Dominator Emperor

Ten million Prince’s Essence Jades for a jar of Rotting Nether Beans. Everyone gasped. It was simply too outrageous. Even someone who desperately needed Rotting Nether Beans wouldn’t accept such a price. In the end, the jar went to Sima Longyun.

”Are you insane?!” Seeing Sima Longyun win the jar of Rotting Nether Beans, Chi Xiaodie finally erupted, snapping coldly at Li Qiye.

They had been determined to get those Rotting Nether Beans. But now, thanks to Li Qiye’s interference, Sima Longyun had snatched them for a sky-high price! Even if Sima Longyun hadn’t placed the winning bid, there was no way they could have accepted such an astronomical cost.

Chi Xiaodie was seething with fury. ’This is all Li Qiye’s fault!’ If he hadn’t lost his mind and started shouting out random bids, they might have already bought the Rotting Nether Beans for a reasonable price.

”Xiaodie, don’t be angry. As long as you need them, this jar of Rotting Nether Beans is yours. Money is just a worldly possession; it’s nothing.” Sima Longyun, having already collected the jar, immediately presented it to Chi Xiaodie.

For Sima Longyun, ten million for a jar of Rotting Nether Beans was certainly outrageous. However, if it could win Chi Xiaodie’s favor and land a heavy blow on Li Qiye, whom he considered a rival for her affection, then it was a satisfying price to pay.

Chi Xiaodie’s expression turned ugly. She wanted nothing to do with Sima Longyun, but her brother desperately needed that jar of Rotting Nether Beans.

”You’ve completely ruined everything!” Chi Xiaodie couldn’t stop herself from lashing out at Li Qiye, her voice low and furious.

Li Qiye’s expression remained unchanged. He smiled faintly, looked at Sima Longyun, and said, ”Rotting Nether Beans are quite useful, but a jar of ruined ones is completely worthless. Trying to win a beauty’s favor with a jar of spoiled goods... isn’t that a bit pathetic?”

”What are you trying to say?” Sima Longyun’s face instantly went cold. Hearing Li Qiye’s words, many in the crowd were stunned. ’That’s impossible.’

Li Qiye chuckled and said calmly, ”As a Pharmacist, allow me to share some basic knowledge with you. Freshly harvested Rotting Nether Beans, even mature ones, aren’t worth much. They must be buried for a long time to accrue value. Clearly, the Pharmacist who prepared these made a mistake. When he was drying the beans, he must have laid them out next to Blood Glowing Insects.”

”And what’s wrong with drying Rotting Nether Beans next to Blood Glowing Insects?” an Elder Cultivator couldn’t help but ask.

Li Qiye smiled leisurely and explained, ”If you used them immediately, there would be no issue. But drying them next to Blood Glowing Insects taints the beans with Blood Qi. When they are then buried, after eons of corrosion from Earth Yin energy, that clinging Blood Qi completely rots the core of the bean! It turns them into worthless duds.”

”Is that really true?” Hearing Li Qiye’s explanation, the Pharmacists present were skeptical. None of them had ever heard of such a phenomenon.

Li Qiye said with a grin, ”So, when Pharmacists are preparing their own grave goods, they should be careful. They must remember: never dry Rotting Nether Beans alongside Blood Glowing Insects.”

”Utter nonsense!” Sima Longyun snapped. ”These Rotting Nether Beans were authenticated by the Chenggu Pavilion!”

Li Qiye gave him a nonchalant glance and said with a wide smile, ”If you don’t believe me, why don’t you crush one and see for yourself?”

Sima Longyun glared at Li Qiye for a moment before snorting coldly. ”Fine, I’ll crush one for you to see! Stop putting on this charade!” With that, he took out a Rotting Nether Bean.

However, the moment Sima Longyun crushed the Rotting Nether Bean, a stream of black liquid oozed out, followed by a nauseating stench.

Sima Longyun’s face fell. He quickly crushed several more beans, but every single one was the same—the core was completely rotted away.

”It’s actually true... That’s unbelievable. I’ve never heard of that principle before.” Seeing this, the crowd erupted in murmurs. Even the Pharmacists were incredulous, as they had never heard of this phenomenon, nor had they ever seen it recorded in any text.

Of course, Li Qiye was the one who understood this best. In a bygone era, he had accompanied the Medicine God, tasting every herb and testing every concoction. What medicine had he not tried? In the present age, could anyone possibly understand pharmacology better than him? And that was to say nothing of the peerless *Medicine God’s Grand Canon* he possessed!

The moment Li Qiye had smelled the beans’ medicinal aroma, he knew something was wrong with them. When Sima Longyun provoked him, he had simply taken the opportunity to set a trap, letting the fool buy a jar of worthless beans for a heavenly price.

Seeing this, Chi Xiaodie was stunned speechless. She finally understood why Li Qiye had driven the price so high! A complex feeling washed over her; if she had insisted on buying that jar, she would have ended up with a pile of worthless trash!

”Trying to gift a beauty a jar of worthless beans... Your judgment is truly terrible,” Li Qiye said with a lazy smile, looking at Sima Longyun’s ashen face.

”How brilliant! A fine lesson in a Pharmacist’s ’common knowledge.’ Today was truly eye-opening,” said Bing Yuxia, the successor of Bingyu Palace, applauding from her pavilion.

”What is the meaning of this!” Sima Longyun, utterly humiliated, bellowed at the auctioneer. ”Is this how the Chenggu Pavilion does business? By scamming people with worthless trash?”

The auctioneer remained perfectly composed. ”Young Master Sima, please, calm yourself. Everyone in the East Hundred Cities is aware of the rules for tomb auctions: the risk is shared by the auction house and the buyer. This entire process, from the unsealing of the tomb to the auction itself, was conducted in full public view. The Chenggu Pavilion has not committed any fraud. As for an issue with the grave goods, we can only say that our Appraiser misjudged. It’s like finding a hidden gem—if a buyer gets a steal, are they expected to come back to the Chenggu Pavilion and pay us the difference? Everyone here understands how this works!”

”The Chenggu Pavilion is a time-honored brand,” the auctioneer continued smoothly. He had clearly handled this sort of thing before. ”We can solemnly promise that in a normal auction, we would compensate tenfold for any faulty item! However, everyone understands the rules of a tomb auction: on-site appraisal, on-site bidding, and shared risk! Whether the buyer gets a great deal or our appraisal is off, it’s all part of the game. It is not a matter of fraud on our part, and therefore, the Chenggu Pavilion bears no responsibility.”

”If you run into this kind of problem at a tomb auction, you can only chalk it up to bad luck. If it were a regular auction house sale, there’d be guarantees, but the starting bids would be much higher,” a Cultivator added, nodding in agreement.

The rules of tomb auctions were well-known to every Cultivator in the East Hundred Cities. An incident like this didn’t constitute fraud, so the responsibility certainly didn’t fall on the Chenggu Pavilion.

Sima Longyun’s face was livid. He had spent ten million Prince’s Essence Jades on a jar of Rotting Nether Beans to impress a beautiful woman, only to end up looking like a complete idiot. Ten million for a jar of spoiled beans! Losing the money wasn’t the main issue; the real problem was the utter humiliation. Ten million for worthless trash—he was the laughingstock of the entire event! How could he not be furious?

At this point, Chi Xiaodie, who had been so angry moments before, fell silent. She realized that if Li Qiye hadn’t caused such a fuss, she would have been the one to buy that jar of useless beans for an exorbitant price.

”If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you shouldn’t run your mouth. You’ll only mess things up,” Li Qiye said leisurely, casting a sideways glance at Chi Xiaodie.

Chi Xiaodie’s frustration boiled over. She was filled with a stifling anger she couldn’t vent! She shot Li Qiye a hateful glare, her heart seething with vexation.

”Next item for auction.” Despite the commotion, the tomb auction continued. The crowd quickly regained its energy, not at all hesitant to bid because of what had happened with the Rotting Nether Beans.

Over a dozen more grave goods were auctioned off in quick succession, all of them valuable Ancient Medicines. As the items from the Muling Imperial Mausoleum were sold off one by one, their numbers dwindled. Chi Xiaodao couldn’t help but smile bitterly; there were no more Rotting Nether Beans left.

Toward the end of the auction, only a few items remained—grave goods that even the Appraisers of the Chenggu Pavilion had struggled to identify.

”The next item will be auctioned at a rock-bottom price,” the auctioneer announced. An object that looked like a wooden box was brought forward.

The wooden box was completely decayed and caked in rotting mud. It was obviously useless. Even if there was once Ancient Medicine inside, it had surely decomposed by now. If not for the mud holding its shape, the rotted box would have already disintegrated.

”The box for this item has rotted away. However, our Appraisers have detected a medicinal fragrance, indicating it might contain a precious Spiritual Medicine. The Chenggu Pavilion will not risk opening it. We will auction this box of Ancient Medicine for three hundred Prince’s Essence Jades,” the auctioneer said.

”Are you kidding me!” Hearing the auctioneer’s announcement, the crowd erupted in jeers. One buyer shouted, ”Anyone can see that box is completely rotten! Three hundred Prince’s Essence Jades? That’s just robbery!”

The auctioneer replied, ”Our Appraisers have determined that it absolutely contains a precious Spiritual Medicine. The medicinal fragrance has a very pure scent, like that of precious sandalwood. This is an extremely rare type of Spiritual Medicine.”

At that moment, Li Qiye was also carefully sniffing the clump of muddy wood, taking in its medicinal fragrance.

”No matter how precious the Ancient Medicine was, it’s worthless now. Just look at the box—it’s practically mud. Any medicine inside would be completely ruined. In my opinion, the bidding should start at one hundred Celestial Essence Jades, tops. At that price, we could all take a little gamble to see if there are even any dregs left in that muck!” a Pharmacist interjected.

”Three hundred Prince’s Essence Jades. That is the absolute lowest price,” the auctioneer insisted, addressing the crowd. ”If there are no bids, the Chenggu Pavilion will simply take it back.”