Heaven Dou Auction

"Why aren't you cultivating inside?" Lin Chen took the food box, his fingertips accidentally brushing her hand. The girl's hand was warm and soft.

"The mimic Soul Beasts in there are ugly as sin." Xiao Wu wrinkled her nose, then said with sparkling eyes, "This morning, instructor Qin said he'd be teaching about Soul Beast attributes and their compatibility with Martial Souls this afternoon. I want to listen. Will you come with me?"

Lin Chen had little interest in such basic theory. He had the whole body of Douluo knowledge in his head, and in his view, most of what instructor Qin taught barely scratched the surface and contained quite a few errors and omissions.

But looking at the anticipation in Xiao Wu's eyes, he swallowed the refusal on the tip of his tongue.

"All right."

In the theory classroom that afternoon, sunlight streamed through the window lattice and fell across the desks.

Instructor Qin stood at the front, explaining how Soul Masters of different types fused elemental power with their Martial Souls. The students listened intently.

Xiao Wu sat upright, the quill in her hand moving constantly as she took notes in her notebook in graceful handwriting. Lin Chen sat beside her, his eyes closed as he sensed the faint tremors of the Heaven-Slaying Sword in his dantian, when his arm was suddenly nudged.

"Brother Lin Chen, listen. Instructor Qin says Ultimate Attribute Martial Souls are very hard to come across." Xiao Wu lowered her voice and pointed her pen at a line in her book.

Lin Chen opened his eyes, glanced at it, and said quietly, "Ultimate Attributes have their own ranks. An innate Ultimate Attribute is entirely different from one tempered after birth. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's lightning, for example, only counts as a top-tier attribute, not an Ultimate Attribute. True ultimate lightning can burn away all Soul Power."

He hadn't spoken loudly, but Ye Lingling, sitting nearby, happened to hear him.

The girl, dressed entirely in white, turned her head, a hint of surprise in her cool eyes. "Lin Chen, you understand Ultimate Attributes too?"

"I know a thing or two." Lin Chen nodded calmly and offered a few casual pointers. "Your Nine Heart Begonia leans toward ultimate healing and follows a purely support-oriented path. For your Third Soul Ring, choosing a Holy Spirit Flower over a thousand years old would benefit you more than choosing an ordinary Beast Martial Soul."

Ye Lingling's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly thanked him. She had been fretting over her choice of Third Soul Ring, and Lin Chen's words instantly enlightened her.

Instructor Qin also noticed the commotion from the front of the classroom. He had been about to scold them, but when he saw that Lin Chen was the one speaking, he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. Ever since their last assessment spar, he had known that the young man was unfathomable, and that his theoretical knowledge was likely no less than his own.

The bell rang, and the students filed out. As Xiao Wu gathered her notes, she said with a smile, "Brother Lin Chen, you know so much. You explain it even better than instructor Qin."

"It's all basic knowledge. Come on, let's go back to the courtyard. Tonight I'll teach you a way to apply force in your soft techniques. Combined with your Teleportation, it'll make them thirty percent more powerful."

The setting sun stretched their shadows long as they walked one behind the other along the forest path.

Others saw only Lin Chen's extraordinary talent, but no one knew how hard he cultivated every day. Only Xiao Wu, who stayed by his side from morning to night, had seen him drenched in sweat at the mimicry field before dawn and seen him concentrating on working through Soul Skills under the lamplight late at night.

She knew that her brother Lin Chen would always be the strongest.

Heaven Dou City was especially bustling on the weekend.

Shops lined both sides of the main street, and vendors' cries rose and fell. Stalls selling sugar figurines, dough sculptures, and chilled sour plum soup stood one after another. Xiao Wu held Lin Chen's hand as they browsed and ate their way down the street, her hands full of purchases and a few crumbs of sugar still at the corner of her mouth.

"Brother Lin Chen, do you think this hairpin is pretty?" She stopped in front of a jewelry shop and picked up a silver rabbit hairpin, holding it against her hair with sparkling eyes.

"It's pretty." Lin Chen smiled and nodded, paid for it, and personally tucked it into her bun. "It suits you."

Xiao Wu's cheeks flushed slightly. She lowered her head and smiled with her lips pressed together, her fingers gently stroking the little rabbit on the hairpin.

After strolling along the main street, the two turned south toward the Heaven Dou Auction House.

The Heaven Dou Auction House was the largest trading venue for Soul Masters in Heaven Dou City. Five stories tall, it was an imposing sight. Using his chief core disciple token, Lin Chen took Xiao Wu straight into a VIP box on the second floor, which offered an unobstructed view of the entire auction platform.

"Welcome, honored guests. Today's lots include spirit herbs, ores, Soul Tools, and two thousand-year-old Snow Spirit Ginseng roots." The maid bowed as she served tea and refreshments, her tone respectful.

Lin Chen nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the auction platform. He hadn't come here to enjoy himself. Building a faction of his own required vast resources, and the Heaven Dou Auction House was the best channel for accumulating resources and searching out treasures.

The auction soon began. The first few lots were ordinary hundred-year-old spirit herbs and Soul Master weapons, and Lin Chen didn't bid on any of them.

Not until the seventh lot was brought out-a pale yellow spirit herb three inches tall, its leaves shimmering with fine golden veins. "The next lot is a thousand-year-old Marrow-Cleansing Spirit Herb. It can temper the body and clear the meridians. The starting bid is five hundred Gold Soul Coins."

Bids came from all across the floor. Marrow-Cleansing Spirit Herbs weren't rare, but thousand-year-old ones were uncommon.

"Six hundred." Lin Chen raised his bidding paddle.

The price climbed to a thousand before Lin Chen finally won it.

Xiao Wu tilted her head. "Brother Lin Chen, why did you buy that? Your body is already very strong."

"Of course it's for you. Your Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul is geared toward powerful close-range attacks, so physical strength is essential. Tempering your body with this Marrow-Cleansing Spirit Herb will take your stamina and explosive power up another level."

Warmth filled Xiao Wu's heart, and she leaned closer to him.

The next few lots were unremarkable, until a palm-sized gray crystal was brought out.

The crystal's surface was rough, its dull gray appearance utterly inconspicuous. Even the auctioneer's introduction was somewhat perfunctory. "An unidentified ore, hard in texture and suspected of having a spatial attribute. The starting bid is one hundred Gold Soul Coins."

Laughter broke out below. Spatial-attribute ores were incredibly rare. How could one possibly appear in an ordinary auction house like this? Everyone assumed the auctioneer was putting on an act to stir up interest.

Lin Chen's gaze sharpened.

Void Adamantine.

He recognized it. Ordinary as it looked, it was actually a top-grade natural treasure with a spatial attribute. Fusing it into a Martial Soul could increase the power of spatial Soul Skills, and it was even better suited to tempering the Chaos Pearl. In the hands of someone who knew its worth, it was worth at least ten thousand gold.

"One hundred and fifty." Lin Chen raised his paddle.

No one bid against him. They all thought he was a wealthy young man throwing money away on a curiosity.

In the end, Lin Chen acquired the Void Adamantine for the low price of one hundred and fifty Gold Soul Coins.

Halfway through the auction, Lin Chen used a trip to the lounge as an excuse and made his way around to a side room backstage.

A middle-aged man was already waiting there. He was the deputy sect master of the Azure Wind Sect, surnamed Wang. Lin Chen had sent word the day before, arranging to meet him here.

"Young friend Lin Chen, I've long heard of you!" Deputy sect master Wang beamed and cupped his hands in greeting. "You've accomplished so much at such a young age. Your future prospects are limitless."

The Azure Wind Sect was only a small, third-rate sect in the area around Heaven Dou, and it had long been looking for a backer.