“Tianming, I heard that the Astral Will favors you in the Old Deepstar Path with hundreds of stars gathering around you every single time?” Jian Wudi asked.
“That’s right. It’s all thanks to the ancestors’ grace,” replied Tianming.
“Can you even comprehend all of them? You know that it’s not good for you to bite more than what you can chew, right?” Jian Wuyi asked.
“I understand. I’ll pay attention to it next time, Sect Master,” replied Tianming.
“How are you adapting here?” Jian Wuyi asked.
“Great. Everyone here is friendly.”
“Friendly?” Jian Wuyi smiled. “Alright then. Work hard on your cultivation.”
Tianming was wary of Jian Wuyi, because he knew the sect master was only polite to him because of the ‘Eminent.’ That was why Tianming had to be cautious before him, and didn’t dare to make any more requests.
“Understood,” replied Tianming.
“By the way, Her Eminence told me to give something to you.” Jian Wuyi took out a spatial ring.
Tianming’s eyes lit up when he saw that and reached out for it. But suddenly, Jian Wuyi’s face turned cold. “Mhm?”
“Oh, thank you, Her Eminence. Thank you, sect master!” Tianming immediately responded. He was a little rash earlier, and had forgotten his manners.
“You’re pretty lucky.” Jian Wuyi handed the spatial ring over with both his hands, showing his respect for Jiang Feiling. After he handed the spatial ring over, he turned and left.
“What did that lass give me after separating for six days?” Tianming looked into the spatial ring anxiously and was nearly blinded. “Holy shit!”
The spatial ring was filled with saint crystals. The inner space of the spatial ring was enormous, and the saint crystals were piled into a mountain. The saint crystals were grain-sized, so how much wealth did this mountain of saint crystals represent? As Tianming was looking through the saint crystals, he noticed a small note left for him by Feiling.
“One day of separation felt like three autumns for me. There’s still twenty-four days before we can meet again, and the days have been tough without you. I miss you so much. I’m afraid you’ll be thirsty, hungry, or bullied. I’ve been living my life cautiously and don’t dare to speak too much, because I’m afraid that I might arouse the suspicion of ‘granny Fang.’ After some consideration, I decided to give you a billion saint crystals, and you’ll get them every month. Consider the saint crystals your salary as my husband, and I took them from my money. Tianming, you’re not allowed to pick up other girls with the money given by me!”
Tianming could tell how much she misses him from her words, along with her threat.
“How sweet.” Tianming tasted happiness for the first time.
“A billion saint crystals a month? Where can you find a rich woman like Ling’er? I don’t want to work anymore. Quick, find me a woman like her!” Ying Huo flapped its wings excitedly.
“Chicken Bro, I also don’t want to work hard anymore. Bring me along…” Meow Meow yawned.
“You? Work hard?” Ying Huo said in contempt.
“Don’t say that. It doesn’t matter how hard I work since I’ve put in the effort either way…”
Tianming gave up counting the saint crystals. There were a billion of them, and how long would it take for him to count every single one? In the end, he decided to just count them by mountains.
He knew why Feiling had so many saint crystals. She had just reached the Saint stage, and saint crystals were the gentlest ore that could be used for cultivating at her level. So it was natural for Fang Qingli and the others to pile her up with resources, wanting her to become a God once again.
“This girl isn’t afraid of danger, to even shove a note in here. But I’ll ignore it this time, seeing that you’re afraid that I’ll have no money to spend.” They had parted in a hurry previously, and Tianming could only see her once a month. He could receive his ‘salary’ at that time, and he wouldn’t need Jian Wuyi anymore.
A billion saint crystals was an enormous amount, and if anyone had so many saint crystals, they would’ve already swapped them into higher currency by now. For example, it would be equivalent to a billion copper coins in Vermillion Bird, which was a terrifying amount to take out. But the Human Branch’s transactions were all done with saint crystals, so these were suitable for him.
“Feels great to have an Eminent for my wife.” While Tianming was feeling satisfied, he was also worried for Feiling. “It’s been tough on her in this period. She has to fight them with wits and courage, and also restrain her thoughts. She’s just a little girl.…”
Tianming couldn’t blame her for taking the risk and could only work hard to lessen her load. Calling out his lifebound beasts, he said, “My wife just gave me my salary. Time for us to spend them!”
……
Lin Xiaoxiao opened her eyes when someone knocked on her door, but she was at a crucial moment in her cultivation and didn’t really want to bother about the knocking. But when the knock came again, she could only open the door. When she opened a door, an enormous brown dragon head appeared in her view in excitement, “Big Sister Xiaoxiao, I want to play with your lifebound beast!”
But Lan Huang’s voice was too loud and blew Lin Xiaoxiao’s hair in the wind. She knew this was Tianming’s third lifebound beast.
“No. We’re cultivating.” Lin Xiaoxiao closed the door, but another knock came shortly after, and Lin Xiaoxiao could only helplessly open the door again.
This time, it was a blue dragon head that spoke out in a soft voice, “Big Sister Xiaoxiao, sorry for what happened earlier. My voice is a little too loud, and our boss has already reprimanded me.”
Lin Xiaoxiao felt a chill down her spine when she heard the rough, yet soft voice. She asked, “What do you want?”
“I want to play with your lifebound beast. Boss told me that it's a dragon, and we can ‘heisho heisho!’” Lan Huang said with excitement.
“You!” Lin Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded.
“But what’s ‘heisho heisho?’” Lan Huang tilted its heads.
When Lin Xiaoxiao saw how naive Lan Huang was, she smiled. She tossed the colossal black beast in her lifebound space out and replied, “I don’t know. Ask Tianming yourself.”
“Lin Xiaoxiao!” The colossal black beast was very unhappy and wanted to return to her lifebound space.
“Big Sister, come out and play!” Lan Huang reached out to grab the black colossal beast’s tail and dragged it out.
“Let go of me!” the colossal black beast replied, its eyes turning bloodshot.
“Mhm? So you can actually speak! And there Tianming was saying that your intelligence is lower than mine!” Lan Huang laughed, which caused the entire courtyard to tremble.
“Retard!” The colossal black beast took its tail from Lan Huang’s grip and looked at Lan Huang fiercely. But before the colossal black beast could speak, Lan Huang suddenly charged over and sent it flying.
“Big Sister, I like playing charge the most. You’re big, and we can have a battle!” Lan Huang said with excitement. After all, it often spent its time charging the Soulfiend back in the Astral General Manor.
The black beast was stunned and smashed to the ground before letting out a roar in anger. Then, Lan Huang ran into it again and sent it flying once more.
“Haha! Big Sister, do you like that? I can send you even higher!”
Ying Huo folded its wings up on the wall and watched this scene with a cheap smile. “Who the hell do you think you are? I’ll reveal your true form by letting my Turtle Bro out.” It was clear that Ying Huo had instigated Lan Huang into doing this.
Aside from Ying Huo, Tianming and Lin Xiaoxiao were standing together. Tianming smiled and said, “These two cuties are really naive, and their happiness is so innocent. I’m so envious of them having fun playing.”
“Having fun?” Lin Xiaoxiao held back laughter. It felt fantastic. This extraterrestrial being was currently being humiliated by Tianming, and it still had to control its emotions. After all, it wasn’t as strong as Lan Huang.
“What’s the name of this lifebound beast?”
“Bloodsoul Bolthell Fienddragon,” Lin Xiaoxiao replied.
“You call that a dragon?” Tianming asked.
“Isn’t your turtle also considered a dragon?” Lin Xiaoxiao replied with a question.
“Are you blind?”
“You’re the one who’s blind!”
“You dare to talk back to me?”
“No.” Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Tianming and asked, “Can you get your lifebound beast to come out and play with it more often? You guys can be more intense in playing.”
“Sure. They’re all good friends, so it’s fine,” Tianming replied.
He was practically sure that this lifebound beast was the reason why Lin Xiaoxiao could travel from Vermillion Bird to Archaion Divine Realm. He had come today to probe Lin Xiaoxiao, and now he had decided to let Lan Huang play with the Bloodsoul Bolthell Fienddragon daily.
He refused to believe that he wouldn’t be able to figure out Lin Xiaoxiao’s secrets. Furthermore, he noticed there was something unusual regarding Lin Xiaoxiao’s relationship with her lifebound beast.
Suddenly, Tianming felt a threatening gaze and raised his head to see the Bloodsoul Bolthell Fienddragon staring at him. But in the next second, it was sent flying again by Lan Huang.
“Up, up, and away!”
The Bloodsoul Bolthell Fienddragon wailed. It was on the verge of collapse at that moment.
“Big Sister, Chicken Bro wanted me to ask if you’re willing to be his girlfriend?” Lan Huang asked seriously.
“Screw you! It’s your girlfriend, not mine!” Ying Huo blushed.
“Oh! Then Big Sister, are you willing to be my girlfriend?”
“Just go die, idiot!”
“No? Up up away!”
After being bullied by the three demons, the Bloodsoul Bolthell Fienddragon was finally free and crawled back, feeling depressed.
“Xiaoxiao, do you know how to get to the Oldwind Street?” Tianming suddenly asked.
It was recorded on Trinity Almanac that it was the Human Branch’s marketplace, and there were five hundred thousand disciples there, which made it a prosperous place.
“I know.”
“Lead the way then.”
“Why? Am I your maid?” Lin Xiaoxiao said speechlessly.
“Then do you want to play ‘up, up, and away’ with me?” In the end, Lin Xiaoxiao led the way, and Tianming didn’t have to find his way blindly with someone guiding him.
“Why didn’t the author of the Trinity Almanac add a map? What a waste of effort,” Tianming cursed. Still, he wasn’t too willing to let Lin Xiaoxiao leave his sight. Whether she was an enemy or friend, Tianming wasn’t sure if she had let go of her hatred over the destruction of Lighting Manor.
Life would end upon being killed. It was fine if Lin Xiaoxiao just wanted to live on, and it would be bad if she was killed for no reason.
……
Oldwind Street had an elegant name, but it was chaotic and bustling with noise. Disciples of the Human Branch managed the shops along the streets. To put it bluntly, this was a place marked for private transactions between disciples, and things were cheap. It was easy to find a treasure here.
The various factions managed the place. Tianming and Lin Xiaoxiao had decent looks, but the Archaion Sect was filled with strange people. In addition to the fact that they had no reputation, no one paid any attention to them when they walked down the streets.
The Human Branch was too big, and everyone was busy with their affairs. Tianming and Lin Xiaoxiao both arrived at a spacious shop called the Steadfast Pavilion without issues.