The Cultivators all frowned. A million Demon Soul Crystals was by no means a small sum. Most importantly, spending so much only bought a chance to awaken a Fierce Beast Soul, and the probability of success was likely no more than ten percent. In other words, there was a high chance your money would go right down the drain.
But even knowing this, people were still bidding frantically. Even if Wild Beast Essence Blood only slightly increased the odds, having hope was a good thing. The Essence Blood of a Fierce Beast Soul was extremely precious to any Three-Star Main Town. Only in a full-fledged city would it be slightly more common, but the Moyue Kingdom only had a hundred and eight branch cities in total.
"Three hundred and ten thousand..."
"Three hundred and twenty thousand..."
"Four hundred thousand..."
The price rapidly climbed.
"Fierce Beast Essence Blood..." Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes, contemplating whether he should make a move to buy it.
He had awakened a Dragon Soul, so these low-level Beast Souls held absolutely no temptation for him. But should he save it for the Ye Family? Especially for Ye Ling’Er. Because of her fever illness, she still hadn’t awakened a Beast Soul.
But then he shook his head. A person could only awaken a Beast Soul once in their lifetime. As his cultivation grew stronger, he would definitely encounter higher-level Wild Beast Essence Blood in the future. He wouldn’t give this Golden Giant Crocodile’s Essence Blood to his sister. If he were to give her anything, it would be something of a higher grade. Even if he didn’t give his sister the Essence Blood of a Fierce Beast, it should at least be from a top-tier Fierce Beast.
"Six hundred thousand..."
"Six hundred and fifty thousand..."
The price continued to rise. The ones still calling out bids were all guests in the private VIP rooms. While they raised the price, they also sent people back to prepare more Demon Soul Crystals. This included Mou Dahai.
"Eight hundred thousand..."
"One million!"
Ultimately, the price was pushed to an astronomical one million by Mou Dahai. This price was incredibly exaggerated, but Mou Dahai knew the Town Mayor would definitely support his actions. Piles of Demon Soul Crystals just sitting there were practically the same as junk, but the Essence Blood of a Fierce Beast Soul was different. Even if it was just a mere possibility, the Mou Family had to have it.
Once Mou Dahai’s price was announced, no one else at the scene raised their bids. Dropping a million just to buy a possibility was simply too hard to stomach. If the Fierce Beast Soul failed to awaken, it would be a massive loss.
"Congratulations to the guest in VIP Room One for winning the Fierce Beast Essence Blood at the price of one million Demon Soul Crystals. Alright, this once-in-four-years auction has now concluded."
Hongyue’s words officially announced the end of the auction, and the crowd gradually dispersed. Ye Xuan also stood up; it was time to go pay and collect his remaining funds.
Hua followed by Ye Xuan’s side, gesturing as they walked, signaling, "Young Master, someone is following us."
Ye Xuan said nonchalantly, "That’s to be expected." With that, he quickly made his way to the consignment hall.
"Ye Xuan!" Xia Zihan came running over just as he arrived at the hall. The scenery on her chest bounced like crashing waves, instantly drawing the eye.
"Xia Zihan, is there something you need?" Ye Xuan asked, furrowing his brow.
Xia Zihan smiled and said, "You don’t need to go to the window. All your items are with me. Come on, I’ll give them to you."
"Alright." Ye Xuan nodded and followed Xia Zihan to Room Nine.
As soon as they entered, Xia Zihan said excitedly, "Handsome, your Elixirs sold for a total of 1.35 million Demon Soul Crystals! That’s even more than I imagined. You’ve finally given me some sales performance!"
Ye Xuan instinctively asked, "Did you have absolutely zero sales performance before this?"
Xia Zihan replied casually, "I had some at the very beginning, but I don’t know why I didn’t get any later on."
Ye Xuan was rendered somewhat speechless. "You really don’t know why?"
"I really don’t!"
"..."
This girl seemed to possess absolutely no self-awareness.
"Handsome, the items you won at the auction are all here: two stalks of Qishan Evergreen Ivy, the low-tier Ghost-level Soft Armor, and some low-level Spirit Medicines and Elixirs. Please check them over. For these items, will you pay separately, or should I deduct the cost from your Demon Soul Crystals?"
"Deduct it."
"Okay. Your total expenditure this time is fifty million Frenzy Soul Crystals, two hundred and eighty-two thousand Super Soul Crystals, and one hundred and thirty-one thousand Demon Soul Crystals. I’ve rounded down the Super Soul Crystals for you, counting them as two hundred and eighty thousand. Added together, it’s equivalent to one hundred and sixty-four thousand Demon Soul Crystals. After deducting the fifteen percent fee from your sales, I only need to give you another 1,068,500 Demon Soul Crystals. See if that’s correct."
"Seems fine." Ye Xuan couldn’t be bothered to calculate it in detail; the number shouldn’t be too far off.
"Alright then. Sign here, and then take this Qiankun Bag. It’s filled with your Soul Crystals. Once you take the Soul Crystals out, give the bag back to me."
"You’re taking the Qiankun Bag back? Your auction house is really stingy." Ye Xuan gave her a look of disdain. To a small town, a Qiankun Bag was a treasure. But the larger the town, the less valuable Qiankun Bags became.
With that, Ye Xuan signed his name and stored everything in his Storage Ring. Over a million Demon Soul Crystals were piled up in the corner like a small mountain.
"Alright. I’m leaving." Having collected his money and items, Ye Xuan turned to leave.
Xia Zihan spoke up again, "Handsome, you’re my only client. Why don’t you stay?"
"Stay?" Ye Xuan cast a surprised glance at Xia Zihan.
Xia Zihan nodded. "Yeah, I’m inviting you to be a guest at my place. It’s just behind the auction house."
Ye Xuan chuckled and asked, "Just the two of us?"
Xia Zihan’s face flushed red, and then she threw her hands up. "Handsome, I’ll just be blunt. I watched the auction too, and barring any surprises, you’ve already offended the Mou Family. I suggest you don’t leave right now. Just stay in the auction house. As long as you’re here, no one will dare to touch you. When it’s clear, I’ll have Hongyue personally escort you out."
Xia Zihan’s words caught Ye Xuan a little by surprise. He had no prior relationship with her, yet she actually wanted to protect him.
He gave a faint smile and said, "It’s a trivial matter. It’s no problem." With that, Ye Xuan walked away with effortless grace, leaving behind a completely baffled Xia Zihan.
Facing the Mou Family, he actually called it a trivial matter? Just how much did he look down on the Mou Family? Whatever, he was courting death. She couldn’t be bothered to meddle in other people’s business anyway.
Ten minutes later, Ye Xuan and Hua swiftly left the auction house.
It was already late at night. The moon tonight was not quite full. A fierce gale blew past, carrying an unexpected, biting chill.
Hua gestured once again, signaling, "Young Master, a lot of people are following us!" She could clearly sense that there were people behind them.
Ye Xuan didn’t speak; the corners of his mouth merely split into a bloodthirsty smile. After leaving the auction house, they didn’t head toward the center of the town. Instead, they walked into an increasingly remote area. Soon, he arrived at an abandoned manor.
"Come out, all of you. It’ll save me the trouble of dealing with you one by one."
As soon as Ye Xuan’s words fell, no less than fifty shadows appeared behind him.
"So many..."
These were all the people who had tracked Ye Xuan here. Men would die for wealth just as birds died for food, and there was no shortage of those with bold courage.
"Kid, you knew we were following you, yet you deliberately led us to such a remote place?" a scarred man asked, furrowing his brow.
Ye Xuan suddenly smiled. "Congratulations, you guessed right."
"You’ve got guts! But I’m still going to give you a piece of advice. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll—"
BOOM!
A muffled sound rang out. Before the speaker could even finish his sentence, his head was blown to pieces by a sudden burst of golden Spiritual Qi. Not even a whole corpse remained.