Chapter 1640 – Exposed
As soon as Lin Ming finished his words, Shadow Overflow’s lips twitched; he hadn’t thought that Lin Ming would suggest such a thing.
This sort of suggestion was simply being more courageous than the heavens.
When a divine runic master drew up divine runic symbols, they usually did so in the peaceful environment of a divine runic room. Even then, there was a considerable failure rate.
Moreover, this sort of improved Heavenly Fire Symbol had over 2000 tiny runes; the complexity in drawing one up surpassed the majority of sixth grade divine runic symbols!
Under the watchful gaze of the audience, what would Lin Ming do if he failed!?
If his mindset was poor then he would panic after the first failure. Moreover, in order to draw up such a complicated Heavenly Fire Symbol it would require a massive amount of Lin Ming’s soul force. Even if a peak fifth grade divine runic master were to try, they could likely only attempt it once. If they failed they would have to wait several hours for a second try, and the success rate would drop even lower!
In this sort of situation, there was no divine runic master that would attempt to draw up a divine runic symbol that reached the limits of their skill in front of a giant audience. There was only a single explanation for this, and that was Lin Ming had reached an ultimate peak of confidence in his divine runic arts skills!
If Shadow Overflow could think of this, so could the other divine runic masters in the audience. All of them were frightened by Lin Ming’s words. He was simply being far too confident. Wasn’t he afraid that he would fail?
“It seems that this Heavenly Fire Symbol… is really made by this brat…” Shadow Overflow couldn’t help but accept this blow to his self-confidence. But, he didn’t think that Lin Ming would dare to boast at such a time.
But, suddenly…
Shadow Overflow’s originally gloomy and decrepit face suddenly lifted up with a bizarre smile. Hidden beneath the shadows of his black cloak, his eyes began to shine with a brilliant light.
“Although it may be true you drew up those divine runic symbols, you are far too young and far too arrogant and cannot stand others questioning you. However, what you don’t know is that as a peak dark divine runic master, I have special methods to observe and copy the technique of other divine runic masters! If you draw up a divine runic symbol in front of me then that is the same as revealing all of your secrets to me!”
Thinking of this, the avaricious greed in Shadow Overflow’s eyes became increasingly thick. When a normal divine runic master drew up a divine runic symbol they would always reveal some secrets. And for these secrets, while orthodox divine runic masters might not be able to discern anything, if they were to be seen by a dark divine runic master, they would be far more easily understood! And Shadow Overflow was someone who was particularly skilled in this field!
In particular, Shadow Overflow had already tried to unravel Lin Ming’s Nirvanic Tribulation Flame Symbol before. At the time, Shadow Overflow had already obtained a thorough understanding of the tiny rune system and overall structure of the Nirvanic Tribulation Flame Symbol. The only question that baffled him was how to fuse in the Asura Heavenly Dao Laws. Now, Shadow Overflow believed he would be able to find the hints to doing so by watching Lin Ming!
Even if Lin Ming failed, Shadow Overflow would still be able to see many things. Moreover, he could even kick Lin Ming while he was down and send that brat rolling off a cliff.
At this time, in the auction hall arena, there were many other dark divine runic masters that had the same thoughts as Shadow Overflow.
These dark divine runic masters all needed to buy materials so they definitely wouldn’t miss Divine Rune City’s treasure fair auction. Of course, they had hidden their status before entering. Some of these people had even been part of Shadow Overflow’s team that tried to copy the Nirvanic Tribulation Flame Symbol.
They all held the same thoughts that Shadow Overflow did in their hearts. Many of them were secretly celebrating this event.
“This bull-headed youth is far too hot-blooded and arrogant, he can’t even withstand a few insults! To dare to draw up a divine runic symbol publicly, good! Very good!”
“Haha, the master who passed down their inheritance to this brat must be feeling stupid. This brat wants to show off and even have a demonstration of his skills in front of everyone, he’s just waiting for us to unravel his inheritances. Once we figure out how to create this Heavenly Fire Symbol, we’ll have our own open auction! At that time, not only will money be rolling in but our futures will be limitless! Hahaha!”
Some divine runic masters thought. Their faces began to burn red with excitement and their breaths quickened.
For a time, many dark divine runic masters reached out faint threads of soul force that lingered around Lin Ming. The frenzy in their hearts had been ignited by Lin Ming and they were eagerly awaiting his performance.
These dark divine runic masters that coveted the peak fifth grade Heavenly Fire Symbol had to be at least peak fifth grade; in other words, a peak Holy Lord realm cultivation. Some of them were even World Kings.
These people observed Lin Ming’s actions with their dark divine runic secret techniques. They emitted their soul perception, taking note of his every movement. This was an extremely impolite action but none of them were worried because their cultivations were far higher than Lin Ming’s, and in addition to their unique dark divine runic techniques that spied on others, even if they were to spy on people with a similar boundary they still wouldn’t be discovered.
“Hehe… if you can really prove that then I will certainly believe you will honor those 500 promissory notes. I have no problem with that.”
Shadow Overflow licked his withered lips, tamping down the excitement and hope in his heart. He agreed to Lin Ming proving himself by drawing up the divine runic symbol in front of everyone.
“Then hurry up and begin!”
Many people urged from beneath the auction stage. Many of these people were part of the ordinary audience who shouted out purely because they wanted to experience the birth of a miracle with their own eyes. But, many of them were also dark divine runic masters hidden in the crowd.
“Alright.”
Lin Ming languidly laid out a divine runic pen as well as a simple array disc commonly used to draw divine runic symbols. But, he didn’t immediately take out the materials. Rather, he stood there, his hands behind his back as he slyly smiled at Shadow Overflow.
Seeing Lin Ming’s eyes on him, Shadow Overflow felt his heart skip a beat. He didn’t know why, but Lin Ming’s eyes seemed to see through him, causing a chill to creep up his back.
“W-what are you…”
Shadow Overflow saw Lin Ming stare at him for several breaths of time and faltered a little. He frowned, “How come you aren’t drawing the Heavenly Fire Symbol? Were you just bluffing all this time?”
He was deliberately stirring up Lin Ming, but how could Lin Ming fall for this bait?
Lin Ming suddenly smiled and stared at Shadow Overflow’s obscured face. After a long pause, Lin Ming then slowly said, “Yes, I do believe… I know who you are…”
Shadow Overflow never imagined that Lin Ming would say such words. His body shook and he nearly lost his balance as he floated in the air.
His eyebrows wrinkled together. He pretended to be calm, “I have no idea what you are speaking about!”
“Mm, it’s fine as long as you know who you are… isn’t that right, Grandmaster Overflow…?”
Lin Ming unhurriedly said without a hint of doubt in his voice. His lips curved up in a playful smile. With this, the entire audience was stunned!
Shadow Overflow had risen to fame many years ago and was far more famous and well-known than Lin Ming was!
Even those that didn’t belong to the world of divine runic arts knew the name of Shadow Overflow. Or better to say, they knew of his infamy. He was a notoriously cruel character, evil and vicious, a completely abhorrent person!
Not only did he copy the divine runic symbols of others, but his character was poor and he was sinister and vicious, a bloodthirsty and lustful man!
He plundered the proud young female disciples of small sects to use as his living furnaces, and killed off tens of millions of mortals as a sacrifice to refine his ghost streamer. In short, he was a man that stooped to any evils!
It was also said he gathered thousands of proud women to establish his harem. Wherever he went he would have squads of golden-armored warriors following him as well as dozens of charming maids. He would have flood dragons pulling his carriage and spirit flower petals would sprinkle the ground ahead of him. This opulent transportation was just like a divine emperor travelling abroad!
Towards this type of person, many people felt nothing but utter scorn.
Shadow Overflow’s complexion became increasingly ugly. He couldn’t figure out how Lin Ming had discovered his identity!
He had never met Lin Ming openly face-to-face, and even when they briefly bumped into each other he had used all sorts of arcane techniques to conceal his cultivation and aura. In this situation, Lin Ming was still able to recognize him!
Could it be that… he had sensed his divine runic arts technique?
How was this possible… he was only a Divine Lord and also a mere human, so how could Lin Ming discover his sense!
Shadow Overflow could not believe this!
And his guess was right; Lin Ming had discovered Shadow Overflow’s dark divine runic arts technique!
Lin Ming had inherited Torchriver’s memories. Torchriver was not some good or righteous individual and he also had an understanding of the spying arts of dark divine runic masters. As for Lin Ming, because he had a powerful soul force and he also cultivated the Divine Mist Heart Mantra, he had an extremely keen sense. He was able to instantly catch onto Shadow Overflow’s spying sense and then contrast it with Torchriver’s memories to understand what it was.
A dark divine runic master that he couldn’t see the cultivation of, they had to be at least at the sixth grade or peak sixth grade.
Such a dark divine runic master was hostile towards him and had been targeting him from the very start of the auction fair. When all of these factors were combined, Lin Ming didn’t need to be a genius to know it was that Grandmaster Overflow who had tried to rashly unravel his Nirvanic Tribulation Flame Symbol and had lost several hundreds of millions of points as a result!
Seeing Shadow Overflow continue putting on an act at this moment, Lin Ming smiled and said, “Grandmaster Overflow, I’ve heard so much about your grand name before, but, I must apologize for meeting you under such circumstances. I wonder, have you fixed those array discs you broke when you tried to unravel my Nirvanic Tribulation Flame Symbol?”
Lin Ming’s words were brutal enough, especially to be said in the presence of everyone. No matter how patient Shadow Overflow was, even he couldn’t withstand such shame.
The defeat of that research team was an eternal pain in his heart. Not only was it a loss of wealth but more importantly a loss of his reputation and an impact on his confidence!
From the depths of his soul, he wished that he could flay Lin Ming alive!
And at this time, all of the other dark divine runic masters in attendance felt a foreboding premonition rise over their hearts. Seeing the situation turn bad, all of them withdrew the spying sense they had cast on Lin Ming and restrained their auras in fear of being discovered.
But this sudden change left Lin Ming chuckling. He walked forwards several steps and swept his eyes over the entire audience.
His eyes paused in several places before he slowly said, “I haven’t even started to draw anything so why would all of you retreat like this? Just now it seems there were… 19 senses… hmm, I wonder if I missed any?”
As Lin Ming spoke, all of the dark divine runic masters in the audience felt their hearts skip a beat, a cold sweat forming on their backs!
They had stretched out their sense to peek at Lin Ming, but their sense had been noticed by him. It was just like a few thieves entering a mansion to steal some items. Even if they tried to cover their tracks there would still be clues.
Although they knew there were over a dozen some people that had also stretched out their senses, they couldn’t affirm whether it was truly such a precise number like 19!