The other sellers in the market were buzzing with disbelief and envy.
"Can you believe that? He actually paid 150,000 gold coins for that ship."
"It's unbelievable."
"He must be the child of some wealthy and powerful family."
"We should have tried harder to get their attention," one seller lamented, shaking his head.
"If we had just pushed a bit more, those 150,000 gold coins could have been in our pockets," another added with a sigh.
They all shared a sense of regret. If only they had managed to catch the eye of Aditya and Riya, they could have made a sale that day—a sale so big that the profit from it would have set them up for many days to come.
"We really missed an opportunity," one seller moaned.
"Absolutely. That old man is so lucky," another grumbled.
"And he wasn't even trying to sell that ship, but look at the profit he made!" a third chimed in, his voice tinged with jealousy.
They all stared as Aditya and Riya finalized their purchase, feeling a mix of regret and envy for not being the ones to make such a lucrative sale.
Aditya walked up to the massive desert ship he had just bought. It was a huge ship, stretching over 100 meters from end to end. He paused to look at the desert, then placed his hand on the side of the ship. In the blink of an eye, the entire ship vanished.
Everyone around gasped and their eyes went wide. They couldn't believe what they had just seen. The old man, who had sold the ship, was especially shocked. His eyes were the widest, his body shook, and he took a big, loud breath. It was as if he had been struck by lightning.
The old man and the other sellers couldn't help but think, 'This young man has a magic ring that can hold a ship more than 100 meters long. How big must that ring be?'
Everyone knew that the more storage inside a magic storage ring, the more it would cost. Even a small ring, with just enough space to hold something 10 meters on each side, could cost a million coins. But Aditya's ring must be incredibly huge inside. It might even be worth a billion coins.
The old man who sold the ship felt a bit ashamed as he watched Aditya and Riya. He thought to himself, 'I was not very nice to this young man. I almost made them leave because of the way I acted. I need to think about how I behaved and make sure I don't do it again.' He shook his head, lost in his thoughts.
"Ready to go?" Aditya turned to Riya.
"Yes," she replied with a nod.
Hand in hand, they walked away from the market, their task completed.
The members of the Tigrine clan who had been quietly tracking them now had expressions of fear. They were shocked at how wealthy Aditya and Riya seemed to be.
'This couple is too rich and powerful for us to bother,' they concluded, deciding it was best to leave them alone. The ring that could store such a large ship must be worth almost a billion gold coins. To this couple, it seemed like 150,000 gold coins were just a small amount of money. The trackers realized that meddling with such wealthy people was a bad idea. Wealthy people often have a lot of power and influence, and it's not smart to get on their bad side.
"Let's get out of here. There's nothing more for us to see," One of the men from the Tigrine clan said.
"Okay, let's go," Others two agreed.
But just as the three men started to leave, something strange and frightening happened. Green, plant-like ropes sprang from the ground and wrapped around them tightly. These ropes covered their entire bodies, even their mouths, so they couldn't shout for help. They were pulled away quickly and quietly to a hidden spot where no one could see what was happening.
In the quiet of the alley, when they could finally look around, their hearts pounded with fear. Standing in front of them was the same couple they had been secretly following.
"Who said you could go?" Aditya's voice was so cold it made them feel like they were freezing.
Aditya examined the three who had been tracking them. They were indeed from the Tigrine clan, just as he had thought. To Aditya and Riya, these three tigerkins seemed very weak, as weak as tiny bugs. That's why they didn't stop them from following earlier.
But now, with their other business finished, it was time to deal with their secret followers.
Actually, these three from the Tigrine clan were not weak at all. The strongest among them was a Peak Second-order cultivator. The other two weren't far behind; they were Mid second-order cultivators. But Aditya and Riya were so much stronger that even the top-level cultivators seemed like tiny bugs to them, easy to squash if they wanted to.
"Now, tell me by nodding your heads. Why? Why have you been following us?" Aditya asked, his smile wasn't friendly at all, but scary, as if he was looking forward to something bad.
Aditya and the girls had decided to keep a low profile so as to not draw too much attention to themselves, but sometimes, like now, they had to set aside that rule. After all, it wasn't Aditya who started it. It was the Tigrine clan who provoked them.
At the same time, Riya gently took away the green roots from one of the Tigerkin's mouths. She could control these green roots with her thoughts. "We came to find the person causing the rain," said the Tigerkin, his voice trembling as he looked at Aditya.
Aditya understood what Huda had told him about the City Lord was indeed true. The rain must have lowered their profits and this was going to continue for the upcoming weeks. Although it was made illegal to store rainwater, many families must have stored rainwater. This meant that fewer people were going to spend money on buying water from them. And given how massive the population of this city was, there was simply no way for the members of the Tigrine clan to search everyone's houses to know if they had stored rainwater or not.
The little bit of killing intent that Aditya was letting out made the Tigerkin feel like he was stuck in a very deep, dark place. He was frozen and couldn't move, his body hurt all over, and it was hard to breathe as if a huge rock was pressing down on his chest. But it was actually the fear from the small amount of killing intent coming from Aditya that was making him feel this way.
"Oh... really!!!" A smile came across Aditya's face. "I guess Zarim sent the three of you here," he said, still smiling.
The three Tigerkins nodded their heads quickly, showing they were scared for their lives. They knew now that they had made a big mistake by following such powerful people. Their lives were completely in the hands of Aditya and Riya, depending on how they felt.
Aditya turned to Riya. "Riya, why don't you head back to the inn? I need to have a short visit with Zarim," Aditya said with a smile playing on his lips.
"Okay, but please don't be too late," Riya replied, looking a bit worried.
"I won't be," Aditya promised, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Riya was very satisfied with the kiss as a beautiful smile blossomed on her face.
The three Tigerkins watched this, feeling speechless. They envied Aditya's life, seeing him so close and loving with his beautiful partner. He was rich, strong, and had someone who cared for him. What more could anyone want?
To them, it seemed like Aditya and Riya didn't even care about the Tigrine clan or its members. They were just living their lives, not worried about the clan at all. This just showed the confidence that they had.
"What should I do about them?" Riya asked about the three Tigerkins that were still tied to her green roots.
Aditya thought for a moment and responded. "Just destroy their Mana hearts and then throw them away." Aditya felt that he was already showing them mercy by not killing them.
"Alright." Riya agreed quickly. She also felt that this would be the right punishment for these three.
Swoosh!!!!
Crimson Warp Flash!!!
Under Riya's eyes, Aditya disappeared. Using Crimson Warp Flash, he instantly appeared in front of the big tower located at the center of the City.
Aditya landed at the entrance of the tower. Seeing this, the guards didn't look too pleased. If anything, they got ready to fight.
Really Thank you very much to all those who send support with valuable golden tickets. I hope we can keep it up!!!
