Hua Zhiqiang gave an embarrassed smile, glanced at Jiang Chen, and did not explain.

Lu Chengfeng understood in an instant, smiled lightly at Jiang Chen and nodded, to which Jiang Chen nodded back.

"Welcome everyone to..."

The auction began, and the auctioneer introduced the bidding process, launching today's auction.

As time passed, it wasn't long before the auction drew to a close, neither Hua Zhiqiang nor Lu Chengfeng had bid on a single item.

"Does Mr. Lu really intend to compete with me for that Pill Furnace?" Hua Zhiqiang couldn't help but speak up.

If it had been before, Hua Zhiqiang wouldn't have minded facing off against Lu Chengfeng, but now, because he had to pay Jiang Chen the life-preserving fee, he valued every penny and was thinking about earning all ten years of life-preserving money in full.

Lu Chengfeng was slightly startled, glanced at Jiang Chen, and, thinking of something, said with a smile, "Since Mr. Hua and Mr. Jiang are interested in that Pill Furnace, I shall not snatch love with a borrowed knife. Meeting Mr. Jiang again today was worth the trip."

"Next, we have the final item of the day, a Pill Furnace passed down from the era of the former dynasty. According to the owner of the Pill Furnace, this was once used by the great master Xu Fu. As to whether it's true or false, the organizers have emphasized that they cannot guarantee this."

At this moment, the final item was brought to the stage. The auctioneer announced loudly, "Therefore, the organizers have agreed to allow a fifteen-minute appraisal time before the start of bidding. Within these fifteen minutes, everyone can come closer to have a look."

Thud thud thud!

Four strapping men in black struggled to carry in a Pill Furnace nearly half a person tall. By the time they set it on the stage, their faces were flush with strain. Only after placing down the Pill Furnace did they catch their breaths.

Then, these four men stood a meter away from the Pill Furnace, encircling it. While appraisal was allowed, the auction house of course had to take measures to prevent any malicious damage to the item.

"Let's go take a look," Jiang Chen said, summoning his companions. They got up together and approached the Pill Furnace.

As they drew closer, Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and quietly released a thin stream of bloody energy, which snaked along the ground and connected to the Pill Furnace.

Hum!

The moment the bloody energy touched the Pill Furnace, a misty force emerged from it, directly scattering the stream of energy.

"This..." Jiang Chen was shocked, his eyes suddenly lighting up. This Pill Furnace actually showed signs of intelligence; regardless of whether it was used by Xu Fu or not, he had to obtain it—it was definitely a treasure!

"Mr. Jiang, what do you think of this Pill Furnace?" Hua Zhiqiang asked in a low voice.

Jiang Chen gave a slight nod: "Top-notch."

Hua Zhiqiang's eyes sparkled as he glared fiercely at the Pill Furnace, silently swearing that to have Jiang Chen refine a life-preserving Elixir for him, he would bid whatever it took, even if it meant bankrupting himself again.

"This Pill Furnace is ours, Jincheng Wang Family's. We hope everyone will show some consideration!" Just as Jiang Chen and the others were about to return to their seats, a shout rang out, attracting the attention of everyone present.

In front of the Pill Furnace stood a young man with an arrogant demeanor, accompanied by an old man with a sullen face.

"Jincheng Wang Family?!"

"Is that person from the Wang Family, one of the eight top-tier families in Jincheng?"

"I didn't expect even the Jincheng Wang Family to be attracted here. It seems the Pill Furnace must be genuine!"

"What does it matter if it's genuine? We're talking about Jincheng Wang Family here. Do you dare to bid against them?"

In the banquet hall, the crowd began whispering among themselves.

The auctioneer's face changed, eyes filled with anger as he glanced at the young man from the Wang Family but dared not speak out. The Wang Family was not someone the organizers of this auction could afford to offend!

Everyone returned to their seats, no longer holding any hope for the Pill Furnace.

"Hurry up and start the bidding," the young man from the Wang family shouted at the auctioneer before striding arrogantly back to his seat.

The auctioneer glanced at the young man and, with impressive professionalism, spoke loudly, "Next, we will proceed with the final item for auction, the starting bid is one million, and each increment must not be less than one hundred thousand. Let's begin the bidding."

"One million, bang the gavel!" the young man from the Wang family called out loudly.

The banquet hall suddenly fell silent, with everyone looking at the young man, anger in their eyes but no courage to speak out. Shouting out a low price and demanding the auctioneer to bang the gavel, his arrogance was astounding!

The auctioneer's eye twitched but he ignored the young man, continuing to wait. After a bid is called, there is a transition period, and if no further bids are made during this time, only then will he proceed with the closing bangs of the gavel.

"I told you to bang the gavel!" The young man from the Wang family, seeing that the auctioneer was ignoring him, shouted angrily.

"Sir, I'm sorry, please do not disrupt the auction," the auctioneer said, his face darkening, his voice low.

The young man from the Wang family looked surprised and his face darkened as he snapped, "What did you say? Are you looking to die? I want to see who dares to bid today!"

"Ten million!" Just as the young man's voice faded, a shouting bid echoed, and all heads turned toward the back row.

As the auctioneer retorted to the Wang family's young man, Jiang Chen had a thought. His conglomerate had swallowed up most of the assets of the Four Great Aristocratic Families, including an auction house. He was quite fond of this auctioneer and knew that if he didn't intervene, the auctioneer might well end up being dealt with by the young man from the Wang family. Therefore, without waiting for Hua Zhiqiang to speak up, he placed his bid directly.

Hua Zhiqiang was just about to bid when Jiang Chen beat him to it. He glanced at Jiang Chen and closed his mouth, feeling discontent but not daring to harbor any resentment against Jiang Chen.

"Who is that guy?"

"Don't know, must be from out of town, right?"

"Sitting so far back, he can't be from one of the big families."

"A calf not afraid of a tiger, huh! Does he think he's from the Lu Family? In the entire S Province business world, probably only the Lu Family wouldn't fear the young masters from Jincheng's eight top families, right? Even if it were the Family Head of the Lu Family, faced with a Clan Leader from Jincheng's top families, they would still have to kneel!"

The banquet hall suddenly became noisy again.

"Wang Shichong from the Wang family, kid, who are you?"

The young man from the Wang family revealed his identity, eyeing Jiang Chen with a cold gaze.

"Wang Shichong?! He's the second young master of the Wang family?!"

"The second young master of the Wang family? Isn't he one of the Four Young Masters of Jincheng?"

"Oh no, that kid is done for!"

"Not just that kid, it looks like today's auction event is doomed too. The auctioneer has just offended the face of Wang's second young master!"

"How come these four scourges haven't been taken care of yet!"

As soon as Wang Shichong announced his name, gasps of shock rippled through the banquet hall.

Jiang Chen glanced at Wang Shichong and ignored him, looking calmly at the auctioneer ahead.

Wang Shichong's face became completely gloomy as he and a gloomy old man approached Jiang Chen and the others, staring intently at Jiang Chen, "Kid, I'm speaking to you."

"Who I am is none of your business; I'm here to attend the auction, not to listen to your yapping!" Jiang Chen spoke indifferently.

"How dare you!"

The gloomy old man bellowed, a powerful aura erupting from within him and pressing down hard on Jiang Chen.

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