Chapter 72: Heaven is Round and Earth is Square

“Don’t you remember me?”

“Oh, isn’t this Baron Leicester? Long time no see. You still remember me?”

Shu Yue looked at the man before her without showing the slightest hint of fear.

Thinking back to her early days…

Ahem, when she first arrived, she had to be cautious and read the room.

But now, with Luolan backing her, even Baron Leicester had to treat her with utmost respect, not daring to slack off.

“Lord Liya, we just met this morning,” Baron Leicester replied with an ingratiating smile.

“Oh.”

Shu Yue put on a look of sudden realization and nodded.

Seeing his expression, Shu Yue understood that he knew who had spoken on his behalf, allowing him to stand here unscathed and preventing the Leicester family from suffering the wrath of the higher nobles.

But did that mean he wouldn’t have to pay a price?

Obviously not!

Shu Yue gave a faint smile and pointed to the chair beside her, saying, “Baron Leicester, please have a seat.”

Baron Leicester, true to his title, knew when to bend and gave Shu Yue plenty of face.

“Lord Liya, you should sit first.”

After all, this man before him was the pretty face who could make the Little Princess of the Northern Frontier spare his life.

A favor could be repaid.

But if he offended Shu Yue, a single whispered word beside Luolan’s ear would bring utter disaster.

Shu Yue nodded, seeing how savvy he was, and didn’t stand on ceremony.

Nine days ago, she still had to address Baron Leicester as ‘father-in-law,’ but now Shu Yue’s status had skyrocketed.

Who in Grey Pine City wouldn’t fawn over her? Who would dare not to?

She could even call him ‘Little Lei’ now.

How quickly things had changed.

With Luolan’s arrival, the Baron had roughly guessed why Shu Yue had sought him out alone, so he came straight to the point.

“Lord Liya, whatever you need, just tell me.”

Shu Yue sat down leisurely and looked at Baron Leicester across from her.

“Tsk!”

She raised her hand and patted it downward lightly, signaling him not to speak so openly about such matters.

“There’s one thing I’m curious about. How did Baron Jim die?”

“He… was naturally killed by the Black Feather Sect.”

Baron Leicester was a bit puzzled, quickly trying to figure out what Shu Yue meant by this question.

In reality, Baron Jim had been dealt with by him and Viscount Hermann together.

The man had obstructed the plans of the higher nobles, so naturally he had to be eliminated.

Besides, Baron Jim did have ties to the Black Feather Sect, though shallow, but it was enough of an excuse.

“Just as I thought.”

Shu Yue looked as if she had expected it, then changed the subject.

“By the way, they must have found quite a lot of things in his mansion. How were they handled?”

“This…”

Baron Leicester hadn’t expected Shu Yue’s appetite to be so large; she was asking for a share right off the bat.

Did Shu Yue really want them?

She only wanted the dragon blood; the rest could be given as needed.

But before asking, she had to make the quantity sound large.

The theory of “tearing off the roof” worked even in another world.

Especially strategic resources like Dragon Blood Potions— most of them had been taken by the Viscount.

Baron Leicester hadn’t gotten much; the lion’s share had gone to Viscount Hermann, which put him under great pressure.

When dividing the “inheritance” of the Jim family, the leftovers were his, along with hush money for others.

The assets of the Jim family certainly weren’t devoured by the Baron alone; everyone had to split them.

Now Shu Yue demanding from Baron Leicester was equivalent to asking him to recreate the Jim family from scratch, which was naturally extremely difficult.

Seeing his grim expression, Shu Yue knew it wasn’t easy, so she coughed lightly behind her hand and said,

“Well, I’m not a greedy person. Dragon blood— give me enough dragon blood, and that will count as your life ransom. You can give according to your judgment. As for what I’m thinking, you’ll have to guess.”

After listening, Baron Leicester pondered for a moment, then forced a smile and replied,

“Since it’s Lord Liya’s request, I will certainly do my utmost.”

“Mm.”

Shu Yue nodded.

“Also, collect their shares for me too. Don’t be fooled by Luolan’s quiet demeanor— when she gets fierce, she really will kill you all. Thank goodness I was there, or your lives would have been lost at the church gates.”

As she finished, she spread her hands and let out a soft sigh.

The name Luolan made Baron Leicester’s heart skip a beat.

When Shu Yue said Luolan would kill them all, he didn’t doubt it at all and fully believed Luolan had that ability.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said quickly, “Lord Liya, I will see to your matter immediately!”

“Go ahead, and while you’re at it, convert my assets in Grey Pine City into gold coins.”

Shu Yue waved her hand, dismissing him.

Would Luolan really kill them?

She thought probably not.

After all, it was at the church gates; killing those nobles would be irrational.

Luolan seemed like the very calm type, and the people around her would stop her.

Shu Yue’s words just now were merely intimidation.

In the eyes of outsiders, whatever Shu Yue said was law; they wouldn’t dare to gamble on whether a heavenly beloved girl in love might act willfully.

As the saying goes, whoever controls the interpretation holds absolute say.

Even if they were actually killed by Luolan, the consequence would only be Luolan being grounded for a month.

Maybe she’d be released after two or three days; Miss Luolan would still be that young lady, but their graves would be overgrown with weeds.

At that time, someone might even say,

“You only lost your lives, but the young lady was grounded for two or three days— do you know how precious her time is?”

Shu Yue’s shakedown went smoothly.

Everyone paid money, gave dragon blood, or turned over Dragon Blood Potions.

In the end, she collected a large sum of money and quite a few dragon-blood-related materials.

The Star Tempering Art could extract a specific property from objects, so there was no reason why it couldn’t work on Dragon Blood Potions.

The reason Shu Yue had previously not used Dragon Blood Potions but sought dragon blood directly was because extracting after brewing the potion would consume more Spirituality.

Moreover, Dragon Blood Potions were expensive; it was more cost-effective to buy raw dragon blood.

But now that she could get them for free, she naturally had to ask for them.

Most of the gold coins were exchanged for gold bricks, leaving only a little over a hundred coins as pocket money.

The amount of Dragon Blood Potions was a bit large, and though the sub-dragon blood was less, Shu Yue immediately refined a batch after getting it and then stored it in the mirror space.

She also realized that three cubic meters of space was still too small.

It was fine for daily necessities, but for bulk goods, the volume was insufficient.

She rubbed her aching temples and looked down at the mirror in her hand.

This was a gift from Eustia, previously used to store the Mana Element Cube, and now it held the unextracted dragon blood, filling the entire space to the brim.

Shu Yue weighed the mirror in her hand; its weight was completely different from when she first got it.

‘If I refine it all, I should get about thirty-three drops of dragon blood. I wonder if it can undergo another qualitative change…’

‘This trip really paid off. How many years would I have to grind monsters in the Outlands to gather this much?’

She shook her head.

It was too hard to calculate.

‘Simply shaking people down with smooth talk had netted such a huge amount of cultivation resources— it was indeed a bit addictive.’

‘The Sword God of Mile Slope could only be achieved in games. In this world, if one didn’t climb upward, the ceiling was merely the peak of Second Order.’

‘Above Second Order was Third Order, and what lay beyond Third Order?’

Luolan…

Shu Yue thought of that ice-blue girl again.

Not her peerless beauty or figure, but her strength and her future.

‘She looked about the same age as herself, yet had already stepped into the Realm of Third Level.’

‘In the future, she might even go further, to Sixth Order?’

‘What would Sixth Order be like?’

‘Were there still paths beyond that…’

‘And was there a way back?’

Shu Yue’s gaze lifted to the sky, and she slowly clenched her fists.

…

Shu Yue disembarked from the ship and couldn’t help looking around.

On the smooth silver-gray deck stood many soldiers waiting in greeting, all clad in silver-blue Magic Element Armor.

Their condensed auras were solemn and imposing, putting great psychological pressure on observers.

Seeing them, Shu Yue couldn’t help thinking of Belang.

They all wore Magic Element Armor, but compared to these soldiers, Belang looked like a child playing dress-up in adult clothes.

This was the Cloud Ark.

An ark that sailed through the clouds!

Shu Yue was escorted by maids to her own room.

This room was even more luxurious than the manor she had stayed in earlier.

It really showed that a great noble was a great noble.

So Miss Luolan’s personal transport was of this caliber.

There were maids on duty inside the room.

Shu Yue didn’t need attendants, so she told them all to leave and said she would call if needed.

The maids were obedient and didn’t ask what the honored guest intended to do.

After the door closed, Shu Yue walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the glass was not a high-altitude view of the earth, but a garden scene.

Greenery, flowers, pathways, and fountains were arranged in an orderly fashion.

Shu Yue looked up at the sky.

The sun was slowly setting westward.

As its light gradually faded, some stars faintly appeared, and even the moon of this world became increasingly clear.

When she was nine years old, her master, Scabby-headed Master, had said something to her.

He asked Shu Yue what this world was like.

Based on her past life’s knowledge, Shu Yue spoke of heliocentrism, saying that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and that the sun and moon revolved— no different from her previous world.

As a result, her master Scabby-headed Master mercilessly mocked her, saying she had believed the nonsense of the Black Feather Sect.

Scabby-headed Master told her that the earth of this world was flat.

The sky was a giant sphere.

The sun was a projection of the goddess’s authority.

And the moon represented the Astral Realm, the source of all mystery.

How could the earth be flat?

How could the sky be a sphere?

How could the sun be a projection of the goddess’s authority?

And the moon wasn’t even a moon?

Shu Yue initially didn’t believe it at all.

But later she built a stargazing telescope and saw that the moon was a pure, flawless ball of light, without a single blemish.

It was fundamentally different from the moon in Shu Yue’s memory.

After extensive observation and calculation, she discovered that this world’s area far exceeded that of the entire planet Earth from her previous life.

There were nine whole regions the size of the Northern Frontier.

Beyond the West Wind Empire, there was another empire and many vassal kingdoms.

At this scale, without magical means, even just traveling would take years.

The Cloud Ark, an ultra-large transport vessel driven by magic and mana, thus made perfect sense.

“Calculating this way, isn’t Miss Luolan’s status equivalent to the daughter of the ‘Governor of Planet Blue’?”

Shu Yue’s eyes lit up.

No wonder Liya wanted so badly to lick Luolan’s boots.

Didn’t this make perfect sense?

The princess at the pinnacle of the entire Blue Planet traveled in an aerospace carrier.

Who wouldn’t be dazzled?