Market

Dawn had barely broken.

A side courtyard of the Crown Prince's Residence.

A broom scraped haphazardly across the ground.

Rongrong pouted, sweat soaking her hair.

Spoiled since childhood, she had never done such rough work.

"What restoring the foundation? You're obviously just making things difficult for me!"

"This young lady is done!"

She hurled the broom to the ground.

When she turned around, she met a pair of eyes.

Su Chen stood beneath the covered corridor, his hands behind his back.

His gaze fell on the broom lying on the ground.

"If you can't even hold a broom steady, how will you wield a sword and cultivate your heart?"

Rongrong bit her lower lip.

"Do you feel wronged?"

"I'm the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Of course I feel wronged being made to sweep floors!"

"Then go back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"I won't! Father said I can't go back until I've learned something!"

"Then pick up the broom. Cultivating your heart starts with putting aside your status. If you can't even sweep away the dust before you, how will you repair the flaws in your martial soul's origin?"

Rongrong had no answer.

She could only bend down and pick up the broom again.

"That's enough. Stop sweeping. Go wash your face and change into some plain clothes."

Rongrong raised her head.

"Where are we going?"

"To the market in Heaven Dou City. We'll gather some information, and while we're at it, see what the eldest daughter of the number one sect in the world can do besides throw tantrums."

Rongrong's eyes lit up.

As long as she did not have to sweep, she was willing to do anything. She immediately tossed aside the broom and ran into the room.

Half an hour later.

Heaven Dou City market.

The streets bustled with people and traffic.

All sorts of people gathered here, while roadside stalls displayed herbs, beast hides, and unidentifiable lumps of iron.

Su Chen walked ahead at an unhurried pace.

Rongrong, now dressed in green, followed behind him.

"You're an adviser at the Crown Prince's Residence. If you want information, why not send shadow guards to investigate? Why come personally to squeeze into a filthy place like this?"

"Shadow guards can only see what others want them to see."

Su Chen stopped before a stall, casually picked up a shriveled herb for a look, then set it down.

"The real truth is hidden amid the smoke and bustle of everyday life."

Rongrong curled her lip.

"What truth could there be? Nothing but tricks to cheat people out of money. All these stall owners put together couldn't beat a single outer sect steward."

"The lofty sects never look at things like this. Yet the things that can truly shift the course of the world are often those no one deigns to notice."

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion erupted not far ahead.

The crowd was packed three layers deep, completely blocking the way.

Gasps of surprise rang out from time to time.

The two followed the flow of people over.

"Don't miss out as you pass by!"

"A secret family recipe—Strengthening Pills!"

"Take one, and your soul power will soar! Whether you've hit a bottleneck or lack talent, this divine medicine can clear your meridians!"

Before the stall, a shrewd-looking, skinny man hawked his wares with spittle flying.

Dozens of crude porcelain bottles sat on his stall.

Several planted customers shouted their agreement from within the crowd.

"Is it really that miraculous? Give me two bottles!"

"I took one yesterday, and the bottleneck I'd been stuck at for three years loosened on the spot! Give me another five bottles!"

At once, the watching commoners and low-level soul masters pulled out gold coins and bought everything up in a frenzy.

Rongrong stood on tiptoe, looking at the people scrambling until their faces turned red.

"Soul power can increase from pills this shabby? Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's treasury doesn't have anything that good. It must be a scam, right?"

Su Chen stared at the porcelain bottles.

His eyes gradually turned cold.

"It isn't a scam. These pills really can raise soul power."

Rongrong froze.

"They really can? Then shouldn't we buy some and study them? If the sect could mass-produce them, wouldn't we gain countless experts?"

She reached for the gold coins in her clothes.

Su Chen caught her wrist.

"Buy them if you want to die."

Rongrong jumped in fright.

"What do you mean?"

"Look carefully at the people buying the medicine. Their eye sockets are darkened, and although their auras have grown stronger, their meridians are unstable."

Su Chen released her hand and pointed at a burly man who had led the purchases earlier.

"These Strengthening Pills use harsh medicinal ingredients to forcibly burn the user's lifespan."

"After taking one, their blood and qi boil, their potential is overdrawn, and it creates the illusion of increased soul power."

Rongrong sucked in a cold breath.

"Trading lifespan for soul power?"

"One pill drains at least a year of life. The more you take, the faster you die. Once the effect wears off, your vital blood will be depleted and your meridians severed. Not even immortals could save you."

Su Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

His spiritual power quietly spread out, catching a faint, icy fluctuation in the air.

"It's more than just vicious."

"These pills also carry a trace of sacrificial energy."

"As the medicinal effect dissipates, a sliver of the user's vital blood is gradually siphoned away, gathering at some source through formation marks."

"Taking these pills turns you into a walking blood bag. They aren't Strengthening Pills at all—they are bait used by heretical cultivators to raise blood food."

Rongrong's scalp went numb at his words.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had always prided itself on being an upright sect. She had never seen such utterly inhuman methods.

The thought of these commoners spending their hard-earned gold on death warrants just to become stronger made anger surge in her heart.

The young lady's temper could no longer be suppressed.

"In broad daylight, they dare sell this poison in Heaven Dou Imperial City and harm people!"

"Is there no law left?"

Rongrong shoved through the crowd and rushed straight to the stall.

She slammed her palm heavily onto the wooden board.

Several porcelain bottles rolled into the mud and shattered.

"Don't buy any more! This isn't divine medicine at all—it's poison that burns your lifespan! It'll kill you!"

The crowd instantly fell silent.

The skinny drug seller's face changed drastically, and a vicious glint flashed through his eyes.

Very quickly, he put on an aggrieved, innocent expression.

"Little miss, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want!"

"This is a proper ancestral recipe. So many people have taken it and praised it. Which competitor sent you here to cause trouble?"

Those in the crowd who had been desperate to buy the medicine also began shouting along with him.

"Stop getting in the way of us buying divine medicine to break through!"

Rongrong stamped her foot anxiously.

"You really can't tell good intentions from bad! There's evil energy in these pills. They'll drain all your vital blood!"

The skinny man sneered.

He shot a look at several burly men in the crowd.

Three broad, muscular thugs immediately pushed through the crowd and surrounded Rongrong.

"Little miss, if you keep spouting nonsense and cutting off our business, don't blame our fists for being blind!"

Fists the size of bowls clenched tightly.

Rongrong might have been spoiled and domineering in the sect, but she was still an auxiliary-system soul master.

Faced with this, she instinctively took half a step back.

She turned to look at the young man in blue beyond the crowd.

Su Chen stood where he was.

With his arms crossed, he watched quietly.

He showed no intention of stepping in to help her.

Instead, his eyes carried a hint of amusement.

Rongrong gritted her teeth.

Knowing she could not rely on anyone else, the pride in her bones was provoked.

"You think I'm afraid of you?"

With a wave of her right hand, seven-colored light flickered in her palm.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda appeared.

"Seven Treasures Turn, Glaze!"

"First: Strength!"

"Second: Speed!"

Two brilliant streams of light wrapped around her.

Her strength and speed instantly increased dramatically.

The watching commoners recoiled in fright.

"A soul master! It's a soul master!"

The thugs froze at first, then revealed savage smiles.

"So she's just an auxiliary-system little soul master."

"You dare play the hero alone as an auxiliary-system soul master? Today, we'll teach you how the world works!"

All three thugs released their martial souls at once.

They were all strength-type beast martial souls, their soul power hovering around level twenty.

They charged straight at her.

Rongrong did not panic in the slightest.

Having followed Sword Douluo since childhood, she might have been an auxiliary-system soul master, but she was exceptionally skilled at evasion.

With a flash, she nimbly dodged the lead thug's heavy punch.

She then pulled an exquisite metal cylinder from her waist.

Steel needles coated in anesthetic shot out.

They struck the thug's shoulder with perfect precision.

The thug groaned, half his body instantly going numb as he toppled to the ground.

"Hidden weapons? Be careful, there's something strange about this girl!"

The remaining two men's expressions changed sharply, and they no longer dared underestimate her.

They flanked her from both sides, trying to cut off her escape.

Using her enhanced speed, Rongrong darted nimbly between the stalls.

From time to time, she harassed them with hidden weapons.

"You talk big! Once this young lady knocks you down, I'll smash that poison-selling stall to pieces!"

Su Chen stood outside the crowd.

Watching Rongrong leap about.

He nodded faintly.

Her temperament might have been willful, but when faced with danger, she knew how to use her own advantages instead of simply waiting to die.

As the heir of the world's foremost auxiliary sect, she barely passed.

His gaze passed over those fighting and locked onto the skinny drug seller.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the skinny man was quietly gathering up the porcelain bottles on his stall.

A cold purple glint occasionally flashed in his eyes.

That familiar blood-fiend aura was slowly emanating from the skinny man.

It came from the same source as the evil soul master who had attacked the Crown Prince's Residence at night.

The murky waters of Heaven Dou Imperial City ran far deeper than he had imagined.

Su Chen remained where he was.

Spoiled from childhood, she would never understand how cruel the outside world was without experiencing danger.

Today's lesson in cultivating her heart had only just begun.