Chapter 70: The Mysterious Stone Orb (II)
The booth had a surface of 100 square meters with a brown carpet lying on the floor; stepping on it gave a comfortable feeling. It was elegantly decorated; green plants were placed on both sides, and a semi-circular white sofa dominated the center of the room Even if ten or more people sat down, it still would not feel crowded. On the right side were transparent windows of crystal through which the auction platform could be clearly seen.
On the small table in front of the sofa were various kinds of fruits and desserts.
Lin Xin started to speak: “Brother Long, you two beautiful women, please sit, please sit. Xiao Nuo, bring two bottles of Sweet Nectar Red Devil.”
“Right away.” Xiao Nuo revealed a sweet smile, and left while closing the door.
Lin Xin sat beside Long Hao Chen, and told him: “Brother Long, do you still have other magical beasts to sell? It doesn’t matter whether they are dead or alive. It’s too hard nowadays to find magical beasts 1 like your Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon. Truthfully, I needed it very urgently this time.”
Long Hao Chen shook his head, giving his reply: “I only had this mutated-magical beast from the demon race to sell. What do you need the body of this Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon for?” In regard to alchemy, he was very curious.
Lin Xin faintly laughed, and said: “Take a look.” With a red glint, a crystal vial appeared, and three scarlet red pills could be seen through the crystal.
“These are energy pills I made. One of the main materials is the powder milled from the shell of a Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon. It is an excellent item!”
Long Hao Chen was surprised, “Energy pill? What is it used for? Can it increase external spiritual energy?”
Lin Xin mysteriously shook his head, and answered: “You will know in just a few minutes. The auction is about to start, let’s watch.”
Xiao Nuo entered the booth once more, with two bottles of fruit wine. She placed them down, before calmly pouring a cup for each person. Clearly, it was the Sweet Nectar Red Devil that Lin Xin had spoken of a little earlier.
“Taste it, this thing is not bad, it’s a specialty in the south.” After he lifted and drank a cup, his eyes turned towards the auction platform.
Long Hao Chen lifted a cup as well, but as soon as he drank a gulp, bitterness hit his tongue, and a heavily scented fruit taste completely filled his mouth, spreading its flavor all around. An overly warm feeling entered his stomach, before quickly spreading throughout the rest of his body.
Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu sat on the side, looking at Lin Xin and Long Hao Chen conversing. After drinking a single gulp of this Sweet Nectar Red Devil, their looks changed completely. It had been the first time Long Hao Chen had seen this sort of fruit wine, however this wasn’t the case for the two girls. Lin Jia Lu’s father had a bottle in his collection, and kept it as a treasure that he was unwilling to drink. This Sweet Nectar Red Devil was said to be made using the sweet nectar of a type of rose flower, after it had been passed through 99 processes; only 20 bottles were produced every year. Lin Xin had actually gone as far as to take out such a treasure to entertain them.
In fact, the cup of Sweet Nectar Red Devil in their hand had cost even more than the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon Long Hao Chen just sold. This fellow was really too wealthy.
On the auction platform, a beautiful woman led the auction. At this moment, the number of people seated outside had increased by at least fifty percent.
The auctioneer was gorgeous. Dressed in a long pure-red-colored skirt, tall and well developed with her long black hair fluttering behind. She gave the feeling of someone capable and experienced. Walking to the center of the platform, she lifted up both her arms, and slightly bowed. Her gentle and beautiful voice was extremely pleasant to listen to, “To all guests coming from Aimei City, Welcome to this auction house of the Holy Union. My name is Xing Xuan and I am pleased to serve each of our honoured guests present today.”
Cheering voices resounded, and whistling sounds could be heard everywhere. Clearly, this auctioneer was very welcoming.
“Now, let’s see our first article.” The auctioneer didn’t excessively stir up the crowd with her speech, but rather directly acclaimed and saluted the participants before directly entering the main event.
Seated beside Long Hao Chen was Lin Xin, his eyes completely flowery, “Sister Xing Xuan is still so beautiful, she’s truly classy! If not for the fact that I am only 18 years-old, I would definitely try to woo her. Little brother Long, what do you think of her? Beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Mh.” Long Hao Chen lowered his head, flustered.
Another attendant, dressed similarly to Xiao Nuo, appeared, approaching the platform while pushing a cart containing something covered by a red cloth.
Xing Xuan smiled and said: “We think everyone here has guessed which article we will be auctioning first; it is in fact the goods of our mysterious ‘master Lin’. A lot of people have been asking me how they can buy master Lin’s pills. Now, I will give you all the answer. Master Lin is working together with our auction house and selling all of his pills through us. It means you won’t be able find these anywhere else.”
Long Hao Chen almost immediately looked at Lin Xin next to him, “Is she speaking about you?”
Lin Xin answered quite proudly: “I am precisely this master Lin! Being young is truly great! Outside, even if I say that I am the one who made this pill, no one will believe me. But this is for the best, it would be too troublesome if my identity were to be known after all.”
Long Hao Chen was quite surprised, “Are you saying that you aren’t worried that I might tell others? We’ve just met after all.”
Lin Xin, full of mysteries, smiled: “Of course I’m not worried. Let’s take a look at the auction.”
The red cloth was uncovered, and a beautiful bottle made of crystal appeared on the golden cart. The view from the booth was quite good, and Long Hao Chen could see with a glance that this crystal bottle contained a red pill, exactly the same energy pill as the ones Lin Xin had shown him earlier. However, this bottle only contained one of them.
“This is an item produced by master Lin, the Jade Body Protection Pill: a pill at the peak of the third step’s level. After using it, for a quarter of an hour, the external spiritual energy dedicated to the body’s defense will be increased by 500 units. The skin of the user will became as hard as steel, and it will improve physical attacks as well as magical ones. This is not the first time the Jade Body Protection Pill has been up for sale, so I won’t say much to introduce it. In the battlefield, possessing a pill of this kind is almost equivalent to having another life. The starting price will be a thousand gold coins. Each bid must be at least 50 gold coins higher than the previous.”
The external spiritual energy dedicated to the body’s defense could be increased by 500 units? Even if this amplified spiritual energy couldn’t be used to attack, what did 500 extra units of external spiritual energy imply? It implied that almost any attack of the fourth step or lower could be rendered ineffective. To top it off, this effect lasted for a quarter of an hour.
Long Hao Chen was somewhat affected but Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu were completely astonished. The value of such a little pill, was a thousand gold coins! No wonder magical alchemy was known as the most lucrative vocation. This master Lin was truly extraordinary.
Quickly, bids were called one after another, and after a moment, the price of this Jade Body Protection Pill reached 1500 gold coins.
Long Hao Chen’s heartbeat quickened; this auctioneer Xing Xuan was right. By having such a pill, as long as he wasn’t facing powerful enemies above the fourth step, it was equivalent to having another life. Essentially, if he had had one of these pills when he faced the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon, he wouldn’t have ended up so wounded.
Ultimately, the pill was auctioned for the price of 1800 gold coins.
Lin Xin seemed unsatisfied of this price, “Only 1800? It was sold for 2000 last time. It looks like I should sell less of this product to increase the value. This master shouldn’t spread them like beans, making them easier to get. Brother Long, would you like to make a deal with me?”
Long Hao Chen’s heart skipped a bit, “What kind of deal?”
Lin Xin revealed a smile and took out a crystal bottle with three Jade Body Protection Pills, progressively reaching it out towards Long Hao Chen, explaining: “You only need to answer a question, and these Jade Body Protection Pills are for you.”
1. refers to the fact the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon is actually a mutated magical beast