Song Shuhang looked at the bodies of the four Tribulation Transcenders but did not find any that was giving off a lustrous shine. He had been wondering if he would get to see the body of the lustrous scholar as well.
“Are these the bodies of the scholarly faction’s Thirteen Tribulation Transcenders?” Song Shuhang squinted his eyes and looked at Sister White Dragon.
Sister White Dragon shook her head and said, “I’d only be able to recognize one or two of the Thirteen Tribulation Transcenders.”
“I barely know one of them,” Song Shuhang said.
There’s no other choice. I can only choose to summon Fairy Creation and ask her to confirm it, even if it might make her sad.
Song Shuhang called out, “Come out, Fairy Creation!”
Even after a long while, there were no movements from Fairy Creation. She did not come out and resisted his summon.
Now what? How am I supposed to check if these bodies are real?
Had I known earlier, I would have brought someone from the scholarly faction with me!
The Heavenly Emperor crossed her legs and rested her chin in one of her palms. She chuckled and said, “You don’t have to worry about that. Can’t you just believe in my character?”
Song Shuhang stared at her seriously.
You have a criminal record!
His long hair curled up and gathered to form an arm, which went to touch the four bodies.
Although it was not a real arm, as long as he willed it to use the secret appraisal technique, it should work just fine.
Moreover, he did not need to appraise the bodies that accurately.
There was only one bit of information that he wanted to know—whether or not the four bodies in front of him were the bodies of the Thirteen Tribulation Transcenders.
He just needed a simple yes or no.
The price he would have to pay should thus be very low.
And so, Shuhang activated the secret appraisal technique.
Several shallow wounds appeared on his cheek, with a couple of drops of blood oozing out of the cut before it healed.
Sixteen took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the blood from Song Shuhang’s face.
At the same time, the appraisal result appeared in Song Shuhang’s mind.
[The body of one of the scholarly faction’s Thirteen Tribulation Transcenders] x 4.
Under Song Shuhang’s control, the appraisal did not appraise anything else. He only had his head left, and the blood at his disposal was limited; he could not afford to use more costly versions of the secret appraisal technique.
If the price was a large amount of blood, his head might end up exploding on the spot unless he used his smoke mode.
But if he used his smoke mode, his neck, which was currently connected to the Inner World’s living spring, would be pulled out of the pond.
Without the living spring to give him relief, the severe pain of having lost his body would cause Song Shuhang to burst into tears, and that was not considering the pain from the appraisal.
The Heavenly Emperor silently looked at Song Shuhang.
Her face remained expressionless, but she was not that calm on the inside.
What Song Shuhang used just now was a secret technique that involved time.
Moreover, after carefully feeling it out, she sensed that Song Shuhang’s temporal secret technique and her path of time came from the same source.
Song Shuhang nodded and said, “I’ve determined that the goods are authentic.”
At the same time, he glanced at the Heavenly Emperor in puzzlement. If there was nothing wrong with the goods, why was she acting so suspiciously?
Song Shuhang used his arm made of hair to drag the four bodies into his Inner World. Then, he moved out all the Ancient Heavenly City Fragments that the scholarly faction had given him except for the Inner Demon Cave and the Gravity Palace.
Each fragment had been reduced to the size of a ball by that great master from the Jingang Temple.
A large pile of fragments fell in front of the Heavenly Emperor.
Song Shuhang said, “These are the goods that the scholarly faction is exchanging with you.”
The Heavenly Emperor took a glance and nodded. “These are indeed fragments of the Heavenly City. Hmm, the number is about right.”
She had obviously investigated the scholarly faction before and knew how many fragments they had.
The ones in front of her, together with the fragments that she had taken away before, added up to most of the fragments that the scholarly faction had.
“Then, that concludes our transaction,” Song Shuhang cupped his fists made of hair and said. “Farewell!”
“Senior Song, don’t be in such a hurry to leave.” The Heavenly Emperor switched the order by which her legs were crossed and then smiled. “I haven’t given you your reward yet. Do you not want it?”
Song Shuhang said with a wry smile, “I almost forgot about that.”
The Heavenly Emperor snapped her fingers.
A bonsai appeared in front of Song Shuhang.
The bonsai had a trunk that looked just like a human body, but instead of nipples being present where they should have been, there were a pair of eyes. Green leaves were growing on the bonsai, and it seemed like there were some fruits as well, but they had been picked.
“It looks like a work of art,” commented Sixteen.
Such a delicate piece of art was a lot easier to accept.
Otherwise, if Song Shuhang were to suddenly change to a muscular body, his style would receive such a huge change that it would make others slightly uncomfortable.
Song Shuhang asked, “Can I use it as long as I put my head on it?”
The Heavenly Emperor smiled slightly and replied, “As to how to use it, you’ll need to figure it out for yourself. If you want me to give you instructions or guidance on this, you will need to pay.”
Song Shuhang shook his head. He believed that he would be fine without instructions.
He stretched out his arm made of hair and transferred the wooden body into his Inner World.
Song Shuhang cupped his fists again and said, “Now, the transaction is really complete. Let us meet again if fate permits it.”
Sixteen picked up his head, stepped on her saber, and flew out of the immortal boat.
The Heavenly Emperor stood up from her throne and walked to the Heavenly City Fragments.
She bent over to pick up a fragment, tapping it lightly.
The layer of light formed by the Buddhist magical technique disappeared, and the fragment began swelling in size.
The Heavenly Emperor stretched out her hand and pressed it on the fragment as if he was going to draw something from it.
But after a moment, a slight frown appeared on her face.
In her hand, the Heavenly City Fragment continued to get bigger and bigger.
The Heavenly Emperor stretched out her hand and patted it, and the Heavenly City Fragment disappeared. She had directly teleported it to her reconstructed Ancient Heavenly City through her spatial abilities, installing it right where it belonged.
[With the passage of time, the power of my path that had accumulated in the fragments has begun to dissipate.] The Heavenly Emperor sighed inwardly.
She then picked up a second fragment and repeated the process above mentioned.
Then, she frowned again.
The Heavenly City Fragment got bigger and bigger, and she sent it into her reconstructed city with a wave.
[Is it a coincidence?] The Heavenly Emperor silently thought to herself.
Then, she picked up a third and a fourth, repeating the same actions again and again.
After the fourth, a strange smile appeared on the Heavenly Emperor’s face.
One, two, or even three times could still be considered a coincidence.
But when it happened four times in a row, she was certain that someone had messed with her Heavenly City Fragments.
She had been scammed!
Interesting, truly interesting…
To be honest, she did not hate this kind of feeling.
Schemes like these made her feel that life was a lot more interesting.
“Senior Song.” The Heavenly Emperor raised her head and looked at Song Shuhang, who had already flown outside the immortal boat.
Her voice sounded directly in Song Shuhang’s ear, “Can you explain why there’s a certain thing missing from my Heavenly City Fragments?”
“Did the scholarly faction do this? Or did you do something to them?” The Heavenly Emperor’s voice contained a sharp edge as she spoke.
[There’s something missing from them?] Song Shuhang did not even need time to process as he immediately thought of the most likely possibility.
