First Stop: Suotuo City, Balak Kingdom

The next day, Zhao Xiaotian boarded a carriage bound for the Balak Kingdom. He was free now; outside, no one would know his identity, and they would treat him like an ordinary person.

The carriage entered the Suotuo City area of the Balak Kingdom. After stopping outside the Suotuo City Spirit Hall Branch Hall, the coachman respectfully pulled open the carriage curtain.

Zhao Xiaotian stepped out and put on a black-and-white mask. The guards at the entrance of the Suotuo City Spirit Hall Branch Hall immediately became wary upon seeing him.

When Ghost Charm saw the Holy Son appear here from the shadows, he flashed into the office of the branch hall master. The branch hall master had just set down his pen when he saw the grim and terrifying Ghost Charm before him.

He had seen Ghost Charm while reporting on Suotuo City at the Papal Palace in Spirit City, so he respectfully cupped his hands and bowed at a ninety-degree angle. "Wang Kai greets Elder Gui!"

Ghost Charm nodded and waved a hand. "No need for idle chatter! I came to remind you that His Highness the Holy Son is outside your hall. You must have heard that His Highness likes to wear a black-and-white mask when he goes out."

Wang Kai nodded at once. "Yes, yes, yes! This subordinate will go outside to welcome His Highness the Holy Son immediately."

Ghost Charm nodded. "You know what's good for you! I'll put in a good word for you before His Holiness the Pope and reward you with resources to help you break through to the Soul Douluo realm."

Wang Kai said fawningly, "Thank you for your guidance, Elder Gui!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ghost Charm vanished from Wang Kai's office and watched him from the shadows. Wang Kai did not delay, instead going to the deputy hall master's office and pulling Deputy Hall Master Han Liu outside.

Outside the hall, Zhao Xiaotian sat in the carriage and waited for the hall master here to come out and greet him. Before long, the gates of the Suotuo City Spirit Hall Branch Hall opened.

Two elderly men with somewhat aged faces walked out. Zhao Xiaotian swept his gaze over them, then closed his eyes.

Before coming here, Zhao Xiaotian had sent people to investigate the hall master and deputy hall master of Suotuo City. Only after discovering that neither had committed evil deeds or possessed bad character did he develop a favorable impression of them.

Wang Kai and Han Liu walked up to Zhao Xiaotian and bowed. "Suotuo City Hall Master Wang Kai and Deputy Hall Master Han Liu welcome Your Highness the Holy Son!"

After the guards outside and several Spirit Hall deacons who had just emerged from the branch hall heard this, they all dropped to their knees. Only then did Zhao Xiaotian open his eyes and look at Wang Kai and Han Liu.

A smile had already appeared beneath Zhao Xiaotian's mask. He said lightly, "All right! Leave this carriage with you. If I leave Suotuo City, send it back to Spirit City."

Wang Kai nodded respectfully. "Yes, Your Highness the Holy Son! I, Wang Kai, will certainly not forget Your Highness's words."

After Zhao Xiaotian nodded, he disappeared before their eyes. Through the fusion of his clone and true body, Zhao Xiaotian had achieved instant teleportation.

Rather than staying at the Spirit Hall Branch Hall, he planned to find an inn. After walking around Suotuo City for only a short while, Zhao Xiaotian spotted a rose-themed hotel in the distance.

Zhao Xiaotian strode over, rented a room, and moved in. In the hotel room, he took a bath and changed into a less extravagant set of black clothes.

"I've been traveling for so long that I only just realized I haven't eaten anything. I'll go downstairs and see if there's anything to eat. I'm starving."

Zhao Xiaotian pushed open the door, memorized the room's name—Moonlight Beauty—and went to the front desk. "Hello! Do you have any food here?"

Since Zhao Xiaotian was not wearing his mask, the receptionist was already staring at his face in a daze.

When Zhao Xiaotian saw that the front desk worker ignored him, he assumed the hotel had no food. He left the hotel and casually found a place on the street called Erlong Barbecue.

He was also puzzled as to why a barbecue restaurant was open when it was only noon, but Zhao Xiaotian did not think much of it. He entered the shop and ordered some grilled meat to fill his stomach.

More than twenty minutes later, Zhao Xiaotian had eaten and drunk his fill. He left a Gold Soul Coin on the table and walked out of the restaurant. He wandered around Suotuo City, visiting a blacksmith workshop and a place called the Seven Treasures Pavilion along the way.

At the blacksmith workshop, Zhao Xiaotian commissioned a Butterfly Knife and some throwing darts. He wanted the Butterfly Knife to see whether he could recreate the Butterfly Eight Consecutive Slashes that he had created on the Black Tortoise Continent.

The darts were merely long-range weapons. Zhao Xiaotian ordered more than two hundred darts at once and stored them in his Soul Tool. At the Seven Treasures Pavilion, he bought a finely crafted pair of crystal glasses.

Zhao Xiaotian put on the glasses as soon as he left the Seven Treasures Pavilion. The frames were made of pure gold, while the lenses were polished from the finest crystals.

The glasses alone cost Zhao Xiaotian thirty thousand Gold Soul Coins. Though they were somewhat expensive, he still liked them very much.

At that moment, a little girl in a green floral dress had just walked out and saw Zhao Xiaotian wearing the glasses. The instant she saw him, her heart began pounding wildly. Her heart told her that she absolutely had to win over such a handsome young man.

So the little girl secretly followed Zhao Xiaotian to a place called the Spirit Department Store. After seeing Zhao Xiaotian push open the door and enter, she followed him inside as well.

After looking around the store, Zhao Xiaotian revealed a disdainful expression. In his eyes, nearly everything displayed in this shop was trash. The only thing that was not complete trash was a fairly decent Storage Soul Tool, but the space inside it was truly far too small. It would be full after casually storing a few copper or silver soul coins, and it could not even hold the change from buying something with a Gold Soul Coin.

Thus, Zhao Xiaotian had already defined this shop in his heart as a place that sold junk. He sighed, turned around, and prepared to leave.

When the little girl following behind Zhao Xiaotian saw him turn around, she immediately hid herself. But the scene that followed left her greatly puzzled.

Zhao Xiaotian was currently holding a broken stone, examining it from left to right. At the front desk, Flender lay in a recliner with his eyes closed, continuously releasing Soul Power to observe Zhao Xiaotian.

Zhao Xiaotian weighed it in his hand, nodded, and walked toward the front desk. Seeing Zhao Xiaotian approach, Flender instantly opened his eyes and asked, "Hey! Little friend, do you want this crystal?"

Zhao Xiaotian nodded. "Yes! May I ask if you can sell this crystal for twenty Gold Soul Coins?"

Flender's eyes rolled in their sockets as he rubbed his hands together and said, "Er... I climbed mountains and crossed rivers before collecting this crystal from a cliff, so twenty Gold Soul Coins won't be enough!"

Seeing Flender rub his hands together, Zhao Xiaotian said speechlessly, "Then tell me how many Gold Soul Coins it will take!"

Flender's eyes rolled again, and he held up five fingers. "Five thousand!"

Zhao Xiaotian's face darkened. "Boss, this crystal is worth only twenty Gold Soul Coins! You're asking me for five thousand?"

"Ah, little friend! I saw you looking around my shop for quite some time. The glasses you're wearing are worth dozens of times more than the pair I'm wearing. Five thousand isn't much to you!"

Zhao Xiaotian slapped away Flender's hand from his shoulder. "I'm not some gullible fool. If you don't sincerely want to sell it, forget it!"

When Flender saw Zhao Xiaotian put down the crystal and prepare to leave, he became anxious. "Hey, hey, hey! Little friend, little friend! I'll make it cheaper! How about two hundred?"

"Deal!"

Flender: Did I set the price too low???

The little girl hiding in the shadows found Zhao Xiaotian's instant change of expression amusing. Flender watched helplessly as Zhao Xiaotian brushed the necklace around his neck and took out two hundred Gold Soul Coins.

Flender felt that movement looked very familiar, but he still accepted the two hundred Gold Soul Coins. Zhao Xiaotian also placed the crystal into his Soul Tool.