After becoming Pang Lai's apprentice, Zhou Haoyu spent a long period immersed in cultivation and study.
Compared to school education, Pang Lai's teachings were much more precise and direct.
Pang Lai didn't ask Zhou Haoyu to give up on his main Element of Space Element, but instead instructed him to first focus on Summoning Element.
Only by advancing Summoning Element to the Intermediate Level could the Flame Scorpion Tiger further break through to the Warrior Level.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, more than half a year had gone by.
Inside the second floor of Haotian Tower at the Imperial Capital University.
"In just seven days, both Lightning and Summoning advanced to Intermediate Level—this truly is the top cultivation sacred ground of Huaxia's number one university."
Zhou Haoyu sensed the state of his spiritual world; the Summoning Element Nebula and Lightning Element Nebula had just broken through, and the stars within them had yet to be brought under control, so they were still completely chaotic and disordered.
The Space Element Nebula's stars, on the other hand, were neat and orderly.
In this past half-year, Zhou Haoyu had spent the vast majority of his time cultivating Summoning Element, yet even so, he had only reached Level 3 of the Basic Tier.
Fortunately, some time ago Zhou Haoyu had resolved a demon incident at the Azure Campus, and Dean Songhe rewarded him with a chance to cultivate inside the Haotian Tower.
The Haotian Tower served a similar purpose to the Three Step Tower, filled with thick elemental energy; Zhou Haoyu had only gone up to the second floor, yet the elemental density there was already fifty times higher.
Which meant that cultivating here for a single day was equivalent to fifty days outside.
Adding to that Zhou Haoyu's spiritual strength had grown rapidly, the Intermediate-level bottleneck posed no difficulty to him at all.
"Next is letting Little Yan advance, and taking control of the stars... Right, it's also time to prepare for the Seed Devourer's evolution."
Before his Lightning Element reached Intermediate Level, Zhou Haoyu didn't dare let the Seed Devourer consume a Spirit Seed rashly if something went wrong, it would be a disaster.
Over this past half-year, Zhou Haoyu had gone to the Magic City many times, and during that time came across a new treasure chest, one that came from Liu Ru.
The condition to open it was to kill the vampire Nie Dong.
With his Spiritual/Mental control, Zhou Haoyu believed he had the strength to deal with Nie Dong. But vampires had endless tricks—if he slipped up, it would be over.
So Zhou Haoyu decided to put it off for now; after all, there was still time before Nie Dong made a move on Liu Xian.
After leaving Imperial Capital University, Zhou Haoyu headed straight for the nearest auction house. He needed to purchase a suitable Lightning Element Spirit Seed, as well as the resources to help the Flame Scorpion Tiger advance.
The Flame Scorpion Tiger had very high bloodline quality. Though it didn't need evolutionary materials to upgrade its bloodline, it did need sufficient energy to advance.
If he relied solely on Summoning Element magic energy to feed it, it might take one or two weeks before it could evolve.
Zhou Haoyu took a cab all the way to the entrance of the auction house. The massive signboard above bore four large characters:
"Zhao Clan Commerce."
Zhou Haoyu wasn't surprised. The Zhao Clan had sky-high wealth and was arguably the richest clan in the world perhaps only the Victoria Clan, who sold subdragons, could compare.
The Zhao Clan's main business was in auction houses—not just in China, but all over the world, Zhao Clan held shares in countless auction venues.
Zhao Manyan's father was even the chairman of the Venice Chamber of Commerce.
The Venice Chamber managed the economic lifeline of the entire world one could only imagine how formidable the Zhao Clan was.
Zhou Haoyu had been to this auction house a few times before; in the past, it had always been to sell off some low-quality magical equipment.
Though they didn't seem like much in Zhou Haoyu's eyes, they were still genuinely of the Spirit-tier standard—more than enough for most Intermediate Mages to use.
Just like before, Zhou Haoyu casually found a seat. His timing was perfect the entire auction hall was already packed with people.
"The first item up for auction is a magic armor tool, of excellent quality, capable of withstanding attacks from high-tier Warrior-level demons. It's a rare treasure."
"Starting bid: twenty million!"
"Twenty-five million!"
"Twenty-six million!"
"..."
"A defective product being fought over like a treasure."
Zhou Haoyu shook his head. Ever since he acquired Forbidden Curse-level forging techniques, his standards had become increasingly sharp. Ordinary magic tools and artifacts could no longer catch his eye.
That's right this piece of magic armor was crafted by him.
If not for the lack of rare minerals, Zhou Haoyu wouldn't have bothered forging such a defective item.
In the end, this magic armor was sold to a young man for thirty-three million.
"The materials cost just over five million, and I made more than five times profit just from one forge being a forger really is a goldmine," Zhou Haoyu smiled slightly.
Normally, an average forger could make one to two times profit, which was already considered good.
But Zhou Haoyu possessed Forbidden Curse-level forging skills, which allowed him to save on many unnecessary materials and almost never fail.
If the Flame Scorpion Tiger's flame intensity were higher, Zhou Haoyu could even forge Soul-tier magic tools with low-tier ores.
The Forbidden Curse-level forging technique didn't only include forging, but also the engraving of spell diagrams. The higher the quality of the magic tool or artifact, the more it relied on a powerful spell diagram.
A full set of magic equipment could even provide a mage with an extra powerful spell, and it remained useful at least until the Super Tier.
"Next item up for auction..."
Zhou Haoyu wasn't interested in any of the following items. Right now, he only needed a Lightning Element Spirit Seed and some fire-element resources.
"The next item up for auction—I believe all the Lightning Element mages present are here for this."
"The Lightning Soul Seed, Purple Firmament, was acquired by the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps from a mountaintop. Its power amplification is 2.5 times, and it carries the additional effect: Mark of Thunder. As long as the target is within magic casting range, the next spell will home in on the marked target."
After the auctioneer's explanation, Zhou Haoyu's eyes instantly lit up. If this additional effect was used well, it would definitely be a demon-killing weapon!
Most importantly, he now possessed the Seed Devourer, meaning he could completely retain this additional effect.
The most dominant trait of the Seed Devourer was its ability to possess multiple additional effects. In the future, this effect might even be stacked together with others.
"Starting bid: twenty million!"
"Twenty-two million!"
"Twenty-three million!"
"..."
Compared to the initial magic armor, the bidding for the Purple Firmament Spirit Seed didn't stir up much of a commotion. After all, Lightning Element mages were relatively rare.
The key point was that Purple Firmament was ultimately still just a Spirit Seed. Its additional effect might be strong, but it was mainly a transitional boost during the Intermediate stage.
So most buyers held back their bids. In the end, the auction price stalled at twenty-eight million, which was practically the ceiling for Spirit Seeds.
"Thirty million!" Zhou Haoyu decisively raised his paddle.
Over this period, just from selling magic tools alone, Zhou Haoyu had saved up quite a bit. Added to that were some resources provided by his family his total assets now exceeded one hundred million.
Seeing Zhou Haoyu's bid, the auctioneer and many buyers were stunned. Which wealthy clan did this greenhorn come from?
Spending thirty million on a Spirit Seed was he stupid?