Ice Empress's Visit, Xianyun Tours the City!

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Who is it?"

"Knock, knock, knock."

"I'll be right there."

Zhongli set down his teacup, walked to the door, and opened it. Outside stood a petite green-haired girl.

"I came to settle... Who are you?"

Ice Empress had come to challenge Guga and take revenge, but when she saw the human before her, she could not help frowning.

She did not dislike Qin Qi, but that did not mean she did not dislike other humans.

"I am Zhongli. The owner of this house has gone out to buy things. If you have something to say, tell me, and I will pass it along when he returns."

Zhongli spoke.

"Is that so? Then tell them that this Empress has come to avenge herself. I will defeat them and humiliate them thoroughly."

"And forbid them from ever going near my Xue'er again!"

Ice Empress clenched her tiny fists and spoke viciously.

"..."

"Very well."

As Zhongli looked at the girl before him, he felt as though he were seeing a mischievous Hu Tao.

They looked exactly alike, though this child was polite enough to knock before issuing a challenge.

"Fine, that's all. I'll come back later to get my revenge."

After saying that, Ice Empress prepared to leave. As she departed, she spotted the Sunflower and gave it two curious looks, but did nothing else.

"Is she a friend of young Qin Qi? Not bad at all."

"Youth truly is wonderful."

Zhongli watched Ice Empress leave, closed the door, and returned to his seat. He poured himself another cup of water, drank, and reminisced about the past.

He had once had friends too, but...

"Ah, worldly affairs are like dust, scattered at the first gust of wind."

Zhongli could not help sighing inwardly. Perhaps it was the erosion of time; he had become more prone to sentimentality as well.

At this moment, Xianyun arrived in the city. She walked along the streets, listening to the cries around her.

"This place is rather lively, but where exactly might one find these so-called Soul Tools?"

Xianyun looked at the various goods being sold along the streets. She was curious, but also somewhat confused.

Where exactly was she supposed to look for Soul Tools? She wondered whether there were any fellow enthusiasts with whom she could discuss them.

Xianyun wandered through the streets and eventually found a shop that looked particularly luxurious.

She entered, looked around, and finally found a Soul Tool.

"Shopkeeper, may I ask whether this is a Soul Tool?"

Xianyun stopped a clerk and asked.

"Yes, customer. This is a storage-type Soul Tool. It can hold roughly the contents of one chest."

The clerk looked at the beautiful woman before him, then at the exquisite accessories she wore. His eyes immediately lit up.

A big customer had arrived.

"Is that so? Then where is the craftsman who made this item?"

"I would like to exchange ideas with him."

Xianyun spoke.

"The craftsman... He's probably been dead for ages."

The clerk froze for a moment, then decided that the woman before him was likely joking. He answered humorously.

"Dead? What a pity."

"May I ask how much this item costs?"

Xianyun shook her head regretfully. She had finally found a fellow enthusiast, only to discover that he had already passed away.

"This costs ten thousand Gold Soul Coins."

"It is indeed a little expensive, but it is a rare treasure, practically an antique."

The clerk said.

"An antique? What a shame. If that person were here, he could help me take a look at it."

Upon hearing the word antique, Xianyun immediately thought of Zhongli. Zhongli was a professional antique appraiser.

After all, nothing was older than him. The antiques people spoke of might well have been things he had used back then.

"Customer, please rest assured, our goods are one hundred percent genuine. There's no need to have them appraised."

The clerk said.

"Mm, I believe you."

"But this adeptus has no money. Can I put it on credit?"

Xianyun reached into her pocket. She did have a little money, which Qin Qi had given her when he arrived.

It was meant for travel expenses, around one Gold Soul Coin.

"Credit? You must be joking. How could someone like you possibly have no money?"

The smile on the clerk's face stiffened as he spoke.

"This adeptus truly has no money, but I have an Adeptal Mechanism Arts creation that I can offer as collateral."

After thinking for a moment, Xianyun took out a small object. It was an hourglass, a little device used for timing.

"An hourglass? You want to use a broken hourglass as collateral for ten thousand Gold Soul Coins? Woman, are you insane?"

"Go on, get out of here. Don't hold up our business if you have no money. We don't take junk here."

The clerk's expression changed at once. He felt humiliated, as though he had been toyed with.

"How rude!"

"Still, this adeptus will not stoop to your level."

Xianyun flicked her sleeve and left, displaying the unique emotional stability of a Liyue adeptus.

If it had been a certain shut-in girl, she would have already cut him down with a milk-scented sword strike.

"Ah, they are both tools for storing things, so why is mine worthless?"

Xianyun walked out of the shop, looked at the hourglass in her hand, and could not help sighing.

This tiny hourglass could hold enough dust to fill a mountain, so why did no one appreciate it?

"The road to finding fellow enthusiasts is still very long."

Xianyun wandered around the city for a while, then spread her wings and left.

She remembered Qin Qi saying that the closer one got to the center of the continent, the livelier it became and the more prosperous its civilization was.

She planned to take a look at the continent's center.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Zhongli was sitting on the second floor drinking water when he suddenly saw several people approaching.

"Brrr, I'm freezing to death. We wandered around the Far North for so long this time and didn't earn a single coin. We just suffered for nothing."

"Boss, how about we go to the Star Dou Great Forest too? I heard the Soul-Hunting Group there can make money easily."

"Don't listen to their bullshit. If it were so easy to make money there, why would so many people still come all the way here?"

A group of Soul Masters from the Soul-Hunting Group emerged from the Far North. After walking for some distance, they spotted Qin Qi's house.

"Let's go warm ourselves up over there and buy some food from the villagers while we're at it."

The leader of the Soul-Hunting Group led his members toward Qin Qi's house, and before long, they reached the entrance.

One of them reached out to knock, but the boss stopped him.

"Wait. Look at that flower over there. Don't you think it's strange?"

The boss looked toward the Sunflower. As he saw the snowless patch of land around it, his treasure-hunting instincts suddenly kicked in.

"What's so strange about an ugly flower?"

"Boss, stop making a fuss. Hurry up and open the door so we can warm up."

His subordinates glanced at it, seeing none of the Sunflower's value. They only thought it was an especially ugly flower.

"No, no, no. This flower is far from ordinary. A flower that can survive in such freezing terrain must be extraordinary."

"Let's pick it and take a look."

The boss's instincts told him there was something unusual about the flower. Perhaps it was a valuable treasure.

If it was, they would pluck it and run. For the sake of money, it did not matter if they moonlighted as bandits.

Meanwhile, Zhongli sat on the second floor, watching these people gingerly feel their way toward the Sunflower.

"What are they doing?"

Zhongli lifted his teacup and took a sip, wondering inwardly whether these people were thieves.

But thieves should not be stealing right in front of him, should they? What were they trying to do?

This book focused on being lighthearted, humorous, and healing, so everyone should just enjoy themselves. There would not be any heavy grudges or bitter hatred.