Forgery!

Dawn broke.

The proprietress brought the freshly prepared breakfast straight to their room. Na'er polished it off in no time, rubbed her belly, and looked at Jiang Dongjun with an aggrieved expression.

The corner of Jiang Dongjun's mouth twitched. "Still hungry?"

Seeing that he understood her meaning, Na'er's eyes immediately lit up, and she nodded repeatedly.

"Come on, I'll take you out to eat. Last night, I said I'd be your teacher. That means teaching you how to live better in this dazzling world."

"Look. What's this?"

Jiang Dongjun drew over a handful of banknotes and scattered them in front of Na'er.

A thoughtful look appeared in Na'er's amethyst eyes.

"I think those are... what you took from the Pastry Shop last night, big brother."

Jiang Dongjun corrected her. "I didn't take them. I traded for them. Didn't you see me leave a piece of metal behind? It was worth exactly this money and the cookies you ate last night."

"Money? They're called money?"

"That's right. The first lesson your teacher will teach you is 'money'! If you want to survive in this dazzling world awash with material desires, you must have money! To put it simply, only with money can you fill your belly, stay here, and have new clothes to wear."

Na'er immediately grew solemn and went to pick up the banknotes scattered across the floor.

"Big brother, Na'er understands. Money is precious. We can't treat these little darlings like this again. We have to put them away properly."

She tried to hand the banknotes to Jiang Dongjun, only to discover that his Yin Spirit was incorporeal. Her hand passed straight through him, and her amethyst eyes rolled thoughtfully.

"How about I carry them for you, big brother? Can I look after these little darlings from now on?"

"All right, all right. I'll leave them to Na'er. You'll have to be a good little housekeeper."

The Yin Spirit affectionately reached toward Na'er's head, using a telekinesis-like spiritual power field to stroke her silky silver hair.

"Oh, and put on this jade pendant too, Na'er. Whenever I go out with you, I'll stay inside it. Take the leather backpack as well. Whatever you want to eat, just buy it and put it in the bag."

Jiang Dongjun had stuffed all the rare metals from the leather backpack beneath the inn's bed. He had sent the Head Soul Bone back to Douluo II overnight, afraid it might provoke the Silver Dragon King. As for the Fantastical Fox...

There was no helping it. It was the single most essential piece of equipment underpinning the Yin Spirit's combat strength.

"Big brother?"

"I'm here."

A pulse of spiritual energy came from the tiger-carved jade pendant on Na'er's chest.

"Let's go. Just walk out of the inn normally, head onto the street, and go east to the morning market a little over three hundred meters away. I'll handle everything else."

"Okay, big brother. I'm off, then."

At the morning market, Jiang Dongjun used his spiritual power to deal with everyone who grew curious about Na'er or harbored ill intentions toward her and acted on them.

In Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, the plane was on the verge of collapse. Fewer and fewer people awakened innate soul power, and most people on the streets were ordinary folk.

Even if someone was a Soul Master rather than an ordinary person, they would have to be a proper Soul King to stand a chance against Jiang Dongjun's Yin Spirit.

Over the course of the morning, Na'er filled her belly and, under Jiang Dongjun's guidance, learned how to use money.

They returned to the Inn.

"Big brother, I'm so bored. What are the other children doing now? At the morning market, I saw other children with their parents. It looked like they were all being taken somewhere together."

Jiang Dongjun patiently explained, "They were going to school. Children stay at school, where teachers like me teach them things."

"Big brother, can Na'er go to school?"

Hope flickered in the little girl's amethyst eyes.

"Of course you can. You'll just have to wait a little longer. I need to get you an identity first."

"An identity?" Na'er tilted her head in confusion.

Jiang Dongjun explained, "Didn't you say last night that you had no past? An identity means giving you a past and a background. Then you'll be able to fit into this dazzling world normally."

Na'er was clever and noticed something else.

"Big brother, are you leaving again?"

"This afternoon, take a nap, Na'er. By the time you wake up, I'll probably be back. I promise I won't abandon you here all alone."

"..."

"Na'er, let me tell you a story to relieve your boredom. Listen carefully and think about it. When you face difficulties in the future, you may well need to draw inspiration from these stories and learn from them."

"A story?"

Receiving the spiritual fluctuations emitted by the Yin Spirit, Na'er easily grasped the meaning of "story" through his unique spiritual imagery.

"That sounds so interesting! Na'er wants to hear a story. Whatever you tell me, big brother, I'll remember every word."

"All right. I'll tell you a story."

"Now, after the Creator God split heaven from earth, the various planes developed one after another. One of them was divided into four continents: the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, the Southern Jambudvipa Continent, the Western Ox-Hoof Continent, and the Northern Kuru Continent.

The story we're telling today took place on the Eastern Victory Divine Continent. On that continent, there was a country called the Aolai Kingdom..."

Jiang Dongjun's Yin Spirit emitted wave after wave of spiritual energy as he unfolded the tale. His spiritual imagery brought its scenery and characters vividly to life, making Na'er feel as though she were there herself.

People always said, "Reading history makes one wise."

But the history of the Douluo Continent really was "a pile of shit."

There was something wrong with the intelligence of everyone on the continent.

Ten thousand years ago, a decision to cut off an army's food supplies during a war could leave people astounded by its genius.

Ten thousand years later, the people of Shrek Academy could regard a special operations training plan as a devastating weapon of war. Then there were top-tier Soul Engineers who couldn't figure out the principle of a "switch"...

Since he couldn't tell her the history of the Douluo Continent, he might as well tell her tales from the novels of his previous life.

Works like Journey to the West, Investiture of the Gods, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties... could just barely count as "history" too, giving the Silver Dragon King, who embodied the Dragon God's wisdom, a little nourishment for her brain.

The Dragon God and Tang San both possessed earth-shattering wisdom, after all!

Still, the stories needed some localization, fitting the Douluo Continent's cultivation system into them.

Think it's cringeworthy? Think it desecrates the traditional culture of my previous life?

Then let me ask you: who desecrated it first?

Tell me, which protagonist in the Great God Realm came from a setting based on Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods, attained the rank of Immortal Emperor only to amount to a mere God King, then got trapped in a black hole and waited for Tang San to rescue him so he could become Tang San's partner?

Time flew by amid his vivid storytelling.

Soon, it was noon.

Na'er ate the meal the proprietress brought up, then ate some of the food they had bought that morning until her belly was full.

She lay down on the bed and gazed at Jiang Dongjun expectantly.

How could Jiang Dongjun not understand what she was angling for? She wanted to keep listening to the story.

"Na'er, go to sleep first. I have some proper business to attend to. I'll continue the story tonight. Once we have identities and leave this dangerous place, Aolai City, I'll be able to tell you stories with greater peace of mind."

"All right..."

The little girl pouted, drooping like a frost-stricken eggplant, but soon broke into a smile again.

"Be careful, big brother. Na'er will go to sleep now."

"Go to sleep. If you wake up and don't see me, don't worry. I'll definitely be back before dark."

"Okay. Don't worry, big brother. Na'er will take care of herself while you're away."

"..."

Only after Na'er was sound asleep did Jiang Dongjun begin to act.

His Yin Spirit flew out of the inn and rose high into the sky. Jiang Dongjun let out a long breath. Looking after this little miss was exhausting!

Yet he had no choice but to do it.

Since he had happened to encounter her at just the right moment, could he really stand by and watch a half-step God King's worth of combat power fall into Tang San's camp?

"The Blazing Wind Workshop was founded by a fourth-rank blacksmith and is run by a father and son. The father does the forging. The son never awakened innate soul power, so he handles purchases and orders..."

Recalling the information he had obtained through illusions, Jiang Dongjun sought out the Blazing Wind Workshop.

Aolai City wasn't large. Despite bearing the word "city" in its name, it was really just a small town.

Once again, he used illusions to clear his path, found an opportunity to control the Blazing Wind Workshop's manager, and sold both blocks of rare metal he had brought at half price.

One was redfeather copper, weighing nearly two kilograms. After halving the price and rounding it off, it came to 300 Federal Credits per gram.

The other was orangeline silver, weighing a little over four kilograms. After halving the price and rounding it off, it came to 600 Federal Credits per gram.

He took away three million Federal Credits on an anonymous bank card, with the remainder in cash.

Before leaving, he also traded a piece of blackcloud iron for the manager's Storage Bracelet, which ran on a Soul Guidance Battery. Its internal storage space was less than half a cubic meter.

Afterward, Jiang Dongjun headed to the Aolai City Police Station.

First, he lay in wait in the restroom and used illusions on some unfortunate fellow to identify the administrative officer responsible for personnel registration. Then he found an opportunity to possess the officer and fabricated identity documents for himself and Na'er.

In Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, ordinary people truly had risen to their feet. They could hold important posts and even join combat units, giving Jiang Dongjun an opening to exploit.

"Li Mei, former director of the Aolai City orphanage, was removed from her post due to her advanced age and misconduct. She lived alone after losing her job but continued raising three children from the slums. She died of illness a month ago, and the three children were taken in by the orphanage..."

"Right, now we'll change that to five adopted children and add Na'er and me. Tonight, I'll visit the orphanage and plant some impressions in those three children's minds of us having lived together... perfect!"