In the centre of the market place, there was a large building with a grand sign that read “Soaring Phoenix Auction House” surrounded by dancing gold phoenixes.

Shen looked at the building, standing in front of the entrance with Long Xue’er. The couple had strolled through the market place once more after breakfast. Only difference this time was that there was a small snow fox lying in the bosom of Long Xue’er.

Luckily, there was not many powerful cultivators on the way to recognise that the seemingly harmless looking small fox was a powerful Soul Formation stage magical beast.

Xue’er as usual pulled Shen’s hands and lead him into the building, where they were welcomed by beautiful young women dressed in gold clothes that somehow did not look gaudy.

‘What is with these shops and beautiful women, they all have a few of them at the entrance, quite odd.’ Shen recalled all the high-class shops he visited and remembered them having the same style of service.

““Welcome to the Soaring Phoenix Auction House!””

“How can I help you, honoured guests?”

Xue’er took the initiative to answer. “We wanted to buy two tickets for the auction and we would also like to sell a few items.”

“We can certainly help you with the sale, but we regret to inform you that standard seats have been sold out and only VIP booths are left.”

A young lady replied politely informing them.

“That’s ok, we will be fine with a booth.”

“Then please follow me, honoured guests. We can appraise the items in a room for your privacy. We have reliable professional appraisers. If the item you wish to auction is valuable, we will provide you with a free VIP room.”

The same young lady explained as she lead the couple in front of a closed door with a smile.

*Knock knock*

She opened the door and entered the room. It was a large room that can comfortably fit a dozen people. There was a large long table and a few chairs on one side inside the room. An old man sat on the other side looking at the entrance.

“Uncle Wang, these honoured guests would like to sell some items.”

Uncle Wang nodded and looked at Shen and Xue’er standing behind the young lady. “Please come in and take a seat.” He gestured.

“I will let Uncle Wang take care of you. Please let me know if I can be of further help.” The young lady exited the room and closed the door after Shen and Xue’er had sat across from the old man.

The old man observed the ordinary looking couple. His vision stayed on the snow fox and Long Xue’er for a few seconds before sighing inwardly. Uncle Wang was only a False Immortal who had no further hope of advancement. Therefore, he had chosen to be employed by the Soaring Phoenix Auction House as an appraiser.

He had met many people during his job but a Soul Formation stage magical beast pet was incredibly rare, especially when owned by an ordinary looking young girl. He could not sense anything from the male which made him think that Shen was more powerful than him.

Uncle Wang decided to not pry any further as the opposite party did not seem simple. He did not wish to offend a powerful person after all.

“Please show me the items that you wish to sell.” The old man put up a serious look.

Long Xue’er brought out a top-grade flying sword from her bag of holding and handed it to the old man.

“Oh? A top-grade magic tool refined with thousand-year profound ice.” The old man was only slightly impressed due to the rare material used. He saw that Long Xue’er was a half-step False Immortal, therefore it was not a surprise that she had a top-grade magic tool. Uncle Wang put down the flying sword on one side of the table.

Shen also took out his head sized chunk of unknown ore and almost placed it in front of the old man on the table before remembering the weight of the ore.

“Hmmm? What is this?” The old man looked at the ore in front of him closely.

“Be careful, it is quite heavy.” Shen reminded before handing the ore over.

Uncle Wang took the ore. His hand sunk down and the ore almost hit the table before he managed to stabilize it in his hand.

“It is indeed heavy.” The old man’s hand lit up with a red flame and enveloped the ore. The flame intensity was controlled to only heat up a low-grade magic tool.

As the old man increased the intensity of the flame, he got more and more shocked. Finally, he increased the maximum intensity he could output. The chunk had finally started to glow faintly red, however it would not heat up any further. It should be known that a top-grade magic tool would be damaged by a full-strength soul fire from a False Immortal.

The full-strength flame had alarmed the people in the Auction House.

*Bang*

The door was shoved open and a middle-aged man followed by a few guards rushed into the room.

“Uncle Wang!” The middle-aged man called out. He quickly stopped his advance when he discovered that there was no sign of fighting in the room.

It should be mentioned that the rooms used for appraisal were capable of shielding from Divine Sense as to enable full privacy.

“Manager Feng, come take a look at this ore. I have not seen this before.” Uncle Wang ignored the rude behaviour and called out.

Manager Feng signalled the guards to exit and closed the door once more.

“Apologies honoured guests. I was worried that there might have been a conflict.”

“We don’t mind.” Xue’er replied with a smile. Shen did not really care as he had known that a few people were approaching the room, however he sensed no hostility from them.

Manager Feng was an Earth Immortal and was responsible for the Jade Leaf city branch of the Soaring Phoenix Auction House. He had personally handled all rare and precious items that were auctioned.

Manager Feng took a seat next to Uncle Wang and took the ore. He then took out a top-grade flying sword and struck the ore.

*Ding*

Sparks flew off and no scratches could be seen on the surface of the ore. Manager Feng put away the flying sword and took out another sword. The sword was exquisite looking and there was a faint red aura on the surface of the blade.

“Mid-grade spirit tool!” Uncle Wang cried out. He was very envious as spirit tools were rarely seen not to mention mid-grade spirit tools. He himself only had a low-grade spirit tool.

Manager Feng struck the ore once more. This time, a faint trace could be seen on the surface of the ore.

“May I ask what this ore is called?” Manager Feng enquired as he put away his sword.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I got it off a……meteorite.” Shen answered with some thought. No one would believe him if he told the truth after all.

“Oh? This ore is much harder than meteorite iron.” Manager Feng mused.

Shen chose to not give any more details. “So, could we auction the ore?”

“Yes, certainly. The ore could definitely be used to refine a spirit tool. Are you selling the sword as well?” Manager Feng glanced at the flying sword on the table.

“Normally, the Auction House could buy the item for a price, but we don’t know the true value of the ore so I recommend that honoured guest allow us to auction it. As for the sword, we could offer you a price.”

Shen looked at Xue’er, asking for her opinion, since the sword was hers.

“I would like to auction it.” Xue’er said with a smile.

Manager Feng nodded and took out a gold card which he handed to Shen. On one side, a majestic phoenix was carved. The number ‘49’ could be seen on the opposite side.

“This is a VIP token. Honoured guest will be lead to a VIP booth if you were to show this at the auction in two days. It is also valid for other auctions. We will take care of the items for safe keeping. Please note that there is a 2% fee deducted from the sales.”

The same young lady who guided Shen and Xue’er entered the room with a knock.

“Honoured guests, would you like to take a look at any of our items? We have a large variety for sale outside of auctions.” The young lady said with a smile.

Shen and Xue’er declined and thanked the manager and the old man before leaving the Auction House.