196: Chapter 192 Turtle Shell 196: Chapter 192 Turtle Shell Inside the exhibition hall, there were at least a hundred private display cabinets arranged around the perimeter.
Chen Hai initially wanted to go to the center of the hall to check out the auction items from the organizers.
However, at this time, the auction held by the organizers was just beginning, and the area in the middle of the hall where people congregated was a bit more crowded than usual.
Some people enjoyed the bustle, but Chen Hai wasn’t particularly interested in squeezing through the crowd.
Over at the private booths, genuine articles were hard to come by, while fakes were rampant.
Before auction, the organizers would surely have sought the expertise of industry professionals to authenticate their items.
In light of this, the items they auctioned off couldn’t be guaranteed to be authentic one hundred percent of the time, but at least the likelihood of encountering fakes and reproductions was significantly lower compared to other places.
Nevertheless, all this had little to do with Chen Hai.
After all, he had no knowledge of antiques and curios whatsoever, and he was just strolling through the exchange to see if by any luck he would come upon a Magic Artifact.
“Boss, I want a refund.
I spent eight thousand yuan, what the hell did you sell me?”
“An Enamel Porcelain Plum and Bamboo Bottle from the Kangxi period?
I just had it appraised.”
“That expert said this bottle you sold me came from over in Henan, costing only about ten to twenty yuan each—there are plenty of them for sale over there!”
Not far away, a man in his thirties or forties, obese, was fuming as he held a large porcelain bottle.
He slammed the bottle down on a booth and pointed at the booth owner, berating him loudly.
“In our antique trade, the rule is clear: once the deal is done and the goods have left, there’s no room for returns.
I’ve never heard of anyone being able to return antiques after purchase!”
“Did you buy this porcelain bottle from my booth?
I don’t recall.”
“Even if you did spend a lot and ended up with a fake, that’s your own fault for not having the eye for it.”
“For a novice entering this trade without substantial knowledge, is it possible to avoid paying tuition, to make no mistakes along the way?”
…
The booth owner snorted in contempt and chuckled in response.
“I don’t care, I bought it from your booth, and if you don’t give me my money back, I’ll smash your place!”
“Go ahead and smash it!
The booth belongs to the organizers, and we’re under surveillance.”
“If you break any treasures on my booth, you won’t get away with it—you’ll have to pay the full price for damages!”
The two argued incessantly, with the fat man outrageously indignant and clearly agitated,
While the booth owner was indifferent, like a dead pig unfazed by boiling water, repeating the same message over and over: there’s no chance of returning the goods.
As he wandered around the exhibition hall, Chen Hai saw several such disputes.
There was no denying: the antiques and curios industry was astonishingly murky, its depths seemingly impenetrable.
Especially for newcomers stepping into this field, it felt almost maliciously deceptive.
No wonder Dong Dahai had repeatedly warned him on their way to the Boyue Convention and Exhibition Center not to carelessly buy items from the private booths.
After nearly an hour, Chen Hai had browsed almost all the private booths in the hall.
While others scrutinized the authenticity of antiques and took their time with each item,
Chen Hai’s judgment of an item’s value in the private display cabinets was much simpler.
He simply moved a bit closer and used his Divine Soul Eye to check whether there was an aura around any of the items in the cabinets!
Regrettably, having roamed the hall for so long, he hadn’t come across any item that could potentially be a Magic Artifact.
Although he had always known that finding a true Magic Artifact in modern society was exceedingly unlikely,
After such a long search yielding this uneventful outcome, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit helpless.
Turning back, he looked towards the central area of the hall.
The organizers’ auction was still proceeding with vigor.
From two to four in the afternoon, those two hours were reserved for the organizers’ auction.
It was already past three in the afternoon, and today’s auction had entered its final stage.
He had been browsing the private booths around the hall for quite some time, but he hadn’t yet come to examine the items being auctioned by the organizers carefully.
“Now we invite our seventy-sixth auction item of the day!”
“This is a bronze short sword which, according to our expert team’s appraisal, originates from the Warring States Period.”
“As everyone can see, despite some patina, this short sword is mostly well-preserved and still usable…”
In the middle of the hall, on a specially set-up auction stage,
An auctioneer wearing white gloves picked up a short sword from a tray held by a nearby security staff member.
While presenting the bronze sword to those below, his enthusiastic speech was delivered with flying spittle.
As a professional auctioneer, his eloquent words seemed to stir the emotions of the audience.
“I bid nine thousand!”
“I bid ten thousand!”
“Stop fighting over it, I bid twelve thousand…”
The auctioneer on the stage had barely announced a reserve price of eight thousand yuan when several enthusiastic bids began to rise from the crowd below.
Of course, whether there were any plants arranged by the organizers among the bidders was something only they themselves would know!
Centered around the auction stage was an area with plenty of single-seat sofas.
Those interested in participating in the auction could find a seat nearby and simply raise the bid number card placed beside the sofas to make their bid!
The items up for auction were generally authentic, with the only downside being that there was little chance of finding any hidden bargains.
Chen Hai had already browsed the surrounding private stalls several times.
At this point, with nothing else to do, he found a chair and sat down.
In today’s Yanhuang Country, antiques seemed to really be undervalued, as several auction items sold for just a few thousand to tens of thousands of yuan.
Chen Hai had been sitting near the auction stage for quite a while and had not seen a single item reach a bidding price of one hundred thousand yuan.
Sitting on the chair, seeming to be resting with his eyes closed, he had actually projected his Divine Soul, thoroughly inspecting the nearby organizer’s display cases one by one.
Compared to the private stalls, the organizer’s display cases held a larger variety of items, leaving onlookers dazzled.
With his Divine Soul projecting outward, Chen Hai could only observe the aura, as it wasn’t possible to examine every single item in detail.
Returning to his body, he felt a slight disappointment, having not perceived anything unusual about the aura of the auction items.
“Now, please welcome lot number eighty-eight!”
“A piece of an incomplete Turtle Shell excavated by an archaeological team.”
“This Turtle Shell is engraved with mysterious patterns by an unknown method!”
“According to the results identified by our team of experts, this Turtle Shell is at least a thousand years old, and those patterns might be a special script that we have yet to discover.”
“Because of the existence of these patterns, this Turtle Shell has acquired a certain cultural and historical research value.”
“This lot starts at ten thousand, with increments of one thousand.
Interested parties may now make their bids!”
…
Just as Chen Hai was preparing to leave and check on Dong Dahai’s booth, the voice of the auctioneer on the stage timely reached his ears.
Following the voice, Chen Hai glanced up at the auction stage.
The auctioneer, wearing white gloves, was picking up the Turtle Shell, which was no larger than half a palm, and displaying it to everyone in the audience.
Originally, Chen Hai had only casually glanced at the fragmented Turtle Shell in the auctioneer’s hand.
But in the next moment, his eyes became notably fixated.
The Turtle Shell had no special aura about it.
The main reason it so intrigued Chen Hai was that it closely resembled the Turtle Shell he had found at the bottom of the pond after killing the Toad Demon.
That particular Turtle Shell had granted him the inheritance of the Geomancy and Divination skills.
Geomancy and Divination had been significant assets to him ever since.
On the auction stage, to get a closer look at the incomplete Turtle Shell, Chen Hai’s Divine Soul had departed from his body for a detailed observation.
In his eyes, a part of the Turtle Shell’s broken edge seemed to perfectly align with the piece he held in his mind, the one bearing the Geomancy and Divination abilities.
Once he confirmed this fact, his heart was ablaze with excitement.
Regardless of the current situation, even if there was a one in ten chance that the Turtle Shell in the hands of the auctioneer and the one in his mind were of the same kind, it would be enough to make him determined to win it.
Eleven thousand…
twelve thousand…
fifteen thousand…
There seemed to be quite a number of people in the crowd interested in the Turtle Shell.
In just two or three minutes, the price of the Turtle Shell with a reserve of ten thousand yuan skyrocketed by more than fifty thousand.
It wasn’t until then that the number of bidders began to thin out.
Turtle Shell, as a substance, is known for its medicinal benefits, such as nourishing yin and yang, strengthening kidneys and bones, and supplementing blood and the heart.
For various ailments like yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity, yin deficiency and internal heat, kidney deficiency and bone atrophy, it is said to have remarkable effects.
To most people, a Turtle Shell from over a thousand years ago would have even more potent and powerful medicinal properties!
Setting aside whether the strange patterns on the Turtle Shell truly had any value, the medicinal capabilities of the Turtle Shell alone were enough to pique the interest of many people!
After all, it could treat kidney deficiency and had strong health benefits, and for some with deep pockets, a few tens of thousands of yuan were hardly a concern.
Chen Hai, with his soul returned to his body, saw this situation and his brows furrowed slightly.
However, he made no rash offers and simply continued to sit quietly.