Fairy, please step aside, I've taken a liking to your man.

"You've emerged from quarantine?"

"We're out of quarantine!"

The Sixth Princess stared into Shen Bai's eyes, a hint of annoyance in her voice: "When are you planning to go into seclusion again?"

"Nascent Soul?"

Shen Bai's words immediately dissipated much of the resentment in the Sixth Princess's eyes: "I thought you had fallen in love with seclusion."

Qi Rui stood aside, trying hard to suppress her laughter, while Tong Lao sat upright in a chair nearby, drinking tea, a faint smile appearing on her lips.

Shen Bai, with a roguish grin, said, "How can I not love the opportunity to advance through seclusion?"

The sixth princess immediately gripped the cup in her hand, her anger rising instantly.

He actually likes to stay in seclusion?

Are you testing my patience?

Before she could say anything, Shen Bai suddenly took a few steps forward and strode up to her.

"you!"

The Sixth Princess looked at Shen Bai in shock. She knew that there were Phoenix Guards standing inside and outside the house, as well as her protector, Tong Lao. How dare he overstep his bounds like this?

Is he crazy?

Shen Bai took out an ice sculpture of a jade figure from his storage ring: "This is a little thing I came up with while practicing sword techniques during my seclusion. I hope Your Highness can give me some feedback."

The Sixth Princess looked at the jade figure in Shen Bai's hand with her phoenix eyes, and her eyes were immediately drawn to it.

She reached out and took the jade-like woman from her hand. Their hands touched slightly, and both could feel the other's heat.

She examined it closely and saw that the jade figure was composed of countless tiny ice crystal swords.

Each ice crystal sword is carved from the sixth-grade spiritual material, Nine Nether Ice Spirit Crystal. Within each ice crystal sword is compressed a sword intent, dozens of different sword intents, each emitting different colors, bound by a powerful sword aura, forming a crystal clear yet colorful jade figure.

The image of this beautiful woman is none other than the Sixth Princess.

"My darling!"

A glint of light flashed in the old woman's eyes: "This little thing has taken a lot of time and effort!"

Each ice crystal sword embodies a sword intent. This jade figure, though seemingly small, only three inches in size, contains no less than a thousand swords, each sword intent compressed to its extreme.

This level of control over sword intent is far beyond what ordinary people can achieve.

The fact that so many different sword intents are bound by sword momentum further demonstrates just how strong Shen Bai's talent in swordsmanship truly is.

This young man, disguised as the swordsman Li Bai, has made a great name for himself in the Kingdom of Luota, and it is no empty name.

Perhaps this kid already has the Sword Domain as a trump card!

Tong Lao's appreciation for Shen Bai grew stronger and stronger.

The affair between him and the Sixth Princess could not be kept from her; she had personally witnessed Shen Bai grow from a mere Qi Refining cultivator into a powerful Golden Core True Person.

At just 22 years old, he has already entered the Golden Core stage and mastered the Sword Domain. Such talent is unparalleled throughout history!

He was not only brave and resourceful, but he also went through life and death with the Sixth Princess many times. If it weren't for the restrictions of etiquette, she would be the first to approve of such a Daoist partner.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Shen Bai can reach the Nascent Soul stage as soon as possible.

Or perhaps, the title has been elevated to a higher rank.

……

A hint of surprise flashed in the Sixth Princess's eyes, but she remained seated dignifiedly: "You're so thoughtful, Qi Rui, serve tea."

Seeing that he had the upper hand, Shen Bai decided to stop and sat down to the seat below Tong Lao.

The sixth princess held the jade figure in her hands, liking it more and more as she looked at it.

She could tell that this jade figure was a top-grade magic artifact, at least of the fifth rank.

Moreover, it doesn't require magical activation; when attacked, this jade figure will transform into the sharpest sword and strike the attacker.

Even under the spirit-suppressing array, this jade figure can still be activated without being affected in the slightest.

Shen Bai's feelings filled her heart with sweetness.

"I noticed Your Highness was looking at the account books just now. Are you short of money lately?"

Shen Bai picked up the spiritual tea that Qi Rui handed him, took a sip, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

This spiritual tea is definitely a tribute from the imperial palace. Just one sip made me feel that my magical power, which had just advanced to the Golden Core stage, had become more stable.

"The tax revenue is not bad now, but after Qiyuan City expanded, the organization became too large, and it's a bit troublesome to support so many cultivators."

Shen Bai was not an outsider, and the Sixth Princess did not hide anything from him; moreover, the two had already discussed this topic before.

The Xuan Yuan Empire firmly controlled the fees for the teleportation array, preventing them from earning the largest portion of the revenue, which led to some cash flow problems for the Sixth Princess.

It is an undeniable fact that Qiyuan City is constantly expanding and countless enterprises are flocking to it, but this is only the beginning and the benefits have not yet been truly seen.

The funds required to maintain the massive city-protecting formation, the large number of cultivators, and to support high-level cultivators such as Nascent Soul True Monarchs, Divine Transformation Great Powers, and Integration Ancestors are terrifying.

Because Qiyuan City also needs to guard against the possibility of various countries uniting together to turn the tables on it.

If it were just an ordinary city, such a thriving business would be enough to sustain it.

However, even with her maternal clan's support, the Sixth Princess was still struggling to support so many cultivators.

War is always about spending money.

"How about I lend Your Highness a hand, as an interest-free loan?"

Shen Bai had long intended to help the Sixth Princess, but she had gritted her teeth and refused before.

"No interest?"

The Sixth Princess was immediately tempted, but she quickly shook her head and said, "No, that would delay your resources for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage!"

"The Nascent Soul stage is still a long way off. The most urgent task for Qiyuan City right now is to establish a firm foothold as soon as possible."

Shen Bai asked curiously, "I wonder how much funding Your Highness is still needed to overcome the current crisis?"

"At least another 1000 billion low-grade spirit stones are needed."

The Sixth Princess dismissed many of the Phoenix Guards, leaving only Tong Lao and Qi Rui inside the room.

"1000 billion?"

Shen Bai was stunned when he heard the number.

"I know this number is a lot."

The Sixth Princess sighed and said, "But that's already the bare minimum. My plan is for Qiyuan City to break even within a year..."

As the Sixth Princess was still speaking, Shen Bai pulled out a large handful of storage rings from his robes.

"Um, on my way back, I found a few storage rings. They seem to belong to some family in the Kingdom of Rota. I don't dare to look at them, so I'd appreciate it if Your Highness could help me deal with them."

The Sixth Princess's voice abruptly stopped. With a strange expression, she reached out and summoned all the storage rings into her hand. As she scanned them with her divine sense, her breathing suddenly became heavy.

"This is, this is..."

Shen Bai blinked: "I heard that the Kuna family wants to establish a new base on Qiyuan Star. I just happened to be passing by on my way out of seclusion."

Qi Rui and Tong Lao's eyes suddenly turned strange.

So you went and wiped out the entire Kuna family's pioneering team?

"Then, on my way here, I passed by more than a dozen strongholds of the Western Kingdom and the Eastern Island. They actually tried to rob me. Do you think I could tolerate that?"

Shen Bai was spouting nonsense with a straight face, but Qi Rui and Tong Lao understood that, given the boy's habits, he must have gone to rob companies in these countries specifically to retaliate against being falsely accused of splashing dirty water.

These companies were able to establish strongholds outside Qiyuan City, demonstrating their formidable strength.

However, Shen Bai was able to defeat them one by one, which shows that his strength is enough to suppress all those who dare to challenge him within the Golden Core stage.

Even if there are many people, they are no match for him.

Sure enough, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names!

Hedgehog, truly living up to its name.

"I estimate it's still a bit short. I'll have Kunbai Pharmaceutical and Luoma Military Factory transfer all their recent profits over there. Anyway, I don't need any money right now."

Shen Bai spoke as if it were a trivial matter: "If that's not enough, just tell me again. I have some savings of my own."

"Secret stash of money?"

The Sixth Princess's eyes, which had been filled with emotion, suddenly turned sharp.

He actually has a secret stash of money?

Who gave it to you?

Qi Rui and Bai Qingqing are both from ordinary families, so they probably don't have any spare money for him.

Si Qing? Or Hu Feier?

These two are both quite wealthy; they should have some savings!

Could it be Vanka's secret stash of money?

Yes, Vanka controls Rota City, and any resources he casually leaks to Shen Bai would be a considerable sum.

Hmph, it's that vixen again!

……

Shen Bai let out a soft "uh," realizing he'd let something slip.

He had no choice but to take out a few more storage rings from his pocket and hand them to the Sixth Princess: "This isn't really my private stash. It's just that two spoiled brats from that family wanted my life. I taught them a lesson, and they obediently handed over their storage rings to me."

The sixth princess took the storage ring, glanced at it, and immediately understood that these rings belonged to people like Philip and Janard.

Before his death, it is said that Fei Pu took over the management of the mine in place of Li Bai, and all the mining harvest was basically stored in his storage ring.

In addition, since they were both direct descendants of the Kuna family, their wealth was by no means small. Furthermore, their storage rings contained the salaries that the Kuna family had prepared to distribute to the family's cultivators.

The wealth contained in these dozens of storage rings, if converted into spirit stones, would be no small sum.

This represents the initial capital of dozens of families and companies, as well as the spoils from plundering Qiyuan Star's resources over such a long period.

Adding them all up, even if it's not quite 100 billion, it's close enough.

Moreover, the fact that we are short of 100 billion is not a sudden shortage, but rather a significant amount of additional funding needed over the next year.

"You've really helped me a lot!"

The Sixth Princess could hardly contain her gratitude. She wanted to throw herself into Shen Bai's arms, but with Qi Rui and Granny Tong present, she hesitated to move. She could only twist her body in her seat and say, "Qi Rui, go and tell the kitchen to prepare some wine and dishes. I want to thank Lord Shen properly."

Qi Rui smiled and said, "Your Highness, I obey your command! Since Lord Shen has sent both gifts and money, I will have the kitchen prepare a sumptuous lunch. It may take a little while, Your Highness, please wait a moment."

The Sixth Princess glared at Qi Rui, seemingly annoyed that she was talking too much, but she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes.

The old woman coughed lightly, "This old woman needs to go cultivate now. Your Highness, if you need anything, please call me anytime!"

The sixth princess quickly stood up: "Take care, Granny Tong!"

As the old woman passed by Shen Bai, she nodded in satisfaction and said, "Young man, not bad. Keep it up and try to break through to the Nascent Soul stage soon."

Shen Bai quickly stood up: "Don't worry, Granny Tong, I definitely won't slack off!"

As soon as Granny Tong walked out of the reception room, Shen Bai turned around and hugged the Sixth Princess into his arms. The Sixth Princess was so flustered that she hurriedly activated the magic array to isolate the entire reception room from the outside world.

"You're crazy! You scared me to death just now, walking right up to me... um..."

The sixth princess coughed a few times suddenly, then weakly pounded Shen Bai's chest with her small hand before immersing herself in the spring-like atmosphere of the hall.

"Shall we go to the bedroom?"

"No, right here, this is exciting!"

……