Tang San walked over to the steel plate, raising his right hand and wordlessly pulling out the steel needles, once again pushing them into the Powder Shooting Shadow. The poison didn’t have any effect on him whatsoever.
Mysterious Jade Hands didn’t just make his hands as hard as iron, they also isolated them from all poison.
Watching Tang San collect all the thirty six steel needles that were shot out, the appraiser finally came back to himself.
“Honored guest, even though it’s made from common materials, this weapon certainly is more elaborate than anything I’ve ever seen. Perhaps it might not be much use to other Spirit masters, but to ordinary people it’s a superb weapon. I’m prepared to give it a price of ten thousand gold spirit coins, what do you think?”
Tang San had only spent twenty gold spirit coins on making this Powder Shooting Shadow. Of course, that was only the material costs. On the entire Douluo Continent, he was the only one with the craftsmanship to create it.
Tang San nodded with a smile, handing over the Powder Shooting Shadow to the appraiser,
“No problem. Then put it up for sale. Now we’re qualified to join the auction.”
The receiving young woman to the side hastily said:
“Of course. Our auctions run constantly for twenty four hours of the day. All auctions are conducted at the heart of the hall. Please follow me. Your item will very quickly appear for auction, I’ll first bring you to handle the procedures.”
The procedures weren’t complicated, only setting up a gold spirit coin card with the auction house’s affiliated bank.
Through this bank Tang San could obtain the corresponding price after his item was sold and the commission was deducted. He could also place bids, with the condition that he couldn’t exceed his funds at the bank.
At the same time the receiving young lady gave the pair a simple introduction to the rules here.
As the biggest auction house in Heaven Dou Empire, it was possible to bid for any items here.
The first rule of the auction house was to never ask about the seller. Moreover they couldn’t reveal the circumstances of bidding in the auction house outside.
Part 2 (TL by Bagelson)
Twenty four hours constant bidding, without rest.
Every night was a time when top quality items were auctioned. Within those two hours only buyers with cash deposits in excess of one million gold spirit coins could participate. Any other time, any bidder could join.
The rules were very simple, but Tang San still noticed that this uninterrupted auction no doubt brought immense profit to the auction house. The auction of one precious thing would bring a ten percent commission, from some points of view that wasn’t much, but in fact, the accumulated wealth was terrifying.
Even so much that the profits must be enormous even compared to the Great Spirit Arena.
“Take us to the auction, please.”
Led by the young woman, Tang San and Xiao Wu finally got what they wanted, entering the heart of the Heaven Dou Auction.
The core of the auction was on the second floor. From the main hall there were eight staircases that led inside. Before entering the auction, the young woman gave them each a mask, telling them they everyone had to wear them in order to enter, out of security considerations for the customers. Next time nobody would receive them.
The young woman brought them directly to the entrance to the center of the auction before turning around and leaving. There were other attendants within the auction heart.
Compared to the young woman that brought them, the dress of the attendants here couldn’t help but make Tang San’s face and ear bright scarlet.
They also wore white clothes, and it was still dresses, but the feeling they gave people was entirely different.
The attendants within the auction were all female, around the same height as the young woman who brought them, but their figures were even more fiery.
The sleeveless white dresses they wore had wide open lapels at the chest. The short skirts barely passed seven cun[ 7寸 = 23.3cm] below the waist, exposing soft delicate thighs. Adding white high heeled shoes, they were even more exceptionally enticing. The deep gorge between their breasts, the pert but swelling under the short skirt, there was nothing that didn’t rouse the imagination.
Despite Tang San’s staunch willpower, he still couldn’t help looking several times. After all, he was still a normal man.
There was a sudden pain at his lower back, and by his ears Xiao Wu’s menacing voice,
“What are you looking at? You’re not allowed to look.”
Tang San swallowed the pain and hastily said in a low voice:
“Do you take me for fatty! Let’s go inside.”
Xiao Wu used her own, taller compared to Tang San, stature to as much as possible block Tang San’s line of sight as that provocatively shaped attendant brought them into the heart of the auction.
The heart of the auction gave people a feeling more like a large auditorium, at a size similar to the central main Great Spirit Arena, at the center was a circular platform, surrounded by rings of seats.
They were altogether arranged into five sections. The three rows closest to the platform were red, and moving successively out from there the next were black, purple, yellow and white. Clearly it was set up according to the different levels of the bidders.
The receiving young woman had previously told them that the innermost red seats were accessed via a special passage, with special security personnel for protection. That was the area for so-called million level VIP’s, moreover one still had to be a person of considerable status to obtain red VIP qualifications.
The black seats outside was the common million level VIP area, anyone could enter and become a black guest as long as they had money.
Further out, purple was the five hundred thousand purple level guests, yellow was the hundred thousand level common guests, and the white area furthest out was also the largest area, where the most common guests like Tang San and Xiao Wu were seated.
The attendant brought the pair to the white area, indicating they could freely choose where to sit. Perhaps it was because Tang San and Xiao Wu were too young, or that their guest qualifications were too low, but the attendant wasn’t in any way enthusiastic, only very professionally brought them to their seats, even so much that she didn’t even have the professional smile of the previous receiving young woman.
Tang San was indifferent, but Xiao Wu was somewhat resentful,
“Hmph, arrogant snobs. Dressed like that, it’s clearly to seduce the wealthy. What did they do to grow that big?”
While speaking, Xiao Wu looked down at her own budding chest.
“The attendants here are all like that, it’s not directed at you.”
A gentle voice came from the side. As Tang San and Xiao Wu turned their heads to look, they saw a white dressed scholarly looking middle aged man nodding at them with a smile.
Strangely, he didn’t wear a mask, and no staff came to ask him about it.
Xiao Wu couldn’t help asking:
“They’re all like this? Why?”
The middle aged man said with a smile:
“The attendants here all belong to the auction house themselves. Even their lives. They were all bought by the auction house as commoner girls, and fostered from childhood. They aren’t only the serving staff here, at the same time they’re goods for auction. If someone wishes to pay, they can be traded.”
“Then isn’t that slavery? But, don’t the two great Empires prohibit slave trading?”
Tang San said somewhat astonished.
The middle aged man smiled calmly, saying:
“There are a lot of helpless people in this world. This is the Heaven Dou Auction, let alone slaves, there is nothing that can’t be sold here. The reason those young women are expressionless is that they long ago lost lost their own hearts, and even more the decision of their own fate. All they can do is obey. Even though they’re beauti
ful, they don’t own their own souls. I can only describe them as ‘lamentable’.”
Listening to the middle aged man speak, the expression on Xiao Wu’s face gradually changed. If she loathed those scantily clad beautiful attendants before, then now her heart was brimming with pity.
“How much do they cost?”
Xiao Wu asked.
The middle aged man seemed to see through her intentions,
“You want to buy them and give them freedom? That’s just another tragedy.”
Xiao Wu puzzled asked:
“Why?”
“Besides serving men, those attendants don’t have any survival skills. Even if you bought them, with their looks they would still finally fall into the hands of men. Their fate would be even more miserable. They don’t have souls, they don’t belong to the world. Besides, the price for each is a hundred thousand gold spirit coins. More than ten times that of the highest class prostitutes, it’s not something just anyone can spend.”
The middle aged man’s tone was somewhat helpless. He seemed to carry himself with a particular atmosphere that very easily made others feel familiar with him.
Right now there weren’t a lot of bidders at the auction, and only a sparse fifth or so of the seats were in use.
On the stage a spirit tool similar to a belt was being auctioned, and the price had already reached forty thousand gold spirit coins.
Next to each seat were special buttons to call out bids, above them was separately written one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand and one hundred thousand, representing how much each bid would raise.
The middle aged man seemed interested in Tang San and Xiao Wu, and changing the topic asked:
“Coming to the auction so young, is there something you want to buy?”
Xiao Wu said:
“We aren’t buying, we’re selling.”
“Eh?”
The middle aged man smiled:
“Selling things, huh. I wouldn’t have thought that someone as young as you would be selling.”
Xiao Wu said:
“Who said you can’t sell if you’re young. Maybe, later once we have money we can still buy spirit bones to play with. Yi, how did you know we’re young, don’t tell me you have x-ray vision?”
Everyone here wore masks, and even though Xiao Wu and Tang San were a bit smaller than adults, it still wasn’t by much.
The middle aged man said:
“Good, ambitious. It’s no wonder youths can possess such strength. Even though you wear masks, the childishness of your bodies and eyes can’t conceal your age, clear sighted people will naturally notice.”
Hearing this, Tang San couldn’t help trembling inwardly, could it be this person was capable of seeing his and Xiao Wu’s strength? However, why wouldn’t he feel any threat from him?
By now that spirit tool on the stage was sold for forty three thousand gold spirit coins.
The auctioneer on the stage touched the amplifier and spoke to the bidders with a smile:
“The next auction we will conduct is a rare item. Interested bidders please pay attention. Especially male guests.”
While speaking, he pointed to the stage and three large men pushed out a cart. The cart was covered by red cloth and the inside couldn’t be seen, but from the shape it was some large square box.
Tang San, Xiao Wu and even that middle aged man’s gazes were all attracted by this new auction and stopped their discussion.
The announcer somewhat mysteriously said:
“Can you guess what it is? Then, I will first reveal to all distinguished guests the starting price. This item’s opening price is one hundred thousand gold spirit coins. The minimum bid increase is ten thousand gold spirit coins. This is top quality among top quality.”
As the auction’s presenter, the ability to raise the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of the competing bidders was clearly required, and he very successfully attracted the bidders’ attention.
“Next, all distinguished guests please pay attention.”
While speaking, he grabbed the red cloth, sharply pulling it away.
After the flash of red light, what was revealed wasn’t any box, but rather a large iron cage. Within the iron cage was curled up a young woman.
The young woman was more than half naked, with only key places covered by shells. Because she was curled up her appearance couldn’t be seen clearly, but her figure was close to perfect.
Fair skin like sparkling jade, and a head of short green unstyled hair.
Part 3 (TL by Bagelson)
“Perhaps the honored guests might find it strange that such a girl would actually have such a high opening price, the same as the price for the beautiful women trained by our auction house for many years. But if everyone looks carefully, you will find how extraordinary she is.”
While speaking, the announcer pulled out a rod from somewhere, poking it into the iron cage and lightly prodding the short green hair on the side of the young woman’s head, revealing her ears.
Those weren’t human ears, but small pointed ears similar to that of a feline. Under the light prodding of the rod, the ears turned slightly red.
“That’s right, you haven’t made a mistake. This is a rare cat woman. When her spirit awakened her body underwent a variation, possessing a cat like shape, her eyes are one blue and one green, a unique mien, and there’s even a long tail.”
He used the rod to hit the young woman’s butt, and she yelped and turned, revealing a white cat tail that had been hidden in front of her.
“One might say that she is a unique and unmatched existence on the Continent. Able to possess such a beautiful female cat as a pet, such a blessing. Imagine, if when working you can grab her tail with one hand, what kind of scene is that?”
While speaking, the announcer revealed a dubious expression, swinging the rod in his hand in a circle in the air,
“All guests, you can bid.”
“These bastards. To actually sell a person as a pet.”
Xiao Wu couldn’t stop herself and was about to leap up.
Tang San pulled back Xiao Wu, indicating she should stay calm. But his own heart was a roaring sea. It wasn’t like he had never seen the dark side of this world, but it was still the first time he came into contact with it. It seemed that within this auction house, commodities like ‘humanity’ didn’t exist, only ‘profit’ and similar animalistic cravings.
Faint light flickered, and Tang San’s eyes revealed an ice cold aura, leaning back in his seat and quietly observing. He was an astute person, and naturally understood that he and Xiao Wu couldn’t change everything that happened. Even if they were truly able to save this cat woman, afterwards there might still be a panther woman and a tiger woman, how could they promptly rush over without delay each time? ‘Teacher said that the auction house was a place brimming with opportunity and filth, it seems he really was right.’
Xiao Wu’s hand held on to Tang San’s the whole time, without relaxing. She discovered that Tang San’s grip on her hand was tight, clearly his heart was also uneasy. Looking at the light fluctuating in Tang San’s eyes, she also gradually calmed down. But she lowered her head, no longer looking at the stage.
Speaking of all this as a true coincidence, just after Tang San and Xiao Wu entered there was an auction of a living person, this no doubt left Tang San and Xiao Wu with an extremely profound, and also extremely bad impression.
At this moment, Tang San accidentally discovered that the middle aged man next to him pressed the button marked ten thousand. Even though it was his first time here, he still knew that this would display a ten thousand bid increase. In other words, he had at least a hundred ten thousand gold spirit coins to buy that cat woman.
His originally good impression immediately changed. He hadn’t expected this seemingly dignified and scholarly middle aged man next to him would actually be so base and despicable.
The middle aged man’s gaze stayed on the stage the whole time, but just when Ta
ng San was changing his mind he spoke up:
“Rescuing the soulless is pointless. This one still has soul, and is also the result of spirit variation, how can I not save her like this?”
Hearing his words, Tang San was slightly distracted, and even more wary towards this middle aged man. How could he know what he was thinking, could it be he was a legendary mind reader?
“No need to be suspicious. Young man, the eyes are the window to the soul, your expression is already enough to tell me a lot of things. After all, I’ve already gone through a lot more years than you. This is the experience of society.”
The middle aged man smiled at Tang San, his hand once again pressing the bidding button.
By now the bidding price had already increased to sixty thousand gold spirit coins. Moreover it seemed like the rising trend would continue without pause.
The announcer said:
“One hundred seventy thousand, there is a red guest bidding one hundred seventy thousand gold spirit couns, are there no further bids?”
“One hundred eighty thousand. Excellent. there is a white-, ah. A white guest bidding one hundred eighty thousand.”
He had already cried out in surprise on more than one occasion. White represented the most inferior bidders, but from the start of this auction there had been a white bidder participating. Even stranger, his bank still didn’t show any signs of overdraft. This explained how the competitor had such bidding power.
“Let me see who dares fight with me.”
An elderly man in the frontmost red area stood up sharply, his eyes sweeping across the white area in the back. Even though he wore a mask, as soon as this man stood up, Tang San immediately recognized him.
Douluo Dalu - Volume 11 - Vigorous God Page 5