Inside the Snow White Mountain, specifically on the lowest floor of their prison, Letizia was closing her eyes, trying to do whatever she could. Even if she was locked here, she was still able to gather Spiritual Energy around, advancing her cultivation little by little with the hope of becoming strong enough to escape from this place.
Even so, it didn't glorify her messy appearance. With chains in her neck, hands, and feet, she couldn't move around too much from the ground. There was also an array in her stomach that made her skin uglier.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes when she felt something smooth touching her and opened her mouth as soon as she saw a black cat stroking her head on her thigh.
"Have I started hallucinating?" Letizia questioned herself while staring at the cat with her fuzzy eyes before she recalled a certain incident in the past. There was also a certain animal that suddenly appeared in front of her, and it was in a place that one would never expect to sneak.
Recalling that animal and a certain figure, Letizia opened her eyes wide. She looked at the black cat who was carrying a Space Ring in her mouth.
"You…" Letizia wanted to shout but refrained herself. Although this place was only guarded outside the prison, it was still not wise to make a ruckus. She took a deep breath and whispered as low as possible. "Are you Master's pet?"
The black cat nodded before summoning a piece of paper, wanting Letizia to read it.
'I am Noel, Master's Shadow Cat Spirit. I have been with you since long ago, and Master also knows your situation. However, we are still lacking the power to oppose the Snow White Mountain, let alone freeing you from that restrain. They will know about this and prevent us from escaping.' She read inside her mind and nodded in understanding.
She was indeed Alex's burden because she got trapped in this ridiculous prison with many restraints. There was once a hope that Alex would save her, but the thought vanished when she realized everything was unrelated to him. She didn't know why the Snow White Mountain knew about her Loyalty Oath, and because of her inability, she got imprisoned.
The black cat took out another paper while storing the other one.
'Master wants to free you from this place, but it will only happen in around three years. He decided to do so after seeing your loyalty… Even though you had once a chatterbox and reduced you to a slave, you had changed. He even thought about freeing you from the oath despite many oppositions. That's why you should wait until the promised day comes.'
Letizia closed her eyes while gritting her teeth. 'I seem to have troubled him in many ways… No matter what I did, it would become trouble in the end. Even then, Master is still thinking about me…'
'Even though Master wants to free you from this place, you should also get stronger. He lets you take your own revenge on this influence that has mistreated you. That's why he sent me to give you this Space Ring.'
Noel leaped toward her hand and placed the Space Ring on her hand.
Letizia channeled her Spiritual Energy and opened her mouth wide, never expecting that the items inside the Space Ring were this much.
Not only Spirit Crystals, but also many Ice Element items that could enhance her cultivation and power. Without knowing why, her tears fell from her eyes as she looked down. Even after suffering this much, her Master still cared about her and even gave her this Space Ring. Could she ever repay him?
"Meow." Noel patted her tight before giving the last note.
'Only you can fight for yourself, so get as strong as possible and fight for yourself.'
Letizia nodded and noticed that Noel wanted to disappear. "Wait!"
Noel turned around and stared at her.
"Can you tell him, Thank you… for the Space Ring and saving my life? I certainly won't disappoint him this time."
Noel didn't think too much, nodded her head, and disappeared without a trace.
…
Meanwhile, Alex also got a message from Noel together with the translation from Nelson. Alex smiled and nodded.
"Sir. There is one thing that I want to talk about…"
"Hmm?"
"Do you know the Ancient Ruin?" He asked.
"Ah. I know what you mean." Alex nodded. "I am going to participate this time. The Fire God Clan will either die trying or not sending anyone. They will start declining at this rate."
"Since Sir has known about this, then I don't have anything to say." Song Jiaoren nodded with a solemn expression.
"What are we going to do next? I mean, as soon as we arrive at your clan?"
"Sir can rest in my courtyard first. Don't worry. I will hide your presence from the first elder and the third elder. I will probably head to discuss it with my fat… I mean, Patriarch and Grand Elder." Song Jiaoren corrected himself. "Even though it's not related to you directly, the first elder and the third elder must be plotting something against you as soon as they know your existence. That's why we will eliminate them first."
Alex thought for a moment. "Sure. I won't interfere with your decision."
"However, I might need to verify your card once again and present the proof to the Patriarch and Grand Elder. Will that be alright?"
Alex nodded.
Song Jiaoren fell into silence before he remembered another thing. "That's right. What does Sir want us to do for Song Yu and the fourth elder?"
Alex closed his eyes. Song Yu probably didn't need anything from him with her relationship with Astennu. As for the fourth elder, he wasn't someone he knew, so why would he want to do something for him. Hence, he shook his head. "Nothing. It's fine as it is."
"Then, we will wait until we arrive at our clan. Do you need something for these two weeks?"
"It's fine. I will just cultivate," Alex replied. "Before that, I feel that we also need to talk about the transaction for materials, pills, and other things."
"!!!" Song Jiaoren almost forgot about this because he was too shocked by Alex's Supreme VIP Card. Nicole had said this to him before, so he nodded with a serious expression. "Sure."
Alex tossed a Space Ring toward him and asked him to check. Because there were too many items that needed to be traded, inside that space ring actually contained many Space Rings. Song Jiaoren needed to check them one by one.
Alex closed his eyes for a few hours before he noticed Song Jiaoren was gasping.
"This…" His expression was becoming more and more distorted as time passed. The first few Space Rings couldn't do anything to him, but as he checked more and more Space Rings, he realized there were too many Space Rings that he needed to check. If all of them contained the same items as the other Space Rings, then…
Song Jiaoren was shocked by the thought alone, but he still had underestimated him. Counting the monster parts alone was already taxing to his heart due to its number, yet there was another surprise attack behind it. In the next Space Ring, he found a huge amount of rank 7 and rank 8 pills. Although their number wasn't that big, their value was far more than enough to reach a few hundred thousand Spirit Crystals.
At that time, he thought he couldn't get more surprised than he had right now. It was at this time the minerals and metals appeared inside the Space Rings. These items came from the eruption of a huge underwater volcano.
Alex was satisfied with the amount because the Freedom Sect also started gathering the minerals after realizing what kind of materials the volcano had spurted out. The number was astonishing and somehow made Licht wondering whether to go back to the surface or stay underwater. There was no way that they would get these many materials on the surface.
That was also why Song Jiaoren got shocked by the amount.
"This…" Song Jiaoren scratched his head, wondering what to say.
"What is it? Do you not have the ability to trade these?" Alex asked while furrowing his eyebrows.
"No. That's not it." Song Jiaoren shook his head hurriedly. "I am just surprised by the amount. Suppose I roughly estimate the value of all these items. In that case, it should be around one and a half million Spirit Crystals. That alone is equal to a few years of our gross revenue. Of course, this offer is the lowest amount I can offer. I guess the real value will exceed two million Spirit Crystals."
"So, this is a good deal, correct?"
"A good and big deal. No, I should say this might be the biggest deal we have ever had…" Song Jiaoren shook his head. Alexander had given nothing but surprises. Even though they might need to open their treasury a little bit, they would be able to sell them all twice or even thrice of the original price in a few years. He looked at Alex again and realized how terrifying the Spirit Nest was.
On the other hand, Alex was pretty hyped about the money. He wouldn't need to care about Spirit Crystals again when cultivating and could squander it without caring.
"I will handle this transaction myself, so Sir doesn't need to worry that you are getting undeserved payment." Song Jiaoren assured him.
"I trust your judgment." Alex smiled and thought another thing. 'How much money do the Seven Influences have? Considering these two million Spirit Crystals alone were considered to be a century of earning… Well, considering they are a few thousand years old influences, I assume they have around twenty million? Since they also need to take care of their members and control the city.'
Alex could arrive at that thought because he was bound to destroy Fire God Clan and probably Snow White Mountain. That was why he was wondering how much wealth he could get later.
"I will then excuse myself." Song Jiaoren nodded and left him in the room. "If you need anything, just call me. I will need to calculate the transaction first."
Alex nodded.
Song Jiaoren then left him alone. This small ship had enough rooms anyway, so no one actually made a ruckus and waited patiently.
…
Two weeks later,
Alex and Song Jiaoren arrived at the Blackwade Clan. They were situated inside a huge city that Alex somehow was unable to see the other edge. Alex calmly watched over the city from the ship as the townsfolk seemed not bothered by this sight.
"That is our mansion." Song Jiaoren pointed his finger toward a wide mansion in the center of the city. In fact, the mansion's size alone was able to rival that of a huge city.
"A city inside a city?"
Song Jiaoren heard Alex's remarks and explained. "This city is our business place. Well, you can treat it as a sect inside a city."
"I see." Alex nodded in understanding. Not long after, they arrived at the mansion, entering inside without any restriction.
Song Jiaoren asked them to bring him inside his own courtyard where Alex could come out without raising any suspicion.
Alex looked around and found only one sign of energy.
"Elders, you can go inform my father and grandfather first. I will meet them after I finish my business."
"We understand, Young Master." The elders nodded and took all the disciples away. They also had a special instruction from Song Jiaoren, which was to isolate the disciples until he had finished his discussion. It was to halt the information from spreading.
After that, Song Jiaoren stretched his hand with a smile. "This way."
Alex nodded and followed him. They went outside his courtyard and headed directly to a special room that almost no one knew about, especially after building a secret entrance to that room. Of course, Alex didn't forget to see his surroundings as he didn't want to get trapped here.
Finally, they found a thick wooden door at the end of the corridor.
Song Jiaoren pushed the door open, entering the room with Alex. To his surprise, the room was neat and beautiful, making the person who stayed here feel relaxed.
"I will be finishing the verification process. May I borrow your card again?" Song Jiaoren asked politely.