The Nine Cauldrons

“No matter what it takes, I must get those Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets!” He said to himself. A cold light flashed through his eyes . Even if some clan really bought it, Teng Qingshan could “borrow” it from them for one or two years and and find a chance to ‘return” it later!

Many clan representatives in the hallway looked towards the Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets.

“Everyone, rest assured. The Situ Trading Company has confirmed that this set of Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets is indeed the nine sets of stone tablets that the Godly Axe Mountain possessed. If there’s been any mistakes, The Situ Trading Company will repay you twofold!” Situ Fan laughed out loud as he scanned the crowd. “Does anyone have any objections? If not, we will begin bidding.”

“Let’s just start!”

“Old Situ, I don’t think you would dare to lie to so many clans. Haha....”

The clan representatives in the hallway laughed.

“Alright. That being the case!” Situ Fan’s eyes brightened and his voice grew louder. “There are a total of thirty-six number cards. Now, the base price is thirty thousand taels of gold.Each rise must not be lower than five thousand taels of gold. Let’s begin!”

The moment Situ Fan shouted ‘Let’s begin’, the surroundings instantly quietened down.

The clan representatives all stared at each other. For a moment, none of them bidded.

This was because everyone clearly knew that—

Thirty thousand taels of gold was just the base price. The final price was likely to be tenfold that of the base!

“Everyone is being courteous.” Situ Fan laughed.

“Then let me, someone of the younger generation, start the bidding.” A clear and sweet-sounding voice rang out. Teng Qingshan looked over and saw that the person talking was a young lady dressed in pink marten coat. She lifted the number card in her hand and said with a smile, “The Tantai Clan offers fifty thousand taels of gold! I, someone of the younger generation, have started, everyone, please continue!”

Standing in the pavilion at the center of the pond, Situ Fan was full of smiles as he announced, “Card number three, the Tantai Clan bids—Fifty thousand taels of gold! Any higher bidders?”

“Sixty thousand taels of gold!” A voice came from faraway down the hallway.

Teng Qingshan just watched; he wasn’t worried at all.

Sitting at the next table along, Fu Dao leaned over to Teng Qingshan and whispered, “Mister Teng, this little princess of Tantai Clan is not bad right?”

“What is her name?” Li Jun asked curiously.

“Tantai Qing.” Fu Dao answered.

Upon answering, Fu Dao actually grabbed the card beside the table and lifted it up while shouting, “one hundred thousand!”

“Card number twelve, Mister Fu, bids one hundred thousand!” Situ Fan’s voice immediately went up by a few notches.

“Fu Dao, you wish to buy it too?” Teng Qingshan looked at Fu Dao in shock.

“If I don’t mean to buy it, why would I, a lonely person, come here?” Fu Dao said with a smile. At the side, Li Jun asked, “Aren’t you called the ‘Thunder Blade Martial Saint? Don’t you practice the art of the blade? Why would you want this Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablet? Surely the legendary Thunder Blade Deity’s blade art would be more useful to you.

Fu Dao smiled and said, “Since I am buying, naturally I have a use for it. However, I have to keep it a secret. My apologies.”

Teng Qingshan nodded.

Amidst the sounds of discussions, the great clans in the garden had been bidding repeatedly.

“One hundred fifty thousand taels of gold!” The Great Elder lifted his number card.

Card number sixteen, The Rising Sun Trade Company bids one hundred fifty thousand taels of gold.” Situ Fan’s voice resonated throughout the garden.

“Brother Teng, if the price is not too high, the Rising Sun Trade Company will just buy it.” The Great Elder looked over with a smile. “Over six thousand years ago, the Godly Axe Mountain possessed nine sets. Given that so many years have passed, even if two or three sets could be kept safe in this world, that would already be considered good! This item is worth buying.”

Hearing this, Teng QIngshan and Li Jun looked at each other.

“Quite a lot of trouble.” Teng Qingshan mumbled inwardly.

The sounds of people bidding rang out repeatedly.

“Two hundred thousand taels of gold!” It was Tantai Qing bidding again! The little princess was bidding for the second time.

At the table nearby, Fu Dao’s facial expression became somewhat unsightly.

“Eh?” It looks like Fu Dao also wants this very badly,” Teng Qingshan said as he glanced at Fu Dao, who was listening to the bids. At this moment, the price has gone up to two hundred and thirty thousand. Aside from the people who had given up, the expressions of the other clan representatives were not looking good.

Fu Dao said coldly, “Two hundred eighty thousand taels of gold.”

He had increased the price by fifty thousand taels of gold in one breath!

The garden became slightly quieter and many people turned to stare at Fu Dao. By listening to Fu Dao’s voice....many people could tell that Fu Dao had gone slightly mad.

“Three hundred thousand taels of gold!” Helian Haoxiang of Tianfeng Clan said with a smile.

“Eh?” Fu Dao looked over.

“Card number thirty-six! The Tianfeng Clan bids three hundred thousand!” Situ Fan seemed rather excited. The clans in the surrounding clamored— not because of how high the price was, but because it was....the Tianfeng Clan, the clan that had stayed quiet since the beginning, had finally joined the bidding!

Teng Qingshan, who had been very calm, couldn’t help but frown.

“It’s rather troublesome this time.”

With a smile, the Great Elder of the Rising Sun Restaurant whispered, “I estimate that this set of Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets should worth around three hundred thousand taels of gold. However, looking at proceedings today....it seems that many clans want it. If they really stake it all and bid against each other, the final price would be unpredictable. The Situ Trading Company invited quite a number of clans this time!”

“Three hundred thousand taels of gold. Any higher bidders?” In the center of the pavilion, Situ Fan shouted hastily shouted.

After the Tianfeng Clan, no one bid for a moment.

Helian Haoxing of Tianfeng CLan looked around with a grin.

“Three hundred and ten thousand!” A cold voice beside Teng Qingshan sounded out.

Teng Qingshan turned and looked beside him. At this moment, Fu Dao, who had an icy cold expression, seeming to be saying that if someone dare to bid again, he would devour that person alive. Helian Haoxing of the Tianfeng Clan looked over and grinned.

“Three hundred and fifteen thousand!” A melodious voice sounded again.

“It’s this little princess again.” Fu Dao said angrily.

“Fu Dao, not going to bid anymore?” Teng Qingshan looked at him and asked. Fu Dao shook his head and replied with a ghastly expression, “I am not from some great clan. The largest amount of gold I can gather is just three hundred and ten thousand!” It is easy for Golden Dan Innate Experts to earn money, but....it would significantly harder to put together such a large sum!

An ancient clan hid their money very carefully. Normally, only a few people know where all the money and treasures were hidden.

Even if Fu Dao decided to plunder the great clans, would it be possible for him to kill all members of a clan? Could he manage to slaughter them all? Fu Dao was a Golden Dan Innate Expert and he didn’t have sufficient Innate True Origin to use in this way. He was not Teng Qingshan after all.

In addition, it would be extremely hard to find the location of the money and treasures!

Teng Qingshan was simply lucky last time. The Liu Clan of the Dark Steel River had only just moved to the island. The Chunshen Clan had pursued and slaughtered all of them. Due to the fact the island was only so big, and because the Liu Clan of the Dark Steel River had just moved there not long ago....the Chunshen Clan was able to find the location of the money very easily! And Teng Qingshan had just seized the opportunity and taken it.

“The Tantai Clan bids three hundred and fifteen thousand. Are there any higher bidders?” Situ Fan shouted again.

“Three hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold!” A voice came from beside Teng Qingshan. This time it was the Great Elder who bidded.

Seeing that Teng Qingshan looked over, the Great Elder grinned and said, “Since this Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablet is rare and precious, if I can take it with three hundred and twenty thousand, then that’s alright! I won’t be able to keep bidding if it goes any higher.”

“Three hundred and thirteen thousand!” A voice came from the Tianfeng Clan.

It was Helian Haoxing again.

“It looks like Tianfeng Clan is determined to get the Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets.”

“I originally wanted to buy it with three hundred thousand. Now it’s impossible.”

Sounds of discussions came from their surroundings.

“Big Brother Teng....” Li Jun looked at Teng Qingshan beside her. Teng Qingshan cast a glance at Tianfeng Clan and finally lifted the number card up while saying indifferently, “Four hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold!” Although Teng Qingshan’s voice was not loud, it echoed within everyone’s ears.

Silence!

The entire garden became quiet and everyone looked over, even the little princess of Tantai Clan looked at Teng Qingshan in surprise.

No one had expected that Teng Qingshan, someone who hadn’t bid even once, would suddenly bid such a shockingly high price!

Plus.....the price had leapt from three hundred and thirty thousand to four hundred and twenty thousand! Four hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold! The super powerful clans did have the ability to take out such a great amount of gold, but was it worth it? All treasures had a price ceiling after all.

The Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets were not precious enough to make someone go mad.

If it was the thirty-six inscriptions left by Emperor Yu in the past, not to mention mention three thousand taels of gold, even if it cost three million, ten million, or an even higher price, It would still be worth it! Unfortunately, this was just a set of the Blunt Vanadium Stone Tablets. Even if one could obtain it, it would still be extremely difficult to succeed in practicing that exceptional axe art.

“Four hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold. Any higher bidders?” Situ Fan promptly shouted in the center of the pavilion.

All the great clans in the hallway stopped bidding. They were softly discussing Teng Qingshan, who has bid such a high price.

“The Tianfeng Clan recently annihilated the Huang Clan of Yan River that provoked us, and we obtained five hundred thousand taels of gold. I will just throw this gold here....Five hundred taels of gold!” Helian Haoxing of Tianfeng Clan added casually, “ Tianfeng Clan will give up on bidding if anyone bids a higher price.”

The moment the words had been uttered, many clans began discussing them in shock and admiration.

Teng Qingshan grimaced.

Five hundred thousand taels of gold?

Teng Qingshan himself had only three hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold. The Rising Sun Trading Company has promised to lend him twelve thousand taels of gold, but altogether that was nowhere near four hundred and twenty thousand taels of gold! Yet the Tianfeng Clan had bid a terrifying price of five hundred thousand.

“As expected of the number one clan in the world.” Fu Dao shook his head and sighed, “Getting five hundred thousand taels of gold by just annihilating a small clan. This amount of money is nothing to Tianfeng Clan, but to us....”

The sounds of discussions and gasps of surprise continued to ring out.

However, no one bid anymore! Since such a large amount of gold is very important, even to great clans. The Tianfeng Clan was the dominator of the Northern Frosty Region, the number one clan in this world. Thus, the Tianfeng Clan was naturally very wealthy, but the other clans like Fang Clan, Wang Clan, Tantai Clan, etc. were unable to throw in hundreds of thousands of taels of gold like Tianfeng Clan.

“The Tianfeng Clan could get so much gold by just annihilating a clan?” Seeing how wealthy Tianfeng Clan was, Teng Qingshan’s eyes glinted coldly and as said to himself, “It looks like I have no other options!”