"Distinguished guest, please ask."
Qing Ya slightly bowed, her tone respectful.
"Do you know what an Ultimate attribute is?"
Chen Junting's rhetorical question directly stumped Qing Ya.
It also made the other Shrek members look at him with curious eyes, and even Wang Yan's eyes showed an inquiring look.
"An Ultimate attribute is the emperor of that attribute."
A hint of mockery flowed in Chen Junting's tone. "Would a powerful emperor willingly submit to his subjects?"
"This—"
Qing Ya's expression suddenly changed, and she immediately fell silent.
It seemed she was somewhat cautious about this topic.
But for the Shrek group, they didn't mind this. Ling Luochen, who cared the most, was the first to speak up.
"Junior brother Chen, what do you mean?"
"I don't mean anything."
Chen Junting waved his hand, pretending not to care. "Everyone knows how domineering ultimate attributes are, right? When Yuhao first activated his Ice Jade Scorpion martial soul, it directly made senior sister Ling lose her ability to resist. Then what if you incorporate this kind of power into your body?"
He didn't continue speaking.
But the meaning was clear to everyone.
Especially Wang Yan's expression changed instantly!
He clearly understood this consequence—it was soul bone backlash.
If it really came to that, the lightest consequence would be losing an arm, and the heaviest would be death.
At this moment, his gaze at Qing Ya contained anger, completely unlike his previous shyness. "You're putting out this soul bone for murder! Didn't you investigate properly beforehand?"
Although he didn't know much about ultimate attributes, he definitely knew about soul bones. From his expertise, Chen Junting's conclusion was eight or nine tenths correct. Absorbing a soul bone stronger than oneself to gain powerful strength wasn't a problem. But if this power exceeded a certain limit, it would bring disaster instead of fortune.
And this current soul bone was exactly that.
"This..."
Seeing the Shrek team leader get angry, Qing Ya instantly panicked.
But fortunately, she was still clear-headed. Knowing she couldn't handle this herself, she immediately had one of the golden-gowned girls beside her report to the higher-ups.
As for herself, she continued to handle the matters in the room.
After all, although this matter's truth was uncertain, the most important issue now was that the Shrek team leader was angry. The most important thing now was to calm them down.
"Distinguished guests, I sincerely apologize..."
Just as she was trying hard to appease them, Huo Yuhao's next words poured oil on the fire, making Qing Ya feel like crying.
"That..."
Huo Yuhao's voice interrupted Qing Ya's soothing words.
This made everyone's gaze focus on him.
"Yuhao, just say whatever you want to say."
A hint of encouragement appeared in Chen Junting's eyes.
As if he had been waiting for this moment all along.
Coincidentally at this time, on the light guide screen, Xu Jiujiu's voice sounded again, "Due to the extraordinary value of this auction item, this auction house has decided to extend the viewing time by another ten minutes. This is to allow distinguished guests sufficient time to consider carefully and make their final decision."
And Huo Yuhao also spoke at this moment.
"Although I don't know if other ultimate attribute soul bones are like what senior brother Junting and Teacher Wang said, but at least the Ice Jade Scorpion's soul bone can only be absorbed by soul masters with the Ultimate Ice attribute."
When these words came out, Ling Luochen completely believed them.
Three people all saying the same thing couldn't be wrong. Moreover, one of these three was an Ice Jade Scorpion martial soul possessor.
She finally sighed dejectedly, murmuring to herself: "What is destined to be yours will eventually come to you; what is not destined to be yours, do not force it."
"I would like to ask this distinguished guest to explain clearly."
The door opened, and a voice came through.
Xu Jiujiu, dressed in a red long dress, had already arrived.
After everyone performed the proper courtesies, Xu Jiujiu impatiently looked at Huo Yuhao, "Although I know none of you would speak recklessly, for the reputation of the Starlight Auction House, I must trouble this young man to explain this soul bone matter clearly."
"I presume the Princess knows my martial soul."
At Huo Yuhao's words, Xu Jiujiu nodded slightly. Since the revelation of the Ice Jade Scorpion martial soul, it was no longer a secret.
Huo Yuhao continued: "I think, Princess, you don't truly understand the Ice Jade Scorpion clan. As one of the most powerful races in the Extreme North, the Ice Jade Scorpion clan is extremely proud. And this pride is manifested in the fact that non-Ultimate Ice attribute soul masters who absorb Ice Jade Scorpion soul bones will surely die, no matter how supreme their strength is on the continent!"
"This is impossible!?"
Xu Jiujiu almost blurted out.
Because this matter from beginning to end was just one-sided testimony.
Who knew if this was...
Seemingly seeing Xu Jiujiu's thoughts, Chen Junting's expression turned cold. "What? Does Princess think we're just eyeing this soul bone and trying to get it through other means?"
"Our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect doesn't lack this small amount of money."
"Esteemed guest is joking."
Taking a deep breath, Xu Jiujiu calmed down. "That's not what I meant. It's just that this news is quite shocking."
"I think you can verify it yourselves." Chen Junting's expression was indifferent. "But regardless, we will bid for this soul bone. However, we don't want to be fools who get the price driven too high after unknowing people compete for it."
"I understand. Thank you for informing me."
Xu Jiujiu performed a courtesy, then left.
After she left the room, she walked inward directly.
Arriving at room number one, she pushed the door open and entered.
"Brother, there's a problem."
Inside the room, Xu Jiawei saw Xu Jiujiu enter and said calmly, "I already heard about it. What happened?"
Xu Jiujiu relayed the recent situation.
After hearing her words, Xu Jiawei was slightly stunned, then shook his head helplessly. "I originally wanted to do a favor, to connect with the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and Shrek Academy. Who knew the favor would turn out like this."
Xu Jiujiu naturally understood her brother's thoughts. It was nothing more than wanting to connect with the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and Shrek Academy like they had with the Body Sect, to link up all the top forces on the Douluo Continent to deal with the increasingly powerful Sun Moon Empire.
But now, their plans had fallen through somewhat.
"Then brother, what should we do? Should we just let the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect people bid for the soul bone, and then privately sell it to them at the original price? This way, although our loss is large, it's still better than damaging the Starlight Auction House's reputation."
"No."
Xu Jiawei pondered for a moment, then rejected her idea.
"Since we decided to do a favor, the remaining golden soul coins don't matter. We'll directly give them the soul bone."
"Ah!?"
What Xu Jiawei didn't know was that it was precisely this decision that made him completely fall into the trap Chen Junting had set.
Ten minutes passed, and the soul bone price began to soar. Until the price reached thirty million golden soul coins, shocking every VIP room.
"Who bid such a high price!"
Xiao Hongchen's face was filled with anger, ruining his handsome features.
He had originally wanted to bid for this soul bone for his younger sister to absorb. Who would have thought a madman would drive the price of this Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone to thirty million! Thirty million!
"Damn it!"
Seeing Xiao Hongchen about to continue bidding, Meng Hongchen hurriedly stopped him. "Brother, forget it. I don't want this soul bone anymore. With this money, we can hunt an Ice Jade Scorpion ourselves later, and use its corpse to make a soul guide device that would be more valuable than this soul bone..."
His sister's soothing words were quite effective.
Xiao Hongchen angrily sat down, deciding not to bid anymore.
But he kept muttering under his breath, "I suspect this is the Starlight Auction House buying it back themselves. Otherwise, which fool would spend thirty million golden soul coins on this soul bone? Oh—except for those rich bastards from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. It's probably them..."
Hearing her brother's constant muttering, a hint of helplessness flashed across Meng Hongchen's face, then..."Brother! That's enough!"
And so, everything became quiet.
At the same time, on the Shrek side.
"Senior brother Junting, aren't you bidding anymore?"
Wang Dong curiously leaned over to ask.
Thirty million golden soul coins was probably just one year's allowance for Yuhao. So this Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone wasn't too expensive to bid for.
"There's no need to bid anymore."
Chen Junting shook his head, looking at Qing Ya with a faint smile.
"The previous soul bone was bought back by the owner themselves."
And at this moment, Ning Tian also explained to everyone.
Her words made even Qing Ya somewhat embarrassed.
But this kind of thing was the same as the earlier exaggerated promotion—every auction house would have such operations.
Just then, Chen Junting suddenly said to Qing Ya: "By the way, I'd like to kindly remind you. Of course, this probably doesn't need my reminder. It's just that this kind of operation shouldn't be done today. After all, this recent auction has already made quite a few people notice something was off. If it happens again, I'm afraid your Starlight Auction House's reputation will suffer a great blow."
Hearing this, Qing Ya nodded slightly.
She naturally knew these words weren't meant for her ears.
So she had one of the golden-gowned girls leave the room to inform the Starlight Auction House higher-ups of what Chen Junting had said.
Xu Jiawei naturally also gave his promise.
How could he possibly continue doing this? The previous situation was something they were forced into.
They needed to know that just this one move had caused their Starlight Auction House to lose at least twenty million golden soul coins.
And somehow this promise reached Chen Junting's ears.
This made the corners of Chen Junting's mouth rise involuntarily.
"The fish has taken the bait."
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