Truth be told, the scene where Third Young Master Ji had turned the tables on Wang Teng earlier still left many scions of the great noble houses shaken. As soon as he stepped forward to raise his bid, the feverish atmosphere cooled in an instant.
Wang Teng's side wanted to push back against Third Young Master Ji, but having once been bitten by a snake, they feared even a rope for ten years. They worried about being outmaneuvered by him once more.
Most critically, the spirit stones they had brought today had already been drained dry during the Myriad Longevity Pill fiasco. There was simply no way they could produce tens of millions more to compete for this Heaven-Stealing Cauldron.
After Third Young Master Ji's intervention, two more scions made tentative bids, only to be crushed each time by his intimidating, ready-to-devour stance.
In the end, Third Young Master Ji secured the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron at fifty-six million.
The young master of Lianshan Studio was not entirely satisfied with the price, but it had more or less met his target. Most importantly, with Third Young Master Ji as the winner, he had no grounds to complain.
After all, without Third Young Master Ji's bidding war earlier, the Myriad Longevity Pill could never have been driven to such a ludicrous price.
Seeing Third Young Master Ji claim the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron, Jiang Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
To establish himself in Glazed King City, upgrading his hardware was essential. An alchemy cauldron was one of the pieces of hardware he absolutely needed to improve.
Though fifty-six million was slightly steep, with Jiang Chen's current wealth, the financial pressure was not particularly heavy.
Moreover, once the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron was in his hands, the value it would produce would be at least a hundredfold, even a thousandfold, what he had paid.
After the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron was knocked down, the sixth item up for auction was an ancient formation disc. The moment it appeared, it sparked another frenzied bidding war.
Though such formation discs were rare, Jiang Chen remained unmoved. When it came to formation discs, he had already obtained several in the forbidden grounds of the Danxiao Ancient Sect.
This auctioned formation disc was comparable in quality to the Minor Wuxiang Formation Disc — for Jiang Chen, it was an optional, rather redundant piece.
After all, Jiang Chen still possessed the most precious artifact of the Danxiao Ancient Sect — the Danxiao Formation Disc, which could simulate the sect's ten great formations! To date, he had only managed to use it once, and had replicated merely a tenth or two of its power. Even so, the result had been astonishing.
But for everyone else, this formation disc was undoubtedly a treasure. Before long, the price soared to sixty or seventy million, and it was ultimately won by some scion for a staggering eighty million.
The greatest advantage of such a formation disc was its ability to deploy a formation instantly, without the need for formation flags or the painstaking construction of a formation foundation like ordinary formations required.
Put simply, it was instantaneous formation deployment — a time-saver that, at critical moments, might not kill an enemy but could buy a precious few seconds of delay. Sometimes that was equivalent to saving one's own life.
After all, the sudden appearance of a formation would catch even the strongest expert off guard for a brief instant. And in the heat of battle, that fleeting moment of hesitation could be enough to save a life.
After the ancient formation disc, two more items appeared, neither of which interested Jiang Chen in the slightest. With the auction drawing to a close, he no longer had any expectations.
But when the young master of Lianshan Studio announced the ninth item, Jiang Chen's heart gave a jolt.
"The ninth item: one Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane."
Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane!
Hearing those words, Jiang Chen couldn't help but glance at Third Young Master Ji. This was the thing Third Young Master Ji should have been bidding for with everything he had.
Jiang Chen had never imagined such a coincidence. When the Myriad Longevity Pill had come up earlier, he had briefly thought about the Pine Crane Pill.
Yet here it was — this auction had actually produced a Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane, one of the rarest spirit beasts.
The Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane's grade was not particularly high, and its combat ability was only average, but it was extraordinarily rare. It belonged to the cloud crane species, but that golden crown made it exceptionally uncommon.
Every part of the Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane was a treasure. In the past, a wealthy cultivator had woven the crane's feathers into a dharma robe that resisted both fire and water, halved the damage of any metal-attributed attack, and was considered exceedingly precious.
The crane's meat was also remarkably exquisite in flavor, widely regarded in the martial world as a delicacy fit for a feast.
As for the Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane's heart, it was a famous ingredient in alchemy.
The Pine Crane Pill required two key ingredients: the pine cone of the Thousand Illusion Hidden Cloud Pine, and the heart of the Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane.
That was precisely why Jiang Chen had been so shocked upon hearing the crane's name.
Placed as the final item, the Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane was obviously not cheap. The opening bid was thirty million, and the bidding from all sides was ferocious.
Yet Third Young Master Ji seemed to have no particular interest in the crane at all, remaining indifferent throughout. It even appeared that his thoughts had wandered away from the auction entirely.
Seeing this, Jiang Chen felt a quiet sense of helplessness. The Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane was exactly the item this fellow should be bidding on frantically, yet he showed not the slightest reaction.
Jiang Chen hesitated — should he give the man a hint, or not?
After all, a Golden-Crowned Cloud Crane was the sort of thing you encountered by chance and could not seek out. Miss this one, and it might be another ten or twenty years before another appeared.
But if he were to hint, how should he go about it? He would need to tell Third Young Master Ji to bid on a spirit bird the man had no interest in. Would the man even comply?
And if Third Young Master Ji asked why, Jiang Chen would have no way to answer.
He could not very well reveal the truth about the Pine Crane Pill. That matter involved far too much — once the words left his mouth, Jiang Chen dared not imagine the consequences.
Thinking about how Third Young Master Ji had not even asked a single question before securing the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron on his behalf, Jiang Chen felt a measure of admiration for the man's boldness and magnanimity.