Chapter 406 Yan Dragon Tripod

Mr. Kong was indeed an honored person. One after another, those people who had received his kindnesses held up their paddles and raised the price to 600,000 yuan. The growth rate of the bid gradually slowed down.

After all, these people had at least ten million yuan, billions yuan, or even ten billion yuan. It was worthwhile and feasible for them to show their respect to Mr. Kong with a few hundred thousand yuan or a million yuan. But it was not necessary for them to offer more.

“1 million yuan!”

A middle-aged man with a beer belly stood up and directly offered 1 million yuan. Also, he bowed slightly toward Mr. Kong who was sitting in the VIP seat to show his respect.

Mr. Kong bowed a little to return his salute, but a trace of disappointment flashed across his eyes. In fact, he brought this bronze tripod in an auction at the price of 5 million Mi currency.

As an experienced collector, if he could not figure out the auction item’s origin and value, he would eat and sleep with anxious. This time, he deliberately set the starting price as 1 yuan because he hoped to meet someone who knew the origin of this bronze tripod to dispel his doubts.

Abruptly, Ding Ning sat up straight, directly fixing his eyes on the pocket-sized tripod about 30 centimeters high. Thoughts surged in his mind, and his heart was wild with joy. “An alchemy furnace! It is actually the Yan Emperor’s Yan Dragon Furnace!”

According to the record with both pictures and writing in “Compendium of Vegetation,” Yan Emperor who was born with the ability to control fire had once compared his medical skill with Chiyou. He refined the bronze to make the furnace embryo. By using Mount Buzhou’s stones, he made the inside of the furnace. Then he drew his blood and turned it into the fire in the Yan Dragon Furnace. After that, he refined it by the thunder from heaven on top of the Thunder Mountain Range for 81 days. Finally, he created the Yan Dragon Furnace. It was the best furnace of the Shennong tribe except for the Shennong Nine-Dragon Cauldron. Though it was not a sacred artifact, it was at least a spiritual artifact at the highest grade.

To Ding Ning’s surprise, the Yan Dragon Furnace that had long lost in history would actually appear in a charity auction party of this scale.

It was no wonder that so many antique appreciation experts failed to tell this furnace’s origin. After all, only Spiritual Energy could drive this alchemy furnace.

Only a person who had reached the Sky Martial Arts level could make the Spiritual Energy by refining and transforming the True Qi in his body. Thus, it was not surprising that those antique appreciation experts didn’t know the origin of this alchemy furnace.

This man actually wanted to get this alchemy furnace for 1 million yuan. It was a sheer daydream of him. Ding Ning was determined to get this alchemy furnace even if it would make him bankrupt. Once he got it, he could start to try to make pills.

In secret, Ding Ning sneered. “The Yan Dragon Furnace is mine.”

“1 million yuan first, 1 million yuan second, is there anyone who will offer a higher price? If there is none, this gentleman will have this bronze tripod. 1million third…”

“10 million yuan!”

Just when Jiang Yimeng was about to drop the hammer, a cold voice suddenly sounded and offered a high price of 10 million yuan. It caused an uproar around. Tittering and whispering to each other, these people tried to find the bidder.

Following the sound, Ding Ning saw a man in black tuxedo sit in an inconspicuous middle seat. He wore a flat cap, a mask, and a pair of sunglasses, so Ding Ning could not see his appearance clearly. Ding Ning slightly narrowed his eyes and thought. “It seems that he knows this item’s value.”

Mr. Kong looked pleased. Finally, there was someone who was willing to offer such a high price. Although the price was far less than the price that Mr. Kong paid to buy this item, this person was very likely to know the origin of this bronze tripod.

“10 million yuan first, this gentleman offers 10 million yuan. Do I hear any higher price? 10 million yuan second, 10 million yuan third…”

Jiang Yimeng was agitated. She had never thought that such a humble bronze tripod would be sold at 10 million yuan. Although she continued to lure others into offering a higher price by convention, she didn’t think anyone would do that. Therefore, she exclaimed much faster than before.

“100 million yuan!”

Ding Ning yelled because he was startled by Jiang Yimeng. “How can she announce this so quickly?” At first, he wanted to wait and see. But now he did not dare to hesitate anymore. He immediately opened his mouth and offered 100 million yuan.

“What? Are you crazy?”

Ding Qianlie was stunned. In a hurry, she plucked at his sleeve. “Why do you offer such a high price for such a poor tripod?”

“Sister, don’t worry. It is very important to me. I must get it.”

Ding Ning said arbitrarily because he had no time to explain. After that, he landed his eyes on the alchemy furnace. His eyes were filled with unswerving determination because he had made up his mind to get it.

He had anticipated that the Yan Dragon Furnace would not be so easy to get. The man who had offered 10 million yuan was stared at him with eyes as sharp as blades, which brought him great pressure.

That man was a master, a very powerful master. At least he was a master who had reached the Sky Martial Arts level or the Master’s level. No wonder he knew this furnace’s value.

“100 million yuan?” asked Jiang Yimeng.

She was so shocked that she nearly threw the auction hammer. “He is actually willing to offer 100 million yuan for such a rusty tripod. What a big spender!”

Unlike her, Bai Qing was lost in thought. “Ding Ning’s identity has no problem. But he appeared to be so mysterious during this period, which proves that he can never be so simple as his image showed by those documents.”

“He offered a high price of 100 million yuan, which proves that he was determined to get this bronze tripod. He must have recognized its origin and have known its value.”

Without anyone noticing him, Bai Qing looked at Mr. Kong. He was the only one on the spot who knew that Mr. Kong was not only a well-known overseas Chinese, a philanthropist, and a collector, but also a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Shenzhou. His mission was to collect those national treasures which were lost to those overseas countries during wars for Shenzhou Country.

Mr. Kong exchanged a knowing and complex look with him. Both of them knew that Ding Ning must have known the bronze tripod’s origin. It made them hesitate. If this bronze tripod was really a national treasure, Shenzhou Country would surely take it back and would never allow anybody else to keep it. At that time, the conflict with Ding Ning would be inevitable. Thus, they actually hoped the man in the tuxedo to win it. In that case, they would not feel burdened when they were going to take the treasure back for the country.

“200 million yuan!” said the man in the tuxedo.

Sure enough, he didn’t want to give up, so he directly offered 200 million yuan and looked at Ding Ning menacingly.

“300 million yuan!” Ding Ning said.

Ding Ning didn’t care about the number at all. The one more billion yuan that he had gave him enough confidence. Beyond that, Ding Ning would not hesitate to snatch the treasure even if he failed to win it at the auction.

“400 million yuan!” the man in the tuxedo said.

The man seemed to be full of confidence. He was sure that he could get it.

“500 million yuan!” Ding Ning said.

“600 million yuan!” the man said.

“700 million yuan!” Ding Ning said.

“800 million yuan!” the man said.

“1 billion yuan!” Ding Ning said.

Ding Ning directly shouted the number with calm. However, it appeared that the man in the tuxedo had reached his limit and stopped bidding.

He threw an indifferent glance at Ding Ning. His eyes under the sunglasses showed his undisguised killing intention, but he looked away quickly. He remained silent, acting like an unrelated person.

The whole auction hall was seething at once. 1 billion yuan! He offered 1 billion yuan, a sky-high price, for this humble tripod whose origin and uses were still unknown.

One must know that at such a charity auction party, people only needed to pay some money to show their love. Over the years, few items were sold at prices higher than 10 million yuan, let alone 1 billion yuan, a whopping price.

The expressions in people’s eyes when they looked at Ding Ning changed once again. In previous, they thought he was only a descendant of a big family with an extraordinary background. But at this moment, they thought differently. A person who could spend 1 billion yuan on one throw could never be a normal descendant of a big family. To spend the money of enormous figure as one like, he should at least be the big, wealthy family’s heir of line.

It was not to say that these people present didn’t have 1 billion yuan at all. Let alone 1 billion yuan, the property of many people here was worth 10 billion yuan or even 100 billion yuan.

But it didn’t mean that they had the same amount of cash as the value of their property. In the business world, the market value was not the same thing as the working capital.

It was true that many so-called multi-millionaires lived a life of wanton extravagance. Their property included a large number of real estate and the stock of increased prices after their companies went into the stock market. However, at the same time, they owned banks a huge sum of loans, owned others payments for goods, and so on. After the careful liquidation, their assets were very likely to be negative. Thus, it would be quite difficult for them to pay a bill of 1 billion yuan with cash.

But these people had been enjoying the upper class’s comfortable lifestyle the whole time. Still, they could live in villas, drive luxury cars, drink red wine, wear clothes of brand names, and go to expensive entertainment places, etc. All of this was because they had industries of ever-rising value which could attract shareholders to collect money for them. As a matter of fact, a great many wealthy people got their money by making use of the money collected from those shareholders and banks.

It sounded incredible, but this was the reality. Except for some people who ran the industrial companies, most of the rich built up their fortunes by obtaining benefits from fictitious transactions.

It was an inevitable product of a bubble economy. With the money collected from shareholders and banks, these men of wealth managed to engage in business activities to maintain their superior lives.

As long as there was no collapse in their stock prices, they could live like this forever.

This was why once the stock market crashed, many rich people would immediately be unable to pay their debts even with all their assets. In the end, they jumped to their death after going bankrupt.

Birds of a feather flock together. The conversations among the rich were information about the business. Sometimes, a piece of information that was accidentally gotten might be a huge business opportunity. That was why those rich people were so enthusiastic about joining varies kinds of high-end parties. By doing so, they could broaden their contacts and get some useful business information.

You could never expect a wealthy person to discuss the cabbage price with a poor guy from the bottom of society who could not even get enough to eat. They had no common topic to talk about at all.

That was why the society was divided into various grades and ranks. Although wealth was not the only measuring standard to identify the classes, it was undoubtedly the most practical boundary.

Therefore, whether it was in Shenzhou or anywhere else, rich and wealthy people always believed in measuring people by their wealth.

After all, nowadays, people only laughed at poor people but never laughed at prostitutes. Famous cars, luxury houses, clothes and watches of famous brands and the like had become the symbols of those rich people’s status and wealth. By making use of these items, people managed to enter the upper class, which enabled them to capture more money and opportunities.

This phenomenon could not be taken as the retrogression and the morality loss of society. Instead, this kind of social hierarchy that could promote social progress was an inevitable trend of social development after the emergence of private ownership. In fact, it was also one of the criteria to judge people’s success.

Perhaps, some people who liked grumbling would think it was unfair so that they became hostile to the rich. They might think, “These people are born as the second generation of stars, rich people and officials. Throughout their extremely comfortable lives, they have nothing to worry about. But I endure many hardships only manage to pay my meals every day. What’s worse, I cannot even afford to pay the rent.”

In fact, it was really unnecessary to think like that. After all, whether they were the second generation of the rich or the officials, they lived well only because of the first generation’s unyielding struggles. As soon as those poor people who had complaints knew how many hardships the second generation’s elders had endured, they would not hold so many grudges.

If everyone was born equal, it would be unfair. For example, a hardworking person started at the same place as a lazy one who did nothing except for eating and sleeping. The industrious struggled hard and finally, he achieved his dreams. But despite the diligent person’s success, his children had to start their lives from the same starting line as the lazy person’s children. Did that sound fair to those diligent people who worked hard throughout their lives?

The topic seemed to be pulled away… Keke, anyway, all the people present at this moment stared at Ding Ning with their burning eyes, guessing. “This heir of line, Ding Ning, which wealthy family does he come from? He can actually take out 1 billion yuan in cash with ease. Also, it looks like he has much more cash.” Thinking of this, they were all pondering about how to get close to Ding Ning.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep