clan."

Yu Fang, too, was surprised at the huge price the first batch reached. The 100000 gold was already more than half of what the total of the first pills earned, and there was still 9 batches left! At this rate, the total would reach a diamond coin!

.....

The auction for the pills ended without a hitch. The 10 batches were sold for an amazing total of 735500 gold! The rough estimate Yu Fang thought wasn't reached though, it was 264 platinum and 500 gold coins short of a diamond coin.

Most of the batches ended up in the hands of the Zhou clan, as expected. The Sun clan only got 2 of the batches, while the Liu and Lu clans got a batch each. The rest of the clans didn't get one because they were either scared of the Zhou clan, or they had no budget to fight with them.

Yu Fang was delighted but expected something else to come: her avid fan. As disappointed as she was, she still felt like she had a duty to reward this avid fan after his performance the last auction. She didn't know who he was though, so she planned to learn his identity this auction. She remembered his voice, intending to look for him once he bid. The problem was, he didn't bid. How could she learn of this man's identity?

At the highest floor, Liu Gong was overjoyed he even got one of the batches. He was slapping his friend's back multiple times.

Li Fu was elated as well, thinking about how much his son earned. The last time, the cards were handed to him even though Li Bai visited the Hou auction house himself. He later found out that a riot occurred at the Hou auction house, and that Li Bai and Li Bao got caught up in it.

When he received the two cards, he felt the temptation of keeping the money to himself, but he didn't want to betray his son as well. In the end, he ended up handing the two cards to his son. Li Bai felt rather touched by this loyalty, so he imparted half of the wealth he amassed to his father.

Below them were Li Bao and Li Bai. Li Bao was thrilled to receive the money they gained. Li Bai, on the other hand, was depressed. He didn't even get so much a mention.

"What kind of auction is this, neglecting their sources?!"

He quietly sulked, sitting on his seat right next to the railings, burying his head in between his two hands.

Li Bao didn't get why her brother was depressed. Maybe he expected more money?

The last item in the auction was the pills, so when they were sold, the auction ended. Yu Fang had another announcement and pleaded the audience to stay for it.

"Please, wait, I have another announcement."

Just as the clan heads and the commoners were about to exit, they heard Yu Fang and were abruptly stopped in their tracks. Was it another pill galore? Was it something else?

"There will be another pill galore next week!"

Just when they thought they couldn't get more excited, Yu Fang suddenly announced another pill galore! Now, the question of who the source was had appeared in the minds of the people. Where in the world was the Hou auction house acquiring these pills?

Another question came with it. What pill was going to be sold? This was the most important part. Last auction, Marking Pills were sold, and this time, higher level pills, the Gem Light Pills, were sold. If the next pill to be sold was even higher level than the Gem Light Pills, then complete urgency to this matter was required. The Gem Light Pills were already pretty high up the pills, but if an even higher level pill appeared, that would be unprecedented.

"The pills to be sold next week... are the Rejuvenating Pills!"

Re-Rejuvenating Pills?! The Rejuvenating Pill? The Rejuvenating Pill was apparently an extremely coveted item amongst the clans. Even in other cities, this would be greatly desired by the nobles!

It was in the top 20 pills for its effects on the practitioner's body! Everyone knew that Earth energy was extremely valuable for cultivating, and the Rejuvenating Pill let one reuse it! This would be a great boost to the cultivation speed. One's cultivation speed would be tripled if it was of a vomit green color. But if it was of a pure blue color, the effects would be a hundred times stronger than the vomit green one!

The various clans wondered if the trend of pure blue pills was going to continue. If so, this would call for all of their money to even get one of the pills!

Everyone exited the Hou auction house with massive grins on their faces. Even the stern ones were all extremely elated! Of course, they would be, the Hou auction promised them Rejuvenating Pills! The last time, the Hou auction house declared that they would sell Gem Light Pills the next week. They followed through on that, so they should follow through on this one as well.

Li Bai and Li Bao, to avoid the situation that happened the last time, immediately went straight to Hou Ju's office to get the money. Sure enough, they were handed the cards and quickly sent off.

.....

Li Bai was crestfallen back in his bedroom.

"The pill plan didn't work, what do I do next?"