Chapter 454: Bidding War

After waiting a while longer, with only a moment left before bidding began, Yun Lan returned from outside.
“It’s not bad. There’s 19 million taels of silver in the store,” Yun Lan whispered in Lin Dong’s ear. “According to the junior apprentices in the store, the sect behind the Spirit Materials Shop has only one elder coming this time.”
Lin Dong nodded. If the Spirit Materials Shop didn’t intend to sell the Snow Red Grass, it was because a major sect was backing them. Attacking them would be like openly insulting that sect, so they surely wouldn’t give up easily. Unless there was a top-tier expert, no one would take such a risk. Thus, having a strong protector was sufficient.
19 million taels of silver, plus 30 to 32 million taels he was keeping for Yang Shun, meant he had a total of 51 million taels at hand. To spend such a large amount just on one Snow Red Grass, even though Lin Dong was eager to improve his strength, he might not be willing to do so. After all, this amount was already terrifying. Unless he sold large quantities of the cultivation aids from Lin’s Inn, the current profits of Lin’s Inn could never cover such a huge gap. Selling large quantities of high-grade cultivation aids would inevitably reveal the secret to growing these materials in large numbers, carrying serious long-term consequences. It was better to try to find the Spirit Materials Shop later and use Blue-Green Fruits or Red Thousand Fruits to see if they still had Snow Red Grass, and exchange if available.
With three seeds included, there was no way around paying this high price. One Snow Red Grass could only help him improve his strength slightly, but one seed could lift him to a higher realm, and it would also greatly enhance the strength of his entire guard team. No matter how much silver he had, he had to buy it immediately. For the sake of the silver, even if there was a slim chance that the sect behind the Spirit Materials Shop only wanted that one Snow Red Grass and three seeds, the risk was too great.
As time neared, Lin Dong gritted his teeth, stood up, and strode to the counter. After paying a 10,000-tael entry fee, the attendant at the door would give each person two slips of paper with the same number written on them. Lin Dong asked the attendant for a writing brush, wrote down 51 million taels on one slip, and tossed it into the wooden basin on the counter.
“Hey, isn’t that… someone?” Ling Chenyue’s voice came from behind.
Lin Dong turned to look at Ling Chenyue, smiled, and walked back to the chair in the back row.

Ling Chenyue frowned slightly. Lin Dong’s attitude was hard for him to understand. The shock he felt the moment he saw Lin Dong was beyond anyone else’s comprehension. The fact that Lin Dong would come to Tianfeng Street and bid to compete for the Snow Red Grass confirmed the unbelievable news Zi Han had told him—that this Lin boss was even stronger than her.

It wasn’t until Lin Dong finished writing down his bid that Ling Chenyue came back to his senses. He realized that since Lin Dong already knew Zi Han’s strength last time, bidding for the Snow Red Grass today likely meant he had already carefully scanned everyone around, probably realizing that the person with their face covered by a hat was Zi Han. That’s why Ling Chenyue deliberately pretended to be clueless and greeted him; if he had pretended not to notice, Lin Dong might have suspected a special relationship between him and Zi Han.

But Lin Dong’s attitude left him utterly confused, with no clues at all.

In Ling Chenyue’s view, whether Lin Dong suspected his relationship with Zi Han or not, he surely had to respond to such an obviously dismissive greeting. Then, he could figure out a way to slowly extract information from him.

Unexpectedly, Lin Dong just smiled and moved on.

Returning to his seat, Lin Dong whispered, “Apart from us two, there are only two strong people in the shop—no one stronger than us. One of them is behind the counter, probably from the Spirit Materials Shop. The other…”

Lin Dong nodded in Ling Chenyue’s direction. “It’s Ling Chenyue, the young master of Fenglin Restaurant, whom I mentioned to you some time ago. He’s here with Zi Han, the famous prostitute from Wanxian Tower. I never thought she was as terrible as the rumors said.”

Yun Lan nodded. “That means once we leave the shop, there won’t be much threat behind us. After we get the Snow Red Grass, you take care of the back, and I’ll handle the front. The third-to-last shop down the street is Wan Dan Gui Zong, owned by our Tianjian Sect. Once we get inside Wan Dan Gui Zong, the Snow Red Grass will be safe.”

Lin Dong nodded. As long as the people from Wan Dan Gui Zong stepped in, even if they were warriors only at the Mental Energy stage, no one would dare cause trouble unless they wanted to die.

While discussing the details of defense, they kept an eye on everything happening behind the counter. Soon, several employees gathered around the wooden basin on the counter, which contained folded pieces of paper.

“Number three: five million taels of silver.”

“Number six: seven million and ten thousand taels of silver.”

“Number twenty-nine: eight hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver.”

“Number forty-one: three million six hundred thousand taels of silver.”

“Number seventy-six…” One of the employees paused, looking around in disbelief.

“Read it! How much silver for number 76?” Instantly, some of the people present grew dissatisfied. The bid on this note was undoubtedly higher than what the spirit material shop had expected, and it might even exceed the bids from their own people.
“Read!” The old man behind the counter shouted firmly. If they didn’t want to sell, they could have their own people offer hundreds of millions or even billions of silver coins. After all, it was the shop that determined the authenticity of the silver coins, and this was also a characteristic of Tianfeng Street. But if someone’s bid exceeded that of their own person, no matter how reluctant they were, they couldn’t back out of selling—it would damage their reputation. Not only would the shop lose business, but the sect would also suffer a severe loss in prestige.
“Yes!” The clerk didn’t dare hesitate. After checking the note again, he announced loudly, “Number 76: fifty-one million taels of silver.”
Huh…
The shop was instantly in an uproar. Fifty million taels of silver for a rank-8 spirit herb—although it was a material used to assist in cultivation, the price was still absurdly high. Every three to five years, a new spirit material shop on Tianfeng Street would introduce a high-tier cultivation aid for bidding wars. Over the past hundred years, when such shops refused to sell, they would only offer prices between thirty million and fifty million taels.
Yet this time, someone had bid fifty-one million taels, and it was clearly not a bid from the shop’s own people.
Although three seeds were included this time, even the owners of pharmacies present knew that the survival rate of seeds for high-tier spirit materials was at most 10%. Moreover, that required ensuring the right growing conditions and nutrients.
Seeds of high-tier spirit materials might sound valuable, but in reality, even large sects might not be able to provide the necessary conditions for cultivation. Coupled with a low survival rate and a cultivation period of thousands of years, such seeds were essentially useless. If sold separately, even rational buyers would offer at most three to five million taels.
“Keep reading!” Seeing that the clerks were stunned, the old man shouted again. Although gold and silver weren’t important to large sects, fifty million taels was enough to pile up a mountain—even if it were just dung, and that dung could still be exchanged for lower-tier spirit stones.
A rank-8 cultivation aid worth a mountain of silver—many martial artists would surely think it wasn’t worth it. But if rephrased as a high-tier spirit material worth a mountain of spirit stones worth fifty to sixty million taels, the situation changed.

Spirit Stones are also a type of spiritual mineral used to assist in cultivation. Although they are of low rank, their quantity is massive—far more than what ordinary large stones can provide. This amount is almost equivalent to the total amount of spirit stones produced by all the spirit-rich mountains in an entire county in a year.

“Number 25: 1.6 million taels of silver.”
“Number 16: 5.2 million taels of silver.”
“Number 38: 6.6 million taels of silver.”
“Number 11…”

It was still the same clerk. He froze again, staring at the note in his hand, unable to utter a word.

“What’s going on?” The old man grew slightly displeased. Although these disciples sent to the shop had little potential for cultivation, their repeated failures were still embarrassing. Generally, disciples from major sects had spiritual arrays to help cultivate their mental states.

“Elder Six, Six… this price…” The clerk handed the note to the old man, looking dazed.

Seeing this, Lin Dong’s expression darkened. He couldn’t believe anyone would offer a higher price than him. After all, an eighth-tier spiritual material used for cultivation might be considered priceless, but it paled in comparison to tens of millions of taels of silver. With over 50 million taels of silver at hand—and no plantation—Lin Dong would have preferred the three seeds. Even if he were extremely eager for power and capable of obtaining tens of millions of taels, he likely wouldn’t have bid so high.

No one else could possess a plantation like Lin’s Inn, which could not only simulate the living environment of any spiritual material but also accelerate its growth. A reasonable valuation should not exceed 10 million taels of silver.

But the clerk’s expression made him suspect that there might be a madman in this shop. Or perhaps the Snow Red Grass was of vital importance to this person.

The old man took the note, glanced at it, and his expression changed as well. When he raised his head, his displeasure toward the clerk had vanished.

With such a price, it was no wonder the clerk had lost his composure.

Clearing his throat, the old man scanned the crowd, his gaze fixing on a chair in the center. The young man in the brocade robes sitting there was, he remembered, Number 11.

As his mind extended outward, the old man’s expression changed once more.

Inside the young man’s dantian, there was only a trace of spiritual energy. The strength of his meridians and dantian seemed utterly lacking in resilience and capacity.

Third stage of the Heart Stirring Phase!

The old man grew skeptical—would this young man really have the silver notes mentioned on the note? With only a third-level Heart Rhythm stage strength, he was merely a herbal merchant. For a herbal merchant to buy high-grade spiritual materials for cultivation assistance was tantamount to seeking death in Tianfeng Street. Moreover, it was unlikely he could afford such a price; what they wanted were spiritual materials that could be bought cheaply and sold dearly.
“Number 11!” The old man glanced at the young man in fine clothes again and said firmly, “Eighty-eight million taels of silver.”
Boom…
Chaos erupted instantly inside and outside the spiritual materials shop.