Chapter 118: Shall We Auction It?

"Two million, then!" Zheng Lan raised her offer.

Zhang Pu simply remained silent.

Seeing his reaction, Zheng Lan gritted her teeth and immediately raised it again: "Five million!"

Zhang Pu still said nothing.

Zheng Lan grew a little angry. "You... you think—"

But she suddenly realized something and hurriedly stopped herself. At this moment, she understood that arguing or falling out with Zhang Pu would be the most unwise move she could make.

When Zheng Lan fell silent, Zhang Pu suddenly held up one finger.

"Ten million?" Zheng Lan shouted, as if unable to control herself.

Zhang Pu shook his head.

Seeing this, Zheng Lan, who was actually quite sharp-witted, felt her face change completely. "Are you saying you want one hundred million?"

"Uh-huh." Zhang Pu was truly noncommittal.

In reality, even for one hundred million, he wasn't sure he would want to sell. On Earth, finding materials capable of forging magical artifacts was nearly impossible; this was what they called a case of "having a price but no market."

"You... you really are going too far!" Zheng Lan finally sighed in resignation.

She was merely a young lady of the Zheng family, not the head of the household. Even if the Zheng family treasury was overflowing, it wasn't something she could squander at will.

"Take it or leave it." Zhang Pu couldn't have cared less.

Zheng Lan looked at this half-grown boy, feeling incredibly frustrated yet utterly helpless.

With one of them being a soul entity, they continued on their way for a while longer. Seeing that Zheng Lan appeared physically exhausted, Zhang Pu decided to take care of her and suggested they take a rest.

Although he didn't particularly like her type—the privileged "young miss" with too much money—he had no intention of making things difficult for her. He wasn't that kind of twisted individual.

Zheng Lan was naturally willing to rest, but perhaps because she hadn't secured the essence of the Oolong, she still felt sulky and didn't take the initiative to speak to Zhang Pu.

Zhang Pu seemed equally uninterested in engaging with her.

***

By now, the rain in the mountains had cleared, and the moon had emerged once again.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Pu could clearly see that Old Ge’s figure had become significantly more ethereal. That was right; he had fought a fierce battle with Lin Hongbin earlier. Old Ge had already been drained from his previous confrontation with Zhang Pu, and following two more clashes with Lin Hongbin—coupled with other internal factors—Zhang Pu could estimate that Old Ge’s current state was far from ideal.

They still had to travel through the night, his own condition wasn't great, and he had this "young miss" in tow; if they encountered danger, he would have to "cater" to her.

Zhang Pu knew well that he was in no condition to fight. Therefore, if a battle were to break out, Old Ge would have to lead the charge while he provided support.

For this reason, Old Ge absolutely could not collapse; otherwise, this temporary trio would be in trouble, especially if they ran into Lin Hongbin again—they would likely be in over their heads.

If he didn't want Old Ge to exhaust his energy, he had to replenish it.

Without hesitation, Zhang Pu took out a medicinal pill he carried, and using the same method as before, immediately replenished Old Ge’s energy.

Zheng Lan watched this unfold, feeling a sense of disbelief.

She saw with her own eyes that Old Ge’s figure, which had seemed on the verge of fading away, suddenly stabilized significantly.

"This is..." Zheng Lan finally couldn't stop herself from asking.

"What do you think?" Zhang Pu didn't answer her directly.

"Could it be that legendary type of pill?" Zheng Lan’s phoenix eyes widened. "You actually possess medicinal pills?"

Given the social standing of the Zheng family, Zheng Lan was not ill-informed. She knew that pills were categorized into grades—first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on. It was said that top-tier pills could rival the legendary elixirs of immortality. Whether that was true, no one could say for sure, as no one had ever seen a top-tier pill.

Yet, as she watched Zhang Pu feed this pill to a ghost-like shadow, she guessed that even if it wasn't the legendary life-restoring kind, it was likely high-end.

This person actually possessed high-end medicinal pills!

For a brief moment, Zheng Lan was inexplicably shocked, but she immediately reminded herself that although Zhang Pu looked like a student, he was indeed a master.

For such a master to possess pills made perfect sense.

After Zhang Pu finished replenishing Old Ge’s energy, Zheng Lan was still staring blankly.

Zhang Pu knew at a glance that she was interested in the pills.

That was correct; the Zheng family was wealthy, but there were some things in this world that money couldn't simply buy.

This type of pill was one of them.

***

Even if the Zheng family could purchase pills at some of the world's auctions, the quality of those pills might not necessarily compare to the purity of the ones he refined himself.

Because he was a master from the world of immortality, the best alchemists on Earth—even those hailed as masters—might not be able to refine pills of a higher quality than his.

"You still have more of these pills, don't you? Are you selling them?" Zheng Lan asked Zhang Pu shortly after.

Back at the auction, Zhang Pu had thought about refining some pills to sell at auction to solve his financial problems regarding his cultivation. He hadn't expected that before he could even put that into practice, a buyer would come knocking on his door.

Zhang Pu smiled.

He also thought that he could take advantage of this young lady regarding the pills.

Seeing the look on Zhang Pu’s face, which looked for all the world like a sly grin, Zheng Lan said, "What? These pills must... be quite expensive, right?"

"Indeed!" Zhang Pu didn't hesitate to play along.

Zheng Lan rolled her eyes.

But she was unwilling to give up, so she asked, "How do you want to sell them?"

Zhang Pu mirrored her eye-roll and said, "Are you going to try to auction them off like at the event earlier?"

Zheng Lan immediately recalled the incident with the Oolong essence. She cursed Zhang Pu silently in her heart, finding herself momentarily speechless.

But while she stayed silent, Zhang Pu seemed to have opened the floodgates: "Make an offer!"

*I make an offer? And then you drive the price up?* Zheng Lan felt truly annoyed.

Yet, for some reason, these pills acted like a temptation that wouldn't stop gnawing at her soul, leaving her unable to walk away.

Furthermore, a "student-master" like Zhang Pu—not to mention herself, even the bigwigs in her family rarely encountered someone like him. Without a doubt, Zhang Pu was a hidden treasure. If she could secure a relationship with him, it would likely bring great benefits to the Zheng family in the future.

Zheng Lan was a clever woman, despite her somewhat aggressive exterior.