Chapter 1646 – Conditions of an Empyrean
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“Little Brother Lin’s test has ended. Elder Xue, I would also like to ask you to evaluate the rank of this divine runic symbol.” Song Wen took a deep breath, his eyes excited. He had a premonition that today’s auctions would reach all new heights!
Elder Xue froze for a moment. His eyes reluctantly moved away from the illusory magic array.
“This is…” Elder Xue hesitated for several breaths of time. Then, he said, “Little friend Lin Ming, this Heretical God Symbol… how many times can it be used?”
Elder Xue’s eyes were affable as he looked at Lin Ming.
“About three or four times…” Lin Ming said after thinking about it for some time. If he used it himself, he could use it up to five times, but others didn’t have this ability. “Because it can attack and defend, the flow of energy is extremely great and the burden on the tiny runes is much larger, thus it can only be used this many times.”
Out of the three divine runic symbols that Lin Ming had improved, the Heretical God Symbol was the one that could be used the least number of times.
This was the price of great power. But, this power alone was enough to drive others crazy.
This was a top grade divine runic symbol that could even resist a Great World King!
This power was far more important than the number of times it could be used. If the power was lacking then even if it could be used several times it still wouldn’t be as useful as one tremendous attack!
“Formidable might, excellent technique… this divine runic symbol can compare to a superior sixth grade divine runic symbol in power alone, but it also has the characteristic of being offensive and defensive as well as being able to be used multiple times… and, most importantly, the restrictions to use it are far, far lower than those of a superior sixth grade divine runic symbol. Because of all of these factors, its value cannot be compared to that of an ordinary superior sixth grade divine runic symbol. It’s impossible for me to determine its exact price. I will have to ask everyone else to make their own judgment.”
Elder Xue summarized after thinking for some time.
Superior sixth grade – that was the domain of a Great World King!
“Superior sixth grade!?” Many people were left dumbfounded by this. If Lin Ming’s divine runic arts skill continued to rise, then he might be able to draw up a true superior sixth grade divine runic symbol. Perhaps he even might be able to draw up a quasi-seventh grade divine runic symbol!
What sort of concept was a seventh grade divine runic symbol?
If a World King powerhouse used one, they could pose a threat to a half-step Empyrean!
“What a wonderful treasure. Indeed, it is much better than the improved Heavenly Fire Symbol. This trip was not made in vain…”
“Although the Heretical God Symbol takes a decent amount of time to gather enough potential, it can actually defend during this time!”
“This Lin Ming’s strength also far surpasses other martial artists of his level. Although he appears to only be at the Divine Lord realm, using that divine runic symbol requires strength at least at the peak Holy Lord realm. If an ordinary Divine Lord martial artist were to use this divine runic symbol their soul force would have completely dried up by now…”
It wasn’t known who said this, but these sudden words seemed to wake everyone up from their daze. Because Lin Ming created miracle after miracle, many people forgot that he was a mere Divine Lord realm martial artist.
“If that’s the case, then let us begin the auction! The promissory note is still for 500 divine runic symbols. The base price is zero and every increase in bidding cannot be less than 50 million points!”
Song Wen’s voice was boisterous. But just as the bidders were about to engage in a crazy bidding war, a light voice called out, “These 500 promissory notes, just when they will be fulfilled?”
This voice echoed out from the VIP suites, carrying with it indescribable vicissitudes, as if these years contained the concept of endless time.
Everyone was startled. They looked up towards the VIP suites and immediately felt a chill crawl up their backs.
The one speaking was the supreme ruler of Providence Edge Divine Nation, Xu Wuzi. Xu Wuzi had broken into the Empyrean realm many years ago, and he also had high attainments in alchemy and the divine runic arts.
And even Empyrean level divine runic masters wanted to purchase Lin Ming’s divine runic symbols.
Whether it was the Heretical God Symbol or Heavenly Fire Symbol, their most important characteristic was the lowered requirements that allowed lower level martial artists to use them. This was an ability that not even Empyrean level divine runic masters possessed.
Xu Wuzi was immediately able to see how complex the Heretical God Symbol was. He found it hard to imagine that this was a real fifth grade divine runic symbol!
And correspondingly, the more complex a divine runic symbol was, the more difficult it was to create. The more time that one took to draw up, the likelier the chances were of failure!
A promissory note of 500 Heretical God Symbols was easily said, but the truth was that this order wasn’t easy to fulfill, especially if the creator’s cultivation wasn’t high enough.
Xu Wuzi’s vision pierced through the array formations of the VIP suites and fell onto Lin Ming’s body.
Song Wen as well as many other bidders also looked at Lin Ming.
Lin Ming thought for a moment. “Perhaps… three years.”
Currently, Lin Ming’s success rate in drawing up Heretical God Symbols was around 60-70%.
Although he could hold a demonstration of drawing up the Heavenly Fire Symbol in front of everyone, he couldn’t do the same with the Heretical God Symbol. Even if he used up all of his soul force in drawing up a single Heretical God Symbol, there was still a considerable chance of failure!
Moreover, drawing up a Heretical God Symbol required a tremendous amount of soul force. The most he could do was one per day.
Considering this speed and also the fact that he had to draw up the Heavenly Fire Symbols, he had then stated the time requirement of three years.
This was a deadline that Lin Ming could afford. It was inevitable that his soul force would slowly increase and with every passing day his understandings of the Asura Heavenly Dao Laws would become more and more profound. Thus, he might not even need such a long time.
“Oh?”
Xu Wuzi was secretly startled!
Other people didn’t know what three years meant, but as a divine runic master Xu Wuzi certainly understood what it meant for Lin Ming to complete 500 Heavenly Fire Symbols and 500 Heretical God Symbols in this time period. Just the Heretical God Symbol alone would completely exhaust the soul force of a sixth grade divine runic master!
“Good! Then I have no problem with bidding on these promissory notes. But, I need a delivery deadline. If I win the bid for the Heretical God Symbols then I hope that every three months the Divine Runic Masters Guild will send the finished divine runic symbols to Providence Edge Nation. If the entire batch of 500 divine runic symbols cannot be completed in three years then I also require the return of all points!”
Xu Wuzi’s words left all the other bidders breathless. This condition was more than ruthless!
If Lin Ming couldn’t fulfill the promissory notes on time then not only would he lose all points, he would also have to pay the money for the materials as well as lose all the time and effort he invested!
This was the same as tossing away three years of hard work!
Many divine runic masters were left dumbstruck.
However, if one was selling promissory notes, there certainly should be a deadline limit. With these conditions, only someone with absolute faith in their abilities would agree. The difficulty of drawing up this Heretical God Symbol was simply dreadful beyond recognition.
Xu Wuzi’s words won the unanimous approval of the many great bidders who came from all over the inner Asura Road! These top characters all had a cultivation at the Empyrean realm. Although they had taken a fancy for the Heretical God Symbol, they wouldn’t wildly bid for a promissory note just because of a brief moment of impulsiveness.
Thus before they began, they all decided to put forth this oppressive condition!
Everyone’s eyes turned to Lin Ming.
In this situation, this oppressive pressure wasn’t something that an ordinary person could withstand. Lin Ming’s expression was calm. He thought for a moment and said, “Yes, I agree!”
These simple words were filled with vigor, leaving those who heard them shocked. Lin Ming had actually agreed!
His confidence was bewildering. It seemed that he really believed he could complete these divine runic symbols in three years!
“But… I also hope to put forth another condition.”
Lin Ming changed the flow of conversation. Xu Wuzi’s eyebrows lifted up. He lightly said, “Speak.”
“It’s not special. I only hope that after the bidding is over, the payment is paid with half points and half rare materials.”
Lin Ming had more than enough points right now. What he needed was materials.
And especially rare and precious materials, the kinds that couldn’t be found in markets.
“Good, I have no problem with that!”
Xu Wuzi readily agreed. The other Empyreans also tacitly approved of this.
At this time, Xu Wuzi didn’t bother waiting for Song Wen to announce the start of the auction again. He directly opened his mouth and said, “The auction has started, then? Then I will be the first to bid. 4 billion!”
This bid left nearly everyone in the audience choking on themselves.
Even with a base price of zero, Xu Wuzi had directly started with an initial bid of 4 billion! This caused over 99% of bidders in attendance to fall out of the bidding war. They couldn’t even summon the courage to think of shouting out a higher price.
Originally, many of them had thoughts of shouting out several bids. Although they didn’t expect to win the Heretical God Symbol, they wanted to bid against Empyreans on the auction stage and also participate in this grand event of the Heretical God Symbol auction. In the future, they could also say to their friends and family that they joined in on this bidding war!
But, they never imagined that Xu Wuzi wouldn’t even give them the chance to do so.
From the start, this auction of Heretical God Symbols was a battle between Empyreans!
The entire arena hall fell silent for a time. The auction for the Heretical God Symbols wasn’t the heated battle that everyone imagined it would be, with people shouting bid after higher bid.
Rather, this was an extremely somber and wintry war.
Although it was so, every new bid left one panic-stricken!
“4.2 billion!”
A faint woman’s voice echoed out. The one calling out this bid was Empyrean Minor Violet. This was only the second bid and yet the price had already reached such heights. Even Empyrean Extreme Star who had rushed here from Extreme Star Heavenly Palace felt himself gasping for breath!
He had a faint premonition that their Extreme Star Holy Lands would lose this time.
These people were simply far too crazy! And their Extreme Star Holy Lands didn’t have much wealth remaining.
As Suya saw Empyrean Extreme Star’s somewhat ugly complexion, she guessed that for this auction, their Extreme Star Holy Lands had fallen out of contention.
As for whether or not there would be any harvests, everything would depend on her personal relationship with Lin Ming.
However, Lin Ming had already agreed to complete 1000 divine runic symbols within three years, so where would he have the time to draw up divine runic symbols for the Extreme Star Holy Lands?
As Suya was worrying, the bid had already risen to 4.5 billion!
Then, another bid came from Empyrean Minor Violet. It seemed that this woman of mystical origin and strength desired to obtain the Heretical God Symbols no matter the cost.
“4.6 billion!”
Her faint voice echoed through the arena hall. Besides Empyreans shouting out new bids, everyone remained silent. Even the auctioneer Song Wen didn’t speak a single word, not even asking if there was anyone wishing to bid a higher price.
“This woman…” Xu Wuzi frowned. He shouted out 4 billion from the start and although this bid seemed exaggerated it was only able to frighten the bidders in the ordinary seats and ordinary rooms. The Empyreans in the VIP suites simply weren’t suppressed by him. They bid as they wished to bid and continued to compete if they desired to do so.
“Your Majesty’s thoughts must not be thrown into confusion…” An old man cautioned Xu Wuzi from the side. This old man was the Imperial Scholar of Providence Edge Nation. If he was able to speak warning wards to Xu Wuzi, it was clear his status was extremely high.
Even though he was reminded to not be thrown into confusion, how could Xu Wuzi remain calm at this time? He feared that his Providence Edge Nation might soon be sucked into the dreadful flames of war, and the reason for this war was related to the final trial…
At this time, another voice echoed out from the VIP suites, “4.8 billion.”
“It’s Empyrean Deep Gloom!”
Someone cried out in alarm. The positions of the many Empyreans weren’t a secret to begin with. Moreover, just from the aura of these Empyreans and the mounts and spirit ships on which they arrived, most people were able to correctly guess their identities.
“It was a struggle between two Empyreans but now another one has joined it! I have no idea who the winner will be!”
These Empyrean level characters were all exorbitantly wealthy. To them, it wasn’t whether or not they had the money to pay, but just how valuable these 500 Heretical God Symbols were in their minds.
After all, although Empyreans were wealthy, they still had to mull over the worth of spending billions of points.
“4.9 billion!” Xu Wuzi braced himself as he spat out this price. He was already feeling somewhat weak-hearted. If this Empyrean Deep Gloom were shouting at this price at this time, it was likely he came prepared. To him, this bid might only be the opening salvo!
Against such an opponent, Xu Wuzi certainly felt dread!
“5 billion!”
“5.1 billion!”
With this, Empyrean Deep Gloom and Xu Wuzi began to cruelly battle. If they continued struggling like this it was unknown how high the bid would go!
In his VIP suite, although Xu Wuzi had already broken into the Empyrean realm and couldn’t be concerned with most treasures in this world, he still found his palms slick with sweat. It was becoming increasingly hard for him to maintain his composure.
“5.5 billion!” Empyrean Deep Gloom suddenly spat out. By suddenly increasing the price by 400 million, it seemed as if Empyrean Deep Gloom wanted to strike Xu Wuzi to death with this single blow!
Xu Wuzi’s pupils shrank. He opened his mouth again and again but eventually didn’t increase the bid.
And at this time, a clear womanly voice spread through the entire hall. “5 billion points plus a million year dragon saliva grass! These 500 Heretical God Symbols, I will buy them all!”
These sudden words stunned the entire audience. Even Lin Ming straightened up. Million year dragon saliva grass!
What he needed now was dragon saliva grass!
At the Divine Rune City Auction, there was only the jade dragon horn for sale; it was the Dragon Contract that would be auctioned off in several days.
However, there was no dragon saliva grass to be found.
Still, Lin Ming had researched several substitutes for dragon saliva grass. Although they just managed to fulfill the requirements for the Celestial Tyrant Manual, the effects were naturally far inferior to those of dragon saliva grass.
In these past days, Lin Ming had tried to search for dragon saliva grass through several different methods. And, it seems that this news was uncovered by Empyrean Minor Violet.
Before coming to this auction for the Heretical God Symbols, Empyrean Minor Violet had already gathered intel on Lin Ming and came here especially prepared to aim at his needs!
According to the information recorded within the Celestial Tyrant Manual, 500 thousand year dragon saliva grass was sufficient for use. But, Empyrean Minor Violet had suddenly offered million year dragon saliva grass. Just this dragon saliva grass alone was worth over a billion points.
In addition, Empyrean Minor Violet also put forth a bid of 5 billion. In other words, Empyrean Minor Violet’s ski-high bid was worth more than 6 billion points in total. On average, every Heretical God Symbol sold for more than 12 million points!
This price was nearly impossible to withstand. Even Lin Ming felt it somewhat ridiculous!
Empyrean Deep Gloom remained completely quiet.
The entire audience fell silent for a long time. Song Wen began counting down from three but no one increased the bid. Finally, this auction was announced as having been won by Empyrean Minor Violet!
With the 6 billion plus points in addition to the wealth that Lin Ming gained from auctioning off the Heavenly Fire Symbols, in just over half a month, Lin Ming had relied on the auction of two promissory notes to obtain a wealth worth 10 billion points.
From hearing this, it was like some bedtime fairytale!
So many great figures had gone crazy about these to promissory notes, and even many Empyrean supreme elders weren’t able to afford them. If one didn’t witness these events with their own eyes it would be hard to believe!
Many people remained in a shocked state for a long time, feeling nothing but a deep envy and awe. They didn’t regain their composure for a long time.
People increasingly admired and became stupefied by this formidable and mysterious youth. He seemed to have emerged from thin air within the inner Asura Road, without any news of him before!
His talent was extraordinary, his strength was unusual, and his divine runic arts inheritance was inconceivable. When this was combined with his young skeletal age, it made Lin Ming a miracle that far outstripped the auction of the Heretical God Symbols!
After several days, the name of Lin Ming and his ‘Lin’ logo was widely spread through the inner Asura Road. Many great influences in the inner Asura Road learned of him!
And according to the speed at which this news spread, it was likely that Lin Ming’s name would soon spread to every nook and cranny of the inner Asura Road!
What people paid the most attention to was that Lin Ming didn’t seem to have joined a sect!
Although Divine Rune City was itself an Empyrean level influence, they were more similar to an alliance of interests and not a true sect.
Divine Rune City also didn’t forbid their divine runic masters from joining other sects.
This also caused many influences to hold out an olive branch to Lin Ming.
Some influences even prepared some rare and precious materials, wanting to invite Lin Ming to join them. As for the fiery Divine Rune City Auction, it became even more lively!
In the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the air above Lin Ming’s residence was filled with spirit boats. Many messengers from great influences wished to meet with him and discuss having him join their sects.
However, regarding this, Lin Ming used the excuse of needing to maximize his time to fulfill the order of 1000 divine runic symbols within three years to throw all of them off!
Lin Ming was well aware that these influences would undoubtedly put forth attractive conditions to joining them. But at the same time, they also wanted to earn even greater returns from Lin Ming.
Lin Ming didn’t plan on staying in the Asura Road for much longer. After the final trial ended, he planned to return to the Divine Realm. If he were to join these influences and accept their gifts, perhaps they might not let him leave so simply.
As for drawing up divine runic symbols for these influences, Lin Ming only needed to draw up a new divine runic symbol and he could easily sell them at high prices, so why would he need to join these other influences and be subject to all sorts of restrictions?
Thus, even if some people offered to find Lin Ming a jade dragon horn in a short period of time if he joined them, he still wouldn’t agree.
Beyond that, there were even those that offered him top living furnaces. Some Empyreans wished to marry off their granddaughters with special physiques so that Lin Ming could dual cultivate with them. But Lin Ming had no interest in this and rejected them all without exception.