"You actually have a hobby of collecting antique coins?" Jiang Nannan asked in surprise.
"It's a personal hobby," Shi Yu smiled and didn't say more.
They arrived at Auction Hall Number Four, where the auction hadn't officially begun yet.
After a brief wait, the auction officially started, and one valuable collection after another was presented.
Shi Yu wasn't very interested in antique ceramics or jade, until an ancient coin was presented, which piqued his interest.
He stared at the ancient coin, examining it repeatedly, trying to confirm if it was the one he had in mind.
Feeling seventy to eighty percent certain, he kept bidding after the ancient coin started being auctioned.
The people present were quite interested in these ancient artifacts, and many placed bids.
Shi Yu's attitude towards acquiring it was very firm; no matter how much the other party bid, he would match it. In the end, he secured the ancient coin, which might have been passed down from ten thousand years ago, at the high price of one million nine hundred and fifty thousand.
"Is it worth spending so much money to buy an ancient coin that only has collection value?" Xuan Lao asked, frowning.
Shi Yu smiled slightly and said, "It's a personal hobby. As long as I can buy something I like and feel happy, any amount of money is worth it."
Xuan Lao looked deeply at Shi Yu, then looked at the image of the ancient coin. He couldn't help but wonder if there was something else mysterious about this ancient coin.
He didn't think Shi Yu was genuinely willing to spend so much money to bid on it purely for collection purposes.
He tried asking, but Shi Yu's answer was simple: it was just an antique coin, nothing special.
After bidding on this ancient coin, they went to the backstage to settle the bill and didn't stay to participate in further bidding or watch the excitement.
"Consider this something I owe the Academy. I'll pay it back when I have money," Shi Yu said to Xuan Lao after Senior paid the bill.
He still felt uneasy letting the Academy pay the money for no reason and didn't want to take advantage of the Academy for free.
"It doesn't matter whether you pay it back or not," Xuan Lao said very generously.
Compared to one million nine hundred and fifty thousand, Shi Yu's feeling of owing the Academy was clearly more important.
This was also the Academy's way of managing people. If you want students to feel a sense of belonging to the Academy, you need to give them some benefits and make them feel indebted to the Academy.
The group left the auction house and returned to their residence in the Imperial Palace. As soon as Shi Yu returned to his room, he closed the door tightly and took out the antique coin.
He cautiously held the coin with both hands, being particular about the contact points.
After holding it with both hands, he blew hard on the coin.
"Ding!" The coin made a light sound and trembled slightly. Then, a special light lit up on its surface, and the rust even began to fall off.
"It really is!" Seeing the coin undergo this change, Shi Yu showed a look of surprise, and the anxiety and uncertainty in his heart disappeared.
He could finally confirm that this was the coin he had imagined, which could be considered a Storage Soul Tool.
However, the value of this Storage Soul Tool itself was not high; what was truly important was what was inside this Storage Soul Tool.
The light emitted by the coin became more intense, and a ball of light flew out from inside and fell to the ground.
Shi Yu looked intently and saw a bag woven from vines, plump, with the opening pulled tight.
The surface of this bag emitted a green light, and Shi Yu felt a rich life aura on it.
After a moment of surprise, Shi Yu immediately used Space power to isolate the aura emitted by the bag.
This was to avoid being sensed by Ilex, who might be very interested in things with abundant life force, just like the living gold before.
He wasn't really sure whether the value of this item was higher or lower than that of the living gold; it was difficult to judge.
However, one thing was certain: the value of this bag far exceeded one million nine hundred and fifty thousand golden soul coins, easily surpassing one hundred million.
If he remembered correctly, the vines of this bag were woven from the roots of some life evergreen vine.
An inch of life evergreen vine can extend one's life by a hundred years. If the vines of this bag were straightened out, they would probably exceed ten meters, which could extend a person's life by at least thirty thousand years, showing its high value.
Of course, that magical effect belonged to the main vine of the life evergreen vine. The effect of the roots was slightly less, even if halved, it still had an effect of extending life by fifteen thousand years.
If he were to take out a small section of it and auction it off, saying it had an effect of extending life by several years, or even decades, the price would definitely be raised to tens of millions, or even over a hundred million.
The actual price of just such a bag is at least over ten billion, far exceeding his bidding price.
Just looking at this bag made from life evergreen vine, the money he spent was well worth it.
Moreover, it contained a powerful Golden Bimon, a powerful creature comparable to the Nine Great Dragon Kings. Cultivating it would be a great help to himself.
The value of this creature is extremely high, far beyond what can be measured by the price of one million nine hundred and fifty thousand.
Considering these two things, the one million nine hundred and fifty thousand he spent was well worth it, a huge profit.
Shi Yu took the woven bag in his hand, carefully opened the mouth of the bag, and looked inside. He saw a small beast lying inside, in a state of deep sleep.
He observed for a while, making sure the small beast was asleep before carefully pouring it out.
A small, light gold colored beast that looked very similar to an ape lay on the table, motionless, in a deep sleep.
Shi Yu curiously examined this small beast, knowing in his heart that this was the powerful Golden Bimon. This race was a powerful existence that dared to challenge the Dragon Clan.
Although they were eventually destroyed by the Dragon God, their courage to do so shows how extraordinary they were.
Their strength was certainly there, but there might still be some gap compared to the Dragon God.
"How should I make it recognize me as its master?" Shi Yu couldn't help but ponder this question.
He didn't have the idea of killing it to obtain its Soul Ring and Soul Bone. Firstly, the Soul Ring's attributes didn't match his own, making it useless.
Secondly, this couldn't really be considered a conventional Soul Beast, and killing it might not result in a Soul Ring appearing.
Killing it to obtain a Soul Ring and Soul Bone was clearly a wasteful approach, causing the royal family of this Behemoth to die for nothing.
Subduing and training it to be a fighter was a more reasonable approach, allowing its value to be maximized as much as possible.
This race dared to challenge the Dragon Clan, and they were facing the Dragon Clan with the Dragon God present. Cultivating it, while not necessarily comparable to the Dragon God, might allow it to challenge a God.
Cultivating it might become a great trump card for him in the future, and if he truly faced a God, he might have some resistance.
"I can only try dripping some blood," Shi Yu mused, thinking of trying to combine the contract magic that Ilex taught him to subdue this Golden Bimon.
Ilex taught him how to turn creatures into his undead puppets.
He temporarily didn't have the idea of killing the Golden Bimon and turning it into a puppet, as that would greatly reduce its growth potential.
What he was thinking was to borrow the method of contract from it, so that it could still be alive and communicate with him telepathically.