Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Setting a Trap
Sensing the confused looks from Ye Xuan and the others, Chen Xing declared smugly, "Young Master Xuan, don’t you think I’d be a perfect match for this sword if I wore a blue robe? Tsk, tsk, I’d be the very picture of a handsome man! Hahaha."
The image of the portly Chen Xing in a blue robe, brandishing a sword, made Ye Xuan and the others grimace in exasperation.
This Chen Xing was just too shameless. A moment ago, he was complaining about being so poor that he needed them to reimburse his ticket of over ten thousand Profound Coins. Now, in the blink of an eye, he was about to spend one hundred and eighty thousand on a flashy, impractical sword just to look cool. It was the height of shamelessness.
"Huh? That brat is actually interested in the Lankong?" Inside private box number six, the occupants were stunned when they heard Chen Xing’s bid.
"Oh, I see. He must be trying to win the sword to curry favor with those two beauties."
Spotting Leng Yingying and Feng Rouyi beside Chen Xing, their eyebrows twitched, and they sneered.
After a round of bidding, the price for the Lankong quickly reached two hundred and thirty thousand.
"Two hundred and thirty thousand! This young master bids two hundred and thirty thousand! Is there a higher bid?" the auctioneer called out, looking toward Ye Xuan’s pavilion.
Chen Xing roared with laughter, acting as if the treasure was already his. As it turned out, he was the one who had bid two hundred and thirty thousand.
Ye Xuan and the others cringed. To show off, that brat Chen Xing was really sparing no expense. Spending two hundred and thirty thousand on something that was all show and no substance—he must have lost his mind.
But since Chen Xing was happy to do it, Ye Xuan and the others didn’t feel it was their place to say anything.
"Hey, Auctioneer! Stop asking and just drop the hammer," Chen Xing called out.
The auctioneer seemed to think the price had peaked and was about to bring down the hammer.
"Two hundred and thirty-one thousand!" a faintly mocking voice drifted down from one of the private boxes upstairs.
"Who? Who dares to snatch what’s mine?" The smile on Chen Xing’s face froze, and he snapped in frustration.
He turned his head and saw Chen Ming at the window of private box number six, a cold smirk playing on his lips.
"Huh, it’s you, you animal? Didn’t you say this was your exclusive seat? How did you end up in private box number six in the blink of an eye? Is that where they keep the other beasts?"
Chen Xing asked, feigning confusion.
"You..." Chen Ming’s eyes hardened, and a murderous intent surfaced.
"That private box... doesn’t it belong to the kingdom’s Sixth Prince?"
"Chen Ming and the Sixth Prince have always been close. They’re practically inseparable whenever they attend these auctions."
The other guests who saw Chen Ming appear in the box also looked on thoughtfully.
"Honored guest, please refrain from insulting other patrons. Otherwise, do not blame the auction house for escorting you out." A cold, warning voice came from a corner of the auction hall.
"Hmph." Chen Xing’s expression changed. "Two hundred and forty thousand."
"Two hundred and forty-one thousand!"
Chen Ming maintained a faint smile, not raising the bid by much—just one thousand each time.
The crowd looked on as if watching a play. It was obvious Chen Ming was doing it on purpose, raising the bid by only one thousand Profound Coins each time.
Chen Ming had just been humiliated by Ye Xuan’s group, and now it seemed he was here for revenge.
Ye Xuan’s brow suddenly furrowed. He saw it too. ’If this is how it’s going to be, won’t they cause trouble when I bid on the Heart Gaze Stone later?’
’I have to think of a solution. If they keep messing around like this, even if I manage to win the Heart Gaze Stone, I’ll have to pay an exorbitant price. They might not even let me get it at all.’
A cold smirk touched Ye Xuan’s lips. ’You want to play games? Just wait and see how I’m going to play you all to death.’
"Two hundred and fifty thousand!" Chen Xing gritted his teeth and continued bidding.
"Two hundred and fifty-one thousand!"
"Two hundred and sixty thousand!"
"Two hundred and sixty-one thousand!"
By now, Chen Xing’s face had become somewhat ferocious.
Chen Ming, however, kept his faint smile, his voice perfectly calm. A cold glint flashed in his eyes. ’You dare play games with me? Watch how this young marquis plays you to death.’
Everyone could see that Chen Xing was completely losing this bidding war. Daring to compete in wealth with the young marquis of the House of Tianqi... this Chen Xing was probably in for a world of hurt.
Leng Yingying and Feng Rouyi couldn’t help but try to talk some sense into Chen Xing.
But Chen Xing’s face was flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead. He was clearly furious at losing face in front of the two young women.
"Two hundred and seventy thousand," he roared.
"Two hundred and seventy-one thousand." Chen Ming’s voice was as placid as ever.
"Chen Ming, that’s enough. Making him spend an extra few tens of thousands on this uselessly ornate sword is sufficient," a young woman in the box said with a faint smile.
"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," Chen Ming replied with a confident smile.
"Bastard! Two hundred and eighty thousand," Chen Xing panted, his eyes bloodshot. Like an enraged bull, he seemed to be on the verge of losing all reason.
"Two hundred and eighty-one thousand!"
"Two hundred and ninety thousand!"
"Two hundred and ninety-one thousand!"
"Five hundred thousand!"
"Five hundred and one thousand!"
The moment Chen Ming called out his bid, his heart skipped a beat. He thought Chen Xing had said three hundred thousand, not expecting the sudden jump to five hundred thousand. He’d added his usual thousand out of habit, and now a sense of dread washed over him as he stared intently at Chen Xing.
"Dammit!" Chen Xing cursed, opening his mouth as if to place another bid.
Seeing this, Chen Ming felt a wave of relief. If Chen Xing didn’t bid again, spending five hundred and one thousand on a sword like this would be painful enough to kill him.
"Forget it. I’m not bidding anymore."
With that, Chen Xing plopped back down into his seat.
"What?" The calm, composed expression on Chen Ming’s face vanished, replaced by a pale shock. "Wait, you’re not going to bid again?"
"Why would I bid?" Chen Xing rolled his eyes at him. "Since you like this ’girly sword’ so much, I, Third Young Master Chen, am not one to take away something another person covets. So, it’s all yours. *Sigh*, it’s only because I’m such a nice guy that I’d let you have it. Anyone else would have kept bidding for sure."
Chen Ming nearly screamed out loud. ’Damn it, who asked you to let me have it? Hurry up and bid!’
"Oh, right! Hey, the man bid five hundred and one thousand. Auctioneer, why haven’t you dropped the hammer yet?"
Chen Xing bellowed.
"Alright, this gentleman bids five hundred and one thousand! Are there any higher bids?" the auctioneer’s booming voice rang out.
"Wait! I’ve changed my mind! Five hundred and one thousand is too expensive. I cancel my last bid," Chen Ming said hastily.
If he spent five hundred and one thousand on a sword like this, his father would beat him to death when he got home.
"How could that be allowed? Can you just take back a bid in this auction house? You were fighting for it so fiercely just now that I couldn’t bear to keep going and let you have it. Why are you being so indecisive? Are you a man or not?"
Chen Xing declared loudly, showing no trace of his earlier explosive rage.
"In our auction house, a bid is a commitment. There is no rule for canceling it." The same cool voice drifted from the corner of the hall.
After calling the price three times, the auctioneer immediately brought the hammer down. "Congratulations to our friend in private box number six for purchasing this one-of-a-kind Lankong for five hundred and one thousand!"
"Haha, congratulations, congratulations! Tsk, tsk, to be willing to spend five hundred thousand on a Third Level Profound Soldier... this young master is truly impressed," Chen Xing couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
This dramatic turn of events left everyone in the audience stunned.
Then it dawned on them. The cunning brat’s whole act had been a show! And Chen Ming, thinking he had actually lost his mind, kept raising the price, only to have it blow up in his own face.
Five hundred thousand for a Third Level Profound Soldier... The crowd was speechless just thinking about it. For just a little more, one could have probably bought a common Tier Four Profound Soldier.
The auction continued.
"Hehe, Young Master Xuan, that brat actually tried to screw me over. Hmph! Am I, Third Young Master Chen, that easy to fool? Does he really think I’m an idiot?" Chen Xing said smugly to Ye Xuan and the others.
Ye Xuan smiled faintly. After Chen Xing’s little stunt, those people would likely be more cautious now. In a way, it had solved a potential problem for him.
"I really thought you had lost your mind for a second there," Leng Yingying said, letting out a breath and rolling her eyes at Chen Xing.
"Haha, would I, Third Young Master Chen, be that stupid? If I had five hundred thousand, I’d just buy a robe studded with hundreds of Gemstones to blind everyone with my brilliance! Why would I buy this piece of junk sword with only a hundred or so Gemstones? It’s not even in the same league, hahaha!"
Watching Chen Xing’s smug display, Ye Xuan and the others were once again speechless.
The auction went on. Seven or eight more items were sold, and while each was considered extremely rare—powerful Cultivation Techniques, secret manuals, Pills, and the like—none of them held any interest for Ye Xuan.
Meanwhile, the private box belonging to the Sixth Prince had gone completely quiet.
"Alright, the next item we have for auction is a stalk of Tier Four Heart-Opening Grass! The starting bid is fifty thousand Profound Coins, with each increment no less than one thousand."
The auctioneer presented the next item.
"It’s actually Heart-Opening Grass," Ye Xuan realized. "Chen Xing, help me win this," he said via voice transmission.
"You got it." Hearing that Ye Xuan wanted to bid on something, Chen Xing’s interest was piqued.
Heart-Opening Grass was a fairly rare Spirit Medicine. It could stabilize one’s core and enhance the strength of their Profound Vein, making it a decent ingredient for both Alchemy and Soul Refining.
Although Ye Xuan didn’t need it at the moment, winning it at auction and storing it wouldn’t be a waste.
"Sixty thousand," Chen Xing immediately called out a price.
But the price soared. Others had clearly recognized the value of the Heart-Opening Grass. It soon reached the eighty-thousand mark, at which point the bidding began to slow down.
After all, no matter how good the Heart-Opening Grass was, it was still just a Spirit Medicine, not a finished Pill. Unless someone needed it urgently, it wasn’t particularly useful to buy.
"Young Master Xuan, what’s our limit for this Heart-Opening Grass?" Chen Xing asked.
"Anything under two hundred thousand is fine."
For an ordinary Alchemist or Soul Refiner, a stalk of Heart-Opening Grass would never be worth more than one hundred thousand. But for Ye Xuan, as long as he bought it for under two hundred thousand, he wouldn’t be at a loss, even if he just stockpiled it.
Of course, any higher than that would be unnecessary. For over two hundred thousand, he could easily buy a similar Spirit Medicine with even better effects than the Heart-Opening Grass.
"Eighty-five thousand!"
With Ye Xuan’s go-ahead, Chen Xing’s confidence soared.
