After a moment of silence, Lin Xishan took the child's hand and walked in a certain direction.
Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall branch.
Lin Xishan presented his Spirit Hall Academy student identification and was received by a receptionist in blue robes.
"This child is five years old this year. After the new year, he can undergo Spirit Awakening. If he possesses spirit power, arrange for him to join the Spirit Hall. If not... then at least look after him a little," Lin Xishan said.
"That's not a problem," the receptionist nodded. The Spirit Hall never turned away parentless children; it was a tradition left by the Angel God.
Having settled the child's matter, Lin Xishan left on his own. He still needed to try his luck at the auction house to see if there was anything he needed.
From the recent activity, Lin Xishan had absorbed some earth energy, so his meridian issues weren't too pressing anymore. But as the saying goes—since you're already here.
Although Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, had already classified him as a "righteous person," Lin Xishan, who knew the true nature of these people all too well, still chose to cover his face.
Heaven Dou City truly lived up to its status as the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire. The streets were broad and clean, shops lined the roads, and a continuous stream of bustling crowds filled the thoroughfares.
In the city center, a domed building came into Lin Xishan's view.
The building looked quite peculiar. It was completely round, like half a sphere placed on the ground. There was no sign with a name, only a hammer pattern.
The auction house's entrance was also semicircular, presenting a milky white color like the rest of the building. Four tall, slender young women stood before the door.
These young women were clearly carefully selected. Not only were they all around 1.75 meters tall, but their figures were also extremely well-proportioned. While not stunning beauties, their pleasant appearances were quite attractive. They looked to be no more than twenty years old.
As Lin Xishan walked straight towards them, one of the four young women took three steps forward, gave a slight bow, and said, "Sir, how may I assist you?"
"I'm here to see what's available at this auction," Lin Xishan replied.
The young woman was momentarily taken aback. She sized up Lin Xishan, confirming she hadn't seen him before, and maintained a professional smile as she asked, "I'm sorry, sir. May I ask if you have a bidding qualification certificate?"
Seeing Lin Xishan didn't answer, the young woman smiled slightly and continued, "Only guests with a bidding qualification certificate may enter the auction house to bid. The qualification certificates are divided into several different levels, with the entry threshold being ten thousand gold coins."
"Then I'll get a qualification certificate. Where do I go to verify my assets?" Lin Xishan said casually.
"Of course. Please follow me," the young woman nodded, taking small, quick steps as she led the way into the Heaven Dou Auction House.
Entering the auction house, there was no sense of gaudy opulence. The floor was milky white marble. The surrounding walls were decorated with various relief sculptures. The reliefs used few colors, appearing clean, bright, and extremely elegant.
Besides the reliefs, there were also some display cabinets built against the walls, containing exhibits like porcelain and armor.
The guiding young woman was very professional. Every ten steps or so, she would pause and make a "please" gesture, accurately indicating the direction.
Arriving at the Heaven Dou Auction House's asset verification room, Lin Xishan took out a golden card from the Continental Bank.
This card was something he had asked Dugu Bo for back then. That old fellow, despite his rank not being high among Titled Douluo, had received many such cards as gifts after becoming a guest official of the Heaven Dou Imperial family.
When Lin Xishan mentioned he might be a bit short on money, Dugu Bo tossed him eight or nine cards in one go, totaling around three hundred thousand gold coins.
This basically covered the times Lin Xishan needed to use gold coins.
Of course, that was under normal circumstances. If there was a temporary situation requiring a large sum to buy something, that was a different story.
The card Lin Xishan chose contained exactly ten thousand gold coins, no more, no less. The person verifying the assets quickly confirmed the amount and then handed Lin Xishan a number plate and the lowest-tier qualification certificate.
Led by the young woman, Lin Xishan arrived at the true core of the Heaven Dou Auction House.
The auction center was located on the auction house's second floor, accessible by a full eight staircases from the main hall. Since Lin Xishan was already wearing a mask, naturally, he wasn't issued one. The young woman merely reminded him not to remove his mask.
The auction center felt more like a large auditorium. Its layout was similar to the main arena of the Great Spirit Arena. In the center was a circular platform, surrounded by concentric rings of seats arranged radially.
It was divided into five main sections. The three rows of seats closest to the platform were red. Radiating outward, the colors were black, purple, yellow, and white, clearly set for bidders of different levels.
At this moment, there weren't many bidders in the auction center, only about one-fifth of the seats were sparsely occupied.
Without revealing his true strength, Lin Xishan naturally sat in the white section, quietly watching the display platform ahead.
Next to each seat was a dedicated bidding button panel with four different buttons: one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, and one hundred thousand, representing the price increments for each bid.
At this moment, Lin Xishan activated his self-created Spirit Ability, Fiery Golden Eyes. The items on the platform became extremely clear before him.
As the Heaven Dou Auction House operated non-stop twenty-four hours a day, items weren't categorized. One moment they auctioned the daughter of a disgraced noble family, the next it was a captured war blade—it was all very arbitrary.
After watching four or five items, Lin Xishan found little of interest. He already had ideas for his full set of Spirit Bones, and weapons were even less of a concern.
No weapon was as handy as the earth-element weapons he could conjure at will.
By the ninth auction item, which was also the limit of Lin Xishan's patience, something interesting finally appeared.
It was an item that, by later standards, could be considered roughly a seventh-level spirit tool. It resembled a manga-style Blue Silver Grass hand armor. After channeling spirit power, it could extend a whip from the hand.
The whip also possessed a lightning attribute. Its power was amplified by fifty percent of the user's spirit power level.
In other words, if used by someone with ten levels of spirit power, the attack power would be equivalent to a Spirit Master with fifteen levels.
It was quite a good item. Although Lin Xishan himself might not find it very suitable, some things you could choose not to use, but it was better to have them than not.
Anyway, there was nothing else he cared about, and his meridians were already in the process of repairing.
Speaking of which, it was quite coincidental. Dugu Bo had stabilized overnight and reached level ninety-five. Lin Xishan couldn't trade blows with him evenly, and the Ice Fire Dragon Spirits were clearly slacking off, not revealing the method to quickly digest the medicinal potency.
Just as Lin Xishan raised the bid by ten thousand, a red seat in the front row suddenly raised it by one thousand.
A white seat raising by ten thousand, a red seat raising by one thousand—this was a situation the auctioneer was encountering for the first time. Yet, he maintained his professionalism, announcing the bids in the order they were made...