Someone to Miss

The Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill was a Peak Fourth-Grade Pill that could directly increase a person's strength.

Its effects only worked on those at the Da Dou Shi level.

Taking a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill could raise one's strength by one star!

A person could take two of these pills in succession!

"The Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill. Starting bid: one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins."

As the old man onstage made his announcement, bids immediately rang out one after another.

"One hundred and eighty thousand!"

"Two hundred thousand!"

"..."

The price climbed far faster than it had for Chen Cang's two portions of Qi Gathering Powder a few days earlier. In no time, the bids had already approached the lofty sum of four hundred thousand.

And that was already the final selling price of Chen Cang's Qi Gathering Powder.

Both were Fourth-Rank Pills, yet the difference remained enormous.

"Five hundred thousand!"

A strong, resonant voice came from a VIP box, briefly silencing the auction hall.

That figure was already well above the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill's normal price.

But that was how auctions worked. Buying anything at market price was almost impossible.

Unless one managed to pick up an overlooked bargain.

Someone from the Mu Family...

Chen Cang had visited the Mittel Auction House every day lately, leaving early and returning late. He had become quite familiar with the "important figures" who frequented the place.

The Mu Family, the Nalan Family, and the Mittel Family were the Three Great Clans of the Jia Ma Empire. Each had at least one Dou Wang expert holding down the fort.

They were quite powerful.

Of course, that had little to do with Chen Cang.

Forget the Three Great Clans-even if the Misty Cloud Sect came, he would still have to fight for it. Whether he offended them hardly mattered. At worst, he could grab it and make himself scarce.

"Five hundred and fifty thousand."

Seeing fewer and fewer people bidding, Chen Cang made his first offer.

What the old city lord had left behind, together with the eight hundred thousand earned from his two portions of Qi Gathering Powder, had given him nearly one million seven hundred thousand gold coins to spend.

After deducting his spending over the past few days and the tips he had given the maid, he still had one million one hundred thousand left. That was more than enough to win this Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill.

After all, the Mu Family had to consider whether it was worth the price. He had no such concern.

Increasing his strength mattered most!

"Five hundred and eighty thousand."

"Six hundred thousand!"

"Six hundred and thirty thousand."

"Seven hundred thousand!"

At that point, the Mu Family stopped bidding.

They could tell that Chen Cang was determined to get it. If they kept fighting over it, the auction house would be the only one laughing all the way to the bank.

After the old man onstage called for further bids several times without an answer, the hammer finally fell.

Not bad. The Mu Family didn't cause trouble.

Even when the auction ended, the Mu Family made no move against him. Chen Cang was quite pleased with that.

As he recalled, the Mu Family had a few hotheaded idiots. From what he had seen so far, though, most were normal enough. They were a military family, after all.

With the transaction complete, Chen Cang returned to the inn and sorted through his gains from the past few days.

I'm a five-star Da Dou Shi now. I'm confident I can reach six stars within a month, and taking the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill after that will put me at seven stars. All the other pills I bought these past few days should, taken together, cover my needs until I become a Dou Ling.

Overall, Chen Cang was very satisfied with what he had gained on this trip.

Unfortunately, there had only been one Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill. Otherwise, it would have been an even more delightful surprise.

Having achieved his purpose in coming to the Imperial Capital, Chen Cang had no desire to linger. He set out straight for Wutan City.

He had actually considered taking a proper look around the Imperial Capital. After all, quite a few important figures lived here, yet he had not met a single one on this visit.

On second thought, however, that was not a bad thing. Having no contact with those important figures meant the plot here was still on track, unaffected by him.

Letting things run their natural course would make them easier to keep under control.

Most importantly, he wanted to get back soon and keep an eye on his little cabbage. He could not let someone sneak in and steal her away.

Even if the chances of that were minuscule.

He set out at dusk, traveling beneath the stars and moon. Having already made the journey once, the man and his horse made faster progress on their return. By the first gray light of dawn, Wutan City was already in sight.

Before dawn, Wutan City lay in silence, with only a handful of lamps glimmering here and there. It was peaceful and tranquil.

This world was actually quite nice, too.

After watching from afar for a moment, Chen Cang turned his horse around.

"Come on. To the Magical Beast Mountain Range!"

The Xiao Clan.

No one knew Xiao Xun'er's true identity. Even Xiao Zhan, who had been fortunate enough to meet Gu Yuan once, only knew that the man came from an extraordinary background and was someone they could not afford to provoke.

As for Ancient Races and the like, he had never heard of them, let alone dared to imagine their existence.

Following their elders' example and instructions, the Xiao Clan's younger generation also came to realize that Xiao Xun'er held a very special position.

Moreover, Xiao Xun'er was polite yet distant with everyone, making it difficult to truly grow close to her. Whenever the Xiao Clan's youngsters saw her, they unconsciously became more serious.

That was certainly not how friends and playmates were supposed to behave around one another.

An invisible barrier lay between them.

Though Xiao Xun'er was young, she could still sense that she could not fit into that atmosphere. Every time she spoke to someone else, she felt uncomfortable.

After a while, she no longer bothered going out. When she had nothing to do, she usually stayed in her own courtyard and cultivated quietly.

But cultivation was not all there was to life, and her physical condition did not permit her to spend all her time on it. She could only pass her many idle hours by reading.

At such times, Xiao Xun'er missed Ling Ying and Chen Cang quite a bit.

When they were around, she had someone to talk to, and things were never this dull.

Chen Cang in particular often told her about things he had seen and heard. Though he had only just reached adulthood, his experience was astonishingly rich. Whenever he spoke of his past, he had endless stories to tell.

Furthermore, Chen Cang seemed to know everything. Even the books she usually read seemed to be ones he had read before. Whenever they spent time together, they never lacked a shared topic of conversation.

While Chen Cang had been staying with the Xiao Clan, she had not felt this so keenly.

Only now, after Chen Cang and Ling Ying had left, did Xiao Xun'er realize that their month or so together had passed much faster than these last ten-odd days.

There was another person who, like Xiao Xun'er, found the days especially hard to get through.

That person was Xiao Yan.

Ever since Chen Cang had left, his nightmare had begun.

Now, whenever he stepped outside, Xiao Yu was sure to follow him, constantly reminding and urging him to hurry up and cultivate, stop wasting time, and not disappoint Chen Cang's expectations.

That would have been tolerable during the day, but even when Xiao Yan got up at night to relieve himself, the slightest noise would make the light next door flare to life.

After ten-odd days of this, Xiao Yan was practically left with psychological scars.

After all, he was not like ordinary children. Though he was very grateful that Chen Cang thought highly of him, he truly disliked being hounded like this.

"Xiao Yu, I'm begging you. Please, I'm begging you. Could you stop following me?"

That noon, Xiao Yan made his usual plea for mercy.

He had expected Xiao Yu to refuse sternly with a cold expression before giving him another lecture. To his surprise, she actually smiled and nodded.

"Sure. Not just today, either. I won't bother you anymore from now on."

"Huh?"

The surprise came so suddenly that Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment. Could his cousin's temperament really change this quickly?

Then he suddenly noticed something. Following Xiao Yu's gaze, he saw a man and a horse come into view.

"Ah, Brother Cang! You're finally back!"

Xiao Yan ran over with a howl. He had to clear things up today, lest anything like this happen again.

Hearing his voice, Xiao Xun'er quickly stepped out of her room in the courtyard on the other side.