Chapter 545: “Mysterious Black Stone (2)”
It was a place shrouded in mystery, and rumoured to be filled with Guardian grade Spirit Beasts that roam within. Such a place quickly killed off any intentions a person might have to explore the place below Heaven’s End Cliff.
The Heaven’s End Cliff had undoubtedly caused many imaginations to roam, but…..
That did not mean that people allowed themselves to be easily fooled by anything that was so carelessly tagged with the infamous reputation of the Heaven’s End Cliff.
The people at the auction held scant belief in the auctioneer’s words.
With just a piece of broken stone, no matter whether it had really come from beyond the Heaven’s End Cliff, the people felt that they would have no use for a piece of rock that they were not even able to cut.
People who had often frequented the Chan Lin Auction House knew the place to be shrewd. They knew everything auctioned off from the place usually cost the bidders a higher price than the market. But this time, the Chan Lin Auction House had candidly declared that the rock can be immediately won at the set base price. This way of auctioning was totally unheard of throughout the history of the Chan Lin Auction House and could be deemed as miraculous.
There could only be two reasons why the establishment would do this. One, the rock was just a piece of ordinary stone and was completely worthless. The auction house might just have tried to carelessly tag a crazy story behind its origins and wanted to be rid of the rock fast. Two, it was just as what the auctioneer had said, the rock was extraordinarily hard and the common person was unable to break it and hence they had not been able to ascertain the rock’s real worth.
If even the people in the Chan Lin Auction House were unable to cut into the rock, anyone who purchased the rock would only be able to use it as a footrest back at home!
No one would be dumb enough to do that.
The heated atmosphere within the auction quickly cooled and it became quiet. No one showed an interest towards the piece of stone displayed on the stage. Their eyes were no longer focused on the stage in front, in obvious protest, wanting the auction house to quickly remove the item off the stage, so they can continue to compete for the treasures that would be subsequently brought out for auction.
After the base price for the stone was announced, the silence grew to become deafening.
Three hundred thousand taels.
For something that had originated from beyond the Heaven’s End Cliff, the price was not unreasonable.
But the problem was, it was just a piece of rock.
That price would be enough to win the people a high grade spirit stone, and no one was prepared to use that sum of money on a broken piece of rock they could not use.
The auctioneer stood upon the stage, sweat ran down his back. This was the first time the Chan Lin Auction House was met with such a predicament. If not for the unique identity of the client, the owner would have hurriedly gotten his people to remove the piece of rock from the stage.
Backstage, behind the ongoing auction, two middle aged men had their eyes peeled and were staring fixedly at the situation out front.
One of the men, who was lavishly dressed let out a sigh and patted the man beside him on the shoulder before saying: “I did whatever I could to help you. You can see for yourself. No one will buy that piece of stone.” The lavishly dressed man was the owner of the Chan Lin Auction House and standing beside him, was the owner of that piece of jet black stone.
The other man’s face was fully wrapped up in bandages and traces of blood had seeped through the thick bandages. His eyes stared wide, and became bloodshot. His fists clenched up tight and blood dripped out through the heavy bandages wrapped around his fists from the amount of force exerted.
“Wait a moment more….. Just a moment…..” The man’s voice was raspy as though spoken through scalding fire. His dry split lips were slightly purple and his eyes did not waver from the auction at the front of the stage. His eyes were full of yearning and under that yearning, was endless fear and dejection.
“I might not be able to get you the three hundred thousand taels that you needed, but I can give you one hundred thousand taels first. If the item really cannot be sold, you can use that money first. You must have known….. I am not the real owner of this auction house and that is really the best I can do for you.” The owner had known the badly injured man for a long time and the lavishly dressed man was sympathetic as he tried to comfort his friend.
But the man shook his head.
“It will not do….. Anything less than three hundred thousand taels….. will not be enough….. Won’t be enough…..”