Chapter 157: The meeting is in progress
Ma Hongjun struggled for a while but then gave up. After all, he knew his teacher's strength all too well; the teacher was a Soul Saint.
I'm still too inexperienced; I should keep my gossip away from Flender.
He was not yet capable of resisting Flender. If he wanted to resist Flender, he would have to wait until he broke through to the Soul Saint level.
Ma Hongjun secretly made up his mind that he would work hard to cultivate after returning home and strive to break through to the Soul Saint realm as soon as possible.
Seeing Ma Hongjun's expression, Shi Lin didn't dare to say anything more. What kind of good person would talk about their teacher's gossip in front of them?
More importantly, Shi Lin knew everything about the love triangle between Flender and the other two from beginning to end, even the details, since it was all mentioned in the book.
"Xiao Lin, the auction is about to start, let's go to the front," Flender said, waving to Shi Lin.
"Alright, Dean!" Shi Lin nodded without hesitation, then stood up and went to Flender's side.
Neither of them paid any attention to Ma Hongjun, who was standing sullenly to the side.
Shi Lin and his group arrived at the glass wall and looked down through a beaded curtain.
By this time, all the bidders on the first floor of the auction hall had returned to their seats, and everyone was whispering among themselves, without making a loud noise.
The auctioneer had already stepped down from the stage and returned to change clothes, preparing to officially begin today's auction.
Just then, the auction hall suddenly went dark, and everyone fell silent.
The next second, a beam of light shone down from the top floor, illuminating the auction stage, and everyone's eyes were drawn to it.
Just then, a middle-aged man in a black tuxedo, wearing a gold monocle, spread his arms and descended from the sky along the beam of light, landing on the auction stage.
"Welcome, distinguished guests, to the Heaven Dou Royal Auction. I hope all bidders will find what they desire at today's auction." The auctioneer smiled at the people before him, his voice deep and steady, making everyone feel very comfortable.
Then, the auctioneer bowed in each of the four directions before standing up and returning to the auction stage.
"Now, the auction officially begins!" The auctioneer raised his gavel and smiled at the people in front of him.
Upon hearing that the auction had begun, the bidders in the audience cheered.
These bidders were very interested in and excited about today's auction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please be patient. Please welcome our first item for today's auction: the Ocean Heart Necklace from the Heaven Dou Royal Family!" The auctioneer raised his hands to signal the audience to quiet down.
The next second, two scantily clad bunny girls pushed a small cart up from below the stage.
The cart arrived at the auction stage, where two bunny girls stood beside the auctioneer, flirting with the audience.
The auctioneer suddenly ripped off the red cloth.
Inside was a dazzling, sea-blue gemstone necklace that looked extremely expensive.
However, this kind of jewelry didn't hold much appeal for Shi Lin, since it had nothing to do with soul masters.
The auctioneer then began to recount the history of the necklace.
Shi Lin naturally had no interest. He turned around and went back to the table to start writing his Gu-refining notes and his next design for the Gu worms.
After all, Shi Lin plans to create several more Gu worm farms, which will greatly increase the number of Gu worms in his possession.
Of course, Shi Lin wouldn't give up those pieces of jewelry either.
He took some notes and then paid attention to the auction.
At auctions, Shi Lin would also bid on items of good quality that were not too expensive.
An hour later, Shi Lin bought two necklaces and four rings, spending two hundred gold soul coins.
These are all for finding wives for their fathers; the Shi family can't function without a mistress.
After all the gold and silver jewelry and antiques were auctioned off, the next thing to be auctioned off was the slaves.
Shi Lin wasn't particularly interested in gold and silver jewelry, since they didn't help his cultivation at all.
However, the Shi family still needed slaves, so Shi Lin paid even more attention to them.
Shi Lin also hopes to find some promising children here to become the backbone of the Shi family.
After all, the Shi family itself was not very large, and they needed outsiders to maintain their power.
The Shi family does not need ordinary slaves, nor do they need soul masters with cultivation talent.
The Shi family has the ability to turn ordinary people into soul masters, so Shi Lin's target is children with special talents.
For example, treasure hunting, aura reading, and the ability to see ghosts...
These types of children, after becoming soul masters, are of greater help to the Shi family.
Shi Lin also wanted to nurture some children with greater potential.
Shi Lin closed his notebook, then went to the glass wall and began to look down.
At this moment, there was a cage next to the auctioneer, and inside the cage was a girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old. The girl was not a normal person, but had a pair of brown ears with spots, and a half-meter-long brown spotted tail behind her.
Beast-eared girl!
"Leopard Woman?" Shi Lin stared wide-eyed at the slave in front of him in disbelief, and exclaimed involuntarily.
"What, are you interested?" Flender raised an eyebrow, looking at Shi Lin with a half-smile.
Surprisingly, Shi Lin, at such a young age, actually has a taste for this.
"I'm not interested in this. It's just the first time I've seen a girl like this," Shi Lin said with a shrug.
Shi Lin was just curious; he didn't have any particular fetish.
"Dean Flender, if such slaves were to cultivate into soul masters, would they be able to return to normal human form?" Shi Lin asked Flender after thinking for a moment.
Upon hearing Shi Lin's question, Flender realized that Shi Lin seemed to have no other desires for this slave.
"Yes, but the process will be very long. There was once a powerful Soul Douluo who was half-human and half-beast before becoming a Soul Emperor. Only after breaking through to Soul Emperor did he successfully regain his human form." Flender thought for a moment and told Shi Lin a story.
"I see. It's a pity I don't have enough money, otherwise I would have bought it." Shi Lin smiled and shook his head.
Shi Lin is a very calm person; there's no need for him to spend thousands or tens of thousands of gold soul coins to buy a slave.
Shi Lin would rather spend a gold soul coin to buy a large number of slaves.
Just then, the auctioneer finished introducing the animal-eared girl and began the bidding.
Shi Lin was also curious about how much such a beast-eared girl could sell for.
After more than a dozen rounds of bidding, the beast-eared girl was finally bought back by a portly middle-aged man for 30,000 gold soul coins.
"So expensive..." Shi Lin muttered, grinning.
"These people are all wealthy merchants; 30,000 gold soul coins are nothing to them," Flender said to Shi Lin with a smile.
"Looks like our family isn't rich enough after all," Shi Lin said with a smile, stroking his chin.
Shi Lin couldn't bring himself to spend tens of thousands of gold soul coins to buy a slave.
It seems we'll have to keep running our own business.
Flender looked at Shi Lin's money-grubbing appearance and smiled helplessly.
If Flender knew that Shi Lin was worried about not having enough money, he would probably have complained a lot.
The following auctions mainly focused on young girls, since slaves were meant to cater to wealthy merchants who were feeling empty inside.
Besides the girls, there were also a dozen or so boys around six or seven years old who possessed cultivation talent.
These children would be purchased by some declining soul master families and used as child husbands to improve their family's bloodline.
Shi Lin had no interest in these children with cultivation talent, since the Shi family could already mass-produce soul masters themselves.
Moreover, the plan to mass-produce soul masters has already begun.
Before this trip, Shi Lin had already instructed Shi Zhen to select some loyal and promising individuals from the Shi family and among the slaves to train them into soul masters.
In that case, the Shi family can be considered to have a certain level of defense.
Just then, Shi Lin suddenly noticed a little boy in the cage on the auction stage.
The little boy, who looked to be only six or seven years old, huddled in the corner of the cage. Although he was nervous, his eyes were filled with an untamed fighting spirit.
"His aura is quite extraordinary," Shi Lin said to Flender beside him, looking at the six or seven-year-old boy.
"Yes, it should be a sword-type martial soul, with innate sword intent. However, since it can be auctioned, its innate soul power cannot be too high, and it may have other defects." Flender nodded in agreement, and then whispered some advice to Shi Lin.
Upon hearing this, Shi Lin nodded. Putting everything else aside, just for that sharp sword intent alone, any soul master who also possesses a Sword Martial Soul would be eager to acquire this child.
But looking at the lack of interest from the other bidders, you could tell there was something wrong with the child.
"Young Master, this child's innate soul power level is only half a level." Shi An came to Shi Lin's side and said to him.
Shi An remembered the contents of the auction brochure he had just seen and quickly explained them to Shi Lin.
"Half a level?"
"Half a level?"
Flender and Shi Lin exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Flender was shocked that this child possessed the same talent as his old friend Yu Xiaogang, and saddened by his future.
Shi Lin felt that this child had great potential for development, and the price was not expensive.
He possesses innate sword intent!
If he is trained in the future, he may even be stronger than Sword Douluo Chen Xin.
"Dean Flender, could you please take a picture of this child for me? I want him," Shi Lin said, nodding slightly to Flender.
"Do you really want him?" Flender frowned, wanting Shi Lin to confirm.
After all, having only half a level of innate soul power means that one has no talent for cultivation and needs to consume a lot of resources to become a soul master.
The resources wasted by the three upper sects in training one Yu Xiaogang are enough to train ten Soul Saints.
Therefore, no one would waste resources on a child whose innate soul power level is only half a level.
"Dean, I'm very serious. Maybe I can give him cultivation talent in the future. If he can be trained, he will definitely become a Title Douluo." Shi Lin smiled and said to Flender.
Flender was already considered a core member of the Shi family and knew some of the secrets of the Gu worms. So after hearing Shi Lin's words, he felt that Shi Lin might be able to help this child rebuild his talent.
Then, Flender stood in front of the glass wall and waited for his chance to make a move. After all, auctions require skill; you have to spend a little money to do a lot.
A few minutes later, just when everyone thought the child was going to go unsold, Flender stepped in and bought the child for two hundred gold soul coins.
"I hope you'll treat him well and not waste him," Flender said with a deep look at Shi Lin, then chuckled.
If Shi Lin can really give this child the talent for cultivation, wouldn't that also give Yu Xiaogang the talent for cultivation?
Looking into Flender's eyes, Shi Lin knew what Flender was thinking. He thought to himself that he probably wouldn't help Yu Xiaogang, after all, the reputation of the master and disciple was really too bad.
Then, silence fell over the private room.
...
Two hours later, Shi Lin's target finally appeared on the auction stage.
A gray stone ring, looking unusually ancient and weathered, but its surface is covered with cracks, as if it might break at any moment.
Soul guidance device, Sumeru!
"Xiao Lin, this is the Soul Tool Sumeru. After seeing the real thing, do you still want to bid for it?" Flender asked Shi Lin.
"Of course, thank you for your hard work, Dean," Shi Lin said with a smile to Flender.
"Alright, I'll bid for it for you." After hearing Shi Lin's words, Flender nodded, picked up the bell, and prepared to start the auction.
Shi Lin stood in front of the glass, carefully observing the gazes of the people around him.
Although this soul tool is severely damaged, it has a large internal space.
Therefore, its value is very high, and some people want to bid for it.
Shi Lin still had 50,000 to 60,000 gold soul coins, so it would be relatively easy for him to bid on a damaged soul tool.
The following auction was incomprehensible; Flender used eight thousand gold soul coins to bid for the Sumeru Soul Tool.
Shi Lin quickly handed the soul tool to Flender.
Shi Lin and Flender weren't very interested in the next few soul tools.
Finally, it was Flender's turn to choose the soul tool.
"The Eye of the Fire Dragon!" Flender's eyes lit up, and he murmured.
After hearing Flender's words, Shi Lin also became interested, stepped forward, and glanced at the soul tool on the auction stage.
This is an earring with a fiery red cat's eye stone at the bottom, making it look absolutely stunning.
Moreover, this is a soul tool.
Therefore, this item is unlikely to be cheap.
After a fierce battle, Flender successfully bid for the "Eye of the Fire Dragon" with 23,000 gold soul coins.
After successfully winning the auction, Flender breathed a sigh of relief.
"Xiao Lin, I've already taken pictures of what I need. Is there anything else you need? If not, let's just head out," Flender said to Shi Lin.
"I don't need anything else, let's go out." Shi Lin nodded, stood up, and prepared to leave.
So the group stood up and left the private room to pay their bills and collect their auction items.
Loving Book So Far Check Out 80+ Chapters In Advanced At Pa Treon:
patreon.com/FicTonic1
[end of the chapter]