.


    In themercial area of the capital


    Although the night was still long, the streets of the capital were still illuminated, with many people going back and forth, either heading home or taking a stroll alone or in thepany of others.


    At this hour, the atmosphere was quite rxed, as everyone tried to ease the day''s fatigue in one way or another.


    Amidst the people walking down the main street of themercial area, two figures were strolling calmly.


    One was a man standing just over 180 cm tall, with long jet-ck hair tied back, dressed infortable robe (hanfu), walking with a slight smile.


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    Beside him walked a woman, slightly shorter by a few centimeters, also dressed infortable clothing.


    Both of them were strikingly attractive, enough to cause amotion wherever they went, but at that moment, it seemed no one even noticed them.


    "You could have gone a little easier on them, you know?" said the woman, continuing to walk forward calmly as she addressed the young-looking man beside her.


    "What are you trying to say?


    I was pretty gentle with them, you know? I only asked them a few questions, nothing more," said the man, with the air of someone falsely used.


    Bai Yu, however, didn''t believe him, looking at him with a deadpan expression as she recalled what had happened just half an hour ago in that alley.


    "You call that asking questions?


    If I hadn''t intervened and erased their memories, those three would probably have been traumatized for life," she said, shaking her head.


    "Oh,e on, you''re exaggerating too much.


    Besides, the important thing is that now we know exactly where the formation is located, right?"


    Once again, Bai Yu didn''t know what to say.


    ''It seems he''s gotten too used to experimenting on others'' souls,'' she thought, remembering how he had enjoyed creating soul puppets back in the pocket dimension.


    Back then, she had suggested it to help him with his problem; who would have thought this would be the result.


    Although she didn''t care much about those three, or the inhabitants of the mortal ne in general, she thought it was bad for him to develop such hobbies.


    On the other hand, his mastery of soul maniption had reached a level that wouldn''t normally be possible in such a short time.


    Although his mastery was still much lower than hers, she knew that at this rate, he would catch up to her in a few more years of training.


    And that was something that would strike fear into even some talented individuals of the celestial realm, as anything rted to souls was far tooplex to be learned easily and in a short time.


    Shaking her head internally, she then asked:


    "By the way, why are we here?" she asked, unsure why he had decided to take a nighttime walk.


    "I just wanted to take a walk," he said calmly, but Bai Yu didn''t believe him.


    She knew him too well and knew that for a workaholic like him, taking breaks of this kind was not normal.


    One thing was the day off he had taken after so long, and another was this so-called nighttime walk he had suddenly decided to take.


    Seeing that the dragon woman didn''t seem to believe him, he spoke with resignation.


    "Tch, there''s nothing I can hide from you, is there?


    But it''s a surprise, so wait a bit longer. You won''t be disappointed," he said as he slowed down and headed towards a small shop nearby.


    Bai Yu wanted to press him for answers immediately but decided to wait.


    Not that she minded anyway, as she had spent thest two days watching an alchemicalpetition, which was too boring for her.


    With the new information they had obtained, she was thinking of going straight to the colosseum''s underground to find and neutralize the formation, but it seemed they would have to wait a little longer.


    The shop where Ethan had stopped was an herb store.


    Seeing this, she became more confused.


    Why would someone who had an entire garden with almost every kind of rare herb stop here?


    she wondered.


    Ethan entered and came out within minutes, and then they headed towards his quarters.


    Once there, Ethan transported himself and Bai Yu to his minor dimension, where, upon arriving, he walked towards his wooden tform, which now had an even more refined look, and sat down, motioning for her to join him.


    Once they were both seated, she couldn''t help but joke:


    "What, did you decide to set up a romantic dinner?" she said teasingly.


    By now, they were both used to joking like this, and she never missed an opportunity to tease him a bit.


    Ethan, smiling at her, moved his hands and made tworge ss mugs, simr to typical beer sses, appear.


    And then, infusing his hand with spiritual Qi, he created two rings above the sses as he said:


    "Better, I''m sure you''ll like it."


    When she heard those words and saw the two sses, she immediately realized what it was and mumbled:


    "It can''t be that, right?"


    Although she spoke quietly, Ethan heard it but said nothing, smiling lightly as he seemed to press something in the air.


    Immediately, from those 2 cm diameter rings, a sparkling ck liquid began to pour directly into the sses, filling them.


    Seeing this scene, Bai Yu''s breath stopped for a moment as she guessed what it was.


    ''Is this an illusion?'' she wondered, not even questioning where the liquid wasing from.


    In no time, the tworge sses were filled almost to the brim, and only then did the liquid stop flowing.


    Now, the previously empty sses were filled with that sparkling ck liquid, which emitted a faint caramel scent.


    Noticing the dragon woman''s reaction, Ethan smiled and offered her the ss, encouraging her to take a sip.


    Still incredulous, Bai Yu took the ss with some skepticism and brought it to her lips, taking a delicate sip.


    Ethan, watching this scene, couldn''t help but curse mentally.


    ''She''s definitely doing this on purpose,'' he thought, seeing how elegantly she was sipping the drink.


    He had to admit that, although he was used to Bai Yu''s natural beauty, his defenses were not always strong enough against her, but he kept resisting.


    He had his male pride to uphold and wouldn''t let himself be defeated by her.


    As Ethan got lost in his thoughts, Bai Yu, who had just taken a sip of the drink, froze, her eyes widening.


    ''This vor, so delicate and refreshing, yet sweet and fizzy at the same time.''


    ''There''s no doubt, it''s really that.''


    As her eyes lit up, confirming her suspicions, she started taking a second sip, then a third.


    Seeing this reaction, Ethan smiled, satisfied with himself.


    ''It took time, but I managed to recreate the recipe,'' he thought, remembering the dozens of differentbinations he tried in his systemboratory while researching the C recipe.


    He had to admit that it had been challenging because there was one ingredient he couldn''t find in this world, so he tried to find alternatives, and only recently did he find a suitable one.


    He didn''t have that herb in his garden because it was toomon to bother nting there.


    So, he went to get it from the herbalist, and while he was there, he took some seeds, nning to create a small plot just for them.


    As he watched her finish therge ss in record time, he couldn''t help but wonder mentally how someone like her could fall in love with a drink like this.


    He would understand if it were a fine, strong wine, something both enjoyable to drink and savor.


    He was certain that if it were up to her, she would get drunk just drinking c.


    And indeed, as soon as she finished the ss, she mmed it on the table and said:


    "Give me another one, now. Ah, it''s been so long since Ist had it," she said, with an ecstatic expression on her face.


    "..."


    Ethan could only shake his head as he proceeded to create the rings in the air above the ss.


    These were created using a spatial technique that Ethan had recently learned.


    The technique itself wasn''tplicated.


    He simply thought of the portal he had created the first time he entered his pocket dimension and, using that as a base, made these rings to connect to his storage where the drink was stored once produced.


    He was essentially using an entire slot just to store the beverage.


    And so, the two spent the next few hours in the minor dimension, drinking c while admiring the garden scenery, which at night created a slightly magical and serene atmosphere.


    Many of the garden herbs had the characteristic of glowing at night, which,bined with the calm inside, created the perfect setting for rxation.


    The next day, the crowd at the colosseum was even more frenzied as the semifinals of the imperial tournament were finally beginning.


    Given the low number of people in both categoriespeting that day, instead of many tforms, the number was reduced to three for the novice category and one for the expert category.


    Unlike the novices, who still had a fewpetitors, there were just over ten people left in the expert category.


    As with yesterday, the day would be divided into two parts: the first for the participants of the novice category, and the second for the expert category.


    Since no one from their group was left in the novice category, the Sun City team only watched and waited for the matches as the first part of the day''spetitions ended.


    Even though they were only participatingter, they were still required to attend and be present, as failing to do so would be seen as disrespectful to the otherpetitors.


    Even Ethan, who thought he could spend this time cultivating in his minor dimension, came to watch.


    As he watched thepetitions, he was mentally conversing with Bai Yu, who had snuck into the colosseum''s underground.


    ''I can sense the aura of the formation,'' she said as she moved in her shrunken beast form.


    Hearing this, Ethan nodded mentally and said:


    ''Good, let''s see where you''re hiding,''