Chapter 20

Chapter 20

What was worthless to Bai Zhizhi meant something entirely different to others. Although the manager was an ordinary person, he was knowledgeable due to the frequent visits of various Cultivators to the Royal Court Club. The mere act of making a fruit appear out of thin air confirmed that this person must possess a Storage Item.

These days, few people owned such a treasure as a Storage Item—barely a handful at most, and any one of them commanded respect even from the club's owner.

Not to mention the spiritual fruit, visibly brimming with such abundant spiritual energy, its value was incalculable.

Those who could enter the club were no ordinary people, and their eyes were sharper than his. Realizing the entrance was not a suitable place for discussion, the manager quickly gave a respectful bow. "Please, come inside. This spiritual fruit exceeds my authority to handle. Kindly wait a moment while I summon the general manager."

Lin Xiaoyang quickly interjected, "Wait! We're not selling it!"

He grabbed Bai Zhizhi, about to drag him away. It wasn't worth losing a spiritual fruit just for that Hull!

The manager hurried to stop them, but Bai Zhizhi blocked Lin Xiaoyang. "Now that we can get in, you change your mind. You humans are so fickle."

Then he turned to the manager, shaking the fruit in his hand. "Can I get a membership card?"

The manager smiled and replied, "Of course you can. Why don't you both come inside first? Whether it's a membership or an auction, we can discuss it slowly."

Lin Xiaoyang said, "No, Zhizhi, listen to me. This spiritual fruit is far more valuable than Hull. You've only just arrived and don't understand its true value yet. Let's go back first. Brother Jiang is on his way back. Let's head home."

Before he could finish, a tall man in uniform walked over briskly. He glanced at the spiritual fruit in Bai Zhizhi's hand and smiled broadly. "Are you two looking to auction this? I'm the front hall manager here, in charge of all reception matters. My surname is Yang. The private room is ready. Please, this way."

Bai Zhizhi tossed the fruit into Lin Xiaoyang's hands and said to the front hall manager, "Lead the way."

The manager who had first received them breathed a sigh of relief when the person in charge arrived. The important guest had been kept there for now; whether the deal went through or not didn't matter, as long as no mistake happened on his watch.

Lin Xiaoyang looked upset, unsure whether to leave or follow. Did this little Fox Demon have any idea about the struggles of the mortal world? He's being such a spendthrift!

Leaving was out of the question. Not only was he now holding the fruit—making it unlikely that the club would let him go—but if he didn't bring the little fox back with him, Brother Jiang would probably tear him apart.

Since things had already come to this, Lin Xiaoyang had no choice but to follow along, texting Brother Jiang to come back quickly, or else the spiritual fruit would be lost!

Before they reached the private room, they passed a staircase. Bai Zhizhi looked up. "What's going on up there?"

He could smell Hull's scent; it wasn't far away. But there were many people upstairs, and the scents were mixed and jumbled.

Manager Yang said, "An auction is underway upstairs."

Bai Zhizhi asked, "Can we go see it?"

He placed the fruit, which Lin Xiaoyang had been holding, into Manager Yang's hands. "Aren't you going to appraise it? Perfect, you can take it for appraisal while we go up to watch the auction."

Manager Yang wasn't a Cultivator, but as the front hall manager of the Royal Court Club, he had seen many fine things. As soon as the fruit touched his hand, its rich fragrance and spiritual energy surged toward him, making him feel lighter, as if all the workday fatigue had vanished, leaving him refreshed.

The club sold spiritual fruits, but none could compare in terms of spiritual energy. If this fruit were auctioned, it would be fiercely snapped up.

Such a rare and extraordinary item was hard to come by. Now that it was in his hands, he wasn't worried about these two causing any trouble. He nodded readily. "Neither of you are members here, so bidding might be a bit inconvenient. I'll have someone accompany you. The waiter will explain the auction rules in detail. How does that sound?"

Bai Zhizhi nodded. "Sure, let's do that."

Manager Yang casually called over a nearby waiter and carefully explained the situation with these two guests. He needed to hurry up and seal the fruit away before its spiritual energy dissipated. After giving his instructions, he added seriously, "Take good care of them. Later, bring them to Meeting Room Seven. Contact me anytime if something comes up."

While he was giving instructions, Lin Xiaoyang tugged at Bai Zhizhi and whispered, "What are we going to the auction for? Do you have money to buy anything?"

Bai Zhizhi said calmly, "No, I don't."

Lin Xiaoyang: "Then why are you going to an auction if you don't have any money?"

Bai Zhizhi: "Who said I'm going to go to the auction? We're here to find Hull, aren't we?"

Lin Xiaoyang let out an "Ah?" "He's up there?"

Bai Zhizhi nodded. "Yeah."

What's wrong with this human? So fickle and forgetful.

Lin Xiaoyang was now completely focused on whether he could get the fruit back safely, unable to spare a thought for Hull.

Bai Zhizhi then added, "Besides, I'm broke. But Jiang Lin should have money, right? You always say he's rich and loaded. He said I could ask him for anything I want."

Lin Xiaoyang let out another "Ah?" He hadn't meant "capital" in that sense, or "loaded"! When had he ever said Brother Jiang was loaded!

Lin Xiaoyang had been to the Royal Court Club once before, with Brother Jiang, but they had gone to the restaurant. He had never been to the auction hall. As the waiter led them to the auction private room, he looked around curiously.

Lin Xiaoyang: "So this is what it's like inside."

Bai Zhizhi: "You've never been here either?"

Lin Xiaoyang whispered, "With less than four digits in my account, I've only been here in my dreams."

Bai Zhizhi: "Didn't you just earn money from the Zhou family?"

Lin Xiaoyang sighed. "I used it all to buy talismans and pills."

The little that was left went to red envelopes for everyone in the courtyard. Now he really had less than four digits left.

As soon as they entered the private room, they were faced with a massive glass wall through which they could see the auction stage below. Lin Xiaoyang realized they were on a mezzanine level. Below was an open auction floor where many people were holding up paddles and bidding.

Bai Zhizhi also noticed the difference between the two sections and asked the waiter, "Why didn't you take us downstairs? Is this place just for watching?"

The waiter quickly replied, "This is the mezzanine private room. Bidding is also possible from here. Since the auction has already started, entering the main floor would disturb others. These VIP rooms are usually reserved for special guests. Due to the special circumstances today, we could only bring you two here."

Lin Xiaoyang: "Special guests?"

The waiter: "Our venue often features rare and precious treasures. Distinguished guests who acquire such items have prominent identities. For their safety, we provide a more secure and private environment."

Bai Zhizhi understood. Downstairs, any purchases were completely visible to everyone. Up here, others only knew the room number but not who was inside, so buying valuable items didn't attract unwanted attention.

Comparing this to the cultivation world, it was still better there. With a concealing artifact, no one recognized anyone else. No need for such trouble with separate floors.

The waiter brought out the menu for the room. "Would you two like to order anything?"

Lin Xiaoyang took it, closed it without even looking, and handed it back quickly. When he had come with Brother Jiang before, he'd seen the prices here. The cheapest pot of tea cost 18,000.

He had less than a thousand in his pocket, and the little fox didn't even have a bank account. Better not to look; they couldn't afford it anyway.

Lin Xiaoyang tried to push the menu away as if he hadn't seen it, but Bai Zhizhi leaned in. "What's on it?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "Nothing. Just ordinary stuff. If you want to eat something, we can have Uncle Gao cook for you when we get back."

Bai Zhizhi, satisfied, didn't press the matter. He wasn't particular about food anyway.

Lin Xiaoyang handed the menu back to the waiter, acting as if nothing had happened, and asked Bai Zhizhi, "Where's Hull?"

Bai Zhizhi pointed to a round table near the auction stage downstairs. "Over there. He's holding a number 3 paddle."

At that moment, a collector's set of jewelry was being auctioned on stage. Hull raised his paddle a few times, but he seemed to be just casually participating. After a few bids, he stopped, clearly not interested in those items.

Lin Xiaoyang stared for a bit and sighed: "Maybe he just came to mess around. Maybe it's easier to get around with a different face. We're overthinking it."

Foreign Adepts get a lot of people sucking up to them, especially the ones who can get into the Royal Court Club—they've all got status and connections, and most of them know a thing or two about Cultivators. Changing your face can really save a lot of trouble.

Bai Zhizhi didn't feel that way. At Luoxia Village, he had beaten Hull to a pulp, even knocking out a few of his teeth. Unless something really special happened, he didn't think Hull would be in the mood to go out and have fun.

But he didn't tell Lin Xiaoyang what he was thinking. Instead, he pointed at the auction stage, curious: "Aren't they saying they don't accept ordinary items? What's so special about these things?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "Gold and silver are easy to get, but antiques and jewelry are rare. So of course they're not ordinary."

Bai Zhizhi still didn't understand. Gold and silver were dug out of rocks, and sparkling diamonds were also dug out of rocks. As for antiques, what was so special about things from a few hundred years ago? His dad had broken who knows how many tea cups that'd been used for thousands of years.

If there was anything special among these items, it was probably the pearls. After all, in Qingqiu, pearls were slightly rarer than stones. But these pearls had no spiritual energy, and each one was so small it was almost invisible.

Treating these things as treasures, but calling his self-made Gold Leaf ordinary. Tch, tasteless humans.

Lin Xiaoyang asked the attendant beside him: "What's next? What's the big finale?"

The attendant took out a booklet and said: "Later, there's a set of golden silk nanmu ornaments, a peony screen embroidered with golden spirit silk, a painting of a lady gazing at the moon, and one tael of Mist Crystal Tea."

They had arrived midway through the auction, so a lot had already been sold, so there wasn't much left; the auction was wrapping up.

But upon hearing about the Mist Crystal Tea, Lin Xiaoyang's eyes lit up. He clicked his tongue and said to Bai Zhizhi: "I think his target might be the Mist Crystal Tea. This tea is extremely rare, only grown using Spirit Soil. It's harvested once every ten years, yielding only about a hundred catties each time. So even one tael is hard to find—you could say it's something money can't buy."

For it to appear at this auction, the owner behind the scenes must have taken it from their private collection just to showcase the club's strength. After all, if they didn't occasionally bring out stuff you can't find anywhere else, how would the Royal Court Club be so famous in the scene?

Bai Zhizhi: "Do they need to be so secretive just to buy tea?"

Lin Xiaoyang flipped through the booklet: "Besides the tea, there's nothing much worth bidding on later."

Just then, a new auction item was brought up. They saw Hull starting to bid again.

They had initially thought Hull's target was the Mist Crystal Tea, so he would casually participate in the earlier items, just like before. But this time, Hull seemed to be going after it hard, always following up with a higher bid.

Confirming that Hull wasn't just bidding for fun but actually wanted it, Lin Xiaoyang quickly pulled up the HD projection screen in their private booth: "Is this the painting of a lady gazing at the moon?"

Bai Zhizhi also looked. Whether it was due to that strange screen or not, the image seemed hazy and unclear.

Down below, the bidding had inexplicably gotten heated. Starting at 100,000, it had already reached 3 million. Competing with Hull was a guest at Table 12, someone unfamiliar, and Lin Xiaoyang didn't recognize him.

At first, a few others were interested and joined in. But soon they noticed that those two tables were clearly determined to win, so they stopped participating. Yet the competition remained fierce.

Before long, the price had exceeded 10 million. Quite a few people in the crowd were whispering, probably finding it odd. An ordinary painting of a lady, though an antique and well preserved, was not by any historically renowned master. A price of one or two million was the ceiling.

Bai Zhizhi and Lin Xiaoyang decided to stay in their box and watch to see who would get the painting in the end. However, Lin Xiaoyang asked the attendant: "This counts as an antique, right? If a foreigner buys it and takes it out of the country, would that be considered trafficking cultural relics?"

The attendant simply explained with a smile: "All auction items have been registered and reported. All procedures are complete, and taxes are paid promptly. As long as they are customers here, these are not national treasures. Private collectors have legitimate sources, and the transactions are completely legal."

Lin Xiaoyang took a photo of the painting and sent it to Brother Jiang. Hull was bidding so aggressively for this painting; Lin Xiaoyang wondered what was so special about it.

He thought it would stop at around 10 million, but the bidding continued. At first, it increased by hundreds of thousands, then by millions.

The painting, which started at a hundred thousand, was now at thirty million, closing in on forty million.

Bai Zhizhi noticed that many people below were surprised by this price, so he asked curiously: "Is 40 million a lot?"

Lin Xiaoyang: "A lot. A huge amount. An ordinary person could work their whole life, scrimping and saving, and still never save up 10 million."

The price soon broke 50 million, then 60 million, heading straight for 70 million.

The table competing with Hull was clearly slowing down their bidding, as if they couldn't afford such high prices. Hull, however, remained composed. Every time the other party raised, he followed suit in the next second, as if no matter what price the opponent offered, he would pay a million more to secure it.

Finally, the price reached 80 million. Table 12 gave up in resignation, and the painting of the lady gazing at the moon was ultimately won by Hull.

Lin Xiaoyang let out a low whistle: "What's so special about this painting? A foreigner—can he even appreciate our ancestors' ink wash paintings?"

Bai Zhizhi was also curious. What made this painting so special that it was even more valuable than the gold leaves he had refined?

After thinking about it, Bai Zhizhi quietly sent out a thread of his spiritual sense to latch onto Hull. He wanted to take a closer look at what exactly was so special about the painting.