Auction

Heaven Dou Auction House.

As the largest auction house in the Heaven Dou Empire, it was located in the most prosperous district of Heaven Dou City, with the most luxurious architecture and the broadest auction hall.

The circular building was enormous. The semicircle set upon the ground had a diameter of nearly five hundred meters at the very least, and its highest point exceeded eighty meters. In Heaven Dou City, the imperial capital where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, the fact that it possessed such a vast auction venue made it easy to imagine just how important its status was in the city—and how unfathomable the background behind it had to be.

The auction house's entrance was also semicircular. Like the building as a whole, it was milky white, and four tall, slender young women stood before the doors.

These young women had clearly been selected under strict standards. Not only were they all around one meter seventy-five in height, their figures were also extremely well-proportioned. Though they could not be called peerless beauties, their pretty features were still quite attractive. They looked to be no more than twenty at most.

The young women wore floor-length gowns that even covered their arms, not exposing a single unnecessary inch of skin. Yet the gowns were very close-fitting, fully outlining their graceful curves.

Silver patterns were embroidered across the snow-white dresses, the designs faintly forming characters. The four young women moved in perfect unison, hands folded before them, professional smiles on their faces.

Zhu Huang strolled over. He wore a well-tailored black suit, his thick long hair falling loose over his shoulders, his whole body radiating a noble and elegant air. But when the young women saw his face, they were startled.

Because he wore a hideous demon mask over that face. It looked extremely lifelike, and at a sudden glance, it could give someone quite a fright.

One of the four young women froze for a moment, then hurriedly stepped forward three paces, bowed slightly, and said in a sweet voice, "Hello, honored guest. How may I help you?"

Zhu Huang's almost tangible gaze swept over the young woman. She felt as though she had been seen through, as if she were wearing no clothes at all. Her delicate body could not help but tense, and a faint blush quietly climbed onto her face.

Zhu Huang's magnetic voice said calmly, "This is the largest auction house in the Heaven Dou Empire, isn't it? I'd like to go in and take a look."

The young woman bit her lip, mustered her courage, and said respectfully, "I'm sorry, honored guest. May I ask whether you have bidding qualification certification?"

Zhu Huang said, "What certification?"

The young woman smiled faintly and said apologetically, "My apologies, honored guest. Only guests with bidding qualification certification may enter the auction hall to participate in bidding. Qualification certification is divided into several levels, and the entry threshold is ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. In other words, you need proof of assets worth ten thousand Gold Soul Coins before you can take part in bidding. This rule was established to prevent malicious bidding, so we ask for your understanding."

Zhu Huang felt his pockets and fell silent.

"I'm not here to bid. I'm here to sell something. Can I still not go in?"

The young woman hurriedly said, "If you're here to sell something, then you may enter the auction house. However, the item being sold must first be appraised by a specialized appraiser of our Heaven Dou Auction House, and only if its value exceeds one thousand Gold Soul Coins will it be qualified to participate in the auction. If the auction succeeds, we will take ten percent of the final transaction price as a handling fee."

Zhu Huang had no issue with them taking a commission, and nodded. "Take this to your appraiser and have them look at it."

He took a spirit bone from his chest. It was the size of a palm, entirely cyan, and radiated a crystalline glow. A fierce, vicious aura rushed forth, and an intense heat spread from the spirit bone, abruptly raising the temperature of the air by several degrees.

"This is..."

The young woman's pupils shrank. Faced with this spirit bone, she instinctively felt afraid.

She was only an ordinary person, and spirit bones were far too rare, so she did not recognize it at once. But just from its appearance and the terrifying aura it gave off, she knew it was no ordinary object. It was absolutely an exceedingly rare treasure.

"This is a spirit bone."

Hearing Zhu Huang's words, the expression on the young woman's face instantly became utterly incredulous, filled with shock and disbelief.

She carefully accepted the spirit bone, examined it closely for a few moments, and compared it with the information she knew about spirit bones, yet still did not dare determine whether it was real or fake.

Her reason told her this really was a spirit bone, but emotionally, she found it somewhat hard to believe.

Even though she was not a soul master, she had come into contact with plenty of soul masters in daily life. Heaven Dou Auction House had also auctioned off many treasures related to soul masters, so she naturally knew just how precious and rare spirit bones were.

Any spirit bone, even a hundred-year spirit bone, was an exceedingly rare thing, a true priceless treasure with no market. Almost no one would take out a spirit bone to auction.

Because spirit bones were true soul master treasures, capable of being passed down from generation to generation. They could not only improve a soul master's strength, but also enhance a soul master's potential. Any soul master who obtained a spirit bone would absorb it at the first possible moment as long as it was suitable.

Spirit bones were simply not something Gold Soul Coins could measure. Even if someone had no choice but to sell one, as long as the slightest word got out, countless people would be willing to pay a price to trade for it, and many things among those prices could not be bought with money.

On the contrary, if it was auctioned through an auction house, it could only be exchanged for gold coins, and the auction house would even take ten percent of the profits.

Although her heart was full of disbelief, the young woman's expression became even more respectful. Her waist nearly bent to ninety degrees as she bowed and said, "Honored guest, please follow me. Your spirit bone requires appraisal by a professional Lord Soul Master."

Zhu Huang nodded. "Lead the way."

Seeing his calm bearing, with not the slightest worry that they might rob him outright, the young woman could not help but think even more highly of him. He was clearly full of confidence. Secretly, she guessed at the identity of this extraordinary yet masked guest.

Judging by his voice, he had to be very young. Could he be the young master of some great sect?

From her eye for people, honed by seeing countless guests, this man was definitely an important figure. Even the imperial nobles who often came and went gave her a feeling far inferior to his.

"Please follow me."

The young woman spoke softly, taking small, quick steps as she led Zhu Huang into the auction hall.

Zhu Huang followed behind her, looking around.

Inside the auction house, there was no sense of glittering extravagance. The floor was made of milky-white marble, and the surrounding walls were decorated with all kinds of relief carvings. There were not many colors on the carvings, making them look clean, bright, and extremely elegant.

Aside from the reliefs, there were also display windows built against the walls, containing exhibits such as porcelain and armor.

If one did not know what this place was for, they would probably think it was a museum.

The young woman leading the way had clearly undergone meticulous training and understood hospitality very well. Every ten steps or so, she would stop, make an inviting gesture, and respectfully and accurately point Zhu Huang in the right direction.

The two walked all the way to the side of the hall, where a room with a sign reading "Appraisal" appeared before them.

Inside the room was a row of desks. Behind them were eight appraisers of various ages, all wearing black robes, busy appraising different items.

The young woman said, "This is the ordinary item appraisal room. We need to confirm whether this truly is a spirit bone before deciding whether to disturb the esteemed Lord Soul Masters."

Zhu Huang nodded. That was only natural. It was impossible for others to immediately believe him just because he said it was a spirit bone.

For such a large auction house, the items actually related to soul masters were ultimately still a minority. Far more of what it auctioned had to do with nobles eating, drinking, amusing themselves, and indulging in luxury.

After all, soul masters were already few in number, and things related to soul masters were even rarer. Most of them had specialized soul master shops, controlled by sects and clans of the soul master world. Not just anyone was qualified to stick a hand into that business.

With the strength and background of Heaven Dou Auction House, it could at most take a small share of the pie. The nobles behind them were indeed lofty and unreachable figures in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of the great sects and clans of the soul master world, they amounted to only so much. The entire empire was indeed qualified to stand alongside the seven great sects, but a handful of nobles could not represent the empire.

Zhu Huang dared to bet that even the person in charge of this auction house might not have seen a spirit bone before. In this world, soul masters who had seen spirit bones were, in the end, an extremely small minority.