As Thunder Zhuo and Jiang Ming joined the fray, the battle among the four families heated up.
They raised the bid for the Soul Nourishing Pill to 320,000 demon spirit coins before finally stopping.
“Nie Li, this is the Soul Nourishing Pill! Aren't you going to bid for it?” Nie Hai rubbed his hands eagerly and looked at Nie Li.
It would be better for Nie Li to buy this pill than let it be snatched away by another family.
“I’m not interested. I've already bid on so many things. I should leave something for others to bid on; otherwise, it’s pretty boring just raising the price by myself!” Nie Li replied nonchalantly.
Nie Hai forced a smile.
The Soul Nourishing Pill was a good item for nurturing the next generation of the family.
Suddenly, he remembered something: these pills were produced by the Alchemist Association, and Nie Li had such a good relationship with Yang Xin.
There was no reason for Yang Xin not to give Nie Li some pills.
No wonder Nie Li showed no interest in the Soul Nourishing Pill.
“Nie Li, did Elder Yang give you any pills?” Nie Hai asked quietly.
“Of course! Those pills were all requested from Sister Yang. The family head wouldn’t mean to take that from me, right? If that's the case, I will tell Sister Yang!” Nie Li blinked and said seriously, a hint of mischief flashed in his eyes.
Teasing the family head was an amusing pastime, even though he had decided to contribute some of the pills to the family.
“How could that be!” Nie Hai almost wanted to cry.
If Nie Li said that to Elder Yang, the cooperation between the Heavenly Mark Family and the Alchemist Association would be over. “What I mean is, since Elder Yang gave you those pills, you must keep them well and make sure no one takes them away!”
“Oh, I misunderstood the family head. Thank you for your concern!” Nie Li nodded.
Nie Hai turned away with a bitter smile.
It was too hard to deal with these kids nowadays.
It was so difficult to get any advantage from Nie Li! Inside, Nie Hai felt a heavy burden.
The first batch of Soul Nourishing Pills was won by Thunder Zhuo at the price of 320,000. Following that were the second, third, fourth, and fifth batches.
Every time Nie Hai tried to compete, the prices were pushed above 300,000 demon spirit coins.
Nie Hai was frustrated.
If he won a batch of Soul Nourishing Pills, he wouldn’t have money to bid for the Soul Condensation Pill.
All he could do was watch the other family heads fight over them, his heart quietly weeping.
“These family heads really have too much money!” Nie Hai thought indignantly.
The Heavenly Mark Family was far too weak compared to the Silver Tiger Family or the Iron Gate Family, which had rich resources.
The Heavenly Mark Family had only recently paid off their debts, and they simply couldn’t compare.
Watching the fierce competition, Nie Li secretly expressed his admiration.
The business of these pills was indeed profitable! After all, a portion of the auction earnings, after deducting the auction fees, was his! Nie Li was pleased and didn’t intend to intervene.
Though he could raise the price a bit, such a small amount was meaningless for Nie Li, who could make over a hundred million or even several hundreds of millions of demon spirit coins in a day.
As he watched batch after batch of Soul Nourishing Pills go to others with none left for him, Nie Hai’s growing dejection was palpable.
After the fifth batch of Soul Nourishing Pills was auctioned off, although the heated scene calmed down a little, the price of each still remained above 300,000.
“Nie Hai, I see you aren’t that eager to bid. Is it that you have no interest in the Soul Nourishing Pill?” Chi Feng, standing aside, asked curiously.
“I…” Nie Hai really had no way to express his true feelings.
He wanted to say that he truly had no money, but would Chi Feng and the others believe him? After all, before, it was Nie Li who had been spending lavishly, not him!
Li Yuan seemed to ponder and said, “Nie Hai, you have a close relationship with the Alchemist Association. You should be able to obtain quite a few low-priced pills from them. If you do have low-priced pills, please don’t forget us. As long as the price is below 300,000 demon spirit coins, we want as many as you have!”
“I…I see… Well, okay then!” Nie Hai reluctantly replied.
Even if he denied it, Chi Feng and Li Yuan likely wouldn’t believe him.
He could only helplessly look towards Nie Li.
Seeing Nie Hai’s downcast gaze, Nie Li blinked innocently.
He wanted to tease that grumpy old man more, given how he always had a stern face in his past life!
Eventually, all ten Soul Nourishing Pills were auctioned off, with Thunder Zhuo winning three, Jiang Ming two, and Li Yuan and Chi Feng each acquiring one.
The rest were taken by other wealthy merchants.
“Next is the Soul Condensation Pill!” As soon as the words "Soul Condensation Pill" were spoken, the atmosphere in the auction house grew even more exuberant.
The Soul Condensation Pill was extremely valuable for silver and gold-level demon spirit masters, especially for those who had been stuck on the verge of advancement for a long time.
Just one Soul Condensation Pill could very well help create a gold-level demon spirit master or even assist a gold-level demon spirit master in breaking through to the black gold level! The temptation was unimaginable.
“Starting at 350,000 demon spirit coins!” the young auctioneer exclaimed.
“360,000 demon spirit coins!”
“390,000 demon spirit coins!”
…
Soon enough, the price shot up to over 500,000 and continued to rise, nearing 600,000. This amount left Nie Hai dumbfounded.
He had thought that 600,000 would get him a Soul Condensation Pill, only to find out he couldn’t afford even one!
If he had known, he would’ve just bought a Soul Nourishing Pill to take home.
Was he really going to leave empty-handed this time? Nie Hai felt utterly defeated; these people were too crazed, pushing the price of ten pills to such a high level.
Was there any fairness in this? The Alchemist Association was simply making a fortune!
While Nie Hai felt resentful, he had no way to argue since the Heavenly Mark Family was indeed the most misfortunate among the noble families.
They had only been able to pay off their debts by selling off many territories, and now even managing to come up with 600,000 was a stretch.
650,000!
The first Soul Condensation Pill sold for 650,000!
Nie Hai and Nie En exchanged bitter smiles, watching as Thunder Zhuo took the Soul Condensation Pill into his hands.
“Nie Li!” Finally, Elder Nie En beside him couldn’t hold back any longer.
He turned to Nie Li and said, “Could you help us bid for a Soul Condensation Pill? We can owe you the money for now and pay you back later!” Nie Li had casually spent two million demon spirit coins without blinking; borrowing 650,000 shouldn’t be a problem.
If it had been Nie Hai making the request, Nie Li might have refused to help, as he had been quite distant from him in his past life.
But Elder Nie En was different.
When Glory City fell apart, Nie En had provided Nie Li’s family with a lot of support.
Nie Li still held a degree of respect for him.
“Elder, since you’ve asked, this matter is no trouble at all. However, bidding for the Soul Condensation Pill is really unnecessary.” With a wave of his right hand, Nie Li pulled out several large porcelain vials from his spatial ring and handed them to Nie En. “Inside are 5,000 Soul Nourishing Pills, 600 Soul Condensation Pills, and 100 Soul Refining Pills. Consider them a gift from me to you!”
Holding those vials, Nie En was left speechless, his voice trembling, “Five thousand… five thousand Soul Nourishing Pills… 600… Soul Condensation Pills… and even Soul Refining Pills?”
Nie En was completely stunned, and Nie Hai was just as dumbfounded.
While other families were fighting tooth and nail over a few Soul Nourishing Pills and Soul Condensation Pills, Nie Li casually produced 5,000 Soul Nourishing Pills, 600 Soul Condensation Pills, and even the hard-to-find Soul Refining Pills!
Oh heavens, am I dreaming? Nie En remained in a state of shock.
(End of Chapter)