Chapter 309: Kou Tingting

“Kou Tingting!?”

Before Zhao Xiluo could even finish his introduction, Tang Xinyun suddenly blurted out in shock. “The Water School… could you be the headmaster’s daughter!?”

Taken aback by the sudden outburst, the pink-robed woman took a moment to respond. “My father is indeed the headmaster of the Crafting School. Are you a student there too, miss?” She smiled.

Bai Yunfei was in shock. Not only had he come across Zhao Xiluo again, but Kou Tingting had made an appearance as well. Bai Yunfei had once heard her name when Kou Changkong mentioned that his daughter joining the Water School. She was the disciple of one of their elders.

Kou Tingting wore a pink robe and had long hair that draped over her shoulders. She had bangs that covered her oval-shaped face and eyebrows by a small amount. Her fair-white skin looked so supple and moisturized that it felt as if there might actually be water that’d come out if her body was wrung.

At a glance, she definitely looked like a very gentle and refined young woman.

Since Kou Tingting was utterly incapable of learning how to use elemental fire, she was incapable of learning the art of crafting. Though that never bothered Kou Changkong. As soon as her tests revealed that she had elemental water training talent, she was sent to the Water School when she was twenty. Under their tutelage, she was able to become an early-stage Soul Ancestor.

Her appearance was by no means absolutely stunning, but she could still at the very least fall under the category of being ‘fair and elegant,’ and she could certainly blossom into something more.

Was this perhaps the effects from training in the water element?

“This is Tang Xinyun, the disciple of elder Cang Yu.” Bai Yunfei introduced her, “She joined the Crafting School the same month I did.”

“Aunty Yu’s disciple!?” Kou Tingting’s eyes lit up with surprise as she looked to Tang Xinyun. The fact that Cang Yu would have another disciple surprised her.

“Tang Xinyun?” The eyebrows on Zhao Xiluo’s face flew up, “So you really were the fourth daughter of the Tang, my apologies for my lack of manners…”

Bai Yunfei turned to Zhao Xiluo next, “Xinyun, this is Zhao Xiluo, the eldest son of the Zhao in Gaoyi City. I meet him after living with Tianming’s family for a while.”

“Tianming’s family?” Tang Xinyun asked. Like Bai Yunfei, she went to Gaoyi City too, but after being chased by the Beast Taming School, she had to make an escape. Even after Bai Yunfei saved her, she was too far away from the city to know anything that happened there.

“Haha, I first heard about brother Bai from senior You Qingfeng before I actually met him in Gaoyi City. We didn’t talk long, but I was awed by Bai Yunfei’s strength.” Zhao Xiluo laughed. “He was a late-stage Soul Sprite back then, so after joining the Crafting School, he has to be a lot str—”

He tapered off when he noticed something was amiss with Bai Yunfei. “Hey now… brother Bai, your strength…”

“Brother Zhao, there’s no need to be puzzled. My current situation is a little unique after something I experienced a while back. For the time being, I can’t use any elemental fire.” Bai Yunfei smiled.

“Oh? Such a thing like that can happen? Then in the future…”

“Haha, thanks for your concern, brother Zhao. It’s only temporary, I’ll be back to full strength soon enough.” Unwilling to talk about his current strength, Bai Yunfei turned his attention to Kou Tingting, “Well now… uhm...”

He didn’t know how to address Kou Tingting. He was younger than her by a good amount, but calling her older sister didn’t seem quite appropriate. Calling her by name was even more strange and rash since it’d denote an even closer relationship than expected.

Kou Tingting smiled. “Haha, I’m a person of the Crafting School, so if junior Bai doesn’t mind, feel free to call me senior Kou.”

“I…” He grew even more embarrassed.

“Haha, senior Kou, if we go by titles, then Yunfei doesn’t have to call you senior.” Tang Xinyun giggled. “You’d have to call him ‘senior uncle’ instead!”

“Eh? What do you mean?” Kou Tingting asked with Zhao Xiluo confused as well.

“Yunfei’s master is master Zi Jin, the previous headmaster.”

“What!?”

The red lips on Kou Tingting’s face quivered slightly in disbelief.

“You… you mean to say that he’s… he’s the disciple of grandfather Zi!? How… how is that possible?”

“Br—brother Bai, are you serious? You’re the disciple of headmaster Zi Jin!?” Even Zhao Xiluo’s voice seemed slightly strangled asking this question.

Bai Yunfei nodded his head in embarrassment.

“Doesn’t… doesn’t that make you a junior to headmaster Kou then…?” Another strangled question.

Unwilling to get more embarrassed about how he should be called, Bai Yunfei smiled, “Haha, what’s the point of titles? If you don’t mind, feel free to just call me Yunfei. Anything else would be weird to me.”

Kou Tingting fell silent for a long while after that.

“In that case, you can call me Tingting, Yunfei. Since we’re both related to the Crafting School, there’s no need to treat each other as outsiders. Sister Xinyun, may I call you Xinyun as well?”

Tang Xinyun smiled. “Of course. Tingting is right, there’s no need to treat each other like outsiders.”

“Well, alright then. Yunfei, you can call me Xiluo as well.” Zhao Xiluo piped up.

Now that this question was resolved, Bai Yunfei could sigh in relief. There wasn’t a way to fix the fact that he was by all rights a senior in the Crafting School, so it was rather awkward to come across this scenario outside of the school. “Xiluo, if you’re accompanying Tingting, does that mean you’re taking her back to the Crafting School?”

“That’s right,” Zhao Xiluo confirmed. “We were planning on heading straight to the Crafting School as soon as the auction here in Mo City is over.”

“Auction?” Bai Yunfei asked. “What auction?”

Surprised, Zhao Xiluo gave a confused look at Tang Xinyun. “There’s an auction every year in Mo City. It’s the Tang’s turn to oversee the auction this time. Didn’t you know, Yunfei?”

It was Bai Yunfei’s turned to Tang Xinyun.

“Yes,” Tang Xinyun nodded her head. “This year, my family is doing all of the preparations. The auction will have several things that a soul cultivator can use. You only just came here and I never really cared about the auction, so I never thought to tell you about it…”

“Oh, I see now.” Bai Yunfei nodded his head in understanding. He could just faintly remember hearing Tang Yongzhong talking about an auction before, and with everyone from the Tang busy, that surely meant it was the auction house that they were busy with.

After thinking about it, he asked, “What items will be sold at the auction?”

“Hard to say.” Zhao Xiluo answered, “It definitely won’t be your everyday items though. If one of the Five Clans are managing it, the items will definitely be rare. Primal stones will be the means of currency for plenty of the items. Rare treasures, soul skills, soul armaments, and even young soulbeasts will be sold. Anything you could possibly want will be sold, and as long as you have the funds, you’ll be able to bid for them. Even to soul cultivators, auctions like these are stuff that anyone will try to attend.”

The expression on his face turned sour after the last sentence, “Now that junior Tingting and I are here, we were planning on staying for a while. On our way, we heard that there would be a heaven tier soul skill, so the roads are packed with people trying to get here.”

“A heaven tier soul skill!?” Bai Yunfei exclaimed. “Are there people that are willing to sell items like that!? How many primal stones will that take to buy!?”

“If you can’t use it, what use is there in keeping it?” Zhao Xiluo laughed. “I heard that the one who owns it is a traveling soul cultivator that came across it by accident. Since he can’t learn it, he thought it’d be better to sell it. Even though he’ll be getting primal stones for it, he can use those primal stones to buy something else at the auction. The last time a heaven tier soul skill appeared, another house used a low-heaven tier soul skill to bid for it.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Bai Yunfei nodded. Still curious, he turned to Tang Xinyun, “Xinyun, can we take a look at the auction?”

“Of course.” She smiled.

“Great. Then when it’s time let’s go together.” Bai Yunfei spoke to Zhao Xiluo and Kou Tingting.

“No problem, if everyone wants to go, it makes sense to go together.”

“Then… since you two are in Mo City, why not stay at my residence for now? You’d do me the honors of playing host.” Tang Xinyun suggested after careful consideration.

Since Tang Xinyun was of the Crafting School, Kou Tingting was all too happy to accept her offer. “We are thankful for your suggestion, Xinyun. Senior Zhao, let’s go back to Xinyun’s place.”

“Alright then, if you don’t mind having us.”

……

By the time it was noon, Bai Yunfei was all but done buying all the accessories he wanted. With nowhere left to go, Bai Yunfei and the rest returned to the Tang residence.

As usual, Tang Zhi was playing the part of ‘overseer’ of the Tang residence while his father was away. As per custom, Zhao Xiluo and Kou Tingting went to him first to pay their respects. Tang Zhi was shock when he learned their identities.

Tang Zhi hadn’t realized that Bai Yunfei would be well connected with people from even the Water School. When the two talked about their desire to attend the auction, Tang Zhi gave his personal guarantee that he’d prepare a good seat for them. After a moment’s conversation, a suitable courtyard near Tang Xinyun’s courtyard was given to the two for the time being.

The auction would take place a week after the Reunion Festival, which would take place tomorrow.

Truthfully speaking, the Reunion Festival wasn’t normally observed by soul cultivators. They weren’t like commoners in the fact that many of them were often travelers a long ways away from home. That made seeing their family especially hard. The only reason Tang Xinyun had the desire to return home was because of her desire to see her mother. Kou Tingting on the other hand was in no hurry to return to the Crafting School in time for the Reunion Festival.

Bai Yunfei had no remaining family to speak of, so there was no need for him to observe the holiday.

This didn’t stop the Tang from celebrating it. Tang Xinyun said that a grand festival would take place tomorrow night with plenty of guests coming, meaning Bai Yunfei, Zhao Xiluo, and Kou Tingting were more than welcome to take part.

That night, Bai Yunfei sat on top of his bed with a pair of amber-colored crystal earrings in his hand. The principal part of this earring was a small rhombus-shaped crystal.

When the caked dirt was wiped away and the stone was polished, a slightly bewitching luster could be seen.

Since Bai Yunfei had come across this soul armament by accident, he did not hesitate to upgrade it to +10 as quickly as possible.

Seeing +10 effects was something he’d always take joy in seeing, and this time would be no different.

After upgrading it to +10…

Equipment Grade: Mid Human
Elemental Affinity: Wood
Upgrade Level: +10
Attribute: +160 Strength
Additional Attribute: +85 Strength
Soul Compatibility: 10%

+10 Additional Effect: ....

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