The events of the grand matchmaking had come to a close. With the Evergreen Holy Stone in hand, Lin Yuan bowed politely.
"We will meet again," he said softly to the Holy Son. "Next time, I'll show you our sect properly."
Back in the Taiyin Sect, he returned to the Sect Leader's residence and gently dropped the Evergreen Stones into his spiritual water bottle.
Lady Mingyan's voice echoed in his mind, **"We should begin practice now."**
Just as he was about to head into secluded cultivation, the Sect Leader stopped him.
"This is your reward for ranking first in the beauty competition," she said with a mysterious smile.
Lin Yuan entered the cultivation room, bringing out the soul-devouring ants. Lady Mingyan emerged from the soul space, gently placing the ants on his body and wrapping him in her soothing spiritual energy. He drank the newly enhanced spiritual water, which now healed at triple the normal rate. The painful merging process passed more swiftly than before.
Afterward, he removed the makeup and lipstick he had worn as "Lin Yue" and bathed thoroughly, washing away all signs of disguise.
That afternoon, dressed in a plain outer disciple robe, Lin Yuan took Xiao Hu and Qingxue to meet the Holy Son again.
At first, the Holy Son didn't recognize him—until he heard his voice.
"Wait… are you Lin Yue?"
"I am," Lin Yuan smiled, not bothering to hide it anymore.
"Let's visit the city market," Lin Yuan offered.
Their first stop was the largest fruit shop. The owner immediately recognized him and grinned.
"Young miss, we have two thousand soul fruits ready. Interested?"
"I'll take them all," Lin Yuan said.
"That'll be two hundred thousand ordinary spirit stones."
Lin Yuan handed him a single high-grade spirit stone. "This should cover it."
The shopkeeper hesitated, then lowered his voice. "Please take a look at this."
He brought out an eighth-grade soul fruit. Though most soul fruits looked identical, Lady Mingyan easily discerned its quality.
"We have a thousand of this grade," the shopkeeper added.
"Bring them out," Lin Yuan replied calmly.
As the fruits arrived, Lin Yuan and his siblings began snacking. Seeing them eat so freely, the Holy Son couldn't resist and joined them.
"Don't throw the seeds away," Lin Yuan reminded them. "I'll need those later."
The Holy Son sighed. "I actually came here to buy soul fruits. But when I heard about the matchmaking… well, I got curious."
Eventually, a delivery man arrived with the fruits. Lin Yuan checked them and found twenty ninth-grade soul fruits hidden among them.
The shopkeeper panicked. "I didn't know! I was tricked too. Someone sold those to me without saying!"
"It's fine," Lin Yuan reassured him.
After calculating, the shopkeeper spoke, "You already paid for 1,000,000 spirit stones worth. The remaining balance is about 182,000. If you have eighteen middle-grade spirit stones, we're even."
Lin Yuan handed him another high-grade spirit stone. "Send the rest in healing fruits. Deliver everything to the Sect Leader's residence."
"Right away, young miss!"
With just the soul fruits in hand, they strolled leisurely through the city, still nibbling. The Holy Son, now eating his tenth eighth-grade soul fruit, looked healthier than ever.
"I think my soul is finally recovering," he smiled.
Next, they visited a talisman shop. The Holy Son bought massive bundles: 200 each of attack, speed, defense, invisibility, and soul defense talismans—for a total of 100 high-grade spirit stones. He even earned a VIP card.But give it to Lin Yuan.
At the formation shop, he bought a large defensive array for 20 high grade sprit stones.
At the weapon shop, he bought a new flying sword and received a recommendation:
"Heaven-Piercing Tube—fires spirit arrows rapidly. Excellent for defense and beast-hunting."
Lin Yuan bought it for just 1 high-grade spirit stone, complete with a thousand ordinary arrows.
The Holy Son then handed Lin Yuan a spare flying sword. Since Lin Yuan still couldn't fly by sword, he stored it away.
Instead, he purchased a flying carriage—slower, but stable and spacious.
"Want to go anywhere?" Lin Yuan asked as they took to the skies.
"No destination. Just adventure," the Holy Son smiled.
They landed by a riverside. Lin Yuan, Xiao Hu, and Qingxue prepared fishing rods and used snails as bait—Lady Mingyan's favorite pastime.
"Here, try it," Lin Yuan offered his rod to the Holy Son, then went to gather firewood.
By the time he returned, Xiao Hu and Qingxue each had a catch. Qingxue roasted them while Lin Yuan took his turn at fishing. By nightfall, they had caught thirty-seven fish, roasting two large ones for dinner.
"I ate over 700 soul fruits today," the Holy Son chuckled, belly full. "I feel great."
On the flight home, Xiao Hu urged, "Let's go faster!"
The Holy Son brought out his spirit ship. With one flash, they were back in the sect's guest quarters.
That night, back at the Sect Leader's home:
"Where were you?" she asked.
"Fishing," Lin Yuan said casually, handing her two large fish. "Xiao Hu caught them."
Both Xiao Hu and Qingxue rushed to the restroom from overeating.
"So you ate outside…" the Sect Leader narrowed her eyes.
"I'm growing up," Lin Yuan said. "I'll eat again at midnight."
After putting the children to bed, he returned to the cultivation room. Lady Mingyan and Lady An appeared.
"The pocket dimension feels like a prison," Lady An said softly, hugging him. "But we've got good news. Your third mother is making you a new set of clothes. One from cotton, and one from snake skin."
At this stage, soul cultivation was like a warm massage—soothing and almost addictive.
The next morning, Lin Yuan woke up with the formation still humming. He felt intense thirst and drank gallons of healing water—now three times faster than spirit water. He shut off the formation and emerged to find food preserved hot in a small array. After eating everything, he set off to meet the Holy Son.
While showing him around the sect, he overheard whispers.
"Did you see that so-called 'Princess' yesterday? I heard she's just an outer disciple, Lin Yue."
"She isn't even that pretty. I should've won first place."
"I heard Sect Leader gave her a moonlight formation and holy stone. What a waste."
Lin Yuan quickened his pace.
Moments later, he encountered the princesses again. They bowed respectfully to the Holy Son.
"We're exploring the sect. Can we join you?" they asked.
He nodded politely and took them toward the market.
Later, in a quiet corner, his four mothers emerged briefly.
"We're going to eat until we burst," one of them grinned. "Have fun, our little princess."
The princesses laughed with the Holy Son, but Lin Yuan paid for everything. By day's end, he had spent less than ten high-grade spirit stones.
"You know," one princess said, "now I understand why people call you 'Princess.' You spend spirit stones like petals in the wind."
They strolled past the stalls until Lin Yuan's eyes caught sight of something unsettling—
A slave market