After the open class ended, the students in the classroom dispersed. The boy who had been sitting beside Xiao Wan also rushed off to his next class, throwing a few lingering glances before leaving. But Xiao Wan was deep in thought and didn’t snap out of it for a long while.

In the afternoon, they had a class on cultivation methods. The other kids were quite interested, but Xiao Wan only went through the motions. He had his own unique way of cultivating, so there was no need to learn this.

His experience at the school wasn’t particularly memorable. Only that first class really stuck in his mind. The Mercenary Guild and the Arena were mostly a quick look-around too—after all, the spiritual energy in the Sixteenth Heaven was still pretty low. The battles and missions weren’t very impressive. Xiao Wan felt a bit let down.

But beyond exploring the outside world, he had another important goal for coming here: to buy a protective-type spiritual artifact for his daddy.

He had a scholarship from school and the money from the Ghost Wolf that Xiao Xueman had sold off—together, a total of one hundred spirit jades, with the Ghost Wolf money being the big chunk. The Spirit Realm Continent had a unified currency system. In the Lower Realm, the commonly used currency was spirit stones and spirit jades—one hundred spirit stones equaled one spirit jade. Usually, in the Seventeenth Heaven, twenty spirit jades a month were enough to cover the basic living expenses of a small family. So, for a child, this amount was a fortune.

Not all weapons qualified as spiritual artifacts. As the name implied, only those with spiritual energy circulation inside, which enhanced the user’s ability to use spiritual power, could be called spiritual artifacts. They were ranked from one to nine stars. If he could get a one-star protective spiritual artifact here, that would already be quite good.

Xiao Wan was really looking forward to the last-day visit to the grand market. That day, they moved in small groups. The few first graders in his group were watched over by two teachers, and they slowly walked through the crowded streets.

The grand market had some well-decorated shops, but more were roadside stalls. Only when he arrived did Xiao Wan realize how immature his plan had been.

This place was a chaotic mix—messy goods, full of scammers, and since they were under teacher supervision, they didn’t have much freedom to roam or time to shop.

The shops were slightly more reliable than the street stalls, but the prices were ridiculously high. Most one-star spiritual artifacts went for over five hundred spirit jades. Xiao Wan’s money wasn’t even close to enough. The stalls outside were cheaper, but those sellers saw he was young and fed him all kinds of nonsense. With his lack of experience, Xiao Wan couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t, so he didn’t dare to buy.

The market was packed. Xiao Wan, being so small, was constantly getting pushed around. Like right now—he hadn’t planned on entering this clothing shop, but got squeezed inside anyway.

The shop was full of people, most crowded around the counter on the right. Once inside, Xiao Wan realized the place wasn’t selling decorative clothing like he’d imagined. It was still targeting cultivators—most of the goods were functional. The packed counter sold lightweight battle wear, and also leather gloves, kneepads, and other small accessories.

Daddy didn’t usually fight… right?

Xiao Wan thought back to that night a month ago and suddenly wasn’t so sure.

Of course, most of the time, Xiao Xueman just stayed at home and didn’t go out.

Xiao Wan walked around the shop and stopped at a quiet corner with no one there.

There were a few fluffy cloaks hanging in the corner. He couldn’t tell what beast the fur came from, but they looked very warm.

The Sixteenth Heaven and Seventeenth Heaven had different weather. It wasn’t quite cold enough for such thick clothes here, so it was normal for there to be no business. But based on his memories from the past few years, the Seventeenth Heaven was about to enter a freezing season—its winters were long and bitter.

After walking through the whole place, Xiao Wan had almost given up on buying a protective spiritual artifact. His money just wasn’t enough. So he figured, maybe buying something practical wouldn’t be so bad either.

The shop’s counter was tall. Xiao Wan had to climb onto a high stool in front of it. Once he was settled, he cleared his throat and said, “Is anyone there? I’d like to see that piece of clothing.”

The staff were all busy on the other side, where it was noisy and full of customers. No one heard him. Even if they did, they probably wouldn’t come—he was just a kid, and adults often assumed he was just messing around.

But Xiao Wan wasn’t in a rush. He waited a while, then tilted his head up to carefully examine the cloak hanging on the wall. He could already imagine how good Daddy would look in it—warm and handsome.

At that moment, someone walked out from the back. Xiao Wan looked over and saw that the person was dressed similarly to the other shop staff, so he quickly spoke up, “Hello, could you help me take down that piece of clothing for a look?”

The man turned at the sound and glanced over. Xiao Wan realized he looked much older—grandfather-aged—not like a regular shopkeeper. Probably the store owner.

“Of course. Please wait a moment.”

The maybe-store-owner treated him politely, didn’t brush him off just because he was a kid, and slowly walked over to take the cloak off the wall.

Xiao Wan reached out and gently touched the fur. Just as he imagined—it was soft.

“This is forest rabbit fur,” the man explained slowly, “Very rare to find forest rabbits this big, and not a single coarse hair in the whole thing. Excellent quality. Warm and beautiful. Are you buying it for someone?”

“For my daddy.”

“Then it’ll definitely suit him.”

Xiao Wan hummed in agreement, still hesitating about whether or not to buy it. He didn’t notice that the man behind the counter had been quietly observing him.

Yes, this man really was the shop owner.

He owned more than just this shop—he had stores all across the Sixteenth Heaven. He’d only come to Baixue City today because of a delivery. He was planning to leave after settling some business, but the moment he saw this kid, he stopped in his tracks.

It wasn’t that he was unusually committed to customer service—it was just that this child’s face looked very familiar.

Where had he seen it before?

The shop owner racked his brain.

In the Sixteenth Heaven, most people could live to about a hundred. He’d extended his lifespan to nearly two hundred with spiritual herbs and rare materials. His body was still strong, but his memory had deteriorated. He often couldn’t recall things clearly anymore.

But this face—he had definitely seen it before. And it had left a deep impression. He just couldn’t quite place it in this moment.

It felt like his brain was stuck in a fight with itself as he tried to dig through every corner of his memory.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wan had finished thinking. He asked, “How much is it?”

When he asked, he was a bit nervous, worried that even this might be beyond his budget.

The fur cloak wasn’t cheap—two hundred spirit jades. It didn’t contain spiritual energy, but the material was rare.

The shop owner looked into the child’s expectant eyes, and before he knew it, the price that came out of his mouth was cut in half: “…one hundred spirit jades.”

Xiao Wan let out a small breath of relief. That was exactly how much he had. But he also wanted to buy a gift for Uncle Shen.

In the end, after haggling with all his might, Xiao Wan managed to buy both the cloak and a fur waist wrap for one hundred spirit jades. He still remembered Uncle Shen had the worst injuries on his waist—something warm would be useful.

When the cloak and waist wrap were bundled up, they were even bigger than Xiao Wan himself. The shop owner even pulled out a little wooden cart from the back and placed the bundle on it so Xiao Wan could drag it home.

“Thank you,” Xiao Wan politely said before leaving. “You’re a good person.”

The shop owner kept watching him, still unable to grab hold of the fragmented memory—only that the more he looked, the more familiar that face felt. Losing out on over a hundred spirit jades and a small cart meant nothing to him.

“You’re welcome to stay here a bit longer if you’d like,” he offered. “It’s no trouble.”

Xiao Wan checked the time—getting late. He politely declined and slowly started pulling the cart back. Not long after, he bumped into the teacher who had been looking for him.

“You scared me to death!” the teacher was still shaken. “If we’d lost you, how would we explain it to your family?!”

Xiao Wan, on the other hand, was calm and even comforted her: “It’s fine. I was just buying something.”

After he left, the shop owner was still dazed.

One of the shop assistants, who had been watching the whole thing, finally couldn’t hold it in and carefully said, “We took a loss on that cloak. Just the materials cost over seventy spirit jades, not counting labor.”

The shop owner waved his hand, not angry at all. With his wealth now, this kind of loss meant nothing.

“I feel a connection with that child,” he said. “Besides…”

He hadn’t finished the sentence when suddenly—like a lightning strike—it hit him.

“You just said… materials?”

He remembered.

Back when he was young, he was just a leather merchant—not a shop owner, not rich. He didn’t live in Baixue City, but in a faraway place called Qingye City.

The leather business was simple—buy animal hides from cultivators, process them, then resell. The money was hard-earned.

There was a particular young man he used to work with often.

Usually, cultivators hunted in teams—for safety and synergy. But that boy always worked alone. People gossiped behind his back, calling him cursed, saying he was abandoned by his family in the Upper Realm because of poor talent. He had a bad temper, gloomy and cold—no one wanted to get close.

He had fire-type spiritual power. At first, the hides he brought in were always badly scorched, barely worth anything. But after the shop owner gave some advice, the next ones he brought in had only a hole in the vital spot—clean and neat. Beautiful hides.

The shop owner only cared about quality—rumors didn’t matter. But every time he came to collect, he’d see that the boy couldn’t hide his injuries.

His spiritual power was average. Hunting was dangerous—half from the beasts, half from rival hunters. Since he was alone, he often lost out.

No one had time to pity him. The strong devour the weak—life was already hard enough.

Then one day, something changed.

Another person appeared at the boy’s home. He looked about the same age. When the shop owner went to collect the hides, he saw that person applying green ointment to the boy’s wounds, hands gentle, voice soft.

“Does it hurt? If it does, just say so. I’ll be more gentle.”

People who’ve been in pain for too long can’t handle that kind of tenderness.

The shop owner was curious and took a longer look. He saw a pair of green eyes—and a face so beautiful, it was unforgettable.

But he only had a moment. The next second, the boy raised his hand and blocked the face fiercely, turning to glare.

“What are you looking at? Got what you wanted—now scram!”

The shop owner had no choice but to leave.

Years later, the wandering leather merchant had become a wealthy mogul. That boy… became Wang Tian Dijun.

That boy was Qin Lou.

The shop owner remembered this clearly. When he was younger, he even used to brag about it—though of course, the story was “cleaned up” a bit. After all, saying the Dijun had been beaten up in the Sixteenth Heaven wasn’t very glamorous.

But now that he was older, those clear memories were harder to retrieve.

Now that he’d finally remembered, he also realized why the child looked so familiar.

That kid looked just like the person who had tended to Wang Tian Dijun’s wounds—the one with those unforgettable, soft green eyes.

By the time the shop owner snapped out of it and rushed out, Xiao Wan was already gone. The street was packed, and the child’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

He came alone too. All the shop owner remembered was that the cloak was a gift for his father. Nothing else.

Was it just a coincidence? Someone who looked that much like him?

The shop owner stood outside for a while, dazed, then turned and went back inside.

He suddenly felt like he’d been ridiculous.

If that really was his child… how could he have ended up in the Sixteenth Heaven?