The Temple Alliance Auction House

The Temple Alliance Auction House in Aimei City stood in the city center. Yue Shen and the others spotted the enormous white oval building from a long way off.

"It's much bigger than I imagined." Yue Shen looked at the crowds on the street. Most people who came to a place like this were members of the various temples, just like them.

Oh, and there were a few players who looked like country bumpkins, darting furtive glances around as their eyes lit up at everything they saw.

"Yue Shen, weren't you training in the Holy City all this time?" Lin Jialu noticed his reaction and asked curiously, "Have you never been to the Temple Alliance Grand Auction House in the Holy City?"

"Right." Li Xin looked equally curious. "I've also been wondering how a genius like you normally trained in the Holy City."

"Training in the Holy City must have been really tough, right?" Long Haochen's interest was piqued too. "Whenever my teacher gave me extra training, he always told me that training in the Holy City was much more intense than mine."

"I've never been," Yue Shen answered honestly. "The higher-ups at the Knight Temple wouldn't let me come to the attention of the other temples, so there are plenty of places in the Holy City I've never visited."

"As for my daily training routine in the Holy City..."

Yue Shen tilted his head up slightly, recalling the two years he had spent training in the Holy City.

At first, his routine had been to farm experience from Long Xingyu, learn hidden skills, and meditate.

Then it had become going out to have fun, going shopping, eating street food, going out... with the occasional meditation session thrown in.

Only after Wei Ping arrived had he returned to daily training, with the occasional sneaky outing for fun.

Yue Shen shook his head. That probably isn't the answer they want to hear. I need to find a way to make my training routine in the Holy City sound better.

"I was selected to go to the Holy City two and a half years ago." Yue Shen began telling them his story at a leisurely pace. "My hometown is Demon-Resisting Town, about seven hundred li from Haoyue City."

"I thought you'd grown up in the Holy City."

Li Xin looked surprised. She had never imagined that Yue Shen had started out with even less than they had, and that his own talent had earned him a place in the Holy City.

"Stop interrupting and let him talk," Lin Jialu said irritably, shooting Li Xin a glare.

"It's fine." Yue Shen thought for a moment before continuing, "When I first arrived in the Holy City, I really struggled to adjust to the training environment there."

Indeed, it had been so good that he struggled to adjust.

"And when I first got to the Holy City, the temple assigned me a very, very fierce instructor." Yue Shen instinctively glanced at Long Haochen. "When I first started training, he injured me almost every day. After training ended, someone would treat my external injuries, and at night I would meditate to cultivate my internal spiritual power."

"Gasp!"

Long Haochen and the others drew sharp breaths.

No wonder Brother Yue reached the fifth tier so quickly. Who would have thought that was how he'd spent those two and a half years in the Holy City?

Long Haochen clenched his fists, suddenly regretting that he had not devoted every possible moment in Haoyue City to training.

"All right, we're here." Lin Jialu explained, "This Temple Alliance Auction House in Aimei City might look pretty big, but the one in the Holy City is actually twice this size. I heard its auction hall can hold twenty thousand bidders at once."

Lin Jialu asked Yue Shen and the others to wait a moment while she bought their admission tickets.

Since the Temple Alliance Auction House had been established primarily to serve humanity's heroes, such as demon hunters and members of the Six Great Temples, it did not make money by charging commissions.

Instead, it made its profits by selling tickets. After all, not only were its venues large enough, but it also held a monopoly over the entire Temple Alliance's market. Ticket sales alone brought in a fortune.

An ordinary admission ticket cost one gold coin,

and the closer a seat was to the front, the more expensive its ticket became. Using one of the private boxes nearest the central auction floor cost at least a thousand gold coins per visit. Moreover, the Temple Alliance Auction House held auctions every day, making it a bustling place every evening.

Nor were members of the Six Great Temples the only people who visited the auction house. Some of the Federation's wealthier citizens came to browse as well.

After buying the tickets, Lin Jialu handed the numbered bidding paddles she had received to Yue Shen, Long Haochen, and Li Xin.

"Let's go in now," Li Xin said. "Haochen, Yue Shen, let's take the Verdant Twin-Blade Demon corpses in for appraisal first. They should be able to go up for auction today."

Upon entering the Temple Alliance Auction House, they first came to a large lobby. A passage in the center led to the auction hall, while tall display counters lined either side, filled with all kinds of crystals and equipment.

At least a dozen guards on each side of the counters maintained order. Besides warriors clad in leather armor, there were several mages wearing robes.

Yue Shen scanned the guards with the Identification Tool and discovered that their average strength was around the fourth tier.

The Temple Alliance Auction House really is loaded. Hiring these fourth-tier professionals as guards must cost a fortune!

Looking at the few gold coins in his Spatial Bag, Yue Shen shook his head, wanting to cry but unable to muster the tears.

Fortunately, he would soon become a demon hunter. Once he started taking missions, he figured he would become wealthy sooner or later.

They approached the counter responsible for appraising items and joined the back of the line.

"Brother Yue, what are you looking at?" Long Haochen noticed that Yue Shen kept studying the people around them as though searching for someone, and could not help asking.

"Nothing." Yue Shen merely shook his head. "I'm just looking around."

How strange. Someone with long green hair ought to be easy to find in a crowd.

Yue Shen scratched his head. So far, he had already seen no fewer than several dozen green-haired heads. A few of their owners looked shifty enough that they were probably players.

Since the people who came here to have items appraised were almost all professionals from the Six Great Temples like them, the line was short, and their turn soon arrived.

"Hello, we'd like to auction two demon corpses," Yue Shen told the middle-aged appraiser standing behind the counter.

"Certainly."

The middle-aged appraiser nodded, then pressed a button on the counter. The walls on either side of it slowly lowered, each forming a platform three meters wide.

"Just place them here." The appraiser adjusted his glasses and gestured for Yue Shen and the others to set the two demon corpses on the platforms.

Yue Shen stepped forward and took the Quasi-Gold-Patterned Twin-Blade Demon's corpse out of his Storage Ring, placing it on the platform.

"Huh?"

The middle-aged appraiser let out a startled sound at the sight and hurried over to Yue Shen.

"Is this a Gold-Patterned Twin-Blade Demon?"

The appraiser produced a magnifying glass from somewhere, bent down, and carefully examined the pale golden markings on the corpse.