10 minutes later.

A barrier to keep people out and a human god in the star condensation realm who had appeared out of nowhere sealed the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop away from the crowd.

All the customers who had entered the shop earlier had been chased out. Chen Yiming was also among the people who had been chased out.

Perhaps because they did not think that the shop would have been tampered with when there was someone at the level of the jade star realm guarding it, none of the customers were held back or questioned.

“Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop’s rare goods are fake!”

This news quickly spread, causing a commotion in Heaven Suppressing City. The number of people who came to join in the crowd also increased, and soon, several streets were blocked off.

It had to be known that the source ores placed in the rare goods areas of the various shops selling source ores represented the rare source ores, and they had been selected by professional source ore appraisers.

It was usually normal for them to be sold at a 30% to 50% premium. Sometimes, when the demand for a certain type of source ore increased, the price would double.

“One of the source ores was sold to the lion king at a 10% discount, but it doesn’t seem like the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop will lose out on that sale either,”

someone muttered softly.

“How can it be a loss? The various source ores shops in the abandoned world have always been relying on their power to take advantage of the high price. The ones who will lose out will always be those who gamble on the source ores,”

someone retorted.

As soon as he finished speaking, he continued, “However, the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop must have suffered a huge loss this time. Once the news about the fake source ores gets out, their reputation will be ruined, and their business will definitely plummet.”

“They might not even be able to recover even if they changed their name, unless they can prove that it was done by the person who delivered the goods. However, there are so many rare source ores that were affected. Will you still believe that something happened to all of them?”

“Whoever believes it is a fool.”

“Isn’t that right? I reckon the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop won’t be able to continue operating. Their stock of source ores will soon be auctioned off, and a third party will have to guarantee the quality of the goods.”

“Here’s our chance to take advantage of the situation.”

“That’s hard to say. What if the atmosphere at the auction causes the price to be raised even higher? Of course, they might also be afraid that the probability of there being a problem with the source ores from the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop is high, so we can indeed buy it at a lower price.”

Chen Yiming had heard a lot of discussion from the crowd.

“An auction?”

“It seems that the scandal of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop producing fakes was unintentionally exposed. The extent of the impact is not so simple. Perhaps it is related to a secret that has been hidden very deeply.”

At this moment, there would definitely be a lot of gazes fixed on the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop. Naturally, it was not suitable for him to aim for their source ores immediately.

Soon, Chen Yiming left the crowd.

In any case, the source ores were in the Heaven Suppressing City and would not disappear. There was definitely still some time before the auction. If he wanted to take the essence energy from the source ores, he could make a move at any time.

…

In the backyard of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop, the higher-ups sat on wooden chairs. After a woman served tea, she left the backyard and closed the door.

There was a special barrier around the entire backyard. Outsiders could not see or hear the conversation inside. What they were about to discuss was a secret.

“Master Jiang, tell me what exactly is the situation.”

The green-clothed man took a sip of tea and moistened his throat.

“Yes.”

The man nodded and continued, “I checked the cracked pieces of the source ores in the rare goods area one by one. They are indeed the fake source ores that the headquarters gathered and tampered with.”

“But it’s definitely not a problem with our internal experts. This is because over the years, there has never been such an incident.”

“In Beijiang City, which is the closest to Heaven Suppressing City, I used a secret language to communicate with the experts from the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop there. In the end, the problem only occurred on our side.”

The green-clothed man nodded. “In other words, it’s not our own problem, but that someone is secretly messing with our shop, right?”

“From the analysis, that’s indeed the case,” the man said.

From the beginning to the end, the two higher-ups of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop did not mention any issue with the person providing the goods.

This was because tampering with the source ores was an unspoken rule in this line of work. It was another special skill mastered by the experts.

In reality, it was not only the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop that was doing this. The other shops were also doing the same. The only difference was how well they hid their tampering and how much they tampered with the source ores.

There was silence in the backyard.

Other than silence, there was the sound of tea being drunk from time to time.

Facing the sudden appearance of an unknown enemy, the higher-ups of the Heaven Suppressing City’s Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop could not come up with a feasible solution.

After a long time, the old man at the jade star realm who was in charge of guarding the source ores in the rare goods area said, “Master Jiang, first, there was a problem with the source ore you cut for the lion king. Then, there was a problem with a large number of source ores in the rare goods area.”

“This is too much of a coincidence. Could it be that the culprit is hiding among the ordinary customers who entered the shop? Did he really do something under everyone’s noses?”

The green-clothed man put down his teacup and frowned.

If that was really the case, it was a mistake to chase everyone out immediately.

However, when it came to the issue of the source ores, the experts had the most say. Whatever others said was just guesswork.

The man shook his head and said, “Unless it’s those source ore experts from the abandoned world, it’s impossible for them to tamper with it in front of me without me noticing.”

“However, our Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop has never offended any of those source ore experts. We try our best to befriend them during the source ore experts’ exchange every year.”

“Besides, what status does a source ore expert have? Once he speaks, he can cause the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop to stop their business. There’s no need to take the risk of damaging our reputation and secretly targeting us.”

The old man at the jade star realm let out a long sigh.

An image of Chen Yiming suddenly appeared in his mind. He shook his head and thought to himself that it was just that the young man had rejected Ning Ji, causing him to leave a stronger impression on his mind.

It was one thing for a young man to have such achievements in his cultivation, but it was impossible for him to have made similar achievements on the path of source ore experts.

After all, other than talent, a source ore expert also needed a lot of practical experience. A lot of time was needed to accumulate such experience, and there were no shortcuts.

The backyard fell silent again.

The expert and the old man at the jade star realm were all waiting for the green-clothed man to make a decision. The green-clothed man was the true person in charge of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop in Heaven Suppressing City.

Very quickly,

another hour passed.

No one could come up with any clues about the hidden enemy.

The green-clothed man said in a low voice, “In that case, in order to protect the reputation of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop to the greatest extent, we can only forcefully push the blame to the suppliers. The higher-ups will be in charge of the rest.”

“We’ll also temporarily give up on the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop in Heaven Suppressing City. All the source ores in the shop will be auctioned off. I’ll leave this matter to you, Master Jiang. Contact the auction house as soon as possible and settle it properly.”

“When the time comes, please escort all the source ores to the auction house safely, Elder Hong. I suspect that the hidden enemy will make a move as the source ores leave the auction house.”

The expert nodded his head.

The old man also nodded.

…

Three days later, the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop had entrusted the matter to the Jade Auction House under the guarantee of a third party, the Purple Sun Source Ore Workshop, to auction off all the problematic source ores.

As soon as the news spread, Heaven Suppressing City was in an uproar.

Every piece of rare source ore had been tampered with by the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop bit by bit. How could an insider not know the unspoken rules?

However, a rare source ore was a rare source ore. With the advantage of its original size, the amount of essence energy one could obtain from gambling on it was naturally not something that a fist-sized source ore could compare to.

It had to be known that the highest bidder would win at the auction. If it was any other day, it was one thing to ask for the price, but it was another matter whether the source ore shop was willing to sell the rare source ore to the customer.

This was especially true for independent cultivators who did not have any strong backing. It was common for them to go back on their word and not sell the source ores after negotiating the price. There were even some rare source ores that were only displayed to attract attention and were not actually for sale.

In the end, the rare source ores would often only leave the shop as gifts used to curry favor with some powerful existences or for some large gathering.

Heaven Suppressing City, Flying Sword Mercenary Group.

“Is the situation really like this?”

a man in armor asked.

He was the captain of the Flying Sword Mercenary Group and had led teams into and out of the forbidden death zone all year round. He had accumulated a lot of resources and was waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

“The news came from the announcement made by the Jade Auction House. I even went to check it out myself.”

“In the list of auctions, there are not only bags of ordinary small source ores being auctioned by weight, but also the large source ores that the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop refused to sell,”

the woman in tight-fitting clothes said with a smile.

“Alright, inform the others to take stock of the entire team’s assets. Even if we can’t get the source ores we are interested in, we have to get one that has a sufficient amount of essence energy.”

“I have the cultivation technique to condense the inner world. I’m just missing an opportunity to help me make the transformation. Coincidentally, essence energy can create this opportunity. Whether I can become a god or not depends on this.”

The Flying Sword Mercenary Group was not the only one who had gone all out.

Some of the cultivation clans and small and medium-sized factions in the Heaven Suppressing City were shocked when they heard the news. They all hoped that others would be worried that there was something wrong with the goods from the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop and give themselves a chance to buy them up.

In an instant, an endless stream of people went to the Jade Auction House to find out about the situation.

This was also the outcome that the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop wanted to see. Through an auction that would cause a commotion, they could eliminate the worries the low-level customers had about the reputation of the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop.

As for the factions with gods above the star condensation realm, they had naturally received the news earlier. Some of the participants in the auction were already secretly preparing for it.

There were also different levels of rare source ores. The hill-sized source ore at the auction this time was undoubtedly the target of these powerful factions.

Chen Yiming didn’t care about this. In the past three days, he had explored the entire Heaven Suppressing City.

Other than the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop, there were six other shops selling source ores that were of the same size. After interacting with some people who were involved in gambling on the source ores, he had a rough understanding of them.

Almost all the shops were controlled by factions that spanned across many large cities in the abandoned world. The business interests involved in their operation were complicated.

If he touched any of the shops, he would not make just one enemy. Instead, he would be viewed as an enemy by all the factions operating the shops.

Of course, this was not because he was worried about provoking more enemies.

There were many factions in the Hidden Dragon Galaxy that wanted to kill him and Gao Shuai. The abandoned world might be special, but in the end, it was only a source of support for him to get stronger.

When he became stronger, ordinary-quality essence energy would no longer be able to increase his Skill Points. He would not even want it if it was delivered to his door.

…

Another week passed.

This was the day of the auction set by the Jade Auction House. A week of preparation time was given after the announcement. Not only did it allow more participants who were not from the Heaven Suppressing City to rush over, but it was also to give the factions participating in the auction enough time to raise money.

Chen Yiming had already visited all the shops selling source ores in the Heaven Suppressing City and memorized all the rare goods areas and the possible locations of the secret warehouses.

The Jade Auction House attracted everyone’s attention, but Chen Yiming’s attention was attracted to the other six source ore shops other than the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop.

In other words, all the factions in the Heaven Suppressing City had gathered to watch the auction to pick up the leftovers. Chen Yiming had to rely on the ability of the spatial anchor to quickly move through space to secretly suck dry a large amount of the essence energy from the rare source ores.

At this moment, the Jade Auction House was filled with people.

“Damn, why are there so many people? Aren’t they worried that there’s something wrong with the source ores from the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop?”

“No way? Not only are there people from the source ore expert clans in the Heaven Suppressing City, but even the source ore expert clans from the other large cities have sent people over.”

“It’s completely unfair for the people from the source ore expert clans to participate. If that’s the case, who can defeat them? We’ve been happy for nothing.”

The people on the street who had yet to enter the venue were discussing this.

At this time, as long as the auction could be successfully held, the suspicion of fake source ores in the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop would die out.

Of course, the prerequisite was that they could successfully transport the source ores from the Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop to the Jade Auction House.

The Golden Sword Source Ore Workshop had sent two people at the level of the jade star realm over from other cities. Including the old man who was already guarding the rare goods area, there were a total of three people at the level of the jade star realm.

The jade star realm was no longer the weakest among the gods. Even in Heaven Suppressing City, they were already powerful existences with enough power to intimidate others.

It had to be known that most of the people who entered and exited the forbidden death zone and brought back ordinary source ores were humans or alien species below the god realm, such as the fusion realm and the inscription realm.

In reality, the star condensation realm was the weakest level among the gods. Even in the entire abandoned world, they were considered an upper level power. They would receive sufficient respect when entering and exiting large cities.

Chen Yiming sat on the second floor of a teahouse and drank hot tea. He glanced around and saw Wen Qi.

Wen Qi was with a group of men and women. From their clothes and conversation, they should be leaders of mercenary groups or adventurer teams.

Over the past few days, he had also spent some time secretly paying attention to Wen Qi. However, he had not discovered anything special about her for the time being.

Wen Qi’s actions seemed normal. She was thinking of ways to gather her assets and exchange them for as much money as possible to prepare for this auction.

In addition, large factions from other cities would come from time to time. These large factions made a huge commotion when they traveled. They were all on aircraft or riding spirit beasts.

Some flew long distances on swords, some rode fierce tigers with golden fireballs around them, and some rode purple snakes that moved through air while carrying more than 1,000 people.

As soon as they appeared, the atmosphere of the auction that had yet to begin was pushed to its peak.