“Lin Rusheng?”
“He is Lin Rusheng?”
“He does seem to be a man of remarkable presence.”
“He is the one who took the initiative to challenge John Doe, am I right?”
“Why does this Lin Rusheng give me the impression that he is devoid of secular desires?”
Outside the Chic Cloud Pavilion, Lin Rusheng, who was lanky and carried the air of a Taoist, attracted the attention of all the people waiting at the door as soon as he arrived.
However, under everyone’s gaze, Lin Rusheng was not flustered at all. Instead, he walked to the center of the crowd as if it were no big deal and quietly waited for the Chic Cloud Pavilion to open for business.
On the Wulin online forum.
“Lin Rusheng is here!”
All the people who were doing text live broadcasts on the forum posted the same remark at once.
Immediately, there was another round of hot discussion on the forum.
“Holy cow, Lin Rusheng is there, too?”
“He has put off the battle with John Doe until 10 days later. That must be because he wants to attend this auction, isn’t it?”
“This auction is different from the previous ones. All the famous people in Jianghu have arrived to attend the event. All the major forces have gathered there. Looks like the competition in this auction will be rather tense.”
“Lin Rusheng has already arrived. What about John Doe?”
“Yes, why didn’t I see any news about John Doe?”
“John Doe is like a Terminator for Heaven and Earth Treasures. I bet he won’t miss this grand auction, will he? After all, the auction item is the information about the Ambergris Grass that ranks eighth on the Heaven Treasure List.”
“Haha, you’re right. Terminator for Heaven and Earth Treasures? This title matches John Doe perfectly!”
“Yeah, no title could be more suitable for him than this one!”
“Has John Doe finally decided not to show up anymore?”
“Over the past two years, that guy’s got a ton of Heaven and Earth Treasures. Others can hardly find one throughout their lives. But how many has he pocketed now? The most hateful part is that he even once sold an Earth Treasure for money. That was horrid of him! Shame on him!”
“In my opinion, John Doe still has some self-knowledge. He got so many Heaven and Earth Treasures not only because of his strong strength but also his good luck. However, this time, he is not so in luck. The Ambergris Grass is a top-notch Heaven Treasure that all the forces in Wulin will definitely fight for. John Doe must know that he can’t triumph over those forces, so he simply decided not to come in case his failure made him look bad.”
“If he didn’t come this time, he wouldn’t live up to the title ‘Heaven and Earth Treasure’!”
At the moment, everyone on the Wulin online forum was talking about John Doe. Of course, most of them were making negative comments on him.
After all, they had witnessed John Doe’s growth. Although he only made his debut two years ago, in these short two years, he had done too many amazing deeds.
Just obtaining so many Heaven and Earth Treasures alone made all the people in Wulin very jealous.
They were jealous of him for being so lucky!
Yet, just when everyone was taunting and condemning John Doe on the Wulin online forum, all the live broadcast posts were abruptly updated at the same time!
“John Doe is here!”
The four simple words instantly kindled the enthusiasm of all the people on the Wulin online.
“I knew it! John Doe would never be absent from a big event like this.”
“John Doe is too scheming. I can’t believe he deliberately waited until the last moment to show up. Does he consider his entrance the grand finale?”
“This time, all the famous people in Wulin have gone to the Chic Cloud Pavilion. No matter how powerful John Doe is, even if he is the top one among the younger generation, he can’t be that arrogant, can he?”
“If you ask me, I’d say that there’s nothing to discuss the order of arrival. Since John Doe is here, it means that he also wants to get the clue about the Ambergris Grass. Think about it, everyone. Has John Doe done anything that he’s not sure of?”
“Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case.”
“All the experts of the major forces have arrived. Now John Doe is there, too. This auction is gonna be fun to watch!”
Reading the news of John Doe’s appearance, the martial arts practitioners on the Wulin online immediately perked up. They all couldn’t wait to watch the entire text live broadcast of the auction.
In the capital.
Outside the Chic Cloud Pavilion with a stone table.
The huge crowds of people all had focused their gazes on a single person.
That person was John Doe!
Under everyone’s gaze, Fang Qiu, who had disguised as John Doe, was walking toward them with a large rectangular case in his hand.
“What is John Doe carrying?”
“What can be in such a long case?”
“There can’t be a gun in it, can there? I’ve seen cases like this on TV. Killers use them to transport rifles.”
“Humph, martial arts practitioners disdain to use firearms!”
“Although I don’t know what’s in the case, from John Doe’s expression, he is obviously well-prepared.”
“Haha, those great families won’t be happy to see this. Although John Doe’s never revealed his background, no one dares to underestimate him. I wonder what bargaining chips he will present to compete with the great families this time.”
Just like before, as the opening time drew near, the ordinary small house quickly changed its appearance and became one of the three major passages leading to the auction house of Chic Cloud Pavilion.
“Perfect timing.”
Holding the long case, Fang Qiu smiled, then immediately stepped in.
The others also entered the passage one after another.
After passing through the restaurant, Fang Qiu came to the platform at the entrance of the auction house.
Fang Qiu remembered that the last time he came here, the surroundings were quite bleak. The entire hall was basically empty. Although there was a second floor, no one could be seen there at all.
However, it was different this time.
There were some separate rooms on the second floor. It was as if those rooms that were out of bounds had suddenly become accessible.
Fang Qiu went downstairs.
“Nice to meet you.”
A waitress came up to him with a smile and said, “Please come with me.”
Fang Qiu was stunned at first.
But he didn’t dwell on this and quickly went with the waitress.
This time, the waitress took him directly to the second floor.
Needless to say, this immediately caught the attention of all the people on the scene.
Everyone knew that John Doe was here.
For a moment, they all looked Fang Qiu’s way.
“Isn’t there no VIP seat in the Chic Cloud Pavilion?”
“I heard that there are some specially prepared for this auction. Only those who have paid more than a billion yuan in the auctions of the Chic Cloud Pavilion can become VIPs.”
“That is to say, the Four Great Families are also VIPs?”
“The Gong family and major forces are VIPs, too.”
Murmurs of discussion emerged from all directions.
Fang Qiu, who was at first very confused, immediately cottoned on when he heard others’ discussion. It turned out that the VIP area was specially prepared for this auction. However, now the Chic Cloud Pavilion had set the precedent, they would definitely not remove the VIP area in the future. After all, they had spent a lot of money on the construction. It would be a pity to tear it down after just a single use.
Noticing that everyone was looking at him, Fang Qiu nodded to them as he went upstairs.
After stepping onto the second floor, the waitress ushered Fang Qiu into a private room.
“Sir, you are one of our first group of VIPs. This is your exclusive private room. If you need anything, just ring the bell. Our staff will come to you as soon as possible,” said the waitress.
“Okay.”
Fang Qiu nodded knowingly.
“Hope you have a good time here,” the waitress said with a smile.
Then, she turned around and walked away, leaving Fang Qiu alone in the private room.
In the hall.
Everyone watched Fang Qiu go upstairs without blinking.
“That’s John Doe? He’s so young!”
“Yeah, he’s really young. How can a person with such strong strength still be at such a young age?”
“He doesn’t look like an expert at all. Look at Yun Yangzi. Wherever he goes, he gives off an ethereal aura as an immortal does. John Doe doesn’t have any bit of the vibe of an immortal. He even seems to be very amiable!”
“How could John Doe be like this?”
Obviously, many people who attended this auction had never seen John Doe before. Thus, when they saw John Doe for the first time, they kind of had an odd feeling.
In the first row of the audience.
With the Four Great Families and other top forces all on the second floor, Lin Rusheng naturally got a seat in the first row in the hall.
After taking his seat, Lin Rusheng fixed his eyes on Fang Qiu as everyone else did.
Seeing that Fang Qiu nodded and greeted everyone as he went upstairs, he couldn’t help nodding to himself.
Just as Fang Qiu entered the private room and everyone was about to look away—
“Rustle!”
There was a sudden sound of curtains being withdrawn.
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
The walls of the row of private rooms on the second floor suddenly sprang to the sides. It turned out that the curtains were the only thing that separated the rooms. As soon as the curtains were opened, everyone could see the inside of the private rooms clearly.
Fang Qiu had noted this the moment he came in.
The private rooms were actually glass rooms.
The four walls were all made of glass with curtains that looked like walls hanging there. That made people mistakenly believe that these were real walls.
When the curtains were pulled open, all the private rooms instantly became completely transparent.
“Honorable VIPs, if you don’t like it this way, feel free to close the curtains.”
The people in the private rooms suddenly heard a voice. It was a staff member who was teaching them how to use the curtains.
However, after the staff member finished speaking, no one drew the curtains.
The people sitting in the hall on the first floor also focused their attention on the VIP private rooms on the second floor.
They could see clearly that there were three luxurious chairs in each of the VIP private rooms, which were obviously way better than the chairs in the hall. In front of the chairs, there was also a marble tea table with a whole tea set and a whole wine set on it, as well as fruits and various dishes.
Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw this.
“No wonder these are VIP private rooms. How good would it be to sit in one of these rooms?”
After casting a glance over the second floor, everyone was surprised to find that except for the private room where John Doe was in, all the other private rooms were shared by at least three people. Also, most of them were still standing. They did not have the nerve to sit down even though there were chairs available.
People on the first floor were observing those on the second floor.
Meanwhile, those in the private rooms on the second floor were eyeing one another.
As all the curtains were pulled open, they could see clearly who was in which private room.
Fang Qiu glanced around.
He noted that Yun Yangzi and Diwu Qian were on his left and right sides respectively. In the rooms farther were the Qian family, the Zhan family, the Xi family, the Gong family, and some top forces in Wulin.
As he looked left and right, Fang Qiu nodded to Yun Yangzi and Diwu Qian as greetings.
The two also nodded back at Fang Qiu.
After his eyes swept across all the private rooms on the second floor, Fang Qiu went straight to the front of his private room and looked down at everyone in the hall.
He took a glance at the crowd. When he caught sight of an inconspicuous figure in the corner of the hall, Fang Qiu suddenly shuddered all over!