The Escalating Situation (1)

The items James gave to Old Bai earlier were all of the high level treasures that he possessed. 

These items were the peak rank 7 fire breathing technique, the peak rank 7 fire sword skill [Flame Splitting Slash], and the peak rank 7 fire skill [Fire Vortex]. 

Actually, these items were less valuable than the materials James had purchased. 

However, Old Bai trusted that James would definitely pay them later, as James mentioned that he wanted to auction higher level treasures, implying that James had a lot of money. 

Even if James was lying, Old Bai wasn't worried at all, because he was confident in his own strength that James would be unable to move if he decided to take action against him. And if James did have a strong background, he would at most imprison him for his own misdemeanor, which he deemed unlikely. 

As for the items that James had just brought out, it was a peak rank 8 sword with water attribute that James had instructed Little Fluffy to refine, as he intended to sell this sword in from the start. 

Fortunately, James also had one free chance to refine any weapon for the first time.

Otherwise, he couldn't even afford to pay for the refining service, as the auction hasn't even started, so he is still essentially penniless. 

As for why James didn't ask for higher level materials since he has one free chance to refine any materials as long as he has the material, he actually had a few reasons. 

First, he didn't want to gamble because what if the old man asked for the payment first since the materials that James wanted to buy were a lot more expensive than his items and didn't give James the materials first.

Second, even if Old Bai asked him to pay first and said that his items were worth less than what he wanted to buy, he could just tell him to only give at least half of the materials first, since his items should be more expensive than half of the materials that James wanted to buy. 

Subsequently, James could then repeat what he did just now, give the weapon that he had just refined for free and ask for the other set of materials that he wanted to buy, since the weapon he refined should be worth more than these materials. 

The third and most important reason was to test Old Bai's reaction. This was also part of his crazy plan, because the worst scenario that he had thought of before he entered this building was happening at the moment. 

This Old Bai, who appeared to be a harmless and kind old man, was actually a terrifying High Rank Martial King [Rank 11]. 

Because of this old man that James discovered, Martial King was apparently the rank above Martial Lord. 

This explained why James was shocked when he almost arrived at the building as he scanned that there was a genuine High Rank Martial King in a kingdom where the strongest person in charge had only reached the peak Martial Grandmaster.

As for the reason why he wanted to test Old Bai's reaction was simple, he just wanted to test if his bluff was working on him or not. 

If the old man wasn't buying his bluff, he wouldn't even give the materials directly like he did, and he wouldn't even listen to his request before.

As you could see, Old Bai was wary of him because James leisurely took out a few high level treasures and didn't seem like he had even a little bit of fear when he was in the place of one of the biggest major chambers of commerce in the northern region. 

The most important thing to back up his bluff was his ability to conceal his rank. At first, Old Bai was surprised that he couldn't detect James's rank and informed the two 'young maids'. 

These young maids also played a big role in his next plan to establish himself as a mysterious young man with a powerful background. 

... 

At the same time, when James took out the sword, Old Bai was quite surprised since he could see at a glance that this sword's quality was the best in its level. 

After Old Bai examined it slowly for a while, he laughed and said, "What a fine sword! This is the best sword I've ever seen at its level." 

The two maids were surprised when they heard it, clearly eager to get a closer look at the beautiful sword. 

"That sword should be comparable to the mid-level rank 9 sword." James said it with a smile. 

The trio was surprised by James's statement. Since, to their knowledge, the best quality weapons on the market could only compare to those of one rank higher, and they had never heard of a weapon that could compare with two ranks above its level. 

Old Bai immediately took out the token and called someone to test the sword, as no one in this room had water attributes. 

It was only after someone took the sword outside the room that Old Bai spoke while smiling kindly, "Don't worry, I just called someone to test it thoroughly since I don't have a water attribute and can't assess its effects properly." 

"No problem." James replied calmly as he waved his hand.

"Do you have anything else that you want to auction?" Old Bai smiled and asked James, as if expecting to see another rare treasure. 

"Ahhh... My shoulder is feeling a little bit sore. It's fine to ask the maid to massage my shoulder for a moment, right? Or do you think so highly of all of your workers that even a big client like me couldn't receive any special treatment?" James shrugged his shoulders and asked while smiling at Old Bai. 

Luo Xian'er frowned upon hearing it, but she quickly approached James after being stared at by his older sister. Old Bai could only remain silent as he watched without making any comment. 

Subsequently, Luo Xian'er attempted to massage James's shoulder, but her technique was inept. Feeling disappointed, James asked, "Have you never massaged anyone before? Why are you so clumsy with your hands?"

Luo Xian'er gritted his teeth, "I'm sorry, this is my first time massaging someone." 

"It's okay, I can teach you how to massage properly if you want." James smiled while his hand suddenly moved, touching her hand gently. 

Luo Xian'er was startled by James's sudden move and froze for a sec before quickly retracting her hands and stepping back, followed by stomping her feet angrily and glaring at her elder sister and Old Bai. 

"That's enough, young master James." Old Bai said, before he continued to speak again after he heard someone's stomp on the floor again, 

"Did you not hear what I just said earlier? You can try at another branch, but not in the branch that I manage, much less in front of my face. Are you really looking down on me, young master James?" Old Bai spoke seriously while squinting his eyes as he stared at James.