Chapter 467: The Abnormal Price of Spirit Bones
The distance from Jing Yang Mountain Range to Banlan City was not far. At Zhui Yun's flying speed, it would only take half an hour to arrive.
Landing in a remote area outside Banlan City, Qi Han stored Zhui Yun back into his small world, then carried Pururu and headed toward the city.
On the Douluo Continent, there would have been no need for such caution, Zhui Yun could have remained in his normal state by his side. But on the Sun Moon Continent, that was not possible.
It was only after Qi Han carefully examined the Sun Moon Continent Ingredients Encyclopedia that he discovered this issue.
There were no Blood Red Unicorns native to the Sun Moon Continent. So regardless of which form Zhui Yun took, the locals would see it as a completely unfamiliar spirit beast, which would inevitably cause trouble.
Fortunately, he realized this in time. Otherwise, he might not have been able to keep a low profile.
As for Pururu, that was easier to handle.
Although Sun Moon Continent had no Misty Cloud Cats, Pururu had already mutated and no longer truly resembled one. It could easily be disguised as an ordinary pet cat.
No problem there.
Carrying Pururu, Qi Han smoothly entered Banlan City. After asking a few passersby for directions, he soon headed toward an auction house called Mingde Auction House.
It was said that this auction house had certain ties to Mingde Hall. The spirit tools crafted by the various Spirit Engineers within Mingde Hall would only enter the outside market through Mingde Auction House. Leveraging this advantage, the auction house had expanded rapidly, and now had a presence in every city across the Sun Moon Continent.
After some subtle inquiries, Qi Han concluded that such a large batch of spirit beast materials could probably only be purchased in full by Mingde Auction House.
…
"Hello, sir. May I ask if you are here by invitation for the monthly grand auction?" As Qi Han entered Mingde Auction House, an attendant approached him. However, what the attendant said left Qi Han slightly confused.
"Uh… I haven't heard of any monthly grand auction. I'm here to sell some items."
"I see. My apologies for the misunderstanding." The attendant smiled apologetically, remaining polite. "Please follow me. I'll take you to a special appraisal room to have your goods evaluated."
"It's fine." Feeling a bit more favorable toward the courteous attendant, Qi Han followed behind him and casually asked, "About that monthly grand auction you mentioned, could you tell me more about it?"
"Of course. The monthly grand auction is our Mingde Auction House's grand event held once a month. Each time, there will be a batch of top-tier spirit tools crafted by the spirit tool masters within Mingde Hall. Their grade is generally above Level 7, and occasionally there are even Level 8 spirit tools." The attendant explained with a smile. "Because the items in the monthly grand auction are more valuable, an invitation is required to participate."
"We've arrived, sir. This is the appraisal room."
Qi Han nodded and pushed the door open. Inside, an elderly man wearing specially designed glasses-style spirit tools looked toward him and spoke, "Come in. Take out your goods, and I will appraise their value. If you are satisfied with the price, we complete the transaction on the spot—money for goods. If not, you may take your goods and leave."
Well, that's blunt.
Curling his lips slightly, Qi Han sat down in front of the old man and silently took out a large pile of materials from his system storage space—mainly the heart's blood of the Golden Silk Demonic Ape.
Because storage spirit tools were far more common on the Sun Moon Continent, Qi Han only needed to make a slight pretense as he took items out from his system space, making it appear as though he were retrieving them from a storage spirit tool.
"Hmm?" As Qi Han continued taking out more and more items, the old man's expression gradually turned serious.
Who would have thought that this young fellow actually turned out to be a big client?
He had originally assumed the boy was just here to sell some random junk.
Seems he misjudged him.
By the time Qi Han had taken out all the spirit beast materials harvested over the past five days from his storage space—piling them into a small mountain in front of the old man—the smile on the latter's face was impossible to hide.
Wonderful.
He earned commission from appraisals. At this rate, he was about to make a hefty profit.
"Honored guest, please wait a moment. I will calculate the total price for you right away."
With that, he began sorting and tallying the spirit beast materials before him.
"These materials come to a total of ninety-three thousand gold coins. What do you think, honored guest?" The old man quickly gave his purchase price.
Qi Han nodded. The price was close to what he had expected—slightly higher, in fact—so he was quite satisfied.
"Alright. Then please take a look at this as well." As he spoke, Qi Han took out what looked like a leg bone spirit bone and handed it over.
Pururu had found this spirit bone while hunting a Golden Silk Demonic Ape that had just reached the thousand-year level. Since it had only just reached a thousand years, its value likely wouldn't be high, and Qi Han hadn't thought much of it.
"Hmm?" The old man's expression instantly became solemn after just one glance. "A spirit bone?"
"Honored guest, please wait." Taking the thousand-year Golden Silk Demonic Ape leg bone, the old man examined it carefully. Recalling the large batch of Golden Silk Demonic Ape materials from earlier, he tentatively asked, "Honored guest, this leg spirit bone… is it from a Golden Silk Demonic Ape?"
"Correct."
"This…" The old man fell silent for a moment before gritting his teeth and speaking. "This spirit bone… I'll price it at forty thousand gold coins."
"How much?" Qi Han almost thought he had misheard.
The starting price of a thousand-year spirit bone was usually around ten thousand gold coins. This one had only just reached the thousand-year threshold, and it was an ordinary leg bone at that. The Golden Silk Demonic Ape was known for the strength of its arms, so this leg bone was rather mediocre.
Even ten thousand gold coins would already be considered a decent price.
And this old man was offering forty thousand?
"Honored guest, you may not know, but recently, the market price of spirit bones has dropped slightly. Combined with the fact that this spirit bone's age is indeed not very high, this price is already my limit. I really can't go any higher." The old man wore a bitter expression, assuming Qi Han was dissatisfied with the offer, and hurriedly explained.
It was only because this young man had brought in so many goods that he offered this price, hoping to make a friend.
Under normal circumstances, this spirit bone would at most be priced at thirty-five thousand gold coins.
Qi Han felt somewhat dazed.
Had he misjudged this spirit bone?
That shouldn't be the case…
"Ru Yi, what's going on?" Qi Han silently asked in his mind.
"Ahem." Ru Yi coughed lightly before explaining, "Do you know how spirit tools came into being?"
"Keep it short. Don't keep me in suspense."
"Alright… spirit tools originated about ten thousand years ago. The earliest spirit tools were actually inspired by spirit bones. By imitating the engraved patterns on spirit bones, people invented core formations, and from there they gradually evolved into what they are today."
"Even now, spirit bones remain indispensable materials in the production of many spirit tools. They serve as assistance and extensions to core formations and are used in numerous spirit tools. Therefore, the demand for spirit bones on the Sun Moon Continent is far greater than on the Douluo Continent. As the saying goes, rarity increases value, the price of spirit bones has naturally been driven up step by step."
What?
It was the first time Qi Han had heard such an explanation, but upon reflection, it made a lot of sense.
The patterns within the core formations of spirit tools—weren't they very similar to the complex markings on spirit bones?
Even in Huo Yuhao's era, it was common for spirit tools to use spirit bones in their crafting process…
Qi Han suddenly understood, and was immediately overjoyed.
If a newly-thousand-year leg spirit bone could sell for forty thousand gold coins, then what about the twenty-thousand-year torso bone lying in his system space?
This time, he was going to make a fortune.
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