Undercurrents surged

For some reason, Lin Fan's serious expression made people want to laugh.

Especially with that utterly childish little face, yet every other word out of his mouth was "little girl." His world-weary manner carried a hint of childishness, utterly oblivious to the fact that he was the little brat himself.

"Pfft!"

Suddenly, Yue Chan could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing beside him. She swayed like a flowering branch, her pearly teeth gleaming beneath vivid cherry lips, stirring the heart.

"Hmph, what are you laughing at?" Lin Fan snapped, glaring at her before shouting, "I bid one heavenly dipper stone! Keep bidding if you have the guts!"

Another egg-sized divine stone appeared, shining brilliantly like a star in the heavens, beautiful and mysterious, with an indescribable aura of the Dao.

"Ah..."

Cries of astonishment instantly rose. The two maids in the room were trembling even harder. Producing a divine stone like this without a second thought was simply too extravagant.

A piece of beast hide that no one had thought much of had been driven to a sky-high price by a contest between two children. It was shocking.

They now seriously wondered whether their eyes had failed them. Had they failed to recognize a true treasure, proving themselves inferior to two young children?

At that moment, in the VIP room opposite, the Stone Kingdom's Ninth Princess seemed to have worked herself into a temper over the provocation. She was about to bid again. "I offer..."

"Princess, you mustn't. That beast hide isn't worth it. Don't fall into someone else's trap!" the bronze-skinned middle-aged man stopped her, his expression grave. Two runes flashed in his eyes, and his aura was terrifying.

In the end, the Stone Kingdom's Ninth Princess gave a long snort and sat down indignantly. She stopped bidding and gave up on the beast hide.

"Tch, you little brat. Can't keep up anymore, can you?" Lin Fan said disdainfully.

"You... just you wait!" The Stone Kingdom's Ninth Princess pointed a slender finger at him, then turned her head away and issued her threat.

She was clearly a woman who could make hearts race, dressed in magnificent red robes and radiant as a pearl, yet her personality clashed sharply with her looks, making people keep a respectful distance.

In truth, among the younger generation in the Stone Kingdom's capital, few did not shudder at the mention of the Ninth Princess. She was practically the queen of the children.

Yet Lin Fan dismissed the princess's threat and did not take it to heart at all.

After taking the beast hide, he bought the most detailed map of the Great Wilderness available, along with some information about the Great Wilderness, then left the auction house.

"Young master, Holy Maiden, someone is following us." A voice reached their ears, and Yue Chan immediately grew alert.

"No need to be nervous. If they dare to attack, just kill them all," Lin Fan said casually. He entered a restaurant's kitchen and gathered a heap of supplies in bags large and small, as though he were moving house.

Yue Chan and the two guardians hidden in the shadows twitched. What was he up to this time? Why had he plundered someone's kitchen?

They could not understand him. His mind truly worked in baffling ways!

An odd look crossed Yue Chan's face, and she could not help asking, "What do you need all those pots, bowls, ladles, and ingredients for?"

"These are all treasures essential to wilderness survival, understand?" Lin Fan patted the Heaven and Earth Bag at his waist, looking like a seasoned survivor.

At those words, Yue Chan's face flushed red. This was... far too embarrassing.

The esteemed successor of the Heaven Mending Sect actually treats this junk as treasure, and even asks whether I understand... understand, my ass!

"Stay away from me." Yue Chan retreated several steps, refusing to walk beside him, and pressed a hand to her luminous white forehead. How was she supposed to endure having a fiancé like this?

Lin Fan paid her no mind. There was nothing to explain to a holy maiden like her, who had no wilderness survival experience whatsoever. When the time came, she would be singing a different tune.

"Those two children look extraordinary. They aren't people we can afford to provoke. Are we really going to attack?" someone asked in the shadows.

"Fortune is found amid danger. They have no one protecting them now. If we capture them, we might get treasures worth an astonishing amount, enough to support us for the rest of our lives. Even if we have to find somewhere to hide for a few decades afterward, it'll be worth it."

"That's right. Once there are fewer people around, we strike immediately," a tall, rough-looking man agreed, naked greed on his face and a frightening, vicious gleam in his eyes.

Elsewhere, inside a tall pavilion, the bronze-skinned middle-aged man said, "Princess, we'd best refrain from acting. Those two dare to swagger down the streets, so they must have something to rely on."

"Let's wait and see first. If someone really is protecting them in secret, perhaps we can even befriend them."

The Stone Kingdom's Ninth Princess sipped her tea, her voice pleasing to the ear. Rather than losing her composure in anger over what had happened earlier, she was utterly calm.

In truth, as an imperial princess, how could she get angry over a little brat? Everything she had done earlier had merely been the face she wanted to show outsiders.

Competition for the Stone Kingdom's throne was fierce, steeped in bloody winds and rains of gore. A contender did not have to be male or a child of the reigning Stone Emperor. Any descendant of the Stone Kingdom's royal line qualified.

Though the Ninth Princess was still young, her ambitions were anything but small. She knew well how to conceal herself, and her talent surpassed that of the princes.

"To think Shi Ziteng followed them too," the bronze-skinned middle-aged man said in surprise, watching the handsome young man at the very rear.

"He hasn't merely fathered an outstanding son. He's a very shrewd man himself. He's watching and waiting too. Without absolute confidence, he won't act," the Ninth Princess said mildly, her large, crystal-bright eyes fixed on the two small figures below.

Before long, Lin Fan and Yue Chan entered a quiet, long street.

Compared with the bustling street they had just left, shops here were exceedingly sparse, and only a dozen or so pedestrians were passing through. It was quiet and deserted.

"Aren't you going to attack yet? Otherwise, I'm leaving." Lin Fan stopped, yawned lazily, and looked behind him.

"Attack!"

As the command rang out, seven or eight people leaped down from the walls on either side. Radiant light surged and divine power billowed as they charged into the area.

"Children, hand over your treasures and Precious Arts obediently, and I can still spare your lives!" A long-bearded middle-aged man approached, his gaze sinister.

"I can't be bothered to talk to you. You don't deserve to hear it." Lin Fan looked down on them without a trace of fear.

At that moment, his gaze changed. An air of supreme dominance radiated from him, his killing intent soaring into the sky and cracking the earth.

Lin Fan took a single step forward. The thunderous music of the Dao resounded between heaven and earth, resonating with him. His presence was utterly terrifying!

"Pfft!"

Across from him, several weaker cultivators spat blood under the pressure of that overwhelming aura. Their faces instantly turned deathly pale, and they staggered backward.

"What Precious Art is this? He can defeat enemies with nothing but the sound of his footsteps?" one of them asked in terror.

"No, this is a kind of 'presence'-who but me, invincible beneath the heavens! It's something only the legendary young supremes develop!" another exclaimed in shock, recognizing what was happening.

Yet... they still found it hard to believe. How could a child of only nine develop the presence of a sovereign reigning over the world? It was inconceivable!

Not only they, but everyone secretly watching from afar was startled, each staring slack-jawed as though they had seen a ghost.

Even Yue Chan fell into a daze. The grinning, frivolous little brat from earlier now resembled a young demon king. Wasn't the difference far too great? Was he still the person she knew?

"There's something strange about this child. Everyone, attack together, or we'll all die here."

The long-bearded man's expression was exceedingly grave. His cultivation was the highest among those present, at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm.

They had assumed the children were at most in the Cave Heaven Realm, yet now one had displayed the strength of the Spirit Transformation Realm, leaving their jaws on the floor!