One Ring After Another

“You won’t learn this, you won’t learn that, so what does the God of Fortune want me to do?”

Ling Shuang was tinged with a bit of anger and helplessness.
She, a dignified fifth-grade Earth Immortal, had overlooked the rise and fall of ten thousand years.
In all her long life, this was the first time she had experienced the frustration of being unable to give away a gift of apology.

Her eyes darted, her gaze precisely landing on Ling Wanbai at the side.
She said, “How about I give you my shrine official as compensation?”

“Great… Great Spirit Venerable—?!”

Ling Wanbai at the side was as if struck by five thunderbolts.
Her entire body froze into a stone sculpture.

She looked at Ling Shuang in disbelief, then lowered her head aggrievedly.

She looked at Lu Qiancha at the side, her expression as complicated as if she had knocked over a bottle of five flavors—resentment, grievance, unwillingness.

But in the end, under the divine decree, all resistance turned into a silent sigh.

“…”

‘Since it is the Great Spirit Venerable’s request.’

She clenched her fists, her nails almost digging into her palms, and resignedly…

“No.”

Lu Qiancha’s little face wrinkled in disgust.
She pouted in Ling Wanbai’s direction: “This person just now, she pounced on me, and she was fierce to me.”

She held a grudge.

“Ahem, actually, even if Your Excellency, the God of Fortune, had said yes, I wouldn’t have really given her.”

Ling Shuang coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness and waved her hand again.
With a flick of her wrist, she took out a small wolf clan statue, “This will be the compensation.”

“What is this?”

Lu Qiancha extended her paw and gathered the small statue into her arms.
Her little nose sniffed at it suspiciously.
‘Cold, hard.’

‘Probably not edible.’

“Within this statue, is contained a full-power strike of mine.
Used properly, even a Golden Immortal can be severely injured.”

Ling Shuang’s gaze was like lightning, her voice suddenly becoming solemn.

Lu Qiancha’s mouth opened wide at these words.
‘Severely injure a Golden Immortal? That sounds good.
She doesn’t have any means to deal with immortals yet.’

‘In that case, this Great Spirit Venerable in front of me is at least a Golden Immortal…’

“How is it?” Ling Shuang enjoyed Lu Qiancha’s instantly changing, dazed expression with interest, her voice tinged with a bit of coaxing: “Does this compensation meet the discerning eye of Your Excellency, the God of Fortune?”

“Alright then, I forgive you.”

Lu Qiancha tried her best to suppress the madly upturned corners of her mouth, and with a straight little face, she pretended to be mature and nodded.
‘A huge profit.
I’ve gained an extremely powerful life-saving means.’

“Good.” Ling Shuang nodded in satisfaction.
Then, her tone changed: “In that case, the compensation is complete.”

Ling Shuang paused, her voice persuasive: “Your Excellency, the God of Fortune, I wonder if I could discuss with you…” Her gaze was burning as it locked onto Lu Qiancha: “…the matter of that Taiyin incense?”

“!!!” Lu Qiancha was instantly alert, hugging the small wolf statue tightly, like a cat guarding a fat fish it had just caught.

“There’s nothing to talk about!” she said decisively, her body quickly taking a step back.
Her eyes were filled with vigilance, “I don’t have much in stock either.”

“No, no~”

Ling Shuang revealed a mysterious smile that said “don’t be hasty,” and her finger pointed at the small statue in Lu Qiancha’s arms from a distance: “Does the God of Fortune know that within this statue, besides that one strike of power, there is also a Dao Seed that I have spent a thousand years to condense?”

Seeing the light in Lu Qiancha’s blue eyes instantly light up with a mixture of vigilance and doubt…

The curve of Ling Shuang’s lips became even more subtle: “If Your Excellency, the God of Fortune, is willing to offer five wisps of Taiyin incense, I will offer you the secret method to nurture and activate the core of this Dao Seed in its entirety? How about it?”

“Ngh…”

Lu Qiancha hugged the statue, her little head spinning rapidly.
‘Five wisps of incense, that’s five days’ worth of income… in exchange for a Dao Seed condensed by a god… it seems like a good deal.’

“Deal!”

Lu Qiancha’s crisp, childish voice sounded in Ling Shuang’s ear, and the tip of her paw quickly swiped.
Five wisps of Taiyin incense, flowing with a purple-gold starlight, like a river flowing into the sea, instantly sank into the huge statue behind Ling Shuang.

“Om—!”

The statue’s body suddenly burst with a gentle and bright moonlight, as if it had been draped in a holy silver veil, its aura instantly becoming a bit more profound and clear.

“Very good~” Ling Shuang was all smiles.
She pointed at Lu Qiancha’s forehead from a distance, and a faint light instantly sank into the little wolf cub’s mind.

An activation method immediately appeared in Lu Qiancha’s mind.

‘Her divine sense enters, and her will guides.’

‘It doesn’t sound that hard, does it?’

She couldn’t wait.
She immediately separated a wisp of her divine sense and cautiously probed into the core of the cold statue in her arms…

The moment her divine sense touched the core’s barrier.

“Boom—!”

A tyrannical, crazed, and destructive, extremely cold torrent, like an awakened, desolate beast, roared back into her sea of consciousness along with her divine sense.

‘I’ve been tricked.’

Lu Qiancha’s heart skipped a beat.
She hurriedly formed a seal and circulated the Heart-Clearing Spell, “Clear heart! Settle mind!”

After a moment, Lu Qiancha finally suppressed that angry thought.

“How is it, Your Excellency, the God of Fortune? Are you satisfied with this deal?”

Ling Shuang crossed her arms and looked at Lu Qiancha with a half-smile.

“Not satisfied.”

Lu Qiancha said with a blank expression, “Why didn’t you tell me in advance that this was a slaughter Dao Seed?”

‘A slaughter Dao Resonance, she already has one.’

“…?”

Ling Shuang was stunned by these words.
She looked Lu Qiancha up and down and asked with a puzzled face, “The Wolf God presides over slaughter.
Isn’t this something that everyone in the clan knows?”

Lu Qiancha: “…”

‘She’s not a real wolf clan member.
She’s a half-way convert.
How could she know such a thing?’

Lu Qiancha couldn’t be bothered to argue about this anymore.
She stuffed the small wolf statue into her storage pouch and was about to leave.

“Hey! Your Excellency, the God of Fortune, stay, please stay!”

Seeing this, Ling Shuang finally got a little anxious and hurriedly called out to her.

“What else is there?”

Lu Qiancha’s footsteps paused slightly, but she didn’t turn her head, her voice thick with impatience.
‘It’s getting late.
She has to go back soon, or Xun Xue will be worried.’

“Uh…” Ling Shuang was a little embarrassed for a rare moment.
She cleared her throat: “About that statue in Your Excellency’s hand, it’s just a one-time use item…”

Her voice was tinged with an imperceptible awkwardness.

But the next sentence immediately returned to that enthusiastic tone:

“But, our products always have after-sales service! If Your Excellency, the God of “Fortune, has any needs in the future, I can offer a very favorable friendship price of twenty wisps of Taiyin incense per time to replenish a brand new full-power strike for Your Excellency!”

Lu Qiancha: “…”

‘No wonder she was so quick to give the compensation earlier.
So this is what she was waiting for.’

But after a moment of thought, a tool that could severely injure a Golden Immortal.
Even if the seller was as treacherous as a ghost, it was a truly, truly an ace in the hole.

‘If I miss this village, I might not find this shop again.’

So, Lu Qiancha thought for a moment and asked, “But I’m usually not in the Northern Continent, and I’m separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.
How can I find you to replenish it?”

“No problem! No problem!” Ling Shuang’s smile was like a blooming flower in an instant, as if she had been prepared for this.
Her gaze shot to Ling Wanbai at the side: “This matter, my shrine official can collect it on my behalf.”

The corner of Ling Wanbai’s mouth twitched very slightly, but in the end, she still lowered her head with a blank expression and respectfully: “I will obey the divine decree.”

Lu Qiancha’s face was full of disgust.
‘So this annoying little kid is still going to come with me.’

Lu Qiancha didn’t care whether Ling Wanbai could keep up or not.
She directly activated her Moon Shadow Evasion Art and returned to Shuixian Palace.