East City Avenue, Spirit City.
A luxurious carriage rolled slowly along.
Before long, the carriage stopped before a peculiar building. The coachman climbed down, set out a small brocade footstool, and bowed.
"Madam, Young Master, Supervisor Xiao, we have arrived at the Seven-Star Auction House."
The curtain was lifted, and Xiao Kong, with a green and a red gourd hanging from his waist, stepped out first.
Xiao Kong ranked third in Xu Bayan's Blizzard Squad. His Martial Soul was the Wind Mane Hound, which possessed formidable tracking abilities. A Soul Sage, he currently served as a supervisor for the Xu Family, mainly acting as a guard.
Afterward.
Ning Fengyu, a beautiful woman wearing a lotus-white feathered dress, stepped down from the carriage as well, holding Xu Huxiao's hand.
Xu Huxiao had originally drawn up a new training plan for today and intended to stay home cultivating, but he could not withstand his mother's persistent coaxing. She insisted that he accompany her to visit the auction house in Spirit City.
And he had not come along for nothing. To get her son out of the house, Ning Fengyu had directly promised that anything Xu Huxiao took a liking to at the auction house—
No matter what it was, he could choose one item as a gift for obtaining his first Soul Ring and successfully advancing to a Soul Master.
That promise was no ordinary thing.
If it had been an ordinary shop, it would have been fine. At most, its goods would cost a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. But an auction house was different; all sorts of rare treasures were auctioned here.
There were countless items priced above a hundred thousand.
And there were quite a few treasures worth millions as well.
As Spirit City's premier auction house, the Seven-Star Auction House even had such rare treasures as Soul Bones.
Naturally, their prices were astronomical.
So, anyone who dared promise that he could freely choose something from an auction house had to possess immense wealth.
Ning Fengyu naturally had that confidence. Not only was she the younger sister of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's leader, the continent's richest man, but she was also the wife of a Spirit Hall elder.
With Flash Mongoose dead and Lei Dao seriously injured.
Although the Xu Family no longer controlled Spirit Hall's concrete powers, the Great Soul Arena shares and part of the auction house shares belonging to the Flash Marten Lin Family had both been swallowed by the Xu Family and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Their annual income in Gold Soul Coins now directly exceeded twenty million!
Thus.
Though the Xu Family's influence had weakened, its financial resources had grown even greater than before.
Faced with his mother's outrageously lavish promise, Xu Huxiao thought it over and could find no reason to refuse. Besides, he was somewhat curious about the auction houses of this world.
More importantly, he possessed the Eye of Omniscience. It could not only see information on Soul Beasts and Soul Masters.
With a single glance, he could obtain information on an item's value as well.
Perhaps he might find some useful treasure at this auction house.
He could also see whether there were any high-grade ingredients.
He would treat it as giving himself a day off.
Thinking this, Xu Huxiao looked at the peculiar building before him, shaped like an enormous diamond, his heart brimming with anticipation.
Seeing her son looking around everywhere, Ning Fengyu smiled.
"Well, sweetheart? Isn't it nice to come out for a walk? If you spend every day practicing martial arts in the Martial Arena, you'll train yourself stupid. Listen to your mother and come out to relax once in a while. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Mm."
"Come on, let's go inside. Tell Mother whatever you like, and we'll buy it. Spending money while treasure hunting is fun."
With that.
Under the guidance of a VIP receptionist, the three entered the auction house through a special red-carpeted passageway.
The auction house interior was exceptionally spacious, built with broad arches and a vast domed ceiling that emphasized layers of space and exquisite design.
The lighting, however, was rather dim.
Dark reliefs and exquisite murals stood beneath the enormous starry dome. Everywhere exuded an understated air of luxury, giving the guests within an inexplicable, mysterious anticipation for the items about to be displayed.
Xu Huxiao followed his mother to their exclusive VIP room on the second floor. This area was specifically prepared for guests with over a million Gold Soul Coins and a certain degree of influence.
The wall of the VIP room facing the central auction stage was completely transparent. Those inside could see outside, while those outside could not see in.
The overall atmosphere remained spacious and dimly lit.
Beneath the enormous starry dome.
A beam of Soul Tool light shone down from above onto the central auction stage. A sexy female host with long, wavy black hair stepped onto the stage.
The woman wore a black leather one-piece minidress. Her figure was lush and alluring, with broad swathes of snowy skin exposed and a deep cleavage faintly visible at her chest. Her hip-hugging skirt barely covered her plump, rounded buttocks, while her long legs were smooth and bare.
The moment this sexy female host appeared, cheers immediately erupted from the guests below.
Seeing the lively atmosphere below the stage, the hostess did not waste words. One auction item after another was continuously presented.
All kinds of Soul Tools, rare ores and materials, exquisite top-grade formalwear, rare Soul Beasts, works forged by master craftsmen...
Rare treasures of every kind appeared in turn.
The bidders below competed fiercely, but Xu Huxiao had no interest whatsoever in these items. The value column scanned by the Eye of Omniscience had not shown a single item worth more than five hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
The only category that interested him even a little was Soul Tools, but they were all for lighting, storage, and daily life. There were no offensive Soul Tools.
His mother, however, seemed to be having a wonderful time bidding. Especially for formalwear and household Soul Tools—whenever one appeared, she bought it, as though sweeping goods off the shelves of an ordinary shop.
Uncle Xiao beside them bought several canine Soul Beasts, along with a few bottles of fine aged wine.
Xu Huxiao was getting bored. He should have known he was better off cultivating at home. As expected, chance encounters and overlooked treasures had nothing to do with him.
Just as he was preparing to meditate in the VIP seats and cultivate his Soul Power, a three-meter-tall square box covered in black cloth was brought onto the auction stage below.
"The final auction item this morning is a secret treasure from the deep sea. Everyone, please take a look."
The sexy hostess lifted the black cloth. Under the glare of the Soul Tool lights stood an enormous transparent aquarium.
There was only one object within the aquarium.
An ancient, mottled Bronze Giant Clam floated in the center of the tank.
"A giant clam?! It's so huge—it must be over two meters long."
"This should count as a rare deep-sea Soul Beast, right? But what use is it?"
Cries of surprise came from below the stage as the hostess introduced it.
"Our auction house's deep-sea exploration team discovered it at the edge of the East Sea Trench. Everyone knows that the East Sea Trench is known as the Netherworld Abyss. Its depths are unfathomable, and no Soul Master who has entered it to explore has ever returned. Not even Soul Sages have been spared."
"Of course, our exploration team did not venture deep inside. Every year on the eighth day of the eighth month, the trench erupts with an Ocean Current Pulse. Under the churn of the Ocean Current Pulse, many things from within the sea abyss have a chance of being washed out."
"And this Bronze Giant Clam was one of the items brought out by this year's Ocean Current Pulse."
Someone below the stage asked, "Does this count as a marine Soul Beast? How old is it?"
The hostess spoke apologetically.
"Whether it is a Soul Beast or an inanimate object, we are sorry to say that we do not know."
"We exhausted every possible method and still could not open it. The only thing we can determine from the bronze rust patterns on its surface is that this giant clam has an ancient origin, exceeding Ten Thousand Years."
"Master appraiser Luo Wen has preliminarily assessed its value at over a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. If any of our honored guests are interested in this deep-sea curio, you may bid on it. Perhaps you will discover this giant clam's secret."
"The two hundredth auction item—Bronze Giant Clam from the Netherworld Abyss!"
"The starting price is one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, with each bid increasing by no less than five thousand. Honored guests, you may begin bidding."
Although the hostess described the giant clam as mysterious and immensely valuable, the people below showed little interest in an item of uncertain worth.
Some regular customers of the Seven-Star Auction House were even preparing to leave, because they knew that the final item in every Seven-Star Auction House session was always something whose value could not be appraised.
There were so-called meteorites from beyond the heavens, supposedly seen only once every five hundred years.
Ancient Soul Beast fossils.
Cold jade crystals of unknown effect from the Far North.
Ancient, damaged Soul Tools, and much more.
Though they were described mysteriously, such items actually only possessed collector's value and no practical value.
Basically, no one would buy such things to take home, unless they were Soul Masters with unusual collecting habits.
Shi Qi, the hostess, saw that no one was bidding, but she was not disappointed.
That was because this was the Seven-Star Auction House's tradition. The final auction item was always like this.
According to their boss, a high-end auction house could not stop at the surface. Aside from being valuable, its items also had to be unique curios that stirred the desire for exploration.
Only an auction house with such collectibles could be called a truly top-tier auction house.
And a starting price of a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, with each bid rising by no less than five thousand, was the minimum respect due to a curio.
Shi Qi felt that her boss was right, but the two enormous warehouses already filled with "curios" made the sexy woman feel that if her boss had a little less of that strange desire to explore, those warehouses might already be filled with glittering Gold Soul Coins instead.
"It seems this deep-sea curio has not sparked everyone's interest. Then..."
Just as Shi Qi was preparing to declare the item unsold, end that morning's auction, and place it in the new "curio" warehouse, a pleasant female voice rang out.
"Wait. I'll take this curio. One hundred thousand."
Shi Qi looked toward the voice. It had come from a VIP room on the second floor.
Sure enough, strange and bizarre things like these had to be sold to absurdly wealthy suckers!
Shi Qi immediately beamed. "Good! VIP Number Two bids one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Does anyone wish to raise the bid? One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going once. Going twice. Going three times!!"
Ding!
"Sold!"
The experienced hostess swiftly concluded the auction. One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins—someone had actually bought it! She had actually sold this piece of junk—oh, no, this "curio."
It was simply unbelievable.
In VIP Room Number Two, Xu Huxiao watched the auction end, equally unable to believe the information the Eye of Omniscience had revealed when he looked at the Bronze Giant Clam.
It had been he who told Ning Fengyu to bid one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins for the Bronze Giant Clam.
Although the giant clam was inside the aquarium and separated from him by the VIP room's transparent wall, preventing his line of sight from directly touching it, he had still obtained its information.
Ever since gaining these Eyes of Omniscience, Xu Huxiao had become increasingly skilled in using them. At certain times, he could now ignore barriers and obtain information.
[Item]: Demon Clam [Effect]: Seal [Value]: Immeasurable [Item Description]: Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Years... My mission is finally about to be completed!!
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