After one hour of racing elements towards the ship from the light, earth, and gold energies heading towards Lin and Lai, finally a change happened to the situation as the stirring gold and earth energies stopped getting attracted to the blade user and he opened his eyes.

"Eh!, What the fuck?, I was the first to finish digging in my latent potential!." Lai felt sourness in his mouth despite having attained a minor breakthrough in spirit cultivation and having assimilated some comprehensions in how to use his martial-spirit's abilities with his blade intent and spirit energy attacks, simply because Lin who's a few major realms lower wasn't done digging out his latent potential.

Light energy was everywhere around him and Lai felt any other type of energy in the area of his perception being forcefully pushed away, he felt suppressed somehow just by sitting next to Lin!.

"Shut up and get away from brother Lin you moron, old Tao said that you could've been forcefully pulled out from your cultivation if it wasn't for Lin going easy purposely somehow on drawing the light energy for your sake." Liao Lai heard Tang Wei's scolding and felt his mind going numb, he felt a sudden urge to strangle the brat right now but he ended up sighing and going away from him like he was told.

'goddamnit!, This kid is fucking infuriating. How could someone be born with this shitload of talent?, It's fucking unfair when you think about it and it drives you crazy when you start comparing yourself to him.' Lai glared at Lin's glowing body with his light-green eyes, then scratched at the scar on his face as he stood to the side watching the freak of nature.

And it turned out to be just like how Wei said!, Once he was away from Lin the light energy in the area turned crazy and dived into Lin's dantian by the freaking dozens and more, the freak never raised a single sub-realm and is still a first stage apprentice but his already pure energy started to get more refined and purified by the second, yes the energy never reached the stage of liquefying (which is the first step for the spirit disciple realm), but that was the thickest, purest, most refined gaseous energy Lai ever seen in his life!.

Then after just a few minutes Lai saw the light energy turn from the pure gold color (which he thought was the purest kind of light energy) to heavy dark-gold energy which was a hundred times thicker and refined than the gold version.

"This is absurd, fucking hell, just how deep is this kid is going to wound my confidence?. Old Tao have you ever seen this type of light energy?." Liao Lai sat down with his back leaning on the ship rails then asked Peng Tao who watched with rapt attention as Lin accumulated energy.

"Heard of it once, they say the fourteenth pope of the church of light had refined similar energy before, but even he didn't do it in the apprentice realm like Lin, it was in the master realm. Heh, we're talking about the person with the second best achievement of awakening his martial-spirit in the spirit world here, the fact that you're getting frustrated is laughable indeed when you think about it." Tao had plucked a couple strands of his long beard when he witnessed Lin attain this high grade energy, then he hurried to regain his composure on the exterior as he spoke but inside he was still hiding deep shock within.

"See that!, That's my brother." Tang Wei was shivering from excitement and raised his chin up, buffed out his chest, and stuck his nose to the sky arrogantly as he spoke about Lin's achievements as if they were his own, but inside he was thinking about how much money can he make by enlisting Lin's name in different competitions and bet on him.

"How's Zhang and Wang doing?." Lai said trying to distract himself from the annoying topic.

"Zhang is still asleep, Wang had his breakthrough and is two stages below you and one below young master Wei but he's still meditating on his comprehensions. The wind young master Lin made had you all ascending except for Zhang but I believe he'll certainly rise a minor stage when he wakes up." Peng Tao was giddy with excitement and his eyes never left Lin, even Sun the tiger was crouching nearby Lin and basked in the light coming from his body.

"Ommm...." An omnidirectional shockwave suddenly pushed away from Lin's body, his wings changed color and became a size bigger.

When Lin drank the snake-venom wine his wings were gold except for two strange dark-gold feathers on each wing, then before his wings turned completely dark-gold these feathers had a second change and now they were alternating between bleak grey color and black or white.

From where he stood, Peng Tao saw another two feathers change color to the bleak grey color which kept jumping between black, grey, and white.

These two feathers were between his shoulder blades at the roots of each of his wings, since they were the closest feathers to each other and Lin's back they made a strange picture to Tao's eyes, they each had half a symbol of leaf-less branches depicting the upper part of a tree and when the wings fluttered Tao saw that there was a glowing image of a tree pole along Lin's spine and roots starting at the tailbone stretching to his legs.

Finally the light energy that surrounded their ship for almost two hours settled down, and Lin's dark-gold wings deactivated.

"Huh!, Why isn't brother Lin awake yet?." Tang Wei was about to go congratulate his brother Lin on his gains, but he noticed that Lin's eyes were still shut and his vital signs still very faint.

"It seems like young master Lin hadn't finished yet on unearthing some of his potential, first was his body with the breath of nature phenomenon, then his spirit energy refinement, if I would take a guess then it must be his soul-" Peng Tao was tugging at his long beard unknowingly as he spoke, he was excited and dazzled at how much benefit his brewery of snake-venom gave Lin, that was the last gourd of snake-venom wine he had made when he was in his glory days, but his words were strangled in his mouth when he saw the small red fire that appeared on Lin's right chest.

"Is that!, intent?," Liao Lai stuttered while staring in disbelief at Lin, the sight of him gawking was comical since on this ship none had keener senses to energy than him. "O...old Tao, you sure you gave me the same wine?, You didn't give me a counterfeit wine did you?." Turning towards Tao he gave him a suspicious look.

"Screw you, just because you're inferior to the young master now you're pointing your fingers at this senior in blame, why does it feel like I wasted some of my best wine on you now I wonder?." Peng Tao snickered when he heard Lai, but he was really double checking inside his space ring right now to see if he really did give them the wrong gourd.

Then he gave Lai an annoyed look afterwards since Lin was the one to pour both cups of wine from the same gourd, how could there be any kind of tricks at play there?.

The small fire on Lin's chest appeared then vanished after a few seconds, but the temperature on the ship and the surrounding areas was a few dozen degrees higher.

Only Sun was ecstatic when he saw the fire on his buddy's chest and hurried to change form into a kitten and sit on his lap.

Then a stifling pressure of soul force spread from Lin and the crewmates were sweating bullets and restrained completely by thin air, fear all over their faces and panick, they felt like sheep in a slaughterhouse utterly helpless and weak.

"Lai, Wei, you two join your spirit energy and reinforce the protective formation to help these guys, Ill try and do my best to control the formations and feed their weak bodies some of my wood energy." Tao ran towards the formation's core and gave his orders when the soul pressure descended, even he felt like walking knee-deep in mud under that pressure which kept increasing.

Sun kept looking up towards Lin while that strange pressure washed over him, but he didn't even whimper and trusted that his buddy won't hurt him.

'Tsk, that wine really helped the brat touch upon his intent's nature and it turned out to be fire!, But why wasn't it light?, He has the guiding light physique and perfect affinity for light. Even when his Qi acupoints opened the light energy didn't hesitate in occupying his cells on a deeper level and even fought for it, heh, this is getting interesting.' Kai was standing right in front of Lin's body but was never seen by anyone, he watched Lin's soul force increase and his small pet suffer silently as he thought why Lin's intent was of the fire nature.

'Whatever, I better remove that little kitten from next to him or it will explode soon, sigh, me and my soft heart.' Kai vanished from the ship and Sun too disappeared after he did.

On the ship Lin was left alone, and three spirit grandmasters infused their spirit energies to the protective formations to help almost three hundred crewmates survive this pressure.

Ming tried to alleviate the pressure on these unfortunate people, not because he was caring for them but because Lin would be traumatized if he woke up from that strange near death state to find that he killed them, Ming wouldn't even hesitate to strangle them one by one if they somehow made Lin hurt emotionally.

He already has plans made for Mia when they meet next, best if he grabbed Lily from their village and managed to bring out his siblings before meeting Mia, that would be the best payback for that bitch who castrated Lin.

In just ten minutes Tao, Lai, and Wei were feeling like they couldn't hold the soul pressure back any more and were panicking on the verge of losing hold of the formation, then Wang appeared on deck after feeling sudden danger while meditating.

Once he saw the three grandmasters sweating and gritting their teeth and the crewmates staring at Lin like he's the devil reincarnate, Wang hurried to sit next to Wei and Lai and infused his spirit energy to reinforce the formation.

The addition of Wang helped a lot in giving the trio a moment to catch their breath, but the soul pressure was unrelenting and ever increasing in power.

Half an hour later and the four of them were back to giving it their best in order not to be pushed back by the soul pressure, every formation inscription on the ship was flickering weakly and on the verge of losing their glow.

Zhang appeared with drowsy eyes and yawning from the hatch leading to the lower floors of the ship.

"Eh!, What are you guys doing?." Zhang asked when he saw the crewmates kneeling and praying for the safety of their families after they're gone, and his four friends sitting cross-legged and sending spirit energy to the ship's formations with bloodshot eyes and red faces.

"Ah!, Boss Zhang is here."

"Hurry big brother Zhang, help them reinforce the formation."

"Shameless old Cao still calling someone younger "big brother" but if it means living to see tomorrow then why not?, big brother Zhang go help them or we're going to burst if that soul pressure hit us."

"Even in such time you two still jape, brother Zhang go help them first, we'll explain everything to you. Hurry, there's no time to waste."

Zhang found the crewmates surrounding him then pushing him to sit next to Lai, Wei, and Wang.

After he sat he heard from the crewmates how much he missed in his sleep and the look he gave Lin was further added with another layer of respect, before he slept he was exhausted beyond limit but when he woke up he felt reinvigorated and in tip top shape.

Before he slept he had done his best to resist the soul pressure from Lin alone and couldn't withstand it for ten seconds, now he's joining four spirit grandmasters to resist it and barely could hold it back at the cost of lots of spirit energy.

But the addition of Zhang's earth and fire energy evened out the scales and finally his four friends got to relax.

"Screw me in the ass and dig it all out, this kid managed to screw my brains in a day like none did in twenty-five years combined. It took five of us to just protect ourselves in a shell, and he doesn't seem to be focusing his soul pressure on us!." Lai said while gritting his teeth, his light-green eyes were hard and squinted as he glared at Lin.

"I take it that means you'll be a lot down to earth from now on, this is what it feels to be in the presence of a true genius. If you looked at him frostily like you do now after knowing what he's capable of, then the best option is to get rid of him while he's not yet at the bigger stage, but be careful, because if you failed then even our great ancestor wouldn't be able to protect you and the five clans will be met with a great catastrophe in the future and certainly wiped out or our fellow clan members chased like dogs by him." Tao let out a breath of relief when the danger passed and looked at Lai and warned him.

"Who dares?, There's still so much money to be made!." Tang Wei flared up in anger as he threatened to kick whoever dares to hurt Lin, his plans for making money with Lin's help were yet to be achieved after all.

"Zhang will beat up those who try to hurt Lin, even if he didn't want to be my friend Ill still protect him." Zhang said evenly but the look he gave bully Lai meant that he'll really break his bones if he tried.

"Tsk, as if blade for brains could even touch the hem of Lin's clothes. I say let him try, it will be good to see him embarrass himself." Wang said while giving a charming smile.

"When you see his kind, the best course of action is to take him as a goal and do your best not to lose his back, because if you do, hehehe, you'll forever regret it. Holding on to this thigh could be the mark of our clans revival in the future, don't be an idiot like he said you narrow-minded fool. Why not use that fire of unwillingness to fuel yourself and push further and seek the limits of your own dao instead." Peng Tao got up and patted his clothes then walked towards Lai and smacked him on the back of the head lightly as he spoke.

"It was just a joke you uptight morons, I was never going to challenge him. Maybe in the future when I'm confident in my win, and you seem to forget that the one behind him is a soul keeper." Liao Lai shrugged after answering then removed the wide blade from his back and placed it on his lap, running his forefinger on it's sharp edge silently and slowly he was thinking about the words Lin said about the difference between a sword and a blade.

His two meters long, two palms wide blade was completely black and three fingers thick on the blunt side, two spirit veins ran down on it's middle and would help Lai infuse his spirit energy in the blade during his attacks, one brown one yellow lines for his two affinities of earth and gold, the sharp side was shining silver and looked sharp.

Smirking when he saw Lai burning with eagerness to be strong, Peng Tao turned to look at Lin and realized that during their previous chaotic mess of stopping the soul pressure they forgot to take the small pet of Lin's away.

Scanning with his eyes he failed to see it anywhere!.

"Where's his tiger?, Anybody seen young master Lin's pet?." Peng Tao asked his friends and the crewmates and heard silence in return, the confused eyes looking around made him feel panicky.

"The fuck are you standing there holding your skirts for?, Search the ship you pack of useless monkeys!." Peng Tao shouted at them and the crewmates jumped in fear when boss Tao showed them his angry side, scattering like a group of mice they started searching everywhere but near Lin.

"I don't remember seeing the kitten at all, tiger you said?." Wang asked while raising an eyebrow, he remembers correctly that Lin's pet was a cat in the demonic realm!.

"It can change shape in the demonic realm, even his pet isn't simple. It's a winged-tiger variant and I bet it can give peak spirit disciples a run for their money's worth." Liao Lai said as he ran his finger on the sharp edge of his blade.

"That so!, No wonder it was agitated when it saw my martial-spirit, it always happened with feral beasts and they wants to attack me for some reason once they see my martial-spirit." Wang figured out why and planned to play with Lin's pet later, his smile was like a sly leopard indeed.

"Brother Lin!." Tang Wei got up and walked towards Lin when he saw him open his eyes, completely disregarding the matter of his missing pet and the ongoing search from the crewmates and the conversation between his travel companions.

"Wei you look pale in the face, what happened?." Lin opened his eyes and before he got to rise from his sitting position he found Tang Wei's smiling face and bouncy fat body giggle his way towards him, he asked while looking around for Sun who wasn't in the area of his soul sense.

"Heh, nothing much, we just had to spend some spirit energy to help the crewmates withstand the aftershocks as you meditated. How do you feel?." Carelessly shrugging, Wei told Lin why then asked to change the topic.

"I feel good, not only my soul sense can go further but also my body feels excellent. Have you seen Sun leav-" Lin squeezed a fist as he answered, then when he was about to ask Ming told him that Sun disappeared when the soul pressure turned unbearable for him to endure, he wanted to push the tiger away but at that time all he could do was try and alleviate the pressure slightly, even Ming was removed from control on the soul force and had to watch from the sideline as it increased passively and uncontrollably.

"This-" Wei tried to explain while feeling awkward at the strange disappearance of Lin's pet.

But Lin interrupted him, "Don't worry about it, I think I know where it went." He couldn't think of anyone else other than Kai who could do that, after all the raccoon had previously done it with Lin and transported him to a strange forest then with a glance he sent him back to the island in the middle of the ocean!.

'Thank you senior Kai, it is such a heartwarming feeling to be under your protection and care.' Lin sent with his soul sense and smiled as he watched how much suffering these cultivators and crewmates had suffered earlier because of him.

"Snort, better watch out the next time you try and consume something that can boost your aspects like that, otherwise I won't even bother to do anything. Even if it was easy like blinking or scratching my nose, I wouldn't." Kai's voice rang in Lin's head then Sun appeared on his shoulder, much to the surprise of the five cultivators who felt like Sun just appeared from thin air.

'As you command senior Kai, should I seclude myself away from others or is there a better way to prevent such thing from happening?.' Lin rubbed his cheek with Sun's head and enjoyed the feel of sucking up to that cold on the exterior but soft on the interior grumpy formidable raccoon.

"Use a formation you dimwit, tsk, did you crawl from under a rock or something?." Kai barked at Lin and Ming sniggered inside his soul world when he heard it.

'Senior Kai is wise, Ill be sure to use a formation the next time it happens for sure, thanks for your guidance and saving my friend senior Kai.' Lin replied while filtering out the insults from Kai's words.

Inside the ring of origin the raccoon was smiling widely and amusingly at how Lin always managed to keep his calm no matter how much Kai tried to frustrate him, if only Kai had known that in his previous life Lin was called once "Cheerful Frost" because of how he never lost his composure even once no matter how much the specialist psychology hosts tried to annoy him in the interviews.

He was capable of saying anything in any situation without truly losing control even when he did appear to be annoyed or angry he never truly lost it but just released some steam harmlessly, even when Mia castrated him he wasn't feeling anger at her but he wanted her to leave because at that time there was no way he could forgive her no matter what she said or did.

"L...brother Lin how did you do that?, I never felt space energy when your pet appeared, do you have a monster medallion on you?." Liao Lai finally broke the ensuing silence after Sun appeared and asked Lin with his light-green eyes staring wide open directly at Lin's golden pupils.

"Oy!, Since when do you get to call young master Lin "brother"?, Some idiot you are," Peng Tao smacked Lai on the back of the head again then whistled loudly to grab the attention of the crewmates who are down below searching for Sun, "Search is over boys, no need to flip the ship over and shake it by the hull." Then he patted Zhang's shoulder once encouragingly and gestured for him with his head, to go tell it to the boy directly whatever that was he had on his chest, 'now is your chance big guy.' it meant.

"I don't know what a monster medallion is but my grandpa left some "things" in case of emergencies, despite me wanting you to be my number one minion increasing, I can't deny the help your wine gave me old Tao. Thanks for the wine." Lin gave an answer to Lai who seemed different than before in the way he tried to be closer to him, then he smiled when he saw the eldest cultivator look at him approvingly and joked with him and followed it by a respectful bow.

"Hahahahah, even being your minion is an honor, no matter what number I get. Young master Lin can ride on top of these old bones and Ill be smiling in the grave." Peng Tao guffawed when he saw Lin bow after that joke which tickled him in the right spots, then he hurried to return the bow with a lower more respectful one.

"Stop kissing his ass already, we all know that he's your new master, snort." Lai was still not sure if he should do the same like old Tao and surrender to Lin, the words escaped his lips before he even got to think.

"Ara!, Is it me Zhang or does blade for brains here sound like a frustrated housewife?." Wang smirked and elbowed Zhang as he spoke.

"En, he sounds like mother when father used to take long trips away from the clan." Honest as always and sharp with simplicity, Zhang's words were like a knife peeling off Lai's face.

"Bfffft...." The crewmates who just returned were stifling their laughter and their stomachs hurt like hell when they did.

Lai gave the duo a glare then focused on his blade, but Wei and Tao noticed how ashamed he was despite keeping his silence trying to cover his emotions.

Standing up, Zhang walked towards Lin and offered his open palm in a handshake, "Let's be friends." His wide oxen eyes were clear and devoid of negativity whatsoever.

"Heh, sure." Offering his smaller palm, Lin shook Zhang's palm and squeezed it.

"Hrmmm...." Raising an eyebrow at the hidden competition Lin just offered, Zhang did the same.

After reaching his maximum force of grip strength, Zhang was stunned to find that Lin still kept squeezing on his palm.

'he's stronger than before I knew it, but he was weaker then me earlier if we compared physique strength. Now his grip strength is a bit stronger than me!.' Zhang thought as he felt the bones of his right hand grind against each other under Lin's vice-like grip.

If only had Zhang knew that Lin wasn't giving it his all and stopped gripping tighter with his fingers when he felt the resistance from Zhang weaken.

"You're strong and I respect your strength, but I won't lose. Ill work even harder." Zhang made a fist with his aching right hand once Lin let go of it and said his respects in his own way.

Then he returned to his room to meditate after nodding to Wang.

The smile on the muscular man's face and the excitement inside his eyes as Wang looked at his best friend leave, made Wang feel a shudder when he remembered in their youth when he met Zhang for the first time and managed to beat him in their first duel.

Zhang had similar look in his eyes and Wang never managed to win his best friend again in a competition of strength.

As for the case of when Zhang met Lai and stupid Lai tried to bully them despite the duo being older than him, Zhang's eyes had reddened that time when Lai called them names and he ended up beating the arrogant brat from the Lai clan halfway to death with no regard for his wounds.

Zhang was always dangerous when his eyes reddened, true, but he was even more dangerous when he was excited.

Because he will train like a maniac without ever getting tired if he is.

"Brother Wei, do you have very good connections?." Lin smiled while looking at the departing back of simpleton Zhang, then went to sit on his chair in the table and asked Wei who followed to sit next to him.

"I'm a merchant!, What kind of merchant failure do you think I am?, Of course I have connections in the entire western domain of the southern continent." Proudly saying that Wei stuffed his mouth with food.

"Then you can find certain items or receive news of their whereabouts right?." Lin asked while watching Sun show his small set of canines to the fatty who was faster in resuming the previous food competition that got halted because of him.

"Certainly, what are we looking for here?, Pills?, Property?, Spirit tools?, Medicinal ingredients?, Cultivation techniques?, Or is it fighting or movement techniques?, Natural treasures maybe?." Tang Wei had an amazing ability of multitasking between eating and speaking business without a single word being deformed as it seems.

"A green stem of the white lotus emperor or earth's mercury I need any information related to them, I know where they originate from but if don't need to visit the elves territory or the western continent then it will save me a lot of trouble." Lin casually mentioned two extremely rare natural treasures and Wang, Tao, Lai and Wei gave him strange looks.

"This....brother Lin sure overestimates my connections, the earlier acquiring of the... You know, was just plain luck. I heard that earth's mercury did appear fifteen years ago in the biggest auction of a city belonging to the cultivation alliance in the central domain, not mentioning the price that was paid which was a lot more than the biggest treasury of my five clans right now a dozen times over, the ones who dared to buy it were from the temple of transparency and afterwards they were attacked by devil cultivators and lost it after a fight that witnessed the fall of some seniors in the emperor realm, as for the white lotus stem....the elves are best to be left alone otherwise it will be serious if they were offended, after all they're among the top management of the "faithful coalition". Even the cultivation alliance doesn't dare swagger into their territory." Wei gave a pained look at how difficult Lin's request was.

"I see, just keep your ears opened and notify me is something comes up on your radar then." Lin nodded, he never thought it will be easy after Kai told him that it will be costly, but it seems it will be dangerous too on top of being hard even if he had the money to buy it.

"Radar!, What's that?." Tang Wei asked.

"Never mind," Lin sighed and shook his head when he met Wei's curious gaze, "I need to test my physical strength, do you have a way to measure that?." Lin asked to change the subject.

"I do," it was Wang who answered, "Zhang is a strength addict and has a habit of testing himself, I don't know why he always insists that I carry some of his items but finally I get to see some benefit to his stubbornness." Wang waved his arm and a platform appeard in front of him.

It was made from dark metal and had countless colorful formation inscriptions all over it's surface, nine meters wide and circular in shape with eight colorful metal poles on it's edges and each pole was one meter tall.

At the the center of the platform was the ninth pole entirely being made from spirit crystals!.

Seeing Lin stare at the platform ignorantly made the group puzzled, as a person with such a formidable grandpa he should know how to use such tool.

Heck, almost any upstarting cultivator knows the use of this tool which can test physical strength, bone age, martial-spirit grade, element affinity, and martial-spirit awakening time.

Some higher grade testing tools even could identify special physiques, opened acupoints for vital Qi, soul force, and intent's nature and strength.

"Didn't you use one of these before in your clan?, young master Lin." Lai smiled when he saw Lin obviously in a loss of what to do next, he intentionally stressed the words "young master Lin" to vent some of his frustrations on this country bumpkin.

"Shut up idiot!, Think before you talk moron, did you play the scenario of young master Lin getting irritated by what you just said and he smacks you face first on the floor for it?," Wang snapped at Lai and intentionally mentioned the funny scenario that surfaced on his head, "That sure will be fun to watch." Then he winked towards Lin encouragingly to do just that.

Lai's face blackened and his neck muscles stiffened when he heard Wang try and goad Lin, he was expecting the kid to embarrass him like Wang wanted.

"Heh," Tao smiled at the light mood between the quarrelling youngsters but he didn't intervene to help the blade user escape Lin's punishment if he wanted to spank Lai.

"No, someone tried to test me and confirm the timing of my spirit awakening before but the time and place weren't right and I didn't get to see the tool for myself, what do I need to do?." Lin remembered Mia and the time her younger version hurt his arm for a few days and sighed, then he confirmed Lai's hidden meaning by asking for guidance from Wang.

Again Lin's answer confused the group more and more, Peng Tao was really on the verge of asking about something private from Lin but he managed to stop himself in the last moment.

"This testing tool can only measure your physical strength, bone age, element affinity, and martial-spirit's awakening time. Our clans used to have a higher levelled testing tool once that could test more than that but it was lost alongside most of our treasures and businesses when the great ancestor was wounded." Wang shrugged after he saw Lin completely disregard Lai and told him the capabilities of this testing tool.

While Tao gave Lai a knowing look as if saying 'See!, That's what happens when you provoke someone you can't afford to receive his retaliation, remember this feeling well. Idiot!.' then he smiled and looked at Lin who walked towards the tool's center pole and stopped to look at the formation's inscriptions covering it.

"Do I stand here and let the tool scan over me?." Again what Lin said made the group stare at him strangely, he was someone from a sophisticated world originally, tools are made to help ease the lives of their creators after all, since it can measure all these things then it must've some kind of sensors and scanners or something. Right!.

"Young master Lin, just place your hand on the crystal pole and don't resist the energy from entering your body." Tao came to the rescue and told Lin what to do before Lai got to make fun of Lin again, maybe if he did, Lin would really make a sorry sight of him!.

Nodding once, Lin placed his palm on the crystal pole and felt some kind of energy tickle his skin gently and seemed to be trying to enter after asking politely, letting the energy enter his body Lin felt it move all over the place very quickly before returning to the crystal pole.

"Buzz...." Shaking slightly, Lin felt his palm being shaken off of the crystal pole and he took a step back and looked at Tao to confirm if that was normal, he received an assuring smile in return and looked back at the crystal pole.

"This tool gives the physical strength reading first, there's nine poles, with different colors and nine segments to each color. First color is red, which is the lowest of all colors, and each segment of that color means one "Chicken" of strength, with the first segment completely being lit up meaning two chickens of strength, and each segment is an increase of a chicken's strength all the way until the ninth segment which means ten chickens of strength, if completely lit. After red color comes orange, first segment completely lit up in the orange color means two "Dog" of strength with each dog equaling ten chickens, ninth orange color segment completely lit up means ten dogs of strength. Yellow, starting with twe "Horse" of strength with each horse equaling ten dogs and ending with ten horses of strength at the last segment. Green, starting with two "Bull" of strength with each bull equaling ten horses, and ending with ten bulls strength. Cyan, starting with two "Wolf" of strength with each wolf equaling ten bulls of strength, and ending with ten wolves of strength. Blue, starting with two "Elephant" of strength.... Purple, starting with two "Tiger" of..... Black, starting with two "Phoenix"..... Finally, White, with two "Dragon" of strength......" Wang explained to Lin at a hurry while pointing at each pole on the platform by it's color and Lin was amused by the names of each rank, still, what do you get if you converted a chicken's strength to kilograms? He had to ask.

"So a chicken equals how much kilograms then?." Lin asked Wang as he watched the red pole start turning red from the lowest segment and it raised up the the second, third.....up to the eighth, ninth then the red color shined brightly after it reached the top of the pole.

The red color flickered twice and a line of red glow stretched on the platform starting from the base of the red pole and heading for the crystal pole at the center, once it reached it, the central crystal pole turned completely red then another line glowing orange stretched towards the orange pole from the crystal pole and once it eached it the segments lit up one by one from the bottom up as the rising orange color reached them.

"Ten kilograms of stregth, but that doesn't mean those with lower strength couldn't win those with better physical strength, it all comes down to the technique of the user." Wang noticed how Lin used the measurements of these "people" despite being lowly slaves they really were smart, but he kept his mouth shut and watched the orange segments light up after answering Lin.

When the red segments were glowing one after another, none of the four cultivators watching Lin test his strength was doubting he can top that pole up, after exchanging blows with him they all knew that this little monster was not only fast but really strong for his age.

Not to mention his flawlessly refined hand to hand combat techniques and countering abilities which forced Peng Tao to admit inferiority to this young master in close-range fights.

The only question on their minds right now was how many segments on the orange pole will he be able to light up?.

First segment completely lit up, then with rapt attention they watched the rising orange light ascend the second segment then fill it up with bright glow, third segment was was the mark of the weakest physically among the group of five cultivators which is Wei, he has physical strength of three dogs which equals four hundred kilograms if he punched someone without using spirit energy.

Fifth orange segment is Wang's limit with five dogs which equals six hundred kilograms of strength, that was only because Wang focused more on speed and didn't care much for power.

Eighth orange segment was old Tao's current limit after he suffered his vitality deterioration, eight dogs of strength which equals nine hundred kilograms of strength.

Fully lit up orange pole and the yellow line of light moved towards the third yellow pole after the crystal pole turned completely orange, Wei, Wang, and Tao were looking at Lin with amazed eyes right now, while Lai was worriedly hoping Lin's strength would stop halfway through the first segment of the yellow pole like he is, he has the physical strength of one and half horse which equals one ton five hundred kilograms of strength.

Wei remembered how he tried testing his strength at the age of seven once and his power was one and half chickens!, Smacking his lips as he imagined advising Lin not to show his full power later when he enters the competitions, Wei's eyes turned into colorful coins and images of people wailing their lost money while he stands in the middle of an ocean of coins, spirit crystals, naturals treasures, and invincible tools laughing to the sky kept playing in his head, grinning widely he didn't even notice the drool on his chin.

Lai's face was black when he saw the first segment of the yellow pole lit up completely and was frowning deeply, Tao and Wang were breathing ruggedly and exchanging looks of disbelief.

Strength of two horses at the age of (six) like Lin said, was the undisputed fact that this kid is such as monstrous in body refinement and since Tao witnessed Lin with his own eyes initiate the phenomenon of nature's breath, he's sure that Lin can gain access for vital Qi and go far in the Qi refinement system.

From the four aspects of cultivation which Tao believes of, Lin has them all, Be that soul, spirit, body, or intent he can over-shine people whome Peng Tao thought of them as geniuses of the spirit world once!.

Even the best of these once so-called geniuses in Tao's opinion was only dual cultivating, with one aspect as a major focus and a secondary supplementary aspect.

Lin on the other hand was only lacking in the aspect of intent, and somewhat behind his peers in the spirit aspect, however, his pure energy more than can compensate for that slight disadvantage, physical strength and soul aspects he can walk over his fellow juniors, only these barbarians could give him a chance to test the limits of his body or overcome him in body refinement.

But if Lin mixed soul or spirit energy in the fight? Peng Tao couldn't see a junior or a senior below the tyrant realm who could win Lin in single combat.

Tao was sure that Lin can suppress a tyrant if he was adamant about keeping him from leaving.

Not to mention that his young age gives him higher chances in strengthening his foundations in the intent aspect, unlike others who get the chance of discovering their potential for using intent's energy in older age.

Seeing Lin's calm face as he watched his physical abilities measured reminded Peng Tao of how sharp-minded Lin has been ever since he met him the boy kept testing them with his actions and words, and wiped some imaginary sweat from his forehead.

Peng Tao just had a thought of Lin with that wise personality of his taking slow steps up to the peak of cultivation, perfecting all of his aspects and unearthing all of his potential, mixing up four perfect aspects of cultivation, wiping down all opposition and suppressing everyone!.

Pressing hard with the left-hand fingers on his right-hand which started to shake due to excessive amount of imagination, Peng Tao looked at the yellow light which is about to fill the second segment on the horse measurement pole.

Three horses of strength!, The yellow light didn't seem to be stopping and Lai was gritting his teeth but he kept his mouth shut and no words escaped his lips this time, after all the kid really turned out to be two times stronger than him!.

Since he can't use spirit energy or his blade intent to suppress him without be seen as taking it too far and bullying a junior, Lai can't use only his bodily strength to suppress the little monster.

Not to mention if Lai stubbornly used his spirit energy and blade intent Lin would use his spirit energy and soul force to counter him and certainly suppress him back, maybe he'll learn to use his fire intent too in the future and corner Lai from four sides if he tried to "play" with Lin.

'I need to get serious in assimilating my spirit abilities, same goes for my blade intent, I can't let that brat widen the distance between us further than it is.' Lai thought as the yellow light stopped rising after reaching two thirds of the third segment on the yellow pole.

"Buzz...." The crystal pole in the center turned yellow then the yellow light fell to exactly what the yellow light reached on the yellow pole, buzzing sound was heard from it and Wang was the first to go check excitedly.

"Hahaha, three horses, seven dogs, five chickens of strength. Amazing physical power young master Lin, wanna know what is Zhang's best record yet?." Wang announced that then asked Lin with a grin on his face.

"Sure, he said he'll be working hard though, I bet he'll raise that record later anyway." Shrugging, Lin nodded and converted that whatever horses, dogs, and chickens to numbers in kilograms.

"Three horses, four dogs, two chickens. On this ship you're the strongest physically young master Lin, I bet Zhang will work even harder when he knows your records. Next the testing tool will test your bone age, just like before place your hand on the crystal pole and the red pole is from two to ten years, orange from twenty to hundred years, etc." Wang was really excited and told Lin what comes next.

While Wei's face had a broad smile and more and more coins popped up in the depth of his eyes.

Tao was shaking his head and trying his best to calm, while Lai ran his fingers on his blade and watched silently.

'This has got nothing to do with me, getting affected by these matters will only dull my strikes.' Lai thought as he watched the first red segment lit up, second, third, fourth, fifth, then the red light stopped rising after filling one sixth of the sixth segment.

The truth about Lin's age was confirmed to match his words, six years and less than three months old with a soul clone, insanely refined spirit energy, great amount of physical strength, and untapped talent for fire intent.

"Next will be element affinity, that can only be tested in those who awakened their spirits of course. Since the poles of this testing tool can't cover every element there is, this central crystal pole will draw some of your spirit energy and activate the elements through it's special formations. Try not to resist when you feel your spirit energy seeping into the crystal pole, it's normal just relax." Wang informed Lin patiently and Lin didn't hesitate to place his hand again on the crystal pole.

The four cultivators acting as the only audience as Lin tested his affinity waited expectantly for any kind of surprise that could be still hidden within this strange kid.

Placing his palm on top of the crystal pole again, Lin didn't feel any energy requesting entering his body like before but a gentle tug at his skin instead, once he allowed it, Lin felt his spirit energy entering the crystal pole and he lost his connection to it!.

"Buzz...." Again his hand was gently pushed off the strange crystal pole and this time he didn't wondrously look at Wang.

"Whoosh...." A ball of light energy appeared on top of the crystal pole, dark-gold in color and thick with extremely refined light energy that felt heavy to each of the four cultivators's perception, then with a poof it was gone!, Only Lin knew that it raced back towards his dantian and hurried to return to it's rightful place in the center of it's own nebula which is currently completely formed from dark-gold clouds.

"Crackle...." Then a small red fire appeared on the crystal pole and it's tongues danced carefreely with the wind, one second later it moved willingly towards Lin slowly and stuck to his right chest.

Sun was quick to change form into a kitten and jump on Lin's shoulder and use his paw coated with fire to scratch at Lin's fire playfully before it disappeared.

"Buzz...." The crystal pole buzzed then returned to it's previous silence.

Lai sighed in relief when Lin turned out to be without any hidden affinities to anything besides light and fire.

"Last thing this tool can test is the martial-spirit's awakening time, each pole fully lit represents one year starting with the red as always, once you place your hand on the crystal pole these nine poles will be separated into twelve segments instead of nine. For this test you need to keep your hand on the pole in order for the test to be perfectly accurate, young master Lin, whenever you're ready." Wang spoke then stretched his arms for Lin's pet to hop on because this test has to be taken alone, Lin was surprised to find that Sun obliged to be carried by Wang without him having to say anything.

Smiling charmingly, Wang gave the tiger on his shoulder a look and found the tiger looking back at him with these yellow eyes of his, then Sun sniffed him and licked his cheek which made the handsome fellow snigger.

Ever since he made peace with his martial-spirit under Lin's advice, Wang felt the ice leopard's eagerness to play with this strange tiger.

Lin placed his arm on the crystal pole for the fourth time and one red line stretched from the central pole to the red pole quickly, once it reached the base of the red pole it's segments increased in number to be twelve, red light quickly lit up one segment after another.

"Young master Lin, at what age did you awaken your spirit?." Lai asked suddenly and his question made Tao squint his eyes at the timing which couldn't be any more critically chosen.

Wang turned to glare at the idiotic bully but he only scowled with a sneer and refused to curse his narrow-minded-ness, since it is pointless to argue with idiots.

Wei looked at Lai frostily then turned to look at the platform because the red color had topped the red pole and left it fully lit while the orange line was stretching towards the orange pole, he felt like wasting his time with this Lai who couldn't seem to grow-up no matter how much he tried to correct his behavior.

"Faster than you for sure, in fact, I'm sure that none in the recorded history of this spirit world was faster than me in awakening their martial-spirit." Lin gave the annoying Lai a side-glance because his intentions were very obvious with that last question, having someone like that without teaching him some manners will later prove to be troublesome for sure.

That's why he acted arrogantly as he answered to bait him into one difficult situation which will teach him to learn to be respectful in his presence, not only was this blade user narrow-minded and a bully, but vain and shallow as well.

Peng Tao and Wang were surprised by Lin's dominating words full of forcefulness and pride, unlike how he acted calm and collected just earlier, right now he was leering at Liao Lai and provoking him in return while giving him the chance to play the game which Liao Lai seemed to be confident in winning.

After all in this group of five cultivators, Liao Lai had the second best record of awakening his spirit after young master Wei.

Tang Wei awakened his martial-spirit in one unfortunate incident at the age of four years, eight months, and twenty seven days.

While Liao Lai did it at the age of four years, ten months, and thirteen days.

The rest of the three, Tao, Zhang, and Wang crossed the five years and awakened their martial-spirits in different days of the first month.

Tao has the best record of two days, Zhang coming second with a record of twenty three days, finally Wang with twenty-five days.

"Hah, stop bragging young master Lin, lying is a sin." Faking his shock, Lai was trying his best to hold his smile as he gave Lin some worried looks as he spoke.

"Cut the bullshit you big idiot, wanna bet?, The orange pole is almost fully lit already so if I were you I would make up my mind fast. It's very simple, if what I said turned out to be a lie then Ill kneel and kowtow to you as I apologise and only rise when you accept it, if what I said is true then you'll do the same." Lin didn't give the others a chance to intervene for his sake as they may think he's getting carried away, he told Lai the rules of his bet and the gaze he gave him was like looking at an ant.

Such an infuriating high and mighty look did the work on Lai, losing his fake attitude he glared back at Lin with his sharp light-green eyes.

"Young master Li-" Peng Tao tried to speak, but he was surprised to find Lin giving him a sidelong glance then interrupting him.

"None is to butt-in on this matter, I've tolerated him long enough. If he dares take a chance on making this Lin son of Tai the mighty and Tian the beauty kneel and kowtow, then at least he'll gain some of my respect for having the guts to even try. If he doesn't have at least that much courage within him then he should melt that blade and make a hoe instead then go cultivate some land, maybe farming will grind down that inborn vanity and shallowness and bud us some proper blade user with sharpness befitting a well-balanced personality. Crooked down the middle no matter how I look at him I find myself wanting to throw him in a mental institution, such a sorry person with a sorry personality." Lin snapped at Lai and his tongue lashed out at him.

Tao, Wei, and Wang were shocked at the unexpected scolding Lin gave Lai, but the thing that made them gasping was how cruel the words were and his attitude accompanying each word, these facial expressions can make the calmest person flare in rage on their own and if you add the words which provoked not only his personality and doubted his courage but also ridiculed his dao as well.

"Y...yo-" Liao Lai got up and pointed at Lin while holding his blade by the handle, but Lin gave him the same sneer and interrupted him too.

"You what?, I can beat your sorry ass if I want while only using my soul force, I ignored your childish lines once and again, when I tried to give you a taste of your own medicine you stammered and like the stupid narrow-minded bully you are, you revert back to violence after your strong exterior image got slapped a few times, now you're faced with someone you can't beat no matter how you wished, now what?. While you stand there helplessly unable to retaliate the yellow pole is almost fully lit up, either scram out of my sight right now and avoid plaguing me with your rubbish in the future because you're a coward who can always bully the weak and fear the strong. Or bet, win or loss doesn't matter, at least Ill be somewhat able to neglect you in my presence in the future knowing that there's some hope somewhere for you to straighten out your crookedness someday." Lin was whipping Lai with his words in the most satisfactory scolding Wang had ever heard, while Lai was at bursting point under this onslaught of words.

"Bet, the best record of my spirit world is four years six months and seventeen days, belonging to the junior sect master of the heart seeking sect." After releasing on breath full of hot anger and rage, Lai finally spoke as he saw the yellow light reach the top of the third pole and a green line stretching towards the fourth pole.

"Bet it is then, open your blind eyes and look closely, because you wont get to see the cyan pole ever getting lit up on this test." Lin gave Lai a final look before telling him a hint that meant his record is less than four years.

Peng Tao's eyes were full of anticipation as he watched the green line reach the base of the green pole then one segment after another was lit, fourth segment, ninth segment, tenth segment, eleventh segment!.

Lai was ecstatic when he found that Lin's words were about to be turned into farts if the green pole was fully lit.

Wang was frowning, while Wei didn't seem to care about when Lin's martial-spirit was awakened at all, as long as he can perfectly and "honorably" win money with his help then all is good for him, as for the bet and Lin scolding Lai to hell?, he just smiled and stretched his greasy sausage-like fingers across the table to pull a chunk of saucy meat and smiled when Sun found out that he's trying to cheat on the competition.

Then once the light reached the last segment of the pole it slowed down to a snail's pace suddenly, after rising just a tiny bit over one tenth of the twelve segment it halted.

"Buzz...." The crystal pole made a buzzing noise then the pole itself turned green and Wang was (like always) the first to go see the results.

Lin didn't remove his hand from the pole and kept looking straight at Lai's light-green eyes (Which were full of disbelief, despair, reluctance, regret, and unwillingness) Wang sucked a long cold breath after confirming the numbers and after looking at Lin with absolute admiration he gave Lai a smirk then nodded towards Peng Tao.

This tool could tell if the user tried to manipulate it somehow, after all Lin is a soul cultivator with formidable attainments maybe he can do that.

That's why Peng Tao remained silent and waited for Zhang Wang to confirm the legitimacy of the previous readings, once he saw him nod he smiled apathetically at Lai's misfortune then looked back at Tang Wei with excitement.

If Peng Tao had thought of Lin as a treasure before, then now this kid is heaven's vault and a key to unbelievable future filled with chances.

On Tang Wei's eyes he saw these glittering treasures, and the smile his young master Wei gave meant an opportunity to kill it and swim in money as it falls from the sky.

"Three years, eleven months and four days. Congratulations young master Lin on winning the bet." Wang pressed a hand on his left chest to calm his beating heart then announced the result of the most pleasant bet and most stunning surprise of his life.

'I'm in the presence of the person with the best achievement of awakening his martial-spirit ever!, Zhang will be working even harder on his cultivation from now on I bet. I guess Ill be visiting these places on my own for a while in the future.' Wang wanted to shake Lin's hand like Zhang and tell him let's be friends right now, but he felt like such attitude would be more suitable for his best friend's personality.

"You can kneel now." Lin removed his hand from the crystal pole and while walking towards his seat on the table he said that without even looking at Liao Lai, he intentionally left his back wide open for the blade user while giving Ming orders to move away on the first sign of this Lai trying to sneak attack him.

Peng Tao and Wang noticed how Lin acted and took two steps forward towards Lai while keeping their friend's every breath under their piercing eyes, if he even tried to make any kind of sudden movement right now they'll have no choice but to stop him with all they have.

Not only was Lin the brother of their young master Wei but also what he has behind him is a monstrosity in the soul keeper realm which they can't afford to draw his ire at all, Lai started provoking Lin like a child and the boy acted like the grown-up and ignored him repeatedly, finally he cornered Lai and even they had nothing to say in that matter.

After all Lin didn't force Lai to accept the bet physically, but his words really did leave no room for retreat to Lai.

Peng Tao knew that if Lai had backed off from the bet then he was certain to succumb to heart-demons, now he only has to swallow his pride and kneel and kowtow like they agreed.

But will Liao Lai the gang's bully with his haughty character and ever-conceited personality really do such a thing?, Old Tao knows for sure that if Liao Lai backed off from the bet's deal after agreeing to it, then his cowardliness will certainly attract the infection of mental demons which are harder to scatter unlike heart-demons which can be removed by making Liao Lai spar with Lin who caused them in the first place, someway, heart-demons only affects the person to fear whoever caused them, while mental demons makes you see all your enemies as the one who infected you with them or at least it clouds your judgement into having difficulties differentiating between friend and foe.

But the most venomous effect of mental demons is that they not only delay your journey of cultivation, but if left unchecked they can affect your dao and veer you off the correct path.

Liao Lai was already showing signs of "crookedness" like Lin called him, unlike how blade users should be, Lai always had hunger for fighting and administering his strength to the degree of impatience!.

While a blade isn't a sword, if a blade missed you'll need to link the next slash as fluidly as possible or your weakness will show to the enemy, the sword has double edges and has always to point towards the enemy's throat.

Lai had missed his first true strike at Lin and now he's passively standing there as Lin walked away without giving him a single glance after he clearly won, these confident steps felt like elephant's legs turning Lai's pride into mush.

He feels none soul force from Lin's body at all but he felt like there's two eyes peering at his soul right now, Lai was sure that he's going to lose more than his life right here right now if he tried to sneak attack the boy.

'Am I that vain and shallow like he said?, He clearly won and he clearly cornered me into accepting that bet. But!, where was my reason when I started arguing with a kid just because he's better?, Where was my confidence in my abilities?, Where did it go And when did lose sight of myself?.' chaotically thinking about many things while looking at Lin's small back slowly head for the table and sit, Liao Lai felt bitterness of the loser who lost to a winner who had eyes on the enemies which will fill his place later after he loses.

"Ka....Crack...." Lai fell to his knees and the sound grabbed the attention of the crewmates at the end of the ship, then he lowered his head and rammed it by the forehead on the deck's floor which cracked a blank of the wood.

"Huh!, What's going on?, Wasn't the boy called Lin using the testing tool?."

"I don't know, for a while now the air over there felt stifling to me."

"Eh!, Boss Lai is... he's kowtowing."

"Is it me or is he kowtowing to the boy?."

"Yes, look how boss Tao and Wang are looking at the boy."

While the crewmates watched from afar warily, silence was the lord of this tiny part of the ship.

Lin giving his back to the kowtowing Liao Lai, and Tang Wei looking at his personal guard grovel apathetically while eating his food and chewing silently (Which is unlikely to happen).

Peng Tao was nodding within when he saw Lai kneel and kowtow like he should after agreeing to the bet, kneeling and kowtowing could make him feel bad about himself, true, but, at least he'll escape the danger of mental demons.

"Young master Li-" Peng Tao tried to speak for Lai, after all teaching the blade genius a lesson was one thing but breaking his will is another thing entirely.

But he was interrupted again by Lin.

"Senior Tao, when a fly keeps buzzing around me I don't get angry at it because the bug isn't as intelligent as me, but when a sane person goes too far he needs to understand that people's patience isn't unlimited. This time it was me who had to act like a solid wall to his reckless, unreasonable behavior. What if I was someone as narrow-minded as him and even more of a bully than him?, Not only could you yourself be hurt right now alongside Zhang, Wang, and Wei including him of course, but also these crewmates with families back home depending on their return. What if I was extremely narrow-minded and decided to target your clans?, What if I was absolutely narrow-minded and deviously patient and waited until I can uproot your clans and remove them from this spirit world?." Lin like a machine gun spoke and Peng Tao felt his throat go drier with each word, even he couldn't find an answer to them with his experienced character.

The elder had seen it with his own eyes before, people getting killed for lesser reasons, families tortured and wiped out for a single gaze some junior gave or an innocent word, clans annihilated for benefit or a whim of someone stronger.

Wang was giving Lin a look that was different from his previous looks, earlier he saw Lin as a cute formidable junior with a great future and playful character, now he grew larger in Wang's eyes and seemed like a tall mountain that hides many secrets deeply and firmly remain unaffected by the elements.

"I.... I'm.... I'm sorry young master Lin." Liao Lai felt a shudder of fear when he heard Lin's words, after all he saw many such incidents just like Peng Tao.

"First of all, I never needed your kneel, kowtow, or apology. What happened here was a lesson that I hope it was worth learning and a test of your character, had you refused to honor an agreement with me then I would've left unhesitatingly. And I'm sure money-grubber here would've killed you because I was planning on taking his treasure with me, if a blade is bent beyond limit then just break it and save yourself the effort of wasting time trying to straighten it. Some eagles suffer the same and their claws and beaks grow hooked into round, useless weapons, their feathers fall from the lack of nutritions. Now they're facing a crossroad with only two options ahead of them, first is to shrivel on some tree until they drop and die, or find some sturdy rock and break their own beaks and claws to grow another, pluck their own worn-out feathers to grow new cloak to cover their tired, old bodies. They end up living practically another life, these words can be treated as wind if you want. These friends of yours doesn't need a bully among them, they seem to have the whole world to do just that. If you love them, protect them from yourself before protecting them from others, if you can't then just leave them struggle and forge your path on your own, that will make them less distracted and you more focused." Lin spoke without turning to face Liao Lai who raised his head to look at him, Tang Wei's eyes twitched when he heard Lin admit that he was about to rob him and he sighed in relief because Lai honored the agreement, Peng Tao felt his heart race when Lin mentioned the eagles story, while Wang nodded repeatedly when Lin revealed the fact than Lai was merely a burden on them ever since Tang Wei started to expand his business towards the western islands.

Pulling him up by the shoulder, Peng Tao gave Liao Lai a moment before smiling kindly and patting his shoulders, it was okay to be lively but being reckless not only could harm him but them as well.

"Go rest little Lai, think deep and hard on every word you heard when you wake up." Then Peng Tao gently smacked him on the back of the head as he turned to leave.

Passing the crewmates who were evidently acting like working hard, Liao Lai was about to rattle them a bit like he used to do just for fun, then the events of the day suddenly made him stand still for a few seconds gazing at thin air.

After he woke up from his daze Liao Lai left silently, and the crewmates exchanged puzzled looks while keeping their silence.

"Is this a trap?" One crewmate whispered softly in his friend's ear.

"Shhhh.... Boss Lai could be testing us." The other whispered back then returned to his fake job of checking out the sails for any damage.

Liao Lai heard them talking like always, previously he would snicker and think how weak and dumb they were because if he wanted he could kill them and none of his friends would blame him if he did, they were only mortals from the branches of the five clans and mortals has no worth in the eyes of cultivators.

But Lin did show Liao Lai what is his true worth is, he cruelly held a large mirror of truth and forced Lai to take a closer look at himself in it.

He saw his friends whom he grew up kicking their butts and arguing with them, he saw them unknowingly agreeing with the boy's each word, even he couldn't refute him once.

Walking towards his room Lai met with Zhang who carelessly left his room's door open like always as he sat down cross-legged on the floor meditating, that was a sign of trust from the muscular man towards his traveling companions.

Even Liao Lai couldn't do that despite being with his friends, he would close his door and activate the formation to prevent others from affecting his meditation.

'Do I differ that much from this simpleton Zhang!, That boy Lin was quick to befriend him.' shaking his head, Liao Lai left silently after pulling the door of Zhang's room close.

Entering his room, Liao Lai was about to close his door and activate the formation like he's used to, then his arm stopped just before reaching the doorknob and his fingers shivered for the first time of his life unlike how steady they always used to be.

"Sigh...." Letting out one hell of a heavy sigh, Liao Lai sat down then placed his blade to the side, leaning his back on his bed he kept staring at the ceiling of his room.

Wang and Tao sat on the same table with Lin and Wei, unlike before, the air wasn't as cheerful like when Lin had just arrived.

"Brother Lin, how could you?." Suddenly Wei's voice broke the silence like a grumbling housewife.

Wang smiled when he remembered how Lin blatantly mentioned stealing Wei's water-pearl (which Wang and Zhang had to act as bait and risked their lives to draw the Beast guarding it away until old Tao steals the pearl from the clam) seeing Lin smile Wang was confused about the reason of his smile.

While Tao felt like there's something behind that smile of Lin, confidence it was.

"Now that I remember, grandpa Ming gave me some "gifts" maybe I should just keep them." Lin drummed his fingers on the table while supporting his chin lazily with the other hand.

"Brother Lin!, Don't you fear me reporting your naughty behavior to your grandpa Ming?, Hurry up und show me or Ill really get angry." Tang Wei let go of the food in his hands and wiped his hands in his clothes carelessly after jumping towards Lin, he was already kneeling next to him and almost begging with his eyes.

"You're a merchant, benefits takes first place. Especially, long-term benefits." Lin said that then waved his arm and the boxes filled with coins, spirit crystals, the weapons and armors appeared to the side.

He only kept the alchemy related items and cauldron, the medicinal ingredients, the body of the fire-eating dark-lizard, and the spirit jades containing the comprehensions of the previous owner of the ring.

Wei's eyes were like two torches in the dark, he jumped towards the nearest box and opened it only to find it filled to the brim with high grade spirit cryastals!

Jumping in joy he hurried to store it safely on one of the space rings on his body, after all, that jewelry on his arms and legs weren't just for extravagance.

All of them were space tools of various levels!.

Wang was interested in a pair of leather boots and took them then quickly branded them with his spirit energy, then when he tried to stretch his arm towards a pair of leather-padded metalic greaves with strong wind energy emitted from them he found old Tao snatching them with a straight face.

Wei started panicking when he saw Wang and Tao naturally take what they wanted from these spirit tools, he hurried his movement between these valuable items and stored them inside his space tools one by one after inspecting their value with his keen eyes.

Lin kept tickling Sun's belly and watched the three cultivators rummage through his things, it wasn't even a fair exchange between his stuff and the water-pearl.

The water-pearl was worth more than a hundred times more than these boxes filled with coins of various values, crystals of the high grade were valuable indeed but the boxes were few compared to the coin-filled boxes, the spirit tools were valuable if their level was high and needed by the market.

What good is a spirit tool that a spirit user can't use?.

Wang got a pair of gloves and shoes for himself, old Tao took the wind greaves and an upper body armor for himself.

For his best friend, Wang found a helmet and shoulder pauldrons, while Tao took a single set of silver full armor for Lai and went towards his room to hand it to him.

Before these two got to snatch anymore stuff, Wei had taken inventory of the gifts Lin gave and glared at them like a lioness protecting her cubs.

Of course everything Wang and Tao took was at least level five spirit tool or higher, much to Wei's frustration.

The set of silver full armor Tao took for Lai was at least level six, and that was a full set of complete body armor specifically made for earth element users.

Thinking about how much money he could've made selling these spirit tools made Wei grunt in annoyance while thinking 'If only had I been a bit faster.' as he pouted his lips and kicked at air.

But, when Wei sat next to Lin his smile appeared again and he hid his foul mood very well.

"Brother Lin, senior Ming really is generous, such precious gifts on top of us enjoying your company does make me blush in shame. We're a tiny clan, weak and poor, only the help from the Wang, Zhang, Liao, and Peng clans keeps us from falling in ruin. If it wasn't for the location of my Tang clan's city being located between two empires who had very friendly connections with my great-grandfather once then I fear my clan would've been no more long ago, despite that, every generation from my family has seen their fair share of hardships. My father was kidnapped and had to be ransomed for too much money than we can afford in our times of hardship, and it could've been more than that if it wasn't for old Tao sacrificing his cultivation to stop the enemy's schemes from completion by rescuing my big brother. The road ahead won't be easy at all, despite my great-grandfather being gravely wounded our enemies never relaxed their vigilance yet and made sure to keep our clans closely under their scrutinizing eyes. Are you prepared to be subjected to harassment from people who doesn't know you just because you're with us?." Tang Wei said to Lin and waited for him to give him his answer.

"If I said that I'm not prepared, will you return my grandpa's gifts?." Smiling, Lin drummed the table as he asked.

"Hell no!, You're stuck with me brother. Like it or not, you'll eat from the same bitter fruit I've been tasting since I was born." Slapping Lin's back while glaring at him, Tang Wei said then got up to "seclude himself in his room" and count the fortune that just fell on his lap.

The plans he had been formulating had to be changed, earlier he was planning to start small then grow bigger carefully because his financial capital was limited.

Now that he has got the capital he hoped for, Tang Wei needs to perfect his plans and make the right moves.