Outside, in front of Consort Xiang, an iron cage floated, and within it was a person in tattered clothes, or more accurately, a half-human.
Like Shen Xiaoming, he was a half-human who retained his human face and body. However, there were differences between him and Shen Xiaoming.
Shen Xiaoyan had cat ears and a cat tail, while this person had fox ears and a fox tail.
If it were just that, it would be one thing, but he also possessed nine fox tails, making him resemble a nine-tailed fox demon.
Shen Xiaoyan looked at the person in surprise, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Could it be that this person, like Shen Xiaoming, had other special attributes?
But was that truly possible?
As Shen Xiaoyan was still pondering, she suddenly heard Shen Xiaoming's voice.
"Big sister, I..."
Shen Xiaoyan turned her head in confusion, only to see Shen Xiaoming's face looking extremely pale.
Her once rosy and healthy complexion was now completely devoid of color, and her eyes were even a little unfocused.
She looked as if she had been greatly frightened.
"What's wrong? Xiaoming, don't scare me," Shen Xiaoyan said, a little flustered.
Because of Shen Xiaoyan, everyone in the room turned to look at the two of them.
Upon seeing this, Zhen Lingrong immediately moved to their side.
"Xiaoming, what's wrong? Don't scare your mother!"
Zhen Lingrong's face was full of panic, and her voice was tinged with a hint of tears.
Lin Xin was calmer, "Xiaoyan, what's wrong with Xiaoming? Wasn't she fine just now? What happened all of a sudden? Why does she seem so startled and tense?"
Mi Le Buddha scratched his head in confusion, "We've been together the whole time. How could only Xiaoming be scared? Besides, who could scare Xiaoming like this? Is there anyone in this East Immortal Land who can conceal their presence from us?"
Hearing their confusion and speculation, Shen Xiaoyan said directly, "It's because of the half-human outside."
Everyone present turned to look out the window.
The half-human was still in the cage, just as they had seen him before.
His exquisite face was devoid of any expression.
Even though he was in such a sorry state, his tattered clothes barely covered his skin, yet he showed no signs of embarrassment.
It was clear that many covetous gazes were roaming over him, yet he remained so composed. This person must have a secret.
But even so, it shouldn't have scared Shen Xiaoming to this extent!
Most importantly, all the private rooms in the Sheng Yu Auction House, as long as the windows were not opened, allowed one to see outside but not be seen from the outside.
Under such circumstances, even if that person wanted to scare Shen Xiaoming, it would have been impossible!
Shen Xiaoyan knew what they were confused about, but she couldn't reveal that Shen Xiaoming was also a half-human, so she could only shake her head helplessly.
Just then, Shen Xiaoming spoke again.
"Big sister, buy him."
"Okay."
Without any hesitation, Shen Xiaoyan immediately agreed.
Regardless of why Shen Xiaoming wanted to buy this half-human.
And regardless of what Shen Xiaoming intended to do with him after buying him.
Shen Xiaoyan's only thought at the moment was to diligently fulfill Shen Xiaoming's request.
She had to acquire this half-human.
Zhen Lingrong knew Shen Xiaoming's identity. Upon hearing Shen Xiaoming's words, her gaze immediately shifted to the half-human outside the window.
Having lived in the East Immortal Land of the Sacred Spirit Continent for so many years, she had never seen such a half-human.
Learning about Shen Xiaoming's situation had already been shocking enough.
But she hadn't expected that in such a short period, the Sheng Yu Auction House would bring in another one.
Moreover, judging by his appearance, this half-human was even more alluring.
She surmised that the upcoming auction would be a bloody battle.
However...
She didn't care about that at all.
Since it was what her son wanted, she would go to any lengths to obtain it.
"Xiaoyan, you don't need to say anything. I'll buy him," Ning Ken Ri En said to Shen Xiaoyan.
Shen Xiaoyan hesitated for a moment, "But..."
The people who came today were all top powers from the East Immortal Land. These people might lack other things, but they certainly wouldn't lack crystal coins.
Although Zhen Lingrong held the Chang Qiu Hall, it wouldn't be easy to suppress everyone, would it?
Even if she succeeded in suppressing everyone, it would likely cost a considerable amount of crystal coins?
She had the Longevity Grass, various aged spiritual medicines, and countless immortal crystals. With these as her backing, she had no doubt that she could successfully bid for the Longevity Grass.
Zhen Lingrong seemed to see through Shen Xiaoyan's thoughts and gave a bitter smile, "Mother knows you have many good things and doesn't care about these crystal coins. But you haven't been by my side for so many years, and I haven't had the chance to give you anything. Now that there's a rare opportunity, won't you let your mother do this?"
By the end, Zhen Lingrong's voice carried a plea.
Looking at Zhen Lingrong like this, Shen Xiaoyan couldn't bear it. She glanced at Shen Xiaoming and finally nodded.
Forget it, she would let her handle it.
At worst, she would make up for the crystal coins from somewhere else later!
Thinking this, Shen Xiaoyan's heart felt much lighter.
In reality, she had already accepted Zhen Lingrong, but the habit of relying on herself, developed over the years, made her reluctant to depend on others.
Just as they finished their discussion, Consort Xiang outside had already introduced the half-human's situation. It turned out that the half-human's name was Bai Hu.
Even though the name sounded like it wasn't a real name, she couldn't help but associate him with some kind of nine-tailed white fox.
Consort Xiang continued to speak at length, finally saying, "Some of you may know that not long ago, in a remote place called Ying City, a branch of the Sheng Yu Auction House held an auction. Coincidentally, Consort Xiang presided over that auction as well, and the final item auctioned was also a half-human."
Consort Xiang's words were like a drop of water falling into a calm blue lake, immediately creating ripples.
Shen Xiaoyan hadn't expected Consort Xiang to bring this up at this moment.
More importantly, was Consort Xiang mentioning this unintentionally, or was it deliberate?
"The difference between that half-human and Bai Hu is that he had a pair of cat ears and a cat tail."
"Consort Xiang received accurate information that the strength of these special half-humans seems to be reflected in their tails. The half-human with only one cat tail was probably in his tens of years old and was still quite weak. Therefore, the price was not very high. However, today's Bai Hu, as everyone has seen, is genuinely a nine-tailed fox with nine fox tails. His strength is unimaginable. Once acquired and a master-servant contract is signed, you can have a powerful subordinate without any worries."
Upon hearing this, Shen Xiaoyan finally understood. So, this was why Consort Xiang had brought up Shen Xiaoming.
Just as she herself had said, many people had come to this auction, and it was possible that some of them were from the previous auction. She knew of Long Xuan, for example.
There were undoubtedly many more she didn't know about.
In such a situation, if she set too high a reserve price for Bai Hu, it would inevitably draw criticism.
Now, by providing such an explanation, whether true or false, it at least served to silence the public.
The fact that no one spoke up in protest showed that everyone had accepted Consort Xiang's reasoning.
Consort Xiang was relieved in her heart. She also secretly regretted that the price set for that half-human at the previous auction was indeed too low.
But at that time, it was merely treated as a novelty to be auctioned!
Taking a deep breath, Consort Xiang suppressed this thought deep within her heart. The past was past, and dwelling on it was futile.
The most important thing now was to sell Bai Hu at a high price!
"Bai Hu's reserve price is... 100,000 blue coins."
At this price, the entire hall erupted in an uproar.
After the crowd quieted down, Consort Xiang continued, "Each bid increase must not be less than 10,000 blue coins!"
Hearing this price, Shen Xiaoyan could only utter two words... Robbery!
Even though he was being sold, and this person was special, the price was still too high!
She turned to look at Zhen Lingrong and saw her face was calm.
Shen Xiaoyan couldn't believe it. Was she the only one who felt the price was outrageous?
She turned to look at Yuan Heng and the others again, only to see that they also had no expression.
At this point, Shen Xiaoyan finally understood. It seemed she still didn't understand the wealthy people of the Sacred Spirit Continent thoroughly enough.
Seeing their reaction, it was clear that these crystal coins meant nothing to them.
Or rather, for them, using these crystal coins to bid for a special half-human was not a big deal.
"The auction now begins."
As soon as Consort Xiang's voice fell, the calls for bids began to echo incessantly.
"150,000 blue coins!"
"200,000 blue coins!"
"300,000 blue coins!"
"400,000 blue coins!"
"500,000 blue coins!"
"600,000 blue coins!"
...
"1,000,000 blue coins!"
She truly hadn't expected that a special half-human would be more appealing to most people than the Longevity Grass.
Although the Longevity Grass also fetched a very high price later, the atmosphere was far from as fervent as it was now.
And looking at the situation, the final price was bound to be high.
Faced with such a situation, Shen Xiaoyan couldn't quite articulate how she felt.
She couldn't help but think, if Shen Xiaoming hadn't been discovered by her, if Shen Xiaoming hadn't been auctioned in that remote small town.
If the person bidding at that time had a higher status.
Would she still have been able to successfully buy Shen Xiaoming back?
If it were truly impossible, what would her situation be like now?
Shen Xiaoyan broke out in a cold sweat from her own thoughts and couldn't help but shiver.
Zheng Wei was the first to notice Shen Xiaoyan's unease and quickly hugged her, "Don't overthink it. This situation will never happen to Xiaoming."
Although Zheng Wei's voice was very soft, Zhen Lingrong still heard it.
To be the Hall Master of Chang Qiu Hall and to have served for so many years, Zhen Lingrong's mind was not something an ordinary person could compare with.
Even without knowing all the details, she could infer what Shen Xiaoyan was thinking from this single sentence.
And precisely because of this, her anger grew.
Sheng Yu Auction House, truly commendable.
They even dared to auction her son.
Although the Sheng Yu Auction House didn't know that Shen Xiaoming was her son, what was done was done. She would never let this matter pass so easily.
More importantly, today, Consort Xiang dared to bring up the past again and place Shen Xiaoming in such a position.
Taking a deep breath, Zhen Lingrong temporarily suppressed her inner rage.
None of this was urgent. After the auction ended, she would have plenty of time to settle accounts with the Sheng Yu Auction House.
The most important thing now was to buy back this half-human who had such a profound impact on Shen Xiaoming.
Only then could they understand what was happening to Shen Xiaoming now.
As time passed, the atmosphere of the auction became more heated.
And the price had already soared from 1,000,000 blue coins to 3,000,000 blue coins.
And it had only taken about fifteen minutes to increase the price so much.
Consort Xiang couldn't hide the smile on her face.
The current bidders were from the second and third floors. The first-class powers on the fourth floor had not even spoken yet.
When they started bidding, what heights would the price reach?
Just thinking about it made Consort Xiang's heart pound uncontrollably.
The reality was just as Consort Xiang had imagined. As time went on, when the price reached 5,000,000 blue coins, people from the fourth floor finally spoke.
And the first to speak was Yan Rulie.
In Heaven Room No. 8, Yan Rulie stared intently at the iron cage outside.
He had only heard before that Shen Xiaoming was a half-human, a special half-human, but he had never seen one and didn't think there was much difference.
But now, after seeing this half-human, he realized how wrong he had been before.
If he had known it would be like this, why would he have been foolish enough to report to Zhen Lingrong?
He could have easily used his most forceful methods to control Shen Xiaoyan and her group, and then claimed Shen Xiaoming for himself.
Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now.
Although he regretted it, Yan Rulie was more eager to seize the opportunity before him.