Auction Hall

"Hahaha! My! Aren't You the heroes of Tiger Fang City!? The people can't stop praising you these days!"

Sun Shifu welcomed both Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue as they entered the hall where a lot of high-tech equipment was already placed.

"Greetings, Principal."

Both Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue made gestures of respect towards Sun Shifu. He nodded and signaled other instructors as they started bringing barrels and barrels filled with the blood essence of Demonic Beasts.

"No need for formalities! I'm here to transfer the gifts from the government! You can use these capsules to absorb the Blood Essence right away."

As he said this, Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue's gaze fell upon the human-sized metal capsules with pipes attached to the containers above.

Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue immediately nodded as they rushed inside the capsules. As they closed their eyes, the capsules started getting filled with barrels of blood essence one by one. Fang Xiyue only had one barrel for herself while Zhao Jun had dozens of them. They both started to absorb it all at an absurd pace.

Fang Xiyue was visibly a genius with her absorption speed, but Zhao Jun, he was absorbing the essence faster than it could fill his capsule.

"What an absurd guy..."

Sun Shifu himself laughed dryly as he watched. After a few dozen minutes of struggle, Fang Xiyue finally finished absorbing all the essence, coming out with a new shine on her face.

"My strength almost seemed to have doubled with even breaking through! As expected, this essence is quite pure..."

She smiled in satisfaction, but the next moment her gaze fell upon the capsule Zhao Jun was in.

"Fast? Fast!! It's about to empty again!!"

"Here, catch it!"

"Fill it up! Fast!"

"Here is the next one!"

The instructors there were all in panic; no matter how fast they filled the container, Zhao Jun's absorption was always even faster. Finally, after half an hour of more panic, the last drop of essence got absorbed into Zhao Jun, and a breakthrough pillar rose out.

[Congratulations on breaking through to Stage 4 Core Formation Realm!]

Zhao Jun finally came out of the capsule, gripping his arm and checking his new strength with a satisfied smile on his face. Watching this, Sun Shifu finally released a sigh and commented.

"Guess Pure Jade Academy really can't afford you, Zhao Jun. You need to be transferred to Great Jade Peace University as fast as possible. I will write recommendations for both of you! Great Jade Peace University is the greatest University in the whole nation, selecting only the top 0.1% of prodigies from the entire nation. With your current performance, I'm sure you will pass the national exams coming in 8 months."

As Sun Shifu said this, he left the hall quietly, leaving Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue a bit taken aback by his statement.

"Great Jade Peace University... If we get admission there, the golden destiny is already sealed for us!"

Fang Xiyue seemed quite excited as she muttered that. Zhao Jun just scoffed and commented.

"You owe me your life, don't you?"

"Ah... Well, not exactly! I did use my talisman in the first place! So we are even!"

Fang Xiyue immediately replied in a bit of panic, but Zhao Jun just scoffed and replied.

"Without me, there would be no stronghold. What are you thinking, lady? Anyways, do you have an idea of how high society works in this Leaf River City?"

"Well, I did spend my whole life there, so yeah, why do you ask?"

"Perfect, just follow me."

Zhao Jun took out a black hoodie for himself and tossed the other one to Fang Xiyue, and they started moving.

"I have accepted a quest I need to investigate along the way; you help me with that, and I will share half my Achievement Points for that."

"Half? Great, then!"

Fang Xiyue immediately nodded, both equipped black and light pink hoodies over their t-shirts, and started moving. About 30 minutes later, Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue were seen coming out of a luxurious black car right in front of the auction hall.

"I will give you a call later."

Fang Xiyue commanded her driver, and next, both started moving inside the auction hall along with dozens of other people here.

"Why are we at the auction hall though? Has there been money fraud going on here?"

Fang Xiyue quietly whispered to Zhao Jun as they were walking towards the gates of the building. Zhao Jun just smiled and replied.

"Well, see for yourself. For now, just silently follow me. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! Hahaha!"

Zhao Jun laughed it off, but as they were about to step inside, suddenly the guard stopped them and commented.

"Are you lost, kids? This auction hall doesn't allow entry for people with a net worth below $6 million!"

"You!!!!"

Fang Xiyue seemed quite offended. She hadn't brought her card along to show off, and both Zhao Jun and Fang Xiyue were just wearing ordinary hoodies, while others were walking inside with suits and luxuries.

"Calm down there, missy. It's just a cliché plot for me to reveal my net worth."

Zhao Jun scoffed and flashed his black card with a golden dragon stamp over it. As Zhao Jun did that, the guard's eyes widened.

"This! Isn't this the exclusive Golden Dragon Black Card!? The minimum balance in this account is easily $10 million! I'm sorry for my bad judgment."

"No worries, not like I've seen any rich folks walking around in hoodies."

Zhao Jun just waved his hand and casually entered the Auction Hall along with Fang Xiyue, taking a back seat in a rather empty corner with no people nearby. Fang Xiyue was a great help in avoiding people and arranging for empty spots during the auction and other minor issues that could cause them to gain unnecessary attention from the start. Her noble lady-like presence also helped remove suspicion from others.

"Now! Tell me the context of the quest, will you?!"

"Ah, it's just catching an artifact thief. I did my research after the first day of taking the quest at the academy. There is an extremely smart fraudster over the capital called Wang Hen. This guy basically uses auctions and museums to steal real artifacts, replacing them with fake ones and supplying fake artifacts in the market through his subordinates who don't even know who the boss is. I did some research in the past month, and today a rather big fish is coming into the Auction. We just need to catch him before he escapes or disappears. If we fail, we won't ever be able to trace Wang Hen again, so we better be cautious now."

As Zhao Jun said that, Fang Xiyue gulped nervously. Finally, all the hosts entered the stage.

"I thank all our guests for taking time out of your daily schedules and gracing us with your presence at this auction! Let's officially start the 73rd round of the Golden Crown Auction Hall!!!"

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