On the afternoon of the following day, Su Ling finally arrived in Heaven Dou City.
Along the way, Su Ling had passed the Sunset Forest, but he had not entered it.
Although he had made plenty of preparations, he was still missing something.
Dugu Bo's whereabouts were crucial. If Dugu Bo showed up while he was collecting medicinal herbs, wouldn't that end in disaster?
Although he already had two chances to escape with Teleportation, doing so would also put Dugu Bo on his guard.
Entering the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well again to gather herbs would become even harder afterward.
He had to succeed in one attempt.
Once Su Ling entered Heaven Dou City, he immediately noticed how different it was from other cities.
Before long, Su Ling heard the system notify him that there were goddesses within five hundred meters.
Several goddesses who had never appeared in the Douluo Continent novel showed up.
Su Ling did not know any of them, and finding someone within a five-hundred-meter radius was no easy task.
Although there were notifications, their overall ratings were generally ninety or ninety-one. None were ninety-two or higher.
Su Ling asked around, then headed to Heaven Dou City's noble district.
[Ding... a goddess whose goddess overall rating meets the requirements has been detected within five hundred meters of the host!] [Goddess: Qian Renxue (disguised as Xue Qinghe)] [Goddess overall rating: 99] [Binding requirement: Favorability above 60] [Current favorability: Unknown]
Su Ling looked toward a magnificent golden gate a hundred meters away. Three large characters above it read: Crown Prince's Mansion.
A short while later, a carriage slowly passed Su Ling and stopped directly in front of the mansion.
A goddess overall rating of 99. It was a shame that it wasn't a perfect 100.
She had been born at level twenty and possessed the potential to become a god. In terms of innate talent, no one on the Douluo Continent could match her.
As for her looks, figure, and everything else, there was nothing to fault.
In truth, Qian Renxue was not very old at this point, only two or three years older than Su Ling.
The carriage stopped, and a young man wearing a royal uniform stepped out. Seen from a distance, his looks were ordinary, but his bearing was anything but.
After getting out, the young man headed straight into the mansion.
Su Ling did not continue watching. Instead, he kept walking, since Prince Xue Xing's mansion and the Fourth Prince Xue Beng's mansion were only a few hundred meters farther on.
How should I deal with Dugu Bo?
He recalled the people in these mansions and the plot of the original novel.
After thinking for a while, Su Ling came up with an idea.
Rather than asking around to learn Dugu Bo's habits and waiting for an opening, he might as well take the initiative and prevent Dugu Bo from returning to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
As for helping treat Dugu Bo, Su Ling did not think that was the best way to obtain the herbs.
He would be better off saving that method to raise Dugu Yan's favorability. Winning over Dugu Yan would essentially mean winning over Dugu Bo as well.
Su Ling already had a way to draw Dugu Bo away.
It all came down to Xue Beng. He only needed to make Prince Xue Xing believe that without Dugu Bo's protection, Xue Beng could be killed at any moment.
That would keep Dugu Bo in Heaven Dou City or at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Su Ling would only need a few days to finish everything inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The first step of the plan was to find the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. If he couldn't find it, everything else would be for nothing.
With nightfall approaching, Su Ling began buying supplies in Heaven Dou City, planning to visit the Sunset Forest the next day.
He also needed to look for the crystal stones used in that formation.
As darkness gradually fell, Su Ling arrived at a street devoted to Soul Master Trading.
There were shops, as well as stalls set up by individual Soul Masters.
Su Ling made the rounds of several large shops, but no one knew anything about this kind of crystal stone.
Just as Su Ling was about to leave, the system notification suddenly sounded again.
[Ding... a goddess whose goddess overall rating meets the requirements has been detected within five hundred meters of the host!] [Goddess: Liu Erlong] [Goddess overall rating: 93] [Binding requirement: Favorability above 60] [Current favorability: Unknown]
Liu Erlong?
Su Ling looked around but did not see Liu Erlong. She might have only just entered his five-hundred-meter range.
Should I go raise her favorability?
Su Ling searched while browsing the stalls. If he could run into her, gaining some initial favorability would be worthwhile.
As he continued down the street, Su Ling suddenly noticed something at an inconspicuous stall twenty meters away. Weren't those the crystal stones he needed?
Su Ling walked over in a few strides.
"Hello, how much is this?" Su Ling asked.
"One thousand Gold Soul Coins. No bargaining. Take it or leave it." The speaker was a woman, her voice sharp.
"I'll take it. How many more do you have?" Su Ling asked directly.
These things could only be found by chance, not sought at will. Even if she was fleecing him, Su Ling would buy them. After all, he wasn't short of Gold Soul Coins now.
"Oh! Really?" The woman had her back to Su Ling and was dressed very simply. Even so, judging by her silhouette alone, she was absolutely a knockout from behind.
When the woman turned around, who else could she be but Liu Erlong?
Liu Erlong looked to be in her thirties, undoubtedly at the height of her maturity, like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.
Sure enough, the company one kept shaped one's behavior. Flender was a crafty merchant, and Liu Erlong was no slouch either.
Wasn't she backed by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and supposed to have no shortage of money?
Why was she selling things here too?
Could she no longer cover the Blue Tyrant Academy's expenses?
After all, the Blue Tyrant Academy was an academy within Heaven Dou City. She could use the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's influence to secure the land, but its everyday expenses were bound to add up over time.
After all, she only accepted commoner Soul Masters. How much tuition could commoner Soul Masters afford?
Checking the system again, Su Ling saw that Liu Erlong's initial favorability toward him had reached 5 points. Perhaps it was so high because his request for more crystal stones would earn her a handsome sum.
"I only have three here. The rest aren't on me. If you want them, you can come with me to get them," Liu Erlong said.
Picking up a crystal stone and examining it, Su Ling confirmed once more that it was the right kind, then said, "Sure. Here are three thousand Gold Soul Coins."
Su Ling immediately took out several bags, all filled with Gold Soul Coins.
Liu Erlong opened each one to check, then put them away and said, "Let's go. Follow me."
[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +2. White Chest ×1 obtained.]
Sometimes, being straightforward and decisive could also win people's goodwill.
Liu Erlong was a straightforward person herself. Apart from matters of the heart, she never dragged her feet.
Walking beside Liu Erlong, Su Ling also took a careful look at her figure.
Her features were exquisite and captivating, her brows and eyes as lovely as a painting. She wore a simple, ordinary blue-green cloth dress, but beneath it was a perfect, voluptuous figure beyond the reach of ordinary women.
Liu Erlong was also a little older, and her potential had not been developed well. On top of that, love might have delayed some of her cultivation, while her advancing age left her goddess overall rating at only 93.
Had he met her more than twenty years earlier, Liu Erlong's overall rating might have been around 95.
"Brat, keep your eyes to yourself, or I'll make sure you never see tomorrow's sun," Liu Erlong said coldly.
Su Ling said, "Don't misunderstand. I'm just curious where you got these crystal stones. I asked at all the major shops, and none of them had any."
"I found them by chance during my travels years ago. Don't ask about the details," Liu Erlong replied coldly.
This Liu Erlong really isn't easy to get close to.
"All right. Then how many more do you have?" Su Ling asked.
"There should be a dozen or so. What, is that too many for you?" Liu Erlong asked.
Su Ling smiled and said, "I'd take another hundred if you had them. If you find more of these crystal stones in the future, you can sell them to me too."
Liu Erlong said nothing. If they had been easy to obtain, she certainly would have answered him. However, these were things they had found in ruins in the Star Luo Empire during their travels years ago.
She had picked up a dozen or so out of curiosity and brought them back. Occasionally, she would come here to set up a stall for a while and see whether she could sell them.
Over the years, she had come no fewer than twenty times without selling a single one, and had even lost quite a bit on stall fees.
The stones were in the Star Luo Empire. Fetching them would take at least two months or so, which was why Liu Erlong did not respond to Su Ling.
Su Ling followed Liu Erlong for about forty minutes before they reached a wooded area and walked inside.
This was behind the Blue Tyrant Academy, where Liu Erlong lived.
"Wait here. I'll go get them." Liu Erlong did not invite Su Ling to her place, instead leaving him to wait more than a hundred meters away.
Although it was already dark, Su Ling could make out a wooden cottage not far ahead, with all sorts of flowers and plants growing in front of it.
About five minutes later, Liu Erlong came out and tossed a bag straight to Su Ling.
He opened it and found thirteen more stones.
The Intermediate Defensive Formation required four stones per use. With these crystal stones, he could keep it going for quite some time.
"Thank you!"
Su Ling also took out a large chest, filled entirely with Gold Soul Coins.
These had not come from the system. Su Ling had only received a few thousand Gold Soul Coins from the system; he had picked up all of these.
Back in the Star Dou Great Forest, more than half the storage space in the Space Soul Tool Su Ling had picked up had been filled with Gold Soul Coins, all in cash.
There had been dozens of chests, each holding tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins.
So he really wasn't short of Gold Soul Coins.
Of course, Su Ling had taken a great deal out of the chest he was giving her, leaving roughly fifteen thousand inside.
Liu Erlong checked it and said, "There's extra."
With that, she took out a bag, intending to fill it for Su Ling.
Su Ling said, "No need. Thank you for providing these crystal stones. They're very useful to me, so the extra is yours."
It was Liu Erlong, after all-one of his own. A thousand or two Gold Soul Coins were nothing.
[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +3. White Chest ×2 obtained.]
See? Giving a little extra did have its benefits.
"By the way, may I ask your name, big sister? I'm Su Ling." Having gotten this far, Su Ling naturally wanted to get acquainted with Liu Erlong. If she discovered who he was, he might even gain some more favorability.
"Liu Erlong!"
Without another word, Liu Erlong put away the chest of Gold Soul Coins, turned, and left.
Damn, she's even colder than Zhu Zhuqing.
But after taking a few steps, Liu Erlong suddenly turned back to look at Su Ling and said, "Your Soul Power fluctuations seem pretty decent. What level are you, and how old?"
Liu Erlong often taught the Blue Tyrant Academy's advanced class. Along the way, she had noticed that Su Ling was different from the other students she had seen.
"Level forty-three. Nineteen years old," Su Ling answered truthfully.
That immediately caught Liu Erlong's attention. With his age and Soul Power, he was practically tailor-made for the upcoming Soul Master Tournament.
Not recruiting him into the Blue Tyrant Academy would be a crime.
"Excellent, excellent!" Liu Erlong revealed a rare smile.
[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +2. Purple Chest ×1.]
"Your name is Su Ling, right? Interested in joining my Blue Tyrant Academy? I'm its dean. If you join us, you'll be the captain for this upcoming advanced tournament, as well as our academy's top student," Liu Erlong said outright.
"I'm sorry, but I already have an academy," Su Ling said.
"You already have an academy?"
Liu Erlong was a little disappointed, but then she thought it made sense. Someone this talented would surely be held tightly in an academy's grasp. How could they let another academy have him?
"Go on, then. Forget what I just said," Liu Erlong said.
But just as Su Ling was about to leave, Liu Erlong, who had taken a few steps away, suddenly turned back to look at him again. She seemed to want to give it one more try. "Which academy are you from?"
Here it comes. Su Ling had been waiting for her to ask that.
"Shrek Academy. Why?" Su Ling asked, looking puzzled.
"What? Shrek Academy! Flender's academy?" Liu Erlong asked, her face full of excitement.
Su Ling nodded and said, "That's the one."
Liu Erlong suddenly remembered something and asked again, "Your name is Su Ling? Su Ling... oh, I remember now. More than ten years ago, I heard Boss Fu mention that he'd saved a boy named Su Ling. Could that have been you, brat?"
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