Treasure Sword Auction House
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. When night fell, Su Tianyu arrived at the Treasure Sword Auction House and joined the line.
After a member of the auction house staff verified that he had enough Gold Soul Coins, they handed him a small bronze-colored card.
Su Tianyu took the card and looked it over for a while. Unable to find any information on it, he slipped it into his pocket and headed inside.
He passed through the magnificent, gilded corridor of the hall and pushed open a large door. A vast space suddenly opened up before him: a huge hemispherical structure made entirely of colored glass, dozens of meters high, with two levels along its perimeter.
The lower level contained private boxes reserved for nobles from the two great empires and Soul Masters willing to spend money. But the exquisite boxes on the top level were not accessible with Gold Soul Coins alone.
To enter a box on the top level, one needed to have reached the Soul Saint level of cultivation and possess a certain status or background on the Douluo Continent. Otherwise, one could only obediently spend Gold Soul Coins to buy a private box on the lower level. As for the auction hall on the lowest floor, entry was granted once the staff had verified one's funds.
Su Tianyu looked up at the exquisite boxes on the two levels, then down at the rows of chairs in the hall. The difference was no small one. He found a seat near the edge, closed his eyes to rest, and patiently waited for the auction to begin.
Not long after he sat down, merchants from the two great empires began to trickle in through the main door. Quite a few commoner Soul Masters entered as well and took seats in the spacious hall. Before long, the hundreds of chairs were full.
Just then, an elderly man in a splendid uniform emerged from another magnificent, gilded doorway. Accompanied by the respectful gazes of the staff, he made his way to a box on the top level. Immediately afterward, an approachable middle-aged man with a kindly expression appeared before the hundreds of people in the hall.
"I never expected to see the city lord at the auction. I hear he has a reputation for kindness, helping commoners and Soul Masters from poor and vulnerable groups in particular. He's a city lord known as a good man throughout the continent."
"Yes, the lord of Treasure Sword City is a noble who's approachable and close to the common people. Plenty of Soul Masters who come to Treasure Sword City to do business have broken the rules, and the city lord has had them thrown into prison, standing up for commoner Soul Masters like us who do business. The city lord really is a very, very good man."
People throughout the auction hall leaned toward one another, whispering and sharing what they had seen and heard in Treasure Sword City. Many who had received the city lord's care looked gratefully at the lord of Treasure Sword City as he came through the entrance. Their bodies trembled, and they were only a step short of dancing with excitement, looking for all the world like fans who had just met their idol in person.
When the lord of Treasure Sword City saw the excitement on everyone's faces, he raised a hand and waved to them. At once, many of the commoner Soul Masters in the hall grew even more excited, looking at him with tears in their eyes.
With everyone watching him off, the lord of Treasure Sword City finally stepped onto the stairs leading to the upper boxes.
"Brother, why do you all look ready to burst into tears at the sight of the city lord? Do you really respect him that much?"
Su Tianyu looked at the commoner Soul Masters in the auction hall, every one of them red-eyed, and found himself at a loss over their reaction. Seeing such a scene on the Douluo Continent, where the strong preyed on the weak and the fittest survived, astonished him as a transmigrator. He immediately turned and asked a young man with Soul Power beside him.
The young man began gesturing excitedly at Su Tianyu's question. "The city lord is one of the few people who stand up for commoner Soul Masters. He's practically our faith. If anyone speaks ill of him in Treasure Sword City, the commoner Soul Masters are bound to shun them. Little brother, you'll come to know that the city lord is perfect in every way."
Seeing how excited the young man was, Su Tianyu chose not to ask any more questions. It would be bad if he accidentally said something wrong and earned their hostility; that would be a setback to his plans to live peacefully in Treasure Sword City.
Before long, as the time for the auction drew near, the hall and the private boxes on both levels filled with people. Then the lights in the hall suddenly went out.
An auctioneer in a long golden dress slowly emerged from behind the auction platform. Under the soft, cool-toned light, she looked especially beautiful and captivating.
"Welcome, honored guests who have traveled from afar. I am Su Mei, the auctioneer of the Treasure Sword Auction House. We will now begin the auction of today's first item.
"This item came from the depths of the sea. A Sea Soul Master happened to dredge it up and sold it to the auction house. This piece of Deep Sea Cold Iron is a key material used by many smiths to forge precious armor, so the starting bid is two thousand Gold Soul Coins, with each increase no less than one hundred Gold Soul Coins."
Su Mei smiled sweetly at the hall and the private boxes above as she explained the properties and origin of the Deep Sea Cold Iron.
She then clapped her hands. Two staff members came out from behind the auction platform carrying a tray. After placing it on the display stand, they lifted the red cloth to reveal a piece of metal with a pale blue current flowing across its surface for the honored guests in the hall to inspect.
I never expected the first auction item to be a piece of Deep Sea Cold Iron. This finally solves the problem of making arrowheads for the Godly Zhuge Crossbow. This Deep Sea Cold Iron can pierce through the Soul Power that protects a Soul Master's body.
Su Tianyu gazed calmly at the Deep Sea Cold Iron on the auction platform, his expression showing no other change.
Once the auctioneer had finished introducing the item, people in the hall began calling out bids. Two voices were louder than the rest, and when the others saw their faces, they all chose to stop bidding. Evidently, the two held some standing among the blacksmiths of Treasure Sword City. They were probably both master blacksmiths.
Damn it. The people who come to an auction like this naturally have a seasoned eye. Precious metals will be bought up by these high-status blacksmiths, and the inferior items left to make up the numbers will naturally go unsold.
Su Tianyu's expression grew increasingly grave as he carefully weighed whether buying the Deep Sea Cold Iron would offend any noble Soul Masters of high standing.
Seeing that no one on either of the two upper levels had bid, Su Tianyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He did not dare offend the nobles in the boxes above him now. If a noble without eyes happened to bid against him, Su Tianyu could not possibly give up the Deep Sea Cold Iron, and he would surely offend a noble Soul Master with a powerful background.
While Su Tianyu waited, the price of the Deep Sea Cold Iron rose to a high six thousand Gold Soul Coins. The two master blacksmiths presumably did not want to give up this hard-to-come-by cold iron.