232: The Daughter of the Federation, Bai Yaxian
Su Ningyu opened the brocade box.
A coin lay inside.
It was bronze-colored, round with a square hole, and its surface was covered with the traces of time.
An ancient character he didn't recognize was engraved on the front of the coin.
On the back was a micro-carving.
An unnamed Auspicious Beast, stepping on auspicious clouds with a copper coin in its mouth.
A faint, indescribable energy fluctuation slowly spread from the coin.
It wasn't about how high the energy intensity was, but rather the nature of that fluctuation.
It carried a mysterious aura, as if connected to some higher-level rules.
Su Ningyu's [Spirit Eye] operated automatically, scanning the coin.
The feedback information was blurred, with only a few vaguely discernible phrases: Ancient, Spiritual Qi, Fortune, Luck.
Lucky Frog's Fortune God sequence.
This was exactly what the first stage, the Fortune Golden Toad, required.
A special coin-type spiritual item containing a powerful concept of "fortune."
Su Ningyu closed the brocade box, the upward curve of his lips much wider than before.
"That's right, this is it."
He put away the brocade box and left the place.
He stepped out the door.
With a thought from Su Ningyu, the beast taming codex shimmered with light, and Lucky Frog appeared on his shoulder.
Its white jade-like body glowed with a warm luster under the golden sunlight, with golden patterns faintly visible.
As soon as it came out, it took a deep breath, its amber eyes narrowing into slits, wearing a comfortable expression of "finally out for some air."
"Here."
Su Ningyu took the brocade box from his robe, opened it to reveal the ancient copper coin inside, and said, "Take this. This is one of the conditions for your evolution. Now, all that's left is for your strength to meet the standard and for you to automatically comprehend destiny or Luck-type skills."
Lucky Frog's amber eyes instantly bulged.
It stared at the copper coin, sensing that mysterious energy fluctuation; the entire frog was no longer calm.
"Gua."
It rolled the entire copper coin into its mouth, its cheek bulging into a small lump, then patted its belly with satisfaction, its small paws thumping against its round tummy with a dull sound.
"Gua gua!" (Understood! Don't worry, Master, I already have a feeling. I feel like I'll be able to comprehend the skill very soon.)
Lucky Frog puffed out its chest, clenched its small paws into fists, its beady black eyes burning with intense fighting spirit.
"Gua gua gua!" (I, Great King Lucky Frog, am about to welcome my highlight moment!)
Su Ningyu looked at its vow-filled appearance, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
"Is that so? Well, if you fail to comprehend it for a long time, I'll have Ballot ramp up the intensity for you."
Lucky Frog's body visibly stiffened.
Ballot.
That black Dragon who tore the Zerg Empress to pieces in one bite during the Empress's Calamity—he was going to ramp up the intensity?
Just thinking about that scene made Lucky Frog feel like its frog life had reached its end.
"Gua..." It didn't want to die yet.
Su Ningyu smiled and didn't continue to scare it.
The man and frog walked along the street toward home.
Binjiang City at night was quiet and peaceful.
The streetlights stretched his shadow long; occasionally, nocturnal tamed beasts soared overhead, the wind from their wings rustling the roadside trees.
Su Ningyu walked through an intersection.
A program was playing on the large screen ahead, and as the scenes shifted, a beautiful figure appeared on the screen.
Su Ningyu's pace slowed down.
On the large screen across the street, a promotional video was playing.
In the video, a woman in a long white dress stood in the center of a stage, the spotlight hitting her and outlining her silhouette with a silver edge.
She closed her eyes, tilted her head back slightly, gently raised her hands, and then—the singing began.
The voice was as clear as a spring and as ethereal as the wind, as if it could penetrate the screen and reach straight into one's heart.
The scene changed, and a photo of her with her tamed beast appeared on the screen.
A massive swan, pure white with frost-like wings, floated quietly behind her.
Below the screen, a line of large characters slowly appeared: "The famous Longteng Federation singer Bai Yaxian is about to arrive at Yunmeng Star for a week-long consolation performance."
"It is reported that this performance aims to soothe the emotional trauma of the people affected by the Empress's Calamity, while also serving as a warm-up for the upcoming World Breeder Competition."
"Bai Yaxian stated that she is very much looking forward to meeting her fans on Yunmeng Star."
Su Ningyu looked at that exquisite and gentle face on the screen, dazed for a moment.
Bai Yaxian.
The most famous singer in the Longteng Federation, bar none.
Her singing was hailed as "the voice that can heal the Soul."
Tickets for her concerts were always hard to come by, and her albums had topped the sales charts on the Star Net for seven consecutive years.
Her fans were spread across every inhabited planet in the Longteng Federation.
Her influence had surpassed the scope of the entertainment industry; she was a cultural symbol of the Longteng Federation and a spiritual pillar for countless people.
She was the "Daughter of the Federation" who would arrive at the scene immediately after every disaster to soothe the pain with her songs.
The reason Su Ningyu knew her wasn't because he followed the entertainment industry much, but because of his roommate—Jiang Shanghua.
Jiang Shanghua was usually as silent as a rock, not saying even ten words a day.
But once, when Su Ningyu got up in the middle of the night to drink water, he saw a small lamp lit by Jiang Shanghua's bedside; he was holding one of Bai Yaxian's albums with an expression that was almost devout.
That was the first time he had seen that "silent gourd" show such an expression.
"If Jiang Shanghua knew Bai Yaxian was coming to Yunmeng Star, he would definitely be very excited," Su Ningyu murmured to himself.
What he didn't know was that his roommates—
Jiang Shanghua, Lin Dong, and Chai Bohuai—had all been stimulated by something after the Empress's Calamity, each of them becoming "Kings of Involution," working day and night to improve themselves during the holidays.
Jiang Shanghua woke up at four every morning to train his tamed beasts, and Lin Dong went directly into the deep mountains and old forests for some "Ascetic Training." As for the reason?
It was simple: they didn't want to be left too far behind by Su Ningyu.
Su Ningyu withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.
Night fell in the Mirror World.
The Mirror World was exceptionally "lively" today.
Two "old monsters" were taking action at the same time, and Su Ningyu's four tamed beasts were being drilled to the point of exhaustion.
Ballot had transformed into his human form, holding a longsword condensed from spells, with faint blue runic light flowing along the blade.
He stood in the center of the field, looking expressionlessly at the four panting beasts in front of him.
"Hey, hey, hey, done already?" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chill that made one's spine tingle.
"And you still want to be the Master's tamed beasts? Even trash should have limits."
Little Bell's petals were curled up, its pale gold light flickering, clearly having consumed a massive amount of energy.
It had just been hit seventeen times in a row by Ballot's spells; every single time, its skill release was precisely interrupted, leaving it without even a chance to fight back.
Coal Ball lay on the ground, its twin tails spread out weakly, their faint blue luster much dimmer than usual.
The speed it took pride in was meaningless before Ballot.
That black Dragon seemed to be able to predict every single one of its evasion trajectories; the longsword would always be pressed against its throat the moment it landed.
Slime had turned into a literal puddle of "liquid," spread out on the ground without even the strength to wriggle.
In its simple consciousness, only one thought remained: Why fight? Why can't I just be a puddle of jelly quietly?