Min Hong continued to talk some sense into Qing Tan as he also began to include the rest of the group into his lectures.

Then after a long hour of speaking serious sense into the group as well as some self-lecture, the group finally understand the main point of Min Hong's one-hour long lecture;

​​

Shed away childish and immature attitudes, the world doesn't care about morals and ethics one bit.

As long as you are in the way of their success, they would not think twice before sticking a knife in you and twisting it to take every shred of life out of you.

Take care of your friends and families, but other than that, everyone else are your enemies and are looking for different ways to take you out of their way.

Thus, one has to think about himself first and anything else as second fiddle.

That way, one would always expect the worst in every situation and as a result be the first to react in different situations ensuring their safety on the long cultivation journey to Immortal Ascension.

It was only after his message had sunk in that the entire group finally gathered themselves together and at that moment, shed off their immature attitudes and way of thought.

Qing Tan also stopped sobbing as she looked to Min Qing and said;

"I want to protect everybody too, so please help me get stronger!"

She said whilst looking at her feet initially, but after noticing the silence of the group, she finally looked up and puffed her cheeks solemnly before declaring;

"I promise never to be a liability to anyone again!"

"Better!" Min Hong nodded with a slight smile before patting her on the head. He turned to Mu Li and asked;

"How is the resources I told you to gather coming along?"

Mu Li then stepped forward and respectfully replied;

"I have gathered them all and everything amounted about 720 Mid-grade Spirit Stones."

In Mu Li's heart, Min Hong's prestige just went up another level after his stern lecture which greatly impacted his view of things.

But not only him, the same happened with everyone else in the group except for Min Qing who already regarded Min Hong as the lord over her life.

"Good, I will leave the placing of bets to you. my plan is not only to make fame for ourselves via our strength alone. If we wish to rally people on our side, we will also need a lot of resources."

"Thus, we start building our wealth from here and from now henceforth, all of our wealth would be merged together and spread evenly amongst all of us. Min Qing would be in charge of it all."

"I plan on having a core team of ten people excluding me because I don't really know much about managing such affairs."

"So, Min Qing would be in charge of our wealth... Mu Li would be in charge of information gathering…"

"Mu Bai, I trust your sense of judgement, so you will be in charge of bringing in people with strong, high and gem-like potential and talent into our group."

"Don't bring in people who are already famous and strong, bring in the diamonds in the roughs."

"Long Sha and I would be in charge of the welfare and security of the entire group and he would also be my second in command from now on."

"Therefore, anytime I am not around, he would be in charge and you all have to listen to him."

"Furthermore, as our group grows, remember to maintain strict hierarchy and loyalty amongst all members."

If you happen to find people with bad attitudes or those with no respect for hierarchy and loyalty that could be bought, weed them out of the group."

"We do not need such people; they would only bring harm and problems to the rest of the group." Min Hong summarized his plan before adding;

"Mu Li, make sure you get the best deals out of those bets, our progress and expansion will depend largely on it, so don't let the team down."

He charged Mu Li who nodded solemnly verifying to carry his tasks to the best of his abilities.

"Since we were lucky enough to rescue Little Qing so soon, I would be going into cultivation seclusion for the next two days."

"Lastly, be vigilant and move in threes every time you are going out. We just severed a tiger's fangs and it would be looking to sink its claws deep into us to draw blood."

The group understood that Min Hong was referring to the Chi Zheng gang who they just took a dump over their pride.

"Long Sha, I will have to trouble you and the twins to look after each other for the next two days. Anywhere Mu Li goes, you and Mu Bai should follow and protect him, same for Mu Bai and I know you can handle yourself but still have them around you at all times." Min Hong advised.

"I will take care of everything; you just concentrate on your cultivation." Long Sha replied, he finally had his chance to make a statement to Min Hong.

So, he was truly fired up to discharge his duties perfectly and efficiently.

"It is best if we start now, that way we can spread the news throughout the entire outer court. After all, the more the students, the higher our chance of making a fortune."

Mu Li urged his twin brother and Long Sha as they all left to begin carrying out their duties. Min Qing and Qing Tan climbed up to the bed as they both began to cultivate whilst Min Hong brought out the ancient output formation the great elder gave him.

Then he set it up around the cultivating area of his room where the hole was then he walked in and sat down, then he threw a mid-grade spirit stone one of the rocks as it began to absorb the energy whilst the rest of the runed stoned began to light up as they melted and merged into the ground before vanishing.

Next, a barrier appeared and sealed Min Hong from the rest of the world shocking Qing Tan who opened her eyes when she sensed the energy fluctuation to the core.

Then Min Hong abruptly vanished from sight as she looked over to Min Qing only to see that she wasn't the slightest bit bothered about the entire scene.

Afterwards, the timeline within the barrier formation slowed by half as Min Hong sat cross-legged and shut his eyes appearing within his Mind Palace.

He was welcomed by Little Wu who seemed to have seen an increase in his bloodline purity as Min Hong was slightly feeling the negligible weight of his aura and presence.

"I can use the Metal Dao, right?" He asked upon seeing Little Wu. "Certainly, let's begin."

Little Wu also didn't dwell on too much ceremony as Min Hong sent his consciousness into the depths of his soul.

He appeared in front of the Primus Dao Tree once again which had reverted back to its normal state.

Then he floated over to the Metal Dao Branch and plucked the fruit and about an hour later, Min Hong had not only comprehended the technique that came with the Metal Dao Fruit but also came along with one of its golden leaves.

He placed the leaf atop his futon as the ancient energy from the 'Realm of Creations' burst forth once again.

Then he began with the [Dragon Maker Codex] as the ancient Qi was being converted into metal elemental Qi which surged into his meridians which immediately became as heavy as lead whilst Min Hong began to feel as if an oversized metal rod was being forcefully pushed through his meridians, stretching them past their elastic limits as they began to strain.

The amount of pain Min Hong was feeling at this moment was like having a little child swallow a metal ore the size of an adult's fist.

But that was not all, when the metal elemental Qi began to surge into his muscles, tissues, bones, marrows and blood simultaneously, Min Hong felt like he was being petrified as his entire body on the inside gradually began to turn into that of the metal ore he cultivated within the 'Pagoda of Ascension'.

e began tremble in intense pain as golden blood began to leak out of the corners of his mouth making it look like he was puking molten metal.

Min Qing who had been meditating calmly suddenly felt a jolt in her heart as she opened her eyes and gazed towards the corner where Min Hong was supposed to be.

For some strange reasons, it was as if she could feel Min Hong's pain.

Something kept telling her from the inside that Min Hong was in excruciating pain, but whether it was her intuition or just a figment of her imaginations, she couldn't tell.

So, after a while of coming to no conclusion, she simply continued her meditation, as she believed within herself that Min Hong who had experienced a Qi deviation will never die just from cultivating.

Min Hong went through all the pain as all his cells, tissues, organs and systems were turned into metal whilst his entire inner appearance kept on turning into metal which had now reached his waist level.

After about ten hours, every part of Min Hong's human anatomy was now made of an extremely dense, strong and resilient otherworldly metal ore.

Then after, that was done and Min Hong's inner appearance was now covered in an otherworldly metal, the metal dragon tattoos then began to form one after the other.

After about nine long hours, the last metal dragon tattoos formed and the they all roared as Min Hong felt a unique sensation and energy wash over him for a brief instant before vanishing.

Min Hong was stunned by the sheer power, purity and vastness of this unique energy, so he tried to sense it one more time in a bid to connect to it, but his senses were repelled.

It was like something like a mysterious barrier was preventing him from accessing this unfathomable energy.

He tried several more times and was equally repelled, so he dropped the matter and decided to ask Little Wu when he had the chance.

He then looked over the one thousand dragon tattoos wriggling within his body radiating immense strength and familiarity.

He urged all of them with a thought as they roared to life sending a ripple of massive cultivation aura out of his body which was reflected and contained by the formation barrier.

The moment the ripple of Peak Emperor stage aura landed on his body; Min Hong's skin began to peel.

As they gradually fell off, the dense metal body underneath the skin began to reveal itself as Min Hong's skin kept shedding off his body.

By the time he completely shed his skin, Min Hong looked like a golden metal statue that was sitting cross-legged during meditation.

But Min Hong was still focusing on the dragon tattoos on his insides which seemed to be coiling around each other.

Unlike before when they were not repelling each other but were still grouping together, this time, they were all mixing together like a bag of multicoloured beads.

He could sense that there was something weird going on with their behaviours, but since he didn't have much time, he decided to leave the matter for now and continue with his cultivation.

Continuing with the incoming metal elemental Qi, this time, Min Hong cultivated using he [Wonder Gate Codex] as he channelled the incoming metal elemental Qi towards the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' located inn his dantian area.

The moment these elemental Qi entered washed over the gates and the four beast statues etched on it, they all began to solidify and possess a kind of feel to them like they are turning physical and could be touched, unlike their previously energy-like appearance.

All the beasts had their bodies remade and auras changed as their claws and talons tuned metallic and glittered like a sharp sword in the sun.

The dragon scales became sturdy and dense as they strengthened significantly, the phoenix beaks and feathers also took a metallic feel to them as they radiated immense density and sharpness.

The tiger had its fangs turned into immensely sharp daggers as the turtle's shell became heavier and sturdier as it looked like it wouldn't even be buckle even if the heaven came crashing down on it.

The gate itself also became thicker, bigger and more majestic as they it radiated strength and great sturdiness.

Then all the liquid Chaos Qi within the first depression inside Min Hong's 'Yuan Wonder Gate' began to see the metal elemental Qi mixed into it as they gradually began to solidify…