The Soul-Destroying Cannon and the Richest Beauty's Buying Power

The auction began. Mia, the chief auctioneer, had a sultry appearance and an exceptionally sweet voice. With theatrical flair, she introduced the day's first lot to the more than a thousand nobles and powerful figures gathered from across the continent.

It was a ten-thousand-year right arm bone from an earth-attribute Earth Sky Beetle King. It offered an enormous boost to strength, but the bone itself was badly incomplete: only the forearm remained, and even that was damaged. That was why this Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone had been placed first. It eventually sold for 2.3 million Gold Soul Coins.

The first lot had set the bar that high. Everything to follow would only grow more expensive.

Jiang Yu watched with keen interest, accepting a half of a peeled Crystal Sugar Tangerine from Ning Tian without taking his eyes off the auction.

Why only half?

The answer was simple: the other half had gone into Wu Feng's mouth.

When Jiang Yu noticed, he couldn't help thinking that Ning Tian had grown better and better at treating them equally over the years.

Over the next stretch of the auction, three more lots sold for high prices. Ning Yunxiu remained unruffled and placed no bids, while Jiang Yu's initial excitement slowly faded.

In the end, he felt as bored as he did when he accompanied Ning Tian and Wu Feng shopping.

Noticing his boredom, Ning Yunxiu smiled and said,

"At the top auctions held by the continent's major empires, the first five lots are only a warm-up. The real highlights come in the last five—or, more precisely, the final three."

As Ning Yunxiu finished speaking, the image on the screen before them changed. The water-attribute treasure vanished, replaced by a Soul Tool gleaming with the cold sheen of metal.

The Soul Tool was over two meters long and streamlined from end to end. A silver tube at the front appeared to be its barrel, while the rear was considerably thicker and engraved with dense patterns. Three sapphires were set into its uppermost surface, seemingly part of some kind of energy-storage device.

Jiang Yu stared at the Soul Tool for a moment.

There was one simple reason: it looked far too much like a rocket launcher from his previous life.

Mia's sweet voice rang out again.

"The fifth lot is the Soul-Destroying Cannon, a level-eight Long-Range Soul Tool. The materials used to make it are extraordinarily precious, surpassing even those of some level-nine Soul Tools."

"At full power, a direct hit from the Soul-Destroying Cannon is equivalent to an all-out strike from a level-ninety-five Super Douluo. Its creator also equipped this level-eight Soul Tool with three level-eight Energy-Storage Arrays, allowing a powerful expert to charge it with Soul Power before handing it to someone else to use."

"Esteemed guests, please look. Once charged, all three crystals light up. But do note that if only one Energy-Storage Array is used, the cannon's direct striking power drops to the equivalent of a Titled Douluo's all-out attack. Only when all three arrays are activated at once can the Soul-Destroying Cannon unleash its full power."

"Lastly, the Soul-Destroying Cannon comes from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy of the Sun Moon Empire. I trust our esteemed guests understand what that means."

When Mia finished speaking, the private box occupied by Jiang Yu and the others fell silent for a moment. Then Jiang Yu's eyes lit up.

The Soul-Destroying Cannon was not only powerful; its Energy-Storage Arrays could hold the Soul Power needed for an attack in advance. That meant it could be given to a low- or mid-level soul master to use.

Granted, doing so would place enormous demands on that soul master and carry considerable risk.

But a Soul Tool of this caliber would never be a routine weapon in the hands of a low- or mid-level soul master. Its greatest value lay in deterring enemies—or giving its wielder one desperate chance when their life was on the line.

With this thing, he might not be able to turn the tables against a powerful foe, but at least he would have a chance to take them down with him.

Having worked that out, Jiang Yu looked up at Ning Yunxiu with pleading eyes.

"Mom..."

Ning Yunxiu understood at once. She chuckled and asked,

"You want it to protect yourself?"

"Yes!" Jiang Yu nodded vigorously.

Ning Yunxiu considered it for a moment.

The higher the grade of a Long-Range Soul Tool, the more Soul Power its user had to inject and the greater the strain they had to endure. Even though the Soul-Destroying Cannon's Energy-Storage Arrays made it usable by a low-level soul master, its wielder still needed an exceptionally strong body.

If their body was too weak, whether the cannon would work as intended was beside the point. The sheer recoil alone could kill them.

But when Ning Yunxiu thought of Jiang Yu's body, which was like that of a little tyrannosaur in human form, she felt her concern was probably unnecessary.

As for the Soul-Destroying Cannon's steep price... Ning Yunxiu had only one thought: if it made her son happy, what did a little money matter?

"All right, Mom will buy it for you. But you have to promise me you won't use it unless you have absolutely no other choice."

Jiang Yu readily agreed to Ning Yunxiu's condition.

Ning Tian saw nothing unusual in this, but Wu Feng's mouth twitched.

The moment Jiang Yu had secured Ning Yunxiu's permission, he had shot her a pointed look.

That look might as well have told her to watch herself from now on. If she made him unhappy again, he would blast her with the Soul-Destroying Cannon.

Petty jerk!

He's actually holding a grudge!

You're just jealous Ning Tian dotes on me more!

Wu Feng silently scorned Jiang Yu, but she didn't dare let any of it show.

She was afraid that if she truly pushed him too far, he might blast her with the Soul-Destroying Cannon.

After all, Jiang Yu only looked easy to get along with. In truth, he was narrow-minded and never let a grudge go.

Bidding for the Soul-Destroying Cannon opened at five million Gold Soul Coins. After several rounds, the price had climbed to nearly seven million. Ning Yunxiu finally made her move—and when she did, she stunned the room.

In an instant, the seven-million figure became ten million.

What filthy-rich big shot was this!?

Someone had just raised the bid by three million Gold Soul Coins in one go...

The hundreds of private boxes fell silent. Many who had wanted the Soul-Destroying Cannon checked their funds, then thought of the even more precious lots still to come. In the end, they could only give up.

But that extravagant bid, made as though Gold Soul Coins were nothing, also let many people guess who had bought the cannon.

There were only a handful of powers across the three kingdoms that could spend ten million Gold Soul Coins without batting an eye. And only one would make chief auctioneer Mia consider a three-million-coin raise perfectly natural.

That was the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—or, more precisely, its current Sect Master, Ning Yunxiu!

Did they have any idea how much buying power the continent's richest beauty had!?

Many of the men and women who qualified to attend the auction but had no real chance of winning a bid fantasized about marrying Ning Yunxiu. Why, they would even be willing to break through to Titled Douluo on the spot and reach the pinnacle of life!

They would come out ahead either way.

After buying the Soul-Destroying Cannon, Ning Yunxiu watched the sixth and seventh lots appear: a complete left leg bone and a level-eight Trigger-Type Defensive Soul Tool.

The complete, high-quality left leg bone was valuable enough. But a level-eight Trigger-Type Defensive Soul Tool was exceedingly rare in the original three Douluo kingdoms. It could genuinely save its wielder's life in a crisis!

Both treasures were so rare that Ning Yunxiu bought them without even looking at the price.

Together, those two purchases cost more than twenty million Gold Soul Coins.

Even Jiang Yu clicked his tongue at the speed she was spending money. Ning Yunxiu, by contrast, remained perfectly composed, without the slightest sign of pain at the expense.

Just as Jiang Yu thought they had spent more than enough for one day, the ninth lot appeared. He sprang to his feet, unprecedented shock filling his eyes.