Chapter 86: The Grand Auction

Chapter 86: The Grand Auction

As the sun set, another day of competition drew to a close. Unlike the previous days, today's events were far from boring, revealing some of the capabilities of the Moonlit Royal Soul Guide Academy and the Star Luo Royal Academy. The day's end brought with it the excitement of tonight's grand event—the auction.

The eagerly anticipated team from Diao Academy headed straight to the Starlight Auction House. With no matches scheduled for them today, they didn't even bother to wear their uniforms. They chatted and laughed as they made their way to the auction, taking about ten minutes to arrive at a massive building.

The building was just as they remembered—glitzy and familiar. The shining 'Starlight Auction House' sign hung prominently at the entrance, complete with an auction hammer icon beside it. Du Qianjue wondered if the sign was actually made of gold soul coins. Were they not afraid someone might chip off a piece to improve their livelihood?

Upon arriving at the entrance of the auction house, a beautifully dressed woman in a black long dress approached them respectfully and asked, "Are you the lords from Diao Academy's team?"

Wei Na nodded, "Yes, that's us. Are you a staff member of the auction house?"

"Yes, I am Anya, a black-tier auctioneer here. It's my duty to welcome all distinguished guests like yourselves tonight," Anya responded with a smile.

"This kind of treatment is only available to the four great empires and Shrek Academy, right?" Yang Lian asked with a raised eyebrow, grinning.

The rest of the group gave him a speechless look. You know it, but why say it out loud? Especially here at the entrance of the auction house. Though, it seemed to be no big deal after all.

Empires will be empires, and the big shots are always the big shots. However, Yang Lian's comment made Anya slightly embarrassed, as the auction house indeed had only five black-tier auctioneers, each assigned to one of the top academies or empires.

After handing over their invitations, Anya led the group into the Starlight Auction House and into a dazzlingly decorated VIP room. Overwhelmed by the glitz, Du Qianjue pulled out sunglasses from his storage device and put them on. The room was simply too bright.

"Great, the richer Star Luo is, the better! It will make my acts of 'wealth redistribution' more justifiable!" Du Qianjue thought as the big screen in front of the VIP room lit up, showing a beautiful young woman in a red dress.

"Xu jiujiu?" Wei Na raised an eyebrow. "It seems tonight's offerings are indeed special for them to have her host the auction."

"Boss, who is Xu jiujiu?" Yang Lian blinked curiously.

"She's the youngest sister of the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire, a princess," Wei Na glanced at him, his mouth twitching slightly. "Technically, I should even call her 'Aunt' because of our family ties. She's never been shy about using that to her advantage."

Anya's body trembled imperceptibly. Although it was likely that the Diao Academy's team might include a prince from the Tianhun Empire, she hadn't expected it to be true.

"Really beautiful," Yang Lian remarked, ignoring the resentment in Wei Na's tone.

The others nodded in agreement, even Zhao Jian, typically indifferent to women, couldn't deny her beauty.

"Yes, the Princess is indeed our Emperor's youngest sister and the chief auctioneer here," Anya said admiringly. "However, when she is at the auction house, she prefers not to use her title, and we are only allowed to call her 'Jiujiu the auctioneer.'"

"That's very much like her," Wei Na commented, acknowledging her professionalism.

In the quiet VIP room, a crisp sound of biting into fruit drew everyone's attention to Du Qianjue, who was nonchalantly eating a purple-red fruit similar to a plum.

"Du Qianjue, does Princess Xu jiujiu not attract you more than this fruit?" Yang Lian joked.

"Hmm," Du Qianjue grunted from behind his sunglasses, noncommittal.

"Good on you, Du Qianjue, not like those fools who only think about women," Lin Weiling chimed in, her remark clearly targeted.

"Exactly," Ou Yangqin agreed, earning eye rolls from the rest of the group.

The screen split to show Xu jiujiu and the first auction item: a grade-eight close-combat soul guide weapon made using a 10,000-year tiger-type soul bone, designed to maximize the soul bone's power with every strike labeled 'Tiger Soul Slash.' The auction started at 500,000 gold soul coins with ten minutes to appreciate the item before bidding commenced.

Although Du Qianjue had changed many events, these changes were mainly focused on Huo Yuhao and Tang San, and had little impact on others. The offerings at the auction were likely similar to the original story, with Du Qianjue particularly interested in the final grand auction item.

In another VIP room, Dai Yueheng was eager to acquire the tiger soul guide weapon, perfectly suited for his own tiger-type spirit. He began bidding aggressively, quickly pushing the price up. As the bids soared, Du Qianjue mischievously raised the price further just to make Dai Yueheng sweat. Eventually, the weapon sold for 1.63 million gold soul coins—a price likely stretching Dai Yueheng's budget to its limits.

This knife was perfectly suited for Dai Yueheng, so he wouldn't mind spending an extra hundred or two hundred thousand gold soul coins. But pushing the price higher might have made him give it up altogether. Under Dai Yueheng's fierce glare, the Tiger Soul Blade finally stopped climbing in price and was successfully auctioned off.

"Congratulations to the guest in VIP Room 6, who has successfully purchased the Grade 8 Soul Guide, Tiger Soul Blade, for 1.63 million gold soul coins!" Xu jiujiu figure reappeared on the screen, her smile radiant. Dai Yueheng felt like she was looking right at him, that look seemed to see right through him...

"Let's move on to the next auction item," Xu jiujiu voice rang out again. The screen split in two, one half showing Xu Jiujin and the other displaying twelve cylindrical objects.

"This auction item is a set of twelve fixed-installation soul guide missiles, all grade six, each with its own attribute: fire, ice, poison, thunder, wind, light, darkness..." Xu jiujiu melodious voice filled the room as the twelve missiles slowly rotated, their casings intricately detailed and highly ornamental.

Each missile was distinctively colored to represent twelve different attributes, signifying the varying effects upon explosion. "These twelve missiles, though only grade six, were extremely challenging to produce, which significantly enhances their power. A single missile poses a threat to Soul Saints, and a volley of all twelve could even challenge a Soul Douluo."

"However, please note that all these missiles come from Mingdew Hall and include a special anti-tampering device. Once purchased, please do not attempt to disassemble them."

In Shrek Academy's VIP room, He Caitou was visibly excited and promptly told Wang Yan that they had to buy them. These missiles would be invaluable for Shrek's research in soul guide technology, potentially elevating their understanding to a new level. Wang Yan, hearing He Caitou's plea, seriously declared his intention to secure them.

In the Diao Academy's VIP room, Wei Na glanced at Du Qianjue and saw that familiar smirk, making his scalp tingle. "Junior, you..."

Du Qianjue remained silent but gave Wei Na a look that said 'you know me so well'. Yes, he was about to apply some pressure on Shrek again. He might not personally value these six-grade missiles, but he was confident Shrek would find them irresistible. The expenditure for research was always vast, so spending a million or so gold soul coins for materials wouldn't faze Shrek, right? Even if these actions were utterly useless to Shrek, why miss an opportunity to mess with their heads?

As a prankster, Du Qianjue could never pass up any chance to stir Shrek Academy's pot. Ready... Set... Go!

"Grade 6 fixed-installation soul guide missiles, starting at 600,000 gold soul coins, with each bid increment not less than 10,000 gold soul coins. The auction starts now."

"Ding!" Du Qianjue immediately hit the bid button, and the price for the originally six-figure priced missiles shot up to a million!

"Eh, junior, you like these kinds of things?" Yang Lian jumped, shocked by the extravagance. Could they really afford such reckless spending?

"Well, I quite enjoy things that go boom. After all, they say art is an explosion, and explosions are the romance of men," Du Qianjue calmly sipped his cappuccino. "The power of the level-nine missiles I have is too great; there's no room to showcase my art. I have to play with these smaller, level-six fireworks."

The entire room from Diao Academy was stunned, and Anya nearly fell off the sofa in fright.

"Level nine...?!" Yang Lian shrieked, his voice almost cracking.

"Boom—" Suddenly, a cylindrical object nearly two meters tall appeared in the VIP room. Du Qianjue casually pulled it from his Starlight Sapphire storage ring—it was a massive Ivan.

"Damn it!" "Son of a—" "Ahh—"

Everyone scrambled, diving for cover, fearing that this 'art' piece might detonate and turn them into art too. Each level-nine missile emitted a unique aura, akin to a soul master's presence, that could profoundly intimidate any soul master who sensed it.

This particular level-nine missile, named [Stars Fall], was designed for long-range, area-wide bombardments, specifically against military formations. While a typical level-nine missile's maximum effective range was about three kilometers in diameter, the [Stars Fall]—though only as powerful as an eighth-grade missile in direct damage—could devastate an area up to twenty kilometers in diameter. A single explosion could level the entire city of Star Luo.

"Junior... maybe you should put that away," Wei Na said with difficulty.

Du Qianjue twitched his eyebrow and stowed away the [Stars Fall]. He himself felt extremely uneasy, being the closest to the missile. Once Du Qianjue retracted the missile, everyone slowly returned to their seats, though no one dared sit next to him again.

"Is it really necessary to be that scared?" Du Qianjue held his forehead.

The others laughed awkwardly, with Yang Lian seriously nodding, "Of course, I was about to pee myself."

"Hahaha..."

The mood finally lightened significantly, and Du Qianjue successfully accomplished his goal—revealing to the Star Luo Empire that he possessed a major weapon. Revealing this was meaningful as it related to Du Qianjue future plans. He believed that the moment the auction ended, Anya would rush to inform Xu jiujiu about this matter. With Du Qianjue in place, he wasn't worried about Star Luo Empire playing dirty.

The two biggest strategic deterrents of the Douluo Continent, an Extreme Douluo and a level-nine soul guide missile, were in play. Du Qianjue wouldn't be afraid now. The VIP room's isolation layer was excellent at blocking any scents from escaping, not only preserving the privacy of their identity but today it also kept the aura of the level-nine missile contained. Even without it, Du Qianjue could easily create a psychic barrier with his spiritual power.

"Now let's see how Tianhun and Star Luo react..." Du Qianjue mused to himself with a sly smile.

The Tang Sect might not need to act as the soul master sanctuary of the continent, but if there was to be one, it couldn't possibly be Shrek. It was time to give the two great empires a bit of a headache.

Amen...

Amidst laughter, Xu jiujiu also hammered down the next sale. Shrek Academy successfully acquired the twelve level-six missiles for 1.6 million gold soul coins—a price that turned what should have been a few tens of thousands per missile into a sky-high figure.

Wang Yan's face went from pale to purple as he realized after two auctions that someone was targeting Shrek Academy. The prices for both items had been driven up outrageously. During the missile auction, Wang Yan nearly flipped the table in frustration but held back, thinking of the academy's needs.

It could only be said that Du Qianjue was truly benevolent, helping the Starlight Auction House achieve record sales. Didn't you see how Xu jiu jiu 's face almost burst into bloom with joy on the screen? She was truly delighted.

"Next item up for auction, a 50,000-year-old Left Arm Bone of the Earthsplitting Bear King! This soul bone is extremely intact, and the Earthsplitting Bear King is one of the most powerful bear-type soul beasts..."

Xu jiu jiu chatted happily, setting the stage for those with strength-type spirits, who couldn't wait to start bidding.