Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1632

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In order to take revenge against Lin Ming, Duke Fullmoon was willing to do anything. Although he didn’t specifically state who he was being a proxy bid manipulator for, the meaning behind his words was clear enough.

These actions were done so that the Divine Runic Masters Guild wouldn’t favor Lin Ming and protect him. After all, making a request to investigate the wealth of a person was impolite. That was their personal privacy and Lin Ming had the right to refuse.

Now that Duke Fullmoon suddenly threw out these words, everyone began to ramble on in chaos.

‘Bid manipulator’. This was an extremely sensitive term to an auction house!

Now that Duke Fullmoon said it loudly to everyone in the arena, how could there not be a massive uproar?

On the auction stage, Song Wen’s face immediately darkened. Although he could throw out Duke Fullmoon using the excuse that he was disturbing the auction, this action would inevitably influence the auction itself!

The audience would think that the Divine Runic Masters Guild was doing this from a guilty conscience!

This placed Song Wen in a conundrum.

The reason Song Wen fell into this embarrassing situation due to Duke Fullmoon’s words was because the profession of a ‘bid manipulator’ was far too common in auctions. One could even call it a hidden rule!

A bid manipulator’s job was to stir up the atmosphere, raising the price and causing bidders to go crazy.

They would up the bid on items, making bidders take out even more money to win.

Even if they made an error in judgment and won over the real bidders, they could still create a false impression of the incident and then create more support for the next auction of that item. This could be considered advertising for the auction house.

It only took a tiny commission to bring in a far higher income. With such an easy and cheap method, it wasn’t a surprise that auction houses would hire these people.

However, the Divine Runic Masters Guild’s auction house had existed for hundreds of millions of years. They valued their reputation above all and wouldn’t do such heinous things.

Even so, once this topic was raised it would inevitably arouse suspicion!

Thus, the existence of ‘bid manipulators’ was a sensitive issue at this auction house. The average person wouldn’t dare to make such claims, but Duke Fullmoon had the Divine Void Divine Kingdom standing behind him!

Divine Void Divine Kingdom was a titan that was even larger than Divine Rune City. It could be called the top spiritas influence in the Asura Road!

Song Wen’s complexion was cold. His eyes exuded a thick killing intent as they locked onto Duke Fullmoon.

The Divine Runic Masters Guild was indeed weaker than Divine Void Divine Kingdom, but they weren’t some soft malleable fruit that would buckle at a touch. They controlled a large number of divine runic masters and had a deep divine runic arts legacy. In this aspect, they were nearly the strongest divine runic master organization within the entire inner Asura Road.

Seeing Song Wen’s chilling gaze, Duke Fullmoon felt his heart suddenly freeze. Although he knew that Song Wen wasn’t his match and the Divine Runic Masters Guild would find it hard to do anything to him, this look still caused Duke Fullmoon to feel weak at the knees.

He could also feel that because of that brief moment of rage just now, he had been far too crude in his actions. To mention such a sensitive topic in front of everyone was the same as offending the Divine Runic Masters Guild.

He hurriedly said. “Everyone, I apologize for my words just now. I was too hasty with what I said and may have accidentally offended some of you. But, I still hope to verify the source of wealth from the bidder in ordinary room #36… according to what I know, he is less than a hundred years old and doesn’t seem to have a strong influence supporting him from behind, so I cannot believe that he has 2.6 billion points of wealth!”

Duke Fullmoon wasn’t someone who just easily ate a loss and he certainly wouldn’t be a fool and allow Lin Ming to freely con him. If Lin Ming wanted to trick him then he also had to be prepared to face a counterattack.

In this situation, it was naturally impossible for Lin Ming to quietly remain in his room.

Lin Ming opened the door leading outside and stepped into the void as if he were walking on an invisible path, floating high in the sky.

Lin Ming’s appearance immediately attracted everyone’s eyes.

“That’s the person who won the nameless ancient pill!”

“I didn’t think he would be so young.”

“He’s not just young but his cultivation isn’t too high, he’s only at the middle Divine Lord realm! How could such a person have the ability to win the bid for the nameless ancient pill and bid another 1.61 billion for the Violet Gold Spear?”

According to all common sense, it was impossible for a middle Divine Lord realm martial artist to have 2.6 billion points of wealth. Many people became increasingly skeptical of Lin Ming.

Generally, those with status and great wealth would not bother with doing something so dishonorable as being a bid manipulator.

The bid manipulators that auction houses searched for would often be people without status, and these people would often hide out in VIP suits so that no one knew who they were!

With Lin Ming’s age and cultivation, it was inevitable that people would suspect he was one of these people.

Facing everyone’s skeptical eyes, Lin Ming thought little of it. He only faintly looked at Duke Fullmoon and said, “You seem to know what my total wealth is? Then you should also know I have around 2 billion points?”

As Lin Ming spoke he flicked his fingers and 19 blood red jade slips flew out from his spatial ring.

These jade slips each represented 100 million points and were especially provided by the Divine Runic Masters Guild.

As these red jade slips floated in the sky, many people felt their eyes go red with greed. Many of them had never seen a 100 million point jade slip in their lives.

However at this time, even though Lin Ming took out these jade slips, many people still eyed him suspiciously. If the Divine Runic Masters Guild were to use him as a ‘bid manipulator’ then it wouldn’t be strange for him to have so many points.

Moreover, this was far less than 2.6 billion.

Facing this scene, Song Wen frowned. He didn’t think that there would be such an event midway through the auction.

Duke Fullmoon had already torn apart all pretense of politeness with the Divine Runic Masters Guild. Even though he had apologized for his reckless actions he has still planted a seed of doubt within many people’s hearts.

And the one they suspected was Lin Ming. To be so young and have such a low cultivation, it was hard for him to convince anyone.

If this became serious, then the total profit margin of this auction would be affected!

After all, the things sold at Divine Rune City’s auction were often 20-30% more expensive than the normal transaction price outside. The reason that people came here to compete for treasures was not because it was cheap but because of the variety of treasures here. There were simply far too many rare and valuable treasures that could be won, many of them surpassingly difficult to find. There was nothing that couldn’t be bought, only things that couldn’t be afforded.

Thus, even bidding at high prices was something everyone was willing to do.

However, once a ‘bid manipulator’ appeared, many people would suspect that they were being played as fools. This would be disastrous for the prestige of Divine Rune City’s auction.

Song Wen was already considering measures for how to properly handle this matter.

And at this time, Lin Ming’s complexion was calm as he rode the tidal wave of attention. Facing the hundreds of thousands of elites in the auction arena, including the massive number of World Kings, Great World Kings, and even Empyreans, Lin Ming still remained as calm and serene as before.

This sort of calm could not be faked!

“1.9 billion? That doesn’t seem to be enough…” Duke Fullmoon had a victorious smile on his face. Although he felt this move of his had been a bit crude and even offended the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the effect was extremely good. He had directly pushed Lin Ming to the opposite side of all bidders, so how could Lin Ming possibly continue competing with him?

As for offending the Divine Runic Masters Guild, once Duke Fullmoon returned from the final trial he might have built his foundation up enough that he would become an Empyrean in the future. At that time, the Divine Runic Masters Guild could do nothing to him.

“So what if it’s not enough? Do you not know that the payment deadline for Divine Rune City’s auction is ten days after the end of the auction itself? At that time I’ll have raised enough points, so I’ll be able to pay the end amount all the same.”

Lin Ming said as if everything was a matter of course.

Duke Fullmoon was startled as he heard this, then he laughed. “Ten days after the end of the auction is nothing more than a little bit more than a month from now. As a Divine Lord realm martial artist do you really think you can raise 700 million points in a bit more than a month? Do you think others are as stupid as you are?”

The more Duke Fullmoon spoke, the more mocking and reckless his words became. As the audience heard this, all of them were in uproar. They had no idea where this Lin Ming came from, but the more he spoke the more ridiculous and false his words seemed!

Such a scene even caused the normally unflinching Song Wen to feel restless. The situation was slowly spinning out of control.

And at this time, Lin Ming chuckled. He said, “It’s just raising 700 million points in a month. Just because you cannot do this doesn’t mean that no one else can! I thought of selling some things in the auction house a few days from now, but with the current situation I guess I can choose to sell them today.”

As Lin Ming spoke, he traced his spatial ring and 20 light symbol papers flew into the air. These symbol papers were the improved Heavenly Fire Symbol and Heretical God Symbol that Lin Ming created!

Every divine runic symbol had a ‘Lin’ character on the bottom right corner!

Seeing these 20 divine runic symbols, the entire audience was left befuddled. Just what did this boy mean? Was he saying that these 20 divine runic symbols could be sold for 700 million?!

“He must be joking or something! He is only auctioning those 20 symbol papers? Could those things be worth 700 million points!?”

Lin Ming’s symbol papers didn’t have a wonderful appearance. The symbol papers he used were top grade symbol papers. For a divine runic symbol, what decided the value was the runic structure within, not the symbol paper itself. Lin Ming naturally wouldn’t choose to use such flashy but needlessly expensive goods.

“They don’t really look like much… could he have inherited them? Could they be seventh grade divine runic symbols?” Some people suddenly fantasized. Whether it was people or treasures, things couldn’t be judged by first glance.

If it were 20 seventh grade divine runic symbols that were drawn up with ridiculously expensive materials, then selling them for 700 million points wouldn’t be a problem at all. The price could even surpass that.

Some top seventh grade divine runic symbols could sell for 700 million points. The best seventh grade divine runic symbols were even higher priced than some Empyrean spirit treasures.

However, a divine runic master in the audience shook his head. “You’re overthinking things… that is a fifth grade divine runic symbol. I won’t misread those energy fluctuations.”

The one speaking was a fifth grade divine runic master. He didn’t belong to the Divine Runic Masters Guild but was a subordinate of a large influence. He was a respected and revered individual.

Hearing this fifth grade divine runic master’s words, everyone was stunned. These were only fifth grade divine runic symbols?

20 fifth grade divine runic symbols? This fellow called Lin Ming wanted to sell them for a sky-high price of 700 million points?

Was this fellow insane!?