Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

Such a large piece of Geothermal Flame Crystal—Chen Ming could understand with just a toe's worth of thought how much the fire-attributed soul beasts in that area would be affected. Who knows if a small-scale beast tide has already emerged there? Chen Ming had always thought that he could only see such taboo items at black market auctions. He never expected that the Heaven Dou Royal Auction House would openly auction such an item.

Chen Ming vaguely sensed with his spiritual power that this half-human-tall Geothermal Flame Crystal contained a tremendous amount of spirituality and soul power, making it a rare, top-tier material. Although the crude excavation methods caused the spirituality to slowly dissipate, the crystal was still incredibly valuable.

If placed in the era of the Peerless Tang Sect ten thousand years later, such a large piece of Geothermal Flame Crystal would be worth tens of millions of gold soul coins. It could be used to forge three or four level-nine or level-eight soul tools, and even the leftover scraps could be used in the manufacturing of soul cannon shells.

However, in this current era, this incredibly meaningful and valuable piece of Geothermal Flame Crystal was only worth a mere few hundred thousand gold soul coins.

At the moment, Chen Ming, who was researching the application of spirituality, needed many materials that could contain or carry spirituality and laws to use as test subjects. A piece as large as this Geothermal Flame Crystal was perfect for conducting numerous experiments.

The price of the Geothermal Flame Crystal had just been raised to around 150,000 gold soul coins by a group of bidders when Chen Ming activated the amplifier soul tool in his room and shouted out his bid.

"200,000 gold soul coins."

This was the first bid from a top-floor room, and it instantly raised the price by a full 50,000 gold soul coins. The soul masters below, who had been calculating their bids, were all stunned and gave up bidding.

Just when Chen Ming thought he could win the Geothermal Flame Crystal like this, a raspy voice from a mid-level private room rang out:

"300,000 gold soul coins!"

In an auction house, it was perfectly normal for someone to raise the bid, and Chen Ming wasn't some brainless villain who would get angry over this. Casually, he activated his soul tool again and made another bid.

"400,000 gold soul coins."

After all, the Chen family's immense wealth was at his disposal, and even Dugu Bo had given him quite a few gold soul coins.

Currently, he had around 20 million gold soul coins in liquid assets at his disposal, so raising the bid by tens of thousands at a time didn't even make him blink.

If that wasn't enough, he could still go to the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan to withdraw an additional 45 million gold soul coins that his family had stored there. His authority in this matter was even higher than that of Chen Shijie, the patriarch of the Chen family.

Given Chen Ming's displayed talent, even if he spent all the gold soul coins the Chen family had saved over the centuries, the clan members would enthusiastically cheer him on. Both Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun could still lead the soul-powered family members to hunt soul beasts and earn more money for Chen Ming.

"450,000 gold soul coins!"

It was as if someone was deliberately competing with Chen Ming. As soon as Chen Ming made his bid, the raspy voice in the mid-level private room immediately raised the price again, though this time there was a subtle tremor in the voice.

This price was already causing the bidder some pain.

"500,000 gold soul coins," Chen Ming said indifferently, raising the bid again.

For a minor noble family, 500,000 gold soul coins would represent the wealth accumulated over a century. Upon hearing this bid, the elderly man in the mid-level private room fell silent for a long while, until the auctioneer, Ah Zhen, had called out "Second time!" before shakily making another bid.

"510,000 gold soul coins," said the elderly voice from the mid-level room, trembling. At this moment, this renowned godsmith of the Douluo Continent deeply regretted not bringing more money with him this time.

Blacksmithing, as a profession, was inherently not prestigious. Even though Lou Gao was the president of the Blacksmith Association and one of the three great godsmiths of the current era—reigning supreme in the blacksmithing capital of Gengxin City—what most people on the continent noticed about him was still his Soul Sage-level cultivation.

In this era, blacksmiths primarily catered to low-level soul masters. A precious weapon or piece of armor created over several years of painstaking effort might sell for just a few thousand gold soul coins. Their income was worlds apart from that of soul engineers in the second era.

As a godsmith, Lou Gao often purchased rare materials for his research, so his expenses were naturally high. This time, he had come to the auction upon hearing that top-tier materials would be available, but he had brought only 500,000 gold soul coins in total.

What he never expected was to encounter someone competing with him for these materials, increasing the price by 50,000 or 100,000 gold soul coins at a time, as if they had tens of millions of gold soul coins as financial backing, completely indifferent to the price.

Although this material was indeed rare, it shouldn't have been worth such a high price to most people.

The bid of 510,000 gold soul coins was Lou Gao's final offer, made with gritted teeth, and he was prepared to pawn some of the materials and works he had brought along to the Heaven Dou Royal Auction House to make the payment.

He didn't have anything valuable with him on this trip. If the price went even slightly higher—by just a thousand or two thousand gold soul coins—Lou Gao wouldn't be able to afford it.

"550,000 gold soul coins." Chen Ming, unaware of the identity of the soul master in the mid-level room, casually raised the bid again. But when the price of 550,000 gold soul coins was announced, the auction house fell into complete silence.

In the mid-level room, Lou Gao opened his mouth, unsure of what to say. Yet, looking at the half-human-tall Geothermal Flame Crystal, this masterfully devoted to the blacksmithing craft couldn't help but activate the amplifier soul tool—not to raise the bid this time, but to speak.

"Sir, I am Lou Gao, president of the Blacksmith Association and a godsmith of this era. After the auction, may I have the honor to examine the Geothermal Flame Crystal? If you are willing to sell one-fifth of it to me, I am willing to pay 200,000 gold soul coins."

When Lou Gao made this statement, the auction house manager's face immediately darkened. He quickly summoned the Soul Sage-level enforcer, who usually idled around, and headed straight for Lou Gao's room.

Such behavior was prohibited at the Heaven Dou Royal Auction House. Even a godsmith or a Soul Sage would be expelled for it. At best, Lou Gao would be banned from entering the auction house for five years; at worst, he could be permanently blacklisted.

Of course, rules were enforced by strength. If Lou Gao had been a Titled Douluo, the auction house would have pretended not to hear such a violation. However, Lou Gao was only a Soul Sage, after all. The so-called title of godsmith sounded impressive but carried far less weight than a Soul Sage on the continent.

Lou Gao had already prepared himself for the consequences of his words. Bowing his head, he walked to the door. Before long, the door opened, and the stern-faced auction manager, accompanied by the elderly Soul Sage, entered.

Seeing that Lou Gao was ready to be expelled, the expressions of the manager and the Soul Sage softened slightly, and they refrained from taking any drastic action. But just as the three of them were preparing to leave, a gentle voice suddenly echoed in their minds.

["I am Chen Ming from Room Six on the top floor. May I ask the manager if it would be possible to make an exception and allow Master Lou Gao to come to my room for a discussion?"]