Second Time

Chapter 33 - Auction

"Here are the herbs."

Cai Fei handed over a storage pouch to Shao Yue.

"Thanks."

Shao Yue swept through the contents and pulled out the list of pills she needed to refine. She scanned through it expressionlessly until she read the final two entries. Her brows rose.

"Interesting! They must be preparing for the auction."

"Auction?" Cai Fei hadn't heard of it.

"There are three auctions held surrounding the Eternal Ore Domain's opening," Shao Yue explained. "One happens a year before, another six months before, and the final one happens a month after. Naturally, the final one will mainly be for all the valuable ores that were retrieved."

Cai Fei nodded. "So, a few months from now will be the first auction?"

"Indeed. The last three pills here are a rather well-known combination called the Soul Ascension Elixir that can help with breakthroughs related to the Nascent Soul Realm. If a cultivator takes all three at once, they can go from peak Core Formation to Nascent Soul, or go to a higher stage within the Nascent Soul Realm. It will be highly desired."

"Oh, I see."

"You seem unimpressed." Shao Yue set the list down and smirked. "These pills are quite rare, so they're expensive. At an auction, before such a big event, they could easily sell for double their usual value. And since my contract gives me fifty percent of the profits from the pills I refine..."

Cai Fei's eyes lit up. "We'll get a lot of money!"

"Exactly."

Cai Fei brought a hand to her chin, her mind racing. "Do you think we could squeeze some more out of them?"

"What do you mean?"

"From what I understand, the pills you create are much higher quality than other alchemists', right?"

Shao Yue nodded.

"And you have Grandmaster Zeng's name behind you, and a stunning beauty."

"I suppose."

"You could go on stage to present the pills yourself. Make a speech about how you've refined a hundred of the pills and the ones you're presenting are the absolute best. Have another alchemist appraise them for their quality to reinforce your claim. People would surely be willing to shell out a bit more for exceptional pills or to curry favour with you or Grandmaster Zeng, don't you think?"

Shao Yue laughed. "That might be true. Ask if I can do that when you go to deliver the pills. If you get permission, you can choose my outfit."

Cai Fei smiled and nodded. "Sure!"

After first kissing Shao Yue, Cai Fei had grown incredibly awkward and hesitant around her. But, now that they'd gone all the way, that awkwardness had vanished entirely. Their relationship had become even more harmonious than before.

Hu'er had certainly had the right idea when she proposed provoking Cai Fei in the bath. The trial by fire was truly effective.

Cai Fei headed out and left Shao Yue to her alchemy.

The three pills that formed the Soul Ascension Elixir required rare materials and had difficult recipes. For the most precious pill, they'd only provided Shao Yue with six sets of materials. She normally failed a new pill two or three times, so she could only really hope to create three or four sets.

Since one of those sets would be set aside for Cai Fei, that would only leave two or three to sell. Shao Yue really wanted that number to be three, so she focused on improving her skills by making the other pills in the list first.