Qing Qian

At the thought of the new clothes she had bought, Qian Yuling could not stop smiling.

Li Li's voice rang out again. "The next item up for auction is Deep Sea Sinking Silver. This..."

Although Deep Sea Sinking Silver was also a treasure, neither Ning Rongrong nor Qian Yuling showed much interest in it. The same went for the auction items that followed; neither of them had any desire to buy them.

After some time, the auction neared its end. Li Li's voice rang out once more. "This auction is about to conclude. The next item, and the final item of this auction, is also tonight's grand finale: the right arm Soul Bone of a three-thousand-year Great Paralyzing Bandit Dragon. The starting bid is twenty million Gold Soul Coins, with each increase no less than five million Gold Soul Coins."

The instant she finished speaking, the entire venue erupted. A Soul Bone was a treasure that had a price but no market. Although most people present could not afford it, Qian Yuling and Ning Rongrong included.

"Tw... twenty million?" Ning Rongrong was dumbfounded. She had originally been determined to win it, but the price caught her completely off guard. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was wealthy, but Ning Rongrong had not brought that much money with her. Qian Yuling also felt her purse run dry.

"Looks like that's right. Twenty million," Qian Yuling replied.

But there was never any shortage of rich people in this world.

"Twenty-five million Gold Soul Coins."

"Thirty million Gold Soul Coins."

"Fifty million Gold Soul Coins."

"One hundred million Gold Soul Coins."

In the end, a young man won the auction item.

Ning Rongrong and Qian Yuling's eyes widened. This... he was that rich? One hundred million?

Though she had failed to obtain the Soul Bone, Ning Rongrong was not discouraged. There would always be more Soul Bones in the future.

As for Qian Yuling, Soul Bones held no attraction for her at all. After all, Kirin had told her before that her physique was special and that she could not absorb any Soul Bone.

After the auction ended, the two of them left the auction house as well, planning to soak in a hot spring before returning to the academy.

As they reached a corner, the lewd laughter of two men suddenly rang out.

"Little sister? How about big brother gives you a lollipop later?" one of the men said. Both men appeared to be in their twenties and looked like Soul Masters.

The two men were surrounding a girl who was not even ten years old. Looking closely, the girl was quite delicate-looking. Her skin was even fairer than Ning Rongrong's and about as fair as Qian Yuling's. She had light blue hair tied into twin ponytails. Yet there was no expression on her face, only calm indifference.

"You wish! You think you can trick little girls with lollipops?" Ning Rongrong could not hold herself back any longer. She threw a punch straight at the two men. As the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she could not suppress her temper when she encountered something like this, and it erupted instantly.

"Hm?" One of the men reacted and grabbed Ning Rongrong's fist. With a twist of his hand, he seized her and said lewdly, "This one's pretty too. We'll let her have a lollipop later as well. Brother, we've got some luck today."

"Yu... Yu Ling, save me!" Ning Rongrong cried out in panic.

Qian Yuling rubbed her forehead. If she had not been there, Ning Rongrong might have been in danger. As for this so-called lollipop, Qian Yuling had no idea what the two men were talking about.

The reason the two men had been able to seize Ning Rongrong was that both of them were Assault System Soul Grandmasters. When they saw Qian Yuling in the distance, their eyes lit up again.

"Brother, we're really lucky today," the two men said with grins.

"...Sigh." Qian Yuling slowly approached the two men and threw out both fists.

The two men instantly collapsed to the ground. Qian Yuling's punches were not something a Soul Grandmaster could withstand.

Qian Yuling had no intention of letting them off so easily. In her eyes, these two men had been manhandling Ning Rongrong, so they were clearly no good people. With her two little hands, she grabbed one in each hand and tossed them directly into the sky. As for where they would land, that was none of her concern.

Ning Rongrong got to her feet and said, "Yu Ling, you're amazing." After praising Qian Yuling, Ning Rongrong looked at the girl who was not yet ten and said, "Little sister, don't come out alone in the future. Go home."

"Mm, thank you, big sister." There was still not much expression on the girl's face. After thanking Ning Rongrong, she walked toward Qian Yuling, took out a two-centimeter-long piece of wood from her pocket, and handed it to her. "Big sister, keep this. It will be useful to you."

Qian Yuling accepted it as well. In her eyes, it was probably just one of the little girl's toys.

After accepting it, she did not forget to say, "Little sister, I'll take this piece of wood. Thank you. My name is Yu Ling. What's your name?"

The little girl replied, "Sister Yu Ling, my name is Qing Qian. But this isn't some piece of wood, you know? Hmph."

After saying that, Qing Qian hummed a song as she proudly left by herself.

At the same time, the piece of wood in Qian Yuling's hand emitted a green glow. It gradually transformed into energy and flew into Qian Yuling's body.

"This?" Qian Yuling was a little bewildered, but as she felt the endless power within her body, she knew that the piece of wood that had turned into energy was far from ordinary. Without another thought, she sat down on the spot and began absorbing the power.

Ning Rongrong was greatly shocked when she saw this, but she did not hesitate. She immediately stood guard over Qian Yuling. She now knew that the girl named Qing Qian from earlier was definitely no ordinary person.

On the other side of Suotuo City.

The two lewd men landed on the ground. One of them got to his feet and said, "What rotten luck. We ran into someone tough."

The other got up as well and said, "Nothing we can do. Let's head back. Wait, look ahead."

Qing Qian walked toward the two with a beaming smile. Along with her crisp laughter, ring after ring of golden Soul Rings appeared around her—twenty rings in total.

"Twenty Soul Rings? Golden? A ghost!" The two men clutched their heads and fled at top speed.

With a wave of Qing Qian's little hand, the two men instantly turned to dust, as though they had never existed.

After dealing with the two men, Qing Qian's figure slowly departed from the area.

Yu Ling, I've already returned the thing to you. Have fun in this world.

Qing Qian had originally intended to go directly to Qian Yuling and give her the item. However, those two lewd men had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded her. She had been about to deal with them when Ning Rongrong showed up. Still, she had managed to give the item to Qian Yuling in the end.

Within Qian Yuling's spiritual sea, the piece of wood from earlier slowly flew toward the great tree at its center before gradually merging into it.

After merging with the piece of wood, the original great tree grew larger. It had once occupied only a tiny portion of the vast spiritual sea, but it now took up one-third of its space. Its faint golden glow had become a dense golden radiance.

In reality.

Ning Rongrong waited anxiously. Although she could feel Qian Yuling's aura continuously rising, there was nothing she could do. All she could do was wait.

Some time passed, and it was now four in the afternoon. Qian Yuling's aura gradually withdrew, and she slowly opened her eyes before falling into deep thought.