CHAPTER 2227 THE MOST EXPENSIVE COLUMN
Lin Mu glanced at the column, reading the items on it. He started from the bottom, since the items there seemed to be the 'cheapest' and their value increased the highest one went. 'Let's see what the cheapest item in the rarest column is.' Lin Mu thought and pulled it up on the pillar.
~SHUA~
~gulp~
Of course, the cost was still enough to make the others gulp.
"What is this?" But to Lin Mu, it was the item in question that seemed to be unknown. Têxt belongs to .
"I don't know…" Daoist Chu said. "I don't either." Crown Prince Feng Shun seemed to be unaware too.
"Does Lady Kang or Ziran know?" Lin Mu knew that the two had the highest chance of knowing it.
"I've heard about Mandragora, but not this." Lady Kang replied. "But for it to be worth four hundred million credits…" the price was high for her too.
Ziran furrowed his brows and looked at the name for a minute without speaking.
"I think… This is a Legendary Herb." Ziran replied after thinking deeply. "I've heard vague mentions about it before in some stories. But I thought it was just that… a legend." He added.
"What does it do?" Lin Mu asked. "Considering it's value it should be very good, no?" "Well, normal Mandragora have both positive and negative effects. It is said that while they are potent medicines, they also have hallucinogenic effects." Ziran replied. "But these effects would be nothing to immortals and they would be able to get through it. But a Tri Essence Mandragora… it is supposedly a herb that'll make you see Heaven, earth and hell at the same time." He explained.
"Huh… Heaven, Earth and Hell?" Lin Mu couldn't help but raise his eyes.
"The legend says that for one to be worthy of taking the Tri Essence Mandrake, they need to overcome its trails. They'll see the three realms of existence and suffer through it. Only those that can overcome it will be able to take the benefit. If not, their souls would simply be extinguished." Ziran explained, making the group surprised. "Also no immortal is safe from their efforts… whether you be body cultivator or Qi cultivator, it is the same. Even Transcendent immortals will suffer from it all." He added.
"What about the benefits?" Daoist Chu asked.
"Well… the description about that was vague, but they did mention that if one can overcome the illusion of Heaven, Earth and Hell, they can ascend to the heavens." Ziran answered.
"That… can be interpreted in a lot of ways." Crown Princess Shang said. "Yeah, won't that mean they die too?" Qiao De chimed in.
Lin Mu could see that this was a rather risky herb considering the lack of information they had.
"Yeah, it is a gamble to take that." Xukong spoke up seeing their confusion. "The Tri Essence Mandragora has always been a troublesome herb." Lin Mu listened intently wondering just what kind of trouble it could bring.
"It is very potent and can grant one enough immortal Qi to jump three to four Immortal Stages in one go." Xukong stated first.
"What?!" that was a major jump for Lin Mu. "But won't they still have to overcome the Immortal Tribulations?" he asked.
"They will of course. But the potency of the Tri Essence Mandragora takes care of that too. The sheer amount of Qi that is produced from it will protect the person from the tribulation too." Xukong replied. "The only problem is one needs to overcome the illusions. And those are something even Transcendent immortals have failed before." He added.
"Damn… it really is a gamble." Lin Mu replied. "But wait, it can protect one from any kind of immortal tribulation? Even variant ones?" he asked.
"Not all of course." Xukong replied. "That's why its a gamble. If by some misfortune you trigger a variant immortal tribulation, you will still die." He added.
"A gamble indeed." Lin Mu now understood. "Though I suppose even with that gamble, its value is quite high. And it is still the cheapest item in this column." He added.
"What other stuff is here?" Daoist Chu wished to look at more.
Lin Mu went to the next item, which was also a herb.
<100,000 year old Red Lingzhi>
"Oh wow!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
It was an item that everyone recognized. "They even got this?" Qiao De was surprised and happy. Red Lingzhi was a mushroom that was used as an ingredient for several alchemical pills that were beneficial to immortals. As such no one was unfamiliar with it. But, the age of the Red Lingzhi was simply stunning.
"Lady Kang, the Great Kang Auction house once sold a hundred thousand year old Red Lingzhi right? What was the cost?" Crown prince Feng Shun asked.
"We did yes… but it was long before my time." Lady Kang replied. "If I recall correctly, it sold for about half of an Immortal Empire." She stated.
"I-immortal empire!?" Qiao De gawked at the woman.
"Yes, a fixed cost for it was simply impossible to set with the demand. In the end, an emperor sold half of his empire for it." Lady Kang explained.
Lin Mu had already heard of people buying and selling nations from Lady Kang, and she had even offered him one to buy for cheap. But he had never expected that someone would buy a single Immortal material for the cost of half an empire.
'Even if it was just half an empire, it would be worth several kingdoms right?' Lin Mu thought to himself.
"Truly a high price… But worthy regardless." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "What would one even do with it?" Qiao De asked. "With such high potency…"
"Well once can simply consume it right away for a massive amount of Qi, or if one wants to make a major profit they can turn it into a giant batch of pills. That one Red Lingzhi may as well be enough for an entire alchemy pavilion to use for at least a century. Plus the cauldron it is refined in will bee inundate by it's essence, improving the quality of it over all. There's even a chance the Immortal Cauldron will be upgraded straight to the Peak Immortal Grade as well." Lady Kang explained. "Not to mention the benefits the alchemist themselves will gain from it. By merely being in its presence, they will gain a lot of cultivation and their bodies will improve." After hearing that, Lin Mu and the others could explain why the value of the Hundred Thousand Year Old Red Lingzhi was so high. "So if one can nurture it long enough, their clan can enjoy its benefits for a long time." Ziran said.
"One might not be able to grow one for that long even if they wanted to." Lady Kang stated. "Most Red Lingzhi's even with proper nurturing might not live past fifty thousand years. The cost of nurturing them to a hundred thousand years might even become more expensive than the end price of the Red Lingzhi." She added.
"Indeed. This is the kind of Immortal material that is only viable when found naturally." Crown Princess Shang agreed.
"Well if they got something like this, what other herbs are there in the list?" Daoist Chu asked.
Lin Mu and the others read through the list and saw that most of the items were just herbs and other immortal materials.
The cost only continued to go higher and higher as they read each herb. Most of the herbs were basically older variants of well known immortal herbs, which resulted in their value being massively high. But there were also some herbs that were simply unknown to them all.
Lin Mu ended up asking Xukong and found out that these were herbs that were actually extinct in most worlds. Lin Mu was surprised that something like those extinct herbs was also available here.
"Of course, a celestial has many ways for that. Just by the fact how long they could have lived, there's a high chance they had a large supply of them from long ago. Then there is also the fact that they could be growing them in the celestial realm." Xukong spoke. "Even if something is extinct in the Immortal Realm doesn't mean it'll be gone in the Celestial realm too." He reminded.
"That's true." Lin Mu nodded.
Other than the Immortal herbs, there were a couple of precious ores and metals, but majority of the column was just herbs. But that was until Lin Mu reached the very top.
"The final item," Lin Mu requested its information while everyone watched with bated breaths.
As soon as the information appeared, everyone's breaths stopped for a few seconds.
"One… Billion… Credits?" Daoist Chu counted each zero to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
"This isn't a herb or a metal… Some Immortal tool?" Crown Prince Feng Shun thought from the name.