<h4>Chapter 38 – The Crystal Lotus</h4>


    Guan Wan-Shan got on the stage and announced straight away that the auction had begun.


    As expected, everyone felt pleased and looked at him with praise.


    This salesroom knew well about business...


    “The first object to be auctioned is... a Jade Ruyi!” Guan Wan-Shan waved his hand and a girl showed up on stage with the Jade Ruyi.


    “This is a top quality Jade Ruyi. The starting price has been set at 400 gold bars and the bid increment is 50 gold bars.”


    In fact, Guan Wan-Shan sounded downhearted.


    A Jade Ruyi was surely not an important item in such a top-ss auction. Guan Wan-Shan originally didn’t want it at the auction, but Feng Zhi-Ling had asked him to do so. And Guan Wan-Shan certainly didn’t understand why...


    When the Jade Ruyi showed up, the crowd was quiet, as expected.


    Everyone was either closing their eyes or looking away; nobody even thought about bidding. They didn’t even want to bother showing their disdain!


    For these people, a Jade Ruyi really had no value.


    They were all revered experts; how could they be interested in such a mundane thing?


    Guan Wan-Shan felt helpless.


    He thought that Feng Zhi-Ling truly had undermined him this time... Feng Zhi-Ling had asked him to put the Jade Ruyi in the auction, but now it was going to be abortive as the first item...


    Luckily a voice sounded, “Four hundred Gold bars!”


    It was Zuo Wu-Ji!


    Guan Wan-Shan felt relieved. To him, Zuo Wu-Ji’s voice was like a song from the heaven!


    Zuo Wu-Ji gave the first bid and then looked around nervously, but he found that no one was bidding after him. He was delighted.


    He didn’t know that all the other people were saving their money for the supreme dan beads. They certainly wouldn’t spend a penny on this Jade Ruyi. After all, they might need the 400 gold bars to win the dan beads; how could they take that risk?


    Guan Wan-Shan called the bid three times, but nobody even looked at him. He banged the gavel quickly and sold the first item to Zuo Wu-Ji at the starting price!


    Although it was a low-price deal, Guan Wan-Shan was happy about it. In fact, he felt a little bit thankful for Zuo Wu-Ji. In his mind, Zuo Wu-Ji had saved him in this awkward situation!


    Zuo Wu-Ji finally got the Jade Ruyi he so desperately wanted. He felt like he was dreaming, “That was so easy... I just got it? Nobody even tried to bid against me...”


    Lan Lang-Lang’s eyes popped wide open, “What? That was too easy, wasn’t it? What is going on?”


    Zuo Wu-Yi was holding the Jade Ruyi, yet he didn’t feel happy.


    Instead, he was feeling a hint of depression.


    He used to think that his family was great, and that he was better than most of the people in this world. However, right at this moment, he found out that he was certainly not. The thing that he wanted so much turned out to be something that real cultivators disdained!


    Zuo Wu-Ji kept his head low while holding the Jade Ruyi in his arms.


    A feeling of humiliation appeared in his heart. “The Jade Ruyi is just garbage for them... Why should I want it so badly? Is it all about cultivation in this world?”


    Lan Lang-Lang was thinking, “I thought millions of gold bars could be enough to make me a dragon among men. It turns out I was wrong... Having millions of gold bars means nothing... Even if I have an endless flow of money, how could I protect my wealth if I am not strong like these masters here?”


    ...


    Ye Xiao was looking at his two best friends from the balcony and he couldn’t help sighing.


    “Finally you two have realized the truth; or maybe you have started to realize the truth.” Ye Xiao sighed, “What a shame... It is already toote. You have passed your perfect periods and it’s pointless for you to start cultivating now. How can either of you ever reach the pinnacle of cultivation in your lives?”


    While collecting his thoughts, he heard Guan Wan-Shan’s voice, “The next item is a Crystal Lotus. This Crystal Lotus is 1500 years old. Its petals have shown some red streaks. It is about to be a Bloodshot Lotus. It is an extraordinary medical material. The starting price is 5000 silver bars; 500 silver bars is added for each bid.”


    Ye Xiao’s eyes lit up.


    The Crystal Lotus?


    The old man of the Mu n raised his hand, “5500.”


    The Crystal Lotus was the perfect foundation for young children to take the initial step in cultivation. When a baby was born, the pure qi that was given to him inside his mother’s body would start to diminish. A Crystal Lotus could maintain the natural born pure qi inside the baby and incorporate it with the qi obtained once he started cultivating after growing older. It would help a person to be an expert cultivator in the shortest time. The child who had taken the Crystal Lotus could improve three times faster than others.


    However, the child needed to be a natural born cultivator, and it needed a cultivator of the Grade of Tianyuan to guide him.


    In fact, there were not many people who ced bids after the Mu n did. In fact, only the eight noble ns were bidding for the Crystal Lotus.


    The national order of this mortal world had always confused Ye Xiao. He couldn’tprehend how the three different kind of forces were coexisting.


    Bit by bit, he finally figured out the rtionship of the three major figures of the mortal world – the noble ns, the martial sects and the royal families.


    “I thought the martial sects did not have a high position in the world, but I was wrong. In fact, they have a remarkable position. They actually look down upon all the ordinary items. They are not keen for political powers; they like to control things under the table and then seize the resources for their ultimate goals... So they have political influence, but only just enough to acquire their goals. They weren’t interested in political powers, they were interested in the power that came from cultivation...”


    “The noble ns are trying their best to get what the martial sects disregard. The noble ns are much weaker than the martial sects in cultivation. However, the noble ns are active in the mortal society, so they have bigger influence in the society than the martial sects... Even though the martial sects think little of influence, it is still something important in the mortal world... In fact, there are many people from the noble ns that have joined the sects, or work for the royal families... They’re worse than the martial sects in cultivation, and worse than the royal families in political influence, but they are surely able to live and breed in any situation... Even if someday the royal families are gone and the martial sects are destroyed, the noble ns will surely survive.”


    “The royal families are ruling the world in a political way, but they are not capable of dealing with problems in the social aspect, so the noble ns are needed. The eight noble ns are settled in the three most powerful kingdoms in the world. It is actually a kind of bnce – the bnce between the imperial power and the noble ns.”


    “All in all, the three groups are struggling against each other, yet they’re simultaneously supporting each other. They won’t make full cooperation; nor will they try to obliterate each other.”


    Ye Xiao frowned. He had reached a conclusion.


    He was sure that what he had conjectured was absolutely right!


    It could bepared to a lock with three keyholes.


    Each of the three groups held one key. Only when the three of them gave in their keys could the lock be opened.


    The problem was that they would never give in their keys.


    If they all gave in the keys and the lock was opened, there must be someone among them that should be taking charge. That meant there would be no value of existence for them.


    “I should be the lock. I should make use of them all and stay safe in the world, until I get strong enough. I won’t need any key; I just need to make sure they will not use their keys and keep the lock sealed forever.”


    ...


    Ye Xiao had just recovered from his thoughts. The bids for the Crystal Lotus hade to thest stage. The Mu n was still sticking on it and they had just outbid thestpetitor. The Long n had quit because they couldn’t offer a higher price.


    The price was now up to 27,500 silver bars.


    Ye Xiao smiled with disdain, and then he spoke loudly, “50 thousand silver bars!”