Linglong slightly raised her head, then looked down at the small doll in her hand.
In an extremely awkward atmosphere, she said something that made the atmosphere even more awkward.
“It’s very cute.”
Qian Feixue nearly burst into tears. She had definitely been disliked by the saintess. Her life was completely ruined!
After holding on for so long, was she still doomed to fail? ‘I want to dig a hole and crawl into it, pretend none of this ever happened.’
“I… I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine, as long as you didn’t make me ugly.” Linglong smiled and placed the doll next to Qian Feixue’s head. “Don’t be so scared. Everyone has their own hobbies and habits. Yours aren’t a big deal.”
It was just a love for making cloth dolls. Compared to a certain young lady who liked making living pillars, Qian Feixue’s hobby was perfectly normal.
“Saintess Linglong isn’t angry? But I…”
“Why would I be angry? You made these cloth dolls yourself. I can feel the sincerity you put into each one.” The expression on Linglong’s face grew even more noble and holy.
At that moment, she truly resembled the selfless and great saintess.
“To be liked so much by you makes me happy. I don’t want you to torment yourself day after day because of me. No one is perfect. You don’t need to pretend to be perfect in front of me.”
Hearing Linglong point out the tension she had been holding onto these past few days, Qian Feixue’s face flushed slightly.
Well, the truth was, once Linglong entered her room and saw what was inside, all her previous acting had lost its meaning.
Her image in Linglong’s heart was already beyond salvage.
Ah well, might as well let it all fall apart.
“Hearing that voice, is little Feixue awake?”
The door opened from outside, and a pair of colorful eyes peered in.
Then, Hua Jian pushed the door fully open, carrying a steaming bowl as she walked to Qian Feixue’s side.
“I prepared something good for you. Drink it up.”
The bowl she held contained a brownish liquid. Just by bringing it closer to her nose, Qian Feixue felt a bitter taste rising in her mouth.
This stuff was definitely extremely bitter—the kind that could kill someone with bitterness!
“Do I have to drink it?” she asked weakly.
“No choice. Your sister sent the raw ingredients, and I personally brewed it for you. She specifically told me to watch you drink it all.” Hua Jian brought out Qian Feixue’s sister.
She hadn’t originally planned to brew medicine for Qian Feixue, but when Qian Feixue’s sister learned that her younger sibling had collapsed from overwork, she sent a bundle of medicinal herbs over and asked Hua Jian to help brew it for her sister to drink.
Hua Jian had no choice. She couldn’t refuse such a small favor, could she?
And as she brewed it, she felt that Qian Feixue had actually been quite useful. After cooking the herbs she sent, the taste was bitter to the extreme.
She had secretly tasted the medicinal soup. The aftertaste lingered for a long time, and no amount of honey could suppress that bitterness.
“After you drink it, I’ll give you a small gift.” A smile curled at the corner of Hua Jian’s mouth. A vine grew from behind her, and a small cloth doll appeared before Qian Feixue’s eyes.
Unlike the other cloth dolls in the room, this one’s craftsmanship was a bit rougher, and its likeness wasn’t Linglong, but Hua Jian herself.
A fan of the Saintess of Yaochi turned into a cloth doll of the Ten Thousand Flowers Saint—Hua Jian really was something else.
“I don’t want your…”
Before Qian Feixue could finish, Hua Jian waved her hand lightly. The soup in the bowl seemed to come alive, pouring straight into Qian Feixue’s mouth.
It was too late to close her mouth. Deceived and ambushed, Qian Feixue drank the super, super bitter medicinal soup.
“So bitter!”
After drinking it, Qian Feixue was completely out of sorts.
She curled up on the bed, dry heaving, making even Linglong wonder if Hua Jian was purposely tormenting her.
To that suspicion, Hua Jian could only say she wasn’t that childish.
If she wanted to bully Qian Feixue, she wouldn’t need to use such tricks. This was really what Qian Feixue’s sister wanted—to teach Qian Feixue a lesson.
“Move aside. Let me make her feel better.” Pushing Linglong away from the bed, Hua Jian used vines to pull Qian Feixue closer, then gently blew a breath onto the pained girl.
A sweet fragrance hit Qian Feixue’s face, easing the deadly bitterness in her mouth. She shook her head vigorously, confused about why this was happening.
Was this also Hua Jian’s ability? She looked at Hua Jian in bewilderment.
“I slightly dulled your senses. It should last about an hour.” Hua Jian explained, then stuffed the doll she had made into Qian Feixue’s hand.
“I put some spices inside. When you rest at night, place it by your pillow. It’ll help you sleep deeper and more soundly.”
Qian Feixue held the small doll Hua Jian had given her, not knowing what to do for a moment.
She didn’t like Hua Jian, and she didn’t like the doll Hua Jian gave her. But throwing it away directly would be very rude…
“Alright, keep resting. I’m going to find your sister.” Having given the gift, Hua Jian placed Qian Feixue back onto the bed.
Then she winked at Linglong. “I’ll leave little Feixue in your care, Saintess of Yaochi.”
With that, she took the steps of a little girl who was barely over three feet tall, bouncing out of the room, leaving the two inside staring at each other in bewilderment.
If one didn’t know Hua Jian’s true identity, Qian Feixue might have been fooled into thinking she was a good friend of the same age.
“It’s not even that pretty…” Qian Feixue muttered, looking at the forcibly gifted doll.
It couldn’t compare to the saintess dolls she made at all. Hmph.
In handicrafts, she was far better than Hua Jian!
“It’s true that it’s not very pretty, but Hua Jian put a lot of thought into making this little thing. I still have the half-finished one she didn’t complete.”
Linglong chuckled softly and took out a crooked cloth doll from her storage pouch.
“See? Compared to this, the one in your hand is quite beautiful, isn’t it?”
Looking at the doll Linglong held, Qian Feixue couldn’t help but laugh. That doll really was ugly, clearly the work of a complete novice.
And the one in her hand at least had some shape—you could tell who it was modeled after.
“She really does like you.” Linglong squeezed the doll in her hand and said softly.
“She only bullies me. It was definitely her fault I suddenly fainted yesterday…” Qian Feixue grew angry at the thought.
She remembered clearly that it was because of Hua Jian’s sudden appearance that she had lost consciousness and fallen asleep.
“That’s just how she is. Treating you like that means she already considers you a friend.”
“Then I’d rather not have a friend like her.” Qian Feixue sniffled, but she didn’t throw away the small doll in her hand. Instead, she squeezed it tightly.
Even someone as dense as Linglong when it came to emotions could tell that Qian Feixue was speaking out of anger.
Saying she didn’t want such a friend, yet her body honestly played with the little doll Hua Jian gave her.
“Then… do you want to hear the story between me and her?” Linglong asked softly.
Qian Feixue looked at Linglong in surprise. Without a moment’s hesitation, she nodded vigorously.
A story about Saintess Linglong and Hua Jian? Listen! Of course she wanted to listen!
Any story related to Linglong, she wanted to hear!
“It all started with a certain secret realm in the Central Continent. At that time, I…”
“Ah-choo!”
Hua Jian, who was synchronizing information with her two little followers, couldn’t help but sneeze.
“Did you catch a chill? For a Ling King, your physique is pretty weak.”
“I think someone’s cursing me behind my back. Could it be the workers at the secret realm?” Hua Jian shook her head. Her body was perfectly healthy.
Cultivators were hardly ever troubled by illness. What made them feel unwell was usually various poisons.
And here in the Qian family, how could Hua Jian possibly get poisoned? Besides, with her physical constitution, ordinary poisons only added nutrition.
She hadn’t encountered any truly powerful ones, but most likely they wouldn’t affect her anyway.
After all, her previous incarnation had been a glutton who could even devour demons.
So rather than believing her body had issues, she thought it more likely that someone was badmouthing her, making her intuition react.
Weren’t they just finishing up at the secret realm now? They shouldn’t be busy anymore.
“Maybe it’s from the camp… Xinrui, pay attention. I want to see who dares to speak ill of me.”
Hua Jian’s second half of the sentence was directed at Huaxinhu, who was connected to her via mental link.
“Understood, I’ll be extra careful.”
“Alright, continue reporting the situation.”
Hua Jian hadn’t yet mastered advanced techniques like the Doppelganger Technique, so she could only send out one or two of her subordinates to act as avatars.
Huaxinhu went to the Temporary Camp, Xia Bai went inside the Secret Realm, while she herself remained stationed in Frozen Winter City.
That way, she had eyes in all three important locations.
However, this only served a supervisory role; the actual work still relied on others from Wanhuagu and the Qian Family.
Compared to the Secret Realm, which had no outsiders and was nearly ready, the Temporary Camp where Huaxinhu was located was quite lively.
Every day, people clashed there, and every day, someone was killed.
The thing Wanhuagu did most was to clean up the mess after fights, or take bribes from some to act as unfair referees.
So it was normal for Wanhuagu to be cursed at, but some Cultivators also thought Wanhuagu wasn’t bad—at least they got things done after taking money, so they had some credibility.
After all, this was the Magic Path. Compared to those who took money and did nothing, Wanhuagu was relatively decent this time.
“I had people work overtime yesterday to find some blueprints. Take a look and see which one suits your taste.”
After Hua Jian finished synchronizing information with her Little Followers, Qian Feixue tossed several Architectural Blueprints in front of Hua Jian, letting her choose one.
The Qian Family’s craftsmen had already set off for the Temporary Camp.
As soon as Hua Jian made a decision, they could start construction immediately, and within a few days, they could build the structure Hua Jian wanted.
“Pretty fast. But will the quality be an issue?” Hua Jian asked instinctively while looking at the blueprints.
This question made Qian Feixue roll her eyes. Wasn’t Hua Jian asking the obvious?
“Of course quality will be an issue. This time, they won’t even use good materials. The main part of the building will be made from the ice and snow common in Beijing.”
“As for durability, it’s only used once anyway. After the Auction, we don’t need to care about it.” Even if it collapsed right after, it didn’t matter. They never expected it to last.
“I recommend the third one. It’s the most ‘Golden Jade Exterior, Rotten Inside.’ Since we don’t need to consider durability, let’s go for the prettiest and least durable.”
Hua Jian opened the third Blueprint and was immediately amazed by the conceptual drawing. “You know what, this thing really is impressive and grand.”
The entire building looked like a blooming ice crystal flower, supported by thin ice crystal pillars, with the main structure suspended in the air.
In Hua Jian’s past life, such a thing would have been impossible to build, but in this world, with Spiritual Power, anything was possible.
Moreover, the image of an ice crystal flower perfectly matched Wanhuagu, making it clear at a glance that this was related to Wanhuagu.
“Not bad, let’s go with this one!” Hua Jian made the decision on the spot.
“Alright, I’ll have the camp start construction.” Qian Feixue nodded.
After pulling out a Jade Token and sending a message to the camp, she asked Hua Jian what she planned to set as the Starting Price for the Auction.
Hua Jian had been busy these past few days because she wanted to first figure out how much financial power the Cultivators coming to bid had.
She had to squeeze these Demonic Cultivators to the maximum.
Now, quite a few Demonic Cultivators had arrived in Frozen Winter City.
It was time to announce the Starting Price and let everyone know.
“Our Wanhuagu has basically figured out the funds these Cultivators have. As for the price, it should be set around this range.” Hua Jian held up a few fingers and gestured a number.
It was the number recommended by Huaxinhu.
She didn’t know much about this area, so trusting Huaxinhu was a good choice.
That fox spirit wouldn’t trip her up on something like this.
To be honest, when Hua Jian heard that number, she felt a pang of pain.
It was a number she had never dared to dream of before.
Even more, this was just one entry Ticket.
It was the minimum price required, not the only price.
“Huaxinhu also gave me an idea: auction off the quotas for each level separately, each requiring bidding, but the marked price for each quota remains unchanged.” Hua Jian continued.
That meant the quota you bought with your bid wasn’t actually worth that many Spirit Stones.
Its real value was only what Wanhuagu marked. The excess counted as a Premium!
To this, Hua Jian said she was very familiar with it.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.