The Fifteenth Section: Summoning the Fa Pai

  The little girl's plaque has a great origin, the plaque is rectangular, palm-sized, and one finger thick. The front is a phoenix with its wings spread, ready to fly, and the back is an ancient divine text. This style is the appearance of the "Summoning Plaque", a magical artifact from ancient times that has been passed down, which I have seen pictures of in my family's old books but never seen in person. This thing can summon the sealed demon beast inside the plaque to fight by reciting the incantation on the back, and it is extremely convenient to use. However, this thing has long been lost for many years, and occasionally someone gets one, it is usually a magic beast below level 7, and a high-ranking magic beast like this phoenix is simply priceless. I inserted my divine consciousness into the iron plaque, inside was an endless space, everywhere was red flames, and vaguely, a huge bird-like creature was flying around inside. I withdrew my divine thought, and I can already confirm that it is the real thing.

  "Little sister, how much are you planning to sell it for?" I asked with a smile.

  "Young master, would you be willing to buy this for 100 gold coins? This is a treasured family heirloom, and if my mother weren't ill and in need of money for treatment, I absolutely wouldn't sell it."

  The people around condemned the little girl's greed, thinking that this broken toy was absolutely not worth the sky-high price of 100 gold coins!

  The little girl argued with them non-stop, but it was clear that she wasn't a match for so many people. In the blink of an eye, tears of grievance welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. Her expression was just like Athena's when she was abandoned by the crowd. I couldn't bear it any longer and roared: "Shut up! 10 million, I'll buy it!"

  Everyone in the bar was shocked by this number and then burst into a heated discussion.

  The little girl was also stunned and said to me: "Young master, did you say 10 million?"

  "Yes, I'd like to meet your mother soon and discuss it with her in person, okay?" I said gently.

  "Alright, young master, although I'm selling it secretly, but at this price, I think mom would agree too!"

  At this time, a person ran to me panting, it was the one who went to get the stick. He handed me a pitch-black wooden stick and said: "It's this one. Take a good look!"

  As soon as I held it in my hand, I immediately felt the magic elements being released from the stick without stopping. It was emitting irregular magic elements, rather than regular waves of magic. If I hadn't personally grasped it, even if there were mages nearby, they wouldn't have noticed its specialty. I casually shot a fireball at it, and the fireball disappeared an inch away from it. I clearly felt that the fireball had been absorbed by it. Without a doubt, this unassuming wooden stick was indeed the divine artifact 'Magic God's Blessing' that Mother had been searching for with great effort. I hastily said: "It really is quite strange, give him ten gold coins." After finishing speaking, I casually put it into my spatial ring. I said: "Uncle Shi, take care of these things, let's go to this little girl's house and see her mother."

  On the road, I basically understood her family situation. Her name is Xiāngyǎ Kǎzáfēi. Her father died early, and she relies on her mother for support. Now, her mother is seriously ill due to overwork and has no money for medical treatment, and it seems like she won't make it. She took out the family heirloom to sell it, knowing from her mother that this thing was worth a fortune. So, she wanted to sell it at a good price, but people kept thinking she was a scammer. Today, passing by the bar, seeing those people trying to sell my stuff, she came to try her luck, and unexpectedly, there's such a huge surprise waiting for her - 10 million! She can now live a life of luxury with her mother.

  I followed her into the slum. Good heavens! Is this also the imperial capital? The filth and disorder are not to be mentioned, everywhere are emaciated faces of people who have gone hungry for a long time, we three who look very wealthy stand out starkly here. In less than five minutes, I had sent away three groups of thieves, two gangs of robbers, and over ten prostitutes soliciting customers. How is it that with my dignified and imposing appearance, I don't look like a customer at all? Why do most of the prostitutes come to solicit me? It's truly inexplicable! After finally fighting our way out of the encirclement, we arrived at a small courtyard.

  Xianya pushed open the door and said: "Mom, I'm back!" She walked into the house and suddenly shouted loudly: "Mom! Where are you? Mom!"

  We rushed in and found a middle-aged woman crawling on the ground, with a pool of blood in front of her. Xianya had already fainted. I reached out to feel the woman's pulse and found that her body was stiff. Shi Huwei said: "Young Master, what should we do?"

  "Take Xianya back and have someone give her mother a proper burial." After saying that, the poor Daoist took them home. I really couldn't bear to look at this miserable scene!

  Back home, I ordered someone to settle Xian Ya in my courtyard. She had woken up and was sitting on the edge of the bed, crying softly. I sat down beside her and said: "Don't cry anymore, it doesn't look good when you cry. Your mother is watching over you from heaven! She hopes that you can live a good life in this world. Do you want to make her sad?"

  "But I've lost all my loved ones, how can I still live a good life?" Xianya cried out.

  "No, from now on I'll be your family, I'm your brother from now on, okay?"

  "Why are you so good to me?"

  "There was once a goddess who needed my protection, but I, being incompetent, failed to do so and could only watch as she fell. Now, I see her shadow in you, and I sincerely hope that through caring for you, I can fulfill my unfulfilled duty and make up for the regret caused by my dereliction of duty. Can you give me this chance?"

  "Master, although I don't understand what you're saying, I know that you are genuinely good to me. Xianya is deeply grateful! But how can I live up to it?"

  "You don't have to worry about this anymore, you can live with me from now on, I'll consider you as my sister!"

  "I'm just a commoner? You're either a noble or a high-ranking noble, how can I be your sister? I'd be content with being your maid."

  "Haha, this is my territory, I'm in charge. Don't worry, no one dares to intervene, not even my parents?"

  "Can't your parents control you either?"

  "Hehe, my mom wants me to use alchemy to make money for her, so she has a favor to ask of me and naturally won't provoke me. But what about my father? That's more interesting..."

  "What's wrong with him?"

  "I have a flag-raising ceremony with him every year on my birthday, and Grandpa is the witness. We agreed that if Father wins, it means he has the qualification to educate me, and I will fully obey his arrangements. But if he loses, haha, then he loses the right to educate me for a year, and during this year, he has no right to discipline me at all. It seems like the old man has never won against me!"

  "Really? You can defeat the Great General?! How awesome!" Xianya said in surprise.

  "Alright, it's nothing. You go rest first, I'll arrange for your sister's funeral. You have to attend tomorrow!"

  "Alright, got it, thank you, sir!"

  "No, call him brother. Call quickly!"

  "Brother..." Xianya said in a low, embarrassed voice

  After comforting Xianya, I hurried to Grandpa's place, where Mom was also present. The two uncles were just telling on me. I greeted them and sat down beside Mom, saying: "Two uncles have worked hard, let's get rid of all this junk!"

  "You little scamp, do you know that's a waste of money? Over 100 gold coins and all I get is this junk! Are you trying to drive me crazy?! And I heard you're going to spend 1 million on some useless brand name, are you trying to take my life?!" My mom yelled while pinching my ear.

  "Mom, be gentle, it's going to fall! Grandpa!" I winked at grandpa.

  "You all go down first." After they left, Grandpa said, "Good, now it can be said?"

  "Give me an explanation quickly, otherwise I won't give you back all your gold coins!" Mother said angrily.

  "What are you looking at?" I handed over the 'summoning card' to mom and said

  "What's going on? How can it be so strange? This divine text's incantation, could it be... "Mom said"

  "Calling card", Grandpa said first

  "Dad, how come you don't understand magic but know this person?" Mom handed the card to Grandpa and asked.

  "Hehe, I only recognize this plaque, it's recorded in our family tree." Grandfather said.

  "Cheater, the family tree isn't a magic book, besides, in our family except for me and my mom, everyone else is a warrior, who would bother to record magical items in the family tree?" I said.

  "Heh heh, I didn't cheat you. Didn't you notice that the pattern of the fire phoenix on this emblem is the same as the flag of the Vermilion Bird Military Unit?"

  "It really is just like that!" Mom said

  "This plaque is the heirloom of the Kazafi family, the founders of the Vermilion Bird Legion. Our families, the Dragons and the Kazafis, co-founded these two great legions over 200 years ago, before the White Tiger and Black Tortoise joined us. However, 200 years ago, the Kazafi family backed the wrong faction in a struggle for succession at court and were exterminated. At that time, our Dragon family had produced two exceptionally talented generals, so the younger brother took over the Vermilion Bird Legion, and from then on, the Dragon family split into two branches: one controlling the Azure Dragon, the other managing the Vermilion Bird. This summoning plaque went missing during the extermination of the Kazafi family. According to our family records, it can summon a Fire Phoenix to fight, which as a 9th-level superior magical beast, is worth an army of 100,000 soldiers. However, I've heard that summoning it requires expending one's life force, and the time limit is only between 10 to 30 minutes, so it's not often used." Grandfather slowly recounted this secret history.

  "Wow, if it's really like that, wouldn't we be able to sell a lot of money?"

  "Not for sale!" Grandpa and I shouted together.

  "Why?" Mom asked ignorantly

  "I'm afraid you wouldn't want to see Father on the battlefield facing this Phoenix, would you?"

  "Oh, okay! Wait a minute, you haven't told me what this has to do with the junk you've been collecting! You think you can fool me?" The mother shouted after coming to her senses.