Chapter 0028: Fragrant Stone Meteorite

After entering the auction hall, Huang Long presented himself as the second young master of the Huang family and took a seat in a VIP room.
Shortly after, the auction began, hosted by the hall’s chief administrator, Ai De.
Due to the auction of the magic sword three months earlier, the George family’s auction hall was now very busy—there were more attendees each day than before, by more than twice.
With thousands of seats in the hall, only three or four hundred people were seated. Huang Long glanced around at the crowd and noticed their excited expressions. He wondered if something special might be up today.
However, the items up for auction next failed to arouse his interest.
The first item was the crystal core of a ninth-tier magical beast, the Hell Fiend Tiger.
Ninth-tier magical beast cores were rare even in the auction houses of the major families in the Five Empires and were highly sought after, especially those from high-tier magical beasts that lived in hell.
But ninth-tier was too low to catch Huang Long’s attention.
He planned to collect some cores and use them to refine the Qunxian Pavilion, thereby improving its quality—though it would need to reach at least the Sacred Realm level first.
The second item was a bottle of mid-tier Earth-grade medicinal pill.
On the Hengyuan Continent, medicinal pills were classified into three tiers: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Human-grade pills were common, but those above Earth grade were rare, usually only produced by advanced alchemists.
Heaven-grade pills, on the other hand, could only be crafted by alchemists with Sacred Realm cultivation.
Yet, to Huang Long’s surprise, the final auction price of this mid-tier Earth-grade medicinal pill, which was full of impurities and uneven in quality, was over ten thousand gold coins per bottle—averaging over a thousand gold coins per pill.
After all, the “candies” Huang Long usually gave to his two young protégés, Huang Liang and Huang Yi, were far better than this. Did that mean these two kids were consuming thousands of gold coins worth of food every day?
When this pill was auctioned, Bog also glanced at the two lucky but unaware kids with envy.
Then came the third, fourth, and so on, up to the sixth item. Huang Long sat there as a mere observer, without bidding at all.
Huang Liang and Huang Yi were clearly visiting such a place for the first time. Their cute faces were filled with excitement as they whispered to each other. Their lively eyes shone every time they saw something new on the auction stage.
Fortunately, the two kids were sensible enough not to make a racket or bid recklessly.
It wasn’t until the eighth item that a hint of surprise flashed in Huang Long’s eyes, despite his initial lack of interest.

At this moment, a dark iron block, about one meter tall, was placed on the auction stage, emitting a faint glow. The temperature in the area seemed to drop significantly with the appearance of the iron block.
It was actually fragrant stone meteorite!
Fragrant stone meteorite—a superior type of meteorite used for crafting magical artifacts. If Huang Long melted this fragrant stone meteorite into the Group of Immortals Pavilion, its quality would surely improve greatly.
In Huang Long’s eyes, this fragrant stone meteorite was far better than the Holy Realm Crystal Core.
This was exactly what Huang Long needed.
The moment the fragrant stone meteorite appeared, Huang Long knew his trip had been worthwhile.
After having it carried to the auction stage, Ai De pointed at the meteorite and said, “This is a piece of Cold Essence Iron Stone obtained by someone from our family in the Sea of Death. We’ve tested it—even a ninth-level warrior can hardly leave any mark on it.” He paused here.
Sure enough, after hearing his explanation, the crowd erupted in murmurs.
A ninth-level warrior couldn’t leave even a trace? What did that mean? Could only the powerful of the Holy Realm do it? Regardless of its other properties, just this alone was enough to spark competition among various factions.
Huang Long smiled inwardly after hearing Ai De’s words. Cold Essence Iron Stone? It seemed the George family regarded the fragrant stone meteorite as an ordinary piece of such ore.
But that was fine too; it would save him the hassle of intense bidding later.
If it was just Cold Essence Iron Stone, though precious, its price shouldn’t be too high.
Indeed, Ai De soon announced the starting bid: “The starting price for this Cold Essence Iron Stone is 30,000 gold coins!”
As Ai De struck the hammer and declared, “Bidding begins,” the various factions present started bidding fiercely. However, when the bid reached 100,000 gold coins, the bidding voices gradually faded.
Huang Long knew it was time for him to act, so he signaled Bogge beside him to bid.
Bogge was surprised to see Huang Long show interest in the iron block on the auction stage. He really couldn’t see what was so interesting about what he considered an ordinary piece of iron.
“150,000!” When Bogge bid that amount as per Huang Long’s instructions, the crowd instantly fell silent. Everyone looked up toward Huang Long’s VIP room, then erupted in astonishment.
In their eyes, 100,000 gold coins for a one-meter-tall piece of Cold Essence Iron Stone was already quite high—someone was offering 150,000 gold coins!
It was pure waste of money.
Confused and mocking murmurs filled the air.

Huang Long paid no attention to these discussions, waiting for Aide to strike with his hammer. Suddenly, a voice came from a VIP room in the north: “160,000!”
The once noisy crowd fell silent for a moment before becoming even noisier.
“160,000? Someone’s even stupider than the last bidder!”
Some of the nobles present were astonished.
Aide had already been overjoyed that the Cold Essence Iron Stone could fetch 150,000 gold coins. Now that someone was offering even more, he was stunned for a while before exclaiming excitedly, “VIP 302, 160,000—first time!”
Huang Long and Bog glanced in surprise at VIP room 302. Could they also have recognized it as Fragrant Stone Meteorite? Huang Long smiled and signaled Bog to bid.
“200,000!”
When Aide called out for the second time, Bog’s voice came from Huang Long’s room again.
200,000!
The crowd erupted in loud chaos!
Aide was so excited that he almost couldn’t hold his hammer.
When VIP room 302 bid 200,000 gold coins, a stunningly beautiful woman’s flawless face showed a hint of surprise. Initially, she thought the Cold Essence Iron Stone wasn’t worth 160,000—it was just something she needed, so she planned to buy it. She never expected someone to offer 200,000 for it.
“210,000!” After thinking for a moment, she asked her maid to bid.
210,000!
Bog was stunned. He looked at Huang Long, who nodded and smiled calmly, “250,000!”
Following VIP room 302, Bog bid 250,000!
The once noisy crowd fell silent.
However, VIP room 302 didn’t bid any more. In the end, the Fragrant Stone Meteorite ended up in Huang Long’s pocket.
But Bog shook his head secretly. The young master was still just a child. Though he was wealthy, there was no need to spend so extravagantly.
After the Fragrant Stone Meteorite was sold, a few other fine items were auctioned, but none caught Huang Long’s interest anymore. He planned to leave, but just as he stepped out of the VIP room, he saw VIP room 302 open as well. A breathtakingly beautiful woman, accompanied by two maids, walked toward him.