Word Count: 2,992 Words
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To celebrate the commencement of the Continental Elite Spirit Master Academy Tournament, Star Luo City was adorned entirely in red, as if draped with a layer of gauzy silk.
The streets and alleys bustled with lively excitement. Participating Spirit Masters from various academies mingled with common spectators who had gathered here. Young men brimmed with vigor and spirit, while young women giggled behind their hands. Faces and laughter blended into an extraordinarily lively atmosphere.
After the little episode with Xiao Hongchen, Ling Bai held the Snow Empress's hand as they wove through the crowd. A few strands of her snow-like long hair playfully brushed against his face in the gentle night breeze. A faint fragrance wafted into his nose, like the subtle scent of some flower, elusive yet undeniably real.
Breaking free from the crowd, the space before them suddenly opened up, and in their sight appeared radiant lanterns soaring into the night sky.
Ling Bai recognized them and smiled. "Those are traditional sky lanterns of the Star Luo Empire. People light sky lanterns to pray for blessings during festivals. Before releasing them, they write their wishes on the lanterns. The lanterns carry those wishes as they rise slowly into the sky, beseeching the gods above to watch over them year after year.
The Star Luo Empire hosts the Continental Elite Spirit Master Academy Tournament only once every twenty years. For the people of Star Luo City, the tournament is an event even more significant than the New Year."
"Thank you for the explanation, but..."
The Snow Empress turned her head to look at the seemingly innocent culprit, then forcefully pulled her hand out of his grasp. She had already turned a blind eye and tolerated him holding her hand for a while, but how could he be so reluctant to let go!
Ling Bai acted as if nothing had happened. The Snow Empress truly lived up to her reputation as a 700,000-year Heavenly Snow Woman. The energy body she had condensed using spirit power felt no different from that of a real person. The touch was cool and smooth, like the finest mutton-fat jade, making one reluctant to let go.
"When entering a village, follow its customs. How about we release one too?" Ling Bai changed the subject.
"Fine."
The Snow Empress couldn't be bothered to argue with Ling Bai. She nodded lightly while gazing at the star-like sky lanterns and casually tossed him one of the popsicles she'd just bought.
The sky lanterns of the Star Luo Empire were made by joining thin sheets of paper to form a large paper bag resembling a lantern. Pulling open the metal wire at the bottom turned it into a sky lantern. The price was very affordable; one could buy a lantern for just five spirit copper coins.
Ling Bai and the Snow Empress stood on either side of the sky lantern. The thin paper reflected their faces, and the soft sound of pen strokes on paper echoed beside their ears. They wrote their wishes with surprising earnestness, as each stroke was carefully considered.
They lit the candle at the bottom and held the soft top with both hands. Hot air filled the inside as the lantern rose into the air. It initially looked very large, like a house floating mid-air, and emitted a warm orange-red glow. Gradually, it became smaller and smaller until it resembled a tiny star.
Clusters of lights floated in the pitch-black night sky. Ling Bai and the Snow Empress stood side by side with their hearts soaring into the distant night sky, quietly watching as the hopes they had entrusted to the lantern drifted away.
The Snow Empress raised her head, her sky-blue eyes gradually becoming misty. She seemed to see the sky lanterns in the distant sky shining upon each person who released one, bestowing warm affection upon them.
She felt somewhat happy. Even a sage would grow weary of living an unchanging life for 700,000 years. Yet she had never taken a single step away from the Extreme North before, because it was the homeland she had loved for all those years.
Life for the Snow Empress was just a matter of eroding time, bearing the responsibility as the sovereign of ice and snow to guard the Extreme North. Whether she was happy or not, fortunate or not, didn't matter.
Before deciding to start anew and transform into a human, she had once harbored a sliver of fantasy about the unfamiliar human world. If she were fortunate enough to successfully be reborn as a human, she hoped to experience a different kind of life—to let her eyes leave the pure white of the Extreme North and witness the vibrant colors of the Douluo Continent.
Ling Bai noticed the unconscious smile blossoming on the Snow Empress's incomparably beautiful face, and the corners of his mouth lifted silently. At this moment, the Snow Empress had finally opened up her heart, no longer bearing that heaviness and coldness in mind and body.
Sometimes Ling Bai felt that he and the Snow Empress were very much like a couple who had gotten married through a flash wedding after meeting through a matchmaker. One wanted the faith of the Extreme North and spirit rings and bones, while the other wanted to secure the future of the Extreme North.
One day, the two suddenly realized that the other's conditions matched their own desires and naturally joined hands to walk together. They had no emotional foundation, nor did they understand each other's pasts and experiences.
They became flash-married spouses who respected each other like honored guests. Although they would wholeheartedly plan for each other, it was all for the sake of mutual interests. They were physically so close, yet the distance between them was as vast as an ocean.
In Ling Bai's eyes, that ocean could be gradually filled. Falling in love after marriage didn't necessarily mean happiness was unattainable. The solution was to lightly imprint one's shadow in the other's heart and continuously deepen it. In other words, they needed to experience beautiful moments together.
"Can you tell me what wish you made?"
The Snow Empress suddenly asked softly. She had countless worries hidden in her heart—the future of the spirit beasts in the Extreme North, the heavenly tribulations of the Three Great Beasts, whether the path to Godhood would go smoothly... Yet even so, Ling Bai had taken longer to finish writing than she had.
"Let's exchange. You go first."
Ling Bai said with a smile.
"You can probably guess. It's nothing more than those matters."
The Snow Empress sighed. Having witnessed the prosperity of the human world firsthand, she had no choice but to believe that one day spirit beasts would face extinction. If she wanted to preserve the Extreme North, becoming a God was the only option.
"Your turn."
"I thought for a long time, but in the end, I only wrote ten words," Ling Bai admitted frankly.
The Snow Empress furrowed her elegant brows slightly. She had assumed Ling Bai wrote an entire essay.
"Which ten words?"
"May the heart be like a sword that severs worries."
The Snow Empress lowered her gaze and carefully savored these words. She understood that this sentence was actually meant for her.
The hazy lantern light made them overlook the passage of time. Only when pedestrians on the long street gradually thinned out did they realize that the night had grown deep.
Ling Bai gazed openly at this Heavenly Snow Woman born from the heavens and earth of the Extreme North. In another timeline, the Snow Empress had become a Spirit Soul inheriting the emotion of sorrow. Since their destinies were intertwined in this life, he hoped even more that she would never feel sorrow again.
"You humans are truly beings favored by the heavens. Twelve years is but the blink of an eye to spirit beasts, yet it was enough to produce someone like you."
The Snow Empress slowly spoke after a long while. Her sky-blue eyes fixed steadily on Ling Bai. He saw that her gaze was clear to the bottom. The bright moonlight shone upon her exquisitely beautiful face, her long lashes casting delicate shadows.
Before Ling Bai could speak, the Snow Empress continued, "I'm very happy. Let's call it a night here. I still owe you two promises. Let me know anytime when you've thought of them."
With that, she transformed into countless specks of snowflakes and flowed into Ling Bai's Spiritual Sea.
"Back already?"
Electrolux saw the Snow Empress return and politely greeted her. But with her thoughts in turmoil and unable to pay attention to much else, she merely nodded in acknowledgment before turning to enter the ice house.
...
In the outside world, the now unaccompanied Ling Bai didn't care where the road ahead led. He walked alone along the wide avenues of Star Luo City, and before he knew it, he arrived at a domed building. Above the building hung a magnificent golden plaque engraved with three flamboyant words:
Starlight Auction House.
Comparable in scale to the Heavenly Soul Auction House and Shrek Academy's Treasure Gathering Pavilion, the Starlight Auction House, backed by the Star Luo imperial family, was built to be especially eye-catching. Even deep into the night, it remained brilliantly illuminated, with six young ladies in long dresses standing at the entrance to welcome guests.
These young women had been strictly selected by the auction house. Uniformly around 1.7 meters tall, with slender and well-proportioned figures, their youthful and beautiful appearances attracted passersby to enter the Starlight Auction House and spend lavishly.
From afar, one of the young ladies saw Ling Bai approaching and immediately quickened her steps to greet him, her face full of smiles. "Hello, distinguished guest. Are you here to attend the auction? Today's auction is of the purple grade and will be held in three hours. The Starlight Auction House has prepared a lounge for distinguished guests where you can take a short rest."
"I have an item I'd like to auction. Please take me to the appraisal room," Ling Bai got straight to the point.
In order to gather the 60 million spirit gold coins needed to purchase the 'Radiance of Glory', Ling Bai had sold off everything he had, emptying the small fortune he had accumulated over the years. He had even resorted to borrowing money from Ling Luochen to buy 10,000-year Whale Rubber. Although he resold the Whale Rubber to Chu Qingtian at eighty percent of the market price, making a profit, his wallet remained in a shriveled state. He conveniently had some surplus items on hand, so he decided to auction them off to replenish his funds.
Each major auction house employed many appraisers specialized in assessing the grade of treasures and allocating them to auction sessions accordingly. The young lady was accustomed to this and showed no surprise as she led Ling Bai into the Starlight Auction House.
The interior of the auction house was not as opulent as its exterior. The floor was made of milky-white marble, and the surrounding walls were decorated with various elegant reliefs. Display cases built into the walls exhibited antique items like porcelain and armor. The overall style was clean and bright.
The young lady was well-trained and attentive. Every ten steps, she would pause, make a welcoming gesture, and accurately indicate directions, eventually leading Ling Bai to a room beside the main hall with a sign reading 'Appraisal.'
Inside the room stood a row of desks where ten appraisers of varying ages, wearing purple or black robes, busily worked. With the Continental Elite Spirit Master Academy Tournament in full swing and Star Luo City teeming with people, the number of items requiring appraisal had increased tenfold. They worked in three shifts around the clock, continuously appraising items without rest.
"Appraiser Number One, this distinguished guest wishes to have this item appraised and participate in the auction as soon as possible."
Number One was currently the only black-grade appraiser in the room, a little old man with graying hair. He put down the item in his hands, rotated his sore shoulders, and said, "Oh, by the Sea God! Heavens, these past few days have been absolutely exhausting. Hurry up, young man. Let this old man see what good stuff you've got."
Ling Bai took out an oval-shaped, light purple metal object about the size of his palm and handed it to the black-grade appraiser.
The old man picked up a magnifying glass to examine it. The next second, he suddenly leaped three meters into the air and exclaimed in shock:
"Oh my Sea God! Heavens, this is absolutely incredible! A Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device, produced by the Illustrious Virtue Hall! Greetings, distinguished guest! Oh, look at this damned memory of mine, actually forgetting to properly receive you! Please, for the sake of the Sea God and His Majesty the Star Luo Emperor, forgive this foolish old mole!
If you don't mind, I'd like to invite you to the adjacent VIP lounge to have a seat. We will compensate for our earlier negligence with the highest standard of courtesy. Please allow the Starlight Auction House's red-grade appraiser to assess the value of this Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device for you!"
"..."
With all his repeated mentions of 'Sea God,' Ling Bai really wanted to put on some big clunky shoes and give the old man's butt a good kick.
What he was selling was a Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device called the Aura Barrier, one of the spoils from the conflict in the Extreme North. It had the ability 'Concealment,' which could mask all scents, spirit power fluctuations, and any traces within a fifty-meter radius around the user. However, spiritual-type Spirit Masters above Spirit Saint or with seven spirit rings could use spiritual power to break the concealment effect.
The Aura Barrier wasn't entirely without merit. As an auxiliary-type Spirit Guidance Device, in special situations it was far superior to attack-type devices and could save one's life in critical moments. However, Ling Bai already had the Thousand Illusion Charming Appearance for disguises, allowing him to transform into various entities like birds, beasts, fish, insects, trees, earth, and rocks. So he didn't need the Aura Barrier.
Moreover, the Aura Barrier had a self-destruct mechanism in its core array set up by Xu Cong, so its research value was also limited. Therefore, Ling Bai decided to use the Starlight Auction House to sell it off and replenish his small coffers. It felt a bit embarrassing to keep reaching out to Ning Fengya for money.
"This way, please!"
The young lady's expression instantly became much more enthusiastic. The Sun Moon Empire was not entirely unified. High-class Spirit Guidance Masters from the Illustrious Virtue Hall would also secretly earn some extra money on the side. However, Hall Master Jing Hongchen of the Illustrious Virtue Hall had set two unspoken rules:
First, the mass sale of Spirit Guidance Devices was not allowed.
Second, Class 9 Spirit Guidance Devices were strictly prohibited from appearing in the territories of the three original empires of the Douluo Continent. Violators would be subject to joint punishment from the Illustrious Virtue Hall and the Sun Moon imperial family.
A Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device was considered the highest grade on the Douluo Continent. The black-grade appraiser simply didn't have the qualifications to appraise the Aura Barrier. The old man himself was a Class 6 Spirit Guidance Master. After fondling it lovingly for a long time, he hurried off to find a red-grade appraiser.
About a quarter of an hour later, the door to the VIP lounge was pushed open, and three figures slowly walked in. The old man hunched over and trailed behind, while two women—one old, one young—walked ahead with dignified bearings.
The young lady had a gentle and beautiful appearance, and her red palace dress fit her slender figure perfectly, accentuating an elegant and noble temperament. The moment she saw Ling Bai, the calm in her eyes was instantly shattered, and she couldn't help but exclaim:
"Ning Bai, why is it you?"
Ling Bai raised an eyebrow, marveling at how small the world was, and smiled as he retorted, "Miss Xu Jiu'er, why can't it be me?"
'Xu Jiu'er?'
Beside Xu Jiujiu was an elderly woman who looked at least eighty years old. Her hair and eyebrows were entirely white, and she wore a long golden dress. Upon hearing this form of address, she immediately narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Ling Bai continuously.
The two had narrowly escaped death together in the Luminous Mystic Forest. After not seeing each other for some time, a hint of delight appeared on Xu Jiujiu's pretty face. She said, "So the person selling the Illustrious Virtue Hall's Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device is you. Did you go and rob those Spirit Guidance Masters at the Illustrious Virtue Hall in the Sun Moon Empire?"
"Well... more or less."
"You're so honest..."
In Xu Jiujiu's impression, the moral bottom line of Evil Spirit Masters had always been ridiculously low. No matter how unscrupulous his actions, Xu Jiujiu would think, 'He's already an Evil Spirit Master, so why bother with so many scruples!'
Understanding is everything!
"Let's talk business first. Do you really want to auction off a Class 8 Spirit Guidance Device?" Xu Jiujiu reconfirmed with Ling Bai as an auctioneer and appraiser at the Starlight Auction House.
"If I don't sell it, will this old gentleman let me leave?" Ling Bai joked, pointing at the little old man whose eyes were glued to the Aura Barrier.
"I'd trouble Miss Xu to appraise it and give me an estimated price."
"That's a small matter, but first you have to..."
The long-awaited 'Princess Empowerment Plan' suddenly flashed into her mind. Xu Jiujiu looked at the completely unsuspecting Ling Bai and smiled craftily like a little fox:
"Say 'Princess, please appraise for me!'"