Chapter 39: Selling the Map
Qian Duoduo opened the pill bottle and poured out a golden, smooth pill into his hand. He gently sniffed it, the fresh pill fragrance making him look intoxicated. He thought to himself that, as expected, a person who wraps things so securely must have good goods on hand.
Qian Duoduo showed an excited expression. He was not far from breaking through the marrow cleansing Stage and needed to collect resources for the breakthrough as soon as possible. The Spirit Gathering Pill came just in time.
He poured out all the pills and carefully counted them, finding ten in total. He couldn't help but be slightly moved.
The Spirit Gathering Pill was not an ordinary pill. Even if there were a hundred other types of pills, they wouldn't surprise him as much.
But the Spirit Gathering Pill was different. It was the most difficult pill to refine among its kind, with an exaggerated difficulty in refining, making mass production impossible.
Usually, seeing one pill would be considered good luck. Now, seeing ten at once, this was definitely not the work of an ordinary alchemist.
Qian Duoduo's expression turned somewhat serious as he asked, "How many Spirit Gathering Pills do you intend to auction?"
Long Xuan had no intention of being low-key and directly said, "Not many, just four bottles, ten pills per bottle!"
Qian Duoduo was taken aback, showing a shocked expression. Forty Spirit Gathering Pills and he still called it "not many"? Then what would be considered many? This revealed an astonishing fact: an alchemist who could produce so many Spirit Gathering Pills must have a very high success rate in pill refinement.
If he could achieve such a high success rate in refining Spirit Gathering Pills, then his grade must be quite high.A conservative estimate would be a third-grade alchemist, possibly even a fourth-grade alchemist.
Qian Duoduo's pupils contracted, his heart filled with extreme shock. A fourth-grade alchemist was so prestigious that there wasn't even a third-grade alchemist in the entire Far West. It was unimaginable how noble a fourth-grade alchemist's status was, definitely not someone he could afford to offend.
At this moment, he had already imagined that there must be a high-grade alchemy master behind this person, making him handle the situation cautiously.
"So, you're a high disciple of a fourth-grade alchemist. I apologize for my disrespect. Rest assured, I will sell your master's Spirit Gathering Pills for the highest price," Qian Duoduo said with a hint of respect in his tone, but still probing.
He couldn't figure out who the master behind this person was, nor did he know whether he was a third-grade or fourth-grade alchemist, so he tried to test him.
If he said something wrong, the other party might refute or show some change in expression.
However, when Qian Duoduo looked at his face, he found it covered tightly, with no expression visible.
Long Xuan certainly wouldn't refute. He was happy for Qian Duoduo to misunderstand, the more, the better.
"The price should be whatever it should be. No need to force it. My master doesn't care about such small amounts of money," Long Xuan said tactfully. Considering the astonishing price of the Spirit Gathering Pills, if this was considered small money, it further emphasized that his master was not ordinary.
"In fact, my purpose today is not to sell Spirit Gathering Pills. I have a map marking an unowned fossil mine vein. I'm here to auction this map. My map is surely enough to be the highlight of today's auction, right?" Long Xuan said arrogantly, raising his voice unintentionally so that everyone in the hall could hear.
He wished for as many people as possible to hear, the more publicity, the better he could sell.
Moreover, the more people knew, the less likely the auction house would withhold the map in front of everyone.
Even though he trusted the constraint of the Integrity Gu, he believed in handling everything cautiously.
Sure enough, as soon as he said this, everyone in the hall turned to look in this direction. The hall instantly fell silent, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
Everyone couldn't stay calm upon hearing this news. They all perked up their ears, focusing their attention here.
An unowned fossil mine vein could create wealth worth billions of spirit stones, possibly taking hundreds of years to exhaust.
And you could acquire it at a cost far below a billion spirit stones. No matter how many spirit stones you spent, it would be a guaranteed profit in the long run, and a massive one at that.
If a family could control a fossil mine vein, the wealth generated could make the family prosper for a thousand years, even elevating them from a weak family to a powerful one.
In the face of such temptation, who wouldn't be envious and excited?
The eyes of everyone in the hall lit up with greed, and they began to notify their families as quickly as possible.
After a brief silence, the hall soon became chaotic again, with people occasionally running outside frantically.
Qian Duoduo's breathing also became rapid, his round face flushed. Seeing forty Spirit Gathering Pills was enough to shock him, but what came next was even more astonishing.
Someone was actually auctioning a map marking the location of a fossil mine vein. He had never seen anyone sell such coordinates at an auction before; it was simply crazy, and he was stunned by such a big business deal.
This was more than just a highlight; even if the value of all the auction items combined, they wouldn't compare to a fraction of the fossil mine vein.
The value of an unowned fossil mine vein was staggering. As someone who sold such things, he knew all too well the enormous profit it could generate. It was something to acquire at all costs.
If it weren't for the Integrity Gu and his last name being Qian, he would have snatched the map without hesitation.
At this moment, the excited voice of Miss Qian Jinjin rang in his mind.
Qian Jinjin used soul transmission to say, "Don't get any bad ideas. Arrange the auction as quickly as possible. We can't give those big families time to sell their properties!"
Qian Duoduo immediately understood her meaning.
Seizing the auction items for themselves was against the rules and violated the Integrity Gu.
But openly bidding for them at the auction was perfectly legitimate.
After all, no one had ever said that auction houses could only sell and not participate in bidding.
The most important thing now was to act fast, not giving those big families time to prepare funds. The allure of a fossil mine vein could indeed make those families sell their properties.
The auction price would skyrocket, so they had to act swiftly and get the map before those families could react.
Thinking this, Qian Duoduo dared not delay any longer and immediately said, "What a coincidence, there's an auction happening soon, and we're in need of a highlight. This auction item can definitely be the highlight, solving my urgent need."
"However, it's the first time we're auctioning the location of an unowned mine vein, and we have no precedent to refer to, making it hard to verify its authenticity."
"Although going directly to the mine vein site would easily verify its authenticity, the value of the information lies in its exclusivity. Once we know the location, we can take over the mine vein directly, making the map worthless. I believe this is your concern, and you wouldn't hand over the complete map."
"How about this: you don't need to give us the map. When there's a buyer, you can hand the map directly to them."
"But to gain the buyer's trust, we'll use the Integrity Gu's ability in front of everyone. What do you think?" Qian Duoduo said with a smile.
In any other auction house, this kind of transaction couldn't be carried out. The seller wouldn't reveal the mine vein's location, and without it, they couldn't verify the authenticity, creating an unsolvable loop.
But at the Qian Clan commerce Association, it was easily solved. The Integrity Gu had the ability to detect lies.
There was no need to travel far to verify the location, and they didn't have the time for that. Speed was essential; any delay of ten days or half a month would cause great trouble.