The Legend of Song Jiang in Water Margin

Chapter 142 The World's Darkness is Like an Abyss: Winning the Top Prize at a Rare Treasure Auction

A day later, Song Jiang, along with Gongsun Sheng, Yue He, Tang Long, and Chen Liqing, arrived at the entrance of Tongtian Garden. The auction of Qibao Pavilion had finally begun!

Qibaoge only looked at the tokens, not their identities. After verifying the tokens, someone handed over three masks. After Song Jiang and his two companions put them on, they were allowed to enter the auction area!

As for Gongsun Sheng and Chen Liqing, they found a restaurant next to Tongtian Garden to meet Song Jiang and his two companions. Kaifeng was rife with undercurrents, but this did not include the auction inside Qibaoge, and no one dared to cause trouble there!

Upon entering the venue, they were met with complete darkness. Everywhere their eyes swept was darkness. A person carrying a lantern led them into the venue and did not leave until the three of them were seated.

Song Jiang couldn't see who was sitting around him at all, which meant that everyone's identity was kept extremely secret, preventing anyone from robbing him of his treasures later! Of course, if you didn't want to take the items, Qibaoge could escort them to a designated location. For example, if Song Jiang won a prize and it was inconvenient for him to bring it back to the city himself, Qibaoge would send someone to escort him to Dancheng. The transaction would only be complete once Song Jiang had retrieved the treasure!

It must be said that Qibaoge has achieved the ultimate in terms of reputation and security!

After Song Jiang sat down, he heard a rustling sound around him. He didn't know what the sound was or how it was made. Then he heard light footsteps approaching slowly, and occasionally the sound of a chair moving back and forth. But there was no sound of speaking!

Qibaoge prohibits any communication before the auction, whether it is speaking or writing, in order to prevent anyone from monopolizing the treasures at the auction.

Anyone who violates the rules will be immediately expelled from the auction house, all their gold will be confiscated, and they will be permanently banned from entering any auction house of Qibaoge, without any room for negotiation.

The rules may seem a bit domineering, but no one dares to disobey them. If you're not happy about it, you're free not to come to Qibaoge. But if you do come, you have to abide by the rules. If you don't believe me, you can try to break them and see what the consequences are!

Not long after Song Jiang sat down, a man came forward carrying a lantern, followed by another man carrying a tray with a pot of tea, three cups, and a plate of snacks.

The person carrying the lantern was probably lighting the way for those behind, since it was so dark that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. If it weren't for the heavy breathing sounds coming from the side, Song Jiang really wouldn't be sure if there were any living people in there!

Both of them were expressionless, their ordinary faces taking on an inexplicable strangeness under the lantern's light. After setting down the tray, they left together, plunging the place that had been slightly lit back into darkness!

Song Jiang picked up a pastry and put it in his mouth. It was fragrant and delicious, sweet but not greasy, and melted in his mouth. Song Jiang admitted that this pastry was a rare delicacy. At least he had never eaten such a delicious pastry in all the time he had been in the Northern Song Dynasty!

I poured myself another cup of tea and took a sip. It was mellow, refreshing, and lingering, truly a top-quality tea!

Song Jiang gestured to Yue He and Tang Long to have some snacks and tea! They didn't know how long the auction would last, so it would be good for them to have something to eat.

The two of them each picked up a pastry and started eating. Their eyes lit up, and soon the plate of pastries was completely devoured by the two of them!

A short while later, the two people from before came over again, picked up the plates they had finished eating from, put down a plate of snacks, and then left!

It has to be said that the service of 10,000 taels of gold is truly exceptional. Everything from the food and drinks to the place where you sit is top-notch!

After a while, the surrounding area suddenly lit up; it turned out that the auction had begun!

Song Jiang then saw his surroundings clearly. Every ten feet there was a table placed between two pillars. There were about twenty or thirty tables in the entire venue, and about seventy or eighty people!

The light emanating from the pillars was not from candles or kerosene lamps, but from luminous pearls!

Each pillar has a luminous pearl emitting a bright light, but with so many luminous pearls, I really don't know how much it cost!

Four pillars made of luminous pearls were placed at the four corners, making a large platform appear both mysterious and solemn!

A masked person slowly walked onto the stage. The person was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin. A strange mask was on his face, and combined with his unremarkable temperament, he was extremely bizarre!

The man stepped onto the stage, scanned the surroundings as if he could see everyone in the auction hall, and said, "The rules of the Qibao Pavilion, which holds its auction once every seven years, remain the same as always: the highest bidder wins. No one may prevent others from bidding in any way, or don't blame Qibao Pavilion for being ruthless. I'll add one more rule: no one may leave until the auction is over. Do you understand?"

Without any opening remarks or welcome speeches, the auction began directly with simple and clear language!

After the man finished speaking, he disappeared into the shadows. A person wearing a mask walked onto the stage, carrying a rectangular object on his shoulder. Due to the dim lighting, it was impossible to see what it was!

The masked man placed the rectangular block on a table and walked off the stage, while the person who had spoken earlier came out; he appeared to be the auctioneer!

The auctioneer raised his hand and announced, "Today's first treasure, Western Refined Gold, a superior forging material from the Western Regions, has a starting price of five hundred taels of gold, with no upper limit. The auction begins!"

At the start of the auction, those at the table were allowed to discuss the value of the items with their companions. Song Jiang whispered to Tang Long, "I've heard of this Western refined gold before. Could you melt it down and add it to other weapons, or use it with refined iron to forge other weapons?"

Tang Long also whispered, "I've never forged anything with this material before, but we can give it a try. Perhaps with the addition of Western refined gold, the weapon's quality will be much better than before. I'm confident of that!"

Song Jiang nodded and said, "In that case, I'll take the picture!"

However, this amount of Western refined gold was really small; five hundred taels of gold was still a bit of a pain. But before Song Jiang could speak, a voice came from a table in the distance: "Six hundred taels!"

Song Jiang said, "Seven hundred taels!"

The voice said, "Eight hundred taels!"

Song Jiang shouted directly, "One thousand taels of gold!"

The man stopped bidding. Most people had no interest in the Western refined gold, and there were better items to come. It wasn't worth wasting gold on this, so no one competed with Song Jiang anymore!

Is it worth buying this Western refined gold for a thousand taels of gold? Song Jiang thought it wasn't worth it, mainly because the Western refined gold was too small. But right now, this refined gold could be forged together with iron to increase the quality and toughness of weapons, so Song Jiang could only grit his teeth and be ripped off!

A man placed the Western refined gold on the table in front of Song Jiang. Song Jiang examined it carefully. Although the name contained the word "gold," it was not gold. Instead, it looked more like a block of iron, but unlike the color of iron, this refined gold was purple!

Tang Long flicked it lightly, and the refined gold emitted a ringing sound!

"Good stuff!" Tang Long exclaimed in a low voice.

Song Jiang remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was becoming increasingly eager to see what would be auctioned next!

A moment later, the second item was brought up, looking like a glass sculpture! Song Jiang had no interest in this glass sculpture. Not to mention that he already had several glass items in his luggage, spending a high price to buy this thing would not improve his strength at all. Moreover, he had his own glass workshop and only wanted to sell, not buy, let alone waste money on it!