After bidding farewell to Wu Mountain Town, Shiheng led Kelin Xiaoman by the hand and strolled onward. With mountains and rivers for company, they traveled at leisure and soon entered Feng Lai Royal City, famed throughout the Yulan Continent.
Towering walls stretched into the clouds. Within them, streets and lanes crisscrossed, shops stood shoulder to shoulder, and pedestrians thronged the roads. Calls from vendors mingled with chatter and laughter, the vibrant bustle of everyday life washing over them. Unlike their last hurried passage through the city, when worries had weighed on them, this time the two were carefree, content to immerse themselves in its bustling streets.
Kelin Xiaoman had spent years traveling with Shiheng and cultivating diligently. With this rare chance to set aside that burden and enjoy herself freely, her almond-shaped eyes sparkled with excitement, and she became quite the little glutton. From sizzling roast-meat shops at one end of the street to stalls selling soft, sweet pastries at the far end of an alley, she sampled every kind of foreign snack, eating her way from the eastern streets to the western lanes. Flecks of pastry flour clung to the corners of her mouth, and her eyes curved with sheer satisfaction and delight.
Shiheng stayed close beside her, his warm, gentle gaze resting on her, entirely ignoring the looks of passersby. Anything Kelin Xiaoman paused to glance at a little longer-a delicate pearl hairpin, a silk scarf embroidered with flowers, an endearing clay figurine, or some specially prepared sweet-and-sour candied fruit-he bought and casually tucked into the Purple Blood Storage Ring. With his current wealth, gold, silver, and possessions had long since become mere external trifles. Anything that could bring a smile to the beauty beside him was well worth it.
Stopping and strolling, the two spent a full