Chapter 709: Black Dragon Ring! One Million Cubic Meter Capacity!

"Did I see that right? She's coming this way!"

Seeing the red-clad woman, the center of everyone's attention, walking toward them, the thin man's eyes instantly lit up.

The fat man beside him widened his eyes in disbelief—surely this guy wasn't getting such luck?

As the fat man had expected, the beautiful woman didn't even glance at them.

She walked straight to the bench beside them and said to the man sitting on it with a hint of apology:

"Sorry, it took me a little longer to prepare the gift."

Hearing this, both men stared in disbelief—she prepared a gift? Did I hear that right?

But after noticing the man's demeanor and appearance on the bench, they relaxed.

Hmm, judging by his looks, it's understandable why a woman would be obsessed with him.

"It's fine, let's go—I'm just starting to feel hungry now." Xu Jingming smiled, stood up, and left with Ling Shuang.

Only after Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang had vanished into the crowd did the fat and thin pair reluctantly pull their gazes away, full of envy.

How envious—how I wish I were that man; I'd even trade decades of my life for it...

Ling Shuang's dining spot was the five-star Himan Hotel, located in the prime section of Lying Business Street.

Aside from the initial reception staff, the entire hotel operated with fully automated management.

"The hotel's signature dishes, 'Fire Snake Soup' and 'Fierce Lion Meatballs,' are both made from ninth-rank ferocious beast meat.

You can order them to try, but it depends on luck—sometimes the ingredients run out."

After entering the private room, Ling Shuang smiled and explained.

There were no servers in the room; orders could be placed directly via the smart tablet.

"Looks like I'm lucky—both dishes are available." Xu Jingming spotted the two dishes on the smart tablet.

Their prices were 400,000 and 500,000 Blue Star Credits respectively—fairly reasonable for ninth-rank ferocious beast meat.

After all, the flesh of such beasts was not just about flavor—it was itself considered an A-class resource.

But each serving was too small; if the portion were larger, it could even qualify as an S-class resource.

In the end, Xu Jingming ordered both signature dishes along with several others, totaling 2 million Blue Star Credits.

"Your ordered dishes will begin serving in about half an hour."

After placing the order, a brief notification popped up on the smart tablet.

At that moment, Ling Shuang handed over a small wooden box, smiling gently:

"This is the gift I prepared for you—open it. I think you'll like it."

"Oh? Then I'm looking forward to it."

Xu Jingming smiled and opened the wooden box.

Inside lay a plain, entirely black ancient ring.

Etched upon the ring was a delicate Eastern dragon.

The entire black dragon coiled around the band, lifelike and strikingly realistic.

"Is this... a space ring?" Xu Jingming froze slightly.

"Correct."

Ling Shuang smiled brightly. "I had this space ring crafted this afternoon by a master armorer.

Its internal space is the same as mine—1 million cubic meters.

Also, its design matches mine as a pair.

My space ring is called the Black Phoenix Ring; yours will be named the Black Dragon Ring."

Ling Shuang extended her right hand, revealing on her slender, porcelain-white index finger another black, ancient ring.

Only, the pattern carved on hers was a magnificent black phoenix.

"Black Dragon Ring... 1 million cubic meters?" Xu Jingming's heart trembled.

That meant he now had a personal space, 100 meters long, wide, and high!

"A space ring with 1 million cubic meters capacity—S-class? That's an extremely rare treasure."

Yiwa's astonished voice echoed in his mind.

Space rings of this capacity were typically possessed only by ninth-rank adepts.

"How do you like it?" Ling Shuang pursed her red lips and asked with a soft smile.

"I love it. Absolutely love it."

Xu Jingming hurried to say, his face filled with wonder: "So this is what it feels like to date a wealthy woman? It's beyond amazing."

"I'm not some wealthy woman."

Ling Shuang sighed helplessly. "You're too powerful—you lack nothing in cultivation resources.

I didn't know what to give you. This space ring is the most useful gift I could possibly offer."

For a normal seventh-rank Grandmaster adept, any single item from Ling Shuang's space ring

would grant them endless benefits.

But unfortunately, Xu Jingming lacked nothing—even that morning, he'd swallowed an SSS-grade spirit fruit.

"Thank you, Sister Shuang."

Xu Jingming smiled and pulled out the phoenix hairpin he'd bought earlier at the Treasures Pavilion:

"This is the gift I prepared for you."

"For me?" Ling Shuang's face lit up with surprise.

Eagerly opening the gift box, the pale purple phoenix hairpin appeared before her eyes.

"It's a hairpin." Ling Shuang's eyes sparkled as she reached out to take it.

The moment her jade hand touched the phoenix hairpin, an extremely powerful surge of spiritual force swept out from within the hairpin and surged toward Ling Shuang.

In an instant, her eyes went vacant.

"Sister Shuang!" Xu Jingming's expression shifted slightly, and terrifying Doushen Shenlei erupted with a thunderous roar.

But Ling Shuang showed no reaction at all, her eyes still lifeless, holding her original posture.

"Eva, what's going on?" Xu Jingming asked, his expression ugly.

He was not a spiritual-type ability user; faced with this situation, he did not dare to rashly use his spiritual force to probe Ling Shuang's condition.

Otherwise, if anything went wrong, Ling Shuang could end up a complete idiot.

"This looks somewhat like a method left behind by a powerful being from our Second Civilization era."

Eva's holographic projection popped out from the smart armguard, her cute little face carrying an unprecedented solemnity:

"Some powerful beings will attach their spiritual force to objects, launching attacks, or leaving behind inheritances.

Ling Shuang should have been affected by the spiritual force attached to the phoenix hairpin."

"Then why didn't the phoenix hairpin work on anyone else?" Xu Jingming's brow furrowed.

This phoenix hairpin had been sitting in the Treasure Pavilion, touched by goodness knows how many people.

Not to mention more, he himself, as well as the manager of the Treasure Pavilion, had both touched this phoenix hairpin, yet nothing unusual had ever occurred.

"This strand of spiritual force should only be triggered upon contact with a spatial-type ability user."

Eva replied thoughtfully, "Ling Shuang herself practices combat techniques related to spiritual force defense.

If this were an offensive strand of spiritual force, Ling Shuang would definitely be showing signs of abnormality.

But her breathing is steady, so it looks like this should be a strand of inheritance-type spiritual force.

A supreme spatial-type powerful being leaving behind a spatial-type inheritance for those who come after — that is reasonable enough."

"Spatial-type inheritance?" Xu Jingming breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this.

But he still did not dare let his guard down; resplendent Dou Tian Shen Lei constantly swirled around the two of them, serving as a defense.

PS: Something came up today and delayed me — one chapter, I'll make it up tomorrow.