At the Mittal Auction House, Ya Fei dragged her exhausted body back to her room.
Despite her fatigue, the thought of who she was about to see quickened her steps.
When she opened the door, the young man's face seemed just as it had yesterday, but now it carried a little more maturity and the wear of experience.
Who would have thought that nearly a month of training could have brought him such remarkable results?
"Sister Ya Fei, the moment I got back, I came straight to see you."
Xiao Ze stood up and said with a smile.
Ya Fei gave him a pretty, exasperated look and said reproachfully, "Do you really think your big sister is nothing but an auctioneer?"
"The first thing you did after coming back wasn't to bring a little girl to the Xiao Clan?"
"And then you met up with your childhood sweetheart. I bet it took you ages before you finally remembered me, didn't it?"
"Ah, Sister Ya Fei, did you plant spies at the Xiao Clan's gate? You even know all about that."
Xiao Ze's face twitched awkwardly. What he'd just said had only been a polite greeting, like "It's so nice to see you."
"But, Sister Ya Fei, were you really looking forward to my return so much? You even sent spies to keep an eye on the Xiao Clan?"
A flicker of discomfort crossed Ya Fei's face. She sat down in a chair and tossed her fur scarf aside.
"Ah, I've been busy all day. I'm exhausted! I wonder if anyone would come give me a massage?"
Xiao Ze laughed to himself. That was a clumsy change of subject.
Seeing that Ya Fei didn't want to bring it up, Xiao Ze wasn't so tactless as to keep pressing her.
"You've worked so hard, Sister Ya Fei. Let your little brother give you a massage."
Ya Fei relaxed her body and half-closed her eyes, clearly ready to let Xiao Ze do as he pleased.
Seeing that, Xiao Ze didn't hold back and promptly went around behind her.
Xiao Ze looked down. Before he could even see her knees, he was already gazing upon a peerless beauty!
The girls he was close to were more or less his age, or just a few years older.
Not one of them could match Ya Fei's figure!
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Ze placed both hands on Ya Fei's shoulders.
He controlled his strength, massaging her until she looked blissful and relaxed, unconsciously letting out a series of soft nasal hums.
After finishing the massage, Xiao Ze returned to his chair.
Ya Fei's cheeks were still flushed, her eyes half-lidded with pleasure as she spoke in a languid voice.
"I never knew you had such a deft touch, little brother Xiao Ze."
"Would you believe me if I said this was my first time giving you a massage?"
Ya Fei took a moment to recover, then sat up straight, still looking languid.
She felt as if the blood and qi in her body were flowing more freely. Could Xiao Ze's massage also invigorate her circulation?
Ya Fei suddenly felt that her little brother was like a treasure trove, always springing some new surprise on her.
"These are the Magic Cores I obtained while training in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Could you please appraise them and tell me how much they're worth, Sister Ya Fei?"
With a wave of his hand, Xiao Ze made a pile of Magic Cores appear on the table.
He had previously taken Xiao Yi Xian to gather medicinal herbs on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Usually, magical beasts guarded the more useful herbs, so there was no avoiding dealing with them.
Once, they'd even stumbled upon a small beast tide. Xiao Ze killed dozens of magical beasts in a row, frightening the rest so badly that they lost all heart.
That one battle alone had earned Xiao Ze nearly twenty Magic Cores.
Although they were all first-tier Magic Cores, at five hundred gold coins each, they were worth almost ten thousand gold coins altogether!
On top of that, he'd made all sorts of other gains. His trip had earned him tens of thousands of gold coins!
Once the Jia Nan Academy entrance examinations were over, he would be leaving Wutan City.
When traveling far from home, it was reassuring to have a thick wallet.
Ya Fei stared at the Magic Cores covering the table, her mouth forming an O as she stammered, "You hunted all of these?"
Xiao Ze nodded, confirming it, and Ya Fei couldn't help asking, "Little brother Xiao Ze, just how strong are you now? I can hardly tell anymore."
"Uh, Sister Ya Fei, could you really tell how strong I was before?"
Xiao Ze looked Ya Fei up and down. He had just touched her himself and knew she hadn't even reached the Dou Zhe level yet!
Seeing Ya Fei's annoyed expression, Xiao Ze quickly raised his hands to placate her.
"Fine. I was a Dou Master when I left, and now I'm a Da Dou Shi."
"Gasp!"
Ya Fei's almond-shaped eyes widened in shock, her expression slipping as she sucked in a sharp breath!
A Da Dou Shi who wasn't even twelve!
There probably wasn't another one in the entire Jia Ma Empire!
Only then did Ya Fei truly realize how lucky she was to have taken Xiao Ze in as her little brother.
Xiao Ze was sure to soar to great heights in the future and stand at the very peak of the Jia Ma Empire!
It took Ya Fei a while to calm down. Then she began counting the Magic Cores on the table.
"Magic Cores are always in high demand and easy to sell. Do you want your gold coins now, or should I give them to you after they've sold?"
"I'll take them now. A rough estimate is fine. No need to fuss over the details," Xiao Ze said casually.
"That won't do. How could I let my little brother lose out?"
Ya Fei thought for a moment, then got up and went into her bedroom. A while later, she returned with a pale golden card.
"This card has one hundred thousand gold coins on it. You're a Da Dou Shi now, so your cultivation must take even more resources."
Ya Fei smiled as she handed him the card, her eyes leaving no room for argument.
Xiao Ze was silent for a moment, then accepted it gratefully.
"Sister Ya Fei, for your kindness today, I'll repay you tenfold someday!"
Even if the pile of Magic Cores on the table were worth every last coin, it still wouldn't be more than fifty thousand gold coins. Yet Ya Fei had given him a Gold Deposit Card with one hundred thousand!
"From the sound of that, you're going away again?"
Ya Fei caught the meaning behind Xiao Ze's words.
"Yeah. I'm planning to apply to Jia Nan Academy and see the wider world."
"I see," Ya Fei said thoughtfully, a trace of barely noticeable disappointment passing through her eyes.
"By the way, Sister Ya Fei, I'd like to buy some things from you to give to my family."
"All right. I'll get you the merchandise list in a moment."
Ya Fei rummaged through the table and handed Xiao Ze a list.
The two fell silent for a while. Xiao Ze looked through the items, while Ya Fei quietly watched him.
This time, Xiao Ze planned to prepare a gift for everyone he knew before leaving.
He had chosen gifts for the others, but he was still hesitating over what to get his third brother.
Suddenly, Xiao Ze spotted an item called a Qi Gathering Bead in the list of slow-selling goods.
"Sister Ya Fei, this Qi Gathering Bead..."
"Oh, that one. They say a mercenary found it while exploring some ruins in the Magical Beast Mountain Range."
Ya Fei thought for a moment, then quickly remembered the Qi Gathering Bead's origins.
"The man wanted to put it up for auction and see whether anyone would recognize its value. But after it failed to sell three times in a row, he sold it to the auction house at a low price."
Xiao Ze continued listening. It had failed to sell three times in a row.
The Qi Gathering Bead's effects must have been pretty disappointing.
But the description said it could absorb Dou Qi on its own!
That was hard to make sense of.
"Of course there's a reason it became a slow-selling item."
"Although this strange object can absorb Dou Qi on its own, getting that Dou Qi back out is incredibly difficult!"
"The auction house's Da Dou Shi tried it. They could only extract a trace of Dou Qi, which made it practically useless!"
After hearing Ya Fei's explanation, Xiao Ze's eyes lit up.
Wouldn't this be perfect for Xiao Yan's current situation?
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