It was not until the next morning that the Flying Boat descended into Dragon Mountain Tower in the prefectural city.
"I'll be returning to Changfeng Academy's main campus today. The ice spell I cast during the explosion stirred something in me, and I want to go back and study it properly. I may not return to Qinghe Prefecture for quite some time." Yu Jingqiu had just climbed onto the back of a scarlet flying mount when she suddenly said this. She didn't know why she'd brought it up.
"I haven't been to Changfeng Academy's main campus yet. I'll have to visit sometime," Dongbo Xueying replied casually.
"Mm."
Yu Jingqiu said nothing more. The scarlet flying beast immediately took off, carrying her away in her flowing green robes, her hair streaming behind her.
High in the sky, she glanced back at Dragon Mountain Tower, now small in the distance, then turned her gaze south.
Dongbo Xueying rode his Snow-Treading Horse out of Dragon Mountain Tower and went to a shop in the prefectural city that sold mage treasures. The store was quite quiet, with only a few customers. Mages were rare to begin with, and those who came to buy treasures were rarer still.
"Neigh, neigh, neigh~~~" Dongbo Xueying dismounted and handed his horse to an attendant.
"Sir." A female attendant hurried over to greet him.
"Show me all the Heaven-Rank mage tools you have that are related to ice," Dongbo Xueying said casually. The attendant gave him a curious look. All of them? What an overbearing customer. Was he truly so powerful, or was he just trying to give her a hard time? Still, she led Dongbo Xueying around the shop, briefly describing each item.
"The Winter Cold Bracelet is a top-grade Heaven-Rank tool! It contains an improved miniature Frost Domain model, with power equal to thirty percent of a Meteor-Rank mage's Frost Domain!" The attendant spoke with practiced ease. "With this, even an ordinary mage can instantly cast a 'Miniature Frost Domain.'"
"Keep going." Dongbo Xueying immediately decided to buy this one too.
"This bracelet is a mid-grade Heaven-Rank tool. It contains a magic formation that, once activated with magic power, can match the power of Arrow Torrent cast by a Heaven-Rank mage."
Dongbo Xueying listened as he narrowed down his choices.
The spell models inside mage tools were fixed and stable. A mage only needed to channel magic power into them to activate them, which made the tools extremely convenient. Of course, the power of spells cast through mage tools couldn't be improved. A powerful mage still had to rely on his own research and study, and learn to build stronger spell models.
A Silver Moon Rank mage couldn't cast spells at all when facing a Title-level mage who controlled the power of Heaven and Earth, no matter how powerful his mage tools were.
That was why one's own strength was the foundation!
Of course...
The chances of running into a Title-level mage were extremely slim. His younger brother was only an ordinary mage and could activate Heaven-Rank mage tools at most! He couldn't activate Meteor-Rank mage tools.
"Mm, not bad." Dongbo Xueying carefully chose through them. "This one, this one, this one, and that one, and this one too. I'll take them all."
The attendant's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
Dongbo Xueying had chosen only top-grade Heaven-Rank tools! What did top-grade Heaven-Rank mean? They generally had thirty to forty percent of the power of a Meteor-Rank spell, or were specially created tools with unusual effects.
"Add it all up and tell me how many gold coins I need," Dongbo Xueying instructed.
"Actually, I'll take that staff too, and that mage robe." Dongbo Xueying had also picked out a staff and a mage robe for You Yue. The staff was relatively cheap, costing only two thousand gold coins. After all, a staff mainly helped a mage cast spells. For a mage who was too weak, even the finest staff was of little use.
The mage robe was itself a Heaven-Rank mage tool, and much more expensive. It cost eighteen thousand gold coins.
Dongbo Xueying felt that this was enough to give You Yue, given their relationship. They weren't close enough for him to give her the very best, as he did his younger brother.
"Sir." The shopkeeper was drawn over and hurriedly said, "These five top-grade Heaven-Rank tools are quite expensive. I'll waive the odd change, so they'll come to two hundred thousand gold coins! The mage robe and staff are another twenty thousand. Haha, all together... let's say two hundred thousand gold coins. We hope you'll visit us again. I can't promise our prices are the lowest in Qinghe Prefecture City, but they're not far off."
There weren't many people in the entire prefectural city who could casually spend two hundred thousand gold coins! Even someone like Gai Bin of the Curved Blade Alliance, who'd been plundering relentlessly for years, couldn't have had that many coins.
He'd probably need to be worth a million gold coins to throw around that much so casually. A big customer like this had to be looked after properly.
"Mm." Dongbo Xueying nodded.
"May I ask who you are, sir?" the shopkeeper asked quietly.
"Dong Bo. Just call me Dong Bo," Dongbo Xueying replied.
"Lord Dong Bo, our Crimson Moon Tower has many branches throughout Anyang Province. Here, please take this token. From now on, you'll get ten percent off even the cheapest purchases." The shopkeeper immediately offered him a purple-gold token, clearly made by mages. In fact, even after adding up the odd change on Dongbo Xueying's purchases, a ten-percent discount would bring the total to just over two hundred thousand gold coins.
The shopkeeper also decided that he would look into it as soon as he could and find out where such an impressive figure, someone who could casually spend two hundred thousand gold coins, had come from.
Afterward, Dongbo Xueying went to buy some alchemy tools. His robes and inner armor were indeed too shabby, worse than those of many Silver Moon Knights. Uncle Zong and Uncle Tong also needed some good treasures. After finishing his purchases, Dongbo Xueying rode his Snow-Treading Horse toward Yi Water City, traveling without pause.
After two straight days on the road, he reached Snow Eagle Territory by dusk on the second day.
"I'm finally home." Gazing at the towering Snow Stone Mountain in the distance and the castle atop it, Dongbo Xueying was filled with joy. This was what he called home.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
The horse galloped on and soon reached the castle.
"The lord is back!"
"The lord is back! Hurry and tell Young Master Qing Shi!"
The castle soon erupted into lively commotion. The drawbridge began to lower, and the gates slowly swung open.
Zong Ling and the lion-man Tong San came to greet him at the gate, both beaming with delight.
"Uncle Zong, Uncle Tong." Dongbo Xueying dismounted and greeted them with a smile.
"You must be exhausted after rushing all this way. Qing Shi is still with his teacher. The servants have already gone to inform him, so I'm sure he and You Yue will be back soon," Zong Ling said with a smile.
Dongbo Xueying smiled and nodded. He had gifts ready for them.
"By the way, there's something I need to tell you. A genius mage from the Si Family, Si Chen, has come to see us," Zong Ling said.
"The Si Family?" Dongbo Xueying frowned. Was this because Si Borong had died? But the Si Family shouldn't have known the names of the five people who'd taken the mission. Dragon Mountain Tower wouldn't dare leak them, and Yu Jingqiu couldn't have told them either. Besides, she'd already gone to Changfeng Academy.
"Mage Si Chen arrived two days ago. He came specifically to visit Master Bai Yuanzhi. They're both Meteor-Rank mages, and I hear they need to discuss some research..." Zong Ling said. "You know the Si Family's standing in Qinghe Prefecture, so I didn't dare neglect him. Fortunately, Si Chen has been staying at the Mage Tower. But now that you're back, you should still meet him."
"Mm." Dongbo Xueying nodded.
What a coincidence.
He'd just run into Si Borong of the Si Family during the mission, and now another mage from the family, Si Chen, had come to see him? But since Si Chen had arrived two days ago, it should have nothing to do with Si Borong.
It seems I have quite a connection with the Si Family, Dongbo Xueying thought.
"Uncle Zong, send someone to invite him. Ask this young master from the Si Family to join us for a banquet tomorrow," Dongbo Xueying said.
Before you continue