The duo sitting on the sofa did not release any aura that was suppressing to Lin Huang. However, they did not bother to restrain the aura that exuded from their body. Lin Huang had dealt with imperial-levels several times, so from their aura, he could easily identify that the both of them were on imperial-level.
While the both of them were sizing Lin Huang up, Lin Huang returned the favor.
The one sitting on the left side of the sofa was quite tall, and he was wearing a navy blue suit. It was evident that he had recently just shaved as he had a mild green tint on his face. However, one could also see the growing stubble on his face. Right at this second, he was sitting up straight like a ramrod and his facial expression was stern. He looked at Lin Huang like he was scrutinizing him.
The man sitting on the right was very lanky too. However, he was thinner than the man sitting next to him. He had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He had a mustache and a beard that he shaved very often.
He looked much more relaxed than the one sitting next to him. However, he did not completely lie back on the sofa as he was still on his guard. He did not scrutinize him though, but he looked at him curiously.
After studying up, Lin Huang then took off his hat, revealing his hidden face.
He did not worry that both of them might discover that something was amiss. Xiao Hei had told him before that only a True God could see through the effects of the Disguise Card. Even a Virtual God would not realize anything wrong if they were to look at him close-up, let alone the two imperial-levels.
Just as Lin Huang took off his hat, the disguised aura of the demigod was released.
Although there was only a slight release of the aura, the two imperial-levels could clearly sense the combat level screened by Lin Huang at such a close distance. Their pupils immediately dilated, and they exchanged glances with each other. They stood up from the sofa at almost the same time and bowed deeply to Lin Huang.
"Sir!"
A demigod had the most powerful combat strength on this land and was undoubtedly one of the strongest people even if they were to go to the Land of Origin in Division 1. Many of the old and well-known families at the core zones and the leaders from various organizations were also on demigod-level.
The man with the ponytail and the man in the suit were respectful not just due to the difference in combat strength, but also the disparity in status. The status of all demigods on this land, including those who trained themselves without joining any organization, could be compared to the elders from the royal families. Both of them ought to respect the elders.
Of course, Lin Huang knew about this and did not feel strange when they paid him their respects. He waved his hand slightly and walked towards the sofa. He then moved one of the single-seater sofas and sat down. He did not say anything while sizing up the man with the ponytail.
After a moment of silence, the both of them felt nervous and the man with the ponytail finally initiated the conversation.
"May I know if you're a buyer or a seller?"
"I have a few items for sale, but I'm not sure if you know much about them." Lin Huang sounded as if he was lecturing his juniors.
"Don't worry. We have 28 professional appraisers. 25 of them are Grade-A appraisers and the other three are Grade-S appraisers. The man next to me and I are both Grade-S appraisers."
An appraiser could not be blase when examining the grade of an item. A true appraiser had to be capable of clearly determining the ingredients of each item, its raw materials, the price of each raw material, and the difficulty of the finishing process of the product. Only then could the appraiser make an accurate estimate of its price. An appraiser had the right to set the call price of each item.
The grade of each appraiser was highly dependent on their combat strength. The reason being was that the appraiser would need to insert Life Power into the relic in order to know the exact function of the relic, the conversion rate of the Life Power of the relic and other details.
For example, anyone below immortal-level would be unable to activate an ancient relic. Therefore, in order to examine an ancient relic, one would need to fulfill the requirement whereby their combat strength had to be at least on immortal-level.
The so-called Grade-A appraisers were on immortal-level. They could accurately evaluate an ancient relic. At the same time, they had the right to set a price for the ancient relic, so the auction could refer to the price provided to fix the call price.
As for the Grade-S appraisers, they basically had to be on imperial-level and they must possess the ability to examine a demigod relic. Of course, they had the right to set a price for the demigod relic.
Lin Huang was surprised. Despite not having been to many of the auctions, he knew that as the largest auction house in Division 7, the Kyoto Auction House only had three Grade-S appraisers.
The Wanbao Auction could only obtain the 10th place among all the auction houses in Division 3. It was no better than the Dark Auction House which was ranked 11th. Basically, the Wanbao Auction could possibly be replaced at any time by the Dark Auction.
However, such an auction house would be on par with the first auction house, the Kyoto Auction House in Division 7.
"This is a core zone for real. Other divisions are incomparable to it," Lin Huang thought to himself. However, he acted as if there was nothing exciting.
"Are the both of you Grade-S appraisers?" Lin Huang glanced at the both of them with a scrutinizing gaze.
The man with the ponytail smiled while projecting his certificate as an appraiser. "Sir, this is my certificate."
The man in the suit who stood next to him immediately projected his certificate without any facial expression.
It was a card with only some brief information about the appraiser. There was information like photos, names, certificate ID, and registration time.
Information such as items that had been examined and the detailed evaluation reports was hidden. The appraiser would need to authorize others in order for the rest to have access to it.
Lin Huang did not need to know all this. It was not necessary for him to look at their certificates though. To prove his arrogance, he doubted their identity, behaving in a manner he should be.
Glancing through both of their certificates, Lin Huang immediately shifted his gaze back to the man with the ponytail and smirked.
"Your name is Tang Xu. Are you from the Tang family?"
Among a few of the royal families in Division 3, the Tang family was one of them with two demigods from the Tang family. Before coming to the Wanbao Auction, Lin Huang had no idea that the auction house was actually the run by the Tangs.
"Please don't laugh at me." Tang Xu smiled, nodding his head.
Lin Huang nodded and did not ask further about Tang Xu's identity. "It's quite reliable I guess since the auction house is part of the Tang family's business."
After finishing his words, Lin Huang took out the demigod saber chosen by Bloody from his Emperor's Heart Ring. He then gradually drew it from the scabbard.
As soon as the saber was pulled out of the scabbard, a blood intricate lit up on the blade of the saber, releasing a faint bloody glow. Soon after, the bloody glow surrounded the entire blade of the saber.
"Demigod relic!" Right after the saber was being drawn out of the scabbard, the both of them fixed their gazes on the saber.
"What do you think about this saber?" Lin Huang grinned as he asked both of them.
"It's an incredible saber! It's much better than the one that we intend to sell on the last day of the auction!" Tang Xu excitedly grabbed the saber from Lin Huang and took a closer look at it. He was in love with the saber.
The man in the suit who stood next to him carefully looked at each and every inch of the saber as well.
"Offer me a price." Lin Huang did not show them the other two demigod relics. He patiently waited for the both of them to have a better look at the saber before he requested them to offer him a price.
"The call price of this saber is 30 billion," the main in the suit offered.
"What do you think?" Lin Huang seemed to be unhappy with the price, turning his head back and looking at Tang Xu.
"30 billion is a pretty reasonable price." Tang Xu kept quiet for a moment before responding to him, "However, the price can be a little higher since the saber can be sold off on the last day of the auction. I'll fix the price at 33 billion then."
After setting the price, Tang Xu noticed that Lin Huang's facial expression remained unchanged. He then continued, "Sir, the call price doesn't have to be too high. If the price being set is too high, you might scare some of the potential bidders away."
"What's the call price of the item that you just mentioned which you intend to sell on the last day of the auction?" Lin Huang asked.
"25 billion. The price is slightly higher than usual. If it weren't the last item for sale at the auction, the price wouldn't be higher than 23 billion." Tang Xu was honest.
"Alright. I'll accept the offer then." Lin Huang grinned. "Since the price of the saber is 33 billion, I suppose that the other two demigod relics of similar quality will be offered almost the same price, right? Can the both of you please have a look at them?"
After having his words uttered, Lin Huang then took out the other two demigod relics where he had a combat sword and a set of armor.
Tang Xu and Tang Yi were startled. Lin Huang had set them up. The price of the saber was actually set slightly higher than normal price. They did not expect Lin Huang to have another two demigod relics.
However, both of them were soon attracted by the other two demigod relics.
Spending almost 20 minutes to complete the evaluation, both of them then decided the final price of the relics after a short discussion.
"The quality of the sword is almost the same as that of the saber as it can be sold during the last day of the auction as well. The call price will be 32 billion. As for the set of armor, since it's the only demigod-level armor we have at the auction, it can be priced slightly higher at 38 billion. Sir, do you agree with the price offered?"
"Okay." Still, Lin Huang answered without any facial expression. In fact, he was feeling great inside. He was expecting to earn about 90 billion from the three demigod relics. However, the price offered had exceeded 100 billion.
"Under normal circumstances, a 5% administration fee will be charged by the auction house. I'll give you a Supreme Member Card and only 3% administration fees will be charged. If you feel like buying anything from the Wanbao Auction, you'll get 20% off on all items!" Tang Xu then paused for a moment, lowering his voice and added, "Including the illegal items."
"Also, the card will be valid for a lifetime as long as our auction house does not go bankrupt," Tang Xu said as he took out a golden card the size of half a palm from his Emperor's Heart Ring and passed it to Lin Huang. "Scan it with your Emperor's Heart Ring and it'll be in sync with your identity. Our system will be able to detect your Emperor's Heart Ring on its own then."
Lin Huang took the card from him and fiddled around with it. "Does it mean that the card can no longer be used after scanning it with my Emperor's Heart Ring?"
"Yes, it is. You can only sync one Emperor's Heart Ring to one card. You no longer need to use the card after it's in sync with your identity. You can do whatever you like to the card."
"Does it mean that I can give it to anyone as long as I don't connect it to my Emperor's Heart Ring?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Yes, it is. However, only the Emperor's Heart Ring that's in sync with the Supreme member card will be eligible to enjoy those offers."
"Alright, I know. I'll leave the items here and I'm not going to the auction. My apprentice will be attending instead.. You shall just pay the final amount of money for the items sold to him. He'll bring along this card when he attends the auction." Lin Huang was preparing himself for what was going to happen soon as he had to come along with Yi Zheng and he could not attend the auction by wearing a disguise.
"It's sad that you can't attend the auction on your own. However, we'll treat your apprentice well."
"Please remind him about the underground auction as well. I think he has something to buy," Lin Huang deliberately urged him. He knew that an invitation was required in order to join the underground auction as there were many illegal items that could not be sold in public. They had to restrict the buyers to avoid getting into trouble.
"Okay, I got it. Don't worry. I'll make arrangements for you." Tang Xu nodded his head as he did not feel strange about it.
"I'm done with it. You may continue with your work. Thank you for your hospitality." After finishing his words, Lin Huang's body was akin to the breaking of glass as it decomposed swiftly and faded away.
The duo was stunned when they saw what just happened. They only regained their senses when Lin Huang's body had disappeared entirely.
"The skill of a demigod is fantastic!" Tang Xu exclaimed.
"I can't even recognize if it was a unique body movement or a cloning skill." Tang Yi was feeling surprised.
"There's a monitoring system in my office. The scene should've been recorded." Tang Xu looked in the direction where the Surveillance Snail was being hidden.
"I guess we should show this to the elders. Perhaps they'll know who he is." Tang Yi suggested.
"That's what I was thinking too."
Hundreds of meters away from the hotel, Lin Huang grinned.
In order to create such an astonishing departing effect, Lin Huang sent his clone to meet the both of them. The clone was created with his Cloning Card. The clone then wore a disguise with the Disguise Card, putting his consciousness into the clone. His real body had been sitting on the hotel sofa since the very beginning.
Just as he wanted to use the Disguise Card, Lin Huang pondered how he could leave the auction house without being followed so that his identity would not be revealed. Regardless of how well he could disguise himself, his combat strength was only on holy fire-level. If he were followed by an imperial-level, he would be unable to get rid of them.
After a long while, only then did he come up with this plan. He met them with his clone, making such a glorious exit. Nobody could follow after him and he could even deter the people from the auction house.
Lin Huang even asked Xiao Hei to turn his Emperor's Heart Ring into a card. The card was recalled right as the clone left. As for the Supreme member card, Lin Huang had already stored it into his Emperor's Heart Ring.
Putting on his Emperor's Heart Ring that gradually formed in his hand, Lin Huang took a deep breath and said, "I'm glad that there were no mistakes."