"Look, boss Tao is smiling."

"Is he going to teach this boy a lesson?."

"Without spirit energy usage?, My money on the boy."

"As if boss Tao would need spirit energy to play with a junior, you don't think any of them was taking it seriously do you?, But this Lin is really something for his age, he is 9 years old at best yet he perfectly countered three spirit grandmasters's moves one after another-" the man who started to blabber received a smack on the head by one freshly acquired fan of Lin, "just bet or shut the fuck up, my money is on Lin, one red coin from me." The man flipped a coin in the air then caught it and looked at the men around him.

"Ill be the house, odds are even one for one." Tang Wei's ear twitched when he heard a call for bet and like a very successful merchant with a good sense for making money and grabbing the opportunity when it arrives, he announced himself as the bank and collected coins from the crewmates with a growing smile on his face.

'Nothing is comparable to the sound of money, especially as you make it.' Wei thought while wishing if he had a larger crew.

The majority of the bets were still on Tao winning, Peng Tao was only a first stage spirit grandmaster and holder of the weakest cultivation amongest the five, still he had almost eighty percent of the bets placed on him!, Why?, Because this man once was a fifth stage spirit tyrant.

He had been one kind of short lived genius of the Peng clan and was tasked of being the personal guard of one of Tang Wei's elder brothers, having to save his young master, Peng Tao didn't hesitate to sacrifice his cultivation to save him and help him escape from the attack of two loose cultivators in the peak tyrant stages and had his cultivation drop to the peak-perfection of the spirit master realm, after years he only managed to raise his cultivation to re-breakthrough to the grandmaster realm but his hidden wounds from overstraining his potential were hindering any further cultivation in the future.

Peng Tao needs a miraculous medicine or a high levelled pill to heal these hidden wounds, but at that time Tang Wei wasn't old yet and his talent for business and ability for making money was still undiscovered, the Tang clan and it's allied clans were suffering from poverty in that time, and the optimum time for Peng Tao to restore his cultivation and heal his hidden wounds passed as he failed to solve the problem, his vitality deterioration kicked in and his body which could handle crystalized energy withered and became ill and sickly after it was fed liquid spirit energy which is of a lower grade of purity.

But his comprehensions and battle experience still stands, after all, he tasted the feel of a higher realm and spent years communicating with the dao from a higher stage.

Facing a boy less than a decade old?, spank him he shall, or at least that's how all those who betted against Lin encouraged themselves.

Lin and Tao were facing each other calmly while the ongoings of the bet was quickly dealt with, despite being a complete waste in cultivation of his lightning affinity spirit energy, Tang Wei never forgot a detail when he dealt with coins!.

"Built up enough pressure yet grandpa?." Lin smirked at the hook nosed man with sharp yellow eyes resembling Sun's own eye color, Peng Tao was using the oldest trick in the book, applying pressure by staying completely still and watching your enemy very closely, once he reveals a weakness you strike at once.

"Admirable indeed, if you won't crack then Ill make you." Peng Tao walked towards Lin as he spoke with a smile, his action peaceful as if he walked to shake Lin's hand.

"You can try." Lin copied him step by step and shrunk the distance between them.

"Tsk," Lai tsked when he saw Lin's swift counter to old Tao's counter, this confrontation wasn't suitable to a brat of that tender age but he again and again flipped the table on them.

Maybe others of his age could do what Lin did, but this boy had certain grace when doing it which makes your eyes glow, even after he got embarrassed, Lai couldn't help but grit his teeth and admit his inferiority to this brat if he was in the same age, 'what was I doing at that age?, Sigh, I was having fun beating up Wei and the others in the clan's training grounds and prance around like a fool drunk on the euphoria of bullying the weak, maybe I am really a bully like he said!' he thought while shaking his head regretfully, then he focused because Lin and Tao were two steps away from being in the spot where they can actually land a hit.

Holding their breath, every set of eyes were on the two, two steps, one step.

Tao was relaxing his shoulders and his arms were dangling naturally at his sides, swinging back and forth with each step they didn't seem to carry any power on any move.

Once Lin was in range, Tao's left arm stretched forward perfectly to narrow Lin's view, aiming to block Lin's sight, especially from Tao's feet.

All Lin could see of Tao was his body from the stomach up as their bodies continued to move closer, from outside, the crew saw them move as if two passerbys almost brushing shoulders in the street.

Of course Peng Tao was towering over Lin in height.

'aiming to switch stances huh, sneaky indeed but what can you do even if you stood in my blindspot?' Lin felt how Tao's left shoulder joint was slightly raised unlike the right shoulder, when he saw the slight movement on the elbow joint as well once Tao raised his arm to mess up his perspective, Lin knew that the man had intentionally dislocated his shoulder and once his twisting momentum from the sudden change of stance travel all the way up to the tip of his left hand fingers, the backhand sweep will be at least two times faster than it should.

Tao's thin arms will be like a whip or a snake suddenly biting it's prey.

Once Lin and Tao were about to pass each other, Tao who had flawlessly and very light-footed changed stance to a southpaw, twisted his torso to the extreme limit while changing stance again to the orthodox stance after shifting his right foot for a narrower stance, his left arm moved backwards away from Lin's face and from an outer view it looked as if Tao was making way for Lin to pass.

The narrow stance and the twisting momentum suddenly shifted up to the upper body and Tao's body spinned like top, his left arm made almost a full circle in a split second and the back of his left arm was about to hit Lin's back of the neck after his shoulder joint relocated itself in place.

Suddenly dropping down as if his knees failed to carry his weight, Lin springed up just as fast with a tiger claw which snatched Tao's wrist that was midway aiming to hit him on the back of the neck then pulled it down and forward in Lin's direction as he pivoted again on his left foot, now his left shoulder was almost touching the stomach of Tao who found his weight shifting against his will, Lin let go of the right tiger claw that held Tao's left arm then firmly blocked the right fist Tao tried to deliver at a hurry to his right temple with the tip of his right elbow, while leaning his left shoulder deeper into Tao's groin area Lin bent his left arm and planted his elbow in the man's stomach and sent him flying more than seven meters in the air before he hit the railing of the ship with his back.

The exchange happened in two seconds and Lin raised his body to stand tall in place admiring his success in the previous spar with Tao, especially because he didn't use soul sense to read the man's motions, Ming was using them instead and if danger was spotted he would've activated the wings to flee even if Lin had his fun stopped if he did.

"I Won!, Hahaha I'm rich."

"Fuck, boss Tao lost the exchange, fuck I lost half my savings!, My wife is going to fuck up my days!, What have I done?."

"Shit, this kid is a monster."

"What just happened?, It happened so fast!."

While the crewmates yappered, Lai, Zhang, Wang, Wei, and even old Tao himself were sucking a cold breath.

Unlike these mortals, they saw the exchange with different eyes, just now Lin shouldn't have been able to hit Tao before Tao's left arm returned to his side after Lin let go of his claw hold!, But Lin brilliantly used the force from Tao's follow-up punch to speed up his own left elbow strike.

Lin's right elbow got in the way of Tao's right-hand punch while his right-hand's palm held his left-hand fist, while guiding the power to travel from the right-hand elbow, all the while pushing with his right foot on the ship floor and taking a deeper step with his left foot right underneath Tao's center of gravity (which is his waist), his elbow strike caused Tao to fly not only because it was heavy, but also because he was trying to move backwards with his midsection to widen the distance between him and Lin after his two pronged attack failed.

"Much better than the other minions, now, who's going to be number one?, Hrrrm!." Lin smiled when he saw the minority of the crewmates jump in joy while the majority gritted their teeth after losing their money, looking at the four cultivators which he embarrassed then asked them to antagonize them further.

"You wouldn't have won if they used their spirits, don't you go too far you brat, you made me lose two red coins you little shit."

"Yes, boss Tao and the others will kick your ass if they did."

"True, so what if your body is strong?, Many martial artists has strong bodies yet they all die if they dare offend spirit cultivators. Fuck, I lost five red coins."

"Heh, so what if they haven't?, I didn't either, so stupid, it is pointless to argue with the dumb. So much bullshit is hurting my ears." Lin gave them an amused smirk then used his pinky to clear his ear which only infuriated the losers more and more.

"God I'm so angry at this brat, he needs some serious spanking to correct this attitude of his." Wang muttered while massaging his forehead which Lin flicked with his finger, not only was it sudden and fast but also strong enough to shake his brain and he received a light knockout from the kid.

Had that been a punch instead then his face would've been swollen right now, he was sure Lin was stronger than what he revealed.

"Again, let's have another fight with spirit energy, right!, Zhang lost because I didn't use my spirit energy." While simpleton Zhang activated his martial-spirit as he spoke, he honestly and straightforward walked towards Lin and asked for another duel.

Zhang's martial-spirit turned out to be a three meters tall extremely muscular brownish-red minotaur with two one meter thick twisted horns on it's head pointing forward, thick long brownish-red fur covered it's loin's, chest, thighs.

It's two feet's hoofs, large, thick, black, and glistening like refined metal.

Zhang's body himself was covered with brown and red energy, when he was ten meters away from Lin the honest man stood waiting for the boy to activate his martial-spirit.

'So that's how cultivators use spirit energy to protect their bodies, sigh, I'm only in the spirit apprentice realm while he's three major realms higher, he can use his spirit energy to protect his body and use it in long range techniques while I can only use it to reinforce my body after clearing a side-branch of one of my meridians, if my wings hadn't been interfering with my spirit energy refinement then I could've started with that step already. Even if I had started then my energy would've reinforced my body only internally, add to that how his spirit energy had liquefied while mine is only has gaseous form, looks like I need to rely on speed and soul force to counter his strength.' Lin thought at a hurry while studying Zhang's martial-spirit and spirit energy.

Activating his large golden wings, Lin confronted Zhang and beckoned for him to make his move.

"Bets everyone, odds are three to one in Zhang's favor, he is a stage four spirit grandmaster with dual affinity for earth and fire, Lin is a stage one spirit apprentice with the light affinity." Wei clapped to attract the attention of the crewmates, he wanted to collect the money before Lin and Zhang dueled, he was still lamenting how small the audience was.

"Wait brother Zhang don't fight before I place my bet, I already won two red coins before betting on Lin, I bet four red coins on brother Zhang."

"Yes, there's no way Lin would win this time, I can't rely on luck everytime I bet, ten red coins on Zhang."

"My bet is on Lin, four red coins."

While the crewmates pushed each other to give Wei their money, Lin concentrated his soul force to third of it's maximum range and waited just like Zhang for Tang Wei to give the signal of the start of this fight.

"Zhang I know that you don't always get to control your strength while fighting, but try to stop if things got dangerous. This isn't a fight to the death brother, understand!." Wang went to lean at the ship mast with his back, then he warned his adorably simpleminded best friend to try and hold back when the results of the fight is definitive.

"En, Zhang understands. Somehow I feel like Lin is trying to look like a baddie but he's actually a good guy." Nodding seriously, Zhang's wide oxen eyes never left Lin's large golden wings as he spoke.

These wings made his untroubled mind feel very at peace just by looking at them, he was getting excited and wanted to exchange blows with this boy just like how he loved to spar with his best friend Wang ever since they were young.

The courageous, fearless, confident attitude of Lin's as he faced him and his lifelong friends reminded Zhang of his younger days, before he left the confines of his clan's safety and got to see the larger world.

That confidence within Zhang was grinded and almost lost completely after meeting opponents far stronger during the years of his life, he was stubborn by nature and refused to accept that fate, but, no matter how hard Zhang trained and tried to become stronger by meditating, he couldn't keep up with the other's in spirit cultivation and he has the lowest cultivation amongest his friends with a stage four grandmaster cultivation.

Wang was the closest to him in cultivation with a stage six, young master Wei with a stage seven, and Lai the gang's bully with the highest cultivation of a stage eight grandmaster.

He worked harder and gained less in return, his only advantage over the group was his better strength and insane amount of endurance which was his only weapon to counter Lai's bullying.

As for old Tao he wasn't from their generation and despite having lower cultivation than Zhang, he was one of Zhang's role models when he was younger and still is after what he contributed to saving Wei's older brother.

"You're doubting yourself," Lin suddenly spoke and Zhang was pulled rudely from his daydreams, staring straight at these gold eyes of the boy in front of him, Zhang didn't speak but his large fists clenched tighter. "From the energies I feel on all of you minions, that idiot with a blade over there is the strongest followed by fatso the money-grubber, dandy all smiles over there then foolish you with the blind single-minded mentality, and finally jeezer over there with his levelheadedness." Lin continued to speak while pointing at every cultivator on the ship.

The crewmates sniggered when they saw a vein pop up on Lai's forehead and a twitching side-lip on Wang's face, only Wei proudly raised his head when Lin called him a money-grubber and Tao was unaffected by whatever Lin said.

"From idiot blade I feel hidden sharpness full of frustration and stifled emotions but heavy-ness is dragging that sharpness of his maybe he's the cause of that bluntness or disruption of the fluidity that should accompany sharpness, fatso money-grubber over there has another passion as it seems unlike how prickly his body feels to me in it's inherited nature contradictory indeed with how heavy his exterior looks his character is fleety and light as a feather, dandy all smiles over there had deep coldness and frost behind his cheerful personality but he seems to be denying that side of himself with light humor, the feeling I get from confronting you is like a mountain with a bellyful of scorching fires and molton lava waiting to erupt like a volcano, geezer there is giving me the feeling of a veteran taking his warrior's rest after hitting a wall. Back to topic, the reason I called you blind and single-minded was because you're a mountain envying the sky because it is already taller than you while forgetting that, first, a mountain no matter how small is already taller than the trees, and trees no matter how many, are only a forest, no matter how a forest is big the mountain is bigger, second, what you see of any mountain is smaller than the actual size of the mountain, underground, rooting deep in the earth, some mountains are actually taller than the sky. You just have to look down and find your root, only after knowing your root can you look up at the sky and start comparing sizes. And that's why I called you simpleminded. Who knows, maybe after knowing your root you'll find that the sky is only seeking your favor because you're the planet itself." Lin spoke long and made the crewmates puzzled and confused, but not the five cultivators on the ship, they all had a glow in their eyes, even Wei the blessed fool felt a hammer beat on the bottleneck preventing him from reaching the eighth stage.

However, the one who felt Lin's words tear out his accumulated negative emotions over the years spent questioning himself and wondering, is it true I'm dumb and have no future of reaching the peak of cultivation, Lin's words made Zhang feel his affinity for the earth element clearer and closer.

He always approached the earth element as heavy and solid, strong and firm, cold and rough.

But after Lin's words hit home, Zhang noticed that he was missing that earth is caring and accommodating, deep and mysterious, rich and healthy.

The elements on the surrounding were racing towards Tang Wei's body and the energy inside his body raised gradually as he drew purple lightning energy and it's purity was less than the energy Mia used to breakthrough to the tyrant realm.

Lai was frowning because he no longer the strongest in the five, Wei could be stronger if he took refining his energy seriously but the fool had his mind focused on making money as best as can instead.

Zhang was very eager to meditate to cultivate his spirit energy, but even if he felt like he gained some kind of comprehension to the dao of earth, he was more eager to continue his duel with this Lin.

Win or loss he planned on asking Lin to be his friend afterwards, that was something extraordinary for simple Zhang to ask someone to be his friend, except for clan members, the man never had any friends who aren't from the five clans, he never trusted any outsiders in fear of getting fooled by people aiming to conspire on the clans.

It happened before to someone from the Liao clan and if it wasn't for old Tao then Wei's older brother would've been kidnapped and the poor clans would've to pay anyway, because at that time there was no Tang Wei and his older brother was the only legitimate heir to the Tang clan.

After Tang Hao -Tang Wei's older brother- was secured back to the clan it was discovered that their mother was pregnant with little Wei, his father was ransomed for almost all the clans could offer and suffered a few years of poverty struggling to keep the five clans from getting bankrupt, after their great-grandfather was schemed by the cultivation alliance and the wolves of the cultivation world sniffed the smell of the bloodied Tang clan, the great Tang clan of the southern continent with their clan pillar a stage seven spirit sovereign got beaten to the floor of the cultivation world, now their best cultivator is only a stage one spirit lord and he has to protect the future of not only the Tang clan, but the Liao, Zhang, Wang, and Peng clans combined.

Five clans in the spirit world having only one spirit lord is nothing, there's bigger fish in this world who could trample over the coalition of the five clans.

"I like these eyes better, the earlier ones were weak and doesn't suit someone as large and buffy like yourself, Make your move big guy, these guys are expecting to win some money." Lin ignored Tang Wei's ongoing breakthrough and gestured for Zhang to begin since Wei seems to be busy to even talk right now.

"En, be careful Lin, when I use my spirit energy I can be a lot faster than before." Zhang took his fighting stance and warned Lin, but Lin only smiled in return.

"Whoosh...."

Zhang really was a lot faster, despite his attack seemingly being swift enough to cross the ten meters in a blink, Lin was sure that the previous punch was only tasting the waters and probing Lin's limit.

'Despite how big and fierce he looks, this Zhang is actually careful not to hurt me, heh, he's kinda cute but I won't go easy just because you are.' Lin only leaned back just before the right hook hit his jaw, then answered with a punch of his own but his right fist only stretched forward in a right straight of his own until it reached the end of his reach and stopped, the height difference was quite a distance.

"Heheh-"

"Pa...."

One crewmate was laughing when he saw Lin punch thin air, but his laughter was strangled in his throat when the brownish-red energy on Zhang's face got pressed by what would appear to be the impression of an imaginary fist.

The hit was strong enough to make Zhang's neck bend backwards, a perfect counter when his forward momentum was at it's last point of stretching.

"Tsk," Wang clicked his tongue when he saw Zhang receive a hit from the beginning because he went easy, even more because Lin didn't use his wings which could've made him fly circles around the bigger man, but, how did he hit Zhang?. "Old Tao." Looking to the side, Wang asked the most experienced member in the ship.

"Soul force," Lai was the one who answered instead, his own martial-spirit has hypnotic abilities and his senses are heightened towards ethereal energies like space, time, death, illusion, weapon intent, and soul force. "Soul eye level of soul force at least, possibly clone level." When Lai continued to say the rest even Tao was giving Lin a different kind of look.

Earlier he felt the soul force but he didn't expect it to be this high levelled, when Lai said possibly a clone he had a look that meant he was certain of his guess and not hesitating about what he felt.

"Good," Zhang said then used his right hand fingers to massage his nose which felt the sting of the last punch, "This time Ill be using my martial-spirit and spirit energy in long range techniques, old Tao activate the formation I don't want young master Wei to deduct from my monthly wages if I broke anything again." Zhang took his stance again but this time his minotaur lowered it's stance further with it's horns pointed towards Lin, fires ignited between the minotaur's horns and on it's hoofs.

While Zhang grew similar horns from red fire energy and his feet got covered in fire energy, Sun stood up at Lin's shoulder and looked to be excited to see the fire energy on Zhang's body.

"No, you're not going to fight them, this is my fight stay still or go sit to the side." Lin gave Sun a side glance and said, but Sun jumped down next to him and activated similar red energy on the four of his cute paws aiming to convince Lin that he can fight.

"Another secret huh!, Still no." Shaking his head, Lin still refused.

"Meow...." Lin saw Sun give him a begrudging look then run to the rail of the ship and sit, while Tao placed a spirit crystal in a node and inscription ran everywhere on the ship, glowing faintly they flickered twice before the glow strengthened in the third then vanished all together.

Beneath Lin's feet, the ship's deck of wooden floor felt like augmented concrete.

"Shall we?." Lin fluttered his wings and flew up half a meter in the air, telling Zhang to make his move for the third time now.

Not hesitating, Zhang gestured with his left palm up and below Lin one brown earthen spike appeared and was heading to impale his leg, and the fireball between the minotaur's horns flew towards Lin's chest.

Then both Zhang and his minotaur dashed towards Lin from left and right with a pincer attack, his attacks came from below, ahead, and from both sides.

Every eye was on the flying boy as the brown earthen spike pierced his legs, the fireball passed through his chest, the two punches at his head and stomach passed through his body all the same.

Then Lin faded into nothing like air, leaving Zhang and everyone else looking like idiots as they couldn't figure out just how did he just vanish.

Even Tao with his hawkeyes was opening his mouth and closing it in disbelief.

"Pa...."

Another impression of a fist appeared on Zhang's jaw as the spirit energy shield got deformed inwards.

"How do you fight what you can't see?." Wang had a look of longing for such power as he spoke, he always hated something about his martial-spirit which was it's affinity.

Wang has the ice leopard martial-spirit, ice wasn't an element which is famous for it's speed.

That's why he always envied lightning and wind cultivators even his best friend with the dual affinity for earth and fire, at least Zhang had strength and sturdy defense of the earth, the destruction and velocity from the fire while Wang only had better defence and finer control of his ice element, his passion was to be faster than any opponent that he confronts.

To dance around his opponents unharmed while inflicting damage in return, how cool is that!, Alas, he was born as an ice cultivator, and will only be able to learn how to use wind and lightning elements after he reaches the tyrant realm.

But it was hard to ascend lately, his last breakthrough was three years ago!.

"This kid isn't simple, he can fly using his wings and that's acceptable since his martial-spirit should at least give him that advantage, when I sensed the light energy from them I was expecting him to be fast, but not that unbelievably fast!." Lai said while looking everywhere for any sign of Lin.

Zhang wasn't fazed by losing sight of his opponent and was back to back with his minotaur, his eyes focused and enjoying the difficulties of this fight with Lin.

"Meow...."

Sun wasn't satisfied with the sudden dullness and seemed to be urging Lin to stop playing games with his opponent.

"Hush, it won't be fun to finish the fight once it starts." Lin's sound came from Zhang's back and he was shocked because there should be his minotaur!.

"Pa...."

Another punch on his jaw awakened Zhang who just lost his focus for a moment, before he got to raise his concentration, Lin appeared just ahead of him with his fist heading for Zhang's jaw from the other side.

Reflexively, Zhang's left palm was up to receive the punch.

"Pa....pa,pa,pa,pa." Countless punched landed on Zhang's spirit armor, and every and each one was delivered by Lin.

"Looks like insisting using my fists will make me hurt myself instead, your spirit energy is perfectly minimizing the damage I do," Lin said after all the afterimages of himself disappeared from around Zhang, he was rubbing his knuckles as he spoke, despite being strong enough to lift a rock weighing two hundred and fifty kilograms he couldn't deliver enough weight behind his punches to bypass the energy armor around Zhang's body. "Big guy, since your armor is strong enough to receive hits how about we decide the winner by a small game?." Lin nodded and offered a change of rules.

Earlier, he wasn't only vainly punching Zhang, Lin was testing to see if he used his soul force seriously he wouldn't hurt Zhang.

"What game?." Zhang asked while feeling good about his defense, but Lin was really strong for his age, if he and Zhang were of the same age then it would've been a very humiliating experience.

At the same age Zhang used to think he's the strongest person of the five clan's juniors, now that thought seems laughable after meeting Lin.

Not only does this interesting kid surpass his current self in speed, but also exceeds his younger version in strength, these punches tickled his skin and left a sting now all of his body still tingle from the aftereffect of that great barrage of onslaughting punches.

Just seeing him breathing normally after doing all that makes it all the more unbelievable, Zhang's younger version would be laying on the floor bloodied if it was him instead.

"Since Ill be using soul force then there's no need to fight personally, you can't reach me and touching me is a dream very difficult for you to be honest. If you could take three steps forward under my soul force restraints then you win, if not then let's face it like reasonable men." Lin shrunk his soul sense to five kilometer radius, if he willed it to restrain Zhang right now he felt like he can press the man to the floor face first and keep him there.

"Alright, I accept." Zhang nodded then his energy armor ignited brighter, but his eyes were filled with excitement and glowing with battle intent.

"Fuck me, the boy is a clone, his grandfather, senior Ming said that he's a soul keeper, you would accept that since he's a senior, but!.... A soul clone in this young age is unbelievable. What kind of monster could make this scary genius?, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!." Lai shivered when he felt the increasing soul force around him thickening, as he spoke the soul force kept rising and rising some more.

"Since I don't know how much you can handle big guy, Ill keep adding pressure gradually, if you couldn't withstand that much then you wouldn't be able to even walk and it will be your loss." Lin focused his soul force to box Zhang then started to shrink the box with Zhang at the center, at once the energy armor started to fight the pressure away from Zhang's body.

"His speed is phenomenal, his strength is admirably beyond his age, the kind which you see from the juniors of barbarians, his soul force is worlds away from his peers. He's a little monster alright, him being entrusted to young master Wei is a fortune and one kind of god-sent opportunity for our clans. Even if senior Ming decided to stay aloof from our matters, just getting to know the boy can be a great help to young master Wei in the future." Tao said while smoothening his long beard, the gaze he gave Lin was like a person admiring a treasure.

"Right, despite how tyranical he acts the boy seems to click with Zhang pretty well, when was the last time you saw Zhang have that look on his eyes." Wang nodded while looking at his best friend who started to show signs of struggling with the pressure, the energy armor was thinning out and got stuck to his body then rippled like water faster and faster.

Zhang was clinching his square jaw and looked at Lin encouragingly, he was challenging the boy to add more pressure.

Even his minotaur bent it's knees slightly and arched it's back to withstand the heavy burden.

Fire energy and earth energy assaulted the formation inscriptions below Zhang's feet for stability, but the formation held on and sent the energy travelling to the waters below the ship.

Waves went outwards from the ship and with each increase of soul force from Lin the waves became taller!.

"Big guy, you held on well. But I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to move if I increased the pressure anymore, that was seventy percent-" Lin smiled at how Zhang's energy armor started to weaken under his restraining soul force, he wanted the man to accept his loss since there was no need to embarrass him after doing his best, sweating bullets and starting to shake with veins popping all over his body.

"Mhorre...." Grunting from between his clenched teeth, Zhang was pleading with his eyes for Lin to continue.

"As you wish." Lin smiled admirably at Zhang's tenaciousness, then he added more and more pressure.

"Heh, look at how excited Zhang is." Wang smirked and nudged Lai to annoy him.

"Nobody wouldn't be excited in his place, look how much his spirit energy is being compressed, he always complained about how his spirit energy's purity wasn't good enough to reach the next stage. Not only his spirit energy but his physique and soul are getting refined, soul force isn't just invisible energy that could hurt you, if used correctly it can fix your hidden imperfections and Zhang is like a piece of iron in the middle of fire getting beat over and over to remove impurities. If he hadn't experienced washing impurities twice then he would've been oozing stink right now, first it was young master Wei receiving sudden enlightenment and is about to breakthrough, now Zhang has fifty percent chance to reach the next stage in spirit cultivation." Tao said while watching with his yellow hawkeyes how Zhang endured the pressure with his martial-spirit.

"Why do I suddenly feel bad for the money I betted against the kid?."

"Eh!, Fuck, me too."

"Do your best big brother Zhang."

"Shameless old Cao is calling brother Zhang "big brother" hehehe, you're almost sixty years old while he's only twenty-nine, where's your face?. Cluck cluck cluck, mmmm, shameless indeed."

"Fuck off, I gave young master Wei one yellow coin. If losing my face means keeping all my money and winning some extra fortune I would've done it, shit, he looks to be at the end of his ropes over there."

"Heh, my money is on young master Lin for the second time. I gambled with fifty red coins, I get to win one yellow coin fifty red coins plus my fifty coins. That's two yellow coins, hahaha, when we reach the harbor Ill be spending some time with the girls in cloud pavilion with your money boys."

"Shut up, brother Zhang didn't lose yet."

While the crewmates glared at each other, Zhang was forced to kneel on a single leg and his minotaur was forced to support it's two thick arms on the floor, while on all fours the minotaur was holding on somehow.

"Arghhh....." With a grunt Zhang started to rise after momentarily staying in his kneel, face flushed red from fighting against the heavy-ness of the soul force pressure.

"Good fighting spirit, I can sqweeze a bit more pressure if you want. Since you're enjoying it so much I can give you that or you can walk your three steps now, I can play some tricks on you while you take your steps. However, since I respect your fighting spirit I wouldn't do that." Lin clapped encouragingly then offered his last offer.

"Why does it feel like he's toying with Zhang?." Lai smiled ruefully while asking old Tao.

"He's a kid, remember?." Wang muttered while feeling his stomach roil in disgust for Lin's talents which made him feel how unfairly monstrous he is.

"He seems to be testing himself to me, as well as Zhang of course. But, somehow I feel like he's being careful for Zhang's sake, remember in your childhood when you had some toy and you being careful not to break it while using it." Tao shook his head regretfully while imagining Lin in a competition for the younger generation, that would be unfair to the boy to call such an event a competition.

Other than the geniuses from the great sects, or others fortunate enough to be born with insane amount of talent, nobody could make him struggle a bit, as for winning?, Peng Tao didn't see it happening no matter how good the juniors from the younger generation could be, they couldn't be better than that, the set of talent Lin has, has already transcended the category associated to juniors and visibly suppressed a senior!.

But, Peng Tao was still confused about one thing which didn't click, despite being that monstrous, Lin was still only a first stage spirit apprentice in spirit cultivation while being already a soul clone in soul cultivation!.

'Is it possible that he's not talented in spirit cultivation?, No, he used his spirit wings to move at insane speed previously, and the light energy I felt from Lin was pure enough for a spirit apprentice of a higher stage than the first stage. According to my estimations he should be in the third, possibly fourth stage!.' Peng Tao thought while looking at Lin, the boy just mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, such stunning character of the younger generation should be victim of rumors and the talk of idle cultivators everywhere.

But no matter how he sqweezed his memory, Tao never heard of Lin before which should be unlikely in the spirit world, even geniuses in the other continents get tabulated, ranked, and reported on the latest news from many Intel gathering organizations with regular updates.

Lin wasn't, which is mind-boggling.

"Since you're not going to move I will give you the full extent of my soul force pressure, if you endure for ten seconds then it's your win. Remember, mountains, roots." Lin said then shrunk his soul sense radius to fifty meters, the extremely condensed soul force was shocking Lin himself because of how powerful it was.

"Ughhhhh....." Zhang buckled downwards from the backbreaking weight pushing at his body, his connection with his minotaur started to weaken then his martial-spirit got forcefully deactivated after another second.

Third second he was back kneeling on a single knee, with palms on the ship floor as the formation inscriptions started to lag behind in distributing the over-flooding pressure to the waters below, waves thirteen meters tall was sent from the ship in a circle outwards after every discharge of pressure from the protective formation.

The crewmates who were ignorantly watching without actually feeling any of this invisible face-off between two cultivators, were now panicking as they held on to something before they fall from the ship while their eyes got filled with additional fear when they saw the sight of the surrounding ocean waters rising higher around the ship like walls.

"Is it me or is the ship sinking deeper into the ocean waters?."

"Boss Tao I think we should activate the formation barrier, the water will be dangerous if this continues."

"Isn't it just water?, We all know how to swim."

"Idiot, when all that water rebounds there will be one hell of whirlpool, could you swim that too?."

"Did you guys notice how the water isn't moving towards us at all, they're only moving away from the ship, it's like we're in the bottom of a bowl made from water."

The crewmates were rowdy and those who betted against Lin were making silent prayers right now.

Wang Zhang was on both knees in the fifth second, his elbows gave in to pressure in the sixth second, his upper body started to move gradually towards the ship floor on the seventh second.

"Uuughbb...." Zhang's lips were drawn back and dripping saliva while his large teeth were gritted and his ox eyes defiant, his arm muscles swelling two sizes larger and his energy armor going all out to alleviate the pressure.

His back was heavy and stiff because right now he really felt burdened with weights comparable to mountains leaning on his body, not only was the weight coming from above, but also it was strangling the breathing out of him by pressing him from the four cardinal directions.

First he was enjoying the help it gave to compress his spirit energy, then Zhang found himself unable to maintain his martial-spirit activation to help him, now his body was failing him, his strength waning, and the pressure kept increasing!.

'Up, up, up, uuuuup. Only three more seconds and I win, up I say you stupid legs.' Zhang thought while still doing his best to get back on his feet.

Lin was reminded of the mythological story of Atlas, the second generation titan who carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, it wasn't the weight of world that Atlas carried actually, but the celestial sphere itself!.

Most of the people who saw the statues of the man struggling under the weight of the whole planet on his shoulder thought that he was carrying earth itself, but they couldn't be more wrong, he carried the sky!.

"Two seconds, be like earth big guy. Carry the sky." Lin clapped encouragingly while still increasing the pressure to reach the absolute limit of his capabilities, if Zhang could stand then he will be the first to congratulate him on his accomplishment.

But, the strain on Zhang's body was more than he can endure as it seems.

After his body started to move up, the maximum output of soul force pressure stopped him and he found his head swim with dizziness as his body sank deeper into the ship floor.

Lin was quick to respond when Zhang couldn't endure the ten seconds, he removed his soul force pressure and counterbalanced the momentum of Zhang's falling body before it hit the floor.

His energy armor was gone and only his body drenched in sweat was sprawled on the floor, if the soul pressure was still active then Wang Zhang's body would've exploded.

"Huff, I lost, huff, let's be friends Lin, huff, you're awesome, huff, coolest kid I ever seen in my life, huff, so tired." Zhang was gasping for air but he mumbled these words before he closed his eyes to sleep, which was something that he didn't do since almost a year ago.

As a cultivator, his basic human needs were not necessary anymore, sleep would be replaced with meditation, the point of urinating and defecating to remove the toxins from the body in the case of mortals was replaced by using spirit energy to burn the toxins then remove whatever that remains within the body from these toxins by expelling them from the body pores in the form of sweat.

Even food and water which are crucial for a mortal's survival, could be replaced with spirit energy for long durations.

However, sooner or later the cultivators in the lower and mid realms on the pyramid of spirit cultivation will need to eat and drink, only kings, emperors, and sovereigns could truly survive by supplying their bodies with spirit energy.

"Won!, I Won you fools, young master Lin is my lucky star. Hahahahaha, oomph, blurgh, pei, ptooey."

"Learn to read the mood asshole, you go to hell with your dog shit luck."

"Fuck me, my wife is going to kill me for real this time!, I gambled all of the money I earned from this journey and lost."

"Look!, The waters are going to hit the formation barrier."

"Will it hold?."

"The fuck would I know, let the ship capsize for all I care, I lost my money too."

"Lin made all that and he doesn't look tired at all, I once heard that brother Zhang had the best endurance of his generation and is unequal among the leaders, only boss Lai could keep up for a while before burning out his stamina tank."

"Heh, I have a daughter around his age when we reach the harbor Ill try and find an opportunity to introduce him to my Shia."

"As if your bucktoothed girl has a chance with young master Lin, my Dia is older and prettier."

Lin just watched as Wang carried his best friend to his bed, as the falling waters submerged the green barrier made from spirit energy which the ship's protective formation created, as the crewmates fought to release some frustrations caused by the loss of their money, as they argued with each other, as Lai stood by Wei's side as he sat cross-legged and drew lightning energy to his dantian, Lin wasn't in a hurry to continue playing with these people just yet and just watched how they interacted with each other.

He was amazed by soul force and it's great potential, right now Lin felt like he has an unlimited number of extra hands, legs, and tools!, smiling, he remembered the sculptures of buddha sitting cross-legged and from his back a few dozen arms making various hand signs.

'Maybe buddha was some kind of soul cultivator as well.' Lin had that sudden thought then shook his head while letting out a snicker.

"Young master Lin, this "geezer" wishes to speak with you, is it a proper time?." Peng Tao walked towards Lin and stressed the word geezer when he spoke, but he didn't seem to be uncomfortable at all in asserting himself just like how Lin stated earlier.

Raising an eyebrow full of amusement at Tao's obvious surrender, he nodded and waited for the elder fellow to speak his piece.

It was always easier to manipulate the direction of the conversation when talking with people whome you know, but it was always easier to know what strangers are after to know from you when you keep your mouth shut.

"Other than your grandpa senior Ming we know nothing about you young master Lin, where is your clan or sect?, How old are you?, How can we make you comfortable while staying with us?, If it is alright with you Ill be very happy to get to know you better since young master Lin will be staying with us until senior Ming returns." Peng Tao brought two chairs and a table from his space ring and gestured politely for Lin to sit first before sitting in front of him and asking his questions.

He was very eager to know this boy, after all this boy just elbowed him flying.

Which Peng Tao, someone who once was a spirit tyrant could've never in his wildest dreams imagined to happen to him someday, to have a kid suppress you while you're a grown-up is a strange experience indeed.

"Meow...."

Sun jumped on the table and seemed to be demanding something from Tao with squinted lazy eyes and a small flutter of his cute bat wings.

"Heh, meat and drinks he say." Lin crossed his arms like a little lordling and gave a hint of encouragement to Sun to keep up his gangster attitude.

"Of course," Peng Tao was unaffected by the hurdles Lin and his little kitten has placed in the way of his attempt to gather information, there was none more seasoned on board of this ship than Peng Tao.

"Chef leader, prepare the finest meal you can for young master Lin, you don't need to worry about a thing and use the best ingredients we have. Be quick about it." Tao shouted towards the quarrelling crewmates, once his words were spoken a dozen people walked to the ground floor and got busy making food.

The rest of the crewmates were debating their topics carelessly, but Lin noticed how the ship barrier was quickly deactivated and the ship resumed it's previous course.

Despite how these sailors look, they were actually quite competent in doing their jobs.

"My clan lives in a forbidden area of the spirit world, I'm six years and a couple months old, as for what you have to do to make me comfortable?, is to stop trying to dig up around my secrets. If I trust you then you'll be hearing from me directly with no regard for how kind of deep secret it is." When Lin spoke Peng Tao was momentarily shocked, then he nodded and kept his mouth shut.

"I heard there's some fancy meal is being prepped for young master Lin from the cooks, don't worry Zhang is fine he's just exhausted." Wang arrived after tucking in his best friend, he was smiling and not waiting for an invite he brought a chair to sit on the table next to Tao.

"Do I look worried?, I do believe that I deserve a grateful thanks. But that wouldn't be necessary from any of you two, show me your martial-spirits instead. I'm curious." Lin gave Wang a side-glance then waved a hand commandingly.

"Do it, the young master gave you an order." Peng Tao said when he saw Zhang Wang being indecisive towards Lin's commands.

Then behind Peng Tao, Lin saw a barrel thick and covered in green scales anaconda, from the anaconda's sides there was a dozen set of hawk talons completely black, from it's back the large cyan wings were in pairs and started to flutter one by one and Lin saw them cover the twenty-five meters long anaconda and help it rise higher.

Peng Tao and his martial-spirit had the same eyes, and from them Lin felt the swiftness of wind, but he felt like there's something missing from that green snake, it looked deathly and hollow instead of lively and healthy.

Then Zhang Wang activated his martial-spirit and Sun who was watching Peng Tao's anaconda excitedly and spreading his cute wings as if saying you're not the only one with wings, he glared at the four meters tall snow leopard which appeared behind Wang.

It had thick lush white fur, green eyes, large black dots covering it's white fur and thick long tail.

Even Lin felt the beauty of the snow leopard and nodded but he felt like there's something wrong between the handsome man and his martial-spirit.

"Easy buddy, it is just a martial-spirit." Lin scratched Sun's head and calmed him.

"Looking at your anaconda, I feel like it is wounded, is it caused by what these guys said earlier?." Lin asked Tao first and the man nodded cooley.

"My vitality deterioration couldn't be treated that time because of the lack of resources, with years of delay, healing these wounds is many times harder now." He answered then patted the big, flat, arrow-like head of his green anaconda before deactivating it.

"You and your snow leopard don't seem to get along well with each other, I feel like you're envying the wings on mine and Tao's martial-spirit's back. Do you wish for speed to be your weapon?." Lin turned towards Wang who didn't even look at his spirit leopard since he activated it.

"Yes I do, more than anything in the world. But my affinity is ice, this leopard is fast but not as fast as old Tao's winged snake spirit." Wang said with droopy shoulders and deactivated his spirit.

"Do you even know the characteristics of ice?." Lin laughed at how idiotic that handsome Wang is.

Tao smiled when he saw Lin poke Wang's soft spot fearlessly.

"Cold, frosty, solid shape of water, emotionless, rough." Wang raised his head and spoke while thinking 'Just because I don't like it doesn't mean I don't know anything about it.'

"True, but a loud shout makes it avalanche alongside rocks and fall from the highest mountain peaks, ice and snow can be slippery and make you lose your footing. But, you can be fast if you used it to slide, have you ever thought of that?, Or were you too busy looking at others as they flew." Lin drummed his fingers on the table and Tao smiled when he saw Wang's breathing halt and his eyes dilate.

Wang stood up and gave Lin a polite bow before leaving for his room to meditate on the new comprehensions on top of previous comprehensions thanks to Lin.

"First was Wei then Zhang and now Wang received his share of young master Lin's guidance, now even these old bones are envying their fortune." Peng Tao said while smoothening his long beard then laughed carefreely.

"That's why wisdom is hard earned old man, only those incapable to achieve are the ones who starts to broaden their own horizons." Lin pulled Sun to his embrace and spoke as he tickled his belly.

"Before when I was their age I used to think I'm invincible too, if only I had met young master Lin at that time. Heh, watching over them as they grow stronger has become my only source of fun these days, the clans would be extremely pleased with the results of this journey." Peng Tao brought out one of the best of his liquor gourds and poured himself a cup as he spoke, when he bottomed out the full cup he was smiling from ear to ear as he looked at Tang Wei who seemed to be about to conclude this session after his breakthrough to the eighth stage was over.

"Idiot, come here and let young master Lin see your martial-spirit, if he's pleased with your attitude you can receive his guidance and probably reach the next step in your cultivation." Peng Tao called Liao Lai who stood guarding Wei to come join him and Lin.

The blade user was watching from the side all the time as Lin suppressed Zhang until he lost consciousness, giving advices to Wang and later the dandy running to his room to digest the comprehensions, he even saw Tao smile which he couldn't remember when was the last time he saw it happen, old Tao even brought out the best liquor in his collection, the "Snake Venom Wine" which is actually a secret recipe of the Peng clan. only those fortunate enough to have the Winged-Snake Spirit or it's variations can make it, by using the condensated venom of their spirits as the main brewing material they age the wine and after drinking it you enter a near death state which enables you to release your buried potential.

After looking down next to his feet at Wei who succeeded in reaching the eighth stage of the spirit grandmaster realm just like him despite being one year younger, Lai walked towards the vacant chair after Wang left and sat down.

On the table between his arms a ten inches tall grey praying mantis appeared once he sat, but that wasnt the only thing happening that caught Lin's eyes.

The long, wide, vertical blade on Lai's back turned horizontal on it's own as he sat without him having to move a finger, the same type of energy was at work here but in Lai's case it felt weaker than Mia's sword intent before it experienced a breakthrough and successfully materialized.

"Lai's martial-spirit is the only one amongst us that has a different affinity than it's owner, Zhang has his minotaur sharing the same earth and fire elements, Wang has his snow leopard sharing his ice affinity, mine own winged-snake shares the wind and wood affinities, even young master Wei's spirit has the same affinity for lightning. Lai has his affinities towards gold mainly and earth secondarily but his martial-spirit has hypnotic abilities and no fighting capabilities of it's own." Peng Tao explained the situation to Lin while Lai kept his mouth shut, Sun jumped towards the praying mantis and circled it curiously but he felt dizzy whenever he looked at it's blue eyes, scowling he beat a hurried retreat and returned to Lin's embrace feeling drowsy.

"Quite a formidable praying mantis indeed, look at how Sun has become after looking at idiot's spirit for a few seconds. Shouldn't he be happy that he can use a third power on top of his two affinities unlike you and Zhang?, Not only would he be able to use the gold element and earth element but also hypnotic abilities could make him throw his opponents off-balance during a fight, add to that the intent I feel from his body and that's four kinds of powers he has access to. Why do I only feel two of these powers actually harnessed and refined somewhat while the other two aren't?." Lin held Sun in his arms and asked Tao, completely disregarding the bully's existence at the same table.

"Liao Lai is from a clan proud of their attainments in the blade dao, from a tender age he showed brilliance in blade weilding amongst his clan's juniors, his dual affinity for gold and earth was like adding wings to his blade talents, gold means sharpness of the metal while earth means the heavy-ness of each strike. But he was never satisfied with his martial-spirit and I saw it on him during the first competition I witnessed him join, it was an internal competition between the younger generations of the five clans which is supervised by Tang Wei's great grandfather. During that time I remember hearing one elder say that Lai is a blade genius but if he couldn't integrate his attacks with his spirit abilities then he's going to have a shaky foundation, he did very good in adding sharpness to his blows with gold element infusion and an acceptable job with the earth element but he never succeeded in adding spirit abilities to the mix." Peng Tao spoke with Lin about Lai's secrets very casually and ignored the frown on the face of the blade user next to him.

"Heh, idiot is an idiot indeed, he's proud of his blade intent which is laughable indeed, before I came here with grandpa Ming I saw a girl barely twenty years old materialize her sword intent and her accumulations in the grandmaster realm helped her shoot through the tyrant sub-realms when she achieved her breakthrough. At least she crossed four sub-realms in one go, not to mention that her affinity isnt for basic elements but for a superior grade element. Some people are just stubborn and idiotic by nature, if only these frogs in a well would climb out to see the world for what it truly is." Lin gave a cynical smile when he saw the bully frown and decided to shatter his ego, however, it seemed like his words were a bit too much for even Peng Tao to handle.

Seeing them in loss for words after he's done, Lin turned towards Lai and said : "The way I see it, your problem isn't your potential, affinity, or spirit. Unlike others you're a bit narrow-minded, it's alright to be confident and strong headed but your role should be the leader of this group instead of this geezer here, however, instead of taking after him and keeping an open mind and a breadth of chest to soak in as much as you can from his precious experience, I saw you as a burden on this group instead from the moment I layed eyes on you," Lin gave Liao Lai a moment to digest his words then continued "I have to accompany your group for a while to come that's why I'm even bothered to say these words, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my breath." Finishing, Lin rested his back on his chair and watched the chef's place plates of food and drinks on the table.

"Well said young master Lin, these words were on my chest for a while now and the only reason I didn't say them was my fear for Lai's feelings. Lai, just like you heard, your character is flawed and needs tempering just the way you try very hard to temper your blade intent. The choice is yours, you can either ignore young master Lin's and mine words as the ravings of the mad, or calmly and reasonably think long and hard why do we see it that way. Let's leave the young master enjoy his meal, young master Wei is handing the lucky ones their money, tsk, I could've made some good money too. What a shame." Old Tao patted Lai's shoulder gently as he spoke then got up to walk towards Wei who succeeded once more in stashing some money from the unfortunate crewmates who lost some good money betting against Lin.

Smiling widely, Wei as the house of the bets squatted next to the main mast counting the coins on the floor shamelessly and openly to the frustration of all the losers, the few lucky ones were dancing with glee and gave the losers gloating looks.

Sun was wiping the plates clean one after another like a starving ghost while Lin only tasted each plate one by one elegantly, the drinks were entirely his own because Sun never liked to drink anything but water and the blood of his prey!.

"Hehe, young master Lin congratulations on your well deserved win, mind if I join you?," Wei giggled his way towards Lin's table while rubbing his palms enthusiastically, winning his earlier small fortune had him in a good mood, as for his breakthrough?, Wei never cared for such thing as cultivation at all, honestly, this wasn't the first time he had a sudden breakthrough. "Thank you, will it be not to your liking if I called you brother Lin?, Good Ill be calling you brother Lin then and you can call me Wei or brother Wei." Receiving Lin's nod of approval, Wei sat down and suggested then smiled when he saw Lin shake his head to approve for a closer way to call each other.

'This one looks to be a money-grubber indeed, unfortunately for him though, I'm not going to let go of the water-pearl.' Lin thought as he drank some juice that tasted like pomegranate.

"Grandpa said that you have a water-pearl, what do you plan on doing with it?." Lin asked but this time he said it through the soul link technique.

"The founding ancestor of my Tang clan is severely wounded, that water-pearl can help alleviate and heal some of his soul wounds. Of course if someone as great as senior Ming decided to help then I'm sure my great-grandfather will certainly recover, what do you think brother Lin?, Is there a chance for that to happen!." Wei didn't deny the fact and probed carefully, but the glow in his eyes said how much he wished for such a thing to happen.

"I don't know when grandpa Ming will return, maybe by the time he returns Ill be a soul keeper as well, or higher. Who knows, do you mind if I keep it with me until we reach your clan?." Lin hinted with his words then straightforwardly asked for the water-pearl from Wei.

"This.... promise not to hesitate in returning it?, Alright then brother Lin, it will be in your safe hands until we return." Wei only hesitated for a second then brought out one sky-blue thumb sized round pearl from his space ring and gently placed it in front of Lin, he was smiling from ear to ear and his eyes had no hint of distrust whatsoever.

"Will it lose it's soul powers if I used it for the duration of our travels?." Lin held it in his palm and asked while feeling the water-pearl's benefits augmenting his soul.

First benefit he noticed was how his soul force strengthened suddenly and his soul sense grew from one hundred and sixty kilometers to one hundred and seventy, one hundred and eighty, ninty, then finally stabilized at the two hundred kilometers mark!.

"This is a world's treasure, the chance of actually encountering and finding one is one in every hundred years, using it does consume parts of it's powers but the water-pearl can restore and recharge it's powers by submerging it in spirit waters. The higher the quality of the spirit water, the faster it restores it's powers. You don't have to worry about exhausting it's powers, just use it how much you like in your soul cultivation. Brother Lin is a soul clone already, to be so great at the age of six!, Tsk tsk where do we from the older generations compared to your stunning achievements. Just calling someone like you brother is making me proud, unlike me with my shaky foundation and crappy cultivation you need to make your grandfather proud and focus on your cultivation both in soul and spirit." Wei explained then joined Sun in wiping the plates.

'Senior Kai, can I use the pearl to help old Jin?.' Lin called for the formidable raccoon and waited respectfully for an answer.

"Meow!...." Sun snared at Tang Wei after the fatso money-grubber stretched his greasy sausage-like fingers to one plate full of meat, he glared at him and snorted after seeing Lin give him a look of slight disapproval.

"You're Sun huh, no need to fight for food with me, this Wei never lost a food competition before." Wei snickered when Sun begrudgingly backed off, then while stuffing his mouth full of meat he antagonized Sun further than he already was. (which was the wrong move)

"Snort...." Sun gave him a snort in return then jumped from the table and reverted back to his original form, the tiger was swallowing meat by the plate and before Wei had a chance to refill his mouth the table was empty of meat.

"Wei, if I were you I wouldn't compete with Sun on who can eat more." Lin smiled when he saw Wei frown and chew some of the veggies that Sun kindly left for him.

"Ya, I thought he was a kitten, only the talented amongst beasts can change form in the demonic realm. Even your pet is amazing brother Lin, but I refuse to admit defeat just yet. Food competitions aren't decided by who can eat more first, but, by who can eat more until his foe drops with a belly that could handle no more." Tang Wei said wisely and once the next plates replaced the empty ones he stretched his arms to hogg a few of them and never stopped chewing blissfully.

Shaking his head, Lin waited for Kai to answer patiently and watched his tiger and Wei enthusiastically compete for food as he drank different cups of juice, the wine gourd that Tao left was being gazed at by Liao Lai who stood to the side by the ship rails gazing at the waters absentmindedly every once in a while.

"I'm not your or his or anyone's servant you brat." Kai's voice made Lin's head slightly dizzy.

'Sorry to disturb your peace again senior Kai, it's just that I don't know what to do with it.' Lin felt uneasy when Kai admonished him, he didn't mind it if Kai scolded him a little, but if he refused to tell Lin how to help Jin Bao with the water-pearl then it will be useless to have the pearl in the first place.

"Just place it in the soul formation." Kai said, but Lin was brought almost to tears when he heard the angry raccoon's words.

'Senior, I really am not aware of how to reach the formation trapping old Jin, please senior Kai don't make things hard on me. I promised to do my best to follow any commans that you give, just order me to help and you will see my compliance to the tiniest bit of detail.' Lin patiently said then waited for Kai to answer.

"Humph, Ill do it not for him or for you, but because I feel like it, understand brat?." Kai said and Lin found that the water-pearl had disappeared from his hands.

'Senior Kai is kind and just, do you have any orders for me senior?.' Lin said that while feeling good about already acquiring one of Jin Bao's five ingredients what will eventually help him remake another body for himself.

"You're not yet capable enough to be of help to me, snort, next time you get another ingredient should be years from now. These five ingredients that begger requires is the best and rarest soul related world treasures of the five elements, despite being a begger he's not lacking in ambition, tsk, of the rest of the four ingredients that he wants only one is to be found in this southern continent and if you're lucky you can find another one in the auctions but the price is certain to bankrupt you many times over. The Green Stem of the White Lotus Emperor can only be found in the central areas of the Great Forest west of this continent ahead of you, in the territories of the elves nearby their sacred tree or how they like to call it "World Tree" you'll get better chances of finding one. Earth's Mercury from the western continent's great plains is found in auctions once in a while if you have the price that is." Lin listened closely to each word from Kai and decided to go take a look in that great forest later to search for the green stem of the white lotus emperor, as for the earth's mercury?, Since Wei here is a merchant maybe he can be of use.

'You have my gratitude senior Kai, Ill make sure to follow your guidance and see if my luck is good to find both ingredients.' Lin thanked him then held the wine gourd up to pour himself a cup, before he got to raise the cup to his mouth he found Liao Lai returning to the table and take his seat next to Lin.

"This wine is called snake venom wine, a speciality from the Peng clan and only those like old Tao who have the winged-snake spirit can make it, after drinking it you'll enter a near death state and gain a chance to dig out some of your buried potential. I just thought young master Lin should know that before he drinks it." Lai said politely and Lin couldn't help but notice the sadness and longing in his eyes.

"Is it now!, Why didn't old Tao enter that near death state then?." Lin raised an eyebrow and asked as he sloshed the wine in his cup swirling with slight movement of his arm.

"The venom from his spirit is completely ineffective, he needs to drink the wine from someone else of the Peng clan who's stronger than himself to benefit from it. But I don't think he'll waste it on himself though." Lai said and Lin nodded when he found the answer reasonable enough.

"Want one?," Lin asked then poured another glass for the blade user who seemed to blush slightly at the offer, "Forthright, unhesitant, forceful, suppressive, dominant, sharp, fluid, and constant. That's the blade way from my inexperienced perspective, your spirit is calm, patient, lightning quick, spontaneous, and these are only the ordinary bug's characteristics. Hypnotic abilities means that on top of these characteristics it must have manipulation, deception, control, illusion, and depth. The blade has a single edge and the sword has two yet the difference between the two isn't that big, if you knew why then you're not that far from materializing your blade intent. Mixing up water and oil isn't that hard if you add soap, the question is what is your soap?." Lin handed him his glass and after pumping glasses with the stunned blade user he downed the first cup of wine in this life.

It was a kind of mild wine with a slight sourness to it, then the heat in his stomach increased and Lin felt the need to sit in meditation and so he did.

"Old Tao, make sure young master Lin and Wei are alright while I taste some of your wine." Liao Lai said then emptied his own glass and sat next to Lin cross-legged.

"Heh, at least his attitude towards me is different." Tang Wei said when he saw Lai call him young master as if he meant it.

"You have young master Lin to thank for that." Tao said then kept the gourd of wine back in his ring.

Lin felt his breathing slow down and his heartbeats slow down all the same, his mind calm his vital signs fading but his peace wasn't foreign, before he died he had felt similar peace once.

The sight of his inner body was revealed, blood halting in his veins, cells, and muscle fibers, inner organs motionless, his second heart which looked to be an artifact made from glass.

Then Lin found himself looking at four acupoints on his chest, if he wasn't wrong then these four are in the same place that hurt whenever he experienced impurities washing, then he noticed how they're connected and there's yet twenty more to be opened like themselves.

These twenty-four acupoints were connected to a larger gathering of acupoints split between the two shoulders and arms, then lower through the back to the legs in the largest amount of acupoints in the three gatherings.

By the time he noticed them all the fifth acupoint seemed to breathe and like water flooding the dam, Lin was watching one acupoint after another open.

Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh..... Fourteenth acupoint opened then everything stopped.

"Thump...." Lin's heart beated loudly and the sound was heard by everyone on the ship.

Wei and Sun stopped their game of who could eat more and looked towards Lin, his body was sweating from every pore on his skin first it was very faint yellowish sweat like some kind of disgusting pus, then it was murky yellowish-white sweat, finally it turned transparent like normal sweat and Sun smelled the odor of his best friend from it.

Then the smell of Lin's sweat felt refreshing like flowers and roses to Sun's nose, smelled like honey and sweets, finally his sweat had no color or smell and Sun couldn't smell his buddy when he closed his eyes!.

Peng Tao was sucking a breath in disbelief at the ongoings of Lin's near death state after drinking his snake venom wine, he thought the boy would benefit in the soul or spirit aspect but he was surprised to find that Lin had just attained the breath of nature phenomenon which Qi refiners experience after connecting half the required minimum number of acupoints.

To be a lesser Qi refiner you need twenty-four acupoints fully connected, and Lin seems to be halfway through to be a lesser Qi refiner!.

'Not only is he dual cultivating soul and spirit but also his talents in body refinement is monstrous as well.' Peng Tao thought while looking at Lin with growing admiration.

"Whoosh...." The gold and earth elements were gathering towards Lai who seemed to be going to breakthrough to the final stage of the spirit grandmasters realm.

Shaking his head the old man was expecting to see the looks on the elders of the five clans when this group return from their mission, not only with the water-pearl but with the four youngsters having broke through at least one sub-realm, not to mention the lucky bonus of Lin and his unfair amount of talent.

After the twelve acupoints fully connected, Lin's cell's took at least one white strand of light energy as it's center, some cells had one yellow, gold, or dark-gold strand in it's center.

His heart turned entirely gold and his blood no longer was red but yellow from the countless strands of light energy in it.

From the outside, Lin was like a glowing bright lantern and his skin blinded others with it's light.

Then his wings appeared and light energy was racing towards his dantian, Ming was perfectly using this chance to purify the light energy and the wings were blowing away the clouds towards the dantian walls like always, only this time the clouds were all gold colored and the rate of the wings scattering them much faster than ever before.

'this kid sure has flare.' Tao thought as he watched how Lai became non-existent when he sat next to Lin in this moment.