Chapter 462: The Heavenly Craftsmanship Puzzle Box

Through Sun Qiang's introduction, Zhang Xuan quickly learned what had happened earlier.

"Not bad, you performed excellently. The only pity is that the bet was placed with too few spirit stones—only six thousand. It should have been at least ten thousand!"

Unexpectedly, this Steward Sun had such a stunning performance, winning him so many spirit stones through a mere bet. Zhang Xuan looked over with admiration.

"Ten thousand!"

Elder Chen's mouth twitched again.

Six thousand was already driving him to the brink of suicide; if it were ten thousand, he would have likely fled long ago.

"A bet is a bet, and I won't renege. However..." Stepping forward, Elder Chen gritted his teeth. "All my assets amount to only three thousand spirit stones. For the rest... could you allow me a year?"

"A year? A year from now, even if you gave me twenty thousand, it would be useless!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

From the Tianxuan Kingdom all the way here, it had only been two or three months. A year later... it was easy to imagine that three thousand spirit stones would mean nothing to him—he could take them or leave them.

"I..."

His face flushed red, Elder Chen's expression shifting between gloom and uncertainty.

As a Hua Fan Triple Realm expert and a four-star appraisal master, a man of status, if he admitted to the bet and then refused to pay in front of so many people, even without the other party making a move, he would be condemned by a thousand pointing fingers and die of shame.

If word got out that he was untrustworthy, his appraisal career might be ruined as well.

After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth. "As a four-star appraisal master, though I don't have much liquid capital, I do have some treasured items stored away... How about this: you can choose any one of my treasures as compensation for the three thousand spirit stones!"

Like an antique collector, an appraisal master may not have much liquid capital, but he certainly has a stock of valuable items at home.

These were treasures he had collected over a lifetime, and he was reluctant to part with them unless forced.

"Treasures? Let me have a look. If they're suitable, not only can they offset the three thousand, but even the six thousand you owe earlier!"

Knowing that these people had spent their lives collecting treasures and must have some private stock, Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Fine!"

Knowing there was no escape, Elder Chen flipped his wrist.

Clatter!

In an instant, a pile of treasures appeared before everyone.

There were antiques, paintings, weapons, armor, and even some strange clay figurines.

A wide variety of treasures—Elder Chen's collection was so extensive it rivaled a small counter on the second floor, and some items were even more precious.

"Here they are. Take your pick..."

Elder Chen gestured magnanimously.

These were all his precious items, each one he hated to part with. But unfortunately, he had lost the bet, and he had to give them up even if he didn't want to.

Otherwise, his reputation would be ruined beyond repair.

"Let me see!"

Activating the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan looked over the pile on the ground.

After a moment, he shook his head.

Although these items were rare and some were valuable, to him they were neither here nor there—nothing stunning.

In other words, having them or not didn't matter; he would rather have more spirit stones, which would be more useful.

With a helpless expression, Zhang Xuan looked over. "You've collected all your life... and this is all you have?"

"I..." Knowing that the other party was a grandmaster appraiser with standards higher than the Pavilion Master's, saying this clearly meant he hadn't taken a liking to any item, Elder Chen's face flushed red.

The treasures he cherished so much and was reluctant to part with were mere junk in the other's eyes. He felt utterly embarrassed.

"Elder Chen, bring out that thing you got last time! Maybe... if Master Zhang likes it, offsetting six thousand spirit stones would be a bargain!"

Just as he was at a loss, Elder Lu's voice transmission sounded in his ear.

"That thing?"

Suddenly recalling something, Elder Chen hesitated for a moment, then nodded and looked at Zhang Xuan. "Master Zhang, please wait a moment. I have an item that I've never been able to identify since I obtained it. I'll go fetch it now. If you still don't fancy it, I have no other options."

"Alright."

Hearing that he had another treasure, Zhang Xuan nodded.

He wasn't in a hurry anyway; waiting a while was fine.

Elder Chen turned and left. Half an hour later, he returned and flipped his wrist, revealing a pitch-black object.

The size of a fist, spherical in shape, it looked dark and shapeless, at first glance resembling a lead ball.

"This is a treasure?"

Sun Qiang stepped forward and took a look. "You want to use this to offset six thousand spirit stones? Elder Chen, that's a bit unscrupulous!"

"I..." Elder Chen's face reddened.

"You're wronging Elder Chen!" Pavilion Master Sai spoke up. "This item was unearthed from an ancient site ten years ago. It doesn't look like much, but it's impervious to water and fire, unbreakable by blades, and cannot be melted by any flame. We've studied it many times over the years, but no one knows what it is."

"If no one knows what it is, then it's not a treasure, right?" Sun Qiang said.

"Not necessarily. It could be some unknown ore. If it could be refined into a weapon, it would likely be of a high grade." Pavilion Master Sai said.

"Refined? Who knows when that will happen..." Sun Qiang snorted.

"Alright, let me have a look!"

Interrupting Steward Sun's words, Zhang Xuan stepped forward.

He picked up the iron ball and examined it with the Eye of Insight, but found that he couldn't see through it!

Having gone through almost the entire Treasure Appraisal Pavilion, anything he couldn't see through was definitely a treasure.

Taking the sphere, he silently called out "Defects" in his mind.

Whoosh!

A book appeared in the library, and he casually opened it.

"Heavenly Craft Mechanism Box, refined by the Heavenly Craft Institute, unmatched in ingenuity. Without a specific method, it cannot be opened, and can be used to store some important confidential treasures. Defects..."

The following text densely recorded the defects of this item.

"Only seventeen places?"

Although the library would not mark the value of this item, and Zhang Xuan had never heard of any Heavenly Craft Institute, he was still taken aback by the number of defects.

The defects that the library could identify were very numerous, covering everything from material to technique.

For instance, the first treasure from the Flowing Cup Pavilion, the bronze hammer, which the Eye of Insight couldn't find any problem with, had a full seventy-two defects.

Of course, it wasn't that fewer defects meant the treasure was more precious; it also related to the complexity of the item.

Great truths are simple; the more complex something is, the more loopholes it tends to have.

This item, called the Heavenly Craft Mechanism Box, and judging by some of the defect descriptions, had a meticulous structure and complexity far exceeding that of a single-purpose weapon like the bronze hammer.

More complex than the bronze hammer, yet with far fewer defects—didn't that indicate that this item was much more valuable than the bronze hammer?

A treasure!

Absolutely a treasure.

"Master Zhang, can you tell what this thing is?"

Seeing him study it for a long time, Elder Chen asked.

Pavilion Master Sai and Elder Lu couldn't help but look over as well.

They had studied this item for several years, using all sorts of methods, with no results. This man's appraisal skills had even subdued the Flowing Cup Pavilion; perhaps he could really discern something.

"I haven't figured out exactly what it is either; I might need to study it for a while."

Knowing the principle of not flaunting one's wealth, Zhang Xuan didn't tell the truth. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "How about this: although I can't identify it, I know it's not simple. Let it replace the six thousand spirit stones, and our bet will be settled. What do you think?"

"Alright!"

Unexpectedly, this item that they couldn't figure out could indeed replace six thousand spirit stones. Elder Chen breathed a sigh of relief and quietly glanced at the fat man not far away.

He had made a bet with this fellow; would this decision cause any objections?

Master Zhang, as a master teacher, valued face. Even if this item was worthless, he wouldn't pursue it, but this servant was different.

He was really afraid that the other party would continue to make a fuss, and he wouldn't know what to do.

Full of worry, but when he looked, he saw the fat man with his eyes fixed on his nose and his nose fixed on his heart, as if he hadn't heard anything, seemingly indifferent to Master Zhang's decision.

"It seems he respects this young master quite a bit!"

Seeing no reaction from the other party, Elder Chen relaxed.

In fact, he didn't know that Sun Qiang's silence was partly out of respect for Zhang Xuan, but more importantly, he knew that this young master was even shrewder than he was and never made a losing deal. Since he was willing to spend six thousand spirit stones to buy this item, it meant that its value definitely far exceeded that amount.

If so, why bother to say more?

"I've sent people to collect the books you requested; it should take about three days to gather them all!"

Seeing Zhang Xuan put the sphere into his ring, Pavilion Master Sai smiled. "It looks like the auction is about to start. Shall we head over?"

After the incident with the Flowing Cup Pavilion and Elder Chen retrieving the sphere, the previously mentioned one hour was almost up. Calculating the time, the auction was indeed about to begin.

Going now should be just about right.

"Alright!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

He had come this time to acquire the Soul-less Golden Man. The auction was about to start, and he certainly couldn't let the item fall into someone else's hands.

Pavilion Master Sai led the way, and the others followed closely.

The auction hall was on the second floor, not far from the First Grade Pavilion. Before they even reached it, they saw a crowded flow of people.

It seemed the items up for auction were very attractive; many wealthy and powerful people had come.

Opening the Eye of Insight, he looked at the crowd. With a casual sweep, he spotted dozens of Mortal Transcendence experts, all at the second or third level.

As expected of the Ten Nations Alliance; indeed, there were many experts.

"Isn't this auction house run by your Treasure Appraisal Pavilion?"

Following Pavilion Master Sai, they smoothly entered the venue and soon arrived at a spacious private room. Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.

This was the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion; the auction house should be theirs, so why did they need invitation letters and such?

Could it be that, like the shops downstairs, the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion wasn't involved?

"It really isn't run by us. Like the First Grade Pavilion, it has a cooperative relationship with the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion. We are responsible for appraisal, and they find goods and gather guests for auctions... If we had to manage everything, we wouldn't have the energy!"

Pavilion Master Sai said.

Each has their own specialty. Appraisers excel at appraising treasures and judging value, but they are not good at business.

If they really ran an auction house, it would likely go bankrupt sooner or later.