722 Chapter 722 - Lumber Pile (1/2)

Youthful Reflection, as well as the representatives from both The Black Hand Syndicate and Cloud Herder, were all greatly annoyed.

Coincidentally, the amount the representatives from all three guilds had temporarily gotten from their guild leaders was set at 10,000 gold coins. Because everyone had the same idea, a guild of a thousand with everyone contributing 10 gold coins was not too much. Since the price was still around 1000, the 10,000 gold coin limit was far off, and this time in between was to be used to talk things over with the guild once more to secure more funds. Of course, the better resolution would be if this auction battle could be resolved without breaking the 10,000 gold coin threshold.

In the end, when the three of them received their instructions to limit their bids under this sum, and they were emboldened from getting a lot more larger leeway, none of the three men even thought that Young Master Han would step in as a competitor and immediately call out the 10,000 gold coins bid in one go and elimination all competition.

The three were dumbfounded, looking at one another in disbelief before they turned to regard Young Master Han.

Xi Xiaotian was not too concerned with all that, rapping her knuckles at Cirrus standing beside her, ”start the countdown!”

Cirrus was originally in a daze as well. After being prompted, he quickly began his job that Youthful Reflection had asked him to do, and began his countdown. In order to create a sense of pressure to everyone, he even made sure to actually count backward, ”30, 29, 28, 27…” Cirrus conscientiously shouted each number out evenly.

”No this doesn't count, this doesn't count,” It was like Youthful Reflection was awaking from a dream, protesting wildly as he shouted to stop.

The representatives from The Black Hand Syndicate and Cloud Herder came back to reality as well, yelling the same thing even louder than Youthful Reflection. The three of them were suddenly united because they had a common opponent: The trouble-making, unreliable Young Master Han, that looked very much like a spy.

”What other requests do the three of you have?” Xi Xiaotian was laughing as she said this.

”Young Master Han, don't you dare walk away? Get back here!!!” Youthful Reflection bellowed. After Young Master Han had shouted his bid for 10,000 gold coins, he nonchalantly wandered about once more. Is he even here for the auction, or to sightsee?

Why would Young Master Han even listen to Youthful Reflection? He simply crooked his head and threw him a look and walked away.

Fortunately, Young Master Han was not the only person from Colored Clouds. Youthful Reflection angrily turned to the other men from Colored Clouds and barked, ”What's going on here? 10,000 gold coins… Can your guild even afford it?”

These men were naturally shaken by Young Master Han's sudden bid as well, and were busy reporting the matter to their guild leader Gu Xiaoshang! However, when Youthful Reflection came over, demanding for an answer with that tone of his, these people all focused their own outrage toward him and glared at Youthful Reflection, seething, ”It's none of your business.”

Youthful Reflection was not alone in this battle, and he had representatives from The Black Hand Syndicate and Cloud Herder helping him, and they came over to give over to offer their opinion, ”What can you say about this? You guys could also see that the auction was originally going smoothly, just what are you doing suddenly raising the bid so high like that?!”

”What are we doing? To intimidate you, of course! If you can, outbid us, otherwise, you can just give up. There's nothing else to say to this,” The players from Colored Clouds suddenly hardened their own voices, as they have received word from their guild leader, ”It's only 10,000 gold coins, we can all still front the coins necessary as a whole. What are you guys so cowardly making so much fuss over nothing?”

These men were all very embarrassed after being admonished by their guild leader about this. They also felt that Young Master Han's unconventional bidding at this point was very satisfying since they managed to see these representatives from the three large guilds flush in astonishment. Thus, they decided to thoroughly enjoy this as they stood on Young Master Han's side.

It was at this time when Cirrus' countdown had reached 10, and very soon was calling out ”9, 8, 7, 6...”.

”Stop, wait a minute! This is a unique situation, and we need time to mull over this,” Youthful Reflection quickly blurted this out. He felt that there was no reason for the seller to reject his request. After all, further mulling over this meant that there would be the possibility of raising the price, but if they were to let the countdown reach 0, the price would simply stagnate there at 10,000 gold coins.

Xi Xiaotian waved her hand, and Cirrus' countdown did indeed come to a stop. The men from the three large guilds heaved a sigh of relief when the players from Colored Clouds began criticizing, ”What's going on? Is the rule being enforced or not? Weren't you three the ones who just said that the auction will end the moment the 30 seconds expires? How are you guys just changing your mind the moment things aren't going your way? No, keep counting!”

The three representatives were sweating bullets. Indeed, they were the ones who asked for the time limit rule to be added, and yet they were also the ones asking for it to be stopped right now. It sounded exceptionally bad when it was now apparent that the three of them were the ones fully controlling the proceedings. None of the three could think of a reason to argue on this point, only hoping that the seller, in this case, would be more of a profiteer, shamelessly heeding to their request here since they would benefit greatly from this change.

In the end, it appeared as if the seller in this case at least had a bit of professionalism to them. Xi Xiaotian helplessly shrugged as she said to Cirrus, ”Continue the countdown.”

”5.”

”Wait a minute!” The three parties were all crying at this point.

”4.”

”Guild leader! 10,000 isn't enough!”

”3.”

”What? How did it get to 10,000 so soon? Just what in the world happened?”

”2.”

”There's no time to explain. Are we putting in more funds to this?”

”1.”

”Give me a second.”

”We can't give you nuts!” In the final second, all three guild representatives received a similar message to hold, and their hearts chilled.

”10,000 gold coins going once,” Xi Xiaotian began following the official rule of auctions by giving the final three counts. The men earned themselves a 3 seconds reprieve, as they used this moment to send another message.

”There's no more time! The final three seconds are upon us before the bid makes it through. Is the limit being increased to 20,000 gold coins?” The three typed out in a flurry.

”10,000 gold coins going twice.”

There was no message coming in from the guild's side, and the three men were now about to burst into tears from all their anxiety.

10,000 gold coins going thrice,” Xi Xiaotian's right hand was raised. She was not holding a gavel in her hand, but it would signify the end of the auction once she drops it down.

”18,650 gold coins!” It was at that moment when someone had yelled out that price. Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw Youthful Reflection with a savage expression across his face. Sure enough, he had been the one who called this latest bid.

Youthful Reflection had not gotten an answer from his guild leader, but what was different between him and the other guild representatives present, was that he actually held a rather high position in the guild. Oathless Sword might be the guild leader, but Youthful Reflection also possessed an equal say in the guild as well. What Oathless Sword had more when compared to him was the privileges that the system provided, and in this aspect, neither men would really nitpick with each other over it seeing as they were already old friends.

Seeing that there was no reply from Oathless Sword for the longest time, Youthful Reflection steeled his heart and decided to simply make the executive decision and raise the bid, only informing Oathless Sword after when the deed was done. Oathless Sword was still busy discussing this with the people in the guild when he was informed by Youthful Reflection that he had already placed in a bid for 18,650 gold coins. He got quite a fright when he first heard this, though it was not out of shock that Youthful Reflection had made the decision for them. What had left him flabbergasted was about the impulsively higher bid Youthful Reflection had made, jumping over 8000 gold coins in that one bid instead of slowly edging it up as per usual.

This raised bid from Youthful Reflection had bought everyone another 30 seconds worth of discussion time, as the relevant representatives quickly give a quick summary regarding what had happened back to their guilds, beseeching further orders. Meanwhile, Young Master Han had flitted back like a wandering spirit, looking at Youthful Reflection as he commended, ”Impressive. That's some quick math!”

When Young Master Han had raised the bid to 10,000 gold coins, the increment was 8650 gold coins, and going by the system's auction rules, that became the lowest bid increment, which was why Youthful Reflection had followed this sum and raised the bid accordingly, not even a copper coin less.

”What are you trying to do again?” How Youthful Reflection wished time would speed up and the auction would be over when that man was not around. His intuition told him that that Young Master Han genuinely had no intention of participating in this auction, and was clearly just here to cause trouble. Colored Clouds had said that this auction might very well be some scheme Thousand Miles Drunk and Sword Demon had cooked up, but was Young Master Han not their most familiar battle buddy? Could he…

Youthful Reflection could not help but suspect, while the representatives from The Black Hand Syndicate and Cloud Herder were also eyeing Young Master Han when he appeared, all forgetting to discuss the results with their guilds.

Could this person… Everyone had shared the same sentiment.

Sure enough, Young Master Han did not disappoint them. He headed toward Xi Xiaotian and waved his hand to get her attention, ”30,000 gold coins please, thank you.”

Everyone's faces went pale. Young Master Han turned around and actually pulled out a glass and poured some liquor out for himself. He lifted the glass toward everyone and drained it in one go as he laughed, ”What's the matter? Looks like I didn't disappoint you guys, huh?”

That was when the three representatives each received a reply from their guild leaders, ”Okay, the result of our new round of negotiations, everyone in the guild will pull out 30 gold coins each, making it a 30,000 gold coins limit. Rest at ease and bid on!”

The three were petrified as they read the message. A grimace sneaked across their faces as they replied with the same message, ”It's already 30,000 gold coins.”

”What?” The guilds were all reeling. This auction today was really climactic, alright!

Youthful Reflection was no longer irritated by the state of affairs this time, calmly messaging Oathless Sword, ”I'll be stopping the bidding! I have a feeling that Young Master Han might be up to something.”

”Oh? And what if nothing's up?”

”If there's no scheme? Then the quest will end up going to Gu Xiaoshang. Aren't you very satisfied with that?” Youthful Reflection said.