Chapter 59: The Little Tail

Chapter 59: A Little Tail

This was the first time Zhong Yan had been the focus of so many gazes, even though some of those gazes were filled with resentment while others carried awe and dread.

"Salas, take these young girls," Zhong Yan swept his gaze across the crowd, ignoring their stares, and said indifferently to Salas.

Salas looked slightly puzzled. Aside from his Holiness the Holy Son, the Heaven Dou Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, and a young girl with cat ears who had emerged from the ruins of the auction house, he had not seen anyone else.

"Understood, Your Holiness. May I ask where these young girls are?" As a subordinate, no matter what Zhong Yan said, a qualified follower would always obey first. This worldly wisdom was precisely the reason why he could maintain his lofty and secure position despite not possessing the strongest combat power.

"Rumble—" No sooner had Salas finished speaking than a ring of structures, composed of several rock spikes and golden barriers, rose from the ground around the outer perimeter of the auction house, pushing aside the various debris of the auction house that covered the ground.

Taking a closer look, Salas saw that these enclosures held precisely the young girls his Holiness the Holy Son had mentioned. Because those scumbags had all gathered in the center of the venue, the people stationed around the outer perimeter were mostly these serving girls.

Under his control, before the falling stars could crash down, he had already sunk the entire outer perimeter area underground. That was also why he had bothered to expend extra effort to control the falling stars so they would not destroy the ground.

As the Spirits Temple knights stepped forward to protect these girls, a certain segment of the onlookers began to stir restlessly, seeing that in their eyes, these girls were essentially walking gold soul coins.

However, when Zhong Yan cast a single glance in their direction, any greed in their hearts was instantly doused like a basin of cold water. After all, the person before them was the disciple of the Pope, a figure akin to a living god in Spirits Temple City—not someone they could afford to provoke.

"Salas, I want you to arrange for people to teach them how to cultivate soul power, and how to live in this world as human beings. Remember, as human beings. I will only emphasize this once!" Zhong Yan trusted that Salas could handle the matter properly, though he could not guarantee the restraint of certain onlookers. With that thought, he swept the surroundings with an icy gaze.

Then, his voice laced with soul power, he proclaimed: "Slave trading, truly a wildly lucrative industry where a single young girl is worth at least one hundred thousand gold soul coins. In fact, you are entirely welcome to keep doing it, since such profitable businesses are rare indeed. However, should I catch even a whisper of it, don't blame the Titled Douluo of our Spirits Temple for paying you a visit to investigate."

[Presumably, after this incident, the rampant slave trading will quiet down for a while. When I finally have the time to deal with you lot, that will be the day your pack of scumbags meets its end.]

Watching the Spirits Temple knights escort the young girls toward the Heaven Dou City Spirits Temple branch, Zhong Yan turned around and said to Xue Qinghe, "Please forgive my lack of composure, Crown Prince Qinghe. Seeing those scumbags buy and sell human beings as mere objects filled my heart with indignation and proved simply unbearable for a moment. I imagine my willful actions today will bring no small amount of trouble to you."

Xue Qinghe flicked his folding fan and said with calm nonchalance, "Ah, think nothing of it. The two of us share a friendship of noble minds. Those bastards were merely engaging in petty, thieving acts. Even if you hadn't intervened today, I would have found it equally intolerable. They dared to openly violate the empire's laws and cause trouble for me? Heh, once I return and report this to His Majesty, they are the ones who will be in trouble."

"In that case, let us part ways here."

"Very well, let us part ways. Brother Zhong, farewell."

After bidding farewell to Xue Qinghe, Zhong Yan caught up with the Spirits Temple procession ahead, only this time, Zhong Yan had gained a little tail trailing by his side.

…………

"Master, time to wake up!" A soft call echoed from outside the bedroom door.

"Lilith, how many times do I have to tell you? You don't need to call me master; just call me Zhong Yan." Zhong Yan opened the door, skillfully taking a basin of warm water from her hands, and continued, "I've told you before, I can manage on my own. You don't need to serve me with warm water every single day."

"But... besides serving people, Lilith doesn't know how to do anything else. And... and Master rescued Lilith from that place. Lilith genuinely wants to stay by Master's side to repay your kindness."

Zhong Yan looked at her, sighed, and rubbed her head. "Same as before, be a good girl and wait for me here for a moment. I'll be right out after I wash up."

After breakfast, inside a study room.

"Lilith, over these past few days, what have you learned while studying alongside the other girls?"

"Um, there is a teacher who teaches us basic knowledge, a maid lady who teaches us how to live, and a knight uncle who teaches us how to cultivate. Besides, Lilith is already rank 6 now, and that uncle even praised me." In fact, Lilith was only ten years old this year, so starting cultivation at this age was not considered late at all.

Come to think of it, it seemed I was only fourteen myself this year.

Zhong Yan gently ruffled Lilith's hair; the texture, similar to his Senior Sister's, made it somewhat addictive. "Hmm, it seems they've been doing a pretty good job. So, what else has Lilith learned?"

"Mm-hmm, plenty! Whether it's the teacher or the maid lady, they've both constantly been teaching us to feel a sense of gratitude toward you, Master, and toward Spirits Temple, and to hold absolute loyalty to you. Actually, they didn't even need to tell us—after all, it was Master who rescued us from that dark place and arranged for people to teach us. But most importantly, Master is the one who treats us as real 'human beings'."

"Every single one of us feels that for the rest of our lives, you, Master, are our entire world."