Chapter 112 - Confrontation
Lin Fan stared at the stage, his jaw clenched. "Bid it. We must get it."
The Princess closed her eyes and pressed her token. "One million spirit stones."
The crowd gasped. One million spirit stones was a great sum, a number rarely seen at the same place.
But the victory was short-lived. The alliance of the merchant guilds, desperate to secure the legacy, immediately responded.
"One million and ten thousand spirit stones!" the announcer called out.
The Princess fell back into her chair, her face draining of color. "It is over. We have lost. I have not a single spiritual stone left."
Lin Fan stepped forward, his expression full of pride and determination. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small leather pouch. "Do not despair. I will save us. I will contribute my own savings to secure this."
He emptied the pouch, revealing his fortune. Twenty thousand spirit stones.
"I will add this," Lin Fan said, his voice full of assurance, as if he were sacrificing a mountain of gold for her sake. "With my twenty thousand, we can bid one million and twenty thousand."
The Princess looked at the small pile of stones, her eyes filling with tears of deep gratitude. She was deeply touched by his sacrifice, believing that his willingness to give up his entire savings was the ultimate proof of his love.
"Lin Fan..." she whispered, her voice shaking.
She quickly entered the new bid. "One million and twenty thousand spirit stones!"
The hall fell into a stunned silence. As if influenced by some mysterious force, the combined merchant guilds hesitated. It’s not that the price had gone beyond their calculated value, but suddenly, they could no longer justify the risk.
"One million and twenty thousand spirit stones, going once," Elder Feng announced, raising his gavel high. "Going twice. Sold to Room Two!"
*Bang!*
In Room Nine, Su Ming watched the gavel fall. The auction was finally over.
***
Su Ming sat in the quiet VIP transaction chamber. The tea on the wooden table was still warm. After a brief moment, the door slid open, and a respected senior of the transaction hall entered. It was Manager Lu, a prominent figure in the Qiancheng Auction Hall who handled VIP transactions personally. He carried a heavy silver tray covered with a sheet of red silk.
"Senior, we have prepared all of your acquired items," Manager Lu said respectfully, bowing his head slightly.
Su Ming, still disguised in his early Golden Core form, nodded calmly. He did not speak, simply tapping his storage ring against the jade plate resting on the table, transferring the exact sum of three hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones directly into the auction’s storage plate.
Manager Lu quickly verified the transfer, the faint glow of the jade plate confirming the amount. He deactivated the protective barrier and pulled back the red silk. Resting on the tray were the three dry desolate seeds, the meteorite core, the frost cicada shell, the Kongtan Bamboo Slip, and the painting.
"It was an honor to assist you today, Senior," Manager Lu said, performing a polite greeting. "We hope the treasures of Qiancheng serve you well."
Su Ming swept the items into his storage ring with a wave of his hand. He stood up, gave a brief nod, and left the room.
As he stepped out of the grand auction house and onto the busy streets, his divine sense picked up two groups following him. They did not seem to be together, yet both had locked onto his location. Su Ming did not speed up. Instead, he calmly led them away from the crowded main market into a quiet alley.
As he reached the center of the alley, the two groups closed in from opposite ends, trapping him in the middle. Shen Tianyu stepped out from the front of the alley, flanked by three Golden Core elders of the Nine Rivers Clan. From the exit behind, Situ Lang emerged, escorted by a Golden Core elder of the Frost Blade Sect.
The two young masters stared at each other in surprise.
"Shen Tianyu?" Situ Lang frowned. "You followed him too?"
"Hmph. Situ Lang. It seems we had the same idea," Shen Tianyu sneered, his arms crossed. He turned his cold gaze back to the disguised Su Ming. "No matter. Since we are both here, let us make this quick. We will force this fool to hand over his treasures."
Situ Lang nodded, looking down at Su Ming with his chin raised in arrogance. "Drawing a weapon triggers the grand suppression array here. We have four Golden Core elders in total between us. Do not make this difficult. Hand over the Frost Cicada Shell, and you can keep the rest."
"Keep the rest?" Shen Tianyu scoffed, his face darkening. "Situ Lang, you are too soft. This bastard outbid my Nine Rivers Clan multiple times. I want the Kongtan Bamboo Slip and Master Wan Go’s painting. He must hand over his entire spatial ring, or he will not leave this alley alive."
Su Ming looked at them and calmly retrieved his Heavenly Cloud Sect Elder token.
"The Heavenly Cloud Sect?" the Frost Blade elder scoffed, sneering at the jade token. "In this city, your sect identity means nothing. What happens in Qiancheng stays in Qiancheng. Hand it over, or we will take it by force."
Su Ming sighed. He tucked the token back into his sleeve. "You have eyes, yet you fail to see Mount Tai."
Internally, a wave of quiet satisfaction washed over him. ’Finally, I get to say this.’
***
Not far away, hidden under a shimmering barrier of Silent Qi, Lin Fan and the Ninth Princess watched the alley. The barrier was extremely small, requiring them to stand chest to chest to stay within its boundaries.
The Princess could hear his breathing, and her heart began to beat rapidly.
She blushed deeply, mumbling in embarrassment, ’Oh Lin Fan... we are in public... not here. Maybe later, in private, in the royal palace...’
Lin Fan, his eyes locked on the alley, ignored her completely. "Please keep quiet, Princess," he whispered back flatly. "The barrier only covers a narrow space. If you step out even an inch, our presence will be exposed."
Lin Fan had initially followed the buyer of Room Nine out of curiosity, planning to seize the mysterious painting if the buyer was weak. However, to his absolute surprise, it was someone he knew already and hated him to his core.