Chapter 217: New Year's Eve! The Li Family's Li Wanying!

"Luo-ge, let me introduce you—they're all my friends from Modu, Song Qiuyun from freshman year, and Jiang Chuxuan from sophomore year."

Xu Jingming stood up and made the introductions.

"Hello, Senior Jiang."

Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan called out at the same time.

Jiang Luo had graduated from Modu Ability University, so calling him 'senior brother' wasn't out of line.

"So you're all juniors from Modu." Senior brother Jiang Luo realized.

He had long heard from Liu Ming that his junior brother had two goddess-level beauties.

Seeing them now, it was indeed true.

"Yeah, we were just waiting for you, Luo-ge. Come on, let's eat." Xu Jingming said with a smile.

The dining table in the living room was already laden with a full spread of dishes.

"Alright, then I'll have to properly taste my junior brother's cooking."

"It was made by two chefs; I just helped out a bit."

"Really? The two junior sisters' cooking must be even better."

"......"

Xu Jingming had originally thought his first New Year's Eve after transmigrating to Blue Star would be spent alone in the Thunder Region.

But unexpectedly, not only was his senior brother here, even Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan had come along to keep him company.

So the entire dinner passed in such a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere.

Jiang Luo's emotional intelligence wasn't low; after dinner, not wanting to keep being a third wheel, he didn't linger.

Before leaving, he specifically mentioned that he had already reserved two extra spots for Xu Jingming at tomorrow's auction.

"It's a rare New Year's Eve—how about we take a group photo as a keepsake?"

After the three of them tidied up the table, Song Qiuyun's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up as she suggested.

"Sure, where should we take it?" Xu Jingming said with a smile.

"Let's go to the rooftop—we can even capture the thunderstorm scene."

The white-haired girl Jiang Chuxuan suggested with a smile on her pretty face, coming up with a creative idea.

"3... 2... 1... Cheese."

On the second-floor rooftop of the villa,

Song Qiuyun held the phone, Xu Jingming stood in the middle, and on the other side was the white-haired girl Jiang Chuxuan.

The two girls stood very close, Xu Jingming's arms could even touch the astonishingly elastic, full curves on either side.

When they even called out 'Cheese,' the two girls directly grabbed Xu Jingming's arms and held them against their bosoms.

That further softness made even the usually composed Xu Jingming unable to stop his blood from surging.

"Let's make a small group chat, I'll post all the photos there."

Song Qiuyun took over a dozen photos in one go and posted them all in the group.

In the photos, the three of Xu Jingming leaned against the railing, with dense thunderbolts continuously striking down in the sky behind them.

The three were already very good-looking to begin with; combined with the thunderbolts, the entire photo had a wild, rugged beauty.

"Not bad."

Xu Jingming smiled and nodded, then said: "Right, there's an auction here tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure, we don't have anything else to do here anyway."

"Great, senior brother just told me he's already reserved spots for you."

"Okay, but the auction is tomorrow's business—it's only 8 o'clock now. Where should we go next?"

Song Qiuyun blinked her clear big eyes and asked.

It had to be said, women truly had a peculiar obsession with shopping.

After dinner, the two girls wanted to go stroll the commercial street.

They'd come all the way from Sichuan Province and Modu, and even specially spent 600 credits to purchase Secret Realm passes that were completely useless to them.

Xu Jingming naturally accompanied them the whole way, and declared that all expenses tonight would be on him.

Delighted, the two girls also switched into shopping mode.

Cute and fun F-rank Snowman suit battle-armors—one set each.

Crisp and tasty exotic fruits, novel pills, and even special rare flowers and herbs that only grew in the Thunder Secret Realm—they bought quite a lot.

Of course,

both girls had great sense of measure; what they bought was novel, but not very expensive.

In the end, after an entire evening of shopping, it only cost Xu Jingming less than 20 million Great Xia coins.

"Spring Festival countdown begins! 10... 9... 8... 7... 6..."

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2"

"1!"

"Happy Spring Festival!"

On the largest square of the commercial street, amid the people's countdown and cheers, the clock tower's hands ticked past midnight right on time.

At the same time, the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks rang out everywhere throughout the Thunder Secret Realm.

The fireworks were specially made; even in the Thunder Secret Realm, which was bright as day, they were very beautiful and dazzling.

"Happy New Year!"

Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan's faces also beamed with bright smiles.

"Happy New Year," Xu Jingming smiled.

Immediately, his phone began vibrating wildly with a flood of New Year greetings.

Besides relatives like his aunt and cousin, high school friends, university classmates, and some senior students also sent messages.

Xu Jingming replied to each one, and offered blessings to his teacher Yang Zhentian; after a moment's thought, he sent a greeting message to Vice Principal Ling Shuang:

"Vice Principal Ling, Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year."

To Xu Jingming's surprise, Vice Principal Ling Shuang replied very quickly.

Almost within three or four seconds after he sent the message, she responded.

"Could the principal be watching her phone all the time? That doesn't seem like something an Eighth-Stage Master Zongshi would do..."

Shaking his head, Xu Jingming didn't dwell on it; after admiring the fireworks along the business street,

he led the two girls away from the business street and returned to the villa to sleep and rest.

The next day, at nine in the morning.

Xu Jingming and the two women went to the auction venue as agreed.

The auction was held in an auction hall inside Building No. 3 of Lei Ting Martial Arts Academy.

Xu Jingming and the two women met Senior Brother Jiang Luo at the academy's entrance, then walked inside.

"Our academy holds an auction every three months.

This Spring Festival auction is especially important—we've invited nearly eight hundred people."

Senior Brother Jiang Luo smiled and explained.

"So few?"

Xu Jingming was taken aback; for an event of this scale, there should be at least a thousand attendees.

"The number of people in Lei Ting Secret Realm is inherently small, and the academy conducts qualification reviews.

If your liquid assets are below ten million, we don't invite you—this number is already the maximum possible."

Jiang Luo shook his head and explained.

"I see," Xu Jingming realized.

Yet for a single Lei Ting Secret Realm to have over eight hundred millionaires was enough to show how wealthy the residents here were.

At this moment,

accompanied by a burst of noise, a group of young people walked up from behind, laughing and chatting loudly as if no one else were around.

"Wanying-jie is amazing—she not only got us into Lei Ting Secret Realm, but also brought us to the auction!"

"Yeah, I heard even top universities need to spend tens of millions to buy entry passes—none are exempt!"

"Haha, then those people must be total suckers!"

"..."

Their laughter wasn't quiet—almost everyone in the corridor could hear it.

This made Xu Jingming frown slightly; he turned his gaze toward the laughing youths.

Among several young men and women, a young woman with a sultry face and a curvaceous figure.

But her sultry expression carried a touch of arrogance, clearly enjoying the flattery around her.

Hearing their words, not only Xu Jingming, but also Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan furrowed their brows.

Spending millions to buy an entry pass—and then being called a sucker?

No one would like hearing that.

"These guys."

Watching the group walk past, Jiang Luo's expression darkened; he explained to Xu Jingming:

"Besides giving our own internal personnel some special slots that don't require qualification checks,

we've also allocated slots to several psychic clans within the Secret Realm.

With these slots, they can invite outsiders to attend the auction.

Of course,

those invited can only attend this auction and must leave immediately after it ends.

It's not the same as your unrestricted entry passes."

"Oh? Then who is this person? So brazen?"

Xu Jingming raised an eyebrow.

Usually, when a clan gets such a slot, they keep quiet and profit quietly—but this guy?

Not only tolerates loud boasting, but also belittles those who legitimately bought entry passes.

"She's Li Wanying of the Li family, the clan head's daughter."

Jiang Luo said with a sigh, "There are six psychic clans in Lei Ting Secret Realm, and the Li family is the most powerful.

Their current clan head, Li Canghai, is at the peak of Sixth Stage.

He's about to break into Seventh Stage Master, and is an Honorary Vice Director of our Lei Ting Martial Arts Academy.

Li Wanying's older brother, Li Shanglin, is twenty-seven and already at the peak of Fourth Stage—his future is limitless."

Decades ago, after Lei Ting Martial Arts Academy took over this thunderstorm zone, many local clans didn't leave.

Over decades of development, they grew to their current scale.

"Both the elder and younger generations have capable people—no wonder Li Wanying is so arrogant."

Xu Jingming shook his head.

A sixth-stage peak, needless to say, is an absolute powerhouse wherever you go.

The other twenty-seven-year-old, a fourth-stage peak, might mean little in Ma Da.

But out here, he's unquestionably a prodigy.

For a thriving family like this, producing a wastrel like Li Wanying is only natural.

"That's right, come to think of it, that fourth-stage peak, Li Shanglin, is just like you.

He also wields a spear, but he's an Enhancer, while you're a Lightning type."

Jiang Luo smiled and mentioned it, then led the group into the auction hall.