A year soon passed since the day Yvette first arrived in the Aasmany Clan.

A few weeks after the tournament, Behnam, her brother, received various invitations from the Nine Great Cultivation Grounds. But after he weighed the benefits, he narrowed his options to the Sky Piercing Sect and the Adventus Academy which was formed by the human race, and the most mysterious of the nine cultivation grounds, Heaven Path Academy.

In the end, Behnam chose Heaven Path Academy with the support of the clan and was brought away by an envoy a few days after his acceptance. In the end, he was not able to return for Yvette’s sixth birthday, the day in which she first arrived at the clan.

Still, occasionally, Behnam would send a few letters back to the clan through the Messenger Guild. In that way, they could still keep in touch occasionally.

Aside from the absence of Behnam, not much change occurred within Yvette’s everyday life.

Just like in the past, she kept on trying to improve herself. Constantly training and studying during each moment she could use.

In that time, she made few improvements.

The Yin-Yang Seed within her dantian was just like a bottomless pit, unable to be sated no matter how much Yin and Yang Qi she put in.

Unfortunately, this caused her body to not show any real improvement, leaving it at the level of early Body Refining Stage. But her parents did not question her about it, more so the ordinary clan members.

She had also managed to familiarize herself with the acupuncture breathing technique. Unfortunately, as she had not found any time to master any of the acupuncture techniques, the breathing technique could only become useless.

On another end, her Void Movement Technique met a slight improvement. Unlike before when she could not even feel herself moving to the void, she could now be in a half-conscious state as she uses the technique. In that way, she continued to attempt to comprehend the process of her body being sent to the void so that she no longer needed to envelop herself in her Yin Qi to use the technique.

Meanwhile, she learned how to use the pair of war fans she received from the small store, which she later learned that it is actually the secret weapon storage of the clan. When she inserted her Qi into the fan, she could feel her Qi flowing much easier in comparison to flowing it into normal items.

Not only that, she also found it much easier to make the blades move according to her wishes. Unfortunately, she had not learned how to split her mind to control different Qi flows, making her only able to wield the blades so that it moved in the same direction. And that is the direction she attempted to improve in regards to the war fans, though it had not met with much improvements.

She had also gathered much more knowledge and continued to train more in Formations and Inscriptions, and as she had already finished her training on etiquette, she had even more time to train.

And now, as she turned six years old, she heard a certain news.

“There is a Chaos Stone being auctioned in a nearby city?”

Yvette inquired as she looked towards Daiyu.

“Yes, my lady.”

After a moment of pondering, Yvette continued.

“Let us go visit my parents.”

“Chaos Stone in Blood River City?”

At Esfir’s question, Yvette nodded in affirmation.

As Esfir hesitated, Bahram who has been staying quiet all this time spoke.

“You have my permission. But you must bring guards with you and once you have found what you wanted, you must return immediately.”

Without hesitation, Yvette accepted the conditions while Esfir glared at him.

Unperturbed, he continued, “There is a branch of our clan within that city, so you will be staying there. You may also pull out as much money as you need from the branch.”

As his words ended, Esfir handed a pouch to Yvette.

“I stored a few attack talismans and a message talisman inside the pouch. If you are ever in trouble and require our help, do not hesitate to use the message talisman. And should you ever be in danger, use the attack talismans. Always remember that your safety comes first before everything else.”

Raising her head, Yvette met eyes with Esfir whose gaze was filled with worry. After a moment of uncertainty, Yvette finally nodded her head to assure her mother.

Seeing this, Esfir sighed, “Prepare yourself for the trip today, we will prepare your transportation and guards.”

Saying thus, Esfir walked out of the garden.

Without saying anything, Yvette also silently departed from the garden after bidding farewell to her father.

The next day, Yvette, accompanied by Daiyu and two female guards at the Early Qi Condensing Realm, rode a carriage right outside the city and headed straight for the Black Gale City.

“Are you sure this is fine?”

Esfir asked with worry as her gaze never left the leaving carriage.

“Blood River is not too far. We must also not keep her within the clan forever, she will have to be capable of being independent at one point of her life.” Saying thus, Bahram took a final look at the disappearing carriage before returning back to the clan, soon followed by Esfir who was still filled with worry.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage which was pulled by a pair of vigorous horses, Yvette sat cross-legged in meditation with Daiyu while the two female guards sat on the coach, taking turns to hold the reins.

Occasionally, Daiyu would stop her meditation to observe how the two guards drove the carriage and attempted to simulate it in her mind. And at one point, Daiyu even asked for them to teach her how to drive the carriage, which they accepted.

By the time they reached Blood River City, the sky has already turned red from the setting sun.

At the back of the line of carriages wanting to enter Blood River City was Yvette’s carriage. Though she found it weird how there could be so many people wanting to enter the city, Yvette still patiently waited as she sat inside the carriage, meditating, while at the coach of the carriage were the two guards. But unlike before, their hair was no longer silver, but raven black.

Once their carriage finally arrived before the gates of the city, one of the female guards passed the gate guard a silver coin as an entrance fee before proceeding inside.

When the carriage entered the city, Yvette lifted the curtains of the carriage window and looked out to observe the city.

As a middle tier city, Blood River City is naturally not as prosperous as East City. And compared to Stellar City, which is also a middle tier city, it is not as lively. But naturally, the city has its own advantage, with it being famous and yet also infamous for its strong and strict army.

On the streets, even to the hidden alleyways hidden within the dark, soldiers could be seen patrolling around with a hard expression.

After some time, the carriage arrived before a large, three-storied white building. Above the entrance, a plate could be seen hung there with the words ‘Aasmany’ written on it.

Stopping before the entrance, the two female guards went down from their coach while Daiyu and Yvette who wore a veil stepped out from inside the carriage.

Before the guards standing before the entrance could say anything, one of the female guards took out a token. Seeing it, the guards relaxed and opened the entrance for them.

When Yvette entered the building, she saw various items put on display around the shop, ranging from talismans, pills, to other general tools of cultivators. Meanwhile, the hair of her two female guards once again reverted to its silver color.

As she observed the shop, a voice suddenly came from deeper inside.

“Young mistress Yvette, I believe?”

Looking towards the source, Yvette saw a lean man with a golden hair and sky blue eyes filled with craftiness. But unlike those from the clan, she noticed that the hair and pupils of the man before her looked darker as if they were much more impure.

Turning towards the man, Yvette answered, “Yes, I am.”

Following her confirmation, the man bowed his head. “My name is Casper; it is my honor to meet you.” Raising his head, he continued “If you would please follow me, I will take you to your room.” Saying thus, Casper led the group of four up to the third floor of the building.

Standing before the doors leading to the rooms, Casper spoke “This is the quarters of the workers, as they are all currently unused, young mistress can freely choose whichever room you desire. Should there be anything inadequate, please tell any of the workers, we will do our best to accommodate any of you.”

As Casper walked back to the shop, Yvette went and checked a nearby room. Inside the room, there were only four simple beds placed separately into two, with two being on the right while the other two being on the left.

Seeing this, she assigned the two beds on the left to her two female guards, while taking the two beds on the right for her and Daiyu. After that, she told her two guards that they may take turns protecting her and looking into information regarding the current situation of Blood River City until the auction starts. Finished doing so, she took off her veil and started cultivating atop her bed.

Without questioning her words, one of the guards and Daiyu also entered the room and meditated while the other female guard went to gather information as Yvette instructed.

In that way, two days passed, and on the third day they stayed there, the auction finally started.

Inside the carriage, Yvette observed the streams of carriages and people moving towards the Golden Leaf Auction House.

When the carriage was parked at the side of the auction house, her two guards, whose hair once again turned black, and Daiyu led her into the auction house.

Once they reached the entrance of the auction house, a bespectacled man came out and spoke respectfully, “Please deposit a hundred gold coins for each person’s entrance.”

From what Yvette have gathered during her past readings, she knew that a gold coin equates to 100 silver coins and 10,000 copper coins, which is what an average mortal family income could gain in a year.

But from what she gathered the past few days, she knew that this hundred gold coin deposit for each person is the limit of the Gold Leaf Auction House for their average customers in accordance to its worth.

Knowing so, she nodded towards Daiyu, indicating her consent.

Seeing this, Daiyu stepped forward and took out a pouch Yvette had given her before. From it, she took out four hundred pieces of gold coin and handed them to the man.

When the man noticed how the small pouch was able to store such a large amount of gold coin, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Spatial pouch?’

When the thought passed through his mind, he took another look at the young girl wearing a veil who seemed to be the head of the group.

Opening the pouch, the amount of gold coin inside caused the man to momentarily gape in astonishment before he quickly restored his composure.

After he moved the gold coins inside to another pouch, the man spoke with a tone more respectful than before, “A deposit of a million gold coins, eligible for VIP room. I will be guiding you there.”

Saying thus, the man handed the pouch bag to Daiyu before leading the group into the auction house.

As the bespectacled man led the four to the VIP room, he secretly took a few glances towards Yvette. But to his dismay, he was unable to discern the identity of the little girl. And at one point, he even felt as if she and the other three knew that he has been secretly taking glances at her, causing his heart to chill.

After that, he no longer dared to have any more ideas and quietly led them to their VIP room.

When they finally arrived before the VIP room, the bespectacled man tried to hide his apprehension with a smile, “Please enjoy your time.” Saying thus, he did his best to calmly walk away.

On the other hand, Yvette who was the target of the man’s apprehension did not think much of those stealthy glances as she had received many of them within the clan.

And so, entering the room, Yvette took a seat in the VIP seat while Daiyu and the two female guards stood right behind her.

Not long after, a girl who introduced herself as a worker who will be serving her during the auction came and soon followed by a voice from the auction stage.

“The auction shall now start!”