The Strongest Businessman

While Brock was flaming on about the brown cloaked person's disappearance, the bidding started to heat up.

"Since you decided to break the ice, it would be impolite if we did not respond. I bid One thousand seven hundred fifty spirit stones!" Vice Head Garet spoke in a deep voice.

"That's it, Brother Garet! One thousand eight hundred spirit stones!" Romero deeply chortled.

"How about letting me join the fun? One thousand eight hundred fifty spirit stones!" Thundercloud Army Captain Kyrie also joined.

"There you go! But I won't lose that easily hahaha! One thousand nine hundred!" Romero was widely smiling as he raised the bid by fifty stones like it was nothing. It even seemed that he was having fun spending money.

"Well said, Brother Romero. One thousand nine hundred fifty spirit stones!" Vice Head Garet voted another bid.

"Two thousand spirit stones!" The tall Nick Williams who was part of the Seven Thunderblades spoke as he raised his bidding panel.

"Two thousand fifty spirit stones!" Another bidder shouted. Suprisingly, it was Sheldon of Premier Hall!

...

As the price rose, the faces of the crowd was of horror. They never would have thought that these people could spend spirit stones like it was nothing. Most of all, the manner they rose the bid was fifty spirit stones! To commoners, that would have been a large amount already as they could already buy a house as big as Dylan's Residence.

"Their raising it by fifties!" A sectmaster that ranked 800+ was dismal as he continued to watch how this bidding war proceeds.

"As expected of the top 10 sects that towers over 2000 sects, the way they handle spirit stones is just... depressing." A clan head of middle ranked noble clan looked depressed as he heard the price of the herb rise like there was no tomorrow.

...

"I never thought that a herb could actually cost this much money." Daniela said with a shocked look on her face.

"It is because it is a herb that could create a High Earth Rank Pill that could make another Origin Palace." The elder who accompanied her answered her.

"I know that. But I mean isn't two thousand spirit stones enough to buy a High Earth Rank Pill like Purifying Origin Pill which could make the Origin Palace twice as big? Won't it yield the same result? Moreover, the fact that there is a high possibility of failure for alchemists who attempts to create such a high rank pill. It just seems impractical. " Daniela refuted.

" You do have some point there. But you are mostly wrong." The elder replied.

"Huh? Why is that?" Daniela frowned. She did not understand what was the fault of her argument.

"Firstly, the effect of the Twin Origin Creation Pill and Purifying Origin Pill is different. The Purifying Origin Pill may enlarge the user's energy reserves but it won't make his/her Palace Guardian evolve into a Palace King." The elder compared the two pills first.

"Why not? Isn't the theory behind the Palace King about the amount of Origin Energy incubating it? Using this theory, if you pour in twice the amount of Origin Energy required to create a Palace Guardian, won't it also result to the evolution of the Guardian?" Daniela rebutted. She was a learned individual so she has large array of information stored in her mind.

"No, that theory is not entirely true." The elder smiled seeing how much Daniela thoroughly thought her arguments.

"Really?" There was a trace of disbelief on her face when the elder said otherwise.

"Yes. The proven theory behind the Avatar Evolution is the number of Origin Palaces a cultivator has. This is because an Origin Palace is an entity that can establish a slight connection with the worldly laws. By establishing a connection with this law, the Avatar could undergo evolution. With another Origin Palace, you establish another connection with the worldly laws thereby, giving another oppurtunity for evolution." The elder replied.

"That's right! How could I forget about the thin connection that could be formed during Origin Palace!" Daniela suddenly realized the faults of her arguments.

"Secondly, you are underestimating the connections of these people. Almost all of them are people at the peak of Mortal Severing Realm. To reach this stage, they would most likely have connections to Alchemy Sage. For Alchemy Sages, refining a High Earth Rank Pill is as easy as breathing. You must know that an Alchemy Sage is someone who needs to concoct 3 Mid Heaven Rank Pills in front of a council of Alchemy Sages with one of the Alchemy Saints as its Head Examiner." The elder eloquently said.

"I was too ignorant, First Elder." Daniela admitted defeat.

"It is okay. Youngsters tend to make mistakes and it is the duty of old fogies like me to guide you." The First Elder wisely imparted.

"I shall remember these words. Thank you for your guidance." Daniela gratefullt said.

"Good." The First Elder smiled but he eventually looked at the 3rd floor of the Soaring Garden Main Building.

"But, the real reason that these people are so invested in getting this herb to get the pill is for their main disciples to be able to easily traverse the Heavenly Connection Realm of Mortal Severing!" He revealed.

"Heavenly Connection? Why would... Connection... No way! First Elder, do you mean to say that forming another Origin Palace increases survivability in the Mortal Severing Tribulations of the Heavenly Connection Realm?!" Daniela felt as though everything seemed clear now.

"Indeed. Having multiple Origin Palace will greaty help you "surpass" that Mortal Severing Tribulation. That is why even if this herb's price went 10 tomes its' original price, it would still be worth it." The First Elder admitted.

"Heavens, what kind of terrifying luck does this Dylan Ford posses in order to get that herb? Hmph, he must be jumping in joy right now." Daniela suddenly felt envious to Dylan once she learned the true worth of the herb.

"True, he may have terrifying luck but what's more terrifying is how calm he is despite the situation." The First Elder spoke with a solemn look on his face while his eyes focused at the wooden platform in the center.

"You must be jesting. There is no way he could be... calm?" Daniela had a movking tone with her. Earning more than two thousand spirit for just one herb? Even she would be jumping in joy literally. But what she saw at the wooden platform was a man calmly drinking tea with a nonchallant smile on his face.

"This guy! Isn't he too nonchallant?!" For some reason, Daniela became agitated and grumpily said.

"Nonchallant? No, if he was nonchallant, he would have never gotten a perfect score in the Noble Test. Rather, I think that it is confidence. Confidence in the amount of effort he exerted to succeed. Confidence to be calm no matter what the situation. He must have known these things like how he knew about the pill that even you did not know." The First Elder enigmatically stated.

"Confidence?" Daniela was a bit lost but she knew that the First Elder would never lie to a fellow clansman because he possess the ability to see through what personality a person has.

Knowing this, she felt trepidation towards Dylan because if what First Elder really accurate, then Dylan's plans and strategies would be completely ingenius.

...

The raise continued to rise until it reached 2300. Now, eight of the nine powers pf the Top 10 were participating for the herb. Constantly, every single one of the seventeen continued to bid. No one backed down even half a step until it reached 2500 spirit stones.

"I bid Two thousand five hundred spirit stones!" Veronica daringly said. Though she did not show it, this was the last bid that she would raise.

'I just hope no one would raise it again. Just a little bit more, sis. Big sis has a huge present for you.' She really did not want this herb but it was for his sister. She was confident enough that her sister would be able to create two but only has a slim chance of creating three. She wanted her sister to have the best because that is how much she loved her little sis.

...

"It seems that we should give this up, Sir Cobra. There are still a lot more oppurtunities to seize some quality herbs." A skinny female with bright white complexion suggested.

"You are right. I will give this one to them." Cobra easily agreed and conceded. With that, Cloud Serpent Sect withdrew yhemselves from the fight.

...

"It has reached two thousand five hundred already. Let us stop bidding." Army Captain Hanz told his partner.

"Are you sure? That herb would definitely help Lil' Lance to become a whole lot stronger." Army Captain Kyrie was still undecided whether to give up or not.

"I am. We are only at the twelfth item yet it is already this valuable. We'll just need to be more patient and amass more spirit stones to bid with." Hanz comvinced his partner again.

"You are right. We will just have to wait." Kyrie eventually agreed.

...

"Brother Nick, it would be unwise to continue bidding any longer. We must save our spirit stones for the next items." Jason Slice was the third member of the Seven Thunderblades who came with Jena and Nick. He felt that it would be not worth to continue any longer.

"You do have a point. We might as well save our spirit stones for the next ones." Nick agreed.

...

"Hahaha, Sheldon, I did not expect you to bid before me." Azelmek cackled softly.

"Well, I just thought of giving something like that as a gift for Dylan." Sheldon embarassingly said.

"I know. But you should back out for now. If yu want to bid on something bid on the last 5 items." Azelmek suggested.

"I will take your advice, then." Sheldon said approvingly.

...

More than half of the 9 powers felt apprehension in going further as two thousand five hundred sporit stones was already their upper limit for this herb. They still needed to conserve their spirit stones for the next batch of items.

Seeing that most of the competitors have already shown hesitation, Dylan decided to intervene because even though more than half chose to concede defeat, that did not necessarily mean that the other 4 would not bid any longer.

"Is there someone who is still willing to bid for the herb? Two thousand six hundred going once!" Dylan was trying to whittle down the competitors for the winner to finally emerge.

"I bid 2 thousand six hundred!" Vice Garet Head strongly said while thinking, 'If someone will raise another bid, I will give up on this herb.'

"Two thousand six hundred going once!" Dylan probed once more.

"TWO THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED FIFTY!" Romero roared.

"Two thousand six hundred fifty going once! Two thousand six hundred fifty~" Dylan could not continue as another bid interjected.

"Two thousand seven hundred spirit stones!" The Grand Elder of the Alchemy Academy personally voted this time. They had finally reached their limit price.

"Two thousand seven hundred spirit stones going once!" Dylan calmly articulated.

...

"Two thousa~blewp" Romero wanted to bid again but Dorin was the one who covered his mouth and stopped him.

"You promised that was the last time. Keep your word." Dorin warned.

"Huuu... fine." Romero said. At the same time, Dorin released him.

...

"Going twice!" Dylan loudly spoke to be heard by everybody. He thought that it was already over until something unexpected occurs...

"I bid two thousand eight hundred spirit stones." The representative of the Night Grand Clan, Fendour Night raised the bid. The quiet one suddenly decided to strike at the most critical moment.

The crowd did not expect that the Night Grand Clan would suddenly bid out of nowhere. The shock rendered them looking like this -> "(°O°)"

Even Dylan was somewhat caought off guard but eventually recovered, " Uhmm... Oh, Two thousand eight hundred going once!"

"..." No response from anyone at all.

"Going twice..." Dylan continued.

"..." The same thing happened.

'Why is no one bidding?' Dylan did not expect it to become so silent all of a sudden. He initially thought that it would be the Alchemy Academy or the Battlebeast School. He never expected that it would be the 10th ranker of the Sect Rankings, Night Grand Clan.

"Sold to the Night Grand Clan!" Dylan announced with a faint smile but in truth, he never expected any of that to happen.