After everyone finished lunch together, Zhu Zhuqing took the afternoon off to go rest. After all, she wasn't Li Chang'an—she didn't have his stamina and couldn't endure long flights without feeling exhausted.
As for Li Chang'an, he was pulled away by Xiao Wu. The whole way, she kept glancing at him. From his body, she could faintly smell Zhu Zhuqing's fragrance.
Besides, Li Chang'an and Zhu Zhuqing had been gone for quite a while this time. Although he had informed them in advance that he was just pretending to be her boyfriend, Xiao Wu wasn't stupid. During lunch, she had already begun to suspect that things between them might have gone from fake to real.
"Brother Chang'an, are you and Zhu Zhuqing together now?" Xiao Wu asked, staring straight at him.
Li Chang'an paused, rubbing his head awkwardly, before giving a small nod.
"Yeah… Xiao Wu, I do like Zhu Zhuqing. But I also like you. You're not going to leave me, are you?"
He was gambling—betting on Xiao Wu's love for him. And the fact that she hadn't exploded in anger when she asked that question meant she had already processed most of it internally.
Xiao Wu nodded, her eyes slightly red as she spoke in a soft, aggrieved voice, "I won't leave you, Brother… but… will you still love me like you used to?"
"Silly girl, what nonsense are you thinking? Of course I'll love you like before—no, I'll love you even more than before. After all, you're my first woman..."
He leaned in and whispered the last part in her ear, making her ears tingle. In his heart, he silently added: '...my first spirit beast woman!'
"Aww, Brother Chang'an…"
...
Xiao Wu clung to Li Chang'an all afternoon. She only had one class, and after it ended, it was still early. She tugged on his clothes, pouting playfully.
"Brother, you have to take me out for a walk in Heaven Dou City today. I've never been to such a big city in my life!"
Li Chang'an gave in with a helpless nod. "Alright, whatever you say today, I'll go along with it."
"That's more like it." Xiao Wu nodded in satisfaction. Her mood, which had been a bit gloomy, lifted considerably.
The academy's location in the city made things very convenient. Just outside the gates lay a wide street. Heaven Dou City, worthy of being the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, had broad, clean roads lined with shops and bustling crowds streaming to and fro.
"Brother, what's that over there?" Xiao Wu pointed at a domed building not far away.
The structure looked quite unusual. It was entirely spherical, like half a ball sunk into the ground. There was no signboard, only a symbol of a hammer.
"Oh, that? That's an auction house," Li Chang'an explained. Though he had never been inside, he recognized it.
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "An auction house? Let's go check it out! I remember Dai Mubai said that the highest-tier auction houses only exist in the capitals of the two empires and in Spirit City. They even sell soul bones sometimes!"
Soul bones were so rare and valuable that they were practically taboo among Spirit masters. Anyone possessing one would hide it at all costs to avoid being targeted. Countless bloody incidents had occurred over soul bones. Even the most ordinary one could fetch an astronomical price.
Despite the Spirit Hall strictly prohibiting large-scale hunting of spirit beasts for soul bones, many powerful Spirit masters still took the risk.
Naturally, very few people were willing to part with soul bones—they were mostly exchanged in private for more suitable bones or rare treasures.
But Li Chang'an wasn't interested in the auction house's offerings anymore. His torso bone alone was over 700,000 years old, and with his soul bone enhancement fruit, all his future bones would likely start at the 500,000-year level.
If he had enough points, it wouldn't be impossible for him to eventually assemble a full set of million-year or even ten-million-year soul bones.
Still, since Xiao Wu wanted to go, he wasn't going to say no.
"Xiao Wu, let's get something to eat first. We'll go take a look afterward."
Li Chang'an hadn't eaten much during lunch—he'd been too busy discreetly serving food to the girls, including Ning Rongrong and Liu Erlong.
Of course, his methods and excuses were clever enough that no one noticed.
Xiao Wu naturally didn't object. She looked around, then suddenly grinned. "Brother, look over there! They're selling street food. Let's just grab a quick bite."
Li Chang'an followed her gaze and saw an elderly man pushing a cart. On the cart sat several large pots, and beside it was a bamboo rack covered with a padded cloth for insulation.
"Boss, how much for the food?" Xiao Wu skipped over and asked.
The old man smiled warmly at the cute girl. "Little missy, my boxed meals are delicious! Business has been good today, so there's not much left. I'll give you a discount—two copper soul coins per meal. Eat your fill. How's that?"
"Thank you!" Xiao Wu quickly pulled out four copper soul coins and handed them over. "I'll take two. Brother, come eat!"
Li Chang'an chuckled helplessly. That was just Xiao Wu's personality—even though she knew they weren't short on money, she still liked having a simple, inexpensive meal from time to time.
And he didn't mind either. It wasn't like he couldn't eat street food. In fact, those food stalls sometimes had a charm all their own.
The old man lifted the lids off the pots. There were two meat dishes and two vegetable ones—nicely balanced. Inside the bamboo rack were big, fluffy white buns. They weren't piping hot anymore, but they were still warm.
Xiao Wu handed a bun to Li Chang'an first, then took one for herself. With their boxed meals in hand, she dug in happily, stuffing her cheeks with large bites. Though it was just cheap street food, she was clearly enjoying every bite.
Li Chang'an stood beside her, eating his own meal while watching her adorable, satisfied expression. For a moment, he was mesmerized.
Xiao Wu even picked out bits of meat from her food and put them in his bowl, keeping only the vegetables and scraps for herself.
"Xiao Wu, you should eat some too," Li Chang'an said.
She smiled. "I don't eat much anyway. And besides, you're still growing. Men need more meat or they'll run out of strength."
Li Chang'an had a big appetite, so he naturally ate quite a bit. And with Xiao Wu constantly giving him food, he had no choice but to keep eating.
He didn't stop until he was absolutely stuffed. Before leaving, he flicked a gold soul coin onto the old man's cart. After all, he'd eaten a lot—he couldn't let the old man take a loss.
Ignoring the vendor's shouts, he pulled Xiao Wu along toward the auction house.
As they got closer, the full scale of the domed building became apparent.
By Li Chang'an's estimate, the half-sphere structure had a diameter of nearly 500 meters and rose to a height of more than 80 meters. While it might not rival the great Spirit Arena he'd seen before, this was just an auction house—it didn't need seating for spectators.
And considering that Heaven Dou City was the capital, where every inch of land was precious, the very existence of this massive building was enough to prove its significance—and the immense power behind it.
Only one of the top three Chamber of commerce, or perhaps a noble family, could afford to run such an establishment.
The entrance of the auction house mirrored the building itself—a wide, semicircular doorway. The entire structure was an elegant off-white. Four tall young women stood at the entrance.
These women were clearly handpicked. All of them were about 1.75 meters tall with balanced, graceful figures. While not exactly stunning beauties, they were certainly charming and pleasant to look at, all appearing to be in their early twenties at most.
They wore floor-length dresses that covered even their arms, leaving no exposed skin, yet the outfits were form-fitting, highlighting their alluring curves.
Embroidered onto the snowy-white dresses were silver patterns that faintly resembled words. But neither Li Chang'an nor Xiao Wu could tell what they meant.
Out of curiosity, Li Chang'an extended a trace of spiritual power to examine the surface of their clothing.
Then he saw it clearly—the character embroidered on their dresses was one word:
"Hong."
___
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