Haiqiao City.
The city occupied an entire island. Because of its proximity to the sea, the Magical Beast essence blood sold here mostly came from water-type Magical Beasts—a rare commodity in other places—along with various water-type Magical Beast crystal cores.
Murong Yunsheng strolled leisurely through the city, looking at the lined-up shops and the small stalls set up on both sides of the road. The Magical Beast essence blood she had stored in her space had long been used up for drawing runes, but pills were in no short supply within her space.
She could certainly take this opportunity in Haiqiao City to restock her inventory.
On Murong Yunsheng's left middle finger was a silver storage ring, but the ring itself was completely empty. She had taken this storage ring out of her space purely as a disguise to prevent outsiders from discovering her dimension.
After studying potions for a while, Murong Yunsheng found it rather dull and switched to alchemy, though she was currently only a seventh-rank Alchemist.
Heh heh...
The three ninth-rank pills she had used previously were actually refined by that fellow Chiyun.
However, her rune-crafting grade had remained stagnant because she had run out of Magical Beast essence blood.
Chiyun said, "Your cultivation has jumped two levels in a row this time, so you still need to pause for a while to stabilize it. During this period, it's a good time to practice rune-crafting."
Murong Yunsheng nodded slightly, "Mhm."
She first went to the largest book pavilion in Haiqiao City to scavenge a pile of books, then bought various kinds of Magical Beast essence blood—primarily water-type Magical Beast essence blood—as well as rune-crafting brushes and rune paper.
"Ah! Candied haws! Your Grandpa wants to eat them!"
"Ah! Steamed buns! Buy them for your Grandpa!"
"..."
...
With a gloomy expression, Murong Yunsheng endured the noise made by a certain someone inside her space while buying pile after pile of delicious food. If she didn't buy it today, she was afraid the guy would scream her head off.
Right at that moment—
"Slap!"
Murong Yunsheng: "???"
"Hmph, you're nothing more than a tiny, trashy family, yet you dare to act wild on our Xue Family's territory? Have you lived long enough?" A sharp female voice rang out, full of disdain and arrogance.
"We had no intention of provoking you, but why did you snatch our things?" Nangong Ling stared angrily at the girl in the purple dress across from her, glaring at her while looking at the beaten servant.
Xue Yanrong sneered, "Hah, you really know how to quibble. Clearly, you snatched the item this Young Miss had her eye on. When this Young Miss told you to put it down, you actually dared to disobey. Do you think there is no one left in the Xue Family? Or do you think that your puny Nangong Family doesn't take the Xue Family seriously?"
Murong Yunsheng couldn't help but smile. The Xue Family? Well, what a coincidence. But Nangong? Could it be that Nangong Family, one of the Four Great Families of the Shuangmeng Continent?
"This woman is the legitimate eldest miss of the Xue Family, Xue Yanrong. She has an arrogant nature and extremely high talent. Among the younger generation of the Xue Family on the Tianyuan Continent, she has the highest sound soul cultivation talent. At nineteen years old, she is already a level-five sound soul master, and her spiritual cultivation has even reached level two of the Blue Spirit."
Murong Yunsheng turned her head to look at Lu Chengze, who had wandered over at some point. "Young Master Lu, why are you here?"
Lu Chengze replied, "I've finished hoarding my goods and was originally planning to head back, but I didn't expect to run into a scene like this.
The Nangong Family and our Lu Family are both major mercantile clans on the Shuangmeng Continent. Although there is competition, we have also supported each other. That little girl is called Nangong Ling, and she's the only girl of this generation in the Nangong Family. Everyone in the family dotes on her immensely, but perhaps because she has a solid and upright foundation, she doesn't have an ounce of tyrannical arrogance.
Her cultivation talent is also quite good—seventeen years old, level-six Cyan Spirit, and she's even a level-two Summoner.
It's just that running into Xue Yanrong means she can only end up being bullied."
Murong Yunsheng asked, "Then why don't you step in and play the hero saving the damsel in distress? Who knows, you might even win the beauty's heart."
Lu Chengze: "..."
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. This Miss Murong really knew how to kill the conversation every single time!
"Miss Murong, please spare me the teasing," Lu Chengze said with a hint of helplessness. "The Xue Family—let alone their Nangong Family—is someone our Lu Family can afford to provoke even less."
Yet, he genuinely couldn't just ignore this...
...
Right at that moment—
"Eldest Miss Xue, I wonder how my little sister has managed to offend you?"
Lu Chengze thought, *There, I don't even need to step in now.*
The newcomer was seen wearing an extremely flamboyant red robe, his long hair unbound and draped loosely over his shoulders. Beneath delicate, feminine eyebrows was a pair of mesmerizing glass-colored pupils. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, his features were as picturesque as a painting, and his skin was as white as snow.
Such an androgy-like appearance made even Xue Yanrong pale in comparison when standing next to him.
Murong Yunsheng asked, "Who is this?"
He looked so good-looking that his appearance completely crushed that eldest miss of the Xue Family!
Tsk tsk tsk!
Lu Chengze answered, "Nangong Yushao, the third young master of the Nangong Family."
Xue Yanrong snapped, "Hmph, Nangong Yushao, of course it's you."
Murong Yunsheng: "???"
"What does she mean by that?"
Lu Chengze explained, "Madam Nangong guards Nangong Ling like a precious treasure; she definitely wouldn't let her go out to sea. But Nangong Yushao isn't afraid!
He has taken countless beatings for frequently bringing Nangong Ling out to play, and he's already used to it. His reputation has even spread all the way here to the Tianyuan Continent. So since Nangong Ling is here, Nangong Yushao is definitely here too."
Murong Yunsheng couldn't help twitching the corners of her mouth a few times. She was wondering what the reason was; it turned out to be because he wasn't afraid of getting beaten!
Tsk!
Nangong Yushao said, "Eldest Miss Xue, our Nangong Family and the Xue Family have always minded our own business. If word of what you're doing reaches the elders of both families, I'm afraid it won't look good for anyone!
Besides, what the exact situation with these goods is, you know better than anyone. Do we need to bring the people from those shops over to be questioned? Or do you want both great families to send people here to interrogate everything thoroughly?
Eldest Miss Xue, if my information is correct, your trip to the Shuangmeng Continent isn't just for the upcoming Tianluo Ruins, right? It's also to enter Shuangmeng Academy. Our Nangong Family still hopes to live in peace with Eldest Miss Xue."
How could Xue Yanrong fail to hear the threat in Nangong Yushao's words? He was implying that she would soon arrive on their Shuangmeng Continent and be subject to their constraints!
Xue Yanrong sneered, "Nangong Yushao, you really do have a sharp tongue. Well, this Young Miss hopes you can properly protect this precious little sister of yours. Make sure there doesn't come a day when you fail to protect her. If something were to happen to her then, how heartbroken you all would be! Hmph!"
Xue Yanrong cast an unkind glance at Nangong Ling. That look was full of venom and even carried a trace of murderous intent.