Chapter 38: Useless Bone?

I go, you quickly look, this fox girl is really beautiful." Zhang Yang shouted excitedly.

Two smaller fox girls curled up in the corner of the iron cage, leaning on each other, trying to find a bit of security.

Their posture was pitiful, wearing torn little clothes, easily arousing men's protective instincts.

Even though they were very afraid, their brows and eyes would unintentionally reveal charm, stimulating men's senses.

Fox girls, as the name suggests, are a special combination of fox-type soul beasts and humans; in appearance, aside from some inconspicuous features, they mostly look human, yet possess the innate allure of fox-type soul beasts.

Each fox girl's price is very high; the two fox girls before us are twins, making them even more astronomically priced.

Seeing the atmosphere was about right, the auctioneer slowly spoke.

"Starting bid, fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins, each raise not less than five thousand Gold Soul Coins."

This astonishing price did not deter anyone present in the slightest; the price kept rising.

"Sixty thousand Gold Soul Coins!"

"Only, I bid eighty thousand!"

"Eighty thousand and you dare call that a bid? I bid one hundred thousand!"

"……"

Such frantic bidding truly gave Tie Li a shock.

The final transaction price for this pair of fox girls was set at two hundred ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, completing the trade at such an astonishing price.

After completing this transaction, the atmosphere on site gradually returned to normal.

The fox girls were the second-to-last auction item; the next, the climax item, should be even more extraordinary, right?

Tie Li guessed curiously in his heart.

"Next, this is our final auction item; I think it won't disappoint everyone."

A skull appeared on the auction platform.

At first everyone thought it was a soul bone, causing a commotion;

but there was no soul power fluctuation on it, looking more like an ordinary soul beast skull.

"Although it's not a soul bone, according to our appraisal, the skull may come from a soul beast over fifty thousand years old, and its value is still considerable."

"Shh"

The venue erupted in boos; if the auction platform had a fifty-thousand-year-old soul beast's flesh, they might buy it, but it's just a dry bone—who would be the sucker?

The auctioneer wryly smiled; the reason the fox girls were placed second-to-last was to use their sky-high price to boost the skull's value, but seeing the crowd's reaction, they clearly had no intention of being fooled.

"Starting bid, one thousand Gold Soul Coins, each raise not less than one hundred Gold Soul Coins."

No matter how you say it, it's a bone from a fifty-thousand-year-old soul beast, so it does have some collectible value.

"One thousand Gold Soul Coins."

"One thousand one hundred Gold Soul Coins."

Still, some people were willing to bid, but everyone's enthusiasm for the skull was clearly low.

"Two thousand Gold Soul Coins."

"Are you crazy?" Zhang Yang looked at Tie Li with utter disbelief; this is all his savings, right?

Tie Li's mood was extremely torn; he hoped he could buy it, yet also prayed someone would bid higher.

At times, someone always feels they are the most special; Tie Li is in that state now.

Please, no one bid, please, no one bid!

Why is no one bidding? Shout another hundred Gold Soul Coins!

But the fact is, after Tie Li bid, no one wanted to raise; a plain skull isn't worth them wasting too many Gold Soul Coins.

A sweet-looking, alluring maiden delivered the auction item to Tie Li's front.

In a pang of heartache, Tie Li poured out all his savings; now he has only a dozen or so Silver Soul Coins left on his person.

Having obtained the skull, Tie Li was unwilling to accept it; he examined it thoroughly, confirming it was just an ordinary skull.

Indeed, if there were anything different, the auction's appraiser would have found it long ago—how could it be left to him?

The only thing that could console him was that it came from a soul beast over fifty thousand years old.

At worst, he could use it as a forging material to make himself a helmet or wrist guard—but two thousand Gold Soul Coins is still too high a cost!

The auction ended; the two returned to the dormitory, and Tie Li still unwillingly picked up the skull and examined it again.

The result was still exactly the same; this is just an ordinary skull.

Unwilling, Tie Li took the skull to stew soup, then gave Zhang Yang a bowl.

"Holy crap, you're asking me to drink this?" Zhang Yang said with a look of disdain.

"Stewed with two thousand Gold Soul Coins; if it weren't for our relationship, you'd think I'd be willing to treat you?" Tie Li immediately became unhappy.

"Never mind, you old man drink it yourself!" Saying that, Zhang Yang fled the dormitory.

"Drink it yourself then!"

His eyes held a hint of disdain, but thinking it was bought for two thousand Gold Soul Coins, he wasn't that disgusted.

He lifted the big bowl and drank the soup in one gulp.

After all, it's a soul beast skull; the stewed soup had a meaty aroma.

He put the skull back into his storage ring, tidied the bowls and chopsticks on the table and returned them to the cafeteria uncle, then Tie Li lay down on the bed to rest.

In his sleep, Tie Li felt an inexplicable heat surge within his body, breaking out in sweat; when he woke up in the morning, he felt no discomfort.

"Hurry up, Kaiqi called us to the meeting room." Zhang Yang shouted at the doorway.

"Coming."

Lin Wen and Lin Wu brothers had already set out; Tie Li donned his team uniform and followed Zhang Yang into the meeting room.

"Our opponent this afternoon is Noah Academy; I still want to hear your thoughts first."

The team's schedule was set for the afternoon, so yesterday Kaiqi did not have the members come to the conference room for a meeting, but scheduled it for the next morning.

"This is the second round of the elimination system; even if we lose one or two matches, it's not critical, as long as we ensure our points are not in the bottom three, we can advance to the next round;

I think sending out one Soul Elder today is enough, after all our two Soul Elders didn't act in the previous round, and the opponent just forfeited," Duolangbu, as usual, began his analysis.

"Fine, continue," Kaiqi nodded, agreeing with Duolangbu's statement.

"According to the information provided by the Great Soul Battle Arena, Noah Advanced Soul Master Academy has five Soul Elders, but they may not all appear in the elimination match; at most three Soul Elders will appear;

Our chances against them are slim; we could essentially concede a half‑hearted loss, and the reason to send out one Soul Elder is mainly to confuse the other teams, making them think we are fully confronting Noah Academy."

"Makes sense; our opponents are the other nine teams, not just that one Noah Academy," Kaiqi added.

"In the first round of the Soul Battle, I, Tie Li, and Caixin were already exposed, so in this round's nine‑match points elimination, it's best that the three of us are all on the participant list, reinforcing other teams' inherent impression that we are indispensable key players."

(End of chapter)