Of course there were many things that could go wrong with such a hasty plan, for example he could be exposed as the instigator, which would draw the hate of both factions, or it may not bring the desired effect at all. There was also the possibility that absorbing the souls of normal cultivators would bring miserable profit.
Still after pondering over it for quite a while, Yang Ming decided that he had to take this risk as it may bring him great profit and prepare him for what's to come. Afterall he doesn't know when he'll meet another hero as an opponent and this time he might not be strong enough so he should get more powerful by hook or by crook.
With these thoughts he looked meaningfully at Long Bai, the first pawn on the road to war between the Southern and Eastern regions. Naturally he didn't plan to do it right away, he had plenty of time to cause some chaos, but first he had to get the map and find the treasure.
Looking at the unimpressive faces of the dragonewts, Yang Ming's eyes lit up with a slightly approving fire, they were too easily provoked and since there were quite a few people here soon everyone in the Eastern region might hear the gossip of a human provoking the dragonewts.
Now if he killed them and blamed it on the humans which occupied this territory it would cause some commotion. Repeat this a few times and a conflict between the two regions would be born.
Perhaps they could recognize Yang Ming by his appearance, but he wasn't going to reveal himself further in his plans, manipulating from the shadows and taking advantage of both factions to reap the benefits. That's what a villain should do.
Long Bai gritted his teeth and shouted:
"4,000 gold pieces."
"6,000 gold pieces." - Without the slightest hesitation, Yang Ming rebutted with a grin on his face.
The faces of everyone present changed from disbelief to jealousy and greed, 6,000 gold coins was too large a sum even for a huge clan, such a sum could not be held by an ordinary person, many of the auction participants began to think that Yang Ming was lying, how could someone so young be in possession of such an amount of money.
Long Bai could no longer sit on the chair as it was already cracked, rage and anger practically blinded him and in desperation he screamed:
"6,500 gold... Motherfucker, do you have enough money to contend with me?"
Yang Ming squinted slightly, he noticed that Long Bai's fortune was lousy and maybe he hadn't had that much money for a long time. With these thoughts, he turned to Gongsun Wan'er and said:
"Miss Gongsun Wang'er, in fact I do not have any money at all. I participated in the auction only because of interest and later I did not like the words of this lizard and I decided to teach him a lesson." - said Yang Ming with a chuckle, not paying attention to the change in expressions on the faces of everyone present in the auction.
Long Bai's eyes suddenly widened, he pointed a pale and shaking finger at Yang Ming, and stood like that for a few moments without taking his eyes off him before he spat blood in indignation.
He wasn't the only one shocked by such a shameless performance from Yang Ming, everyone seemed to suddenly realize that he had planned from the beginning to insult the Dragonewt race specifically, but it was unknown why he did it, maybe there was a blood feud or something like that.
"Pfft." - Gongsun Wan'er was as stunned as everyone else and almost laughed at the revelation and immediately tried to hide her laughter, but failed miserably as small tears were visible in everyone's eyes.
"A dragonewt, huh?" - Yang Ming shook his head while looking at Long Bai, who was still standing there with his mouth gaping in shock at what was happening. And then Yang Ming said contemptuously:
"You can't even stand such a simple phrase? A really weak, disgusting lizard."
Anger boiled up in Long Bai, no longer trying to contain himself he attempted to kill Yang Ming on the spot, this man from the very beginning insulted him and later made a fool out of him in front of everyone else gathered here.
But as soon as he tried to give in to the impulse he felt deadly danger as if a cold blade pressed against his neck, which at any moment could split his neck asunder, snorting he tried to calm down, with the thought that after the auction Yang Ming could not escape, he had to pay the bill for today's humiliation.
Long Bai tried to walk away as he couldn't take the stares of these people anymore, he felt like everyone was laughing at him, but just as he was about to do so, Long Bai heard the seductive voice of the auctioneer:
"Mister, are you not going to pay for this item?" The voice was seductive, but there was a chill in it, because if you won the auction you have to pay for it, in some cases, if you can't settle the payment, you would have to be enslaved to the auctioneer until the debt is paid.
It only now occured to Long Bai that he had also spent 6,500 gold coins on a piece of paper that he wanted only to amuse himself. Despair came over the dragonewt, while looking at Yang Ming and the way he smiled softly at him, he decided that this man had become an irreconcilable enemy to him and instead of killing him Long Bai would torture him every day for as long as he could.
With such thoughts, Long Bai's mood rose slightly from despair to regret, no longer trying to stay here he quickly paid the gold coins and then immediately left the auction house without meeting anyone's eyes, only at the end throwing a threatening glance at Yang Ming.
Initially Yang Ming didn't plan to play him like that but then changed his mind. Yes, he could have bought it for a lot of money but there was no need to pay for something that he would eventually get anyway. The only change is that he will get his hands on the map a bit later when that lizard brings it to him on his own.
So Yang Ming decided to kill two birds with one stone, not only would he not pay even a single coin for the map as it would soon come to his hands but he would even kill the dragonewts as a part of his plan. One could say that this auction went as Yang Ming had planned.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in our auction. I hope you will visit us at the next auction as well." - As she said the last phrase she glanced at Yang Ming, who was still in his thoughts, but he also noticed her curious look.
But he did not care for her, although she was pleasantly beautiful, there was nothing special about her, so Yang Ming would not be interested in her as it was clear that she could not be of use to him in the future.
After the auction was over, Yang Ming immediately left, he planned to start hunting dragonewts, while those lizards were preparing to hunt him, it was unknown who was really the hunter and who was the prey.
After everyone left the auction and Gongsun Wan'er was alone, she grinned slightly and whispered:
"Yang Ming, I wonder what you are planning" - chuckled the woman playfully, and soon after that, darkness swallowed her up and she suddenly disappeared.