279 Chapter 279 – Various Kinds of Divine Methods 2 in 1

With a sweeping glance, he could not help but notice that the grounds were kept in a presentable state. He also recognised only some of the individuals who came to greet him, while the rest were complete strangers to him. Despite that, he still nodded towards them as per proper etiquette. This in itself was a great display of face for the greeters themselves.

"Oh?" Looking over towards Sharmie, he smiled faintly as he commented, "So you've have come as well, virtuous niece of mine?"

Sharmie was well-acquainted with Gaia, as both of their families, the Terandor and the Apollo Families, possessed great influence over the military forces. As such, their families are friends of sorts, Sharmie having stayed over at Saint Mongols for an extended period of time when she had left for the Northern region to attend an exchange competition. Her father had contacted her to remind her to pay her respects to a couple of seniors, a request she had turned down as she found it troublesome.

However, at the end, he was still her senior. Now was not the time to make a fuss of such matters. She stood up and returned the greeting. "How are you, uncle Gaia?"

"I'm well enough," chuckled Gaia with a faint smile, with an air of seniority around him. "You lass, why didn't you come visit me when you were in Saint Mongol? If this happens again, uncle Gaia will get angry, you know?"

Upon being reprimanded, Sharmie's face became red with embarrassment. Wordlessly, all she could do was to nod her head.

Perceiving that Sharmie wasn't invited over by Teslan, Gaia ended his chat with her and proceeded to find a seat. Without a word from him, he had caused the entire auction to become much quieter.

For Sharmie, meeting seniors that held some relationship to her family gave her a huge headache. With the conversation with Gaia over, she quietly relaxed her breathing, any sense of overbearingness she had when confronting head on against Laura completely dissipated away. Hastily sitting down, she muttered, "Ma Dong was going to have a slight problem at hand…"

"What do you mean?" Wang Zhong could feel the aura emitted by Gaia. Indeed, the moment he had stepped in, his presence completely overwhelmed Ma Dong and suppressed the air of superiority he had garnered from Laura and Sharmie. However, this was to be expected, considering that Gaia was a senior within the family and it was not too big a loss.

"Do you see where he had positioned himself at?" indicated Sharmie. "It seems that there will be more people of his standing that will be attending this auction."

As she was on close terms with Milami, Sharmie knew who Ma Dong had invited to the auction. Most of them were Tianjing's local merchants. Considering his connections to the Assassin Family, he can be considered to be someone of importance. However, other than that, he is but a simple merchant.

Of the people he had invited over, other than herself and Laura, the only one who stood out was Scarlet's grandfather, elder Greene. Although elder Greene's status was revered, in Sharmie's eyes, he was nothing when compared against those who wield immense power in large aristocratic families like Gaia.

Ma Dong had already used up most of his aces that he had up his sleeves. Yet, the opponent had so easily gained back the advantage and successfully suppressed him with just a simple hand. This called into question if there was still a need to continue this competition.

Wang Zhong looked over to Laura, and the only thing he did was give a smile.

Just as Sharmie finished her sentence, big shots entered the grounds in waves of two and three.

An elder from the Toronto Family, the steward of the Pelican Family…four of them had entered the premises, and every one of them was a member of the top families within the Federation! In addition, they were on familiar terms with Gaia. They all sat beside him and started chatting in a relaxed manner.

What was defined a first grade family? You must be one of the ten strongest aristocratic families in the Federation, and possess wealth that ranged over hundreds of millions, along with sufficient power and authority in large scale cities like Tianjing. With all these would you then be listed as a first grade family! Purely possessing wealth wasn't enough. The Sion Family in Copperfield was considered a second grade family who possessed wealth but lacked authoritarian power. Within the Federation, authority was something that cannot be easily bought over by wealth.

However, anyone family that acquired the title of a first grade family would have already been engaged in a gigantic family conglomerate. It would have been deeply rooted in the Federation and have lasted up to four or five generations at the very least. An example of such a family would be the Assassin Family. Although they clearly didn't possess the same level of fame and reputation as the ten great families, they had extensive reach within the underground world. They had formed numerous cliches to attain mutual benefits and protection; a gigantic interest group like them was not something the ten greatest families can simply write off.

Just a few of them had caused the entire focus of the audience to shift away towards themselves. Boisterous laughter can be heard coming from Teslan's side. Various dignitaries were chatting with each other, each of them casting disdainful looks towards the huge group of merchants that were quietly sitting at the other side. "So that side belong's to Teslan's opponent? What a joke…"

"They are just a bunch of merchants. Do they think that with a bit of money, they could become influential figures themselves? That is really laughable!"

"Businessmen always look out for the greatest monetary benefits. Look, there's quite a few people over there who are trying to be secretive.I reckon that they'll not even have the courage to open their mouths to bid when the auction starts."

"However,t Mr Gaia and the others turning up today was an unexpected surprise. Perhaps, this auction isn't as simple as it seems."

The auction grounds was buzzing with discussions, while the gathering circles on Ma Dong's side remained silent. It'll be a lie if the people over there said they weren't regretting their decision to come. Yet, there was always a risk in gambling, and the higher the risk involved, the greater the rewards. Therefore, the only thing one could do was to lament that one's luck wasn't good. Indeed, Ma Dong's opponent was not fools who only knew how to boast. Going against large powerful individuals with immense authority within the Assassin Family with his meager fame and reputation was too much for Ma Dong to handle.

Some of the less courageous ones that had already stood up quietly, preparing to leaving the grounds. Perhaps their betrayal would bear heavily on their conscience. Yet, when those people stood up, the great doors of the large hall were pushed open once again. Three old men walked into the auction grounds, and their arrival brightened up the faces of Ma Dong and Milami.

There's still some more VIPs from Ma Dong's side? Who's that?

Everyone's attention was turned towards the three

Whoosh. Those few are…

The front two people were recognized by the most of the people present. They were the headmaster of the Tianjing Academy, elder Greene, and the Dean of the Runic Department of Tianjing Academy, Dean Moore.

Honestly speaking, those two's statuses weren't low, as they held positions of power within the academy.

Dean Moore was a special research member of the Federation's Institute of Runic Technology. Furthermore, he was a famous runic weapons grandmaster. The number of people who wanted him to create for them a specialized runic weapon wasn't small. Therefore, there were many great figures in the Federation who owed him favors, and a great many of them had vast circles of connections.

Compared to Moore, elder Greene was not involved in as many things. However, he had held the position of headmaster of Tianjing Academy for thirty odd years. The Tianjing Academy was extremely powerful in the past. A couple of first class characters had graduated from it, such as Grace who was promoted into Sanctuary Division two years back. It could be said that he has students everywhere within the Federation. In addition, both his son and daughter possessed a high status within the federation parliament, causing the status of this old man to explode. Regardless of where he went now, he would be recognised by all.

However, although the two of them were on par with first class characters on the level of speaker Rex, the influence and prestige of a first grade family within the federation like Gaia's family was something that truly cannot be matched. After all, neither of them possessed a powerful background or unlimited power and influence. Furthermore, while the majority of the people in the education system possess revered statuses, they do not possess much power and influences. While people would ordinarily respect them, most would not would give the slightest care about a so called elder figure.

However, who was the third old man that had came in together with the other two? He walked in between elder Greene and Moore, with the trio appearing to be talking and laughter together. His background was not from a small familyl, yet 95% of the people present didn't recognize him. He's too unfamiliar…

Wait a minute, why did Teslan and his uncle look like they had just seen a ghost?

In the next moment, Asima opened his mouth wide in incomparable astonishment when he saw the old man. He could only stare speechless at the old man. This sparked greater curiosity out of the people present. Exactly who was that person? We really want to know!

"Mr Sc-, Mr Scoffer!" stuttered Gaia Terandor. He who was brimming with arrogance when he stepped in could not help but to step up as he greeted the newcomer.

Scoffer?

Although that person's face was not easily recognizable, the name sounded extremely familiar. That Scoffer?

Everyone was shocked as they immediately remembered the name from the Federation.

In the entire history of the Federation, there was only person named Scoffer who could cause a figure like Gaia Terandor to lose control over his emotions!

Scoffer Potter! The vice headmaster of the Federation's Institute of Sciences, the headmaster of the Copperfield Academy, the great elder of one of the ten great families, the Potter Family! His string of titles was more than sufficient to blind the eyes of everyone who was present.

Noticing Gaia, Old Potter nodded in greeting. He usually disliked attending such events and would not have come if it were not for the treasure being Wang Zhong and reputations of the other godly old men.

Instantly, the grounds fell into an absolute silence. Although first grade families were extremely powerful, they were still only first grade. There was no comparing them to the Potter Family, a gargantuan monster and one of the ten great families in the Federation.

"It really is Scoffer Potter… Oh my god! This card of Ma Dong is truly heaven reaching!"

"We've made the right bet!"

"The status that Mr Scoffer carries is something that Laura absolutely can't match. This represents the will of the entire family."

"True. Furthermore, Mr Scoffer is the vice headmaster of the Federation's Institute of Sciences. Just this title alone is enough to scare people shitless. I've heard that many of the old figures in the Federation's military would always mingle and drink tea in the Institute of Sciences, all for the sake of getting an advantage in military research. Those great figures in the Institute of Sciences possesses extremely high and powerful statuses!" The previously depressed Tianjing businessmen were extremely emotional, with Ma Dong feeling the same! Just looking at Gaia and the rest of those rampant people had left him feeling embarrassed. At this moment, however, all the unhappiness had instantly dissipated into thin air.

Sharmie was also stunned dizzy by this as she stared resentfully at Laura. Ever since their face to face meeting, the competition between the two goddesses had not stopped once. She's too devious! She actually called an elder from her family to gain bonus points! This made Sharmie feel slightly wronged in this loss. "What a good move Laura. I didn't know your grandfather would also come. You've really gone quite the way to help Wang Zhong out, huh. You must have thrown quite the tantrum in front of your grandfather, right?"

"As if I have that big of a influence," replied Laura with a smile. "My grandfather is here due to Wang Zhong's invitation. That grandfather of mine views Wang Zhong as more of a treasure than this granddaughter of his."

"Ah? Wang Zhong?" Sharmie's eyes widened. Although she and Laura were both competitive against each other, she knew that the latter was definitely not the type of person to casually lie about things like this. Did Wang Zhong actually possess such a big face? Even if he was the All Mouthy King, a figure like Scoffer would not care much about that. Those in scientific research shouldn't even have any interest towards fighting and killing, right?!

"Wang Zhong, you better not be late again this afternoon, okay? I'll wait for you to make tea from old Moore's collection!" Old Potter, Greene and Moore sat down beside the four youths. Right now, the research in the life of runic patterns had already entered an important phase, with quite a few critical questions that have yet to be deciphered and explained. It was not yet the time to unveil the fruit of their work. "I only discovered today that this old fellow Moore has hidden some things away. An old grade Tie Guan Yin (tea). Truly worthy of one that creates runic weapons! He managed to obtain quite a bit of the goods!"

"Cough Cough…" Moore was typically more serious, being unable to completely let go in front of the juniors, unlike Old Potter. "What are you saying in front of these young children…"

"Don't be so uptight!" Old Potter smiled. "Furthermore, Wang Zhong can be said to have the same level of seniority as me."

This was something that Moore was slightly unable to bear. On the issue of research problems, he was still able to haggle tooth and nail with Old Potter. Regardless of what Old Potter said, he was still Moore's superior. Furthermore, no matter how high ranked he was as a research member, he was just a member while Old Potter was a vice headmaster.

"They're just youths. Which one of them will become Wang Zhong's girlfriend? I want to call out my younger brother's wife. Can't I?" Old Potter blurted out. At this moment, he was truly devoted to Wang Zhong, any thoughts that brought benefits going straight to Wang Zhong. Nevertheless, this did not seem like a good place to say such things.

Moore, Greene, Scarlet and Sharmie all opened their mouths in shock as Laura's face flushed beet red. "Grandpa! What are you talking about?!"

If it was said by someone else, it would have been alright to ignore your seniority and call out your younger brother's wife, however, there's still your granddaughter Laura over here!

This is so embarrassing.

Having realised the problem with his words, Old Potter softly coughed twice before hastily changing the topic. Sharmie was also completely at loss by what she had heard. What research are they talking about? It couldn't possibly be dry old research, right? Also, isn't Laura's grandfather too open minded?

Old Potter's arrival had undoubtedly caused a wave of uproar, giving Teslan quite a bit of shock. Originally, he thought that Gaia and the group of people his uncle had invited were already quite scary and he was afraid only of being compared to them. At this moment, however, he could clearly feel his side being suppressed as he looked at the people on Ma Dong's side chatting and laughing.

"How is Ma Dong able to move Scoffer?! Is it because of Laura? That's not possible! Although he and Laura can be considered to have a bit of connection, it's impossible for him to achieve this step! Even with Laura, there's no reason why he could move such a large Buddha!" Teslan tried his best to keep his voice down, yet his gaze was roaring. This was a fight that he absolutely could not lose. Originally, he assumed that his by inviting the big figures on his side would lead to an invincible victory against that piece of garbage. With his uncle having invested so much in this, if there was any mistake against his uncle's temper, Teslan felt that there was a possibility for him to lose everything!

"What are you panicking for!" Asima shot a cold warning glare at Teslan, slightly unhappy about this display from this nephew of his. In the end, he had yet to see the true face of the world. "Do you job properly!"

Asima himself was also shocked, having originally assumed that their win was already concluded with the appearance of Gaia and his group. He had even guessed that elder Greene and Moore would help Ma Dong, however, he had never imagined that the latter could actually move such a large Buddha like Scoffer.

Absolutely unexpected!

Asima's mouth formed a trace of a sneer. Ma Dong ah Ma Dong, you truly are a surprising little fellow. It's a pity that your luck isn't too good!

At this moment, the Skylink in his hand started to ring, causing Asima's eyes to light up and he quickly led Teslan out.

Within the semi-transparent room with French windows, a pair of seemingly deadpan eyes were sizing up the situation in the grounds below.