The next 6 auction items passed by quickly and Shrek Academy bought the three items out of the six.
The second item, items really, that they bought was 12 stationary soul cannon shells that were, again, imported from the Illustrious Virtue Hall. Wang Yan bought it at the price of 655,000 golden soul coins, as they were important research material for the Soul Engineering Department.
Huo Yuhao wanted to research such fine materials as well, but decided to just let his clones do the work later on.
The rest of the five auction items are as follows: a left arm bone, a right arm bone, a right leg bone, a piece of rare metal and a long-range Class 8 soul tool.
The third one was a ten thousand year old Hellhound's right leg bone, a powerful soul beast that uses the elements of both darkness and fire. They're usually found around extremely hot or dark environments—like volcanoes.
The right leg bone's ability, analyzed by the auctioneers, was that it could summon up to five large flaming pillars in a 100 diameter range around the user whilst cloaking the user in a dark-red aura — momentarily diminishing their presence.
Ning Tian bought the Hellhound's right leg bone for 6.3 million golden soul coins for Wu Feng, as it suited her.
Wu Feng was extremely grateful towards Ning Tian and gave her a hug, which she reciprocated happily.
She then looked incredibly smug towards Wang Dong'er, as if saying—'I got an extremely rich friend! What about you?'.
It would've been perfect for Ma Xiaotao as well, but she held back on bidding for it as her teacher, Dean Yan Shaozhe, had already promised to find her a suitable complete set of soul bones.
And she knows that her teacher is a slight perfectionist, he would spare no effort on collecting soul bones that were at least 50,000 years old for her.
Wang Dong'er was feeling slightly irritated at Wu Feng's provocation and had bid for the piece of rare metal for 1.2 million golden soul coins and said it was for Huo Yuhao.
This piece of rare metal was called Ten Thousand Mystic Cold Ore; this type of metal is extremely rare and could only be found in the deepest cold environment. A great example would be the Extreme North, but it would be located in the core region and thousands of feet deep in the cold tundra.
The one shown in the auction was as large as a basketball and weighed around 150kg. The Ten Thousand Mystic Cold Ore is useful to ice and water type soul masters as a cultivation resource—just by having it beside them. But it is mostly used to be forged as ice-type soul tools.
Huo Yuhao didn't ask for it, but he wasn't going to deny such a gift. This type of metal is useful to Frostbane. He gratefully thanked Wang Dong'er.
"No problem, Yuhao."
Wang Dong'er sweetly smiled at him before glancing at Wu Feng, as if saying—"I got cash too, bitch".
The two glared at each other.
'They're really close friends,' The observant Qing Ya slightly smiled at the interaction between Wang Dong'er and Wu Feng.
Huo Yuhao hummed and muttered, "Senior brother Caitou, what's the Illustrious Virtue Hall? Most of the soul tools and soul bones being presented here seem to be imported from that place."
He Caitou had a serious look on his face as he explained, "The Illustrious Virtue Hall is basically the inner courtyard of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy—only the most outstanding students are allowed to enter for cultivation and studies. At the same time, they are the cardinal authority in forging and manufacturing soul tools. All the soul tools produced by the Illustrious Virtue Hall overflow with excessive demand the moment they hit the market."
Qing Ya smiled faintly and chimed in. "What little brother said is right, and the most powerful soul engineers are concentrated there as well. Over the years, most of the epoch-making soul tools originated from the Illustrious Virtue Hall."
"One can well say that the Illustrious Virtue Hall is like the most important ivory tower of the Sun Moon Empire. Their technologies regarding the development of soul tools are also the most advanced on the continent."
Huo Yuhao nodded in understanding and inwardly promised to scout that place out when he visits the Sun Moon Empire.
Jiu Jiu appeared for the eighth time on the screen as she said with a smile, "The following two items will be the main stars of today's auction. I believe that every single one of you will be interested in them, so seize this chance."
After Xu Sanshi curiously made a small inquiry about her identity, the rest of team Shrek knew of her identity as the youngest sister of the current Stat Luo Empire Emperor.
"You may only see these items once, and you may not find a second chance to see them on the entire continent. Our eighth auction item is one such example. While it's still a soul bone, it is different from the rest. Please, take a look."
Light flashed, and the image of a soul bone, which was maximized many times over, appeared on the soul screen.
This soul bone was completely emerald green. An emerald green halo swirled and pulsed around it, as if it were filled with emerald-green liquid.
From its external appearance, it appeared to be a left arm bone. On top of its emerald green body, it gave off a faint, white mist.
"How is this possible...?"
"Raaaaugh! Bastard!"
The moment the soul bone appeared on screen, two voices rang out simultaneously in Huo Yuhao's brain. The first one belonged to the Skydream, and the second one naturally belonged to the Ice Empress.
Huo Yuhao was startled by their sudden reaction, particularly that of the Ice Empress. He could feel her rage.
"What's the matter, Ice Empress?" Huo Yuhao asked quickly.
The Ice Empress did not respond. Huo Yuhao could feel her rage increasing exponentially.
At this moment, Princess Jiu Jiu's alluring voice rang out. "Honored guests, I am proud to introduce this soul bone to everyone."
"Everyone knows that, to a soul master, the most valuable item is either a hundred thousand years soul ring, or a hundred thousand year soul bone. It is extremely rare for these two items to appear at the same time during an auction."
"Even for our Starlight Auction, such premium items have yet to exist. After all, no matter who possesses these items, he or she will not choose to auction them off, but instead use them to create an elite."
"However, the bone that is before everyone is the most premium bone to have appeared in our Starlight Auction in recent years, one that we were reluctant to auctioned off due to its limiting factor that only ice-type soul masters are capable of absorbing it."
"Ladies and gentlemen I present this soul bone, one ranging from 50,000 to 70,000 years old, originating from the Extreme North—the left arm soul bone of an Ice Jade Scorpion!"
The moment Princess Jiu Jiu said the three words 'Ice Jade Scorpion', everyone's gaze fell onto Huo Yuhao.
Everyone looked surprised, as they all knew what Huo Yuhao's second martial soul was. No one, however, thought that the eighth item up for auction would be the same as Huo Yuhao's second martial soul! Obviously, if Huo Yuhao obtained the soul bone, he would be its best fit.
Huo Yuhao was struck by a sudden realization. 'No wonder Skydream was shocked, and the Ice Empress was filled with rage. This left arm bone came from her fellow tribesmen!'
Princess Jiu Jiu continued, "As most of you have already known, the Ice Jade Scorpion is one of the strongest species in the Extreme North, due to their leader—the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion."
"As they live in groups, it's a miracle that someone could kill one from a pack of them. This is more difficult than killing a hundred thousand year soul beast from the Great Star Dou Forest."
"And as some of you have already guessed, an exploration team was sent out a few months ago when a strange event had occurred in the Extreme North. This exploration team is responsible for bringing in three auction items—the last one is the final item in our auction."
'Strange event?' Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes. When he fused with Ice Empress? To think their fusion process would be felt so far out.
But it wasn't just his fusion with Ice Empress, but as well as the sealing of the Ice God Bone in his left arm.
Princess Jiu Jiu further gave more explanations about the soul bone, specifically the soul skill it could give the user—Ice Explosion. As the name suggests, as long as there's ice, it could explode.
Unbeknownst to the Starlight Auction House, the Ice Explosion skill was rarely seen even in the Ice Jade Scorpion clan. Even as their leader, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion did not possess such a skill among her skillset.
To further illustrate its killing power, Ice Empress had to say this,
'If I had this skill, I might be able to challenge the Snow Empress and probably come out as the victor.'
The Snow Empress was known as the third strongest soul beast on the continent, known as a Great Beast.
Great Beasts are soul beasts who have transcended beyond a hundred thousand years old, these creatures hold untold power—even the lowest ranked Great Beast isn't any inferior to a Transcendent Douluo!
Over the years of accumulated research, people have given a sort of ranking between these Great Beasts—The Top Ten Strongest Great Beasts on the continent.
And in that ranking, the Snow Empress reigns as the third strongest soul beast.
To give more perspective, Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, a 400,000 year old soul beast, was put at rank 8.
For her to become this confident with this Ice Explosion skill, then he must have it!
'But then again, I don't have the money...' Huo Yuhao inwardly groaned, was he really going to resort to borrowing money again or stealing the soul bone?
After sensing Huo Yuhao's hesitation, the Ice Empress gradually calmed down and let out a cold snort. "Well, then don't buy it. Let someone buy it for us, we'll then take it from their cold corpse for free."
'Ice Empress, what do you mean?'
"Do you think that the soul bones produced by Ice Jade Scorpions can be absorbed so readily by anyone? Everything in that auctioneer's introduction was just conjecture. How is anyone clearer than me about the special characteristics of Ice Jade Scorpions? Her mistake lay in her claim that fusing with this soul bone can increase the ice-type power of one's body. Do you know why she's wrong?"
Huo Yuhao thought about it for a moment and made a guess, '....Could it be, only those who has Ultimate Ice could absorb it?'
The Ice Empress nodded, "You guessed correctly. 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!"
Huo Yuhao pondered for a moment and a scheme formed in his mind, his lips tugged into a cunning smirk.
"Qing Ya, I have a question." Huo Yuhao spoke, turning towards Qing Ya.
Everyone's attention was on him.
Qing Ya smiled and nodded at him, "Please feel free to ask, my distinguished guest."
Huo Yuhao casually said, "Can you stop this auction temporarily? There's something wrong with your auction item."
After he spoke, everyone present was stunned. They did not expect him to raise his suspicions with the auction house.
Qing Ya's expression changed, "My distinguished guest, that's impossible. All our auction items have been through stringent checks and tests. They are all problem-free for sure. Which auction item are you referring to anyway?"
"I'm referring to the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone that was just presented. Trust me, this will put the name of your auction house at stake. If such an item is auctioned out for an exorbitant price, and something went awry, I'm afraid..."
Huo Yuhao shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against the sofa, "Well, if you can't make a decision, please ask someone who has the authority to come out now."
Qing Ya furrowed her brows even further and turned to Wang Yan, as if she was looking for his help.
Wang Yan laughed gently and said, "Qing Ya, you don't have to look at me. I trust in the judgement of my students. If there's anyone who has the right to claim that this 8th auction item is flawed, it's him. Yuhao, show her."
Huo Yuhao huffed and stood up, turning his back. He stripped his jacket off and passed it to Wang Dong'er. After that, he removed his shirt and revealed his firm upper body, muscular and fit, yet not too bulky—it was as if his body was sculpted by the Gods themselves.
Qing Ya and the rest of the girls were momentarily stunned, seemingly enchanted by the perfect physique that were shown before them.
'Abs...' Wang Dong'er, Wu Feng and the rest barely contained their drool as they were staring at Huo Yuhao's front.
'My lord...! Thank you!!' Ling Luochen cried out of joy and happiness, pressing her hands against her lips to hold back her scream.
'Hmm. Soon~' Ma Xiaotao bit down on her lower lips, subtly rubbing her legs together.
Some of the guys started feeling inadequate all of a sudden.
Huo Yuhao didn't notice it as he was focused on activating his martial soul.
Bluish-gold soul power surged, a black soul ring rose from beneath his feet. The temperature in the entire room dipped at an alarming rate. Following that, a tattoo of a huge scorpion appeared on his back.
"T-This is…" Qing Ya was stunned as she looked at Huo Yuhao's back.
Wang Yan explained, "Qing Ya, the martial soul of this student of mine is the rare Ice Jade Scorpion. It originates from the same soul beast as the soul bone that is on auction. Thus, I believe his judgment when he says that this soul bone is flawed. For the sake of the reputation of this auction house, I think it's best for you to ask for advice from your superiors."
Qing Ya did not hesitate any further, and nodded her head.
"Distinguished guests, please wait for a moment." After she finished saying that, she turned and walked out.
After less than a minute, Princess Jiu Jiu's voice rang out on the big screen again, "Due to the value of this auction item, our auction house has decided to extend the time for its appreciation by a further 10 minutes. This will allow all of you to make a more measured choice."
Ling Luochen walked up to Huo Yuhao and whispered, "Is there really something wrong with this soul bone?"
Huo Yuhao nodded his head slightly and said a few words to her in a low voice. Ling Luochen was dazed for a moment and her expression changed.
She let out a sigh, "What's meant to be yours will be yours. What's not meant to be yours won't be yours. Oh well."
Huo Yuhao comforted her, "Senior Ling, don't worry. For backing out on this soul bone, how about I help you acquire an ice type soul bone from the Extreme North? Sounds like a fair trade?"
Ling Luochen was dazed for a moment. Fair trade? This seems to be only her winning this trade off!
If there's any area that drops an ice-type soul bone, it would be the Extreme North. With Huo Yuhao's capabilities, he could easily find a soul bone suitable for Ling Luochen.
"Really?! Alright, but it better be at least ten thousand years old!" Ling Luochen excitedly hugged him, and not so subtly started caressing his muscles.
Huo Yuhao nervously laughed and lightly pushed her off of him, "Yes, yes. I promise you." He then hurriedly put on his clothes, paying no heed to the sounds of disappointment from the females.
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 few ravishing beauties, 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 raised his hand and said, "It was me."
Princess Jiu Jiu sized him up for a moment before asking, "Well? What's the problem?"
Huo Yuhao spread his hands apart and casually stated, "Besides the requirement in order to absorb the soul bone, there are no problems."
"What do you mean by that?" Princess Jiu Jiu's huge beautiful eyes flashed with a chill.
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 reputation 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 of absorbing soul bones of 50,000 years and above can try. Are you pointing out this problem?"
Completely feeling nothing from her cold look, Huo Yuhao clarified it further, "The limitations of this soul bone don't end there. I believe that Your Highness doesn't really understand the Ice Jade Scorpion clan."
He then relayed what the Ice Empress had said to him earlier.
"That's impossible." Princess Jiu Jiu reacted almost instantly, her eyes wide, "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. After all, difficult doesn't mean impossible."
Princess Jiu Jiu creased her brows and clenched her fists subconsciously.
Huo Yuhao lightly smiled, "Whether you believe me or not is up to you. I have said my piece. Your Highness, you can continue with the auction."
Either let the competition continue on and let some poor bastard obtain it and get frozen to death—which implicates the auction house, or just put it back in stock and let it collect dust for how many years.
Or, they could just gift the soul bone to him, to Shrek, as a gesture of goodwill.
Princess Jiu Jiu went back out and several minutes later, the auction for the soul bone continued.
Around half an hour later, someone bought the soul bone for 30 million golden soul coins.
30 million!
The number 30 million had appeared on the soul screen. 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!
Huo Yuhao was initially worried that the auction house had really sold the flawed soul bone to someone, when Wang Yan whispered a few words to him.
He visibly relaxed and confidently smiled, 'All according to plan, fufufufu!'
"Next, we have our final auction item."
The image on the soul screen turned golden. As the golden light receded, Princess Jiu Jiu appeared on the screen wearing a long, golden skirt.
"Distinguished guests, the final item in our auction is something extremely extraordinary! It's an item that can only be expended once. More specifically, it's medicinal in nature, and there's only one of it. Distinguished guests, please take a look." As she spoke, Princess Jiu jiu waved her right hand, and a change occurred on the soul screen.
A white tray appeared on the screen. On that tray, there was another wooden tray. This wooden tray was embedded with at least a hundred jewels of various colors. Above this average-sized wooden tray, a ball of flowing gas surged slightly.
This ball of flowing gas revealed itself to be white. The tender whiteness of it undermined its strength. Furthermore, it only appeared to be a ball of flowing gas from the screen. It was difficult to sense how miraculous it was through one's vision alone.
"This ball of flowing gas is a soul beast with 100,000 years of cultivation that was captured by someone powerful after it reached its bottleneck and decided to re-cultivate into a human. After that, it was trapped in a Class 9 Godsealing Altar." Princess Jiu Jiu beamed with a smile.
"Distinguished guests, this embryo, yes that is what we call it, there is more to it than simply being a sealed hundred thousand year old soul beast."
"Through meticulous research, we have found out an entire martial soul could be obtained by the person absorbing it if it's successful, and all the powers of the soul beast could be absorbed. If this is true, a martial soul that can be added with 9 soul rings is much superior than a soul ring or a soul bone!"
Everyone went dead silent. This kind of proclamation was enough to shock a Titled Douluo even!
At that moment, Huo Yuhao's eyes shook and both his Eye of Eternity and Ice God Legacy started to tremble.
Images of an unknown peerless beauty appeared in his mind; cold and aloof, she was the true definition of an Ice Queen. She looked down upon the frozen land with cold indifference.
She was the Supreme ruler of the Great Extreme North, one of the Three Heavenly Arctic Kings, ranked third in the top ten Great Beasts—the Snow Empress!
....
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