159: Chapter 158 Sky-high Price

Chapter 158: Astronomical Price

Sun Po and Li Tiance rode in a gorgeous, gold-inlaid and jade-adorned luxurious carriage across the sky, landing directly on the roof of a magnificent building.

This building covered an extremely vast area, almost stretching as far as the eye could see.

Viewed from high above, the entire building looked like a phoenix spreading its wings to fly.

Its entire body was an extremely dazzling gold, with most of it shimmering with a bright golden luster under the sunlight, while some parts flashed with a blinding reflection. Looking closely, one would discover that those parts were actually a transparent material similar to citrine.

Seen from afar, it truly felt like a giant Golden Phoenix was about to soar into the nine heavens.

This was the Wangfeng Tower of the Jinyang Li Family, and also one of the top restaurants in the entire Yanhuang Ancient Country.

The first time anyone saw it, they would be shocked by the Li Family's terrifying financial power, because this Wangfeng Tower also had a nickname—the Golden Building.

That is correct, this extremely vast restaurant was paved entirely with gold bricks, and the glass was polished from citrine.

Hundreds of years ago, when Wangfeng Tower was first built, the titled Card Maker [Zulong] of the Qin Family once commented on Wangfeng Tower, saying that gorgeous was gorgeous, but it was vulgarly unbearable, just like the Li Family, fully revealing the demeanor of a nouveau riche.

Interestingly, this [Zulong]'s comment gave this "Golden Building" an extra gimmick, and the shopkeeper at the time promoted it:

"Shocking!! Head of the Qin Family!! The contemporary [Zulong] is amazed by the magnificence of the Li Family's Wangfeng Tower!!"

For a time, many wealthy merchants and major clans under the Qin Family's sphere of influence also made dining at Wangfeng Tower a fashion. Wangfeng Tower, which was not yet high in popularity at the time, became an overnight sensation as a result.

This matter was cited as a joke by people for a time, and the rumors that the Qin Family and the Li Family did not get along began to run rampant from this time. For a hundred years, these two major clans seemed to have been subtly squeezing each other through public opinion and other various methods, yet maintaining considerable restraint. The subtle relationship between the two families also gave people an extra topic of conversation after tea and meals.

Sun Po naturally had also heard these rumors, but regardless of whether the rumors were believable or not, the legendary "Golden Building" was indeed glittering enough to dazzle people's eyes, letting anyone who took a glance clearly know one thing—the Li Family was not short of money.

Therefore, in Sun Po's eyes, the Wangfeng Tower's magnificence to the point of being a bit vulgar was also a way of flexing muscles, belonging to the category of being vulgar yet very effective.

And that [Zulong] from several hundred years ago directly calling the other party a nouveau riche invisibly lowered his own level. Later on, not only did he fail to strike down the opponent, but he was even used by the opponent for promotional purposes, which could be called losing both the wife and the army, far less clever than the shopkeeper of Wangfeng Tower at that time.

But this was only the thought generated by Sun Po based on rumors. As for what the actual situation was, after hundreds of years of transmission, this rumor was probably long untrustworthy.

The location where Li Tiance and Sun Po were at this moment was the edge of the phoenix crown. Looking down, it was the entire Jinyang City.

Li Tiance put away the pulling [Golden Phoenix] and the luxurious carriage, and made a gesture of invitation to Sun Po. However, the direction pointed by his hand was further ahead a ten-thousand-foot high sky.

Sun Po was puzzled and asked, "There is no entrance ahead, how should we enter?"

Li Tiance showed a smile and said with slight pride, "Brother Sun, the entrance is right here."

As he spoke, his body leaned to the side, and his entire person actually plunged straight down from the ten-thousand-foot high sky.

Sun Po was only shocked for a split second, then he no longer hesitated and jumped down following him.

The two of them were a Primary Card Maker and an Intermediate Card Maker. Although their ranks were not high, both had means of combat in the air, so naturally they would not be frightened by this mere high-altitude fall.

And this high altitude indeed concealed mysteries. As soon as Sun Po fell, he felt as he did when entering Li Tang Wanbang University previously. His vision turned white, and clouds rushed toward him. Sun Po thus landed gently on a piece of cloud and mist.

To this, Sun Po was not surprised. Li Tang Wanbang University could have a separate secret realm, and the Li Family's auction naturally could too.

Li Tiance was standing not far away, and he smiled, "Brother Sun must be coming to the Li Family's auction for the first time, right?"

Sun Po nodded. He had only heard of auctions of major aristocratic clans, but had never participated in one. He didn't expect that his first participation would be an auction of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans level, and even in the capacity of a seller.

Li Tiance said, "The Li Family's auction is also considered extremely famous among the Five Surnames and Seven Clans, mainly because the Li Family is inclusive and encompasses everything. Material hunter teams from other countries often take some precious materials to be auctioned in our Li Family's auction house, which is something the secret realms of the other families do not possess. However, recently there haven't been too many large teams pioneering wasteland, nor have there been garrisoned legions outside the territory rotating back, so this auction is only a small-scale auction."

To this Sun Po was not surprised. Auctions were not held every day; to be precise, various aristocratic clans would fixedly hold large-scale auctions only during the mid-year and year-end seasons every year.

Generally, every half year, the legions stationed outside the territory would undergo a rotation, and every rotation would be accompanied by a massive outbreak of precious materials. Later on, major material hunter teams would also send the precious materials harvested in the first half and the second half of the year together for auction during the mid-year and year-end periods. Gradually, mid-year and year-end became the convention-bound auction times, and the auctions of the official authorities and major aristocratic clans were basically concentrated in those periods.

As for ordinary auctions like this, both the scale and the quality of the auction items would be much lower. Like this auction, it was specifically opened for only one kind of spirit meal, which was the tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices.

Li Tiance had mentioned these to Sun Po on the way here, and Sun Po naturally knew as well.

He also pulled out a fiery red twig from his bosom. This was what Li Tiance gave him on the way, saying it was a key.

But this fiery red twig also grew pink tender buds, and no matter how one looked at it, it didn't look like a key. Sun Po couldn't even imagine what kind of lock would match such a key.

Li Tiance smiled and said, "Brother Sun, why not try transmitting spirituality into this key?"

Sun Po was puzzled. In front of him were only boundless white clouds and mist. Not to mention a lock, even a door was not in sight. Could transmitting spirituality to this twig make a door lock appear out of thin air?

Holding a skeptical attitude, he input a wisp of his own spirituality into this fiery red key.

The next second, Sun Po's vision changed.

The boundless white clouds and mist dissipated, and a giant tree appeared before Sun Po's eyes. The giant tree had numerous forks, and densely packed golden leaves hung on the high and low staggered branches.

Just as he was looking, Sun Po suddenly felt as if he were flying. He was actually drawn by an inexplicable force, flying straight toward the giant tree.

Sun Po flew closer and closer, and turning his head to look, Li Tiance was also flying toward the giant tree beside him.

Seeing Sun Po's confusion, Li Tiance said, "Brother Sun, no need to worry, we will be there soon."

The two flew very fast, and the distance to the giant tree was getting closer and closer. Only then did Sun Po discover that this giant tree was much larger than he had imagined. Compared with this giant tree, Sun Po was like an ant in size, and even those leaves were the size of a house to Sun Po.

Li Tiance said beside Sun Po, "This ancient tree is a mysterious ancient tree that our Li Family harvested outside the territory back then. The Li Family calls it the [Li Family All-Treasure Giant Tree], passed down from generation to generation."

This tree has extremely many functions, encompassing appraisal, forging, planting, cooking, and so on. Every leaf corresponds to a functional place, and the auction house is also one of them.

This twig is the key to enter the [Li Family All-Treasure Giant Tree]. It can remember different spiritual breaths. If Brother Sun has needs in the future, you can borrow this item to enter the [Li Family All-Treasure Giant Tree] at any time."

Only then did Sun Po understand that this fiery red twig was equivalent to an internal authority card. However, this tree gave Sun Po a feeling of having his horizons broadened.

This thing quite resembled the collection of life profession places when playing online games in his past life, but it seemed more comprehensive, and it also lacked a guiding NPC. However, he always felt that this tree was overly intelligent and comprehensive, truly not resembling something formed naturally. Yet his current knowledge was limited, so it was not easy for him to judge rashly.

While pondering, the two of Sun Po had flown straight toward a leaf, and then the two crashed straight into that house-sized leaf. The two of them were like rainwater falling into a river, actually instantly blending into that leaf and disappearing.

Sun Po only felt a blur before his eyes, and he had already appeared in a spacious, fiery red-toned room.

This room looked like a treehouse, but the decoration was gorgeous and exquisite, inlaid with gold and jade, decorated with various gems, and dotted with many huge night-shining pearls, making it look glittering and translucent with jewels.

Right in the center of the room was an exhibition stage. Shopkeeper Cui was standing on the stage holding a fiery red small wooden mallet. By the looks of it, he was the auctioneer for this auction.

And the bidders off the stage were extremely few, with only a sparse few people.

These few people had various shapes: there was an obese fat man with a big mouth growing on his belly,

there was a middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes, dressed in a suit, who looked very elegant,

and even a camel with a white cloth on its head and dressed in white clothes, as well as a middle-aged man wearing samurai armor and having an undercut hairstyle.

The number of these bidders was even less than the count of one hand.

According to Li Tiance, this was because Shopkeeper Cui had leaked the effects of the tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices early on. The first spirit meal in Yanhuang Ancient Country that could act upon [Divine Power], this title was indeed too attractive; someone in the circle even called the tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices "Divine Meal".

The auction item was attractive, and Shopkeeper Cui thus raised the entry threshold for participating in the auction by taking advantage of this.

Shopkeeper Cui stipulated that only by purchasing ten standard versions of Shadow Beef would one be qualified to participate in the auction of the tianhe exclusive shadow beef, and the standard version of this Shadow Beef was also won by the highest bidder. Therefore, those who intended to vie for this tianhe exclusive shadow beef were equivalent to having a brawl first.

Moreover, truly capable buyers often did not stop after buying ten portions; they would try their best to buy all the standard versions of Shadow Beef, stifling the entry opportunities of other potential buyers.

This caused the participating personnel to be further reduced. Since they had already gone through a battle when entering, the bidders were naturally very few.

Wangfeng Tower doing this both filtered out capable buyers and achieved profit maximization, which could be called killing two birds with one stone.

At this moment, as Li Tiance and Sun Po took their seats, all the bidders had also arrived completely.

After receiving Li Tiance's instruction, the auctioneer held a delicate wooden mallet and shouted, "The Divine Meal auction officially begins!!"

Afterwards, a food box slowly rose in the center of the wooden stage. A crimson bright light emitted from the food box, making the already fiery red-toned room look even more red and bright.

The familiar aroma lingered throughout the room once again.

Shopkeeper Cui smiled and said, "You are all old regular customers, and you must have been looking forward to this spirit meal for a long time—"

The obese fat man with a big mouth growing on his belly shouted impatiently, "Spare the verbose opening remarks, straight to the topic!! My stomach is already impatient."

The one who spoke was none other than Director Mancang whom they had seen just yesterday, one of the official five titled Card Makers, [Taoman].

As his voice fell, the expressions of the people around all changed. Shopkeeper Cui hurriedly accompanied a smile and said, "Right away, right away."

Immediately, the wooden mallet in his hand fell, and he shouted, "Start bidding!!"

As soon as his voice fell, the man with a white cloth on his head, dressed in a white robe and growing a camel head, spoke in a deep voice, "I bid fifty million!!"

A huge question mark rose in Sun Po's heart. This mere dish of spirit meal, twenty-something slices of meat—how could the price open with such an amount?

In his past life, Sun Po was never this generous even when using Happy Beans.

Fifty million!! Back then, Sun Po's changyou remains was only a mere hundred thousand-plus. Being of the same purple quality, the opening price of this dish of tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices turned out to be hundreds of times that of the changyou remains!!

However, due to the hurried time, Li Tiance and he didn't have time to discuss many things on the way here. Those dozen-plus stacks of standard shadow beef slices each sold for a high price of four to five million. Even after deducting Wangfeng Tower's share of profits, Sun Po already had an income of over fifty million at this moment.

However, before the tail end of the camel-headed man's fifty-million bid had fallen, a clumsy Yanhuang language already rang out. It was the armored samurai with the undercut hairstyle.

"Fifty-five million!!"

Sun Po felt that he really hadn't seen much money. These people shouting a price increase of five million seemed as if they were shouting five hundred bucks, without any fluctuation.

However, the next second, [Taoman] stroked his belly and said impatiently, "Dilly-dallying, the people of Sakurajima are just not straightforward. I bid one hundred million!!"

Sun Po's heart skipped a beat. It broke one hundred million?

Fifty-five million, and it instantly reached nine figures? This Director Mancang did not play according to the routine.

This was already nine figures?!

A spirit meal made with white materials as raw materials, after processing, one hundred million?!

What kind of price range was this?! Even robbing wouldn't come this fast!!

However, what Sun Po did not know was that this dish of tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices, as the first spirit meal in Yanhuang Ancient Country that could act upon [Divine Power], its underlying significance was long no longer a simple dish of spirit meal, but rather implied the game between various nations.

And [Taoman], as the richest existence among the official five titled Card Makers, his desire for this dish of tianhe exclusive shadow beef slices was not fake, and [Taoman] on his belly wanting to eat this spirit meal was also not fake, but he bidding for this spirit meal after winning it would be impossible for him to touch a single bite.

This spirit meal would only be personally escorted by him and rushed back to the Central Laboratory of the Card Association.