Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1164

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“Grandma!” In the lower seats, the red bamboo hat woman began to speak to the old woman beside her with a true essence sound transmission, her voice a bit hurried.

The withered old woman deeply looked at Lin Ming and said, “This price is too high! If grandma is willing to go all in then I can still purchase it, but you are only at the Divine Sea realm; the road before you is still very long and you have far to grow. If you use resources of this level the entire time then grandma simply will not be able to support it. The money I have has to be spent as frugally as possible to buy the most cost effective goods, rather than such luxurious treasures… although the Boundless World Pill is good, the effects compared to the price are simply too low. This auction still has other final act items coming up. We… should give this one up!”

The old woman let out a long and deep sigh. At this time, she no longer had a source of income and was only relying on the wealth she had saved up in the past. Even so, it still wasn’t enough.

“I understand. Grandma, rest assured that even without the Boundless World Pill, I will definitely have a dazzling result in the First Martial Meeting.” The red bamboo woman looked at Lin Ming with discomfort in her eyes. “This person only has a ninth stage Life Destruction cultivation. For him to use the Boundless World Pill is truly a waste!”

The old woman shook her head. “Don’t underestimate anyone. Aiya, grandma is useless, I simply can’t help you during your young years…” As the old woman spoke, her back seemed to bend even more, emphasizing her age.

After this massive jump in the bidding price, the red bamboo hat woman and Zhong Wenshu both withdrew from the bidding.

Now, there was only a single influence competing against Lin Ming: the three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion!

Sacred Yueping stood up, holding the jade slip in his hand. However, he didn’t put in a new bid. His lips moved and he said to Zhong Wenshu with a true essence sound transmission, “Brother Wenshu, an enemy of an enemy is a friend. If Brother Wenshu has already given up on this auction, how about lending us the money instead?”

Zhong Wenshu turned to glare at Sacred Yueping. He sneered, “Dream on! You might as well lend me your money instead so that I can continue to compete against Lin Ming!”

This sort of matter clearly seemed like a joke. How could Zhong Wenshu willingly lend his wealth to someone like Sacred Yueping? Moreover, even if he couldn’t buy the Boundless World Pill, he could still save his funds and purchase the next best item in this auction.

Sacred Yueping grit his teeth, saying, “We naturally won’t let Brother Wenshu suffer a loss here. If Brother Wenshu lends us the funds, we are willing to pay you back with interest double that of Starbind Bank’s loaning rate! Not only that, but we will also gift Brother Wenshu a square inch of nine heavens aged gold. I heard that Brother Wenshu cultivates the Metal Laws, so after absorbing this nine heavens aged gold, your cultivation will surely rise to another level. Even if Brother Wenshu cannot purchase the next best item in this auction because of lending us the funds, you still won’t suffer a loss!”

As Sacred Yueping spoke, Zhong Wenshu was truly tempted. “You really have nine heavens aged gold?”

This sort of thing was extremely rare, but also extremely useful to Zhong Wenshu.

“Of course. I normally wouldn’t be willing to part with this because I was waiting to perceive a second element of Laws once I broke through to the Divine Transformation realm. At the start I thought that the funds I had would be enough, but I never imagined I would bump into such a madman! Now I have no other choice but to cut off my flesh to get over this hurdle. I am already determined to fight to the end!”

Zhong Wenshu thought for a moment before saying, “Fine! However, I want three times the interest, and when borrowing you will need to sign an insurance guarantee with Starbind Bank. Also, the insurance premium will be paid by you!”

Sacred Yueping’s lips twitched as he heard the words insurance premium. The insurance guarantee service that Starbind Bank provided prevented loans from being casually forgotten or ignored. In fact, this was an extremely common matter in the world of martial artists. With Starbind Bank’s guarantee, if there was a problem with the loan then Starbind Bank would be responsible for recovering the loan. And, if Starbind Bank couldn’t find the other party, they would pay for the damages. This service required an extremely high insurance premium, and the higher the amount was, the higher the insurance premium went!

After Zhong Wenshu put forth these conditions, the three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion looked ill. But after being forced to the wall by Lin Ming, this was all they could do!

“Deal!” Sacred Yueping clenched his teeth, feeling blood dripping from his heart. But with Zhong Wenshu helping him, he believed that he could win!

“6 trillion going twice… is there anyone willing to offer a higher bidding price? If not, then this Boundless World Pill will belong to that young sir!” Princess Honeylush clearly said from the auction stage. Sacred Yueping’s conversation with Zhong Wenshu had only lasted for several breaths of time.

As Princess Honeylush was about to count down a third time, Sacred Yueping suddenly raised the jade slip in his hand and said, “6.3 trillion!”

Sacred Yueping’s bid immediately caught everyone’s attention. Heavens! 6.3 trillion!

At the final stretch, it wasn’t the arrogant and haughty Wenshu or the mysterious red bamboo hat woman that remained, but the three prodigies of Sacred Martial Mansion!

Lin Ming’s eyebrows jumped up. The blood vessels around his temples faintly bulged. 6.3 trillion was far too close to his limit of 7 trillion!

“Miss Mo, to refine the Esoteric Immortality Pill, what is the absolute minimum number of dragon bone relics required?” Lin Ming began to fear that his own funds were insufficient.

“27, it cannot be any less than that!”

“27… then I can also pawn another three. If I didn’t pawn them but sold them, I could probably obtain a few hundred billion more…” Lin Ming rapidly calculated in his mind. If he pawned an item he would only receive around 50-60% of the value. If he sold them, he could obtain a much higher price. It was only that Lin Ming was a bit reluctant to sell the dragon bone relics.

“6.5 trillion!” Lin Ming raised the bid once more. His voice was grim and dignified! Currently, the bidding price had far surpassed the usual price for a Boundless World Pill.

“You brat, you are ruthless enough!” As Sacred Yueping looked at Lin Ming, his eyes were incomparably gloomy. “6.5 trillion!”

At this point, the rate of increase in the bidding price had dramatically dropped. No one would raise the price by several hundred billion now, only a hundred billion or less at a time instead. Adding even 50 billion at this time was a great mental burden on Lin Ming and Sacred Yueping. This was because this money wasn’t theirs, but money that they had borrowed from others!

Moreover, there was also interest!

“6.6 trillion!” Lin Ming lifted his hand once more. Now, it wasn’t just Sacred Yueping looking at him with hatred in his eyes, but Lin Ming himself was also glaring at Sacred Yueping with an icy expression. If it weren’t for Sacred Yueping then he could have won the Boundless World Pill at 6 trillion. If his debt was reduced by a trillion, then he could be much more relaxed.

“6.65 trillion!” Sacred Yueping stubbornly said, refusing to give up.

As the bidding war reached this stage, all that was left over were two sides in Lin Ming and Sacred Martial Mansion’s three prodigies. The price rose slowly, a bit at a time. This was a great war where not even a single drop of blood would be spilled. Sometimes, the market was more brutal than the battlefield.

Lin Ming’s eyes suddenly shined with a sharp light. He raised the jade slip in his hand once more, took a deep breath and shouted out loud, “7 trillion!”

7 trillion!

He had increased the bid by 350 billion in a single breath!

This sudden bid left the several hundred thousand people in the auction venue completely dumbfounded!

Beside Lin Ming, even River Feather was gawking at him with disbelief. He couldn’t understand just what Lin Ming had pawned. All of the ordinary Holy Land disciples were also staring at Lin Ming, unsure of what expression to make.

In this final moment, the reason that Lin Ming had raised the bid by so much at once was because he wanted to completely rout Sacred Yueping’s confidence in a single strike! If Sacred Yueping raised the price once more then Lin Ming would have to sell the three dragon bone relics as well as the six dragon relics he pawned before. At that time he would have another 400-500 billion. Not just that, but Lin Ming also had some thunder dao fruits. Although they were far inferior to the dragon bone relics in value, even the weight of a straw was noticeable at this point.

As long as Sacred Yueping increased the price once more, Lin Ming would shout out a bid of 7.5 trillion and desperately risk everything. If he couldn’t defeat Sacred Yueping then, Lin Ming could only give up.

“7 trillion! 7 trillion! Is there a higher bid?” Princess Honeylush fervently said.

Sacred Yueping’s forehead was dripping wet with sweat. He was constantly reevaluating his own wealth in his mind. This was 7 trillion!

If he really added up all of Zhong Wenshu’s wealth, then their combined funds would absolutely surpass Lin Ming’s. Sacred Yueping didn’t doubt this at all.

But, this money was all borrowed. In particular, for the 2 trillion he borrowed from Zhong Wenshu, not only would he have to pay it back with a sky high interest rate and nine heavens aged gold, but just the insurance premium meant that he would have to pay Starbind Bank another 200 billion! Being a martial artist was an extremely high risk career. Perhaps a few years later the borrowers might be dead. Thus, for guarantee, with such high risks, the charges were appropriately high!

Moreover, in order to continue bidding to this point, he had done so with the support of Sacred Tianhao and Sacred Yanran. He still had to pay them back! Where would Sacred Yueping obtain that much wealth?

Also, Lin Ming might even put forth a higher bid. Even if he could win with a 7.05 trillion bid, he would have far too many problems in the future. There was no way he could make ends meet! And with the price having gone this high, it was now a question whether or not the Boundless World Pill was worth it.

In the end, this sort of top luxury item should be used by someone like a peak disciple from an Empyrean level influence. As a disciple of an ordinary World King Holy Land, he couldn’t afford to take the Boundless World Pill!

This was just like a poor mortal commoner borrowing some silver to eat steamed pork buns. This was already a luxury. But, if that commoner instead borrowed silver to eat shark fin and bird nest soup, then while they could still eat it, it would be extremely stupid behavior.

Sacred Yueping fidgeted, wanting to raise the jade slip in his hand again. But in the end, he kept it down.

Princess Honeylush’s voice echoed in his ears, seeming incomparably distant…

“7 trillion, going once! Is there anyone that would like to put in a higher bid… 7 trillion going twice! If no one bids then this Boundless World Pill will belong to that young sir over there… 7 trillion going thrice… deal!”

“Congratulations sir, with a bid of 7 trillion you have won the Boundless World Pill!” Princess Honeylush looked at Lin Ming, a brilliant light pouring out of her eyes. This youth was truly filled with mysteries. She wondered; just how would he resolve all the troubles that would follow the approaching storm after this auction?

In the massive venue of several hundreds of thousands of people, no one applauded, as if a pall of silence had fallen over everyone. Lin Ming sat straight in his chair, his body stiff and rigid. His palms were slightly wet with sweat.

At least… he didn’t have to throw out his last desperate bid. This reduced the burden on Lin Ming by a great deal. Bidding 7 trillion was still a reasonably acceptable result to him.

“B-b-brother Lin… do you really have that much money?” River Feather gulped as he looked at Lin Ming. He felt as if he had just woken up from a dream.