Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"So what?" Yao Ning asked. "Do we just give up?"

"What do we do then?" Alex asked. "We don't have enough money."

"But… to just give up…" Yao Ning couldn't help but frown a little. "Surely we can do something? Maybe Pearl has it?"

"Do you have any money, Pearl?" Alex asked.

"About a thousand spirit stones," Pearl said. "Nearly not enough now."

"See?" Alex said. "We don't have the money."

"I asked General Fan too. He doesn't have any at all," Liang Shufen said.

"What about those painters?" Yao Ning asked.

"I asked Tian Honglui and he was not here at all," Alex said.

"And his senior?" Yao Ning asked. "What was it, Ran?"

"Senior Ran?" Alex asked and wondered for a bit before shaking his head. "I don't have his talisman."

"That's… what do we do then?" Yao Ning asked.

"Well, we just wait and watch as someone else takes it away. Maybe hope along the way that it is the Silver Queen that takes it. If it's her, maybe we can ask her to lend it to us," Alex said.

"That may be all that we can do," Yao Ning said as she watched the bidding cross 225 thousand Saint Spirit stones. At that point, they were truly out of money and had no chance of winning.

The numbers slowed down quite a lot, increasing every minute or so. At this point, the bidding wouldn't end until after a minute or later.

Alex watched the bid slowly increase to 230 thousand. "When is this going to end?" he couldn't help but ask in a somewhat frustrated voice.

The Emerald King called to ask if he was still bidding. He was worried that he wouldn't get the pills he wanted. "I have stopped bidding, but I will still honor our deal, don't worry," he said.

The Emerald King was happy to hear that.

He expected Lady Zhan to be curious as well, but she had already bought the two recipes for 90 thousand Saint Spirit stones, so there wasn't much for her to worry about.

The Silver Queen reached out as well. "Are you still in the bidding, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"No, I have given up a long time ago," Alex said. "I do not have nearly enough money."

"Oh," the woman sounded happy. "I'm actually running low myself. There's some big sects that are slowly pushing their way through and now I don't have enough to win this with a guarantee."

"Would you mind lending some of those Spirit stones to me?" she asked. "I could use them."

Alex couldn't help but sigh. "Maybe I should ask her to lend me its usage for a long time," he said. That could be a good bargain here, and he was ready to do so when he sensed another talisman vibrate in his storage ring, he frowned a little.

He assumed that it was Lady Zhan who had contacted him, but when he pulled out the talisman, he couldn't help but be taken aback by the person who had contacted him.

The message was simple. "Do you have some spirit stones to lend?" the person asked.

However, seeing who it came from, Alex was confused a little. "I do have some, sister Hao," Alex said. "May I ask why you require it?"

"Good, good," Hao Ya said back, "I'm eyeing something at the end of this auction I am at and realized that the money I have isn't going to be enough."

"I'm sorry, you need spirit stones?" Alex asked full of surprise.

"Yes," Hao Ya said.

"Where are you at?" Alex asked.

"What do you mean where?" Hao Ya asked. "I'm in Goldheart City, in one of the auction houses. Are you not in this town? I thought you were here.

"No, I am here," Alex said with a confused look on his face. "When did you come here?"

"Like two days after the auction started," Hao Ya said. "We had reserved a place from the Dragon Capital, so I and Jai Heiyun came here. We were a little late though."

Alex couldn't believe it. "You didn't let me know you were coming?" he asked.

"I was going to contact you when I was here, but we were late by a few days, so we didn't contact you. I thought you would be busy with the auction."

"And now you contact?" Alex asked.

"I'm… running out of money buying these various things," Hao Ya said. "I am starting to think that the money I and Jai Heiyun brought isn't going to be enough tomorrow. Are you lending us your money or not?"

"Sure, sure," Alex said. "I have little use for this money anyway. How much do you need? I will send Elder Liang to you right now with the money."

"Oh, I need about… 30 thousand Saint Spirit stones?" Hao Ya said. She herself wasn't sure. "I'm buying a Fan with shadow aura that is an amazing concealing artifact. It's the final item being auctioned and I need to buy it."

"Sure," Alex said. "I'll send 50 thousand Saint Spirit stones right away then. I don't have much need for it here."

"Thank you," Hao Ya said. "Also, you don't have to hurry. The item is being sold off tomorrow, so you can take your time."

"Oh, okay," Alex said. "I will send it after I leave from here…" He paused for a moment as a thought passed through him. "Wait, you said tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow," Hao Ya answered.

"So you don't need the money right now?" he asked.

"No," Hao Ya said.

Alex's eyes widened a little. "Sister Hao, how many Spirit stones do you have right now? Saint Spirit stones," he asked.

"Spirit stones? Well… me and little Jai together have around 30 thousand. Why do you ask?"

Alex's smile grew wide and happy. "Can you lend it to me for today instead?" he asked. "I will send you the stones after I'm done tomorrow."

Hao Ya took a moment longer than normal, but she replied in time.

"Sure," she said. "As long as I get the stones in time."

Alex nodded. "I promise you, you will get it in time," he said. "So that's 30 thousand Saint Spirit stones right?"

The elders, Pearl, and Whisker were already looking at him with weird looks on their faces, expectant of whatever was happening currently.

"Yes, about 35 maybe," Hao Ya replied. "Do you want to come take now, or…"

Alex smiled. "I'll send Elder Liang right away," he said and turned off the talisman before handing it over to Liang Shufen.

"30 thousand Saint Spirit Stones just landed on our footsteps," Alex said excitedly. "You'll have to go meet sister Hao Ya and get the money from her."

"Righta way," the elder said and walked out of the room to get the money.

Alex sensed his talisman vibrate again. The Silver Queen was waiting for his answer. He picked up the talisman and gave an answer.

"My apologies, Queen Mao, but I'm afraid the situation has changed a little," he said. "I cannot lend you any money as I have acquired a bit myself."

"As such, I am back in the bidding war."

He put down the talisman and made his bid.

235,000 Saint Spirit Stones.