Chapter 10

"To you, Donghai City is too small; you'll leave sooner or later, but there are some people you need to watch out for."

Hua Yichen reminded in a low voice, "For instance, this one — Eight-Star Saint Craftsman Mu Chen! He is the junior fellow disciple of the current Divine Craftsman Zhenhua; if you can get on good terms with him, it will benefit your future."

The two were in a state of Spiritual Sharing, so Huo Yuhao naturally also noticed that middle-aged man.

Soul Tools are the direction he excels in; never mind whether he has forging talent, even if he did, he couldn't possibly spend large amounts of time on forging — he doesn't have that much energy.

That high-level Blacksmith is the hurdle he cannot bypass when crafting Battle Armor and Mecha!

On this side, Huo Yuhao and his companion noticed Mu Chen; Mu Chen and his daughter naturally also saw them just getting off the vehicle.

"Has Tower Master Hua also come to participate in the auction?"

Seeing it was Hua Yichen, Mu Chen was somewhat surprised, especially upon seeing Huo Yuhao following beside Hua Yichen — his heart was even more astonished: "This child is?"

As far as he knew, Hua Yichen's juniors shouldn't be in Donghai City; a child who could make him accompany them…

"He's called Huo Yuhao; he just awakened his martial soul and needs some Heavenly Treasures to lay a solid foundation. Since the Tianhai Auction has them, there's no need to requisition from Headquarters."

Hua Yichen showed a polite smile.

"Yuhao, greet President Mu."

"President Mu, hello."

Huo Yuhao gave a salute, then also nodded to the girl beside Mu Chen.

"Miss Mu, hello."

One doesn't strike a smiling face; seeing Huo Yuhao give a proper and courteous salute, Mu Chen — even though he didn't want to get too close to the Spirit Pagoda — could only smile and nod, and signaled his daughter with his eyes to say hello.

Seeing her father's signal, Mu Xi greeted Hua Yichen and Huo Yuhao in turn, then immediately looked eagerly toward the museum.

"This girl has been interested in forging since childhood; she persisted for two years starting at age five, and I couldn't refuse so I agreed to teach her. However, girls have a congenital deficiency in strength talent; this time I brought her to help her find some suitable Heavenly Treasures to supplement her body, and incidentally maintain her figure so she doesn't turn into a muscle woman. So she's a bit excited; please don't mind, you two."

Mu Chen showed a helpless yet doting smile, apologizing to Hua Yichen and his companion.

"Dad!!!" Mu Xi's face reddened; she turned back and glared at Mu Chen in embarrassment and annoyance.

Say it if you must, why bring up the reason they came… and she would never turn into a muscle woman just because of forging!

She glanced at Hua Yichen and Huo Yuhao; seeing neither showed any strange expression, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and walked toward the museum, not even waiting for Mu Chen.

Seeing this, Mu Chen smiled helplessly:

"Let you see a joke, Tower Master Hua."

"Children — being lively is good." Hua Yichen laughed and shook his head. "The auction is about to start too; let's go in together."

"Good."

Mu Chen agreed while secretly keeping his gaze on Huo Yuhao.

To earn Tower Master Hua's regard — an Innate Full Soul Power genius?

……

The auction's entry threshold is very high; ordinary people need to pay one million Federal Coins as a deposit, but with Hua Yichen and Mu Chen's identities, naturally they don't need to.

The four obtained number plates and masks from the auction hall, didn't split up, and simply went to the auction hall together.

"For the past ten thousand years this custom still hasn't changed — what use is wearing a mask?"

Huo Yuhao fiddled with the mask while secretly grumbling.

Ten thousand years ago the auctions were the same — they insisted on giving a mask to everyone entering, as if having this thing could conceal one's identity; who knows who left this rule… never heard that Tang Fozu had this habit.

On the other side, Mu Xi looked at the mask in her hand, then at Mu Chen's chest, and said strangely:

"Dad, wearing a mask is useless for you, right? Your badge exposes your identity."

"A mask is just psychological comfort for people, nothing more." Mu Chen's motion of putting on the mask paused; he simply didn't wear it.

This girl, really holds a grudge.

Hua Yichen directly put the mask into his Storage Ring.

Just as Mu Chen said, this mask is only a kind of psychological comfort, not a Soul Tool that can change appearance — who in Donghai City's upper echelons doesn't recognize him?

The news of him bringing Huo Yuhao to participate in the auction has probably long since fallen into the ears of interested parties.

Or rather, this auction itself was aimed at him and Huo Yuhao.

Thinking of this, Hua Yichen narrowed his eyes and strode into the auction hall.

Inside the auction hall, crystal chandeliers cast fine specks of light on the dome; the ring-shaped auction hall was forged from deep-sea Silver Essence, with extremely high security.

Every seat is a comfortable genuine leather sofa; tables hold all kinds of food, fruit, drinks, and wine.

By now the front rows were already filled; Huo Yuhao's group of four weren't picky — they found seats in the middle and sat down, not far from each other.

About half an hour later, the hall lights gradually dimmed, and the clamor quieted down along with it.

The auctioneer, dressed in a red long dress, walked up to the stage from one side of the auction hall; all the venue's lights converged on her.

"Welcome, distinguished guests, to the Donghai Auction. The annual auction is about to begin; the relevant items have been exhibited over the past few months, so presumably everyone is already familiar — I won't waste more words; the auction starts now."

Without further pleasantries, the female auctioneer walked behind a wooden gilt table and said with a smile.

A cart was pushed onto the stage; the huge white screen behind the main platform lit up accordingly.

"First is the first auction item, Thousand-Year Ice Spirit Fruit…"

The Donghai Auction has the habit of pre-exhibiting auction items at the Donghai Museum, so everyone knows today's items; as the auctioneer's voice fell, those needing Ice Spirit Fruit began bidding, and the atmosphere gradually heated up.

Subsequent items grew increasingly precious; among them, Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue was one of the last few items, produced by the Ten-Thousand-Year Devil Whale, deep yellow in luster, very high quality, and was won by Hua Yichen for thirty million Federal Coins.

In the process, Mu Chen also won some spirit fruits to enhance constitution for his daughter.

However, if the items were only these, they naturally wouldn't attract so many big shots.

When it came to the final item, the auction didn't present the physical item; instead, after a series of operations, the screen behind the stage displayed the item.

It was a creature between tangible and illusory; it possessed huge eyes, surrounded by countless tentacles; merely looking at it, Mu Xi felt a chill all over.

Huo Yuhao looked at this familiar creature; his eyes also narrowed; he glanced at the calm-faced Hua Yichen and understood in his heart.

So that's how it is — this auction… was aimed at them.

"Distinguished guests, this is the final auction item today — a Hereditary Spirit Soul: a thirty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant!"

The Auctioneer spoke with great feeling:

"Ever since the Evil Emperor, ranked second on the Beast Ranking, vanished under mysterious circumstances, the Evil Eye Clan has been hunted by countless Soul Masters. Now this kind of Soul Beast is nearly extinct; only a few Evil Eyes have turned into Spirit Souls and continue to exist. This is one of them."

"As everyone knows, within the Evil Eye clan, the fewer capabilities one has, the stronger their power actually is. In other words, the fewer innate soul skills, the more tyrannical the strength. This Evil Eye Tyrant possesses only two Attributes — fire and spirit — and its quality can be considered top-tier."

"As a Hereditary Spirit Soul, the Soul Master Family it belonged to has recently run into some trouble and was forced to dissolve the Contract with it. They only hope the new Contractor will be strong enough — this is also the Spirit Soul's own Requirement!"

A Hereditary Spirit Soul does not remain with a single Soul Master Family forever; if the family falls into decline and its descendants prove unworthy, some Spirit Souls may not be willing to stay there any longer.

Although the Auctioneer spoke obliquely, everyone understood: obviously the Spirit Soul's family had run out of successors and no longer had the capability to accommodate this thirty-thousand-year Spirit Soul; otherwise they would not have handed the Evil Eye Tyrant over to the auction.

"Starting bid — one hundred million Federal Coins; bids may not increase by less than ten million. The bidding begins!"

(End of Chapter)