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Ye Wen felt a bit awkward under Xu Jiujiu's intense gaze and instinctively raised his right hand to scratch his cheek. Still, as her master, he began to explain:
"You know the situation on the Douluo Continent's three kingdoms side. Even Rank 8 soul engineers are rare, and these twelve fixed-cannon soul shells were produced by Mingde Hall. Without at least Rank 7 cultivation, a soul engineer wouldn't even be able to dismantle or analyze them.
Don't be fooled by the crowd earlier—most of them haven't even reached the Rank 6 threshold. So, these seemingly valuable twelve fixed-cannon soul shells have now become mere consumables.
Moreover, fixed-cannon soul shells are consumables with an upper limit of effectiveness against Soul Douluo-level opponents. On our side, we're not short on this level of combat power. The auction item was mispositioned, making it a useless but regrettable waste."
Xu Jiujiu suddenly understood. With Ye Wen's simple analysis, she immediately grasped the full picture.
However, this was also partly her mistake. After all, she had personally approved these auction items as one of the auction house's key decision-makers.
"Six hundred fifty thousand."
Xu Jiujia placed a bid herself.
Ye Wen understood clearly—having any item go unsold at such a top-tier auction would be an insult to the Star Luo Royal Family.
But not long after Xu Jiujiu's bid, another voice rang out.
"Six hundred fifty-five thousand."
???
Xu Jiujia's mind was filled with question marks. She had just followed her teacher's advice to avoid embarrassing her family by placing a bid, so why was someone else now competing with her?
Wasn't this slapping her teacher in the face?
Ye Wen was momentarily surprised, but upon seeing the oddly precise bid amount, he immediately understood and couldn't help but smile.
"There's no need to keep bidding, Jiujiu. Let them have it."
Though Xu Jiujiu's cultivation wasn't particularly strong, as the owner of this place, she instantly recognized which faction had just placed the bid.
"Shrek."
At that moment, Xu Jiujiu fully grasped Ye Wen's meaning. Among the three kingdoms of Douluo, Shrek Academy was one of the few factions with Rank 8 soul engineers. It wasn't surprising that they would want to purchase this item.
But was Shrek Academy really this poor? To settle an auction at the minimum bid?
What Xu Jiujia didn't know was that her respected teacher had recently squeezed Shrek Academy dry. Now, Shrek was truly broke.
The master and disciple pair were perfectly in sync, neither dwelling on the previous topic as they continued to watch the auction unfold.
The next set of auction items came as a surprise—they were all soul bones: left arm bone, right arm bone, and left leg bone.
As the saying goes, truly good items aren't easily put up for auction, especially when these were merely the opening acts.
None of the three soul bones were particularly high-level. The highest, the final left leg bone, was only 30,000 years old, while the others were 10,000 and 20,000 years old, respectively.
To Xu Jiujiu's surprise, Ye Wen instructed her to purchase all of them, even if they were slightly overpriced.
Xu Jiujia understood clearly that these soul bones weren't worthy of Ye Wen. That left only one possibility—they were intended for her senior sisters. Though Xu Jiujiu herself looked down on these soul bones, the fact that a Supreme Douluo personally stepped in to buy things for his disciples made her feel both honored and delighted.
Next, two more items appeared: an extremely rare precious metal and a Rank 8 soul-guiding tool.
As the saying goes, even the most skilled cook can't make a meal without rice. This rare metal was something Ye Wen needed. While Ye Wen could have used the world's consciousness to search for it loudly, doing so would come at too great a cost—and risk exposing himself.
With the backing of the Star Luo Empire, Ye Wen quickly secured this batch of rare metals.
As for the Rank 8 soul-guiding tool, Ye Wen felt somewhat exasperated. It had been crafted by a Rank 9 soul engineer from Mingde Hall in the Sun Moon Empire.
This wasn't an overambitious creation—on the contrary, the tool's power could rival that of a 95th-level Super Douluo.
However, the downside was its long charging time, allowing only one use per day, and requiring a Titled Douluo to activate it.
It was somewhat impractical.
In short, this was a Rank 8 soul-guiding tool masquerading as something barely reaching Rank 9.
Ye Wen thought about its positioning—it was likely a trump card for lower-level Titled Douluos who had relied on pills to advance.
Thus, unlike the earlier twelve fixed-cannon soul shells, this item didn't suffer a cold reception. In the end, it was purchased for a staggering 7 million gold spirit coins.
Several more precious auction items followed, including soul-guiding tools and pills—all essentials for high-end individuals. The scene was extraordinarily lively.
Still, times were progressing. At least in this auction venue, there was no vulgar display of slave auctions.
Ye Wen yawned, feeling a bit bored.
"Strange. Why hasn't the soul bone suitable for Little Yu'er appeared yet?"
Though he knew his presence might have disrupted the world's flow, causing deviations in the plot, Ye Wen hadn't expected the soul bone that should have appeared earlier to still be missing.
He had already mentally prepared for it to appear quickly, so now he felt awkward asking Xu Jiujiu for the auction list.
Just as Ye Wen was growing increasingly bored, the auctioneer's voice suddenly rose in pitch.
"Ladies and gentlemen, pay close attention! The next two items will be the highlights of today's auction. I'm sure our esteemed guests will be very interested. Don't miss this opportunity! Some treasures are rarely seen, and you may never find another like it on the continent."
Ye Wen realized—the thing he'd been waiting for was finally here.
But…
"Besides the soul bone I've been waiting for, what else could serve as the finale of this auction? The Snow Empress has already been intercepted by me, so where could there be another hundred-thousand-year spirit beast embryo? Things seem to be getting interesting."
At this moment, the screen on the wall flickered, and a magnified image of a soul bone appeared.
This soul bone was entirely emerald green, with a shimmering, flowing aura that made it look as though it contained liquid jade. From its appearance, it was a left arm soul bone, and faint white mist emanated from its emerald surface.
Magnified many times over, its uniqueness became even more apparent. Tiny crystalline structures dotted its emerald surface, sparkling like gemstones. Compared to the soul bones that had appeared earlier, this one stood out dramatically—it was clearly in a league of its own.
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