Chapter 975: You Shouldn’t Repeat the Same Mistake More than Three Times
Sun Ji and Yang Long, who were in a terrible mood from what had just happened, had been planning to leave before setting up a trap for Zu An outside to get revenge. But when they heard that, they both stopped.
“What’s wrong, Elder Yang?” Sun Ji asked out of curiosity when he saw how Yang Long was acting.
“A legendary Immortal Beheading Knife…” Yang Long was stirred up. He didn’t bother replying to Sun Ji and instead stared at the case in the gorgeous hostess’ hands.
Zu An was stunned. Immortal Beheading Knife? Shi Kun had wanted to use them to turn him into a cripple back then in the Eastern Palace, but he had ended up taking them for himself. He hadn’t expected to run into them again here! If I’m not mistaken, I got four from Shi Kun, right?
Chubby Senior had already leapt to the center stage. The Immortal Beheading Knives were extremely precious, and after what had just happened, he needed to remain present to prevent any further disorder from happening.
But there was no lack of individuals with extensive knowledge among the audience. “The legendary knives that can cut down even immortals? How can something like that exist in the world? Even if such things did exist, how could your Hub of Freedom be willing to sell them in this auction?”
The gorgeous hostess snapped out of her daze and explained with a smile, “What this guest says is correct. The Immortal Beheading Knives have always been legends, rumored to be able to even kill immortals. However, our Hub of Freedom managed to procure one of them through a trustworthy source. As for everyone’s confusion, I can explain. A complete set of Immortal Beheading Knives consists of nine blades, and only when all nine come together can their legendary power be revealed. Today, only one of the nine is being auctioned.”
She took out a delicate sandalwood case from the hands of a servant. She gently opened the case with her slender and fine fingers, revealing a small and exquisite throwing knife inside. It didn’t look too different from an ordinary throwing knife. Even the blade didn’t seem too deadly and threatening, almost as if it hadn’t been sharpened.
“It doesn’t look all that special,” someone said mockingly. Many others immediately parroted what he said. They were clearly rather suspicious of the thing as well.
The gorgeous hostess explained, “Even though this dagger isn’t complete and can’t display its full power, it still has special properties. It can inflict tremendous harm to the target. Without having any rare medicines to treat those wounds, one might just never recover for the rest of one’s life.”
The mysterious man in the black robes Zu An had noticed before harrumphed. “An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to hurt a master rank even if they had this thing. As for someone at the master rank, they naturally have their own ways to attack the enemy’s soul. This thing isn’t all that useful at all.”
Those who had been getting excited began to nod inwardly when they heard that reminder. It indeed made sense… Even though this thing seemed great, it wasn’t necessarily all that useful. As for collecting nine of them, that was just a pipe dream. When had anyone ever managed to do something like that in previous centuries and millennia? Just a single one was already rare enough, let alone collecting nine of them.
Seeing that the auction was proceeding in an unfavorable direction, the gorgeous hostess was starting to panic as well. However, the fact that she had been chosen for had position meant that she was extremely skilled in her own right. She quickly said, “This knife is still useful in dealing with cultivators beneath the master rank. Even though ordinary cultivators cannot condense a soul, the soul will always be closely related to cultivation. If one is hurt by this dagger, one’s cultivation path might be eternally cut short. One will be unable to make any progress for the rest of one’s life.”
Zu An was amazed by the woman’s extensive knowledge. However, ite was also quite cruel. Wasn’t she implying to everyone present that this was a weapon that could completely cripple a cultivator, to prevent one from ever making any more progress?
Sure enough, the onlookers started breathing heavily.
“I’ll pay two hundred thousand taels of silver. I want this dagger.” Someone spoke up first and raised his sign.
Zu An saw that the sign was made of iron. The person was probably just an ordinary participant of the auction. He hadn’t expected even the most ordinary member of the auction to be able to so easily declare a price of two hundred thousand! It was easy to see just how deep the Hub of Freedom’s influence ran from that.
The gorgeous hostess smiled and said, “I apologize, but this dagger’s starting price is five hundred thousand taels of silver. The bid increments will have to be ten thousand at the very least.”
Those present roared with laughter when they heard that. The one who had called out that price sat back down in embarrassment.
Zu An frowned. He had four Immortal Beheading Knives on him at present, so for him, this knife’s significance was much greater than it was for the others. But even the starting price was already five hundred thousand, so who knew how expensive it would be in the end!?
He had won several million silvers from Silverhook Casino in the past, but that was just a number; he couldn't collect that debt at all. In the end, he had given the debt note to Brightmoon Academy to be managed by Jiang Luofu. Tsk tsk, that Jiang Luofu got so many benefits from me. I’m going to make sure she gets it if she ever marries someone else!
He had won around a million silvers from the Zheng clan’s casino as well. They still owed him a few hundred thousand too! Forget it; Dandan has already compensated me with her body, so I won’t bicker over something like that.
That was why he’d only had six hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver from Brightmoon City. But after purchasing all sorts of pills and ingredients, he had used up a lot of that. There was also that skill ‘Befriend a Rich Man’; that skill was just too much of a scam! It had never done much for him whenever he used it, so he had decided he would never use that stupid skill again. Hmph!
But he had actually obtained quite a few rewards through his service and nobility in the capital. Adding all of that together, he would likely have around four hundred thousand on hand.
It’s still my honey Linglong who knows how to treasure me the most. She always remembers to reward me with the palace’s wealth whenever she can.
Oh yeah, I should pay the empress a few more visits. Leaving such a huge sugar mommy alone would really be too much of a waste. I worked so hard before; I can’t just let her get away without any proper compensation.
Together with the two hundred thousand he had just received from selling that chrysanthemum sapphire, he had a total of six hundred thousand at the moment. Of course, he had the red dragon’s treasury from before too. Those items were all worth around two hundred thousand a pop. If he needed them, he could take some out to auction off too.
But of course, he only had six hundred thousand in cash at the moment. Zu An felt a bit of a headache. He had thought that he actually had some money before, and yet after coming here, he discovered that just that bit of money wasn’t enough at all!
Someone quickly placed another bid.
“Five hundred and ten thousand!”
“Five hundred and twenty thousand!”
…
“This guest has bid five hundred and fifty thousand; are there any more bids? Five hundred and fifty going once, going twice…” The gorgeous host was getting a bit nervous. After all, she was caught quite off guard by the low bids.
Unfortunately, no one responded. The bids on the starting items were rather reserved. After all, even though the knife was somewhat useful, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking. A couple hundred thousand was no small number, so they had to consider things carefully before spending a ton of money.
Furthermore, they had all received rumors that something extremely good was going to appear in the auction that day. If they used up all their money already, things would get troublesome later.
Zu An was surprised to see that scene. After thinking about it for a bit, he decided to just outright place a six hundred thousand bid. Otherwise, the price might climb even higher, so he thought it might be better to place a high bid to scare off competitors.
Sure enough, when the others heard his price, they all hesitated. They didn’t decide to place another bid. The knife was indeed just an interesting toy. Furthermore, that 333 was quite a vicious person. They had personally seen how miserable he had made Sun Ji. There was no need to offend him for no reason.
The gorgeous hostess’ eyes lit up. Her eyes were shining as she looked toward Zu An and said, “Guest number 333 has placed a bid of six hundred thousand. Does anyone wish to bid higher?”
She thought to herself, Even though this young man is masked, his stature is tall and upright. His entire body gives off a carefree and confident feeling. Compared to these other big-bellied jade token guests, he’s much more charming.
Faced with the tender-hearted smile of the gorgeous hostess, Zu An smiled in return, but he didn’t think too much about it. He knew fully well that these kinds of women were just too good at acting. He wasn’t some naive little boy, so there was no way he would let himself be swept away by something like that.
“Six hundred thousand going once, going twice, going three times…” The gorgeous hostess was all smiles as she looked at Zu An. Suddenly, a voice interrupted her.
“Six hundred and fifty thousand!”
Those present followed the source of the sound. They saw Sun Ji standing by the window. They immediately knew what was going on. Sun Ji had been humiliated earlier, so he wanted to use this chance to redeem himself.
Zu An frowned. He said calmly, “Six hundred and sixty thousand.”
“Seven hundred thousand!” Sun Ji felt amazing when he saw Zu An’s quiet appearance. You shouldn’t have provoked this young master!
“Seven hundred and ten thousand,” Zu An said expressionlessly.
“Seven hundred and fifty thousand!” Sun Ji thought that Zu An must really want the throwing knife! I’ll be doing my hatred for you an injustice if I don’t raise the price a bit!
He had already made his decision. He was going to give up after the other party raised the price once more. After all, it already wasn’t a small price to pay. He felt amazing just thinking about how frustrated the other party would be that he had to pay an extra two hundred thousand silvers.
But Zu An instead said with a smile, “Since young master Sun is so fond of this toy, then I’ll be the mature one and yield to young master Sun.”
Sun Ji was speechless.
Isn’t the proverb that you shouldn’t repeat the same mistake more than three times? You haven’t done it a third time yet!