Chapter 122: Chapter 122

A group of Ghost Knights patrolled the streets with their long spears, maintaining the order of the entire market.

As long as they were on the scene, most disputes would quickly be resolved. However, there were too many people tonight, and not enough Ghost Knights to keep up.

This chaos directly affected the strength of the Ghost Zone and, in turn, Owen Bertram’s Commander’s Token. Owen glanced at the Lord of the Skeleton Sea with an unpleasant expression in his eyes.

Little Bone racked his brains but couldn’t think of a good solution. Finally, he collapsed with a clatter, scattering countless skull heads across the ground. Each skull head rolled towards the locations where conflict erupted.

Once they found the instigators, the skull heads would pounce, spewing a thick gout of phosphorous fire—using the most violent and straightforward method to maintain order.

There were even a few who had the audacity to confront the Ghost Knights. The skull heads devoured those without hesitation!

Owen might not have had the brightest mind, but his fists were abnormally effective!

Under this heavy pressure, the market quickly resumed its normal business order.

Annoyed, the Lord of the Skeleton Sea decided that every skull would keep an eye on a different Cultivator. The rest of the skull heads were sent to the entrance, observing each newcomer as they entered the market.

Owen’s eyes brightened: "Good idea, Little Bone! Monitor their transactions and ensure that every trade includes the appropriate tax payments!"

All the skull heads paused: Tax payments? What are those? How are they collected and how much should be charged?

The old man had previously formulated a plan for this, but Owen hadn’t paid close attention and couldn’t recall the details at the moment.

Owen absolutely loved these Cultivators. Not only did they personally come to the Ghost Market, contributing extensively to the improvement of the Ghost Zone and Commander’s Token, but their successful trades also each came with a tax payment!

The Ghost Zone did not impose city taxes or booth fees, but they did charge a transaction tax. The omission of the first two fees was meant to encourage business prosperity.

The bustling nightlife signaled a significant income for Owen.

The Four Great Ghost Kings had already offered the Ghost Zone to Owen, and naturally, the money was also his.

As for the shady business practices that Owen had learned about in his previous life, they would be put into practice only when the Ghost Market had fully matured.

Not daring to ask the Honored Lord, the Lord of the Skeleton Sea secretly dispatched a few skull heads to the King of Souls. After searching for some time in the King of Souls’ residence, they finally found the relevant paperwork. After carefully reading through it, they finally understood the taxes and could breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the Cultivators were of low rank and their traded items weren’t particularly valuable, there were many transactions. And with a menacing skull head behind them, they obediently paid their taxes upon completing each trade.

Compared to the Wood Dynasty outside, the tax rate in the Ghost Zone was relatively fair, requiring only three in ten items to be given as payment.

By midnight, the total tax revenue in Spirit Jade had reached a staggering 700 pieces!

Most of the buyers were still in the "I’m just browsing" stage, and the peak trading period hadn’t yet arrived.

As the strength of the Ghost Zone increased, the Lord of the Skeleton Sea could feel the tangible benefits it granted him—even breaking through his own barriers was just a matter of time!

Little Bone worked even harder.

A skull head quietly rolled to the Ghost Knight Leader’s feet. The Leader was guarding a solitary three-story Ghost Building, enveloped in the King of Souls’ seal.

The Leader was startled and quickly bowed, "Lord Bone Sea!"

However, he felt that he was much taller than the skull head, and looking down upon the Lord Bone Sea from above would be disrespectful. After a moment’s thought, he slowly propped himself up on all fours and laid down on the ground.

His posture resembled a black cat."Go, change the treasure up for auction tonight to my Yin Soldier Tiger Talisman!"

The Ghost Knight Leader hesitated because the originally agreed-upon first auction item at the Small Gathering by the Four Ghost Kings was this Tier-4 Soul Artifact "Yin Soldier Tiger Talisman."

However, last night, Lord Bone Sea secretly ordered him to replace it with the Drowned Ghost Princess’s "Water Corpse with Ghost Hair."

The Leader dared not refuse but couldn’t find the other three Ghost Kings to consult, so he had to comply. But why are they switching back now?

Lord of the Skeleton Sea bared his teeth at the skull head: "What’s wrong?"

The Leader hastily replied: "Your subordinate obeys."

The Leader went into the Ghost Building to replace the treasure. The Lord of the Skeleton Sea grinned.

To be fair, among all the d treasures, Lord Bone Sea’s "Yin Soldier Tiger Talisman" was indeed one of the better ones, and he had picked it up in an ancient battlefield shrouded in dense foggy evil energy.

He had d it back then to please the Honored Lord, causing Lord Bone Sea much pain for a long time.

For the first Small Gathering, to make a good impression, they needed to choose better treasures.

However, after the King of Souls and the others went into seclusion, the Ghost Zone was taken over by Lord Bone Sea, who played a little trick and switched it to "Water Corpse with Ghost Hair."

The proceeds from the auction naturally belonged to the donator, but for the first Small Gathering, Lord Bone Sea figured there wouldn’t be many people and that the auction would most likely be a loss - Lord Bone Sea certainly couldn’t come up with high-level strategies like hiring shill bidders with his rattling brain.

Surprisingly, the Small Gathering was very popular, and it seemed the auction wouldn’t even lose money - it could even make a large profit.

Most importantly, it was an opportunity to show off in front of the Honored Lord. With the previous chaos, the Honored Lord was already displeased, so he could use this treasure to regain some good impressions.

The climax of the Small Gathering was the auction at the final moment.

In the latter half of the night, the transaction volume surged, reaching a peak before gradually declining - everyone had bought and sold almost everything. As a result, the diverse cultivators started gathering around the three-story Ghost Building in the center of the Ghost Zone.

The Small Gathering’s treasure auction had been promoted for a long time, and the diverse cultivators had some expectations. Unlike human cultivators who could hire a master to refine treasures for them as long as they had money.

Among the diverse cultivators, there were very few artificers, and many ghost spirits could only use Yin treasures and Soul Artifacts, making their choices even more limited.

Having the opportunity to buy Soul Artifacts directly with money was indeed rare.

However, this expectation was accompanied by some skepticism: Yin treasures were rare, and even if a Great Ghost was willing to auction them off, would they really do it without using it as a gimmick to attract us here and then just offer a Tier-2 as a perfunctory measure?

Tonight, about six or seven thousand diverse cultivators entered the Ghost Market, and they all gathered outside the Ghost Building, their eyes filled with suspicion.

The Ghost Knight Leader appeared, holding the "Yin Soldier Tiger Talisman," and the audience was immediately in an uproar: Tier-4!

They actually auctioned off a valuable treasure!

This level of treasure was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all the diverse cultivators present. In an instant, everyone’s enthusiasm flared up.

The auction became fiercely competitive from the start, and the price quickly reached an unbearable range. However, some smart cultivators joined forces with several people and organizations, pooling their resources to buy the treasure, and they would discuss how to share its use in the future.

Lord Bone Sea was triumphant, finally showing off in front of the Honored Lord.

Eventually, a Thousand-year Grave Grass Spirit won the "Yin Soldier Tiger Talisman" for an extremely high price. He was accompanied by several other Great Ghosts and Zombies, all of whom cheered happily, overwhelmed with excitement.

This auction brought in a tax of thirty to one, totaling two thousand Spirit Jades! The buyer didn’t even have that many Spirit Jades and had to use various treasures and spirit materials to offset the payment.

Even then, Lord Bone Sea made a huge profit!