Little Liz sat beside Yushou Ya’er as if nothing had happened at all. Before she settled, she turned her head just a bit.
’Senior, I hope you’ll allow me this small request. Please don’t speak of my evolution to anyone else, not even my master.’
Hao nodded with a casual smile.
He didn’t know why she didn’t want to reveal her evolved form, but he figured she had her reasons.
He respected that.
Still…
His eyes flicked to her compact body.
What was this beast? It had the shape of an alligator. Or maybe a crocodile.
But with those faint wing-like growths earlier…
Hao had a feeling her next evolution was going to be something far bigger.
A true beast worthy of the skies, not just a crawling creature.
Meanwhile, Yushou Ya’er finished the last bite of her Soft Serve Vanilla Ice Cream.
Her lips smacked together quietly. So smooth.
So cold. So… unfairly addicting.
She needed another one.
No – she wanted another one.
But her storage ring whispered the truth.
They were on a tight budget this week.
Most of their crystals had gone in just two purchases.
Well… if their next hunt went well. She’d come back for sure.
No.
She must come back!
Little Liz might demand another bag of those heavenly potato chips.
Though… maybe next time, she’d let Little Liz try the ice cream instead.
It was cheaper. And still ridiculously tasty.
Yushou Ya’er looked around and blinked.
Where… was that silly girl?
Her lizard had been resting by that corner just moments ago.
Now she was gone?
Yushou Ya’er turned her head and looked down –
There.
Right beside her.
Laid down on the floor like a sleepy dog.
“…You sneak.”
Little Liz tilted her head, expression innocent.
Not fooling anyone.
“Alright, let’s go, Little Liz.”
She stretched her arms and yawned.
“We need to hunt if you want more potato chips!”
Little Liz let out a soft snort, her tail swinging eagerly.
’And I want more ice cream.’ Yushou Ya’er muttered to herself with a dreamy sigh.
If she had extra crystals now, she’d sprint back to the counter.
Sadly, that wasn’t how the world worked.
Not unless the store was blown up, rebuilt brick by brick by the Heavenly Dao itself, and personally rebranded by some sort of Celestial Bureau of Commerce.
Even then, Hao was pretty sure the system would still coldly enforce Rule No. 1.
Even if the entire upper realms descended in all their divine glory –
Even if emperors came down and started throwing divine artifacts at the counter –
Even if they wept rivers and shattered the skies with their screams…
Still the same result.
Denied.
The system was immovable. Unshakable.
Scarier than a tax inspector with a grudge.
Rules were rules.
Of course, Yushou Ya’er didn’t know that.
Not yet, anyway.
For now, she walked out of the Dimensional Convenience Store, humming softly as she stored the empty chip bag and the crumbs scattered by Little Liz.
She was clearly in a good mood, still thinking about the ice cream.
As she walked out of the alley, she blinked in mild surprise.
’…Already back?’
One second she was inside a strange, dream-like store with shelves and cold air, and the next – Scorching Soul City.
The difference was hard to believe.
The street ahead was the same one she always used. The dusty bricks. The leaning walls. The faint smell of charcoal and sweat clinging to the breeze.
But something about it still didn’t add up. Shouldn’t she have felt… something?
A ripple of space? A slight distortion in her senses?
She had read about it before – how stepping between spatial realms would leave most people dizzy or at least uncomfortable for a few seconds.
She’d even tried using a teleportation formation once.
The pressure alone slammed into her gut like a crashing wave. Her knees buckled, and before she could stop it, she doubled over and threw up on the side. Her vision spun wildly, refusing to steady.
Ripping holes between spaces wasn’t something a person could just walk through without feeling it tear at their body.
Yet here she was.
No dizziness. No queasy feeling.
Not even a single hint of spatial fluctuation.
She had felt nothing!
It was so smooth that if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought she had just walked out of a normal shop tucked in an alley.
Was that even possible?
An old outhouse with a doorway that led in and out of different spaces with no discomfort at all?
In addition to that, a strange feeling lingered to his mind.
She took another few steps, then squinted at her arm.
No sun rash. No itchy dryness. Not even a single bead of sweat.
She looked up.
The sun above burned just as fiercely as it always did. Hanging like molten gold in the sky, daring mortals to wilt beneath it.
A few paces ahead, a cultivator was waving his sleeve wildly to fan himself.
Two children ran to hide under a merchant’s canopy, their faces red and puffy from the heat.
Yushou Ya’er narrowed her eyes.
’The city’s still the same.’
So why didn’t she feel like she was melting?
She was used to the weather here, but this wasn’t just tolerance.
She didn’t feel like she was being steamed alive. Her skin wasn’t tingling from the heat. Her breath was smooth. Her chest was calm.
It was almost… nice.
Something was different. And it wasn’t the city.
Her eyes slowly widened. ’Was it the ice cream?’
That soft, pale swirl in the cone. It hadn’t just cooled her tongue – it had possibly cooled her whole body!
Even her thoughts felt clearer now, like she could breathe better.
She touched her chest and let out a soft chuckle.
Is this why that man is still standing out there like nothing’s wrong?
Her eyes twitched slightly. Not a single drop of sweat had touched his skin.
He might as well have been basking under a tree with birds serenading him and a breeze fanning his body.
’He did eat the ice cream too, right? …So that’s the secret!’
For a second, she felt proud of herself for figuring it out.
She even thought about telling Little Liz – “We’ve cracked the code to surviving summer.”
But unfortunately –
That wasn’t it.
Tian Lu… was just built different.