The scene suddenly fell silent. Everyone looked at Hoe Wonyou with strange eyes, as if viewing a madman. Before the people of Great Tang had fully satisfied their purchasing desires, people from other foreign tribes were not permitted to speak—this was a convention formed after Li Er pacified the Turks.

Xiao Yu acted as if he hadn’t heard the two thousand strings bid and said to Yun Ye, “Young man, one thousand six hundred strings. This old man is poor. If you dare raise the price again, I’ll smash the horse so no one gets it.”

“One thousand six hundred strings—is there any bid higher than one thousand six hundred strings? Just now Lord Xiao said this is a treasure. Those wanting to offer high prices, now is your last chance. I’ll count to three. Once the hammer falls, there will be no more opportunities. One…”

Yun Ye had just opened his mouth to count when Hoe Wonyou spoke again: “I offer three thousand strings.”

No one acknowledged him. Yun Ye continued counting: “Two, three, sold! This horse belongs to Lord Xiao.” With a clang, the hammer fell and the transaction was complete. Actually, Yun Ye very much wanted to sell the glass to Hoe Wonyou, but at this moment, face was more important than money. No one in the entire venue found it strange; not even one person was surprised. It seemed that Yun Ye selling to the Goryeo people at high prices would be the odd thing.

No one knew how many more of these exquisite treasures that seemed not of this world remained. Selling one meant one less. The Chang’an merchants saw that the officials had already taken the lead, so naturally the rest wouldn’t fall behind. They had long prepared the numbered paddles Yun Ye had distributed beforehand, ready to begin the battle at any moment. Powerful noble families wouldn’t bid themselves at all—those directly bidding were all forthright and selfless officials.

The Goryeo envoy trembled with rage. Hoe Wonyou stood up directly, pointed at Yun Ye and said, “Marquis Yun, since you said tonight’s auction goes to the highest bidder, why is it that when I offered a high price, you deliberately gave the treasure to a lower bidder? I want to lodge a complaint.”

Yun Ye was busy pulling glass items from boxes and didn’t even turn his head when he heard the question: “That’s directed at people of my Great Tang. It doesn’t count for you. If there are leftovers, naturally it will be your turn. What’s the rush?”

The Great Tang officials and merchants in the hall roared with laughter, nearly lifting off the hall’s ceiling. Hoe Wonyou and merchants from other countries felt both ashamed and angry. Rage burned fiercely within them, but the environment wasn’t right. One by one they ground their teeth audibly, preparing to turn and leave this hall that made them feel humiliated.

But just then, Yun Ye pulled out a peacock from the box—one with a four-armed figure seated on its body. At a glance, one could tell it was no ordinary item. Red beak, blue feathers with green spots, lifelike. The human figure was also sculpted with exquisite detail, with kind eyebrows and benevolent eyes.

Greed flashed in Hoe Wonyou’s eyes. The other barbarians also stopped in their tracks, their eyes containing nothing but the blue peacock. A group of people formed a circle and muttered for a while. Hoe Wonyou, as the elected spokesman, bowed toward Li Er’s viewing platform and loudly demanded an explanation from His Imperial Majesty: “Respected Emperor of Great Tang, our Goryeo has always been extremely friendly toward Great Tang. Our annual tribute has never been the slightest bit short. Our Majesty’s state letter honors you as an elder. Why today are we subjected to such humiliation here? We request Your Majesty’s judgment.”

Poor Great Tang had not yet reached the peak of its glory. In Li Zhi’s time, if Goryeo envoys dared speak this way, they would have long been dragged out to feed the dogs—how could they be tolerated in such arrogance? Now Great Tang was preparing matters concerning the Xueyantuo and Tuyuhun and had no strength to face enemies on three fronts.

Yun Ye secretly rejoiced. Finally there was an opportunity to first swindle these fellows. With them driving up prices, presumably those old fellows sitting in the front row would become even more frenzied. He looked forward to Li Er speaking up for these envoys and merchant caravans.

Sure enough, Li Er’s languid voice came over: “Yun Ye, you are not permitted to ignore the envoys’ demands again. You must treat all today’s guests fairly. As for treasures, they belong to the virtuous. Didn’t you say whoever has more money gets them? Just do it that way.”

Yun Ye bowed to accept the command and said to Hoe Wonyou with a smile, “His Majesty has spoken. I will certainly comply without error. The previous one doesn’t count. Starting from this blue peacock, I will definitely strictly follow His Majesty’s instructions.”

Seeing their goal achieved, those envoys from Goryeo, Xueyantuo, and Tuyuhun didn’t think much of it. Amid the flattery of numerous barbarian merchants, they sat back in their original seats, waiting for the auction to begin.

A番僧 with high eyebrows and deep-set eyes walked up and said to Yun Ye, “Marquis Yun, you absolutely must not call this Buddha statue by the names blue peacock or blue peacock. Beware of falling into the Avici Hell in the future to suffer endless torment.”

“Who is this monk?” Yun Ye asked the pig-headed He Shao standing behind him. He Shao made an effort to open his eyes, quickly pressed his palms together and said, “This is Master Kumarajiva, who has been in the Central Plains for thirty years. He is one of the few enlightened high monks. We cannot be discourteous.”

Yun Ye made a gesture of sudden realization, cupped his fists, and said with a smile, “Master, this is clearly just a peacock. Why do you insist on saying this is a Buddha statue? Is there something I don’t know about this? Please enlighten me, Master.”

Kumarajiva returned the courtesy and said, “Marquis Yun is a layman and it’s understandable that you don’t comprehend Buddhist matters. Let this old monk explain it to everyone. In Buddhism there is a great power called the Peacock Wisdom King, also known as the Buddha Mother. She eliminates all poisons, fears, disasters and troubles, receives and nurtures all sentient beings to obtain peace and happiness. You see, the Buddha seated on the peacock displays one face and four arms, holding a lotus flower, a bilva fruit, an auspicious fruit, and peacock feathers. Among the four items held, the lotus flower represents respectful love, the bilva fruit represents subjugation, the auspicious fruit represents increase in merit, and the peacock feather represents disaster elimination. This is a rare Buddhist treasure.”

How would Yun Ye know these things? The designs were all drawn by Lishi, who was well-traveled and looked down on Yun Ye’s ignorance, so naturally wouldn’t explain these obscure and difficult subjects to him. Hearing Kumarajiva explain it this way, he also felt this was a good item that could command a high price.

“This poor monk is willing to offer two thousand strings to seek this Wisdom King image from Marquis Yun.”

Kumarajiva was very wealthy? Don’t they all call themselves poor monks? How could he produce two thousand strings in the blink of an eye? One must know that two thousand strings was absolutely not a small number. The price of one bushel of rice was only four copper coins. One string of cash was a full thousand coins. How much rice could two thousand strings buy? Just how much money had these fellows collected from those poor believers? It seemed temples were quite profitable.

“If Master wants it, naturally I’ll comply. However, His Majesty just issued an edict—to the highest bidder. I hope you get your wish.” As soon as the words left his mouth, others immediately chimed in. Hoe Wonyou didn’t even think before opening his mouth to bid: “Three thousand strings.” This time he was determined to win. Never mind that this was a treasure—even if it were dog shit, he’d snatch it up.

The Xueyantuo envoy jumped out and said stiffly, “Three hundred cattle.”

Li Er, lying on his soft chair, couldn’t help but twitch. Great Tang had never had enough cattle. This time he was still worrying about how to pay the Xueyantuo five thousand cattle worth of silk, grain, and iron implements. He never expected that a pile of sand would bring in three hundred cattle.

“Erlang, we cannot let Yun Ye squander this glass. Since a single peacock can be exchanged for three hundred cattle, for our Great Tang this can be said to be an almost cost-free trade. If we can exchange for cattle, we can exchange for warhorses, we can exchange for sheep, we can exchange for Goryeo’s iron implements and cinnabar. We don’t need to give anything—at most just some sand. We made a mistake earlier.”

When Empress Zhangsun thought of being able to obtain the world’s wealth without cost, her face instantly flushed red. Li Er also sat up, thought about it, then lay back down, and said to Zhangsun, “Yun Ye is full of anger right now. If he doesn’t vent it, he won’t put his heart into his work. This time, let him play to his heart’s content. We owe him a great deal.”

The Chang’an merchants were still very unaccustomed to this atmosphere of throwing around thousands at once. They all gaped, watching as the three parties gradually drove up the price, greatly envious in their hearts. The copper coins earned from this one treasure would be enough for them to earn for a year.

Watching the Xueyantuo people finally take away the Peacock Wisdom King image from the visibly regretful and reluctant Yun Ye’s hands at the price of five hundred cattle, the Great Tang merchants in the hall seemed to have been slapped across the face.

Every pore of Wei Zheng’s heart sang in exultation. No matter how valuable that Wisdom King image was, in his eyes it didn’t have the value of five hundred cattle. Gold, stone, pearls and jade cannot satisfy hunger or quench thirst when eaten or drunk. With these five hundred cattle, how much more land could be cultivated! This was the foundation of Great Tang.

Yun Ye pulled out from the box two identical glass giant wolves. These two giant wolves were in the act of howling at the moon, with sharp fangs and teeth, sturdy limbs pressed to the ground, powerful and vigorous.

The lights illuminating the two giant wolves instantly extinguished. Everyone in the entire theater discovered in shock that the four eyes of the two giant wolves still emitted light. Inch-long green light reflected these two statues in a ghastly green color, as if the evil spirits of wolves were attached to these two statues, ready to devour people at any moment.

The lights were lit again, the green glow gradually faded, and the giant wolves still stood on the table, motionless. The scene just now made everyone feel as if they were in a dream, silent and speechless.

The Ashina clan was the true ruler of the grasslands. Their ancestors were said to be wolves. Every member of the Ashina clan had a wolf head tattoo on their chest, precisely in this howling-at-the-moon pose.

The Xueyantuo people immediately stood up—one thousand cattle. Yun Ye remained unmoved, only turning his head toward the Tuyuhun people. The elderly elder gasped out a price of one thousand five hundred cattle.

Yun Ye understood clearly, they understood clearly, and even Li Er with his eyes closed understood clearly—as long as these two tribes sent these two wolves deep into the desert to the Western Turks, they would immediately gain a powerful ally.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Li Jing, Tang Jian and others immediately stood up. Li Jing shouted loudly, “Yun Ye, you cannot sell these things—they will bring trouble to Great Tang!”

Yun Ye grinned at Li Jing and said, “His Majesty said—to the highest bidder.”

The Xueyantuo were currently under threat from Great Tang’s iron cavalry. This visit to Great Tang was in hopes of reaching an agreement with Great Tang to not be threatened by war. Who knew they would inadvertently discover this best treasure to offer to the Heavenly Wolf God? As long as they presented it to the Western Turks, they would certainly form an alliance to advance and retreat together. They would risk their lives to obtain it.

The Tuyuhun people held the same thoughts. A great elder had come this time, and he likewise discovered the important significance of these two giant wolf sculptures.

Under the anxious persuasion of Li Jing and others, Yun Ye still maintained the appearance of a businessman, unmoved. To avoid complications from delay, the Xueyantuo people and Tuyuhun people also reached an agreement—the two parties would jointly contribute two thousand fat cattle to purchase the two sculptures, one for each family.

Yun Ye smiled like a fox. From his sleeve he produced a small hammer and tapped one of the giant wolf heads. The wolf head was immediately smashed to powder.

Under everyone’s stupefied gazes, Yun Ye said to the two buyers, “Now there’s only one wolf. I want triple the price.”