Chapter 328 – Su Ming Being Targeted

“500,000!”

Within the lavish and magnificent auction hall, as a voice emerged from one of the private rooms, the entire venue fell into complete silence.

Many people in the hall exchanged glances, looking as if they wanted to bid but couldn’t bring themselves to speak, their faces filled with helplessness.

It wasn’t just the people in the main hall—even those in the private rooms fell into deep thought at this price, seemingly unwilling to bid further.

Only Su Ming sat alone in his private room, staring at the room where the voice had originated, his eyes already turning somewhat displeased.

On the auction stage, Qin Qing stood as the auctioneer, her alluring figure capturing the attention of many present.

But at this moment, more people focused their attention on the display stand beside Qin Qing.

There, an exquisite coat resembling a general’s cloak was spread out for display, showcasing its extraordinary nature to everyone present.

This coat was precisely the Alchemy Armor that Su Ming had previously taken a liking to.

Qin Qing glanced at Su Ming’s private room, then at the bidding room, pursed her lips slightly before speaking calmly.

“A premium-grade Alchemy Armor with a starting bid of 100,000 Contribution Points. Young Master Zhang has bid 500,000 Contribution Points. Are there any other distinguished guests who wish to raise the bid?”

As these words fell, the hall remained utterly silent.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to bid.

They knew that even if they did, it would be useless.

Because this was a competition between two individuals, leaving no room for others to intervene.

“510,000!”

A voice abruptly broke the silence in the hall.

The source of the voice was none other than Su Ming’s private room.

Clearly, the person who had just bid was Su Ming.

But the moment Su Ming’s bid fell, a counter-bid immediately followed.

“520,000!”

This voice, without a doubt, belonged to Zhang Chen.

Su Ming’s eyes had shifted from displeased to icy cold.

There was no helping it.

The same situation had occurred many times already.

…

Not long after Zhang Chen suffered a major loss at Su Ming’s hands, this auction that had shaken the entire upper society of Tianfeng City commenced as scheduled.

Just as Qin Qing had stated, the first item to appear was Su Ming’s vial of Phantom Demon blood from a Hazardous Species.

Its appearance indeed heated up the atmosphere of the auction, achieving the effect Qin Qing had anticipated.

Under such circumstances, the auction proceeded with great fervor.

Until the items Su Ming had his eye on came up for bidding.

The first to appear was that premium-grade small staff called Heaven’s Heart, a specialized Alchemy weapon for Sorcerers.

Its starting bid was 100,000 Contribution Points. Su Ming waited until the bidding reached 300,000 Contribution Points before starting to bid, intending to secure the small staff.

Originally, by the time the bidding reached 300,000 Contribution Points, there were already far fewer bidders.

But after Su Ming began bidding, without any warning, one bidding voice after another emerged, engaging in a fierce competition with him.

Among them, Zhang Chen was the most enthusiastic, driving the price of Heaven’s Heart up to an astronomical 580,000 Contribution Points.

This far exceeded the value of a premium-grade Alchemy weapon.Generally speaking, the price of a Low Grade alchemy weapon would not exceed 10,000 Contribution Points at most, while a High Grade alchemy weapon wouldn’t exceed 100,000 Contribution Points. As for a premium-grade alchemy weapon, its price typically hovered around 300,000 Contribution Points.

The Xiong Ren that Su Ming had previously auctioned was a premium among premiums, a treasure listed on the Weapon Ranking. Coupled with its additional value as an heirloom of the Mo Family, it had ultimately sold for only 500,000 Contribution Points.

Heaven’s Heart, being a premium-grade alchemy weapon, hadn’t reached the level of Xiong Ren’s exceptional quality to enter the Weapon Ranking, nor did it possess additional value like an heirloom. Even considering its rarity as a Sorcerer’s weapon, its final transaction price shouldn’t have exceeded 500,000 Contribution Points.

However, a group of young masters from major Families seemed intent on making things difficult for Su Ming. Seeing Su Ming start bidding, even those who hadn’t planned to participate began raising prices.

Especially Zhang Chen, who appeared determined to prevent Su Ming from obtaining what he wanted, stubbornly drove the price of Heaven’s Heart—which shouldn’t have exceeded 500,000 Contribution Points—to an astronomical 580,000 Contribution Points, forcing Su Ming to abandon the competition.

Later, when Su Ming stopped bidding, those people quieted down, and the auction returned to its normal procedures.

Until the Cleansing Potion that Su Ming valued most appeared, and he began bidding again. Led by Zhang Chen, those Family young masters once again intervened, engaging in vicious competition with Su Ming.

In the end, both the Heaven’s Heart staff and the Cleansing Potion were acquired by Zhang Chen at prices far exceeding their original worth.

Even with this final premium-grade Alchemy Armor, Zhang Chen showed no intention of yielding to Su Ming. The moment Su Ming placed a bid, he immediately began competing, fully demonstrating what it meant to be wealthy and powerful.

Now, this premium-grade Alchemy Armor had similarly been driven to over 500,000 Contribution Points.

This had already exceeded the value of this premium-grade Alchemy Armor.

……

Third Floor auction venue, Zhang Chen’s private booth.

Seeing Zhang Chen recklessly bidding again, Liu Zai beside him wore a pained expression.

“This isn’t worth it, Young Master Zhang,” Liu Zai advised for what felt like the hundredth time, his tone slightly anxious. “Our budget for this auction is only 2,000,000 Contribution Points. You’ve already spent over 1,000,000 Contribution Points. If you spend over 500,000 Contribution Points to acquire this Alchemy Armor, how will we compete for the final Red Vein Stone?”

Liu Zai truly felt bitter inside.

As an affiliate of the Zhang Family, Liu Zai had been allowed to accompany Zhang Chen to this auction because he came with a mission.

His father, the current Family Head of the Liu Family, had solemnly told him before departure that he must help the Zhang Family acquire the Red Vein Stone at all costs.

For this auction, what each major Family and faction valued most was the final highlight—the Red Vein Stone.

To attract various major Families, the Wanbao Auction House had spread word of this beforehand, ensuring most Family factions knew what the true main event of this auction would be.Four Red Vein Stones—if obtained, they could fully enable a lower-tier Hunter who has reached the Three-Star limit to advance to an upper-tier Hunter, or allow a Four-Star or Five-Star Hunter at the peak level to progress further and complete their breakthrough.

It was entirely predictable how much importance the various Family factions would place on this.

Thus, among the Family factions and even team factions attending today’s auction, at least over ninety percent were here for the final Red Vein Stones.

“Everything else can be forgone, but the Red Vein Stones must be secured.”

This was the unanimous directive issued by the leaders of many major Family factions, including the Zhang Family.

To this end, the Families had extensively levied Contribution Points from their subordinate teams to prepare for any eventuality.

The Liu Family, as a vassal of the Zhang Family, similarly had Liu Zai bring a considerable amount of Contribution Points to hand over to Zhang Chen for bidding.

In the end, Zhang Chen had amassed a total of 2,000,000 Contribution Points.

This was the maximum amount of Contribution Points the Zhang Family could levy within just three days.

Given more time, the Zhang Family might have been able to gather even more Contribution Points for this auction.

But three days was ultimately too short. Without disrupting the normal operations of the Family and its subordinate teams, and without liquidating fixed assets or stored treasures, this amount of Contribution Points was the limit of what the Zhang Family could currently muster.

In Liu Zai’s view, with so many Contribution Points, securing the Red Vein Stones shouldn’t be difficult.

Who would have thought that Zhang Chen would squander Contribution Points so extravagantly, targeting Su Ming like this?

If this continued, how would they compete with other Families, factions, and teams for the final Red Vein Stones?

At this thought, Liu Zai couldn’t help but grow anxious, his face twisting into a pained expression as he tried to persuade Zhang Chen.

Yet, Zhang Chen turned a deaf ear.

“What’s the big deal about Red Vein Stones?” Zhang Chen said coldly. “I’ll just sell all the resources the Family gifted me last time. That should cover the Contribution Points, right?”

“What?” Liu Zai exclaimed in shock. “But weren’t those precious resources meant for your breakthrough and advancement, Young Master Zhang?”

“So what if they were?” Zhang Chen replied indifferently. “Even if I use those resources, there’s no guarantee I’ll advance. I’ve failed the last two times—might as well consider this one a failure too.”

“But Young Master Zhang…” Liu Zai tried to say more, but Zhang Chen cut him off.

“Enough. There’s no need to say more. I’ve made up my mind.” Zhang Chen didn’t even glance at Liu Zai, instead staring coldly in the direction of Su Ming’s private booth. “I can’t deal with you directly for now, but I can certainly make things inconvenient for you.”

Not only Zhang Chen thought this way, but so did the other young masters from major Families who held a grudge against Su Ming.

“If we can’t confront you directly, can’t we at least cause you some trouble?”

“Even if we don’t win the items you want, we can still drive up the prices and make you pay dearly.”

“Ideally, we’ll make that guy spend a huge sum of Contribution Points, so he can’t even bid on the final Red Vein Stones.”

“Hehe, just thinking about it lifts my spirits.”

Many secretly reveled in this, almost as if they delighted in stirring up trouble.

“It seems that Young Master Wang Yue has provoked public outrage.”In another private room, Xu Xiayan watched the scene with an amused laugh, causing Wang Di beside her to gaze at her smiling face, falling into a dazed state.

“Wang Yue?”

Qiao Zhi also noticed this phenomenon and was pondering it.

“Sister, should we help that Wang Yue or not?”

The Mo Family siblings, who had met Su Ming once before and owed him some favor, were also observing the situation, prompting Mo Zhu to say this.

“Let’s wait and see for now.”

Mo Li furrowed her brows, not making an immediate decision but choosing to observe further.

Within the venue, those with intentions and those without all had their own thoughts and considerations.

Naturally, Su Ming did as well.

“Young Master of the Zhang Family, is it?”

Su Ming stared directly at Zhang Chen’s private room and suddenly laughed.

“Very good.”

How could he not be angered by such targeting?

“Then let me see if you’re truly that wealthy, and whether you have the life to enjoy these things.”

7017k

(End of Chapter)