Chapter 1162 – The Rise
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“With a starting price of zero there is no standard to measure the auction with. The first bid will be even more exaggerated!”
A World King Holy Land Elder said from the higher reserved seats. Because there were so few Boundless World Pills and they were rarely traded, their price was difficult to estimate. Moreover, there were vastly different prices in each transaction without any standard at all. Thus, no one could say just what the price of the Boundless World Pill should be.
In this sort of situation, if the auction house were to put forth a starting price then others would subconsciously think that this was the ordinary reserve price of the Boundless World Pill.
If this auction finally produced a price several times that of the starting price then there would be people who thought that they spent too much money and would think this was a great injustice!
This would cause some people to feel uncomfortable with their purchase and might even affect the final transaction price.
But on the other hand, if the starting price was too high then many people would develop fear at the start and wouldn’t dare to bid. This would lead to the auction being deserted and wouldn’t allow the bidding price of the item to reach its highest peak.
Thus, the starting price had simply been set as zero!
A starting price of zero even meant that some not-so-wealthy geniuses of peak Holy Lands felt eager to dip their hands into the game. Although they knew it was impossible for them to win in the end, they still felt fired up enough to bid a single time. Then, in the future, for better or worse, they could say that they had joined in on competing for the Boundless World Pill.
As several young elites opened their mouths to shout out a price, in the lower common seats, a red bamboo hat woman who had yet to speak a single word spoke up.
“100 billion!”
100 billion! That bid immediately broke past the limits of what most people were able to bid. Even if these young elites were to put forth their entire wealth, they still wouldn’t be able to match a tenth of that price! Moreover, this young woman was sitting in the lower common seats so chances were that she wasn’t a disciple of a World King Holy Land. Just where had she come from?
“Good heavens! The starting price is 100 billion!” River Feather wiped dripping sweat from his neck. He already knew that Lin Ming had raised an astronomical amount of funds in order to compete for the final items, but as for how much he had prepared, River Feather actually had no idea. And now the first bid was 100 billion. The final bidding price might even be 10-20 times higher than that! Could Lin Ming have possibly managed to scrounge up so much money?
Lin Ming glanced at the bamboo hat woman. Her voice wasn’t gentle or elegant at all. Rather, she sounded a bit hoarse. The bamboo hat was covered with a fine red gauze, but although it was just a little bit of fabric, there was actually a strange energy covering it that made others unable to see her appearance.
Where had this woman come from?
“200 billion!” On Sacred Martial Mansion’s side, Sacred Yueping suddenly stretched out the jade slip in his hand. His bright red hair was particularly radiant in the audience.
“250 billion!”
“300 billion!”
“360 billion!”
The bidding price continued to rise without end. Before a voice even faded, another person would place a bid!
This left the young elites present dazed. For them, it was already difficult to imagine just how much money this actually was.
At this time, a voice shouted, “One trillion!”
As this voice echoed forth, all of the heroic young geniuses of ordinary families were left completely panic-stricken. One trillion! This was one trillion! Just what kind of insane number was that? This was a number usually used to describe populations!
However, a bidding price of a trillion didn’t dampen the excitement of these Holy Land geniuses.
Zhong Wenshu stood up. He glanced at Princess Honeylush and then at Lin Ming, revealing a playful smile. He raised the jade slip in his hands and said, “2 trillion!”
By the heavens! This was double the last bid!
River Feather gulped. As he thought of the 150 billion violet sun stones that he had lent Lin Ming, that could barely be considered a rounding error! That amount had already been his complete wealth. He had thought that he had an incredible destiny after stumbling into a great lucky chance, but compared to these truly wealthy individuals, everything he had in his life was now a joke.
River Feather glanced over at Lin Ming and discovered that he was still sitting there with a placid expression, not hurried at all. This startled River Feather. How could Lin Ming remain so calm? This was 2 trillion! Did he still have the confidence to continue bidding later?
“2.3 trillion!” Sacred Martial Mansion’s Sacred Tianhao shouted out as he raised the jade slip in his hand, rising past Zhong Wenshu’s bid.
“Mm?” Zhong Wenshu frowned. He coldly looked over in the direction of this new bid and met the eyes of Sacred Tianhao. Both of them came from World King level Holy Lands so neither of them feared the other.
“Good, then let’s have a little battle! 2.5 trillion!” Zhong Wenshu shouted out another bid. Towards those like Sacred Tianhao and Sacred Yueping, who had a formidable power backing them from behind, he didn’t bother mocking. He could only contend with them in a battle of wealth.
“2.5 trillion! Is there a higher bid?” Princess Honeylush passionately said from the auction stage. She was extremely excited to be able to preside over such an auction!
And at this time, Lin Ming finally stood up. Besides the bamboo hat woman, he was the only one in the lower common seats that was able to compete with these World King Holy Land geniuses.
Because of the ruckus caused by Lin Ming competing for the nine aperture spirit crystal, many people were able to recognize him. As soon as Lin Ming stood up, he immediately attracted everyone’s eyes to him. As for Zhong Wenshu, he suddenly rose to a sitting position. He looked towards Lin Ming, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
“3 trillion!”
Lin Ming said, slowly and confidently. Then, he sat down. The new bidding price that he shouted out immediately shocked all of the young elites present, including River Feather!
It was already astonishing to them that Lin Ming had spent 17 billion to purchase the nine aperture spirit crystal. But now, something completely unbelievable had occurred. He had bid an entire 3 trillion!
If Lin Ming truly came from a World King level Holy Land then why wasn’t he sitting in the reserved VIP seats? If he was able to bring out a token that indicated he was from a World King level Holy Land then he would have been able to sit at the higher reserved levels. This would have helped him avoid a great number of troubles. Otherwise, it was simply too ostentatious for him to sit amongst the common young elites and call out such a high price. Once he left Immemorial Imperial City in the future, he would be targeted by countless people!
Just what was going on here?
Regardless of what happened, Lin Ming was now the center of all attention! A youth who others suspected of having an ordinary background actually put forth a bid of 3 trillion!
“This brat!” Zhong Wenshu’s lips twitched. He had thought that Lin Ming only had enough to win that single item at the start. He never imagined that this young man would actually have the ability to contend for the final treasures, and the most precious one at that. In addition, the first time he had entered a bidding war against Lin Ming he had lost. That had been the same as ruthlessly slapping his face.
“There must be some secret on that brat. We must investigate his identity in as much depth as we can!” Zhong Wenshu said to the old man behind him.
It wasn’t just Zhong Wenshu, but the three extraordinary geniuses of Sacred Martial Mansion also noticed Lin Ming. However, in the vast Divine Realm, it wasn’t easy to thoroughly vet someone’s background.
Just as Zhong Wenshu was about to shout out another bid, the bamboo hat woman that sat with Lin Ming in the lower common section actually stood up. She said in her coarse and deep voice, “3.3 trillion!”
“What!?”
This new bid left the audience bewildered. Lin Ming was already a surprise, but this bamboo hat woman also had trillions in wealth!
Just what was going on here!?
Everyone looked at that bamboo hat woman. Because of some special array formation in the red gauze that covered her face, it was impossible to clearly discern her appearance.
“Humph, covering up your face is nothing but a joke in front of me!”
Several Holy Lord level old monsters rudely released their senses. They wanted to directly pierce through the bamboo hat woman’s veil and see just what sort of person she was.
But at this time, a sharp light flashed in the eyes of an old woman sitting beside her. An unimaginable aura erupted from her, and the divine sense of these old men crashed into this aura, immediately repelled. This feeling was just like a mortal running at full speed into a brick wall. It was enough to cause them to almost vomit blood!
The several old men who tried to investigate the woman’s appearance paled as the blood drained from their faces. Their bodies shook and they nearly tumbled out of their chairs.
These old geezers were all stupefied. They knew now that they had kicked iron!
That person was…
Lin Ming’s mind chilled as he looked towards the old woman. The old woman was wizened and haggard, with a face that was dried up like a walnut. Her hair was sparse and stringy and her body was bent with rickets. Her entire body was swathed in gray robes and her breathing was deep. It was hard to imagine that she was someone capable of defeating a crowd of peak Holy Lord masters.
All this indicated that she was… a World King!
Everyone present glanced at each other in dismay and shock. The appearance of this old man caused them all to be even more acutely aware that this auction was truly a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons!
There were some people that didn’t come from World King level Holy Lands, but standing behind them were still unfathomably deep existences. Because these existences were hidden, they were mostly unknown to anyone else. However, their strength far surpassed one’s imagination. And for this Divine Realm First Martial Meeting, they had personally sent out their disciples to temper themselves in the upcoming battles!
“That old woman is too terrifying!”
Many young elites spoke to each other with true essence sound transmissions. Looking at this old woman, their eyes filled with dread and awe. For this old woman to be able to reflect the divine sense of several Holy Lord level masters with just a thought, then even if her strength wasn’t that of a World King, she was infinitely close to one!
“Miss Mo, is that old woman a World King?”
Mo Eversnow shook her head. “She emits a very strange feeling. Her soul force is not inferior to that of an ordinary World King, but her true essence fluctuations are actually inferior to mine from 50,000 years ago! She should… not be a World King! But, she is someone approaching a World King, a peak half-step World King character! I am even more inclined to believe that she was once a World King. However, because of some injury she received in the past, she dropped out from the World King realm!”
Mo Eversnow inferred the likeliest situation from the little bits of clues and information she knew.
“I see… even someone that dropped from the World King realm is so frightening. She was able to casually defeat several Holy Lord level powerhouses and there were even peak Holy Lord level masters within that group. If what you said is true, then that bamboo hat young woman might be that old woman’s last disciple. In this auction, every opponent I face is stronger than the last. I only have 7 trillion… I wonder if that’s enough…”
Lin Ming sucked in a deep breath. As he traced his spatial ring, his expression was solemn.