Chapter 157: The Exit

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"He's certainly..." One of the older men wearing white robes with golden edges and platinum shoulder pads spoke with a slightly troubled expression. He stroked his thin and small beard with his wrinkled face scrunched in disapproval.

The city of metal and craftsmen. The Gengxin City was constructed with a perpetual fuel system through the pipelines spanning across the entire city that gave it an industrial look. The constant striking of hammers against melting ores, the call of masons and sculptors, and many traders peddling various armors and swords attracted the younger spirit masters of the spirit temple of the Gengxin City. But it was only a novelty to them.

The cluster of spirit masters followed by a small troop of Templar Guards that followed the Cardinal's whim of the Gengxin City's Spirit Temple attracted quite a lot of attention from the surrounding citizens. At the moment the Spirit Hall's reputation was soaring and every Cardinal was in fact observed by the Templar Guards and then reported back to the Two Empire Temples located in the Capital Cities. For reasons unknown, Qian Xunji was strict in the approach of appointing the Cardinals and they knew it.

"A fistful of red iron for 16 gold coins? Have you been drinking or is your woman fisting you so hard that sight has lost you, huh?" Ja Sun growled, his threatening expression shaking the middle-aged man in front of him but his words also induced fury.

"What?"

"9 coin apiece. All of them. If you've got any troubles, ask Lou Gao 'bout me," Ja Sun narrowed his eyes and flipped his hand, retrieving a pouch from his storage ring.

"How would a kid like you know a divine smith? Huh? I thought the Spirit Hall was just!"

"Do you see me wearing its color?" Ja Sun narrowed his eyes, "9 is fair. And Lou Gao taught me how to smith for a week in appreciation of my talents. Go on, ask him about me."

The man looked hesitant.

"Alright, I'll give you this," Ja Sun scoffed, "200 for everything in the stall."

"Fine!" The man instantly agreed, "Hehe, you really might be Lou Gao's apprentice, kid. You don't have the man's fat but you do got his rumored anger."

Snorting, Ja Sun shifted everything on the stall into his storage item. Looking back and seeing the dumbfounded expression of the group appointed to purchase items as described by the craftsman he had already screened through, Ja Sun frowned, "What's next?"

"Uh," the Cardinal hurriedly spoke up, unwilling to earn the ire of the 'Specialist' sent from the Spirit City.

"8 tonnes of a Lou Steel," The man spoke and Ja Sun nodded.

'110 spent on red iron but only 90 for the rusted Cold Iron, fucking steal,' Ja Sun grew giddy inside as he began rummaging through the entirety of the Gengxin City. The Lou Steel was a special variant of steel the formula of which is controlled by Lou Gao himself and allows him to earn a hefty sum while he can remain inside the Blacksmith Association to keep on inventing and discovering new things about the craft.

"40 apiece--"

"I'll take your entire stock for 330!"

"No, I don't need the armored plates. Just give the softer ores."

"20's cheap and fuck me? Well, fuck you, too!"

"Hah, yeah, you can join the Spirit Temple here. We have a deal? Good."

Ja Sun was unstoppable. To him, gold could only be used to craft Diamond Essence Gold. And that he had in plenty by now. He could even turn gold slabs into coins but there's no fun in breaking the economy. Ja Sun spent his wealth actively and gained treasures hidden in the city by the minute. Many in the Blacksmith Association kept the information on rare materials privy to themselves and such information is only passed down to direct apprentices most of the time. So, the knowledge of the ores procured by many of the peddlers was laughable.

And just like Ja Sun, exploiting the lack of other's knowledge and one's own ability was...

"Young Master Ning?" Ja Sun looked at the man with a strange expression.

"Ah, quite the coincidence to meet you here, Brother Ka-ul."

Ja Sun gazed at the fair-skinned youth with long brown hair. He wore turquoise robes with glimmering embroidery that gave him an otherworldly feeling. Behind Ning Fengzhi stood a large and lanky man. Dark hair till neck and a pale face. The man wore dark grey armor with skull patterns and simply gave off a familiar vibe Ja Sun had felt many times around the elders of the Spirit Hall.

A Titled Douluo.

---

Liu Erlong felt restless. It wasn't due to the flesh on her hands set alight while scorching pain made her body twitch. It wasn't due to being locked inside a room used by elders of the hall to cultivate and keep the outside world from being affected. And it certainly wasn't due to the high temperature within the room caused by the beautiful crimson flower in her burnt hands.

She had felt restless ever since she heard her birth father would be present in the internal competition.

Her cultivation since then only consisted of constantly sparring with her teammates. With Ja Sun gone and others focusing on absorbing the effects of the immortal herbs, the only other person who could keep up and wanted to spar daily— Xie Xan, was now entirely consumed by his other duties. Ah Yin could keep up. Her Blue Silver Goddess was quite resistant to fire but she simply didn't want to. Aside from the daily spar for an hour, Ah Yin would keep herself busy in the office.

It was evident that after many weeks and months of training, everyone wanted to take it a bit easy now. Liu Erlong felt the same until...

Closing her eyes, Liu Erlong recalled the scene where she was tried by the clan for gutting the cause of her mother's death in the broad daylight. There were sneers across the room but only at that moment Liu Erlong had found recognition in her father's eyes but at that time she found it meaningless. She chased after the recognition of an individual who simply wasn't a part of her in all but blood, however, Liu Erlong also felt content that in chasing these foolish dreams, at least, she found time to have better memories with her mother.

Looking at the gentle flower that only burnt her, Liu Erlong heaved deeply and began contacting the flames on the flower with her spirit energy. The ordinarily intangible spirit energy was surprisingly set on fire and it instantly chased down the connection of the energy, igniting Liu Erlong completely. Her clothes were turned into ashes and already warned about it, Liu Erlong had given her storage ring to Hu Lana for safe-keeping. Her skin began to blister at a pace visible to the naked eye and her hair turned into ashes, too.

Pain.

It filled her and it had also motivated her. The only time she ever let another emotion motivate her was fear and she recalled herself kneeling in front of Ja Sun again. She hadn't admitted it to anyone but even after befriending Ja Sun she would constantly ponder on the mindset needed to look at death so calmly. She couldn't. IT was exciting for her, just like the overflowing pain that burnt her inside out and her skin involuntarily began to get covered in crimson scales around her entire body. Her martial soul appeared behind her. The Fire Tyrant Dragon. Although having a tyrant in its name, the martial soul was simply a cheaper imitation of the real Lightning Tyrant Dragon. In fact, Liu Erlong's dragon looked like an oversized and glorified dino.

At this moment, however, the only effect of the Infernal Delicate Apricot covered Liu Erlong and her martial soul. The Spirit transformation barely allowed her to stay conscious. Feeling the hot flames covering her, Liu Erlong couldn't help but fall pensive. What would Ja Sun do when going through this much pain?

She knew the answer as she involuntarily grinned but it only brought her even more pain.

However, being a herb, the intention of the Infernal Delicate Apricot was never to hurt, It was grown naturally out of pure yang and fire attribute in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and it soon began to fill Liu Erlong with its medicinal effects. Having a great affinity with the fire attribute, Liu Erlong was distinctly aware what surrounded her wasn't ordinary flames or the flames of a mutated dragon. It was so much more. The fire attribute itself constantly was constantly filling her body with spirit energy. The fire itself began healing her after putting her through an atrocious state.

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And.

*Grrrraaaaaggggghhhhh*

Although her martial soul's roar was silent, she could hear it clearly. Behind her, going through the baptism of what Bibi Dong had referred to as the Ultimate quality of an attribute revealed only a few times even in the history of the continent, Liu Erlong and her martial soul began their first step into a new world as the 'glorified' dino had its body deformed before it grew into a mighty winged-dragon. It was different from the serpentine deer-horned Lighting Tyrant Dragons.

Liu Erlong's dragon had beast-like limbs extended to sharp crimson claws. Piecing red eyes, spiked tail, and a pair of giant fleshy wings that emerged from thick scales. Unlike the deer-like horns, Liu Erlong's martial soul sported straight horns from the top of its skull as if its skull had extended out itself.

{A/N: Western dragon like Igneel.}

With the evolution of her martial soul came the changes in her own Spirit Transformation. Liu Erlong's claws grew sharper and her scales thicker. The crimson scales covered every part of her body without leaving a single inch of flesh chin down exposed including her back from where protruded a single spike-ended wing from the right portion of her back, leaving her left one alone. Meanwhile, crimson scales framed the side of her head and if she had any hair at the moment, the scales would have been mimicking her hairline. From these scales protruded extremely tiny horns on top of Liu Erlong's head.

Her spirit energy began to rise. With most of the effect of the herb transformed into the evolution of her martial soul and the baptism of her body, upgrading her connection with the element of fire to its peak, the effect of the dissipating herb was minimal on her reserves. Still, she was only a bit shy away from reaching rank 60.

Only after reaching the ranks of a Spirit Emperor will she have her spirit transformation perfected and a second wing would appear on the left portion of her back.

'From fire to Ultimate Fire Attribute... From Fire Tyrant dragon to Infernal Dragon King... all my skills have adapted to the evolution and a domain, too and...'

Liu Erlong touched her bald spot... her entire head and pondered if this was part of Ja Sun's design or not. She had gotten too many good things simply due to her affinity with the Immortal Herb. In fact, only having the affinity with fire attribute allowed her to reap rewards not even factored in by Ja Sun but the evolution of her martial soul was still within his scope.

Shifting her thoughts to the other man who had tried to pressurize her, Yu Xiaogang, a wicked smile touched Liu Erlong's lips.

This was the difference. Ja Sun successfully suppressed Erlong and even helped gain a better understanding of her herself which gained him Erlong's admiration.

Xiaogang, on the other hand, only managed to piss Erlong off and nothing more.

Looking around and finding the room set on fire from within, Liu Erlong sucked deeply and following her will, the fire element around her instantly entered her body, nourishing her physique, mind, and spirit.

---

Unlike Liu Erlong who gained the greatest reward using the Immortal Herbs, her gains even better than Ja Sun and Bibi Dong, too, Jun'er and Oscar were given the Daffodil Jade Flesh Bone and Origin Energy Immortal Grass. The Daffodil Jade Flesh Bone served to enhance one's joints, muscles, and flesh. Jun'er's impurities were expelled and although it served to make her look fairer, the whopping increment of five spirit ranks had made her shocked and jubilant. It did little to her martial soul but Jun'er was quite relieved that her benefits did not remove every strand of hair from her body.

Meanwhile, Oscar's situation only required him to gain more spirit energy and have his spiritual sea permanently refined. After all, the only thing that held Oscar down was the innate problem of the tofu lacking in the cultivation department. The Origin Energy Immortal Grass only had one function. Improving the spirit energy in every aspect. From quality to speed of absorption to its regeneration. Using such a specified Immortal Herb and at the rank 43, it came as no surprise that Oscar reached peak rank 50 in a day.

However, what did surprise Oscar was that his pattern of cultivation had changed permanently. After all, there was a large amount of spirit energy left and as usual, it would hide within the body of the spirit master until breaking through. But all the excess energy within Oscar was collected into his spiritual sea and was being refined into a strange meta-physical orb. It was incomplete, but as Oscar tried cultivating, he realized that any energy he absorbs is taken into that incomplete core to refine it further. It was without his own will. The spirit energy in his body had, after all, changed its pattern completely and this was the result.

Finally, Hu Lana was given the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. It was hard to find anything related to charm or illusion specifically but Hu Lana always had a need of strengthening her body. This immortal Herb would do just that and to her bones, to be precise.

But she couldn't absorb it right away. So she only sighed while seeing everyone take over.

One thing was clear that absorbing the immortal herbs permanently changed one's potential so Bibi Dong began to give her teammates more time to train instead of being stuck behind the desk to get the full effects.

Oscar's dilemma was discussed with Bibi Dong but she herself was not sure why the excess of his spirit energy was being condensed into a single point but instead of going to her master, she wished to wait and discuss it with JA Sun first. After all, he was the one who provided the immortal herb and he may know something. Not only that, going to her master in such a tense period where every faction was suddenly eyeing her and her teammates for answers for such a quick growth was not wise. Should Qian Xunji know the answers, even he could be schemed against using the 'greater good of the hall' as the means and have their secret exposed.

But when everyone waited for Ja Sun's return either for going out to get a new spirit ring, to show off their growth, or to get answers. What returned from Gengxin City was a piece of news.

---

"What's going on?"

Ah Yin inquired with a frown while Bibi Dong gestured her like everyone else in the team to sit down.

"Ka-ul is not coming," Bibi Dong spoke up, "In Gengxin City, Ning Fengzhi was baited by a few rare items in a silent auction by a small group of evil cultivators, and Ka-ul is said to have chased after them before suddenly disappearing in Slaughter City..."

Bibi Dong's expression was dark as she spoke while Oscar questioned.

"You mean that ghost town? They say that the vilest of Spirit Masters hide there after committing unredeemable actions. But they are never found. And it's a small village."

"It's no village," Bibi Dong scowled.

"Ka-ul... followed the group?" Ah Yin inquired again and Bibi Dong nodded.

"The Cardinal of the city was clear on the fact. Ka-ul gave a sudden chase and they followed the trail which led the investigation team to the entrance of the Slaughter City. At first, I had planned to introduce that training spot to Xie Xan, Ka-ul, and Liu Erlong. But one of them is already there, another is expecting a child, and the last one doesn't need to go there anymore."

"Why not?" Liu Erlong puckered her lips while keeping her head covered by a raven shawl.

"Because you already have a domain, right?" Bibi Dong looked at her teammates and began explaining the truth behind the Slaughter City.

---

*Whoosh*

Entering the room through a portal formed of blood, Ja Sun followed Dugu Bo who had contacted him in the Gengxin City under the guise of an attack with a small team of evil cultivators.

The information about Slaughter City came as a surprise to Ja Sun, but a pleasant one.

In front of him, within a revolting space filled with a rotten scent stood a red-haired man who gave Ja Sun a wide smile, "Welcome to the Paradise of Crime. Call me Redstar."

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