Chapter 4020 — A Complicated Look

"Patience. Wait until the auction is over, then we will find a chance to make our move. This time we absolutely cannot let him slip away—if there is any chance of a kill, we take it, and we let nothing go!" Nantian Guan sneered. Even if they could not find the long-coveted Star Ink Stone on Wei Zhao's person, it would still be quite fine if they could get their hands on a substantial pile of spirit jade.

Wei Zhao's attention had been fixed on Tian Chan the whole time, and he had not noticed the three of the Nantian clan at all. Once his words fell, for a moment no one followed with another bid. A jump of five thousand spirit jade all at once—even those who had originally been interested now had to weigh the matter carefully.

Yet before Wei Zhao could breathe a sigh of relief, Zheng Tianjie had already risen to his feet on the other side: "Twenty thousand spirit jade."

Wei Zhao's heart sank at once, and then he saw Zheng Tianjie squinting at him with a look of scorn: "Tch. Who knows what backwater this pauper crawled out of, daring to play the big spender in front of this young master. A real yokel who has never seen the world. The spirit jade this young master tosses away without a thought could crush you flat without even trying!"

Wei Zhao gave him a cold look, yet there was little he could do. Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice—he had only fifteen thousand spirit jade on hand, and beating this country bumpkin at auction was simply impossible.

But if he let this ten-piece forging set slip through his fingers now, then this trip to the Far North Island would have been utterly wasted, and who knew how much effort it would take to gather those six materials in the future.

Just then, Hong Zhong gave Wei Zhao an almost imperceptible nod: "Young Hero Lin, bid as you please. No matter how much spirit jade it takes, the Hong Clan Merchant Guild will foot the bill for you."

Those words were no less than coal sent in the snow. Wei Zhao did not stand on ceremony with Hong Zhong; after all, he had spared no effort in refining more than a hundred top-tier elixirs for the man, so he could well afford to accept this favor.

"Thirty thousand spirit jade!" Wei Zhao called out at once. He knew full well that to outbid a good-for-nothing young master like Zheng Tianjie on an occasion like this, he had to overwhelm his opponent in presence. If he only made small, timid raises, the man would not retreat—he would only grow more brazen, pressing his advantage without mercy.

From twenty thousand straight to thirty thousand—a leap enough to make everyone present twitch an eyelid and curse inwardly: damned, another prodigal country bumpkin!

This time even Zheng Tianjie was stunned. As the legitimate grandson of the Pill Hall's deputy hall master, he was a young master through and through, even by Central Island standards, and the depth of his purse and his backing was nearly unmatched.

And at this Four Islands Auction Exposition, apart from their own faction, Central Island had sent no important figures. As for the powers from the other four islands, in his eyes they were not even fit for the table, and he paid them no mind at all.

Yet he had never expected that this pauper—whom he had taken for nothing more than a petty clerk of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild—would dare to challenge him to his face in public!

"Thirty thousand spirit jade? Big words, but what a pity—what this young master has set his eyes on has never once slipped away. Among this ten-piece forging set there happens to be a material that can be used not only for forging artifacts, but also for refining pills. This young master intends to personally refine a fourth-grade Beauty Serum Pill for my junior sister Tian Chan, so that her skin will remain forever flawless and smooth, firm and radiant!" Zheng Tianjie paused, then chuckled: "And so—fifty thousand spirit jade!"

At these words the whole hall erupted again. For the sake of a single material in a ten-piece set, he had called out fifty thousand spirit jade—and bought it merely to refine a Beauty Serum Pill that was utterly useless for cultivation, all to please a woman. This Zheng Tianjie of the Pill Hall truly lived up to his name as a gullible, prodigal wastrel!

Watching the man's arrogant, self-important air, Wei Zhao was struck speechless. At this critical moment he had run into this fool of a country bumpkin who did not lack for spirit jade—his luck really could not get any worse.

But Wei Zhao was determined to have these rare forging materials on this trip, no matter how much spirit jade it cost. He refused to yield an inch: "Sixty thousand spirit jade!"

Unexpectedly, Zheng Tianjie did not so much as blink before striking back: "Eighty thousand spirit jade!"

"One hundred thousand spirit jade!" Wei Zhao hesitated not a whit either, calling out again.

"Oh, you are ruthless!" Zheng Tianjie was instantly choked off.

By this point, nearly everyone in the hall had been stunned senseless by the two of them. For an item with a base price of a mere ten thousand spirit jade—rare as these forging materials might be, they were still far from world-shaking—the bidding had now climbed effortlessly to the astronomical sum of one hundred thousand spirit jade. It was simply inconceivable!

Such an astronomical price was no small sum for any power whatsoever. However much spirit jade Zheng Tianjie's family might have, he too had to weigh whether it was worth it.

After all, he was bidding on this thing merely to please a woman. To call it neglecting his proper duties was already giving him far too much credit. If he kept butting heads with Wei Zhao like this and his grandfather got wind of it, he might well be confined for a month—and that would be no fun at all.

Fool that he was, Zheng Tianjie was no complete idiot, and at a moment like this he could still tell what mattered. He began to entertain thoughts of retreat; there was no need at all to pick such a baffling quarrel with a total stranger.

Seeing the shift in Zheng Tianjie's expression, Wei Zhao rejoiced inwardly. So long as this fool backed down, no other sane person would possibly compete with him over this paltry ten-piece forging set.

One hundred thousand spirit jade—that price already far exceeded the set's true value. No one would be foolish enough to keep bidding higher.

Sure enough, once Zheng Tianjie fell silent, everyone else in the hall wore the look of detached spectators, with no intention of joining the bidding. Seeing this, Steward Song hesitated no longer and was about to bring down the hammer.

A single ten-piece forging set fetching the astronomical price of one hundred thousand spirit jade—this Four Islands Auction Exposition truly was a case of fools aplenty and spirit jade to spare. A surefire profit, through and through.

Yet just as Wei Zhao was about to relax, Zheng Tianjie—who had clearly been on the verge of retreating—suddenly called out again, his face twisted with savage arrogance: "Hold on! Two hundred thousand spirit jade!"

One sentence, and the whole hall instantly boiled over. Two hundred thousand spirit jade? Damn it, what on earth had happened to this world?

"Has this country bumpkin taken leave of his senses?" Wei Zhao was astonished beyond measure. He gave the swaggering Zheng Tianjie a long, deep look, and for a good while could make no sense of it.

Only when he noticed the strange look in Tian Chan's eyes did understanding finally dawn on him.

At this very moment, the way Tian Chan looked at Wei Zhao was no longer the utterly unruffled gaze of before; it now clearly held a complicated meaning within it. From this it was plain that Tian Chan had not failed to recognize Wei Zhao earlier—she simply did not wish to recognize him!

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