The entire auction lasted for twenty-six items. Apart from the mermaid item at the very beginning, the remaining twenty-five auctions featured sixteen that were all rare mineral auctions, and the other nine were the proud creations of various blacksmiths.
There were three forging grandmasters, three forging masters, and three forging artisans, a total of nine blacksmiths' works, ranging from armor to weapons to jewelry, with everything imaginable.
Out of curiosity towards the Blacksmith's Association, Wang Zhong carefully examined the works of those individuals. While good, they were only relatively speaking.
At least for Wang Zhong, those items held no appeal.
"I wonder what kind of item the so-called Divine Craftsman will forge."
"Can he make my four load-bearing soul tools even heavier?"
Lost in these thoughts, a man who looked like a servant, with a distressed expression and apprehension, approached Wang Zhong's location and nervously said.
"Sir, your auctioned item, will you take it yourself, or shall we deliver it to your residence?"
"Hmm?"
"Shouldn't you pay first?"
Wang Zhong asked with a light smile.
"Pay!"
"Ah, yes, yes! Look at my memory, esteemed guest, please follow me."
Hitting himself hard, the servant's face lit up with surprise, and he repeatedly led the way.
It wasn't until Wang Zhong truly took out one hundred thousand gold soul coins from his soul tool, without a single coin missing, and placed it before the servant and the person in charge, and instructed them to deliver the mermaid to the main hall of the Spirit Hall, that both of them felt a sense of astonishment, as if the sun had risen from the west.
"Someone from the Spirit Hall actually paid!"
"Yes, sir."
"Am I sure I'm not dreaming?"
"Sir, I don't think so." "Hiss, it hurts, sir, why did you hit me!"
"It hurts! It seems I'm really not dreaming!"
...
It had to be said that the auction house's efficiency was indeed quite high. Wang Zhong had barely entered the main hall of the Spirit Hall when the other party delivered the crystal box containing the mermaid.
"Sir, you need to be careful. This mermaid cannot be out of the water for too long, otherwise she may suffocate."
"Furthermore, do not keep her in a live water environment, or she may escape, or even injure you."
The attendant who delivered the item gave these two pieces of advice and then quietly withdrew.
In the grand hall, Wang Zhong stood before the crystal box, examining the slender figure within. The mermaid, Adie, also stood with her hands on her hips, wagging her tail, and angrily shouted at Wang Zhong.
"Human, you'd better let me go! Let me return to the sea!"
"Otherwise, Lord Sea God will never forgive you!"
Reading her lips, Wang Zhong chuckled and shook his head.
He had already seen the Wolf God, so why would he fear a Sea God who had long since passed away? It was laughable.
He extended a finger and tapped the crystal box. With a slight exertion of force, spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards. In the next moment, it seemed as if the entire thing was about to explode.
Seeing the crystal box's condition, Wang Zhong frowned. How fragile.
How could such a crystal box contain this mermaid?
Mermaids, as darlings of the sea, were descendants of humans and sea soul beasts, naturally born as soul masters.
Since they were soul masters, their strength would naturally not be small, and breaking the crystal box before him would be as easy as lifting a finger.
"Don't do this!"
"Don't do this!"
"If there's no seawater, I'll die!"
Seeing the crystal box about to shatter, Adie repeatedly waved her hands, a look of grievance and helplessness on her face.
Just as land soul masters would die in the sea, mermaids, once out of the water, were no better off, their strength greatly diminished, and their lives in danger.
"Ah! Those damned bastards!"
Thinking that she was currently at the mercy of this small crystal box, Adie trembled with anger.
She was once a free fish in the vast ocean, able to roam at will. Now, only this small crystal box was her refuge. The stark contrast between the two made her feel so wronged that she was almost in tears.
Her eyes, as bright as oceanic sapphires, were now filled with tears, on the verge of crying at any moment. A terrifying soul power fluctuation emanated from Adie.
"Soul Emperor!"
Sensing the intensity of the soul power fluctuation, a hint of surprise appeared on Wang Zhong's face.
"Those people are truly capable!"
"To actually capture a mermaid of the Soul Emperor level from the sea!"
"How did they evade the mermaid tribe's unique distress signal and suppress her to bring her here?"
He glanced at the crystal box and examined it carefully. Wang Zhong discovered that the crystal box was actually double-layered, with a vacuum in between!
"So that's how it is. Someone used some method to specifically create this crystal box, for the purpose of capturing mermaids!"
"They rely on sound waves to transmit distress signals. This double-layered hollow crystal box can perfectly block all sound. As soon as their tribe is locked inside, they can only be at the mercy of others."
"If I'm not mistaken, she is definitely not the first mermaid to be captured! Someone specifically captures mermaids for sale or other activities!"
"However, these people did not expect to capture a powerful mermaid of the Soul Emperor level this time. For a strong individual of this caliber, the energy and financial investment required to train them into being obedient and submissive would be extraordinary, and success would not even be guaranteed. Furthermore, forcing such a powerful individual to do certain vulgar things would be futile or impossible. From this perspective, she has no value as an item."
"To minimize losses, they chose to sell her off in Gengxin City!"
As his gaze shifted, Wang Zhong deduced the reason why this mermaid appeared here.
Looking at her tearful eyes, Wang Zhong scoffed.
You are clearly a powerful Soul Emperor, and you don't look like a child, so why do you have such a wronged expression, as if you're about to cry!
He pushed the crystal box with one hand, lifting it off the ground from below, and then reached under to lift the entire thing. Wang Zhong turned and walked towards the backyard.
He remembered that there seemed to be a rather large pond in the backyard.
Inside the crystal box, seeing Wang Zhong lift the entire crystal box with one hand, Adie parted her pale blue lips slightly, utterly astonished.
The entire water tank weighed over eight thousand catties!
Arriving at the backyard, Wang Zhong sliced the crystal box he was holding horizontally with a hand chop. Seawater poured into the pond, startling the fish that were originally living there and causing them to scatter.
Looking at the pond below, which was several times larger than the crystal box, Adie leaped, landing gracefully in the water, and disappeared in an instant.