Yuanfen lay down on the side, sleeping with a smile, but then suddenly slightly frowned in her sleep, and then her eyelids flew open, revealing eyes within which one could glimpse the profound mysteries of the great void.

Now, however, the usual tranquility in them was disturbed, as she rose up and looked upward. Though it looked like she simply looked past the crown of the tree she was sleeping in toward the sky of Fen Baihu’s Dream Realm, her eyes seemed to look past that into an unknown distance with visible worry.

The light of stars, nebulae and galaxies in her eyes began to shift at a slightly faster rate than usual, and the impression she gave of naive and simple, childish innocence faded a bit to reveal a mature and complex look, full of wisdom but not losing that innocence and inner beauty either, her every minute movement now creating a formless ripple that could not be detected by anyone, even Fen Baihu.

For the first time since she appeared before Wu Long, there was clear intent in her eyes, as she behaved not on instinct as usual but of her own clear will. The moment it happened, however, intense exhaustion washed all over her, beginning to mount more and more. It seemed that the very act of being more awake was taking an immense, crushing toll on her.

At this time, unbeknownst to all, or rather, the absolute majority of the cultivators in the entire Seven Boundless Worlds, descended one of the rarest natural phenomena in creation - the temporary convergence of time within all seven of the Boundless Worlds.

It wasn’t possible to tell the time moved differently while living within one of the Boundless World, but gradually, all events happening in all seven of the Boundless Worlds started converging to move at the same pace, synchronizing moment to moment.

Her eyelids made a minute movement to close, the burden of this short moment of a bit more clarity and awareness growing to truly enormous proportions. But she struggled to keep her eyes open with titanic effort, her expression showing a bit of anxiousness, as if to say ’just a bit more, just a bit more...’.

The look in her eyes changed as the time in all seven Boundless Worlds finally fully synchronized - as she showed satisfaction. It would drift apart again, but it would take some time for that to happen. For a day or two, time would flow the same in all worlds.

Immense, unfathomable exhaustion finally caught up with the beauty but she no longer was as anxious.

And yet, she still fought against that immense fatigue to turn her gaze toward another direction, to steal a fleeting moment more of being awake.

A single man reflected in her eyes along with a myriad of emotions, a wry smile appearing on her lips as if lamenting that the moment of her being awake came to an end so soon, without exchanging a word with him, a soft whisper escaping her lips, "Wu Long"

It was the exact same thing she always said, and the only thing she seemed to be capable of saying in her less aware state, but this time there seemed to be far more emotions behind calling that name, as well as a kind of reminder to herself, to not forget, to hold onto that feeling.

The next moment, her eyes returned to her usual naive and childish innocence with a moment of confusion at why she was so incredibly exhausted and sleepy, but a single name was engraved deeply in her mind, even stronger than before as if she received a reminder.

However, not knowing the reason she woke up in the first place, she no longer fought the intense need for sleep, collapsing back to the tree that gently received her as if it was not wood but the softest cushion.

It was at this moment that Wu Long appeared next to her, cautious to not disturb her rest, but at the same time looking at her sleeping face with intense attentiveness.

Just a moment ago, as he was preparing for the busy day ahead and listening to Butler Bang’s morning report, he felt as if he heard her voice calling him. And though he couldn’t explain it, he felt like this time there was something different about the way she called his name.

Her expression was a bit confused and there was a trace of a frown, which surprised him as she usually had a smile on her face. But as if sensing his presence, her features relaxed further, and gradually her expression once again returned to peaceful and tranquil delight.

Not seeing anything particularly out of the norm, Wu Long soon left, but was still unable to shake off the feeling that something did happen.

—

The sun gradually rose over the Silver Wing City, signifying the start of the main auction day.

But the city was awake and buzzing long before the sun rose, as news of a daring theft from Silverleaf Trade Hall was spreading like wildfire.

Silverleaf Trade Hall tried to cover up that anything happened at all, only to discover that a theft notice from a famed thief, Shadowless, appeared all around the Iron Claw City not long before they even discovered the incident took place - members of the Iron Claw Group arriving on the scene to inform them.

The details of what was stolen weren’t clearly stated, and the Trade Hall refused to comment or confirm, but anyone who paid even a bit of attention had a pretty good guess, especially since they cancelled their auction as quietly as possible given the circumstances.

Among the rumors was also the fact that despite the owner in Essence Ignition Realm releasing the full pressure of his cultivation for a short moment, no one died and merely fainted - even mortals, which was unheard of. Coupled with the gossip that the owner survived qi deviation, this was called a miracle among the regular folk in both cities.

Though it was also said that when the owner woke up from falling unconscious and heard that people in the city were calling what happened during the night an auspicious miracle, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious again.

The Soaring Feather Trading Company, however, were busy with another matter as they received an unexpected guest - the Right Guardian of the Crow King.

He came without notice and incognito, with a minimal entourage of only four people, insisting on meeting Zhao Xieren and that his presence should be kept am absolute secret - adding that there would be severe consequences if that was not the case.