binnovel Chapter 304 Directly to the Auction House
Chapter 304 Directly to the Auction House
Chapter 304 Directly to the Auction House
“Jia Shan is right. With this arrangement, we only need to focus on dealing with the afternoon session! But this means we won’t have enough gold coins. Afu, you guys think of ways to gather more gold coins. Let’s see if we can sell these few bottles of Heavenly Profound Pills as soon as possible and turn them into cash.” Shi Potian took out five bottles of Detoxifying Pills and one bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills from his storage bag.
"Are these all Heavenly Profound Pills?" Jia Shan and Master Fu had been away from home for many years and were unaware that Mo Yuming could refine pills. Therefore, they were quite surprised when Shi Potian suddenly produced five or six bottles of Heavenly Profound-grade pills. Even Mo Wen was moved.
"They are indeed all Heavenly Profound Pills, but they were all refined by Ming'er. They were not obtained from the Domain Tomb."
"Ming'er can refine the Heavenly Profound Pill? When did he start refining pills?" Mo Wen asked in surprise.
“I don’t know when he started refining pills. I only recently returned. There’s been so much going on with him that I can’t tell you everything. If you want to know, you’ll have to ask him yourself when you get back. These are all pills he’s refined recently. But I heard from Old Ji that Ming’er used some new method to refine them, but for now, he can only refine these two kinds of pills,” Shi Potian said. He had been in Zhongyuan City for a while and knew a little about Mo Yuming’s pill refining. Moreover, the pills he gave them were all refined when he was stationed in Jingzhou.
"I want to see how good this medicine is!" Mo Wen excitedly poured out a detoxifying pill from the bottle and examined it carefully.
"Incredible! Absolutely incredible! I never imagined that Ming'er would become the number one alchemist in the Tianxuan Continent! Even though this pill has some flaws and doesn't reach the top grade, it is indeed a Tianxuan Pill, a Tianxuan Pill without any poison!" Mo Wen said to himself as he looked at it over and over.
"If these are all Heavenly Profound Pills, even the Detoxifying Pills can sell for more than ten gold coins each. The Spirit Gathering Pills are at least three hundred gold coins each, and if auctioned, they could even fetch five hundred to eight hundred gold coins each. If all these bottles of pills are sold, they can fetch at least four thousand gold coins," Jia Shan estimated.
“But even if we sell all these bottles of pills, we’ll only get a few thousand gold coins. Adding the cash we brought, we only have a little over 20,000 gold coins in total. If we don’t sell the Xuan Iron weapons, it still won’t be enough! I estimate that the Earth Flame Crystals from the morning session will cost over 20,000 gold coins, and might even sell for 30,000 gold coins,” Gan Ran said.
“We can withdraw some gold coins from the hotel, but this hotel has only been open for a short time, and most of the cash has been used to purchase equipment. I estimate that the Wushuang Hotel in the Imperial City has some cash on hand. I’ll go and check with the manager there later, and try to withdraw as much cash as possible without affecting the hotel’s operations. But judging from the restaurant’s turnover, we can only withdraw a maximum of 20,000 gold coins,” said Master Fu.
"We should be able to gather about 20,000 gold coins. We used them all this morning to buy Earth Flame Crystals for the two embroiderers. The two auctions are four hours apart, right? We'll give any remaining amount to Gan Ran then. If we don't have enough, we'll use Xuan Iron weapons instead. Ah Fu, you should take these bottles of pills and deal with them. Every little bit helps."
Shi Potian said.
"How about we take these pills to the Imperial City for an auction this afternoon? There's an auction house there, although it's not as big as this one. But the people buying and selling there are all high-ranking officials and wealthy people who spend lavishly. The auction house is also more regulated, and most of the items auctioned are luxury goods. Pills like the Heavenly Profound Pill will definitely fetch a good price," said the wealthy man.
“But the treasures auctioned over there all need to have a provenance. However, no alchemist on the Tianxuan Continent can refine these Tianxuan Pills. It’s not very realistic to say that they were picked up from a domain tomb, because domain tombs haven’t appeared for many years, and these pills are obviously newly refined. Experts can roughly deduce the age of their refinement at a glance,” Jia Shan said.
"If we were to tell the truth that it was Ming'er who refined it, it would surely cause a sensation throughout the continent. However, it would be inappropriate to say that it was refined by a certain old alchemist. After all, none of the alchemists with names have ever publicly claimed that they can refine the Heavenly Profound Pill."
“Let me explain,” Mo Wen suggested. “I’ll say that the old master of Medicine King Valley recently had a sudden urge to refine a few batches of pills, and unintentionally produced some Heavenly Profound Pills. However, we people of Medicine King Valley have always discouraged pill refining, so after trying to refine a few batches, the old master felt it violated his oath and abandoned the furnace, ceasing all further refining. He even considered destroying these pills, but thankfully I managed to retrieve them. Medicine King Valley is isolated from the world and rarely interacts with the outside world. Moreover, the old master is elusive; even those within the valley find it difficult to see him, let alone outsiders. So verifying this won’t be easy.”
“That’s excellent. Let’s go now without delay. We can go to the hotel over there and raise some money. The auctions there are usually held at night, so we can still make it in time. I have connections at that auction house, so it won’t be a problem for them to arrange for the auction of these pills tonight,” said the wealthy man.
A short while later, a luxuriously decorated carriage sped out of the Fuyuan Restaurant and headed straight for the Imperial City across the street.
"Ah Fu, did you and that Jia Shan open all these hotels together?" Mo Wen asked Fu Ye across from him, sitting on a comfortable cushion.
"It was the young master who ordered us to open this place. We are just doing things according to his wishes."
"It must cost a lot of money to open a restaurant like this, right?"
"Hehe, to be honest, Brother Mo, opening a Fuyuan Restaurant in a capital city like Tianxin City would cost at least 500,000 gold coins, while the Wushuang Hotel would cost at least one million gold coins. However, a Fushan Hotel in another small city would cost less, usually around 200,000 to 300,000 gold coins. And this amount doesn't include the cost of hiring the manager, head chef, and waiters. Our employees are all sent from the Wushuang Hotel headquarters, and their commissions are all paid by the headquarters."
"How many hotels have you opened yet?"
"There are probably more than two hundred, which means that most of the slightly larger cities on the Tianxuan Continent already have them."
"So many stores? How much gold coins must that cost? Where did you get so much money to open these stores? Is opening a hotel really that profitable? And how are you going to manage so many stores!" Mo Wen had spent his life traveling the world, practicing medicine and helping the needy, and had never considered worldly business matters. He had never thought about how to make money by opening stores, and he knew absolutely nothing about business.
"I really don't understand what Ming'er is thinking. Since he has so much money to open a hotel, why does he have to exchange black iron weapons for even a little bit of refining materials? It's as if he's really short of money."
"Initially, the young master told us to sell the magic crystals we had and use the gold coins to open the first shop in Jian'an City. At that time, even the She Shen Cliff Hotel had not yet been built, and Jian'an did not belong to us. It wasn't until half a year later that we started to open the second and third shops in Zhongyuan City and Shangyuan City."
Later, with the establishment of the empire, the management of Wushuang Restaurant also improved. Thanks to the young master's unique management style, our hotel management is very convenient and not as difficult as imagined.
Although opening a store requires a lot of capital, once you have multiple stores, the capital for opening new stores will not be a problem. You can use the working capital between the stores to operate.
Opening a hotel can be quite profitable in some places, but it's not always a guaranteed profit; some hotels have even lost a lot of money. However, the young master doesn't care whether the hotels are profitable or not; what he wants is to open hotels in every city of the Tianxuan Continent.
"The idea of exchanging weapons for treasures came from the young master, and the amount of treasures to be purchased this time is enormous. Even the empire's treasury cannot provide that many gold coins. Exchanging them with weapons produced by ourselves is the best option. It can alleviate the pressure on the empire and also indirectly promote the weapons we produce."
Although we've opened many hotels, we don't actually have much cash on hand. The profits from each hotel are strategically invested in new projects, allowing us to expand like a snowball.
"We've arrived at the hotel. I'll go to the hotel first and greet the manager, asking him to prepare as many gold coins as possible. Then we'll go straight to the auction house." The carriage stopped in front of a huge castle-like building. Master Fu and Mo Wen exchanged a few words before getting off the carriage.
Mo Wen peered through the carriage window at the Tianxin City Wushuang Hotel, a building that had cost over a million gold coins to construct. Unlike the Fuyuan Hotel, which was converted from existing buildings, the Wushuang Hotel was modeled after the Sheshan Cliff Hotel. Its exterior and interior design were virtually identical, differing only in size.
The Wushuang Hotel wasn't particularly outstanding amidst the towering buildings and villas of the imperial city, but its unique architectural style set it apart from the surrounding structures, making it quite eye-catching. Coupled with its distinctive fine wines and cuisine and its business model, it quickly attracted many dignitaries and wealthy young men. In less than a year since its opening, the Wushuang Hotel had already become one of Tianxin City's landmark buildings.
However, the magnificent hotel did not arouse much interest in Mo Wen. He was just curious about what the restaurant, which had cost a huge sum of money to build, looked like.
Soon the rich man got back into his car and drove towards the auction house again.
The streets and houses of Tianxin City on the imperial side are much more orderly, and the people walking on the streets are much more civilized. Even the most extravagant martial arts figures have restrained their arrogance and dare not act recklessly. From time to time, brightly dressed guards in armor and carrying weapons patrol the streets.
The coachman controlled the carriage's speed smoothly, bringing it to a stop next to a palatial building. There were at least seven or eight other luxurious carriages like the one belonging to the wealthy man parked in this area.
Before Mo Wen and his companion could even disembark from their carriage, elegantly dressed receptionists from inside the building greeted them and led them into the lobby.
"Oh, it's an honor to have you grace us with your presence, Mr. Rich! Haha..."
A thin, elderly man in brocade robes came to greet them from the hall.
“Elder Ran, it’s a pleasure to meet you! This is my elder brother Mo Wen, an elder of Medicine King Valley. This is his first time visiting Tianxin Imperial City, and I’ve come to show him around.” The rich man said to the old man in brocade robes.
"Oh! Elder Mo from Medicine King Valley is a rare guest indeed! My apologies! My apologies! This way, please!"
Old Man Ran greeted Mo Wen and his companion with a smile and polite words, then respectfully led them to a private room. After some pleasantries, Old Man Ran asked:
"I wonder if you two have come to our auction house this time to find some treasures or..."
The wealthy man cut to the chase and said to the old man in brocade:
"My elder brother brought some items with him this time and wants to entrust them to the auction house for auction, but he has other matters to attend to and cannot stay in the capital for too long. So I would like to ask Elder Ran to make an exception and arrange for them to be auctioned as soon as possible. Is that feasible?"
"What kind of treasure is it? May I take a look?"
Generally, auction houses send in-house appraisers to authenticate items beforehand, determining their authenticity and condition and pre-estimating their value. The auctioneer then provides a comprehensive overview of the item's characteristics to maximize its perceived value and attract buyers, aiming to maximize profits. Therefore, items typically undergo a specific process before appearing at the auction, which usually takes at least several days.
"The Heavenly Profound Pill was recently refined by my master, the old Valley Master of Medicine King Valley. As everyone knows, we people of Medicine King Valley are not usually keen on refining pills, but that doesn't mean we can't. My master has only refined pills a few times in his entire life; I remember the last time was fifty years ago. This time, he had a sudden urge and casually refined a few batches of pills, but afterwards he regretted it and destroyed the furnace. He even wanted to destroy the pills themselves. It was only with great difficulty that I managed to get the pills out."
"I'm not auctioning these pills for the money, but to broaden the horizons of those who think they know everything, and to shut up those who say that the people of Medicine King Valley can't refine pills," Mo Wen said proudly.
"The old Valley Master has really refined... the Heavenly Profound Pill!" the old man in brocade robes asked in surprise.
"This is a Detoxification Pill. Take a look for yourself!" Mo Wen took out a bottle of Detoxification Pills from his storage bag and placed it in front of the old man.
Old Ran carefully poured out a seed and examined it closely in his hand.
"This is truly a Heavenly Profound-grade pill. Its shape is soft and smooth, its quality is extremely pure, without a trace of pill toxins or impurities, and the medicine itself is of above-average quality. Its appearance is exceptionally good! Most importantly, this pill was made no more than a year ago, so it was indeed recently refined!"
The old valley master's pills are all of above-average quality, which is Heavenly Profound level, and he's still not satisfied? His standards are truly too high; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the number one alchemist on the Heavenly Profound Continent. The old valley master is truly a god!
Old Ran examined the pills in his hand repeatedly, and said excitedly.
"I never imagined that our Tianxuan Continent would finally have its own Tianxuan-grade pills! What exciting news this is! It's practically a miracle!"
"Let's get straight to the auction. I'll arrange it right away. I'll personally oversee this Heavenly Profound Pill auction. Please wait here for a moment."