Chapter 41: Would You Like a Taste?

Unlike usual, Ja Sun didn't spend his entire time in the Inn. Ah Yin and Ja Sun have been in Balak City for almost a month but instead of cultivating in seclusion or simply speedrunning the missions, the two haven't done much and sharing Ja Sun's sentiment of feeling slightly clustered due to such a routine, the duo stepped out of the Inn with their masks on.

The Aroma Silk Tulip was ready to be used one last time and Ja Sun had 28 lotus seeds ready to be consumed but all of it can wait. Though completely focused on the mission to get the chance of achieving two more rewards, he still felt the slight delay worth it if the accompanying partner was Ah Yin. Not because she was a girl, well partly yes, but also because the two found each other pleasing regardless of how much they bickered.

"We have experienced the nightlife of the city, we have even tasted the local cuisine," Ah Yin spoke up, "What do you think we should do this time?"

Built for more militaristic purposes, Balak City had quite a low number of entertainment points. Their most lavish section of entertainment was their Red Light District to keep the male and female officials and soldiers appeased.

"Did you know that the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires are planning to build arenas in major cities for sparring and deathmatches? We should try it once they are built," Ja Sun responded with a slightly idle expression. 

"What about now?" She inquired again.

"Do you think I'm the kind who thinks ahead?" Ja Sun scoffed, "It's as you said, we've tasted the food and experienced the nightlife. The only thing that can be done is mixing the two."

"Eating girls? I don't eat flesh," Ah Yin mumbled.

Ignoring the striking cannibalism, Ja Sun chuckled and stated without shame. Despite his flaws in his previous romantic life: Killing his girlfriend as she turned out to be a traitor, Ja Sun did know that being shameless and stating true intentions at times can be more effective than being indirect.

"No, silly," his chuckled sounded odd in Ah Yin's ears, "We can taste each other!"

Ah Yin frowned under her mask. Instead of finding a way to refute or even respond to such a gesture, her gaze turned odd and she instantly thought of something. Even for her... it was too dangerous! But biting her lips and heaving slightly to calm herself, she spoke up.

When Ja Sun saw Ah Yin heaving, he felt that he might just get lucky.

However.

"Sure. I won't flush the toilet from now. Taste away."

Ja Sun froze and an extremely disgusting sensation welled up in him.

He knew he deserved every bit of it.

But Ah Yin didn't just reject him. She utterly destroyed him. 

Turning around, Ja Sun silently began retracing their steps.

"Where are you going?" Ah Yin inquired, her heart swelling with hubris.

"Inn... and not because of that!" Ja Sun hissed, "I'll be cultivating!"

"Fine. I'll come back a little later," Ah Yin gave a hollow chuckled and despite her sweet and tender tone, she sounded horrendous to Ja Sun. 

He was done with his romantic pursuits.

He had the Final Buddha Array over his Spiritual Sea, he might as well accept Buddhism to its core.

---

As Ah Yin idly walked about, she chanced upon a displayed item of a store. 

A strange-looking potted plant attracted her attention momentarily. It was a small shoot of bamboo, merely two sections high. It was clear at a glance that this was a herb picked by one of the spirit masters contracted with the shop. She knew of this plant and if it was before, this plant would have helped her a lot.

"That's a hundred-year-old dark jade bamboo. It should be a good thing for you, right?"

A sweet voice entered Ah Yin's sense and she turned back to find, Jun'er, Oscar, Feng Long, and Zhao Wuji together. Zhao Wuji and Feng Long didn't reveal their appearance but it was easy to identify them at a glance. Meanwhile, Oscar and Jun'er stood hand-in-hand. Ah Yin's gaze fell on their interlocked palms before she inquired, "And you are?"

"Heh! Remember? You can't lie to me," Jun'er stated with a proud expression and Oscar happened to burst her bubble, "We recognized your hair and Jun'er recognized your scent."

It was true, unlike before, Ah Yin hadn't covered her head and let her hair flow over her shoulders. But still remaining quite calm, Ah Yin sighed, "The Dark Jade Bamboo is good for low-ranked spirit masters. It hardly has any use for me."

"We were hoping... to discuss something with you once again," Feng Long uttered. Since the two were also in masks like Ah Yin, they felt that she was also taking part in the missions.

"As I said last time. I don't want to associate with people who have offended Spirit Hall."

"We found a solution for that," Zhao Wuji grunted softly. Jun'er nodded in a hurry and Ah Yin pursed her lips.

'I just had to run into them,' she sighed. However, her mood was still quite great. Not only did she encounter a shoot of Dark Jade Bamboo that is simply made for plant-type martial soul spirit masters to consume, she actually made Ja Sun retreat speechlessly. Although the price she paid was great for the latter— a shard of her dignity, she still felt great.

"Will it waste my time?" Ah Yin inquired.

"There is a high chance of it," Jun'er giggled, "But we will also treat you at Zue Tea Palace. They have the best sweets."

"I ordinarily like salty dishes, but whatever," Ah Yin shrugged and followed the group.

Within the tea palace, a soft fragrance was ever-present that instantly relaxed the bodies of every customer. Finding a table for themselves, Ah Yin stood next to Jun'er while the others sat opposite to the duo. Zhao Wuji's bulky body squished Feng Long against the wall and almost pushed Oscar out of the shared sofa seat.

"Before we begin. Can I ask how many individual missions have you completed?" Zhao Wuji questioned. In reality, Ah Yin didn't risk it. She was willing to step wherever she could only after reaching a higher realm and before meeting Ja Sun, she still would have dared to make rash moves to attain her goals but Ja Sun was simply the quickest and the safest approach. But living with Ja Sun had made Ah Yin sharp-tongued. 

"No, you may not."

Ah Yin's reply stumped Zhao Wuji and others but they were familiar with this woman's indifferent temperament.

"Fine. Do you know the true reason for this war?"

Although Ah Yin hadn't participated at all, she heard Ja Sun's account with great interest and found his conclusion aligning with hers.

"Purging and recruitment," this time she replied. 

Nodding, Zhao Wuji added, "But there is a difference in the level of Recruitment and Purging. This difference is only explained to a spirit master once he completes 10 individual missions. But after the first six, the remaining four need to be personalized missions that have greater danger.

I completed my tenth individual mission yesterday. And the solution to our problem is within this war itself."

"Let me explain it simply," Feng Long interjected. In their group, despite having the lowest spirit rank, Feng Long was the one with the greatest sense of speech and perception.

"Plainly put, the recruitment of spirit masters is divided into two groups: Recruitment of Victors, and Recruitment of Losers.

I'll begin with losers. Any person who manages to stay alive after losing his mission will be approached by two cardinals of the spirit hall. They may get late, but they will show up eventually. With them is a bell-shaped essence tool that acts as a lie detector. Under this pressure, they inquire about the loser's origin. If this spirit master is recorded in the bounties of the Spirit Hall, he or she will be killed without questions. If not, this spirit master will be forced to join the spirit hall, or in refusal, die.

This forceful demeanor changes once an individual starts their personalized mission.

At this point, Heaven Dou City, and the Balak-Silvers Kingdom pay attention to these spirit masters. At the loss of a personalized mission, the spirit master is granted one lifeline. If they still lost the next time, they are approached by the two cardinals and most probably, a representative of another faction or multiple factions. Again, it depends on the spirit master's capabilities.

Now, if this particular spirit master is in the bounty of the spirit hall, he won't be killed if the other faction allows him to enter their group. But after hearing the crimes, the other faction backs away, the spirit master is killed by the two cardinals. This is the treatment of losers who couldn't complete a total of two personalized missions.

Finally, from what we know, after completing the tenth overall mission, there is a change in treatment once again.

Obviously, the spirit master will attract more than one party other than the spirit hall. However, they are given no lifeline this time. Instead, after a loss of mission, if the spirit master's crimes make the third parties back off, the spirit hall will still accept them! But, we have offended the spirit master as a group and the solution lies in the number of matches itself."

Suddenly, Feng Long grew quiet while the waitress brought their order. This also gave Ah Yin the time to digest the information. Since Ja Sun had only been winning the entire time, this side of information was of great use to her and Ja Sun. 

As the waitress left, Feng Long coughed and lifted his mask upward slightly. Like Ah Yin, Zhao Wuji, and Feng Long wore masks that completely covered their faces.

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Sipping the cool tea, Feng Long let out a contented sigh and continued from where he left off.

"What I explained was the treatment of losers. As for Spirit Master who can continuously rack up victories, even we're not completely clear on the matter but one this is for certain, the first faction allowed to recruit the spirit master with the greatest victory will be the Heaven Dou City, then the Dukedom. After these two powerful factions, the winner of this war will get the chance to present his case, then the loser, and only after all of them will the Spirit Hall try to entice the Spirit Master should they still remain without a faction.

But not choosing a faction, on official records, will not unconditionally mean death. Unofficially, it can mean anything.

And now, the way to get a group pardon is by climbing up victories in group battles for 15 times. Since the number of members in the group can range from 3-7, we all have been able to obtain 4 victories straight. With your help, we can easily dominate the Spirit Ancestor category of the group wars. Not only will we be pardoned, to compensate you, we will transfer half the merit points to you and share the remaining with ourselves."

Ah Yin calmly sipped from the cup. Unlike Feng Long, she ordered piping hot tea. Her slightly glazed lips distracted others for a moment before and she dragged a long sigh. Only her lower, slightly angular portion of the face was revealed yet all of them could picture her sighing in disappointment.

"I'm not a Spirit Ancestor anymore."

Her words were like rumbling thunder to their ears. They couldn't bear it and waves surged in their hearts.

They had met Ah Yin last year and she was in the initial ranks of Spirit Ancestor. Now, a year later...

"I will take my leave. Thank you for the tea... and since you shared so much with me, I will return the favor. This war isn't simple at all. I think that those who take part even in a single mission will be observed later on. Although these tokens clearly mark us, only with our initiation can other factions observe us. And... even with a pardon, Spirit Hall isn't an entity that forgets or the existence of Spirit Bounties wouldn't exist.

There is a high chance that the factions who even accept the offenders of Spirit Hall will be secretly turned over to Spirit Hall if the rewards are high enough."

Her words were true. She had also shared this with Ja Sun and yet he was persistent on this matter which felt irrational to her. But within the year, he had already committed plenty of actions irrational to her eyes only to revert later. This time, she hoped for the same.

Saying her piece, Ah Yin left the group of four individuals in contemplative silence.

---

Once Ah Yin returned, she found Ja Sun silently munching something. His body exuded warmth and rumbling internal qi that could be felt from afar. However, Ja Sun also happened to be completing other tasks.

To train the Heart Separation Control, one must focus one's energy on three different tasks that require different control and amount of energy. Ja Sun wanted to try controlling three different energies at once— Spirit, Mental, and Physical/Internal.

His encounter with Enlightened Martial Soul had revealed the fact that cultivation of this world isn't based on a single method he learned from the tome of spirit rings and beasts. The cultivation of spirit energy holds many branches and different paths with different consequences.

Similarly, a technique can be mastered not only from one given path.

Ja Sun continuously controlled his spirit energy within his spiritual sea to form shapes. The same thing happened with mental energy. Meanwhile, Ja Sun also cultivated internal qi. His success still remains unknown but Ja Sun felt that he had to give it a try.

However, even after three hours, he felt nothing. This method was clearly a blank and exhaling deeply, he opened his eyes.

Seeing Ah Yin calmly flipping through the Legend of Evil God, one of the cheapest rewards in Ja Sun's arsenal, he involuntarily recalled Ah Yin's words and scowled.

"What?" Ah Yin glanced sideways as she felt his stare.

"Tch, nothing."

"I found something interesting," Ah Yin smiled without care and recounted her encounter with the group once again. 

It was simply too coincidental by now.

"Yeah, they will be considerably safer by staying away altogether," Ja Sun nodded in agreement.

"You think so?" Ah Yin's brows were raised in surprise. It wasn't a common sight that both of them had the same opinion.

"The war between the two kingdoms can be understood as a simple matter of purging rogue cultivators and assimilating those who can be used. But if the Empire is going to such great lengths, do you think they will spare other rogue cultivators who haven't joined?

Bandits cover these lands and act as a nuisance. Businesses are closed because of rogue spirit masters that aren't even Spirit Grandmasters... I think that all of this may be a step to have a greater cleansing in the Empire. But that's just my opinion. If I was left in charge, at least, I wouldn't make two kingdoms go to war just to achieve such a small result."

Ja Sun yawned and stood up. For him, this was basic politics and tactics. Each step is a preparation for the next one until the final objective is achieved and a greater cleansing does seem like an appropriate situation after the war where the major factions are filled with rogue cultivators and need appropriate tests to integrate them internally.

"Wait a moment," Ah Yin frowned.

"If almost all the rogue cultivators will be forced to either follow a faction or die, what about us?"

"Oh, that ship has long sailed. The moment you uttered those words, your right to touch this sexy body was revoked," Ja Sun gestured over himself.

Cringing, Ah Yin spat, "Not this! Our lives! What should we do?"

"Easy," Ja Sun shrugged, "Either join a faction and smooch off of them or escape to Star Luo Empire. It's only the Heaven Dou Empire that will shed blood. Not others. Even the sea is open to us."

Ah Yin blinked. 

It really was this simple but in her moment of fluster, she failed to realize this simple truth.

"What will you do?" She looked at Ja Sun.

"I'll see if any of the faction meets my standards of payment. However, no faction would take me, a Spirit Grandmaster seriously. However, they would take a 19-year-old Spirit King seriously."

Ah Yin was going to interject when Ja Sun raised his hand with a calm smile, indicating her to let him finish.

"But it is more than clear, unless you reach Spirit Emperor, you won't take any rash step. So, it seems that my number one priority is to get you to rank 60."

Spirit rings, dangerous spirit beasts, and bloodline and evolution. After reading about all of these things in extreme detail, how can Ja Sun still not understand about Ah Yin's identity and the burdens that follow?

"Rank 60? I'm close to rank 52 but reaching rank 60 will take years. By then, the war will be long over," Ah Yin sneered and shook her head.

Only Spirit Kings can understand the hurdle of crossing over to rank 60. It was one of the most major watersheds in a person's cultivation!

"We will find a place in Star Luo Empire then. Either way, the rewards prepared by the Kingdoms are truly lucrative," Ja Sun smiled.

Although he looked calm even after knowing Ah Yin's identity, there was a sense of hesitation.

It wasn't because of the truth regarding Ah Yin. It was because he may be able to help her situation. But deep down, he was simply too reluctant to part with that treasure. Who isn't selfish? Even Ja Sun is selfish. He might not sell out people for gains or go on a mindless slaughter to create pools of blood and nourish his blood, but he was definitely selfish.

If he wasn't, wouldn't he be sharing everything with Ah Yin? But he only shared coins, and that, too, begrudgingly.

Sighing softly, Ja Sun sat on the edge of the bed and slumped back with his hands spread.

According to his trait, there was still some time before the war ends so he can make a decision then.

Once he had mulled over the matters, he once again returned to the cultivation of his blood using the seeds of the blood lotus.

This time, he didn't try his previous approach and wholeheartedly focused on this single matter.

Ah Yin didn't raise the topic further but the sneaking doubt in her heart grew.

'He condenses spirit rings, strangely... and he didn't even let me see it the second time deliberately. Is he a...'

But the two didn't pose this particular line of thought to one another.

The next day, Ja Sun completely absorbed the 28 blood seeds, making his technique reach extremely close to the fifth level. On the second day, Ja Sun completely absorbed the effects of Aroma Silk Tulip, reaching the peak of rank 28, a step away from 29. And on the third day, Ja Sun began his first session of training Heart Separation Control. He meditated silently and didn't do anything. He aimed to simply build focus. He still wouldn't reveal his spirit rings to Ah Yin.

On the fourth day, Ja Sun accepted a mission, another match against a group of Spirit Grandmasters but this time, he was the attacking entity which was simply the most amazing feeling.

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