After leaving the hotel, I went to check on nearby shops and auction houses for some soul tools. At most I got many damaged soul tools that were being sold as trash. While some of them have their core array intact, and some do not. And even some were there whose uses are not known by anyone.
In total I got 8 damaged soul tools and 3 working soul tools. From the 8 damaged ones, there were some with a function of storage space, some were defence-related, and others were attack-related. And those 3 workings were ordinary light, soul power boost and a hidden knife soul tool.
Leaving that aside, I got to know about the auction, and thanks to the money I have accumulated due to gambling in the fight and from Oscar. I easily met the minimum requirement to participate in the auction. The Auction House is open 24 hours a day. There are several rules pertaining to the auction house. One must never ask the details about the seller. The levels of the bidders are divided as Red, Black, Purple, Yellow and White. And I got the status of yellow-level bidder.
I again disguised myself with short hair and a broad chest to look a little masculine and created a set of clothes according to my disguise.
On checking the mirror, I looked like a white face playboy, but I still retained an innocent look. Short black hair, with black obsidian eyes, a little heroic look, more like a common isekai MC, and I somehow gave off the vibe of an elegant prince. Putting on a red mask, I went inside the auction and took a seat randomly. I thought that VIPs must have special seats, but in a hidden or black auction, all the people were given equal status here to hide their backgrounds.
Next to me, I noticed a guy with blonde hair with a mask appeared and took a seat. At that time, both of us looking at each other knew neither of us were simple. Because it was my martial spirit who reacted, or you could say martial soul induction. Martial Soul inductions are rare cases in which two or more soul masters can form a martial soul fusion skill. And just by this I could guess his, or I would say her, identity: 'Qian Renxue' disguised as Xue Qinghe.
And now it seems I might be in trouble because now I know that she could also sense my real identity just by relying on martial soul induction. And how could we both have martial soul induction? Actually, the most probable guess is that we both have nearly humanoid martial spirits, which might have brought us martial soul induction.
And the other is that, just like Soul Land 2, Tang San might have absorbed Angel God power, which led to mutation in his child Tang Wutong, giving her Bright Butterfly, and as I got selected as Son of Destiny, my status is the same as Huo Yuhao's, which made us resonate with each other. But there's another theory in fandom: that Tang San might have split and modified Tang Wutong's martial soul so that he can put a leash on Huo Yuhao or control Huo Yuhao through Tang Wutong.
But that's not the thing I should worry about the most; the most important thing is now how to save myself from Qian Renxue. As she got to know that I have a high-quality martial soul, she would want to keep me under her as a subordinate or as a practice partner to cultivate faster, and the least worrying thing for me is cultivating, and also I want the freedom to build more strength. If I got caught by her, I would be restricted, or even my secrets would be exposed. And another thing is that even if Bibi Dong doesn't want to directly hurt Qian Renxue, I don't think she will treat me any better to support her daughter.
But the most favourable situation is that only Qian Renxue can sense me, but only in a certain range. So, as long as I disappear after the auction and again change my identity and then stay away from her, I might be safe or even extend my time to get caught.
Just as I was lost in thought, Xue Qinghe snapped me out of it, saying, "Hello, little brother, I am Xue Qinghe; nice to meet you."
"I am Tang San. Nice to meet you."
"Brother Tang San is such an interesting guy. I want to make friends with you."
"If Brother Xue Qinghe says so, then call me Xiao San."
"Haha, Xiao San, you can just call me Brother Qinghe. Anyway, are you interested in auctions? I got to know that there might be a 10,000-year-old soul bone at auction."
"That's not it, Brother Qinghe. I have just come to try my luck to see whether I could gain something."
"Why don't I pay for you? Just think of it as a gift for the first meeting."
Does she want to become my sugar mommy? I don't mind it anyway; she might not meet me again.
"Then thank you, Brother Qinghe; I will be relying on you."
On hearing this, Xue Qinghe's mouth twitched a little. I suppose she was just being polite; anyway, what's wrong with accepting a free gift?
As we were talking, the auction started with some pills for cultivation, herbs, and even some spirit beasts being sold as pets.
"Here will be coming the first special item, an 8-year-old girl who has white ears and a tail matching a fox spirit beast due to her martial spirit mutation. And she is even a virgin. And she is also a wild, untamed slave, which increases the fun even more." 'Just admit that you weren't able to tame her.'
"The starting price would be 10,000 gold coins."
"15,000 gold coins."
"20,000 gold coins."
F*ck, I didn't think I would get to see the darkest side of the auction this fast. I can buy her and save her, but there's another issue with it: I can't hide from Qian Renxue anymore due to her. The only thing I could do is first see where she will be going, then buy her if she falls into the wrong hands.
Tian Meng informed me through mental connection.
Well, it seems I need to change my plan: "100,000 gold coins".
"100,000 gold coins; does anyone want to bet higher?"
"Then 100,000 once."
"100,000 twice."
"100,000 thrice, and this slave goes to the young master sitting in number 36."
"Brother Tang San, I didn't think you would have this hobby." I can somehow feel a dissatisfied look from her, but who cares?
"Brother Qinghe, don't worry; I wouldn't ask for any money."
"The next item is a deep-sea demonic whale king's brain, which is even known as a great yang tonic for soul masters. Not only will it give you strong vitality, but it can also help you last longer."
On the stage a dark yellow crystal was brought; according to my spirit eye, it is more than 10,000 years old. It is completely treasure; I didn't think I would be lucky enough to stumble upon whale glue. It is one of the precious items which can strengthen the muscles and bones of a soul master and even increase the limit of the soul ring. It's important for me because it will help me make my body stronger faster to be able to absorb the next soul ring.
"The price will start from 30,000 gold coins."
"80,000 gold coins." I didn't wait a second and raised it. And the next second, everyone gave me a weird look. Anyway, all this blame will fall on Tang San; why worry?
Xue Qinghe, who was sitting next to me, gave me a more disappointed look and I think even she totally lost interest in me as a result. Is it possible that I have unknowingly gotten away from Qian Renxue? As a matter of fact, I can even see that she is trying to ignore me now that I have spoken with her. There is no doubt in my mind that she has a complete disgust for me.
"80,000 gold coins thrice, and this also goes to young master number 36."
"The next item is even more special: a 7000-year-old soul bone, and it's a left arm bone of a silver rock rhino."
Now, nothing interesting for a while, like there's no need for any soul bone. And for Soul Tool, instead of buying, I could easily peek how its array works and remember it. And finally, the last soul bone appeared.
"The final and most special item, a 65,000-year-old three-eyed wolf right leg bone. And it's more suitable for agility, or auxiliary soul masters, to retreat in any difficult situation."
And it didn't even take any time to be bought by the seven-treasure-glazed-tile sect. I spotted two people there; I am sure that's Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin. Without wasting any time, I went inside and paid with gold coins.
They brought me both Whale Gum and the fox girl in front of me. I put the whale glue in my storage. And without a second, I came in front of the fox girl who was gritting her teeth against me.
"Please remove the cage."
"But she will run away if we do that."
"Don't worry; I have already paid, and you have nothing to lose." Hearing, they finally opened the cage.
Then she jumped out of the cage and started to scratch me with her nails, but I pulled her away from me and hugged her tightly. Then I began emitting slow spiritual energy in order to calm her down and to help her fall asleep.
Her grip started to loosen, and her fingers were dripping with blood because she had scratched me on my neck and my back somewhere, and her fingers were dripping with my blood. The moment I held her, I just embraced her as if she was a baby, hugging her tightly. Because of my fast development in my body, I was longer than her and was able to easily lift her by myself.
Without wasting any further time, I took her outside to the crowd, where I blended into the crowd enough to disguise myself once again. And I even got to know that I can also disguise others with my soul bone, but it will disappear if she comes out of the range of 5 metres.
I changed back to my original appearance, and I also changed this girl's hair from white to black and hid her ear and tails and also created clothes around her to disguise her perfectly. I first circle around many times to see if I am being followed. Because of my false mind's eye, I felt that there was no danger anymore. Then only I returned to the hotel I had booked.
I first put the girl on the bed and checked for my old clothes I had kept and took them out. Then I first thought to give her a proper bath and then dress her up. As she is sleeping now, I can easily clean her and put a dress on her. And by the way, her age is almost the same as mine. I pulled out her rag clothes and carried her to the bathroom.
After properly cleaning every corner of her, then only I dried her with a dry towel and put my old dress on her. I didn't feel any shame because she is literally a kid, and I haven't yet reached the age where hormones will affect me. I put a simple white dress piece, which completely suited her white hair colour. I then thought she might be hungry, so I brought some protein-rich food with many meats in our food. I returned to my room. She is still sleeping just as I left, but I can sense that her breaths are in disorder, which means she is awake but pretending to be asleep.
I brought food to the table next to the bed. I brought my hand over her head to pat her, so she slowly let her guard down. As I just waited, when would she stop acting? She opened her eye while still acting to wake up just now. But as she opened her eye, I could see surprise in her eye. She might be surprised that I was here instead of my guy disguise.