A Very High Shocking Price
“That sword must be something. Only its aura can be this extraordinary.” Zheng-Fu said while paying close attention to the sword on the auction stage…
“Right. I guess what Xiao-Jiang said wasn’t a joke.” Kong-Chang added…
“That’s a fine sword! The aura alone says enough. No need to demonstrate its power! Just tell us the price!” Gong-Sun-Tue shouted to let Xiao-Jiang continue the auction process. He wanted to know the starting price so badly, so he did not want to listen to any more information about the sword. Hearing that, Xiao-Jiang put down the sword and ordered the boys to put away the big stone. Then she turned to the audience and gave a very sweet smile to them…
“Gong-Sun-Tue boss has such a great eye! Of course, this sword was made of great iron. They injected the Monster Mind of the Eagle of the Wind in it when they made it too, so it makes this sword even more sharp and mighty.”
“The Monster Mind of the Eagle of the Wind!”
“The name of this sword is ‘The Eagle of the Wind’. The starting price is 5,000 monster crystal coins.”
“5,000 monster crystal coins!”
Everybody in the auction house was startled by the sword’s starting price. Even Zheng-Fu felt the same way. He would like to bid it himself, but he did not have the money to…such a big amount of money. He only had about 1,000 monster crystal coins. Even though he got more money from the pills that he auctioned, he still would not have enough…
“5,100 monster crystal coins!”
“5,500 monster crystal coins!”
“6,000 monster crystal coins!”
The sword’s price started to hike up so quickly. The people who were bidding for it now were Gong-Sun-Tue and some other millionaires. Other regular people did not have any chance to compete with the price, so they just sat back and enjoyed the show quietly…
“9,000 monster crystal coins!”
“Look! Gong-Sun-Tue continues to bid higher. His Guardian Clan is really rich.”
“Is there anyone else who would like to bid higher? If not, I’ll start to count now…”
“9,000 monster crystal coins, going once!”
“9,000 monster crystal coins, going twice!”
“9,000 monster crystal coins, going…”
“10,000 monster crystal coins!”
As Xiao-Jiang was about to close the bid for Gong-Sun-Tue, a voice indicating the purpose to compete further suddenly occurred. It was a much higher price too. The incident wiped Gong-Sun-Tue’s winning smile off his face instantaneously. It made him turn to look at the owner of that voice. Everybody did too…
“Who is he? Who is that guy?”
When Zheng-Fu turned to look at the source of that voice, he started to crinkle his eyebrows instantly because he knew that guy who just offered the higher bid very well. He knew the guy completely well too…
“That’s…!”
“Father!”
“Father!?”
The other guy who competed with Gong-Sun-Tue was Zheng-Fu’s very father, Kong-Shi…
“How come father is here? And why does he…? Wait!” Zheng-Fu then realized that Kong-Shi was not at the auction house alone. Hai-Gu and Hai-Gang were also with him. They were seated next to Kong-Shi. Kong-Chang also turned to Kong-Shi and felt shocked to realize that the guy was Zheng-Fu’s father. He turned back to look at Zheng-Fu and back at Kong-Shi again with utmost surprise and then asked…
“Is that your father, little Zheng-Fu?”
“That’s right, brother Kong-Chang. That’s my father!”
“Are you the son of the Master of the Sword of the Wind!?”
“The Master of the Sword of the Wind!?”
Zheng-Fu looked at Kong-Chang bedazzlingly. He never heard anyone call his father the Master of the Sword of the Wind before. He did not know where the name came from, so he asked, “Why are you calling my father that?” Kong-Chang was confused by Zheng-Fu’s startled facial expression, so he crinkled his eyebrows and asked, “Don’t you know that your father is the Master of the Sword of the Wind?” Kong-Chang stared at Zheng-Fu as if he could not believe that Zheng-Fu did not know that fact about his father. Zheng-Fu started to shake his head showing Kong-Chang that he never knew his father by that name before…
“I never knew that before. My father never told me that.”
“Oh my… Did you know that your father was tremendously superb? I saw him in many duels when I was very young. I remember that he could be very quick with his sword. It was so fast like a wind that bare eyes could not catch. He could defeat nine martial artists in a roll. But it was too bad that he asked to surrender in the final round. No one knew why he did that. But anyway, the fight that day gave him the name ‘The Master of the Sword of the Wind of In-See City’.”
Zheng-Fu paid close attention to the story about his father that Kong-Chang told him. His father never told him about his story. He started to wonder why his father never told him the story about himself…
“That’s the Master of the Sword of the Wind!?”
“The Master of the Sword of the Wind? Who’s he? I’ve never heard of him.”
“You guys don’t know him because you’ve just moved here. There was a big martial arts event in this city eight years ago. The guy used a sword skill that was very quick as a wind to defeat nine people in a roll in that event, but it’s too bad that…”
“Nine defeats! But what is too bad?”
“It’s too bad that all of a sudden he asked to surrender in the final round. And he never entered any fight after that day. I heard that the leader of the Iron Eagle Guardian Clan, Gong-Sun-Tue, got defeated by him too!”
“Gong-Sun-Tue got defeated by him too!? How could that be? He is very strong like that.”
“It’s hard to explain. You were not there that day and I can’t tell it exactly as it happened.”
“Wait!”
Everybody started to chat like crazy as soon as they knew who offered the higher bid against Gong-Sun-Tue. This was because a lot of people in that room still remembered well about Kong-Shi in the fighting ring that day…
Hai-Gu: “It looks like you’re still a big shot, brother!”
Kong-Shi: “It’s not like that. They just still remember me and that day.”
There was a face that did not show that kind of admiration for Kong-Shi at one of the corners of that auction room. The person looked at Kong-Shi with a thoughtful gaze before standing up and cupped his fists then bowed to Kong-Shi quietly and then said…
“Greeting, the Master of the Sword of the Wind. It’s been a long time. How have you been?”
Kong-Shi: “Oh. Greeting, Gong-Sun-Tue, sir. It’s been eight years now since the last time we met. I’ve been fine. How about you?”
Gong-Sun-Tue: I’m well. So, it looks like you want that sword. Let me step away and give the sword to you. Just think of it as something to welcome you back to this city. It’s my pleasure to see you here…
Kong-Shi: “Thank you very much, Gong-Sun-Tue, sir…”
“Well, if Gong-Sun-Tue insists, then this sword goes to Kong-Shi with the price of 10,000 monster crystal coins.” Xiao-Jiang quickly closed the bid as Gong-Sun-Tue let Kong-Shi have the sword. Zheng-Fu continued to look at his father from where he was sitting. Kong-Shi, Hai-Gu, and Hai-Gang were not aware of him there. They all just had the determination to come to the auction to bid for that sword for Zheng-Fu…
After being successful in bidding for the sword, they all left the vicinity right away because they had what they intended to come for…
Kong-Shi: “Let’s get back! I’m afraid that I won’t be able to catch up with Zheng-Fu…”
“Okay!”
Gong-Sun-Tue: “Are you leaving? So soon…”
Kong-Shi: “I have to excuse myself because I have something to take care of…”
Gong-Sun-Tue: “Well, hope you have a safe trip back then. If you are free, please come visit our Iron Eagle Guardian Clan office. You’re welcome as always, sir…”
Kong-Shi: “Thank you Gong-Sun-Tue, sir. I’ll drop by your office. Now, please excuse me!”
After the conversation with Gong-Sun-Tue, Kong-Shi and the group left the scene immediately. Zheng-Fu who was sitting next to Kong-Chang did not say anything but looked at what happened. He had the thought that his father would not want to see him in that place…
“Aren’t you going to go after them, little Zheng-Fu?”
“Well, no. I think they have to be somewhere and do some other things. Besides, we need to continue to attend the auction. I wanted to know how much my pills are going to give me.” Zheng-Fu said calmly and looked back up to the stage…
*Is he really eight years old? Why do I feel like he is older than his age? His gestures and words make him completely different from other regular kids.* Kong-Chang thought quietly and felt strange about Zheng-Fu at the same time…
The auction was being carried out onward. Zheng-Fu’s pills were bid successfully. The second set of his pills could be sold at 1,500 monster crystal coins. Gong-Sun-Tue was the one who bid for them. He needed a lot of pills because he was the owner of a clan that offered protection. So, it was unavoidable that his people would get hurt from performing the protections. The clan needed loads of this kind of pills…
“Our auction’s about to be done. I hope everyone is pleased with the items that we’ve brought for you today.” Xiao-Jiang said with a sweet smile to all the gentlemen in front of the stage. After that, she sent a signal to order her worker to carry a small wooden box out and place it on the table in front of her. Right after the wooden box was placed on the table, about five strong workers rushed out to guard that box…
“What’s going on there?”
“Who are those people?”
“That must be something very valuable and those people must be martial artists that this auction house hires. They probably come to guard the box. They must be at the mid-level of the Foundation Building stage.” Zheng-Fu said after seeing many powerful martial artists gathered around the stage. That made Kong-Chang surprised. He never thought that Zheng-Fu knew anything about martial arts…
“Please don’t be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen! These martial artists work for our auction house. We asked them to come up to the stage to protect the item that we are about to show you.”
“Protection!? What’s that item? Does it need this much protection?”
When Xiao-Jiang’s protectors stationed around the item, Xiao-Jiang walked towards the wooden box at the table instantly and opened it. As soon as the box was opened, a wonderful smell was sent out all over the auction room. It was an herbal smell that came from the herbal medicine within the box…
“That’s…!”
Zheng-Fu stood up instantly as he saw what was inside the box. He felt confused and in shock tremendously and then he turned to Kong-Chang in a bid to ask for some kind of an explanation…
“Brother Kong-Chang! How come the pill is up there?”
Kong-Chang did not know how to react to that because it also beat him. He did not know what to say to Zheng-Fu, so he just stared down and then said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know how the pill got there.”
“You don’t know?”
“Yeah!”
Zheng-Fu checked if Kong-Chang lied to him, but then he knew that Kong-Chang absolutely had no idea too…
“It’s alright if you don’t know. But how did it get there?” When Zheng-Fu finished the sentence, he went back to look at the yellow pill in the box with the utmost suspicion. That was the exact pill that he produced…
“The pill that you are witnessing is of the third rank, ladies and gentlemen!”
“The third-rank pill!”
Everybody in that auction room got excited because they got to enjoy the presence of the pills from both the second and third ranks within one day. That third-rank pill smelled so profoundly wonderful. Merely smelling it in made everybody energetic…
“Ladies and gentlemen! We got a hold of this pill from the Association of the Alchemists. The power of this pill is to help increase your body strength while healing your torn muscles. It can also help unclog your meridians. The pill is called the ‘Strengthening Amber’!”
“Strengthening Amber!?”
Zheng-Fu did not expect to see all this. They even came up with the name for the pill that he produced. This move from the association could only mean that they stole his work from him. Now Zheng-Fu looked at the pill with extreme fury…
*If they could do this to me, then they can’t expect that I would give them the formula.*
Kong-Chang noticed how furious Zheng-Fu was at the moment. He did not know what to say to Zheng-Fu because he also thought that the association should not have done this. Zheng-Fu was the one who produced that pill, but the association stole and sold it. They even gave the pill the name…
“The starting price of this pill is 30,000 monster crystal coins!”
“30,000 monster crystal coins!?”
“Who would be able to bid for that? The price is too high!”
“Yeah! Who would…?”
“31,000 monster crystal coins!”
Bidders started to give their prices amid the controversial comments about the pill’s high price…
“32,000 monster crystal coins!”
“33,000 monster crystal coins!”
“35,000 monster crystal coins!”
“Who are those people? I’ve never seen them before.”
The bidders of the ‘Strengthening Amber’ were the people who had been sitting quietly since the beginning of the auction. They hid under their hats. And they never broke silence until the auction of this third-rank pill started…
“Who are those people? How come we had never seen them in this city before.”
“37,000 monster crystal coins!”
The bidding price of the ‘Strengthening Amber’ continued to increase constantly from those mysterious men. The action stirred the auction room like no one prepared for it. No one knew where they were from, not even Gong-Sun-Tue. But what Gong-Sun-Tue knew was that he could feel the intense energy from them…