Chapter 89 - 87: Terrifying Price
"It’s about time. The auction begins now. The three Seated Mountain Eagles will be auctioned off one by one."
"The first is this female Seated Mountain Eagle. Anyone who wants it can place a bid. If there are no new bids within ten breaths, the sale will be finalized at the current price."
"Additionally, I only accept on-the-spot payment. If you cannot pay on the spot, your winning bid will be voided, and the eagle will go to the previous highest bidder."
Jiang Zuo checked the time and, without wasting any more words, directly announced the start of the auction.
"Ten thousand taels!"
It was unclear if they were just trying to cause trouble or were genuinely bidding, but someone in the crowd immediately called out a price of ten thousand taels.
"Fifty thousand!"
Just as many were thinking this auction was about to go south, He Tieshou placed a bid in a deep voice.
And with that, the price instantly skyrocketed from ten thousand to fifty thousand taels.
"They’re insane! Is one Seated Mountain Eagle really worth that much money?"
"How much would this Seated Mountain Eagle have to earn in a year to make back that price?"
The spectators below the stage immediately erupted in an uproar.
Fifty thousand silver taels was an amount of money countless people would never see in their entire lifetime, and now it was just being used to bid on a single Seated Mountain Eagle.
Even if this Seated Mountain Eagle looked impressive, the price was still too high. There was no way to earn it back.
Besides, the young man on the stage who raised the Seated Mountain Eagles said he’d have new ones every year. No matter how you looked at it, they weren’t worth such a high price.
"Eighty thousand taels."
But at that moment, another voice spoke out calmly.
With his first words, he added another thirty thousand taels.
"It’s Zhou Ruhai!"
"This is too crazy. What are these big gangs after? Are they really planning to get a refund when the three years are almost up?"
"Heh heh, that’s actually possible. Why else would they be willing to spend so much?"
"Coming up with eighty thousand taels all at once can’t be easy, even for these big gangs, right?"
The Nuhai Gang was the largest gang in Wangxiang Sea City and on Fire Mist Island, and Zhou Ruhai himself was a Martial Artist who had achieved Great Success in the Meridian Passage realm.
Few people dared to offend the Nuhai Gang. Now that Zhou Ruhai had bid eighty thousand taels, those who had originally planned to compete all silently gave up.
They would let Zhou Ruhai have this Seated Mountain Eagle; there were still two more on the stage.
"Eighty thousand taels, sold!"
Ten breaths passed with no further bids, and Jiang Zuo immediately sealed the deal.
A member of the Nuhai Gang then came onto the stage to complete the transaction.
Jiang Zuo accepted the eighty thousand taels in silver banknotes and then took out a special Wooden Token engraved with the number "one."
"I know that people in your gang might switch who rides these Seated Mountain Eagles, so I’ve specially made these Wooden Tokens. Each Seated Mountain Eagle I’ve trained will only recognize its corresponding token. If you hold the Wooden Token, you can make the eagle obey the commands of the token’s holder."
"In the future, if a Seated Mountain Eagle flies away within the period I’ve promised for a refund, you can bring this Wooden Token back to me for your money back."
"Of course, if you want the Seated Mountain Eagle to recognize only one specific master and not the Wooden Token, that’s also possible."
Jiang Zuo handed over the Wooden Token, explaining its function.
The man looked toward Zhou Ruhai in the distance, who nodded in response.
He took the Wooden Token, went to the Seated Mountain Eagle, let it have a look, and then vaulted onto its back.
With a flap of its wings, the Seated Mountain Eagle carried him into the air, flying toward Zhou Ruhai and landing beside him.
"That young man is clever. What a move. You have to return the Wooden Token, which means you can’t command the Seated Mountain Eagle anymore. It prevents people from getting a malicious refund!"
"Is that so? Heh heh, do you really think a mere Wooden Token can stop someone who’s truly determined to get a malicious refund?"
Some thought Jiang Zuo’s move was clever, while others were not so convinced.
The reason was simple: forging a similar Wooden Token wasn’t a difficult task.
When the time comes, they could just show up with a fake Wooden Token instead of the real one. Would he give a refund then or not?
If he refused, they’d have a case against him. After all, an ordinary person can’t tell a real from a fake. As long as everyone else said it was real and that Jiang Zuo was just being stubborn, they would pin the blame on him.
Jiang Zuo naturally understood this logic. He was doing this purely for the convenience of his customers in handling the Seated Mountain Eagles, and to minimize his own troubles as much as possible.
As for whether someone might forge the Wooden Token, that didn’t even factor into his considerations.
"We will now begin the auction for the second one, a male Seated Mountain Eagle. Those who are interested may begin bidding!"
Jiang Zuo ignored the chattering crowd below and immediately moved on to the auction for the second Seated Mountain Eagle.
"Fifty thousand taels!"
Before anyone else could speak, He Tieshou directly opened with a price of fifty thousand taels.
This once again sent the spectators below into an uproar.
An opening bid of fifty thousand taels? Could there be some secret to these Seated Mountain Eagles?
"Eighty thousand taels!"
But to everyone’s surprise, even after winning the first Seated Mountain Eagle, Zhou Ruhai was trying for the second one, bidding eighty thousand again.
"Zhou Ruhai, that’s not playing fair."
"One hundred thousand taels!"
He Tieshou narrowed his eyes at Zhou Ruhai. He wasn’t about to let him have this one, directly raising the bid to one hundred thousand.
Zhou Ruhai ignored He Tieshou but did not continue bidding.
At the astonishing price of one hundred thousand taels, even if the Seated Mountain Eagle was very likely to fly away later and a large portion of the money could be refunded, that was still future money.
In the short term, such an expense would drastically reduce the gang’s disposable silver.
Zhou Ruhai didn’t bid again, and no one else came forward to compete with He Tieshou.
The Iron Palm Gang smoothly won the second Seated Mountain Eagle for one hundred thousand taels.
The spectators below had thought that would be the highest price for a Seated Mountain Eagle.
But they never would have imagined that the auction price for the third and final Seated Mountain Eagle would soar even higher.
In the end, it was actually the Earth Dragon Gang, a relatively small gang, that took the final Seated Mountain Eagle for a price of one hundred and twenty thousand taels.
"Three Seated Mountain Eagles, three hundred thousand taels!"
"That’s such easy money!"
"And he even said he’s going to auction three more every year!"
"At this rate, aren’t these gangs basically just working for him?"
The transaction for the third Seated Mountain Eagle was also completed smoothly.
By now, the spectators below were in a frenzy.
After a quick calculation, countless people stared at Jiang Zuo on the stage with burning eyes.
Forget three hundred thousand taels; even one thousand taels was enough to make countless people take desperate risks.
Many had already made their plans, just waiting for nightfall.
"Everyone, this auction has now concluded. We’ll see you again next year."
"Also, I know many of you are jealous of the money in my hands. But I’m not a fan of fighting and killing, and I don’t want any trouble. So I advise you all not to get any funny ideas."
"I’ll be honest with you all. I come from a Beast Taming Clan, and I have guards with Meridian Passage-level Cultivation by my side. If you don’t have a Meridian Passage Cultivation yourself, don’t come throwing your life away. It’s not worth it."
A Beast Taming Clan!
Meridian Passage guards!
As soon as he said this, many people immediately calmed down.
No one doubted that Jiang Zuo came from a so-called Beast Taming Clan.
Otherwise, how could someone so young have tamed such incredible Seated Mountain Eagles?
As for the Meridian Passage guards, some believed him, but many did not.
Meridian Passage Martial Artists were quite rare. Even gang leaders like Zhou Ruhai had only just reached Meridian Passage-level Cultivation.
What kind of clan could afford to have Meridian Passage experts as guards?
Jiang Zuo said no more. Besides establishing a persona for himself to reap Beast Taming Reputation, he also said those things to minimize potential trouble.
After all, there was truly nothing these people on the island had that he considered valuable.
Killing them would be a waste of his time and bring no benefits.
Jiang Zuo still hoped these people wouldn’t come knocking on his door seeking death.
However, Jiang Zuo also knew full well that good advice is wasted on those determined to die; some people just won’t give up until they’re staring death in the face.
Jiang Zuo walked all the way back to his residence by the sea, clearly followed by many people in the shadows.
If it weren’t broad daylight, and if they hadn’t been intimidated by Jiang Zuo’s fearless demeanor, someone probably would have already made a move.
Regardless, the story of Jiang Zuo—going by the name Qianhai, a disciple from a Beast Taming Clan who had raised three Seated Mountain Eagles and sold them for the sky-high price of three hundred thousand taels—spread throughout Fire Mist Island in less than half a day.
It wasn’t just Fire Mist Island; by the next day, word had begun to spread to Wangxiang Sea City as well.
For a time, Jiang Zuo’s fame soared.
’Not bad. All my effort wasn’t for nothing! But, according to the conditions for gaining Beast Taming Reputation, I’ll need to fly the Seated Mountain Eagles around the island more often in the future. I need to make sure everyone on the island recognizes me and my eagles.’
Watching the notifications for Beast Taming Reputation that occasionally floated up before his eyes, Jiang Zuo was very satisfied.
His Beast Taming Reputation, which had been stagnant for a long time, was finally starting to rise.
This time, he had gone to great lengths to fabricate an identity for himself and then used the full-refund tactic to successfully drive the auction price to a terrifying level.
With such a frightening price, it wouldn’t be long before almost everyone on Fire Mist Island knew who he was.
Refunding a Seated Mountain Eagle that flew away was, in Jiang Zuo’s eyes, a brilliant move.
Setting aside the gangs who were just trying to get a free ride, even for those who paid real gold and silver, if the Seated Mountain Eagle flew away and they got a normal refund, the actual cost wouldn’t be that high.
And by spending a huge sum, besides acquiring an extremely useful bird of prey, they were also inadvertently running a huge advertisement for their own gangs.
It was incredibly useful, whether for recruiting new members or increasing gang cohesion.
This was the real reason why those gangs were willing to spend a fortune to win the Seated Mountain Eagles.
Jiang Zuo was extremely satisfied to have gained a considerable amount of Beast Taming Reputation after the very first auction.
However, Jiang Zuo knew that this was just the beginning. It wasn’t yet time to reap Beast Taming Reputation in large quantities.
Just like with the auction of the Great Black hound back then, it needed an event to truly set things off.
...
"Boss, should we send someone to ’invite’ that Qianhai over to raise Seated Mountain Eagles exclusively for us?"
At the Nuhai Gang’s headquarters, a group of leaders and core members surrounded the newly acquired Seated Mountain Eagle, clicking their tongues in wonder.
That Qianhai was simply incredible, to be able to raise Seated Mountain Eagles so well and make them so obedient.
If they could get ten or more Seated Mountain Eagles like this, the Nuhai Gang would be unstoppable.
Many of those present were already itching to ’invite’ Jiang Zuo over to raise eagles exclusively for the Nuhai Gang.
They said ’invite,’ but how they would go about ’inviting’ him was another matter entirely.
"There’s no rush. Let’s observe the situation first before we act."
Zhou Ruhai shook his head.
"Boss, you don’t actually believe that kid’s words, do you? How could that guy possibly have Meridian Passage guards? If there were people like that on the island, how could we not know about them?"
"Yeah, Boss! If we don’t make a move soon, someone else might beat us to him."
The group was dead set on getting Jiang Zuo.
This was someone who could earn three hundred thousand silver taels a year. If they could control him, the Nuhai Gang’s income would multiply.
"All of you, shut up! Without my command, if anyone dares to act rashly, don’t blame me for being merciless!"
Zhou Ruhai glanced at the crowd and said in a cold voice.
The moment he spoke, everyone present fell silent.
Zhou Ruhai didn’t become the leader of the Nuhai Gang—and the Nuhai Gang didn’t become the largest gang in Wangxiang Sea City and on Fire Mist Island—by just running his mouth.
Zhou Ruhai might seem easygoing now, but when he got angry, no one dared to face his wrath.
Although some felt Zhou Ruhai was being overly cautious in this matter and that they might lose their chance to someone else, not a single person dared to stand up and defy his words.