Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 14: Strengthening Muscles Powder

Jiang Xuan was extremely excited as it was his first time attending an auction. He walked to the French window and looked down at the auction venue in the center of the hall. A young woman was standing in the middle of the venue.

Seeing the young woman's attire, Jiang Xuan quickly covered his mouth and almost laughed out loud.

The color of the young woman's skirt was very similar to the color of the feathers on the arrows used by Jiang Xian. What was even more coincidental was that there were feather-like patterns embroidered on the woman's skirt. Jiang Xuan was wondering for a moment, was this woman's skirt made according to Jiang Xian's arrow feathers?
The young woman clapped her hands lightly, and a beautiful woman in green clothes walked out of the exquisite door. She held an emerald jade box in her hand and placed it on the table in front of the woman in the indigo dress.

The young woman in an indigo dress opened the lid of the jade box with her willow-like slender fingers, and a dark-colored pill appeared before everyone.

"The first item for auction today is a Heaven Grade Pill, with a starting price of five thousand taels." The young woman's pleasant voice sounded again in the venue.

"Heavenly Grade Pill, this is a pill that can give a peak Earth Grade warrior the opportunity to leap into the Heavenly Grade."

"Although this Heaven-grade Pill has the potential to allow a peak Earth-grade warrior to advance, it often carries a significant risk of failure."

"So what? Some warriors remain stuck at the peak of the Earth Rank for their entire lives, unable to advance a single step. Instead of that, wouldn't it be a good idea to take the risk and try using a Heaven Rank Pill?"

Listening to everyone's debate about the Heaven Grade Pill, a young warrior became so angry that he stood up and shouted, "As you said, it's as if this Heaven Grade Pill doesn't cost money. How many people can afford this Heaven Grade Pill that can give you a chance to advance with just a gamble?"

Everyone fell into silence.

"This Heaven-grade elixir uses the inner elixir of a first-rank ferocious beast, the Scale-eared White Bear. It was fortunately obtained by a high-level Heaven-grade warrior who risked his life to chase it into the depths of the Dian forest. This inner elixir greatly neutralizes the toxicity in the elixir. According to warriors who have taken this kind of elixir in the past, the probability of advancement is at least 70%." The young woman broke the brief silence in the field.

"The Heaven-grade pill made from the inner elixir of an ordinary first-grade ferocious beast has only a 50% chance of advancing to a higher level at most. But this Heaven-grade pill has a 70% chance of advancement?" a buyer in the audience exclaimed.

"Ten thousand taels." A man in his twenties shouted in the private room.

"Twelve thousand taels." A man in the hall shouted.

"Twenty thousand taels." Another woman in the private room shouted calmly.

Jiang Xuan's strength had already reached the third level of the Heavenly Rank, so naturally he had no great interest in the Heavenly Rank Pill. He left the French window and sat back on the soft seat in the room, secretly sighing at the comfort of the seat.

……

“Any other prices?”

"One hundred thousand taels sold, congratulations to the buyer."

After several rounds of fierce bidding, this heavenly-grade pill made from the inner elixir of a first-grade scale-eared white bear was sold at a high price of one hundred thousand taels.

Although Jiang Xuan had a mentality of watching the fun for this Heaven Grade Pill, when this Heaven Grade Pill was auctioned at such a high price, Jiang Xuan began to worry whether Xu An could successfully buy it with his 150,000 taels if the Strengthening Muscle Powder really appeared.

……

Jiang Xuan was awakened by a burst of noisy cursing in the venue. After taking the Heavenly Grade Pill at the beginning, Jiang Xuan, who was sitting on the soft seat, fell asleep because he couldn't muster up interest.

"Are you guys at the auction house deliberately trying to make fun of us?"

"I think this Green Lake Auction House is just bullying customers because they think they control the auction business in Qizhou and Yingzhou, so they dare to put anything up for auction."

Jiang Xuan, who had just been woken up by the noise, lost all sleepiness when he heard the shouting and cursing outside the venue. He became very interested in the items being auctioned: What kind of items could cause such great dissatisfaction among everyone present?

"Everyone, don't worry. Although this 'Breaking Dan Technique' contains the word 'Breaking', it is not the simple technique of destroying the Dantian as everyone thinks. It is a rare technique with more profound uses." The woman in the indigo dress explained to everyone in a soft voice.

"What profound use, what rare skill. Who would spend money to buy a skill that would destroy their own Dantian? I think this is just a fake skill forged by your auction house to cheat people out of money!" A middle-aged man didn't buy the young woman on the stage at all and scolded her loudly.

Jiang Xuan thought the middle-aged man's words were blunt but his point was sound. His claim that destroying the Dantian had some profound purpose was completely unfounded. "Since you're not interested in this technique, let's move on to the next lot. However, if any buyers are interested, please feel free to contact us and we'll put you in touch with the seller." The young woman clapped her hands, and the woman in green placed a small jade bottle on the table.

"This is a bottle of Tendon Strengthening Powder. Those of you here who are Heavenly Rank warriors are probably familiar with this. After a warrior reaches the Heavenly Rank, the first priority is to improve their physical strength, aiming to reach the peak of the Heavenly Rank as quickly as possible and thus qualify for the Jade Cultivation Passage Trial. This Tendon Strengthening Powder is very effective in strengthening tendons and bones. A high-quality Tendon Strengthening Powder can even increase a warrior's strength by three levels in a short period of time."

The young woman looked confident. She knew very well that this Strengthening Muscle Powder was fundamentally different from the previous self-harm technique. It was even more popular than the Heavenly Grade Pill that was sold at a high price of 100,000 taels at the beginning of the auction.

"The starting price of this muscle strengthening powder is 10,000 taels. Please make your bid." As soon as the woman finished her enthusiastic words, the scene instantly became lively.

"Fifteen thousand taels."

"Eighteen thousand taels."

"Twenty thousand taels."

……

The bidding first started in the area outside the private room. After a fierce bidding, the price reached 50,000 taels.

"This buyer has offered fifty thousand taels. Are there any other bids?" The young woman naturally did not think that fifty thousand taels would be the final bid for this bottle of Qiangjinsan, so she said this bland cliché as a formality.

"Sixty thousand taels." In the private room on the second floor, a young woman directly called out the price to sixty thousand taels.

"Seventy thousand taels."

"Ninety thousand taels."

"One hundred thousand taels."

The people in the private room began bidding.

Jiang Xuan felt a little nervous at this time. If the bidding continued at this speed, the price would probably exceed 150,000 taels very soon. If he couldn't buy the Qiangjin Powder for Xu An, he really didn't know how to explain to Xu An.

"One hundred and one hundred thousand taels." The scholar-like man sitting in the bread room opposite Jiang Xuan spoke, and then seeing that Jiang Xuan was also thinking about the muscle-strengthening powder, he smiled politely again.

Jiang Xuan forced himself to grin at the other party, revealing an awkward smile, and was about to start bidding.

"One hundred and five thousand taels." A man wearing a black mask in the private room on the third floor made the bid.

Jiang Xuan's nervous mood finally felt a little relieved. It seemed that the ideal price of Qiangjinsan should be around 100,000 taels.

If the price exceeds this limit, each company will have to consider the pros and cons, and therefore will become more cautious in bidding.

"One hundred and twenty thousand taels." The man with a scholarly demeanor bid again, his face calm.

"One hundred and twenty-five thousand taels." In another private room, a woman in a black cloak also joined the bidding.

Jiang Xuan hesitated for a moment and subconsciously looked at the scholarly man opposite him. The man shook his head, indicating that he would withdraw from the bidding.

"One hundred and thirty thousand taels." The man in the black mask bid again.

Jiang Xuan, who was hesitant, finally calmed down, made a gesture with forced calmness, and made an offer.

He originally wanted to bid around 140,000 taels, but his intuition told him that if he raised the price slowly, his opponent might also slowly follow suit. However, if he bid 150,000 taels at once, it might be the last straw that broke the camel's back. He decided to take a gamble!
"This buyer has offered 150,000 taels. Is there a higher bid?" asked the woman in the indigo dress.

(End of this chapter)