CSMCDB - Chapter 118
Chapter 118
The eight elders of the auction house, four men and four women, were all between the ranks of Star King and Star Venerate.
Under Yan Ling's guidance, Wen Yuncheng greeted the elders one by one. Each of them smiled at her with exceptional kindness... as if she were their own grandchild.
Although the description might have been a bit odd, it genuinely made Wen Yuncheng feel the warmth and care of her elders.
After she had become a familiar face to most of the auction house's upper management, Yan Ling arranged a room for Wen Yuncheng to get some proper rest.
On the day of the event, the Dueling Arena, which had been jointly booked by several major auction houses, was filled with colorful flags bearing the logos of the different establishments. Even the exterior of the arena was draped with a multitude of banners, as every auction house did its best to promote itself. Wen Yuncheng even spotted a banner with green text on a red background. The authentic bright red paired with a vivid green made it the most jarring sight of them all. The five green characters for "Hong Gao Auction House" were seared right into her mind. She couldn't help but rub her eyes, not daring to look again. It was only after asking Yan Ling that she learned the auction houses had to pay to display these flags and banners. It was all for publicity, so naturally, they would stop at nothing.
Making an impression, no matter how jarring, was also a strategy.
"Teacher, what's the prize for this competition?" Wen Yuncheng asked curiously.
"The members of the winning auction house will receive a twenty percent discount on all purchases from the other participating houses," Yan Ling said with a smile. "But the prize isn't what's important. It's about face and prestige."
Ah, so for auction houses, Star Stones were fleeting clouds, while fame and prestige were what truly mattered! Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but marvel. Of course, the most fundamental reason Yan Ling believed this was that the Star Auction House was not short on money.
Otherwise, just look—did the smaller auction houses participate? Not at all! They could only afford to spend a few Star Stones to display their logos at the venue for a bit of promotion.
"A total of six auction houses are participating in this event," Yan Ling said. "If you're planning on crushing the competition, are you confident you can hold the stage as champion?"
"Of course!" Wen Yuncheng was supremely confident. "Rest assured, once I get on that stage, I absolutely won't be coming down!"
The competition began, starting with the Star Apostle rank.
Wen Yuncheng watched with great interest as the children on stage sparred in a surprisingly proper manner, finding a strange sense of amusement in the 'newbies pecking at each other.' Star Apostle, Star Practitioner, Star Warrior...
Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but recall her own days of struggling and clawing her way up on the dueling stage... Wasn't she rather embarrassing back then?
No. No, the past was in the past. All that mattered was that she was cool enough now.
Wen Yuncheng composed herself, but ultimately couldn't resist. She shifted closer to Lin Jinyu and leaned in to whisper, "Jinyu, I... my competitions back then... you came to watch, right? Was I particularly embarrassing?"
"No. You didn't cheat. You gave it your all to win. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
Wen Yuncheng broke into a silly grin. That was all that mattered. She didn't care what anyone else thought, as long as Lin Jinyu saw her through an eight-hundred-layer filter!
And so, Lin Jinyu sat with Wen Yuncheng through two more matches before it was finally her turn to take the stage.
The moment the referee made the announcement, Wen Yuncheng shot onto the stage and claimed the champion's spot. Her eagerness was rather amusing to Yan Ling.
"Come on up, everyone! I'll take you all on!" Wen Yuncheng declared, patting her chest with immense bravado.
Lin Jinyu's gaze lingered on Wen Yuncheng's chest for two seconds before she suddenly sighed. Of course, the Wen Yuncheng on stage was completely oblivious.
"Hah, so what if you're the Youth Tournament champion? Let me teach you that there's always someone stronger out there!" A man who looked a bit old for his age leaped onto the stage. Wen Yuncheng guessed he was probably over thirty, though he didn't quite look forty.
Whatever. It didn't matter how old he was; he was just here to get beaten.
The moment the match began, the man lunged at Wen Yuncheng. The sharp spear in his hand thrust straight for her throat. Wen Yuncheng first deployed an Ex-S Viper Cannon to wear him down. As he charged, she executed a low slide, getting in close to detonate a flash bang. She followed up with a sharp kick, then raised her hand and smashed the Mountain River Seal directly onto his head!
With a loud thud, he was knocked unconscious.
Having tempered her body on the stone steps and consumed a Life Transformation Fruit, Wen Yuncheng was a far cry from the person she had been before entering the secret realm!
According to 1947, while the energy from the Life Transformation Fruit hadn't leveled her up, the boost to her physical constitution was comparable to undergoing the entire stone-step trial again. More importantly, she could feel that her life force was much stronger. Being only nineteen, she didn't have a strong sense of what the extended lifespan meant.
After easily felling her first overconfident opponent, Wen Yuncheng gained a bonus to her mechanical damage for the next fight. Some of her opponents were surely planning to let others wear her down first, hoping to swoop in for an easy victory at the end. But how could they have known that the final challenger would suffer the most crushing defeat? By a rough calculation, by the time her fifth opponent took the stage, Wen Yuncheng's mechanical damage would be operating at about 134% effectiveness!
She hadn't used Number One or Number Two in the first round. Wen Yuncheng simply wanted to test the extent of her body's enhancement and see if she could fully unleash the power of the Mountain River Seal. The outcome was clear enough, judging by the unlucky soul who had been knocked unconscious by a single blow from it.
The subsequent matches weren't much of a challenge either. Wen Yuncheng relied on the control effects from her skills—the low slide, the flash bang, the Rolling Thunder laser, and a well-timed spike kick. As long as one of her skills landed, the outcome was decided in an instant.
It was a complete steamroll, no exaggeration.
When the final opponent shuffled onto the stage with a dark expression, Wen Yuncheng tapped her bracelet the moment the match began. A shadow clone instantly shot out to entangle him. She then used her sliding kick to close in, tossed a flash bang, and launched the Flying Sky Shuttle with a flick of her wrist. Her opponent went down in a single blow!
The executives from the various auction houses wore complicated expressions. The Star Lord-rank competition had concluded faster than any other since the event began.
"The Star Auction House has certainly recruited a remarkable young talent..." In the end, their myriad emotions coalesced into a single, lamenting sigh from the other five auction houses.
Of course, this was only the beginning. The real envy, jealousy, and hatred set in when they saw Yan Ling competing in the Star King-rank matches and realized she had broken through to the third layer. After all, Yan Ling was one of the Yan family's own!
With the competition over, Wen Yuncheng had successfully completed her task. She received 15,000 experience points, bringing her one step closer to level 45.
Wen Yuncheng remained to watch the rest of the matches, and Lin Jinyu stayed to keep her company.
"Has your sect not been busy recently?" Wen Yuncheng asked curiously. Now that Lin Jinyu was the young sect master, didn't she have affairs to manage?
"There haven't been any major events lately. Even if there were, the elders and protectors would share the duties. Father is teaching me how to plan and manage the sect for the future, and I've committed his lessons to heart. He hasn't abdicated yet, so I naturally don't need to be confined to the Flowing Cloud Sect," Lin Jinyu explained. "Besides, if the sect couldn't function without its master present, it would be far too incompetent."
"Is that so~" Wen Yuncheng said, her tone lilting as she smiled. "Then after this competition ends, how about we go out for a couple of days?"
"...As you wish," Lin Jinyu replied, then changed the subject. "Weren't you researching how to mass-produce the Mechanical Wings? Have you made any headway?"
Wen Yuncheng smiled. Lin Jinyu reminded her of a straight-A student being coaxed into skipping homework to go have fun. She didn't call her out on it, though. After all, getting to spend a couple of days on a date with Lin Jinyu was what mattered most. She followed her lead and replied, "I have. I bought a lot of stones that can store Star Power, as well as some array patterns. I'm trying to figure out how to convert the Mechanical Wings to run on Star Power. Even if I succeed, though, the Star Power consumption will be much higher than when I use them myself."
"High consumption isn't a problem. As long as they provide flight, they can be distributed," Lin Jinyu said after a pause. "Perhaps you could speak with the First Princess. If you want to popularize them throughout the Empire, the royal family's support will be indispensable. If anyone questions why you can use the Mechanical Wings so effortlessly, you can just blame it on your Star Power Mutation and say your reserves far exceed the average person's."
Heh, this Star Power Mutation really was the perfect excuse. You could use it for anything, and no one could question it. Wen Yuncheng nodded. "You're right, I should do that. If I talk to the First Princess, she might even send some researchers to help me. Then the Mechanical Wings could be modified and distributed even faster."
"When they're ready, I can offer a special internal price to Star Academy, the royal family, the Star Auction House, and the Flowing Cloud Sect. I'll discuss it with the First Princess; I doubt she'll refuse. After all, it's a favor she'd be extending, so there's no loss for her." Wen Yuncheng mulled it over. As for her own profit? Building good relationships with these four powers was benefit enough. For all other sales, a cut of the Star Stone revenue would suffice. It wasn't like she was short on Star Stones, and with the Star Auction House's backing, she didn't lack forging materials either. As for the truly rare stuff... that was less a matter of Star Stones and more a matter of availability at auction.
For now, Azure Sea Crystals were sufficient. As for the Meteorite Stones in the system store? While they were harder and offered better defense, they lacked the self-repairing properties of the crystals. Meteorite Stone wasn't a biological ore, after all, and a lazy person like Wen Yuncheng... still found self-repairing materials to be much less hassle.
The two continued to whisper in the stands, chatting away about other matters while the matches below raged on. Yan Ling glanced over at her disciple, who was saying something to Lin Jinyu with a smile so brilliant it was hard to look at. She silently averted her gaze, deciding against reminding Wen Yuncheng to mind her decorum.
Once the competition concluded, Wen Yuncheng placed an order for a batch of Azure Sea Crystals with Yan Ci before heading to the flight station with Lin Jinyu. They weren't going to the Imperial Palace to find the First Princess, but were simply heading out for some fun.
After all, the First Princess was in the Imperial Capital all day and wasn't going anywhere. If she didn't take this chance to spend a couple of days sightseeing with her Little Ice Mountain, Lin Jinyu would soon be returning to the Flowing Cloud Sect!
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