Useless Bone?

"Whoa, look! These fox girls are gorgeous!" Zhang Yang shouted excitedly.

The two petite fox girls curled up in the corner of the iron cage, clinging to each other as they tried to find even a little sense of safety.

Their pitiful posture and tattered little clothes easily stirred a man's protective instincts.

Even though they were terrified, their eyes and brows inadvertently revealed a seductive charm that stimulated the men's senses.

Fox girls, as the name implied, were a special hybrid of fox-type soul beasts and humans. Aside from a few subtle traits, they mostly had human forms, yet they possessed the innate allure of fox-type soul beasts.

Every fox girl was extremely expensive. The two fox girls before them were even twins, making them worth a sky-high price.

Seeing that the atmosphere was about right, the auctioneer slowly began to speak.

"Starting bid: fifty thousand gold soul coins. Each raise must be no less than five thousand gold soul coins."

This astonishing price did not deter anyone present in the slightest, and the bids kept climbing.

"Sixty thousand gold soul coins!"

"Only sixty thousand? Go eat shit. I'll bid eighty thousand!"

"You've got the nerve to call eighty thousand a bid? One hundred thousand!"

"..."

Such frantic bidding truly took Tie Li by surprise.

The final price for the pair of fox girls settled at two hundred and ten thousand gold soul coins, and the transaction was completed at that staggering price.

After this transaction was completed, the atmosphere in the venue gradually returned to normal.

The fox girls were the second-to-last auction item. The finale item coming next should be even rarer, right?

Tie Li wondered curiously to himself.

"Next is our final auction item. I trust it will not disappoint everyone."

A skull appeared on the auction stage.

At first, everyone thought it was a soul bone, causing a commotion.

But there was no trace of soul power fluctuating from it, and it looked more like an ordinary soul beast skull.

"Although it isn't a soul bone, according to our appraisal, this skull may have come from a soul beast over fifty thousand years old. Its value is likewise considerable."

A chorus of boos rose from the crowd. If there had been a piece of flesh from a fifty-thousand-year soul beast on the auction stage, they might have bought it. But who would be such a sucker for a dried-up bone?

The auctioneer smiled bitterly to himself. The reason the auction house had placed the fox girls second-to-last was to use their sky-high price to raise the skull's value. But judging from the crowd's reaction, they clearly had no intention of falling for it.

"Starting bid: one thousand gold soul coins. Each raise must be no less than one hundred gold soul coins."

No matter what, it was a bone from a soul beast over fifty thousand years old. It had at least some collectible value.

"One thousand gold soul coins."

"One thousand one hundred gold soul coins."

There were still some people willing to bid on it, but everyone was clearly not very enthusiastic about the skull.

"Two thousand gold soul coins."

"Are you crazy?" Zhang Yang looked at Tie Li in disbelief. That was all his savings, wasn't it?

Tie Li's emotions were extremely conflicted right now. He hoped he could buy it, yet he also prayed that someone would offer a higher price.

Sometimes, people always believed they were the most special one. Tie Li was in exactly that state right now.

Please don't let anyone bid. Please don't let anyone bid!

Why is no one bidding? Just add another hundred gold soul coins!

But the truth was that after Tie Li placed his bid, no one was willing to raise it. An ordinary skull was not worth wasting too many gold soul coins on.

A sweet-looking, provocatively dressed attendant brought the auction item before Tie Li.

With a pang of heartache, Tie Li took out all the savings on him. Now, he only had a dozen or so silver soul coins left.

Tie Li was unwilling to accept it after getting the skull. He carefully inspected it again and confirmed that it was merely an ordinary skull.

Thinking about it, if there really had been anything unusual about it, the auction house's appraisers would have discovered it long ago. How could it possibly have fallen into his hands?

The only comfort he could give himself was that it had come from a soul beast over fifty thousand years old.

At worst, he could use it as forging material later and make himself a helmet or bracer. But two thousand gold soul coins was still far too great a price!

The auction ended, and the two returned to their dormitory. Still unwilling to give up, Tie Li picked up the skull and inspected it once more.

The result was exactly the same. It was just an ordinary skull.

Unwilling to accept it, Tie Li used the skull to stew soup, then gave Zhang Yang a bowl.

"Damn, you're treating me to this stuff?" Zhang Yang said with a look of disgust.

"It was stewed with two thousand gold soul coins! If it weren't for our friendship, do you think I'd be willing to treat you?" Tie Li immediately became displeased.

"No, thank you. You can drink it yourself, sir!" With that, Zhang Yang fled the dormitory.

Fine, he'd drink it himself!

There was a trace of disgust in his eyes, but when he thought about how it had cost two thousand gold soul coins, it did not seem quite so disgusting anymore.

He lifted the large bowl and drained the soup in one gulp.

It was still a soul beast skull, after all. The stew had a meaty fragrance.

After putting the skull back into his storage ring and clearing the bowls and chopsticks off the table to return them to the cafeteria uncle, Tie Li lay down on his bed to rest.

In his sleep, Tie Li felt an inexplicable heat inside his body, and he sweated quite a bit. When he woke up in the morning, however, he felt no discomfort at all.

"Hurry up, Kaiqi told us to go to the meeting room," Zhang Yang called from the doorway.

"Coming."

The Lin Wen and Lin Wu brothers had already set off. After putting on his team uniform, Tie Li followed Zhang Yang into the meeting room.

"Our opponent this afternoon is Noah Academy. I still want to hear your thoughts first."

The team's match had been scheduled for the afternoon, so Kaiqi had not called the team members to the meeting room yesterday. Instead, she had set the meeting for the next morning.

"This is the second round's elimination format. Losing one or two matches isn't too important, as long as we ensure our points don't place us among the bottom three, we can advance to the next round.

"I think we only need to send out one Soul Elder today. After all, in the previous round, the other side forfeited directly without our two Soul Elders even taking the field." Dolangbu spoke up with his usual analysis.

"Not bad. Go on." Kaiqi nodded, agreeing with Dolangbu's reasoning.

"According to the information provided by the Great Soul Arena, Noah Advanced Soul Master Academy has five Soul Elders, but they may not all appear in the elimination matches. At most, three Soul Elders will take the field.

"We don't have much chance of beating them. We can essentially concede to them halfway. The main reason to send out one Soul Elder is to confuse the other teams and make them think we're doing everything we can to fight Noah Academy."

"That makes sense. Our opponents are the other nine teams, not just Noah Academy." Kaiqi agreed.

"In the first round of soul fights, Tie Li, Cai Xin, and I have already been exposed. So in this round's nine-point elimination matches, it would be best for all three of us to be on the roster, reinforcing the other teams' established impression and making them think that we are indispensable mainstays."