Chapter 308

In their private room, Wei Yang laughs that Shang Ya Zi’s face must be green, then asks whether Fang Yuan is really content to lose the bitter strength Gu. Fang Yuan answers that he still means to get one, only not by paying eight hundred and ten thousand primeval stones for it: he would rather spend that sum on attempts to refine his own, since it is enough for many tries. Shang Xin Ci worries the refinement could fail and harm him, but Fang Yuan only shakes his head, keeping his real plan to himself. ^{ch. 308}

Word spreads through the auction house that Fang Yuan deliberately baited Shang Ya Zi, and the gathered crowd agrees his acting was convincing enough to fool them too. In his own private room, Shang Ya Zi smashes his cup on the floor while his servants kneel in silence. He has indeed been tricked: eight hundred and ten thousand primeval stones spent on a bitter strength Gu he cannot even use. The narration notes that two years of hard work running Shang clan’s shops had made him wiser after an earlier setback, but that his petty, spiteful nature overrode that growth and let hatred walk him straight into Fang Yuan’s trap. He screams inwardly that only the poison vow Gu keeps him from killing Fang Yuan outright. ^{ch. 308}

The auction resumes, and a rank four atmosphere Gu, a Gu able to plant a shared habit across an entire group rather than a single person, comes up as the thirty second item. Bidding runs from two hundred and sixty thousand through Yi Bu Hui, Fei Luan Feng, an unnamed recipe master, and Wei Yang before Fang Yuan closes it at five hundred thousand, more than anyone else present is willing to pay. Wei Yang points out he could have had it for four hundred and sixty thousand; Shang Xin Ci reads the extra instead as a shrewd move that scared off two elders who might otherwise have driven the price higher still; Fang Yuan waves off the forty thousand difference as no matter. Fang Yuan admits he wants the Gu for a real purpose but will not say what, and Bai Ning Bing, irritated by his secrecy, keeps her guard up. ^{ch. 308}

A set of thirty eight eating wind Gu follows, sold together as one lot. Fang Yuan does not bid. Wei Yang wins a light type Gu, and Bai Ning Bing, after three attempts, secures a rank three tornado Gu. ^{ch. 308}

The auction’s final item is not a Gu or a material but a recipe for the heavenly essence treasure monarch lotus, left unappraised because appraisal itself risks leaking it. The announcement excites the room, and someone claims that whoever eventually refines the rank six version, the imperial lotus, would receive the inheritance ground of Immortal Venerable Genesis Lotus. Fang Yuan asks aloud whether the recipe still requires the heavenly essence treasure lotus itself as a material, and the auctioneer, unable to refuse a purple thorn token holder, confirms that it does. Interest cools once the crowd realizes how hard the lotus itself is to obtain, and the bidding stalls at six hundred and sixty thousand before Wei Yang closes it at six hundred and seventy thousand. ^{ch. 308}