Making an Exception

Mu Feng had been strolling around for half the day and had noticed that no matter which tourist area he visited, none could escape the "souvenir law." Every five or six stalls sold pretty much the same things. It left Mu Feng rather uninterested, and he could not help quickening his pace toward the city gate.

Naturally, this caught the attention of Di Qiuli, who had been secretly watching him from the side.

"Why did you suddenly start walking so fast?"

Mu Feng answered honestly, "Because the stalls here are really boring. I haven't found anything interesting."

But more frightening than a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was a sensitive woman. Di Qiuli seemed to hear only the word "boring." Her tone suddenly turned cold as she said, "If you think it's boring, then go ahead and leave."

"???"

Mu Feng was utterly baffled. If he were not afraid that Di Tian would unleash a beast tide, he truly wanted to crack Di Qiuli's head open and see what she was thinking.

Mu Feng took a deep breath and calmed himself, reminding himself to stay calm. After all, she's only an eleven-year-old child.

After taking another breath, Mu Feng finally settled his somewhat irritable emotions. He looked around and eventually found a jewelry stall. He casually picked out a silver hair clip with a fairly nice design, paid for it, then walked up to Di Qiuli and, without giving her a chance to object, clipped it into her cascade of golden hair.

The silver hair clip stood out especially brightly against her smooth golden locks.

Giving a small gift was Mu Feng's usual method for dealing with children in his previous life. Kids this age only needed a little soothing; there was no need to make a big fuss over some minor unpleasantness.

Sure enough, when Mu Feng saw Di Qiuli become much quieter after putting on the hair clip, he could not help nodding at his own wisdom.

Di Qiuli stood there in a daze. She raised a hand and touched the hair clip atop her head, and her formerly gloomy expression instantly relaxed. She obediently followed beside Mu Feng, while replaying the scene of him putting the clip in her hair.

His movement had been so fast that Di Qiuli only reacted after his hand had already touched her hair.

With Di Qiuli no longer causing trouble, Mu Feng finally squeezed past the vendors and reached the registration area.

However, he soon discovered another serious problem: the enormous queue in front of him. By the time it was his turn, it would probably already be dark.

Beside the long line was a "member passage" specially cordoned off with barriers.

It was for specially recruited students admitted through other channels, or direct disciples of major sects. Naturally, people like Mu Feng and Di Qiuli, who were entering through ordinary means, did not have such privileges.

"Why am I still stuck in the regular line even after transmigrating?"

Mu Feng felt thoroughly depressed. He did not want to waste so much time standing in line. Then, his gaze suddenly shifted to the Shrek students around him, dressed in yellow uniforms with green emblems on their chests as they maintained order.

Mu Feng called out to a student with a lanky frame, narrow eyes, a high nose, and a thin face, "Senior."

"What is it, little brother?" The man approached Mu Feng with a smile.

However, his facial features were so distinct that when he smiled, they seemed to bunch together even more, making him rather unpleasant to look at.

Still, when asking someone for a favor, one had to show some courtesy. Mu Feng pointed at the long queue ahead and smiled. "May I ask your surname, Senior?"

"Fang. My name is Fang Xu."

"Senior Fang, look at that line. It'll probably be afternoon before it's my turn. I was wondering if—"

Mu Feng left his sentence unfinished, drawing out the final syllable. Di Qiuli, standing beside him, looked puzzled, unable to understand why Mu Feng's smile was so strange.

Senior Fang, however, understood immediately. Although Mu Feng had spoken softly, Fang Xu still hurriedly pulled him out of the line and whispered into his ear, "There are too many people here. Let's talk somewhere else."

Mu Feng took Di Qiuli by the hand and followed Fang Xu to a secluded spot nearby.

As soon as they arrived, Fang Xu put on a troubled expression and hesitantly said, "Well, Junior, you can see how many people are waiting up there. Cutting in line really is quite difficult."

Seeing Fang Xu's "troubled" expression, Di Qiuli furrowed her delicate brows and turned to Mu Feng. "Since Senior says it's difficult, then we should just go back and continue waiting in line."

Fang Xu had not expected his subtle hint to be taken as a rejection by the breathtaking girl in front of him. Anyone with even a little worldly experience should have understood what he meant. He did not know whether this golden-haired girl truly failed to understand or simply wanted to force her way into the line.

Mu Feng, meanwhile, noticed Fang Xu rubbing the fingers of his right hand after speaking and instantly understood. He quickly pulled the innocent Di Qiuli aside.

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "We certainly won't trouble Senior for nothing. The price is negotiable."

Just as the stunned Fang Xu was worrying that this deal would fall through, the boy before him proved to be far more perceptive.

Fang Xu breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "For just ten gold soul coins, I can take you through the special passage on the side."

Mu Feng was delighted inside. Good thing he had kept his wits about him instead of stupidly standing under the sun in line. Still, ten gold soul coins were no small expense for an ordinary soul master family.

Given that one copper soul coin could buy a loaf of bread, its purchasing power was roughly equivalent to six or seven yuan in his previous life. One gold soul coin equaled one hundred copper soul coins, or around six hundred yuan. In other words, cutting the line would cost him roughly over six thousand yuan.

Clearly, he could not have been the only one to think of this method. Just by doing the math, Fang Xu could rake in at least several hundred gold soul coins over the few days of registration. That was far quicker than Huo Yuhao's miserable stall at the city gate.

The moment Fang Xu accepted Mu Feng's twenty gold soul coins, his bitter expression bloomed open like a chrysanthemum. With him leading the way, Mu Feng and Di Qiuli passed through without obstruction. At several "checkpoints," Fang Xu would even take out a few gold soul coins to clear the way.

Only then did Di Qiuli realize that Fang Xu's earlier difficulty had been an act. If Mu Feng had not been there, she would have foolishly gone back to wait in line.

Before long, the two arrived inside a room, where two people were already undergoing soul power tests.

They were two girls. One had short golden hair, while the other had red hair. The golden-haired girl had both hands placed on the crystal ball before her, and the azure crystal ball shone with dazzling light.

The middle-aged man behind the desk, who was responsible for the test, said, "A Rank 30 Soul Elder. As expected of the next heir of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"The heir of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?" Mu Feng examined the short-haired girl before him upon hearing this. This must be Ning Tian, and the one beside her must be her personal guard, Wu Feng.

Mu Feng completely failed to notice that as his gaze lingered over the two beautiful girls, Di Qiuli's expression beside him became somewhat off.