A Matter of Two Slaps

Xiao Ming and his two companions followed the maids to a lavishly decorated living room. Soon after, Master Mo Qing entered slowly, followed by several maids carrying the four items he had purchased.

"Sir, these are the four items you previously purchased. Please take a look."

As soon as he entered, Master Mo Qing's face lit up with a smile. He gestured to the maid behind him to bring the items to Xiao Ming. This was a big customer, so he had to be treated well.

Several maids bowed slightly and carefully placed the four jade platters on the table next to Xiao Ming.

Sitting in the chair, Xiao Ming glanced around casually, saw that there was nothing wrong, nodded slightly, and took out two Jade Bottle containing Supreme Spirit Liquid. One was given to him by Qing Yanjing, and the other was given to him by villains he encountered on his journey.

"This is the Supreme Spirit Liquid from the auction, please have a taste."

At Master Mo Qing's instruction, the maid stepped forward and took the Jade Bottle. She then took out a strange instrument, placed the Jade Bottle on it, and soon a number appeared on the instrument.

Master Mo Qing raised an eyebrow after seeing the numbers above, and looked at Xiao Ming with some confusion, saying...

"Sir, the auction requires 131 million drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid, but you have provided 160 million Supreme Spirit Liquid. Why is that?"

"I'd like to do business with your Auction House." Xiao Ming didn't beat around the bush and stated his purpose directly. "I also need a rare and precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures called the Astral Heavenly Origin Fruit. In the Merchant Continent, you can buy anything with money. As the largest Auction House in the Merchant Continent, I think finding this Astral Heavenly Origin Fruit shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

"The Astral Heavenly Origin Fruit is not a problem, but..." Mo Qing was exceptionally talented and had long heard of the Astral Heavenly Origin Fruit's reputation. This level of medicinal material was indeed hard to find, but he was still very confident that his own Auction House could find it, although his tone was still somewhat hesitant.

"But what? Isn't the Supreme Spirit Liquid enough?" The pretty Qing Tan beside her was speechless. Her master had only spent fifty million on the two main medicinal herbs at auction. With an extra twenty-nine million Supreme Spirit Liquid, buying another one shouldn't be enough, right?

It's important to know that medicinal herbs at auctions are generally sold at a premium.

"Young lady, you've misunderstood. This amount of Supreme Spirit Liquid is more than enough to purchase the Astral Heavenly Origin Fruit. In fact, our Auction House has branches on other continents, and it seems that the Heavenly Origin Star Fruit is available at the branch on the Star Continent. However, we need to confirm this, and it will take some time to deliver it." Seeing that he had been misunderstood, Master Mo Qing quickly waved his hand to explain.

"How long will it take?" Xiao Ming asked.

"About twenty... no, ten days." Master Mo Qing originally wanted to say twenty days, but seeing Xiao Ming's brows furrow slightly, he had to change his words.

"Alright, I'll come to pick it up in ten days." Ten days is short enough, or perhaps finding the Heavenly Origin Star Fruit would already satisfy Xiao Ming's expectations.

As he spoke, Xiao Ming stood up, swept his sleeves, and all the auction items on the table except for the Azure Rock Green Flame were put into his Na Ring.

Seeing that Xiao Ming did not put away the Azure Rock Green Flame, Mo Qing praised him, "Sir, you are indeed knowledgeable. This Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire is extremely powerful. Even if it is sealed, it cannot be stored in Storage Space. However, if you take it away like this, it will attract too much attention. Why not use my special passage?"

"No need for such trouble." Xiao Ming smiled calmly, then, under Mo Qing's shocked gaze, picked up the crystal containing the Azure Rock Green Flame and crushed it with his bare hands.

Instantly, flames roared into his hand, the intense heat making those nearby feel as if they were in a furnace, and the space itself seemed to begin to blur. But the next moment, to everyone's astonishment, Xiao Ming stuffed the extremely hot flame into his mouth, and the terrifying heat vanished along with it.

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No way, you think you can just swallow such a huge ball of Spirit Fire like that? This is the Spirit Fire that burned three High-Rank Alchemy Grandmaster to death!

Master Mo Qing was dumbfounded.

Even Qing Yanjing couldn't help but purse her lips. Even she, without breaking through to the Heavenly Sovereign, wouldn't dare to make the bold move of swallowing Spirit Fire without any preparation.

She could guess that Xiao Ming was extremely strong before, but it seemed he hadn't recovered his strength yet?

They didn't even manage to convert spiritual energy successfully.

"Phew~"

After swallowing the Spirit Fire, Xiao Ming didn't feel anything unusual. On the contrary, he felt his spiritual power increase significantly, which surprised him. He hadn't expected such a gain.

Seeing that Xiao Ming only took a deep breath after swallowing the Spirit Fire and was otherwise unharmed, Mo Qing quickly came to his senses. He realized that although Xiao Ming was good-looking, he was by no means a simple person who relied on his looks or good luck, but a powerful expert with terrifying strength. His smile became even more enthusiastic and reserved.

"Haha, with your abilities, sir, there's really no need for such trouble. I was presumptuous before."

"It's alright, we have other things to do, so we won't stay any longer." Seeing that everything was settled, Xiao Ming stood up, waved his hand, and walked straight outside, with Qing Yanjing and Qing Tan quickly following behind.

"Oh, right." As he reached the door, Xiao Ming suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped. Mo Qing quickly stepped forward respectfully and bowed to listen attentively.

"These past few days, I'd like to ask you to inquire about the three of them." Xiao Ming gave a brief description of the appearances of Xiao Xuan and the other two, especially the characteristics of Xiao Xuan and Zhu Kun.

After hearing this, Mo Qing patted his chest and said that they would do their best to find out, and that they would not charge for such a small matter; it would be a free gift.

Finally, Xiao Ming left satisfied.

After watching Xiao Ming leave through the corridor for a while, Mo Qing finally withdrew her gaze and instructed the maid beside her, "Don't let anything that just happened get out, or you'll face the consequences if I find out."

Seeing the nodding maid, Mo Qing thought to himself, "To be able to easily subdue the Azure Rock Green Flame that burned High-Rank Alchemy Grandmaster to death, someone's going to be in trouble."

As soon as Xiao Ming stepped out of the Auction House, he felt several greedy and chilling gazes being cast upon him from the shadows.

"Xiao Ming, where do we go next?" Qing Yanjing also noticed the gazes in the shadows. Her beautiful eyes glanced at the bustling street. The street seemed calm, but anyone could see the turbulent undercurrents beneath. Those menacing eyes were really eye-catching to her keen eyes.

Qing Tan also noticed this, after all, some people's eyes were too naked, and they didn't even try to hide it. Of course, these were basically minor characters, and Xiao Ming didn't take them seriously.

With a calm expression, Xiao Ming glanced around and chuckled.

"Find a courtyard to stay in. The time it takes for the Heavenly Origin Star Fruit to ripen will be enough to refine pills to help you recover from your injuries. As for these little rats, if they dare to come looking for us in the meantime, we can easily deal with them. If they don't dare to come, then we can take care of them all when we leave. It'll only take a couple of slaps."