The sun hung high in the sky, and noon was the liveliest time of day in Lin'an City.
Lin'an City was the largest settlement outside the main capital and one of the six realms' biggest hubs for trading spiritual treasures. Many sea demons resided here, and seventy-five percent of the mid-to-low-tier spiritual artifacts from the Sea Clan Secret Realm flowed out through this city.
Next month marked Song Chengshu's birthday celebration, and since the beginning of the month, outsiders had been trickling into Lin'an City in waves.
For such a grand occasion, many elders from various clans would bring their younger generations along to broaden their horizons and mingle with prodigies from other factions—hoping to steer them away from narrow-minded arrogance. The youths, brimming with restless energy, often sought amusement in Lin'an City’s numerous auction houses and spiritual treasure pavilions.
By chance, a scouting team dispatched by one of the spiritual treasure pavilions had discovered a minor secret realm deep beneath the sea, salvaging numerous artifacts passed down from ancient times. This drew crowds of eager visitors.
Seizing the opportunity, several prominent spiritual treasure pavilions joined forces to host a grand auction, promoting it more than ten days in advance. As the event drew near, the city’s taverns and pavilions teemed with bustling crowds, the atmosphere electric.
Qiu Shi had heard Ming Yue mention the affair, but her attention had been consumed by tending to Cheng Yi’s injuries. These past few days, she’d also been busy quelling the fallout from recent rumors, leaving her with little desire to join the excitement. Yet by some twist of fate, she still ended up in the city.
Having grown up in Qin Hai Main City, Qiu Shi had wandered every corner of the surrounding settlements countless times. The moment she entered Lin'an City, she effortlessly slipped into an inconspicuous little tavern by the street.
The tavern’s sign bore two faded red lanterns, their dust-covered surfaces suggesting neglect. Yet inside, the tables and chairs were unexpectedly clean and orderly.
Normally, this tavern saw little business, but with Lin'an City packed to the brim, quite a few patrons had already settled in by the time Qiu Shi arrived.
The manager at the front counter brightened at the sight of her, straightening up to usher her toward the second floor. “Miss, please take a seat upstairs.”
Qiu Shi nodded at him and made her way to the semi-private booth at the far end of the upper floor.
Before long, a young waiter with a boyish face came up to serve her tea. After setting the cup down, he lingered awkwardly to the side, flashing a shy smile that revealed tiny, pointed canines. “Sister, you’re here.”
Qiu Shi lifted her gaze, studying him head to toe before smiling. She reached out to ruffle his hair and asked, “What brings you to the tavern today? Didn’t the masters assign you cultivation drills?”
The waiter shook his head earnestly. “The instructor for heart techniques took leave for a few days, so Xiao Yu and I came to help out.”
“Shan Qun, you’re so responsible.” Qiu Shi praised him warmly, then fished out a small, hefty pouch of spirit stones from her spatial ring. Placing it into the boy’s calloused palm, she spoke gently, “I’ll be busy for a while and won’t be able to visit often. Split these evenly with Xiao Yu.”
The child, Shan Qun, stared wide-eyed at the bulging pouch in his hand, flustered and at a loss for words. Qiu Shi knew what he wanted to say and chuckled, “These spirit stones mean nothing to me. Take them.”
She added a reminder, “Tuck them into your spatial ring—don’t let others see.”
Just as Shan Qun was leaving the booth, Wu Fei and Qin Donglin entered, one after the other. The little boy’s face burned red, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. When he bumped into Wu Fei, he only managed a hasty bow and a muffled “Sorry” before darting away.
“What was that about?” Wu Fei tapped the edge of the table with his fan, producing crisp knocks. His peach-blossom eyes arched mischievously, his tone laced with playful accusation. “Since when did you take to bullying children?”
In front of them, Qiu Shi’s demeanor was worlds apart from the gentle patience she’d shown Shan Qun moments earlier. The kindly elder sister act vanished in an instant, her true nature resurfacing without hesitation.
“Brother Wu Fei,” she beamed, her small face bright as a sunflower before turning toward the aloof Qin Donglin. “Brother Donglin.”
Wu Fei’s fan froze mid-tap.
Qin Donglin’s brow lifted almost imperceptibly.
Alarm bells blared in Wu Fei’s mind, his guard snapping up like he was facing a dire threat.
In all their tens of thousands of years growing up together, he could count on one hand the number of times Qiu Shi had ever called him “brother.”
Each time she did, he’d either end up kneeling in the ancestral hall or dragged into the punishment chamber—each incident memorable enough to leave a lasting impression. Now, just hearing “Brother Wu Fei” made his back ache in phantom pain.
He fell silent, wordlessly taking a seat and sipping the freshly served tea.
Qiu Shi ignored him entirely, her attention fixed solely on Qin Donglin across the table.
Qin Donglin was as detached as ever, his entire being exuding an air of lazy impatience. His demeanor might as well have been branded with bold letters: *Bad temper. Do not provoke.*
No one dared to pester Qin Donglin when he had a gloomy face, but Qiu Shi was an exception.
The more annoyed and unhappy Qin Donglin was, the more she would pester and bother him.
Just like at this moment.
Qiu Shi moved her face closer to his, her voice as sweet as nectar, "Brother Donglin."
She had a very advantageous face, small, only the size of a palm, and her complexion was very fair, as if she had never seen sunlight. When she smiled, her eyes would turn into crescent moons, looking extremely beautiful. When she softened her voice a little and let her eyelashes droop, it immediately took on a different meaning, with tears welling up in her eyes, looking as pitiful as could be.
Using the same trick for tens of thousands of years, hundreds and thousands of times, she could still lure people into her trap again and again. One could see the capabilities of the troublesome Qiu Shi.
Qin Donglin's slender fingers stroked the raised pattern on the edge of the teacup. He didn't even need to look up and meet her eyes to know what kind of expression she had now. It must be pitiful and timid.
When they were kids, every time she showed such an expression in front of the elders, he and Wu Fei would have to listen to a long lecture.
At that time, he found it annoying.
Even now when he saw it, he still found it annoying.
It made it seem like he had bullied her.
So every time she showed such an expression, she could get things like coral conches, pearl clothes, ghost - fire lamps, and dragon sea pills, no matter how rare and hard - to - find they were.
But showing such a pitiful expression in front of him again and again because she cared too much about a black dragon and then pretending to be obedient and admitting her mistakes...
It was even more annoying than when she wanted him to find some hard - to - find things.
"Song Qiushi,"
Qin Donglin seemed to suddenly lose interest in the teacup. He leaned back in his chair, frowned and stared at her, his pupils dark, "I'm not interested in randomly recognizing a younger sister."
When Qin Donglin called someone by their full name, there was always an indescribable sense of oppression. Others would be a little intimidated, but Qiu Shi was not afraid.
Seeing that he finally looked at her directly, she obediently sat back. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking at all, she couldn't sit still. Her eyes glanced out of the window.
The window faced the outer street. The noisy hubbub and the drawn - out shouts came one after another, mixing and blending, and then reaching Qiu Shi and the others' ears indistinctly.
Seeing the eager look on her face, Wu Fei said with a smile, "Tomorrow is the auction. With your personality, aren't you going to join in the fun?"
Qiu Shi propped her chin with her hand and replied listlessly, "I don't have the heart for that. Right now, Aunt Ruan and my father are talking about Cheng Yi's matter.
When I came out, he specifically told me not to run around, not to cause trouble, and to entertain you well."
"How will this matter be handled? Don't you two parties involved know?"
Wu Fei asked curiously when he heard this.
"My father said he has to talk to the elders of Liugi Mountain first,"
Qiu Shi shook her head and then continued, "But based on my understanding of the elder group of Liugi Mountain, they'll probably annul the engagement and clarify it to the public."
"This is also the intention of the main city,"
They were not naive children. They all had a clear understanding of the power - balancing techniques. Qiu Shi didn't have any scruples when talking to them.
"The intention of the main city."
Qin Donglin repeated this sentence in an ambiguous tone and then asked, "Is it the intention of the main city or your intention?"
Qiu Shi and Wu Fei's gazes immediately focused on him.
"How could it be my intention?"
Qiu Shi's eyes widened round when she heard this. "I just wanted to repay a life - saving grace. Who would have known such a thing would happen? I'm still under house arrest now. How could I have so much power to represent the main city?
In the end, she stroked the bridge of her nose and couldn't help but mutter, "Even threatening to die might not succeed."
Qin Donglin originally wanted to hear her deny it, but when she actually rambled on like this, he found it extremely noisy.
"Song Qiushi,"
He pressed his long fingers hard on the center of his eyebrows. "If you keep making noise, go out by yourself."
"You were the one who asked the question first,"
Feeling a bit guilty after all, when she saw him looking over, Qiu Shi made a gesture to zip her lips.
After being quiet for a moment, she couldn't help but retort in a low voice, "Actually, I think this matter is mainly the fault of the Celestial Clan. If Yun Xuan hadn't secretly asked me to have a duel and used reverse psychology to stop me from telling you, none of the following things would have happened.
"And this time, if the Celestial Clan hadn't played dirty tricks behind the scenes, it wouldn't have turned out like this."
Hearing this, Wu Fei couldn't help but curl his lips and chuckle a few times because of her even more advanced skills in shifting the blame and diverting trouble.
Qin Donglin leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, looking cold and aloof as if nothing could disturb him. It seemed that he didn't listen to a single word Song Qiushi said.
After a while, his voice was cold and clear, "Besides Yun Xuan, who else?"
Qiu Shi quickly replied, "It's just him."
"Has the list of the leaders of the Celestial Clan for the Luyuan Secret Realm come out?"
Qin Donglin opened his eyes and glanced at Wu Fei sitting beside him.
Wu Fei replied, "It just came out not long ago. As usual, the Celestial Clan will be led by those three young fairy kings and their team will enter the secret realm."
"Okay."
Qin Donglin closed his eyes again without asking anything more. The coldness between his eyebrows was as sharp as a blade.
