Chapter 42: Going to the Underground Auction

After returning to Qingwu City, Zhang Pu naturally didn’t go back to the Hong family with Hong Yingying and Wu Xiaomei.

That evening, as expected, Xu Huiping was probably going to hold a family denunciation meeting. She sent WeChat messages and called Zhang Pu, but he was out buying medicinal herbs at the time.

Zhang Pu, of course, had no intention of going. It seemed that everything had ended, and those two troublemakers from other schools, Zhang Biao and Hong Shunquan, had probably already decided to part ways with Wu Xiaomei and Hong Yingying. Given that the latter two had such a formidable “guardian” as himself, Zhang Pu figured that, after some serious consideration, Zhang Biao and Hong Shunquan would be scared out of their wits.

Zhang Pu truly didn’t show up, and Xu Huiping’s tone changed in subsequent WeChat messages and phone calls. But Zhang Pu brushed off all her dissatisfaction as nothing more than empty noise. In his heart, he thought: If this foolish woman had any sense, she’d know her family owed him a debt after all that had happened.

With his cultivation strength growing, Zhang Pu was increasingly certain that, before long, the Hong family would come to rely on him for many things. If, by then, Xu Huiping still failed to recognize what was good for her, she’d only have herself to blame.

Currently, Zhang Pu’s strength had already reached the later stage of Qi Refining. Now, he wanted to use the extraordinary aid of certain medicinal herbs to quickly advance to the Foundation Establishment stage.

On this recent trip to Weiming Lake, he’d earned a considerable sum; his wallet was much fuller. Suddenly, he remembered a prescription from the Wood Element Star Realm in the world of cultivation.

He was well aware that this prescription would greatly help him break through to Foundation Establishment.

So, after returning to Qingwu City from the Weiming Lake tourist area that day, Zhang Pu devoted himself to searching for the herbs needed for this prescription.

He scoured all the major pharmacies in Qingwu City, but in the end, he was still short two ingredients. These two herbs were absolutely essential. After all, the medicinal herbs on Earth were already inferior to those in the cultivation world; if these two were missing, the prescription from the Wood Element Star Realm would be of little use in helping him advance to Foundation Establishment.

The two herbs he needed were: first, several-hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, and second, several-hundred-year-old snow lotus.

Zhang Pu did find Polygonum multiflorum and snow lotus in some of the city’s big pharmacies, but none were old enough.

Would he have to go to another region? And even then, who was to say they’d have any?

Now, he had money but nothing to buy...

Standing in a pharmacy he frequented, Zhang Pu debated whether to ask for a leave from school to go searching elsewhere, or to fabricate a reason for Wang Gang or Zhou Yu under Zeng Guoxing, claiming that he needed these two herbs as ingredients for a second course of medicine for Zeng Guoxing. After all, those people wouldn’t know the difference and would have no reason to be suspicious.

As Zhang Pu weighed his options, the pharmacy owner suddenly spoke to him.

The owner told Zhang Pu that, having bought so many herbs lately, he was considered an old customer. Although the shop didn’t have those two herbs of sufficient age, he could recommend a place where rare herbs might be found.

After the pharmacy owner whispered the details to him, Zhang Pu muttered to himself in surprise, realizing that Qingwu also had such an underground auction.

In his previous life, he’d never had the chance to encounter anything like the underground auctions of the various star realms in the cultivation world. There, besides official auctions, there were also some rather shady underground ones.

Back on Earth, Zhang Pu hadn’t lived a glorious life; not only had he never attended such auctions, he’d hardly even heard of them.

But now, upon hearing the pharmacy owner’s words, he felt a surge of excitement and decided to visit the place.

The underground auction was in the outskirts of Qingwu, at a place called Moonlit Manor.

After confirming the address, Zhang Pu resolved to go the following evening, as there was apparently an auction scheduled for then.

Eager for results, the next evening arrived quickly. After an early dinner, Zhang Pu hailed a ride straight to the destination.

The area was rather remote, but tonight it was surprisingly lively.

In the open space below Moonlit Manor, many cars were already parked.

People gathered in small groups, and there were quite a few who came alone, like Zhang Pu. It was as if they’d all, by coincidence, come to the manor at night to admire the moon.

Indeed, the moonlight tonight was beautiful.

Moonlit Manor truly lived up to its name this evening. The guests resembled tourists drawn by the moonlit scenery.

What the place was used for by day, Zhang Pu didn’t know. The pharmacy owner had simply told him that the underground auction only took place at night and not every night.

Apparently, not all the attendees were from Qingwu; some had come from other regions. Still, the auction wasn’t especially large, and there was no guarantee that the herbs Zhang Pu sought would be available. The pharmacy owner had encouraged him to try his luck—who knew, maybe he’d find what he needed, since his own search through the entire city had yielded nothing.

Upon arrival at Moonlit Manor, Zhang Pu had no interest in admiring the moonlight or the scenery. He felt he might be running late, as the auction seemed about to begin.

He hurried to the designated entrance for the underground auction.

The two staff members standing guard were somewhat surprised to see him alone, since Zhang Pu looked just like a high school student.

He wasn’t the only young person to come, but all the others were accompanied by someone—only he came alone.

“Do you have an invitation or a VIP card?” one of the staff asked, even suspecting that Zhang Pu was just a curious kid wandering over from some other activity in the area. This wasn’t a place where idlers could just stroll in.

“I don’t, but I heard you can get in if you pay,” Zhang Pu replied, sounding like a little adult.

His demeanor was very composed, and the air of the man he had been in the cultivation world returned.

The other staff member, noting Zhang Pu’s bearing, began to wonder if this young man had some powerful background.

“Very well,” the man said. “Then it’s the standard admission price—fifty thousand.”

Fifty thousand just for admission—what a rip-off! Zhang Pu almost cursed aloud.

But he knew the staff weren’t making this up. Those were the rules. Besides, it was an underground auction, selling rare herbs one could hardly find on the open market.

Any one of the herbs put up for auction might command a price far higher than fifty thousand.

And as for money, Zhang Pu wasn’t lacking. He still hadn’t spent all the funds Wang Gang had wired him last time. This trip to Weiming Lake, along with Wu Yu’s tribute and Zhou Yu’s transfer afterward, had netted him another three hundred thousand.

Even after paying the fifty thousand entry fee, he’d have more than enough left to bid for those centuries-old Polygonum multiflorum and snow lotus.