Book 12: The Strength of the Preparatory TeamHuo Yuhao nodded his head slightly and said a few words to her in a low voice. Ling Luochen was dazed for a moment. Following that, her expression changed. Finally, she sighed in exasperation and mumbled, “What"s meant to be yours will be yours. What"s not meant to be yours won"t be yours. We can"t force things.”
Huo Yuhao comforted her, “Senior, I am not 100% confident either. If we are able obtain this soul bone, you can try it first. If it doesn"t work out for you, you can then pa.s.s it to me.”
Ling Luochen shook her head and touched Huo Yuhao"s head. She said, “There"s no need to. I was just being greedy. I believe your words. If possible, you can cultivate a few times with me in the future when you have the time.”
Before Huo Yuhao even opened his mouth, w.a.n.g Dong forced his jacket towards him. “Put it on. What are you trying to achieve by being naked? Do you want our eyes to suffer?”
As he interrupted, they deviated from the subject that they were on.
At this moment, the door opened, and Qing Ya returned to the room. What was unexpected was that the person who followed her was Princess Jiu Jiu, the chief auctioneer of the Starlight auction House, who still wore her long, red dress.
Upon seeing her, everyone stood up. As she was a princess and this was the Star Luo Empire, everyone had no choice but to accord her the respect she deserved.
At close range, the beauty of this princess was astonishing. Her almost flawless face left everyone dizzy. Fortunately, this room already had a ravishing beauty in Jiang Nannan, which relieved a little of the amazement that everyone felt.
Princess Jiu Jiu bowed slightly to everyone, then asked anxiously, “Who is the distinguished guest that claims that our Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone is flawed?”
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “It"s me.”
Princess Jiu Jiu sized him up for a moment before saying, “What"s the problem? You are an Ice Jade Scorpion soul master?”
Huo Yuhao nodded his head and said, “Yes. There"s nothing wrong with this soul bone.”
“Oh?” Princess Jiu Jiu"s huge beautiful eyes flashed with a chill, and she said in a low voice, “Why is there nothing wrong with it again?”
Huo Yuhao said, “I am referring to the soul bone when I say that nothing is wrong. The person absorbing the soul bone is the one with the problem. This soul bone can"t be absorbed by just anyone.”
As the royal princess and chief auctioneer, Princess Jiu Jiu was a very restrained person. But now that she was pressed for time, and this concerned the success of the auction, she could not help but feel anxious. Her tone hardened. “I know that not everyone can absorb this soul bone. Only ice-type soul masters and those with a cultivation capable absorbing soul bones of 50,000 years and above can try. Are you pointing out this problem?”
Huo Yuhao said, “The limitations of this soul bone don"t end there. I believe that Your Highness doesn"t really understand the Ice Jade Scorpion clan. As the strongest species in the Extreme North, the Ice Jade Scorpions have always been very proud. Furthermore, they currently possess the strongest ice available. Hence, there is always a special requirement in order to absorb everything that they produce, including soul rings and soul bones.”
As he spoke till this point, Huo Yuhao reviewed what the Ice Empress had said to him earlier, “To absorb the soul bones of us Ice Jade Scorpions, you humans will need Ultimate Ice, regardless of what type of soul bone you want to absorb. Without the Ultimate Ice physique, it"s impossible to absorb a soul bone produced by an Ice Jade Scorpion. This is the pride of the Ice Jade Scorpions!”
He had also related this reasoning to Ling Luochen, which had dispelled her desire for this soul bone.
“What is the special requirement?” Princess Jiu Jiu calmed down. Before entering, she had already known who was inside the room. The members of Shrek Academy never spoke without thinking.
Huo Yuhao said in a deep voice, “Ultimate Ice. Without an Ultimate Ice physique, it"s impossible to absorb this soul bone.”
“That"s impossible.” Princess Jiu Jiu reacted almost instantly, “Since when have the requirements for a soul bone been so high? Doesn"t this mean that no one can absorb it?”
Huo Yuhao calmly said, “This is the pride of the Ice Jade Scorpions. Furthermore, it doesn"t mean that no one can absorb it just because it"s difficult to. I"m saying all this out of goodwill, as I don"t want the credibility of your auction house to be undermined. Whether you believe me or not is up to you. I have said my piece. Your Highness, you can continue with the auction.”
Princess Jiu Jiu creased her brows and clenched her fists subconsciously. One could see her internal struggle at this point.
It was true that Huo Yuhao"s words were one-sided. However, Qing Ya did mention to her that Huo Yuhao"s martial soul was an Ice Jade Scorpion. It was normal that he would know a lot about the soul bone of an Ice Jade Scorpion. However, this would spoil her original plan. Moreover, it would be a major flaw in this top-ranked auction.
Not forgetting her status as the chief auctioneer, she took in a deep breath and calmed down. After greeting Huo Yuhao with a palace formality, she said, “Thanks for telling me all this. Time is tight, and I will deal with this matter immediately. If I"m being rude, I hope that everyone can forgive me.” After she finished, she turned around and left in a hurry.
Qing Ya only returned to the room after seeing Princess Jiu Jiu out. She wore a gloomy expression.
w.a.n.g Yan smiled and tried to comfort her. “Qing Ya, this has nothing to do with you. Don"t fret too much.”
Qing Ya shook her head and said, “This concerns the credibility of our auction house! It"s also a very big thing. The starting bid for this soul bone was initially going to be set at over 10 million golden soul coins. There has never been a case of anyone having any problems with our auction items that cross the 10 million mark.”
w.a.n.g Yan replied, “It"s better to discover earlier than not to discover it at all. At least there"s still room to rectify the problem, since it"s yet to be auctioned out,.”
On the other side, Princess Jiu Jiu went further in after she exited the previous room. She came before a door that was numbered 1 at the very end of the hallway. Without even knocking on the door, she pushed with her right hand, and the door slid open to one side. She walked in hurriedly.
“Brother, we have an issue.”
There was only one man seated in this room. He was tall and upright, and he wore a long, black robe. Besides him, there were no other people around, not even maids. However, if one saw the appearance of this man, he would be horrified. That"s because this man was the Star Luo Emperor.
After he saw Princess Jiu Jiu entering the room, the Star Luo Emperor said in a low voice, “I know that something has gone wrong. Otherwise, you wouldn"t have extended the time for the guests to appreciate the item. What"s wrong?”
Princess Jiu Jiu repeated Huo Yuhao"s words to him.
After hearing her words, the Star Luo Emperor shook his head and laughed after a momentary daze. “I still wanted to deliver them a favor, but who knew that this favor would be lacking? Go and settle it. In a while, I will go to meet them, and deliver this favor properly.”
Princess Jiu Jiu nodded as she understood his hint. “Brother, are they worth it? If we do it this way, the auction house will sustain considerable losses.”
“Of course they are. We can even kill two birds with one stone. It"s necessary to improve our ties with Shrek Academy. In recent times, the Sun Moon Empire has not been very attuned to peace. The Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall has also produced items that have invoked a sense of crisis within me. Once there"s movement by the Sun Moon Empire, we"ll be the first on the receiving end. When that time comes, Shrek Academy will be the first to be able to help us. Furthermore, the youth that I noticed even once sparked a conference within the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion. He has twin martial souls and an ultimate ice martial soul. Doesn"t that make it necessary for us to build up our ties with him? More importantly, he is under the rule of our empire as indicated in his registration information in Shrek Academy. For such a talent, I believe that he"ll grow closer to us even if we don"t use him. Go, we don"t have much time left.”
“Alright.” Princess Jiu Jiu"s eyes flashed with radiance, and her mind floated with the image of Huo Yuhao"s confidence earlier. She couldn"t believe that he wasn"t even 13 years old. But he was very calm earlier!
After the 20 minutes of appreciation time was up, Huo Yuhao was surprised that the auction was not affected by his words earlier. It continued to be held.
The starting price of the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone reached over 12 million. Every increase had to be no less than 50,000 golden soul coins. For such a high price, everyone from Shrek Academy was stunned.
After w.a.n.g Yan gritted his teeth and made 2 bids, he couldn"t carry on anymore, and had to give up. While Shrek City was wealthy, the taxes that it collected in a year was only a mere few hundred million golden soul coins. For such a treasure that was priced in the millions, it could be the treasure of a city. The amount of money involved meant that w.a.n.g Yan was not exactly in a position to make any calls.
The greatest source of money for Shrek Academy did not come from the taxes collected from Shrek City. They came from the monetary rewards obtained when the powerful individuals from Shrek Academy carried out missions or hunted soul beasts outside. For example, if the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion in Shrek Academy was willing to act, it was not difficult to hunt and kill a hundred thousand year soul beast. The value of a hundred thousand year soul beast was very difficult to measure in terms of money.
However, in the past thousand years, Shrek Academy had toned down this aspect of their work. The most important reason for doing so was because they did not want to rile up the Great Star Dou Forest. If it did, the situation would be dire. Even if Shrek City could be preserved, the surroundings cities and villages around the Great Star Dou Forest would still be destroyed. Hence, Shrek Academy did not hunt and kill soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest even though it was lucrative. They would only do so to help increase the soul rings of their students if they needed one.
The price of the soul bone soared. It indeed attracted a lot of attention. When the price of the soul bone reached 15 million, the sudden shout of a figure caused everyone to be appalled.
30 million!
The number 30 million had appeared on the soul screen. Who said numbers were simple? By looking at this frightening number, all of the Shrek"s Seven Monsters started to breathe more anxiously. This figure was enough to buy a mid-sized city! The number referred to golden soul coins too, and not silver or bronze soul coins. The purchasing power of a golden soul coin was enough to buy 150 loaves of bread. It was not simple for even a country to fork out such a sum, but right now, this figure was used to bid on a soul bone. Who could be so wealthy?
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