Seizing

"Let's sit here. The auction will begin soon." Tang Ya casually pointed to some empty seats near the back.

"Sure."

As long as he could see the auction and bid, Jiang Mu was not picky.

He was not so particular that he had to sit in the front.

Everyone took their seats and waited for it to begin.

"Xiao Mu, why are we attending this?"

Jiang Nannan was not very interested in auctions. She did not like spending money.

She was a thrifty, home-oriented girl.

She did not place much importance on appearances. Otherwise, she would not be wearing such plain clothes all the time.

She was even less extravagant than Tang Ya.

"Mm, let's see if there's anything useful for you, Nannan."

Jiang Mu nodded and answered calmly. He truly had been thinking that.

"Oh, there's no need to spend money. Save it up. We can have a new home in the future, and didn't you say you wanted to build a faction? That will cost money too."

Jiang Nannan smiled sweetly and leaned further into Jiang Mu's arms, her tone brimming with happiness.

She did not need anything, but she liked the way Jiang Mu cared about her.

From their earlier conversation, it was clear that Jiang Nannan cared deeply about Jiang Mu. For example, she had remembered even a casual remark he had made.

Before Jiang Mu awakened his cheat, he had never mentioned building any faction.

He had only hoped to keep the people around him safe and live out the rest of his life peacefully with Jiang Nannan and Jiang Mu's mother.

The idea of building a faction had only emerged after he awakened his cheat. He had merely mentioned it in passing a few days ago, yet Jiang Nannan had remembered it and taken it seriously.

"Mm..."

The envy in Tang Ya's eyes was impossible to conceal when she saw this.

"Hehe, I have a bit of money myself. I can try to help bid for it."

Tang Ya had sold quite a few things for money. In order to revive the Tang Sect, she had saved up a considerable sum. To repay this life-saving debt, she had decided to take out all her private savings.

"Hehe, then I'll have to trouble you."

Whether they could win anything was another matter, but it was still kindness, so Jiang Mu let her do as she pleased. They might not even come across anything useful anyway. At least, that was how things looked for now.

The auction did not begin immediately. They had to wait for a while, and everyone sat quietly in boredom during that time.

Jiang Mu happened to have time to open the treasure chest the system had given him.

Whoosh~

The treasure chest opened.

Jiang Mu checked the rewards he had received.

There were two of them: one cultivation art and one Heavenly Secrets Stone.

The Heavenly Secrets Stone was easy to understand. It concealed heavenly secrets, hid traces, and obscured detection. It was highly useful in this Douluo II world where gods could descend through machines.

Rules-based abilities were not so easily broken or discovered.

Jiang Mu looked up at the cultivation art. Could it be some supreme art from another world that would speed up his cultivation?

With that strange thought in mind, he saw the name of the art.

Blood-Extraction Soul-Refining Creation-Seizing Art.

What a long name.

Jiang Mu curled his lips.

Did it just spell out its effects right in the name?

It sounded like some rather evil cultivation art, like something from a demonic sect in a cultivation world, or perhaps an Evil Soul Master from this world. Did it extract souls?

Jiang Mu stared at those words and fell silent in thought for quite a while.

"Can I extract them from afar?"

He muttered inwardly as he guessed.

Using the cultivation art to draw blood from a distance?

The more Jiang Mu thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Given the system's twisted sense of humor, it probably wanted him to torment them this way.

After all, they already wanted to kill him. How could he not target them properly?

Even if there was backlash, he had the tools on the Revenge List. Jiang Mu was not worried in the slightest.

Still, worry or not, such arts generally used blood extraction and soul refinement to strengthen oneself, absorbing another person's blood or soul. Jiang Mu found the thought somewhat nauseating.

Anyone who ended up on his list probably had disgusting blood and souls anyway.

He should study the cultivation art further. Judging it by the name alone was not enough.

[Retaliation from afar is the deadliest. Make good use of your cultivation art and abilities, and thoroughly torment those good brothers who made the list!]

It started with a joke, then followed with an explanation.

The explanation was simple. It was not what Jiang Mu had imagined. Using someone's soul was more like extracting another person's energy to replenish himself, while he used the energy he drew to create essence blood or souls.

At least there was a conversion process. That made Jiang Mu feel much better. He would not have to absorb those disgusting souls directly.

Just as he was still thinking, a sound suddenly rang out.

"Huff huff~"

Jiang Mu broke off his thoughts and looked up. Only then did he realize that a woman dressed rather provocatively had appeared on the previously empty auction stage, holding a voice-amplifying Soul Tool.

"Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I am the auctioneer for today's auction..."

The auction began. After a brief introduction, the auctioneer brought out the first item.

"This is a five-thousand-year left arm Soul Bone from an Iron Fist Gorilla. It provides a powerful enhancement to the arm. The starting bid is one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, and each increase must not be less than ten percent of the starting price."

Jiang Nannan was surprised to see that their item was the first one up for auction.

"I didn't expect our item to be first."

"It's enrollment season, so there are plenty of rich spenders. Naturally, they'll bring out some presentable items. Ours is only a thousand-year Soul Bone, so it belongs near the front. Still, I didn't expect it to be the very first."

This only meant that the auction house was confident that better items would appear later.

Or perhaps it was deliberate targeting, but either way, it did not matter.

Ten percent of the starting price was ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.

This was also the fee charged by the auction house. Under normal circumstances, it was only five percent. Ten percent of one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was ten thousand, while five percent was five thousand.

It was only natural for this auction house to raise prices at Shrek Academy. It was within expectations.

The people in some of the private rooms did not seem particularly surprised. This thousand-year Soul Bone had not attracted much of their attention.

Still, they began calling out bids.

"I offer one hundred and twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins."

If they won it, they could use it to recruit people for their sect or faction, offering it as a reward. It was neither too valuable nor too cheap, and a thousand-year Soul Bone was sufficient.

After all, some people might cultivate all the way to Soul Sage or Soul Douluo without ever touching a single Soul Bone.

Naturally, more than one or two groups shared that thought, and the bids quickly rose.

"Three hundred and fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins. Any higher bids?"

The auctioneer on the stage continued scanning the room, confirming whether anyone still wanted to bid.

Three hundred and fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins was already a high price for a thousand-year Soul Bone. It was only five thousand years old, after all, and it was a relatively common arm Soul Bone.

The price could not rise much further. Everyone was waiting for better items later on, so this was already the limit. No one spoke again.

"Alright, then congratulations to this buyer..."