BXBX NOVEL Chapter 172 What Is Your Price?
"204 ores weighing 29 dings! Does anyone have a better offer?"
Ikasa knew that it was impossible to surpass that bid individually, but if others also joined hands then it was possible. He looked at others waiting for them to come to this conclusion.
The young man prolonged his count as he waited for the last minute negotiations to end amongst his customers.
"29 dings of Prime Gold Ore! Going once…..!"
The Elder of the Sui family became anxious as he also started to convince more people to sell him their ore.
"I will give you 500 gold for every 1 ding of Ore."
"Sell it to me. I will buy it for 600 gold."
Another elder of some renown interjected. Elder Sui glared at him and gritted his teeth before he announced his final offer to other Sense Trainers.
"650 Gold for each ding!"
His offer was truly extravagant. Outside, anyone would hardly pay 400 gold. And this was the price offered by the powers trading with merchants of the other Empires!
Ikasa smirked at the desperation shown by the old Elders of various powers. Initially, he planned to buy the Prime Gold Ore from the losers of the auction. Now, he didn't need to.
The people here were spending their gold coins from their purse and putting them in his pocket indirectly!
He continued the count to increase the pressure.
"29 Dings of Prime Gold Ore! Going twice…!"
The murmurs and whispers hastened and became urgent.
Elder Sui's offer of 650 Gold was too tempting to pass on for most Cultivators. The unaffiliated and smaller powers had realized by now that they stood no chance individually. So, they decided to sell a favor to the Elders of powers close to their home Cities.
Ikasa soon heard a bid challenging Elder Sui.
"214 ores weighing 30 dings!"
It came from the Elder who was the swiftest to reach the tree. Elder Xiao belonged to the Xiao Family of Ebony City. To prevent himself from getting evicted, he had abandoned his posse and disguised himself as a wandering cultivator.
"30 dings of Prime Gold Ore! Going once!"
Ikasa loudly trumpeted the number. His eyes looked at Elder Sui, the previous highest bidder. He noticed the Elder's discomfort from the disturbances in his stable energy outline.
And as he expected, the Elder Sui responded to the challenge.
"32 Dings!"
He bellowed looking down on all the other competitors. The atmosphere had become heated from the auction.
"32 Dings of Prime Gold ore for a Golden Bell Fruit! Going once!"
Ikasa fanned the fire. All of these old fogies wanted to live longer and advance further in their cultivation. However, few people had the resources and the means to do so. Those few were the only ones left in the race now.
Ikasa immediately heard the next bid.
"33 Dings!"
"34 dings.."
"35 Dings.."
"36 Dings.."
The two competitors bid and counter bid without letting Ikasa start the countdown. As the beneficiary, Ikasa was happy to let their egos clash.
"51 Dings!"
Elder Sui did not play around anymore and revealed his hand. This was the maximum he had been able to gather. It was his hard limit. If Elder Xiao challenged this bid, he had to concede.
Elder Xiao looked at the other Elder with hatred. He only had 48 Dings of Prime Gold ore. There was no way he could bid for more!
When the silence reigned, Ikasa understood that this was the maximum he would get for his fruit. He did not dawdle and completed the countdown.
"51 Dings, going once!"
"51 Dings, going twice!"
"51 Dings, going thrice!"
"And sold!"
The atmosphere became tense when he announced the completion of sale.
Ikasa approached Elder Sui and checked the weight of the ores. Satisfied, he directed the Elder to Feng Yan's location.
Once the Elder Sui disappeared from their sight, it was time to harvest the Ores from the losers.
"Elder, the Gold Heart Business Group would like to purchase the ores in your hand."
Ikasa bowed slightly, greeting the Elder with respect. Just this simple gesture increased his favorability with the Elder.
Had someone arrogant like the lackey of He Family or that stooge of Mu Shi approached him, the Elder would have vented his frustrations on them violently and rejected them outright.
However, Elder Xiao was willing to hear Ikasa's offer since he showed him respect.
"We will take the Prime Gold ores from your hand for 400 gold per ding."
Elder Xiao's face fell. He had spent 600 Gold per ding to buy the ore. And now he was being asked to sell them at a loss of 200 Gold!
"Didn't you see me buy them at a price of 600 gold for a ding?"
The Elder hissed with fury. Ikasa was not at all affected by it.
"Elder, you know what the market price of this ore is. Others would hardly pay 300 gold for it but I am already offering you the ceiling price out of respect."
Ikasa's magnetic voice persuaded the Elder. The words he spoke were nothing but the truth. But Elder Xiao could not reconcile suffering a loss of 200 gold per ding.
He had brought 34 dings of additional ores from his fellow Sense Trainers. If he accepted Ikasa's deal, that meant he would suffer a loss of 6800 gold immediately!
Ikasa understood the mental struggle Elder Xiao was going through. He played the devil's advocate and painted an even worse scenario.
"Elder Xiao, you will lose more than 200 gold per ding if you sell to others. If you don't sell at all, you will lose 600 ding per ore. So why not accept my offer?"
His words resonated with the Elder and his stance wavered.
"I…."
Before he could complete his sentence, an arrogant voice interrupted.
"I will purchase the ore for 405 Gold coins per ding!"
Ikasa pursed his lips when he heard the voice. He didn't even need to turn his head to see who was the speaker.
The arrogant tone devoid of respect and lack of sense to not interrupt a conversation. Who else could it be but a He Family's lackey?
The speaker walked over to the conversing pair of Ikasa and Elder Xiao. Ikasa and Elder Xiao took a look at him and noticed he was not alone.
He was followed by more people from the He Family as symbolized by their yellowish brown outlines.
'These rock-heads! Do they have pebbles for their brains? Why can't they be more like the fourth Elder He Ling and less like He Ding?'
Ikasa cursed them in his head. These guys were supposed to be his allies, instead they were the first to ruin his deal.
Their arrival attracted the attention of other factions. They too began to gather around then their attention was attracted by the golden light shining from the bags near Elder Xiao.
The He Family, the Nian Clan, Mu Shi and his followers and the couples from Su Family; These people had all returned to the exit after searching for the Prime Gold ores in the Rift.
After their search, they came to realize the rarity of the Prime Gold ore. So, their eyes went as wide as saucers when they saw the large bag full of ore beside Elder Xiao.
"Damn! How? We barely managed to gather 10 dings of Prime Gold Ore. How did that old geezer get more than 40 dings?"
One of the followers of Mu Shi exclaimed with shock. No one was in the condition to rebuke his words as all the other people had similar thoughts.
"All of us from the Nian Clan only found 11 dings combined. Where did he get more than 40 dings?"
A guy with tattoos on his neck muttered quietly. His words were still audible to Ikasa. A smile appeared on his face as he thought about the 73 dings of Prime Gold Ore in his hands.
'If any of them knew, they would simply faint from shock!'
Ikasa thought as he quickly suppressed the smile on his face. Still, he was not willing to give up the 48 dings worth of ore either. It meant he would give up on 48 Spirit Coins!
"Elder Xiao, I will offer you 410 gold per ding. That's my best offer."
Ikasa spoke to the man holding the ore. But Elder Xiao did not reply immediately. His eyes were scanning the other parties, expecting offers from them.
As he expected, the He Family indeed raised the price.
"We are willing to offer 420 gold!"
Ikasa did not raise the price immediately. He noticed the dark red outlines of girls from the Su Family approached Mu Shi.
'Oh Shit!'
Ikasa had a bad premonition when he saw the bright green energy form of Mu Shi glow brighter, as if happy or excited.
A few breaths later, Mu Shi made the offer.
"If you treasure your life, sell the ores to me for a fair price."
This was no different than a threat. Just because Ikasa and He Family had been polite did not mean everyone would be courteous to an individual Sense Trainer like Elder Xiao.
Ikasa expected nothing short of tyranny from Mu Shi and indeed he had shown his colors.
Sense Trainer Xiao broke into cold sweat upon hearing the threat. He looked at the other parties and none of them jumped to his help. Wiping his cold sweat, he asked Mu Shi, "What is your price?"
"1 Gold per Ding."