PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

288 Chapter 288 Auction (1)

“The following item is something a famous craftsman made from the materials gathered from the previous year’s harvest and it took him a whole year to create this batch; auction starts with 200 essence stones. “An unnecessarily quirky-looking presenter commented at the top of the auction center stage as he pointed out what appeared to be a closet full of high-quality robes, dresses, and other beautiful garments.

“210 essence stones” Desmond offered apparently interested.

Seeing Desmond’s offer, not only Ai Zuling but also Xiauyue and Mei looked at him strangely as the clothes he had just bid for were not only expensive but also clearly women’s clothes.

Noticing the strange way his companions were staring at him, Desmond rolled his eyes in exasperation as he commented: “With all that I have gained in recent days, the women in my household are going to kill me if I don’t bring anything back for them.”

But his comment didn’t have the desired effect as all the women in the room proceeded to give him a resentful look before looking away with contempt causing Desmond to feel quite helpless about it.

Giving a slight glance at the next items to be auctioned and finding nothing that caught his eye, Desmond turned around to face Ai Zuling and begin negotiations for an alliance: “From your countenance, you seem to believe what I told you earlier. ”

Noticing that Desmond turned to more serious issues, Ai Zuling changed her previous attitude before nodding seriously and replied: “Feng Sho has always given me a bad feeling but I thought he was just an old womanizer... and to think that he is behind all those horrible murders ”

Knowing in advance that Ai Zuling was an intelligent woman, Desmond was not surprised to see how she had deduced why his group had attacked Feng Sho and his relationship to all the creepy events that had occurred recently.

After all, Desmond worked close to Ai Zuling on a day-to-day basis so it was difficult for him to completely hide his movements from her, with that being the case it was only natural for her to notice that Desmond had been asking questions about the missing girls. And if you add to that what Desmond said about her cousin and the fact that he attacked Feng Sho; it was only natural that Ai Zuling would come to her current conclusion.

.....

Wanting to take the initiative to control the course of the conversation, Desmond directly stated his proposal: “Feng Sho must die and you can help me make that happen”

“What do you get out of all this?” Ai Zuling replied as soon as she heard Desmond’s proposal.

With a bitter smile from hearing this same question on more than one occasion, Desmond explained: “I have my own reasons for wanting Feng Sho dead regarding Miss Miao Xiauyue and Miss Mei Fei Long; they are here for me ”

Finding it reasonable that Desmond didn′t want to state his motives, Ai Zuling asked her next question: “What do you need me to do?”

Hearing her question, which basically said she was on board with the plan, Desmond smiled brightly as he spoke the grimmest words: “I just need you to keep doing what you did today while treating his injuries... poison that bastard as much as you can without killing him or making the effects too obvious ”

Seeing that her previous actions seemed to have been caught by Desmond, Ai Zuling only smiled wryly while Xiauyue and Mei looked at her in disbelief, not expecting that this seductive-looking woman would be decisive enough to start pouring poison into Feng Sho’s treatment just because of an unconfirmed suspicion.

“Why can’t I just poison him to death?” Ai Zuling replied with a hatred difficult to contain.

“You can do that if you want to end up dead or a slave to the sect for the rest of your life. Feng Sho is maybe a piece of trash, but he is still a valuable experienced blacksmith for the sect; killing him so obviously will end with repercussions too heavy for anyone to bear, “Desmond explained patiently.

“But you plan to assassinate him, don’t you?” Ai Zuling replied.

Hearing her question, Desmond gave Ai Zuling a meaningful look before answering: “I plan to do it, and if you help me by poisoning him, it will be even easier for me. In simple terms, I plan to be the one to kill him, but I do not plan to be the murderer”

Understanding some of the implicit meanings in those words, Ai Zuling replied with slight resentment: “You plan to use Feng Sho’s death for your benefit.”

Ignoring the resentment in her voice, Desmond shrugged nonchalantly and commented, “Why not? I plan to go through enough trouble to kill that bastard, and I am the one who will take most of the risks; It is only normal that I am the one who benefits from his death... Besides, you will at least have your revenge, right? ”

Ai Zuling only nodded, but Desmond seemed to have more to say: “We will discuss the rest of the details later. For now, I want to discuss an issue that will benefit us both.”

Having caught her interest, Ai Zuling paid more attention while waiting for Desmond to make his next proposal. On the other hand, Xiauyue and Mei stood on the sidelines watching with dissatisfied expressions.

“What do you think of joining the Miao family faction?” Not wanting to waste time, Desmond immediately put forward his idea, only to meet Ai Zuling’s disappointed gaze.

“I am not interested in marrying any of those spoiled children from influential families in the sect, nor do I want to get involved in political fights; no thanks. “Ai Zuling replied with just a hint of courtesy.

Understanding where the misunderstanding came from, Desmond explained: “I am not asking you to marry anyone, but rather to join Miao Xiauyue’s faction.”

“Her? As far as I know, she doesn’t even have a faction, and she can consider herself lucky that she hasn’t been married to some lustful bastard for profit; Why would I join her faction? ” Not being interested in the subject, Ai Zuling no longer bothered to be polite in rejecting him.

Gesturing to stop Xiauyue and Mei’s impending outburst, Desmond continued, unaffected by Ai Zuling’s apparent rejection: “Do you want a reason? How about I tell you that I plan to make her the next sect master? ”

“What?” X3

Ignoring the three astonished girls in the room, Desmond continued: “Of course, even if I tell you that I plan to do so, I also do not plan for you to cooperate with us just based on an uncertain promise; Let’s talk about benefits. How about half a ton of mountain-eating snake bone marrow? ”

Hearing Desmond’s new proposal, Ai Zuling had to swallow hard at the mention of such a precious ingredient that she was offered half a ton; this couldn′t be helped because half a ton of bone marrow from that beast was equivalent to her salary for a year.

But who would expect Desmond to take her silence as rejection, so he directly increased the amount to a ton causing Ai Zuling to break into a cold sweat at the thought of how rich the man in front of her was.

Coming out of her stupor, Ai Zuling replied: “Your proposal is certainly tempting, but as valuable as bone marrow is, I don’t have any alchemy recipes in which I can use them, so it would only be a very expensive ornament for me.”

Sensing that Ai Zuling was sincere about it, Desmond thought about the matter for a brief moment before rephrasing his offer: “Well, in that case, how about a ton of mountain-eating serpent bone marrow and three high-level alchemy recipes using it?”

Hearing Desmond’s outrageous offer, Ai Zuling had to wonder if the man wanted her to join his friend’s faction or if he wanted to buy her outright.

“What are the conditions?” Unable to find a reason to refuse, Ai Zuling replied.

“The most obvious thing would be that you will join Xiauyue’s faction. After that, you will support her when the issue of her marriage becomes a problem and support her when the day comes when she points to the sect master’s seat. Ultimately all the drugs you refine from bone marrow will be sold to the Xiauyue faction at the price you see fit.” Knowing that the negotiations could already be considered successful, Desmond explained the conditions with a satisfied smile as he turned his attention to the auction stage, where new elements began to pass.

Ai Zuling, for her part, barely thought about the issue two seconds before accepting Desmond’s proposal, which was not at all strange. As a novice alchemist Ai Zuling desperately needed support that would give her the resources she needed to make her talent flourish, but she didn’t want to sacrifice herself by marrying to gain that support, so Desmond’s proposal suited her tastes quite a bit.

Not to mention that having such an influential sponsor like Xiauyue would be extremely beneficial to her, especially if Xiauyue could become a sect master.

While Ai Zuling was thinking about all this, Xiauyue and Mei only looked at Desmond with complex feelings. From start to finish, Desmond didn’t involve them in the negotiations leaving them watching on the sidelines, but they didn’t even get a chance to get angry about it when they realized that Desmond’s main focus during the negotiations was on them and their future; trying to make sure that neither the sect nor the Miao family was an obstacle for them to be together.

Unknown to Desmond, his clear intentions to make these girls happy together in the future when he is not around only made the unknown feeling within both girls grow into something that neither of them seemed unknown now; on the contrary, that feeling was something very familiar to them.