As they talked, the auction began before they knew it.
After several rounds of unremarkable lots, a red-cloth-covered iron cage was wheeled onto the auction stage.
"Huh? What's that?"
Ozka asked with keen interest, "Feng Xiaodi, what do you think is under the red cloth?"
"Hmm..." Feng Xiaodi propped his chin on his hand and said seriously, "In Douluo World No. 1, hunting Soul Beasts isn't against the law. I guess it's a rare Soul Beast."
"Hahaha! That's what I thought too. It's definitely a rare Soul Beast cub!"
Nearby, Dugu Bo furrowed his brows. He had a guess about what was in the cage, but it wasn't the same as Feng Xiaodi and Ozka's guess.
Soon, after an impassioned speech, the host pulled away the red cloth and shouted excitedly, "Here is our auction item! She's a commoner Soul Master with a fox Martial Soul. When her Martial Soul awakened, it mutated! She grew a pair of ears and a fox tail! And with her already breathtaking beauty, she's all the more enchanting! Now, the starting bid for this peerlessly beautiful fox-eared woman is 100,000 Gold Soul Coins!"
A wave of commotion swept through the auction hall. The more terror showed on the fox-eared woman's face in the cage, the more excited the crowd became!
At that moment!
In the private box, Feng Xiaodi and Ozka sat frozen in place, unable to recover for a long while.
After a long pause, Dugu Yan nudged their arms and asked cautiously, "You two... what's wrong?"
Feng Xiaodi stared blankly. "Wait... they're just... um... selling a person as an item at an auction?"
"Y-yeah! What about it?" Dugu Yan replied.
Ozka suddenly grew agitated. "So this is the Heaven Dou Empire? They... they're actually auctioning off people as if they were goods? Doesn't the Heaven Dou Empire do anything about this? How can they sell people like they're objects?"
The more Ozka saw the terror on the fox-eared woman's face in the cage and heard the crowd's excited voices, the angrier he became!
Dugu Bo stopped stroking his beard and explained in a low voice, "Behind the auction house are the nobles and imperial family of the Heaven Dou Empire!"
"W-what? The nobles? The imperial family?"
Ozka felt as if the world had turned upside down. A raging fire burned in his chest, with nowhere to vent!
He couldn't understand how the people in power of a country could put a person up for auction and let others bid on her like merchandise?!
Feng Xiaodi muttered, "The nobles! The Heaven Dou Empire! It's truly rotten to the core! The nobles and the empire are both tumors on this world! What a decaying world! Ozka, our mission is to root out the tumors of this world and let Emperor Qingtian's light shine upon Douluo World No. 1!"
"Yeah!" At that moment, Ozka's resolve had never been firmer. He was determined to change this world! To bathe Heaven Dou in blood!
Dugu Yan felt the murderous aura radiating from Feng Xiaodi and Ozka and didn't know what to do.
The Earth Dragon Soul Spirit whispered in her ear, "Master, in our world, under the Immortal Court's rule, everyone is equal! The Immortal Court forbids selling people or Soul Beasts at auction. Anyone who dares to do so is challenging the Immortal Court's bottom line! There's only one outcome: death!"
"Phew..." Dugu Yan let out a careful breath and said softly, "In our world, men and women who develop mutations when their Martial Souls awaken are often seized by nobles and made into slaves. In the end, they're sold..."
"Slaves!"
Ozka's breathing grew labored. He slammed his fist on the table with a bang and snarled, "What feudal dregs! In the Immortal Court, fox-eared women and cat-eared women are common, but every one of them has a hundred families vying for her hand! Matchmakers practically break down their doors! And here... they've become slaves... I want to bathe the Heaven Dou Empire in blood right now!"
Feng Xiaotian gritted his teeth and said, "The Immortal Court's Seventh Empress has cat ears and a tail. If she found out that someone in this world was auctioning off a fox-eared woman... she'd probably take a Level 10 Soul Tool and flatten the Heaven Dou Empire overnight!"
"The Seventh Empress? Emperor Qingtian took a consort? Isn't the Immortal Court monogamous?"
The Earth Dragon Soul Spirit asked in surprise.
Before the monogamous marriage law was enacted, no one would be held accountable for having any number of partners! But after it was enacted, bigamy was forbidden!
"What? Senior Earth Dragon, do you object?"
"No! Absolutely not! By the way, when did Emperor Qingtian take a consort?"
"That was five years ago. There are seven Empresses in the Immortal Court now. Senior Earth Dragon, there were only six in your time, right?"
"Hmm... who's the new Empress? She must have caught Emperor Qingtian's eye! It's been so many years—he hasn't taken a consort since unifying the continent!"
"She's from the Hell Spirit Cat clan. Her name is Zhu Zhuyin."
"That girl's so lucky! Oh—no, I mean, the Empress is so lucky!" The Earth Dragon Soul Spirit's playful expression quickly turned respectful.
Ozka turned to Feng Xiaodi and said, "Feng Xiaodi, let's save her!"
Feng Xiaodi thought for a moment, then said, "Ozka, the bigger picture comes first! Let the auction continue for now. We'll see what to do once it's over. Whoever buys her, we'll rescue her tonight!"
"Sounds good! Wait, we can bid too! We can buy her ourselves!"
"Don't waste that much money. It'll cost tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins."
"Fine." Ozka was a poor guy with no powerful background.
In the end, Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect bought the fox-eared woman for 150,000 Gold Soul Coins.
Ozka asked Dugu Bo, "Senior Dugu, who's in that private box?"
"From the voice, it sounds like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's leader, Ning Fengzhi!"
"Ning Fengzhi? Ning Yuzhi's doppelganger!" Feng Xiaodi cried out.
Ozka asked with a strange expression, "No way. What's he buying a fox-eared woman for? I never thought he was like that! This is... a real eye-opener! My whole image of him is shattered!"
Feng Xiaodi clicked his tongue. "Right? He's always acting like such a gentleman... and now he's bidding on a fox-eared woman. Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
"Ning Yuzhi?" Dugu Bo asked curiously. "What kind of person is Ning Yuzhi in the Immortal Court?"
"He's from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, which used to be an enemy faction. But Emperor Qingtian was merciful and didn't wipe them out. Later, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect rebuilt itself in a short time after the war, thanks to its solid foundations and the appraisal ability of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda! They made many contributions during the construction of the World-Crossing Gate. Ning Yuzhi even became the deputy head of the Department of Auxiliary Studies at Xianting University."
"Did he resolve the flaw in his Martial Soul?"
"He did! Ning Yuzhi's Martial Soul evolved into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. He even wrote a book on Martial Soul bloodline evolution theory. Emperor Qingtian himself said it was a very useful reference."
At that, Ozka suddenly thought of someone and exclaimed, "I know whose doppelganger the mysterious girl number one, Ning Rongrong, is!"
"Whose?"
"Ning Yuzhi's daughter: Ning Maomao!"
Before you continue