The Supreme God of Martial Arts

Raymond recognized Austin as well. After observing him, he realized Austin was very interested in the sword skill, so he began to bid for it too.

In no time, the bidding price was raised to 350, 000 vital energy crystals.

Just when Austin was about to purchase the sword skill book, the price suddenly went up by 20, 000 vital energy crystals and seemed to keep rising. He was dismayed by this.

Although he still had more than 400, 000 vital energy crystals in his Space Ring, he didn't want to spend all his money on the sword skill.

He still needed other resources for his future practice, and there were other things to buy too. How could he afford to spend a fortune on the sword skill alone? Ruminating on this, he glared back at Raymond.

He furiously clenched his fists with vital energy spurting in anger and boiling within his body.

If they were alone, he would have already jumped and punched Raymond, beating his whorish face into a pulp. But he couldn't do that here.

‘Okay, calm down, Austin. There's always a way to set things straight. Don't fret and fuss when the other party is taking advantage of you. It's not good for you!" Austin calmed himself with these words and took a deep breath.

Then he announced another bid. "360, 000." His tone was calm and indifferent as if he was a rich boy who felt wronged and acted recklessly, and hundreds of thousands of vital energy crystals were nothing to him.

"370, 000," followed Raymond. Staring at Austin menacingly the whole time, he added 10, 000 to the price.

"380, 000!" "390, 000!" "400, 000!" As the fierce battle continued, Austin and Raymond kept bidding aggressively for the skill book.

Although Austin's face was calm, internally, he felt as if a knife were being twisted in his heart. But for the skill book, he had to bite the bullet and try his best to look calm in front of Raymond.

"Master, this sword skill isn't worth so many crystals. Shall we stop here?" asked one of Raymond's retinues, who was watching the proceedings this whole time.

In the bidding items, the snow dragon fruit was an herb that could speed up one's energy storage and help cultivators go up a level. For this, 150, 000 vital energy crystals--although a little expensive, but was somehow a fair price--was needed for someone to buy it.

But the sword skill was useless. It was not worth so many crystals and would be a waste of resources if hundreds of thousands of crystals were spent on it.

"Pshaw! | don't care! | just want that sword skill, especially if that bastard needs it! And | don't care how much it costs!" yelled Raymond with a devious expression. The malevolence on his face rendered the comrade speechless.

Then latter sighed wearily at Raymond's response and remained silent, thinking, "The Elder is a man of extraordinary insight and of incomparable cultivation base. Why does he have such a stupid grandson?’ This bidding war came out of nowhere, and the audience was stunned and puzzled. They glanced at the two cultivators in astonishment.

No one knew what was going on. They guessed the young boy must have offended Raymond of the Flaming Sun Valley. But they wondered what kind of grudge could cost hundreds of thousands of crystals! And even for someone from the Flaming Sun Valley, that many crystals weren't a small amount. They didn't think Raymond could get away with spending so much money on something so useless.

What was he doing here, then? Was he just doing this out of anger towards the young man? But why would he do something so childish? The puzzled audience looked between the two bidders in confusion.

And while on the stage, the female auctioneer was grinning from ear to ear, obviously ecstatic of the situation.

She had never expected a sword skill to cause two bidders to bid frantically, not losing to the other. Both of them seemed to be rich and powerful men, who didn't care to lavishly spend countless crystals on the item they desired. She giggled and panted, almost mad with joy.

When the price increased to 400, 000, Austin's fists tremble slightly. At the same time, he took another deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"Master, if you keep raising the price, we'll soon run out of money. In all, we only have more than four hundred thousand crystals with us, and you already spent 150, 000 on the snow dragon fruit," suddenly said the previous retinue.

Raymond was stupefied, his mouth turned agape.

He quickly asked, gritting his teeth, "What do we do, then? Are we gonna let this bastard purchase the sword skill and walk out of here with that smug on his stupid face?" "Master, you don't have to spend so many crystals because of him. If you really want to pick on him, let him have the sword skill then, but only for a while. | have observed him for the time being, and I've noticed that his cultivation base seemed to be low, like, eighth or ninth level of Energy Gathering Realm, or perhaps lower than that.

But we have two Earth Realms with us.

After he purchases the sword skill, we'll ambush him somewhere. Then we..." The retinue marked his speech with a meaningful pause.

"You mean, we let him go for now. And when the auction ends, we'll..." Raymond's eyes twinkled with excitement.

Just now, he was too angry to control himself, and couldn't help but start a tit-for-tat competition for the sword skill with Austin.

But when the price kept soaring, it was too much for him to pay. He started to realize that he would suffer a significant loss if he were to rob the sword skill from Austin.

Now that the retinue reminded him, he started to realize the seriousness of the matter and calmed down.

Immersed in his own thoughts, he weighed the two options and made his choice. Then he turned to the retinue, nodded his head, and turned back to sit straight on his chair. A grim smile registered on his face, and with his eyes fixed on Austin, he slowly leaned back and waited in silence.

"420, 000!" This time, when Austin offered his bid, Raymond remained silent.

And the other cultivators, too, didn't offer a higher price.

For now, the Illusory Swordsmanship was finally Austin's.

However, it also meant that Austin's hoard was emptied again.

Even with that victory against Raymond, he couldn't help but feel disappointed when thinking of the outrageous transaction price.

After the auction, Austin paid 420, 000 vital energy crystals in the payment room of the auction house, and he claimed the skill book for Illusory Swordsmanship as agreed.

Then, in complete stealth, he quietly left Ganges Auction House.

When Austin's figure disappeared from the entry of the auction house, a few men came out from behind the gates. Following the path that Austin had taken, they trailed him slowly in a way that attracted no attention.

After a while, followed by a dozen of retinues, Raymond also walked out of the gates of the auction house.

"You won't be able to escape from me this time, Austin!" murmured Raymond in a malicious tone. His face showed great joy and expectancy, while he was thinking of the cruelest means he would use to torture Austin before killing him.

Outside the Peace Town, on a mountain road leading to the Sun Sect.

Austin was walking his way slowly.

However, along the way, he had monitored the surroundings with his spiritual sense and found that a few figures were closely following him.

He knew very well that the men were sent by Raymond of the Flaming Sun Valley.

Not only because of their grudge, but also because back in the auction house, he had seen Raymond followed by many retinues, among whom were master cultivators at Earth Realm. Even then, Austin had known that the moment he decided to leave the auction house, Raymond would undoubtedly do something to him. Having proven his point, since Austin walked out of the auction house, several men had been tailing his track.

Austin wondered what Raymond would do next. Kill him? Capture him and torture him? If he didn't want to know what Raymond planned to do, he could've escaped from these people. He had learned the Wind- commanding Skill to a high level and could move twenty meters per step. It would be seriously facile to get rid of them.

However, he didn't. His hatred of Raymond was as much as Raymond's to him. And just as much as Raymond wanted his revenge, Austin also wanted to square accounts with him. Till now, Raymond had caused him great trouble. Not to mention the Blood Wolf Team assassins he had sent, in the auction alone, Raymond had cost Austin tons of vital energy crystals.

Irritated as Austin was, how could he possibly let Raymond go? Moreover, with his cultivation base and energy store, aided by Violet and his secret weapons, Austin stood a chance even when facing the Earth Realms.

That was why he had been slowing down his speed deliberately, waiting for Raymond's arrival before engaging in a fight.