Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1639

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At this time, the entire auction was stirred into a frenzy!

Many people stretched out their necks, waiting for the sale of the Heavenly Fire Symbol to begin!

“How come it hasn’t started? I have to buy a Heavenly Fire Symbol no matter what today!” A peak Holy Lord martial artist secretly swore to himself as he gripped his fists. He had a half-step World King blood enemy. If he had this Heavenly Fire Symbol then he would have the capital to take revenge!

It wasn’t just him who had this idea, but many others in the audience. At this time, many people who had mocked Lin Ming’s fifth grade Heavenly Fire Symbols before were now eagerly waiting to buy one of them.

There was also another group of people that were hoping to buy these fifth grade divine runic symbols and then gather a team of researchers to unravel them. If they could somehow encounter a stroke of luck and crack open its secrets then that would be worth a massive amount of wealth!

Of course, if they knew the fate that had befallen Shadow Overflow, they might not have had such thoughts.

Everyone had different thoughts, but without exception all of them were looking forwards to the auction of the Heavenly Fire Symbol, a look of hope and greed in their eyes. At the same time, the suspicious and derisive color in their eyes had transformed into respect.

The Asura Road was a world that revered the strong. If one displayed a mighty enough performance, a shocking enough performance, then one could earn sufficient respect.

This was the fairest law of all.

Song Wen was happy to see such powerful divine runic symbols. But, he also didn’t forget what his responsibilities were.

“Elder Xue, can you judge the value of Sir Lin Ming’s fifth grade divine runic symbols?”

Everyone calmed down, all of their eyes focusing on Elder Xue.

No matter how powerful this fifth grade divine runic symbol was, the main purpose of this test was to evaluate its price.

Elder Xue thought for a moment. Then, he slowly said, “The potency is equal to a medium sixth grade divine runic symbol, but when factoring in its ability to rebirth itself as well as the lowered requirements for maximum use, its value far outstrips that of a normal sixth grade divine runic symbol by several dozen times. There has never been a similar case before this so it is hard for me to put forth an accurate value. That will be something that must be determined through the auction…”

“Dozens of times over a sixth grade divine runic symbol!?” Someone gasped, their voice shaking. If this were true then many people present wouldn’t be able to afford it!

Song Wen faintly smiled. He swept his eyes over the impatient bidders. Seeing the desire thick in their eyes, Song Wen had already begun planning in advance.

He struck his auctioneer mallet on the podium and then stretched out his words as he said, “Sir Lin, our Runic Pill Trading Organization will purchase your 10 Heavenly Fire Symbols! As for the price, that can be discussed later…”

As Song Wen spoke, the entire arena hall was left stunned!

Even Lin Ming was startled. He thought that Song Wen was going to continue with the auction of the 10 Heavenly Fire Symbols, but he never thought that the Divine Runic Masters Guild would want to buy them up instead!

What was the meaning of this?

Could it be that the Divine Runic Masters Guild wanted to buy these Heavenly Fire Symbols to study and collect them?

Lin Ming didn’t believe that the Divine Runic Masters Guild, with its countless masters, needed to use these 10 Heavenly Fire Symbols to fight off some enemy force. Moreover, without an auction it would be difficult to set an appropriate price. After all, this was the first time this sort of Heavenly Fire Symbol had ever appeared so it was impossible to set a base price; everything would have to be determined by the market.

But as Song Wen finished speaking, the arena hall actually exploded in rage!

“Are you joking with us!? You had us watch this scene for half a day and now you aren’t selling them!?”

“You motherfucker, I am going to buy a Heavenly Fire Symbol no matter what, so what is the meaning of your Divine Runic Masters Guild buying anything!?”

“You had us watch this show and then came up with these tricks at the end, it's as if you think we are monkeys!”

Many of the martial artists present were rough desperados. After being stunned by Song Wen’s words, they became livid with anger! Martial artists often had short and explosive tempers. Once Song Wen lost control of the scene, this would not be a joke.

However, Song Wen remained calm and composed as he faced this scene. He faintly smiled and said, “Please be patient everyone. I am not saying that there won’t be any sold, only that these 10 finished divine runic symbols will not be sold. Didn’t we say that there would be a sale of promissory notes? Those can be exchanged for the improved Heavenly Fire Symbols produced by Lin Ming. If any of you wish to purchase in advance then you may bid during the auction for them.”

What? The auction for promissory notes would begin like this!?

Many of those present were apoplectic with rage, feeling as if all of their blood was rushing to their head! The completed divine runic symbols wouldn’t be sold but the promissory notes would! They all had the impulse to rush up the auction stage and punch Song Wen in the face!

However, this was a seller’s market and there was only one place to purchase these divine runic symbols, nowhere else. Even if the Divine Runic Masters Guild played this dirty trick and only sold promissory notes, everyone could only eat their dissatisfaction.

Seeing the audience’s reaction, Xiao Moxian’s heart blossomed with joy.

“Hehe, look at those snobby fellows who dared to look down on my Big Brother Lin. Now there’s nothing to sell to them and they can only pay in advance before receiving anything! This feels great!”

Seeing everyone’s resentful expressions, Xiao Moxian couldn’t help but gloat a little.

And standing near Xiao Moxian, Lin Ming naturally didn’t have these playful thoughts. Rather, he looked towards Song Wen, trying to figure out what his intentions were.

The more he thought, the more Lin Ming couldn’t help but praise in his heart. This was truly a skillful move!

If those 10 completed Heavenly Fire Symbols were sold at the start, then because the quantity was too low, the ones buying them would mostly be peak Holy Lord martial artists.

These people would buy them for their personal use. Because they didn’t have much wealth, the price wouldn’t be too high.

And once they bought them, this would set an approximate base price for Lin Ming’s Heavenly Fire Symbols.

Following that, it would be difficult for the auction of the Heavenly Fire Symbols promissory notes to surpass this price.

This was because in everyone’s hearts, buying the finished product should definitely be more expensive. As for selling promissory notes, they would be cheaper. After all, this was the risk one paid for promissory notes!

Thus, the sale of these 10 complete divine runic symbols would inevitably affect the auction of the promissory notes. Once an approximate price was formed in everyone’s mind, it would be impossible to sell for a sky-high price. It had to be known that these promissory notes would form the bulk of Lin Ming’s income, and having such a situation would cause him to suffer a great deal!

On the other hand, if the promissory notes were sold first and not the completed ones, then the promissory notes would sell for a great deal. This was the so-called hunger marketing strategy.

Even though this was a simple matter, Lin Ming could sense how crafty and intelligent Song Wen’s decision was. No wonder the Divine Runic Masters Guild would allow Song Wen, someone who wasn’t a divine runic master and who also had a low cultivation, to become the president of the Runic Pill Trading Organization.

“Everyone, let us begin the auction of Sir Lin’s promissory notes. These promissory notes will be guaranteed with the reputation of my Divine Runic Masters Guild. Sir Lin, how many Heavenly Fire Symbols do you plan on selling in advance?”

Song Wen slyly smiled as he faced Lin Ming. Facing the disdainful eyes of the crowd, Song Wen turned a blind eye to them all, and in fact became even more confident of himself. The main purpose of this treasure fair was to earn money. As the president of the Runic Pill Trading Organization, he had to place the duty of making money as his top priority.

As for others looking down on him and cursing him in their hearts, he didn’t bother caring at all.

Lin Ming narrowed his eyes. He thought about the amount for the moment and then said to Song Wen, “First sell 500. I will place a soul mark on a divine runic symbol as a promise of debt and when the time comes the person can exchange this divine runic symbol for the promised goods.”

Lin Ming’s voice wasn’t loud, but his words spread to everyone in the audience.

500 promissory notes?

Everyone was stunned. Just how many points was this!?

This motherfucker, wasn’t he earning points too easily!?

Moreover, if this concerned 500 promissory notes, then the final price would involve hundreds of millions and billions of points! This caused many people to almost faint from anger!

If Lin Ming had said these words not too long ago then he would have been called an idiot by everyone. But the current situation was different. After going through the testing array formation, everyone was able to see just how powerful this fifth grade Heavenly Fire Symbol was!

A fifth grade Heavenly Fire Symbol was able to severely wound a World King level vicious beast. If such a thing were placed in a battlefield and used en masse…

Thinking of this, some people began to stream with a cold sweat.

Such powerful divine runic symbols… if an influence were to possess these items then they would absolutely be weapons that could change the tide of a war. And the most important point was that these fifth grade Heavenly Fire Symbols had to be grasped in their hands; they absolutely could not allow enemy forces to obtain them!

Many people realized this point. But… with such a large transaction and also buying only promissory notes… many people were lacking the confidence to bid on them!

What if they couldn’t cash them in later?

This was not a small amount. Even an Empyrean Holy Land had to mull over this massive wholesale trade!

As everyone was feeling faint of heart and wavering between bidding or not, a black-cloaked old man flew out like a ghost from the VIP suites.

His long robes trailed behind him as he flew high into the skies above the arena hall. His entire body was covered in a thick black fog, hiding his appearance.

He was Shadow Overflow!

Shadow Overflow’s appearance caused Lin Ming to frown. Although he didn’t know who Shadow Overflow was, he knew that this fellow was the old man who always followed behind Duke Fullmoon and was extremely hostile to him.

Shadow Overflow’s appearance attracted everyone’s eyes.

Beneath his voluminous black cloak, Shadow Overflow’s lips moved. His hoarse throat began to squeeze out words, “I acknowledge that the might of these Heavenly Fire Symbols is unparalleled! But because this is a massive transaction that has no real items and only promissory notes, I have my suspicions… do these Heavenly Fire Symbols originate from your hands?”

Shadow Overflow’s words were forceful and menacing. As he looked at Lin Ming, the air between them turned cold!

As this was said, many bidders frowned. They also had these doubts in their hearts. In truth, many of them also thought of this. They thought that these Heavenly Fire symbols were not drawn by Lin Ming but were obtained by him from some mystic realm, or, perhaps they were inherited and there were only these 10 and no others.

If so, then these promissory notes written by Lin Ming were nothing but pieces of scrap paper! As for the guarantee of the Divine Runic Masters Guild, so what?

In truth, what Shadow Overflow was really saying was that he found this entire situation hard to accept. A young junior like Lin Ming had actually demolished him when it came to the divine runic arts!

Not only did Shadow Overflow think this, but many other people skilled in the divine runic arts found it hard to believe that Lin Ming could have such attainments in the divine runic arts. It was simply unreasonable!

The appearance of the black-cloaked man didn’t surprise Lin Ming. Even if the black-cloaked man didn’t appear, there would be someone else that stood up to question him.

To sell promissory notes on the stage of the Divine Rune City Auction House, and for an amount that would even give Empyrean Holy Lands pause, this was not an easy matter at all. The representatives of the large influences would be ruined if they were deceived!

Lin Ming moved. His clothes fluttered as he flew through the air and fell atop the auction stage. He faintly smiled and said, “Since you have such doubts, how about I draw one in front of the audience!”