After having his fun teasing Lin for a while, Jianhong handed him a white token and told him that he wouldn't be able to return back to his master's place at the top of the tower without it, it can work as his identity token since he's not yet a mercenary.

He had said that Lin can go visit his friends after eating, Jianhong said it out of consideration for Lin's feelings since Lin seemed to be holding himself back from asking to go visit them.

Seeing that his new master isn't going to force him to live in a prison or restricted him from touring the city at least, Lin smiled and gave the elder a hug a kiss on the cheek while saying his thanks before running towards the door and ignoring the circular stairs, directly jumping from one of the large windows of the hallway he was free falling towards the base of the tower.

That made Mu Jianhong smile and laugh in bliss while raising his goblet to sip on his wine, actually he wasn't expecting Lin to accept him being his master that quick, with his tender age of Lin and the suddenness of Jianhong swooping in to snatch him for himself as his last disciple, the mercenaries lord of this city was prepared for a phase of rebellion from Lin in the first period of time he stays in the city.

Yet, the boy adapted mentally to the circumstances once he understood that resistance isn't going to show any fruitful results, that added more to Mu Jianhong's pleasure and joy because his final pupil is the one and only of his kind, not only was he extremely talented and levelheaded but also easy-going and dangerously calculative with a farsighted judgement, Mu Jianhong smiled when he saw Lin head towards the Cheng clan people first thing while leaving his two beasts behind in the custody of his new master, that might appear as though he was eager to meet the friends worried for his sake to calm them yet someone like Mu Jianhong knew that this was intentionally done by Lin, Lin's quick acceptance of Jianhong had much to do with these friends of his which are still inside the city and under the grasp of Mu Jianhong, maybe if he refused the elder's tutelage his friends will be under great risk, and that's why Lin left his two beast companions behind when he left to visit the others as a show of trust to the sovereign and acceptance of him as a master.

Finishing his goblet of wine, Mu Jianhong stood up and slowly walked up towards his place, ascending these circular steps while gazing down at the busy mercenaries entering and exiting the tower doing their things be that accepting missions or requesting assistance for materials or ingredients, seeking the help of craftsmen or talented individuals to refine pills or to create spirit tools or equipments, recruiting free individuals who didn't join any groups to do missions together, or buying and selling the young and immature beasts which they happened to acquire from the dangerous missions in the mountains.

As he ascended, Mu Jianhong would be followed by one of his disciples on each floor he passes, silently the group of disciples he spent his life tending to and caring for was entirely behind Mu Jianhong and followed him to enter the peak of the tower where only he or his disciples get to enter after he allows them.

"Eh!, Senior Jianhong where did Lin go?, Who are these people?, They're all monstrously strong!" Sun was bored being on his own since Frostine seemed to be in a hibernating state ever since Lin played with her, Lin and his master left him in a hurry and Lin gave him the look which meant don't go anywhere, he ate until he was full and took a nap yet these two didn't return yet, feeling bored Sun took a stroll in the place and found many things which looked strange then he was quickly bored again and returned to the balcony, once he heard the noise Sun was excited about having Lin to play with him or take him around the city to explore it, running towards the source he found himself met with Mu Jianhong ahead of a group of scary people and Sun tucked his tail and crouched in place while asking warily as he felt his alarm bells ring run run run run.

"What a cutie pie!? Come here you!" Before Mu Jianhong got to answer, Yi Mingxia had already noticed the cute little kitten and squatted next to it to massage it's perfect fur, seeing that Sun was frozen and didn't dare to move from fear she raised him and hugged him to her chest.

"Little Sun don't be afraid, all of them are Lin's elder brothers and sisters from this day onwards. Go play in the balcony until Lin returns, we have something important to discuss right now." Mu Jianhong saw Sun almost shitting himself from fear under the cuddling of Mingxia's loving touches, he patted his head and told him to go which made Sun nod repeatedly while giving all these people one final glance then hurrying to flee away under the displeased looks from Mingxia.

"Tsk, he could've stayed a little bit longer I'm not that scary." Mingxia smiled at the sight of this beast as it ran away, then followed to enter the spacious place where her master usually sits with them to discuss important matters.

A bronze essence burner was at the depth of this room and slightly elevated from the floor, wafting from the essence sticks was a very nice perfume, which not only calmed the brain and thoughts of everyone but also made their comprehensions flow smoother and their spirit senses stronger and keener.

"Sigh, every time I smell your dao essence master, I can't help but sigh at how calming it makes me feel." Yi Mingxia grinned as she spoke while taking her seat on her mat, in this place they were just disciples gathered with their master and the rules of the guild doesn't apply here.

The others smiled and nodded seriously while sitting cross-legged on their places, admiration for the man who had been the most important reason for them being as strong as they're now was this hulking elder.

"En, big sister Mingxia really said it right, last time I was here I managed to push the last step to raise a stage thanks to this dao essence. Still, master should lower the cost of contribution points slightly, twenty thousand contribution points for a month made me on the verge of bankruptcy afterwards." One of the emperor realm females puckered her lips and spoke while giving their master begrudging looks, yet Mu Jianhong smiled and shook his head to refuse.

"Tch, stingy." Another female friend of that emperor realm female tried to support her senior sister's claim and mischievously said to her master.

Soon it was a riot in the place and Mu Jianhong was faced with the majority of the brats whom he protected under his wings branding him as a bully!

"You ingrates!, Pay up for it or scram, I haven't made you little brats pay a dime this time, have I?, Be grateful for the opportunity at least and thank your master for his generosity, as I thought, only Lin'er is so thoughtful and would hug me and kiss just for giving him the opportunity to go play for a while. Tsk tsk tsk." Despite saying that, Mu Jianhong was amused by the big family he made after years.

"Junior brothers and sisters, certainty master has his troubles on this matter and that's why he couldn't lower the price for us, but at least we pay less than others who have to pay double for the same duration. Now, master certainly didn't gather us to listen to us grumbling about our difficulties." Zi Yun who kept his silence ever since he sat next to Mu Jianhong, finally spoke to calm his juniors who enjoyed pulling their master's leg.

"Yes, Yun'er said it right. It isn't easy to have my sweet disciples around all at once in the same time, that's why I took the opportunity to gather you and make sure your opinions wouldn't be contradicting one another, honestly, this isn't the time for differences between us, some of you must've noticed that not all of our people agree with letting the beasts entering our city," Mu Jianhong spoke and saw the one hundred and seven disciples of his exchange looks and nod, continuing he said : "Why do you think I allowed it?" This time Mu Jianhong gestured for them to speak their minds and his disciples didn't shy away from saying anything if needed.

Some said because their city is burdened with the annual rent which they have to pay to the cultivation alliance.

Some said because the death toll of their members in the beast mountains yearly alone was double the amount of their members dying anywhere else in the southern continent.

Some said that their association in nature wasn't profiting from the profitable affiliations like blacksmithing, apothecary, alchemy, tailoring, cultivating herps and such, their only advantage over other cities were the rich mines in their territories.

Another argued that their mines weren't spirit energy mines but metal mines like dark-steel, deep-silver or heavy-gold, the high quality metal ores were rare to find and few in quantity.

"Unlike our branches in the rest of the continents, only this branch isn't ours by right and to make it that way we have to rely on ourselves since no one else is going to stretch the hand of assistance, the cultivation alliance is bleeding us dry every year and we are helpless to stop it because we have no other choice but to pay the price they're asking which is too much. Both us and them know that they're selling us their trash as heavenly gold, before we rented this kingdom it was barren and constantly raided by beast-waves all the way to the Dou empire's territories. Even the high commanding officials from the alliance didn't want to take it for free and create a kingdom and a royal family for their own, yet when we asked they gave us the sky-high price to buy it or the exaggerated price of annual rent every year. Whenever we tried to pacify the beasts and make them accept our presence as their closest neighbours beside the elves, it was either the alliance causing mischief to stir the murky waters from the shadows, or their planted spies amongst us accepting requests from the guild then while masquerading as our people they'll poke the eyes of the beasts to draw their ire towards us and fuel their hate for us. While the alliance's city is safe and sound from all this mayhem and profiting more than we do from it's flourishing trade as we take the blame and the beast's enemity towards us deepen, the occasional loss of their clients by the beast-waves in the pearl road isn't even affecting their gains and to top it of, they get to suck our blood every year while we lick our wounds and endure as we grief the loss of our people." Mu Jianhong spoke and his disciples listened closely while clinching their fists or sighing, they felt their master's burdens and how weak and aged his sound was coming right now, most of them knew that already and year after year they watched the city their master ruled and inherited after proving his true worth as the leader of the mercenaries in the southern continent, they watched it suffer under the constant harassment from the beasts on one side and the suppression from the cultivation alliance on the other side, while the elves guard against them by closing their borders and refusing any ettempt to trade with them or even caring to hear their requests, the Dou empire and the rest of the empires in the human territories do send their requests for the mercenaries and issue missions, yet most of them either end up in the death of the mercenaries because the missions themselves are extremely dangerous or successful completion of the missions and the majority of the reward going to the brave mercenaries who deserves it, if the rewards wasn't high then this guild would've suffered from lack of work force long ago, still that meant that their master was almost working for free to keep things functioning properly in the guild for years now, as his disciples they helped to the best of their abilities yet they couldn't help him escape that revolting scheme from the alliance yet.

As one of four main mercenary headquarters in the spirit world, the mercenaries on the southern continent's headquarters were known to be the weakest link in the chain, because their position wasn't firm or stable enough compared to the three other headquarters, their lands and territories wasn't their own but rented from the cultivation alliance who knew that no other land is more suitable for the mercenaries to settle other than this dangerous spot of the continent ruled by the alliance, that's why the board of command of the alliance was making sure they do their best in order not to let this guild stabilize their foundations in their continent.

"Master don't worry they wouldn't dare do anything within our city." One king said and the rest nodded, yet Zi Yun shook his head because he knew how his master usually think.

"Still, why would Hongtian be after junior brother Lin?" Another female remembered her cute and funny new little junior disciple and asked, the whole reason Hongtian is bringing her horde is to get a chance to her hands on Lin after all.

Many speculations and deductions were exchanged and Mu Jianhong like always would hear his disciples without intervention first.

Gradually the group of disciples turned again towards their master for answers.

"First and most important thing to do for all of you is to keep an eye on Lin'er, I doubt these snakes hidden in the shadow will openly attempt anything until Hongtian is here, just to dump the blame on her or her followers and let us lock horns with the beasts again. Just get used to watching over him closely from now on, because when Hongtian arrives Ill be preoccupied with the protective formations mostly and keeping our strongest friends in check so that they wouldn't cause disturbance in my city, if the spark of their rebellion was to be lit in our city anyway? Then, all of us has to be prepared beforehand, and that's why I've brought you here to be ready in case it happened, until the deal is confirmed and Hongtian and her horde are at our city's doors, you're allowed to stay here and benefit from my dao essence without having to pay a single contribution point, as for why Hongtian wants Lin'er? You will see it in person if Lin couldn't win this competition. If we pass this storm, our guild's chances for a firm hold in this southern continent will at least double but we have to make sure the beasts don't receive any unfair treatment in the short span of time they're inside the city, that's the key to making this plan work." Mu Jianhong still didn't give his disciples a clear answer yet he gave them another piece of valuable information, free stay in his essence hall until sky queen Hongtian decides to visit their city again.

Watching over a first stage spirit apprentice?, Enforcing the laws of the agreement as long as beasts are inside the city?, For this group of Jianhong's disciples which the weakest is a low grade spirit king, doing either of the two requirements in exchange for a free stay inside their master's essence hall was just too generous of him and way too easy for them.

"Even if master hadn't said anything about it I would've never ever allowed anyone to harm junior disciple Lin, he made me laugh so hard that I didn't care about Hongtian's rudeness towards me. Still, he really wanted to trick me and Yun to bet with him, was he really only six years and six months old?" Yi Mingxia crossed her arms and beamed with a smile, then she looked at Mu Jianhong and asked and he nodded to confirm that once again.

The rest didn't push for answers from their master as to why Hongtian wants Lin, yet it became them asking for Lin's origin, affinity, talent,....

Mu Jianhong said some things and kept the majority to himself, but he told them to refrain from asking Lin or try to dig into his background because sooner or later they'll get to know it, he just wanted his precious disciple to feel welcomed and belonging to this big family.

Then he got up and left his disciples inside the essence hall and went for his room to the balcony and Mu Jianhong spent the night chatting with this cute pet who talked about Lin enthusiastically and their home and much more, while watching his last disciple Lin with his spirit sense.

Until Hongtian arrives, Mu Jianhong can handle things on his own and keep the city calm while his disciples ready themselves, however, when the guests arrive he would be delusional if he thought he can suppress everyone on his own, thankfully he wasn't, and his disciples has his back on this matter and were more than happy to help if it meant they get free time in the essence hall.

.......

Lin felt his body getting scanned when he passed the layer of fog as he surrendered to gravity's power, then he felt the white token which his master gave him earlier buzz inside his space ring.

Then the layer of fog (which could be seen from outside mercenary city if looking from a point ten kilometers up or higher) opened up in front of Lin's eyes to reveal the city view, beside the white tower taking the center of the city and the plaza around it, the second building to notice would be the round one similar to great stadiums of his previous life.

Looking up to check the layer of fog from below, Lin found no trace of it with his eyes and the sky was there for him to look at, yet his soul sense felt it's existence very clearly.

The city was alive and cheering noise was coming from that stadium, many people were entering or exiting the tower and beyond these two monuments the surrounding restaurants, inns, stores of varius types were circling that plaza.

Eight streets were wide enough to facilitate the traffic from and into the plaza, as he glided clockwise and away from the tower which was thicker and took bigger space on the lower floors, Lin found that he's about to land at the main entrance to this establishment.

Then he saw Chen Fu, Ning Xue and little Tong ahead of their crushing hammer mercenaries and heading towards the entrance, however, there was another woman with comparable beauty to Ning Xue ahead of the rest of the mercenary group and walking next to Chen Fu.

The strange woman : "Hmmm."

Ning Xue : "Brat!"

Chen Fu : "This is the one I told you about earlier little Fan, without Ming's help our group's losses would've been disastrous."

Chen Fan nodded and said nothing to reply her brother but her phoenix eyes looked at the little boy in cute pajamas as he adeptly scattered the force of gravity by doing a quick demonstration of acrobatics, once his legs touched the ground he tucked his knees to his chest and flipped forward while supporting his body on his palms like a monkey then stretched his tucked knees and did another high flip to scatter the remaining amount of force from his body then straightened his pajamas and walked their way.

"Young hero Ming!"

"Amazing technique as always young hero Ming is awesome."

"First I thought it was some kind of bird up there in the sky yet it turned out that it was young hero Ming."

"Didn't you say he had wings earlier? why didn't he use them to land? He could've hurt himself if he missed a step."

"Yes, it looked deathly dangerous for a first stage spirit apprentice you know."

"Shut up, you haven't been with us and boss Fu on the last mission so don't go around spouting nonsense."

"Heh, let them be."

Lin saw the new faces in the group and the ongoing situation of back and forth arguments which started to attract the attention of other people who saw Lin's stunt, not wanting to waste time being the exotic creature, he cupped his fist to greet old Fu and the rest while saying : "Good afternoon everyone, do you mind pointing out the direction of merchant Wei's residence for me. Don't bring up the matter of my dept little Xue, I know what I owe your group."

Ning Xue : "Tch." She was disappointed because Lin just red her mind.

Ning Tong giggled while seeing her godmother being blocked from saying any witty remarks, Tong felt her stifled and bent up frustrations at Xue lessen, that was caused by Xue who grounded Tong and told her that she isn't allowed to go visit Zhang without her agreement.

Her eyes lit up on this opportunity which Lin just presented, Ning Tong almost tried to speak but she found her body unable to move and Xue holding her by the shoulder!

'No!' knowing what her godmother just did, Ning Tong felt despair as she watched Lin look at her then away, her hope for him helping Tong meet her lover Zhang by choosing her to lead the way for him was gone when he looked away.

Chen Fu : "Certainly we won't haunt your rest for any reason young hero Ming, the Cheng clan's residence is in the southeastern area of the city, I haven't got the chance to introduce you to our group's advisor and my sister, Chen Fan."

Turning to look at Chen Fu's sister Fan after he was looking towards the southeast side of the city, Lin cupped his fist and gave her a serious nod and said : "My pleasure advisor Fan, I'm sure a great deal of the success of the crushing hammer group is thanks to your wise recommendations and patiently grooming their unhealthy thoughts of satisfaction. Boss Fu wouldn't mind me taking little Tong to lead the way, I hope. After all, I don't want to get lost looking for the residence on my own or to waste time doing that." This time it was Ning Xue who shivered when she heard Lin's words.

'Yes! You're the best young hero Ming, I love you a tiny bit less than Zhang right now.' Ning Tong was jumping in joy inwardly.

Chen Fan gave this boy Ming a scrutinizing gaze when she heard him say exactly what she was doing for years now, she alongside the rest of the group looked towards Ning Xue who held Tong by the shoulder.

Chen Fu : "Not at all young hero Ming, not at all, little Tong take young hero Ming there and come back when he tells you that he has no further need to you, you can take your silver test after you're done," feeling something off from the posture of little Tong, Chen Fu continued while raising an eyebrow at the little girl his woman held under her arm : "Litt-" however Lin cut him off.

"Little Xue can you let go of Tong now?, You've been pushing her paralysis acupoint for a while now," Lin looked at Ning Xue's shocked and embarrassed face then at Ning Tong who gave her a squinting gaze once Ning Xue released her, then shook his head and looked at the leader of the group who looked at his woman in befuddlement, then he cupped his fist towards them for the last time and walked ahead towards the southeast direction on the plaza, Ning Tong stuck her tongue out at her godmother before giggling and running after Lin and leaving the voluptuous Xue stomp her feet in annoyance.

Ning Tong : "Thanks."

Lin : "Don't mention it, I guess Xue's earlier behavior means that she knows about you and brother Zhang's relationship."

Blushing, Tong nodded and smiled while raising her left hand to touch the ring on her finger, it wasn't a space ring or some precious jewelry with beautiful decorations but just a plain and crude ring made from a red metal with no craftsmanship at all.

Soon Lin and Tong left the plaza and took the southeast road, both of them had no problem moving amongst the crowds shopping the streets near by the plaza but thankfully the traffic lessened as they widened the distance between them and the city center.

Seeing that Tong was mostly fondling the red abomination of a ring with her thumb as they walked while giggling every now and then, Lin had to ask : "Was Zhang good to you? He didn't bully you or hurt your feelings did he?" Tong only nodded then shook her head.

Then she said : "I liked him because he's very pure in the heart you know, unlike his friend who keeps checking every woman or girl his eyes fall on. He's strong and always trying to become stronger, loyal and gentle. You should've seen how much he was devastated when he found out that you're missing, hehehe he looked very cute when I found him in a dark corner and in a complete loss of what to do."

Lin saw the rosy cheeks blush and knew what happened next.

Lin : "Just take care of the big guy and if you can, try and go back with him to pay his family a visit. His mother has been very eager for a daughter-in-law and wouldn't stop nagging him about it, save your man some stress, I believe Zhang's delay of breakthroughs in the past few years was greatly caused by the circumstances of his family."

Tong : "But the sunrise empire is very far and I don't know if big sister Xue will allow me to leave, yesterday she kept scolding me for-" suddenly she stopped and blushed hard while thinking how close! Tong almost told Lin that she kept arguing with her godmother for hours on how she's free to surrender her purity to whomever she likes.

Lin : "She has a point and I understand how she feels betrayed of her trust on you, even I was surprised by how fast things between you and Zhang happened. Still, I believe you did the right thing, Zhang isn't the type to be slowly handled. However, you need to be careful because his inherent stubbornness can't be met with stubbornness from your side, he's fire and earth while you're mist. Be calm with him all the time and you'll never find him someone hard to deal with, lose your patience or temper on him and you'll be lost on how his simple mind works. That's my advice for you, as for his family being far away, it isn't a problem at all."

Tong blushed slightly when Lin spoke about her and Zhang, she knew that men talk about such things just like how women do but she didn't like it that Zhang told a boy their affairs, still, Lin gave her some valuable advice then assured her without disclosing information yet she found herself believing him, which was strange because this boy was said to be very dependable and amazing by Zhang over and over, even when she witnessed what he's capable of before, Tong only thought of him as some great genius of this world, most of these people would be aloof and proud to mingle with the likes of her or her man.

Yet he gave her the opportunity to work things out with Zhang then thoughtfully took her to meet her man when he could've just asked for the Cheng clan's residence, clearly he was intentionally helping her become familiar with Zhang and know his troubles.

Looking at Lin she found him curiously looking at everything around him and enjoying the sightseeing of the city, smirking devilishly, Tong gave his cheek a juicy kiss and cutely scrunched her nose when she saw him give her a look.

Shrugging, Lin walked with Tong for half an hour before they finally reached the Cheng clan's residence at the area near by the city walls, it was a couple acres of land with a dozen-story building in the middle and a garden in the front, stables on the right and a storage area on the left where the carriages of the caravan belonging to Wei were parked orderly, the area behind the building was a training ground and a few pavilions with artificial streams and a small fountain in the middle.

At the gates Lin saw the words Cheng clan and sunrise empire yet no guards stood on guard!

"No one is inside, it seems like we'll have to wait for them to return. I hope you don't mind." Lin retracted his soul sense after finding no one inside other than the few beasts in the stables, walking towards the gate he said then sat down cross-legged to meditate and closed his eyes.

Tong seemed impatient to be reunited with Zhang after over a day of separation! Tapping on the ground with her foot as she leaned on the walls of the Cheng clan's residence next to Lin, she felt like every second was wasted without Zhang's strong arms around her.

Lin felt the major direction both Qiang Chi and Rong Qing were and decided to wait here instead of going to look for them.

Diving deep inwardly with his inner sight, Lin felt the novel energy inside his body.

That energy never entered the dantian, glass heart, or soul world, but moved inside his body and would favor his organs especially the liver which started to gain a shade of green to it's brownish-red color!

"If I didn't know better I would've said we're getting sick, however, ever since that liver started to turn green and I'm feeling myself becoming more powerful by the second." Gang grinned next to Lin and commented about the ongoing change.

"A gold heart, a second heart made of glass with fires inside it, then now it's a green liver! What is becoming of us? I really can't understand why everything keeps changing once I start to adapt!" Lin started to speak as he watched the blood coming from this liver, the blood similarly had a few faint green strands mixed with the light energy strands which already took residence inside Lin's body long ago.

Trying to control this energy which he is certain that it is the fabled Qi vitality, Lin felt the previously unblocked acupoints breathe and come to life after being dormant all his life then heat connected them one by one and a complete circle with that energy called Qi vitality racing inside it.

He felt like every plant in the surrounding hundred meters was wilingly sharing their life force with him and the more Lin circled his energy in these acupoints the more life force he took, knowing that if he took any more these plant's life force they would die or wither away, he stopped and noticed how his simple experiment with Qi vitality just helped his soul force by restoring almost a couple hundred meters!

Then he remembered the scene of the gigantic forest near by and wondered if he tried to use this energy inside it, shaking his head, he entered the soul world and started meditating according to the soul strengthening technique.

After such a long time of being with a weakened soul force, Lin decided to heal back his soul to the maximum capacity before working again on the unfinished inscription of the soul-lock technique.

Meanwhile, just next to Lin, the girl called Tong wasn't tapping on the floor with her foot impatiently anymore but looking towards Lin with apprehension inside, just now she felt her heart rate slowing down almost to stop completely and her blood froze coldly in her veins from fear.

Taking a few more steps away from him she vigilantly guarded her mind, but Tong didn't experience it again and Lin was like a small statue completely motionless.

When it was dusk and the sky started to darken, two men appeared running towards them from the end of the street to the north, Lin opened his eyes and got up on his feet calmly, Lin patted his dusty clothes as he watched the two followers of his run towards him with smiles on their faces.

Like they felt his position he was aware of theirs and like Sun he had left them with a soul candle technique to find them when needed, that's why he wasn't in a hurry to find them before Wei.

Unfortunately they didn't seem to be with Wei and the others, but their clothes and armors were noticeably improved.

"Welcome back young master." Seeing an outsider they didn't mention names and greeted Lin on a single knee.

Qiang Chi was in a full-body armor completely brown and the open helmet had the shape of a bear, on his back was a great-axe with wide blades on both sides and looked very heavy since it was fully made out of black and silver iron.

Rong Qing wore a simple grey robe and on his waist was a belt half black and half gold, from it two scabbards were hanging and two swords one with a gold-red handle and the other with a black and silver handle, beside his original space ring he was wearing three more rings and Qiang Chi was wearing two space rings of high quality as well.

Lin : "I see that you two have already done some shopping while I was away, I hope you two found what you were looking for and are satisfied with your choices." Beckoning for them to rise, Lin saw the two of them nod gratefully.

"Thanks to the young master we didn't receive any unfair treatment while buying our items, just mentioning that we're your loyal servants would make these greedy merchants and shop owners smile awkwardly while giving us the perfect price." Qiang Chi said while laughing, the sight of his scarred face smiling was a cause of nightmares for children, thankfully Lin had no trouble seeing these worming scars at all.

Lin : "As long as you didn't give them any loss for the items you took then it's alright, later we can compensate them by pulling them into any business opportunity with Wei. Where's Wei?" This time before he tried to sit again on the floor, Lin found Rong Qing gesturing with his hand and a piece of carpet appeared underneath him.

"Young master why don't you wait inside the residence for merchant Wei? Yesterday he returned at midnight and left early before first daylight again." Rong Qing asked while pushing the doors of the residence, they opened and the empty residence was devoid of anything living other than the beasts on the stables.

Lin : "It's alright, waiting inside wouldn't be better than waiting him here, we can at least see some people come and go, while inside there's nothing. Chi, go bring my mule deer, it's been a while since I took it from Bo An yet I never took the boor deer for a stroll or rode it in the journey here, I bet it is bored to death the boor thing."

In a minute he was out with the spotted mule deer saddled and buffing, when it saw Lin the beast raised it's head proudly and huffed with a snorting sound while pounding the ground with it's hoofs.

Smiling, Lin gestured for Qiang Chi to let go of it's reins and gestured for the deer to come over.

After a few awkward seconds of silent hesitation, Lin saw the deer lower it's head and move it's ears while coming his way.

"Heh, don't be sad. I was very busy you know, so much for being my mount I know, but it was dangerous I don't want you to get hurt. That's why I'm trying to make it up for you and take you in a stroll when it's safe, because you're precious to me just like Bo An. Come let's take a walk around until Wei returns." Patting the deer's neck, Lin brought his forehead to rest on hers and spoke as he looked at it's large eyes.

Then he jumped on it's back and let it walk wherever it wants, the reins were let go and next to him walked Chi and Qing.

Seeing that little Tong was about to follow him he looked back at her and smiled while saying : "You should go inside little Tong and check if brother Zhang's room could be refurbished, see you later." Then walked away with his two personal guards.

Little Tong was smiling widely at Lin's thoughtfulness then didn't hesitate to go into Zhang's room and youse this chance to properly prepare herself for her man, thanks to Lin Zhang will soon live one of the best nights of his life.

Lin : "Easy now girl, we don't want to see you hitting anyone by going too fast." Patting the deer's neck, Lin told her to slow down and it obediently started to trott aroud the city streets aimlessly.

Then it smelled the fresh fruits displayed on some shop front and stopped, gazing at the fruits while licking it's lips the deer seemed to salivate and Lin gave her a bemused smile and told Chi to buy this black bellied deer a fruit basket.

Qing watched as his master did his best to appease this spoilt mount which after eating the fruits stopped in front of a blacksmith shop and kept patting it's loosening up horseshoe, again Lin jumped from it's back and took her inside to get them fixed.

While one apprentice of this blacksmith handled the matter of fixing the horseshoes of the deer, Lin strolled around the shop to watch the weapons and armors in display.

Raising one hammer from it's stand, Lin swung it with one arm to check it's weight then returned it to the stand with a dissatisfied face because it was too lightweight.

However, the few buzzing sounds from his swings had made the expression of the grandmaster blacksmith and owner of this shop pale from shock, the arm strength of this boy was freakishly powerful for someone in this young age.

The hammer he just tried was the heaviest mortal weapon of these weapons in display!

"Excuse me young master, do you happen to be looking for a weapon?" Unable to hold himself back from asking, the grandmaster blacksmith who was in a hurry to reach the auction house which was selling a precious brick of solidified and very pure sin energy, looked at Lin's thin body and was wondering where did all this strength come from? That hammer he just swung around as if it was a large needle weighed five hundred kilograms!

Looking at the man who looked to be as old as his master yet still in the lord realm, Lin cupped his fist and said : "Senior must've seen me embarrass myself just now, honestly I'm not proficient in using any weapon but I can carry lots of weight and a hammer seems like the best option available for me to apply all that force, seeing one, I couldn't resist to try but it was very lightweight and I think my brute force will ruin the weapon before I get to unleash the force on my opponent." As he spoke the blacksmith's breathing was messed up and Lin saw him hold his hands behind his back to hide their shivering.

"Good job young master, nothing is worst than your weapon failing you by getting broken or damaged during a fight, the area ahead has a variety of spirit weapons which should be heavy enough to suit your needs, if you'll excuse me there's a valuable material being sold in the auction house that might help me surpass the grandmaster rank and reach the ancestor rank in my profession. One doesn't get the chance to use sin energy everyday." The man nodded and cursed his bad luck because such a talented individual could be a very promising blacksmith with his monstrous strength, yet his passion for the next rank as an ancestor blacksmith still won in the end and Wen Zedong pointed to the next display area for Lin and Qing to go check.

Lin didn't ask the elder to stay or try to delay him since he's in a hurry and looked ahead and saw another area where he pointed, but there was guards on both sides of each wall wearing gold color armors and standing there like sculptures.

Lin walked towards the new area and before he held the grip of the first hammer he saw, one of the gold armored guards looked at him and seemed to smile in amusement.

While that guard thought Lin would be embarrassed because even himself can't raise that heavy hammer singlehandedly without using spirit energy, Lin did the impossible under the shocked eyes of thess guards and took a few fast swings with that one and half horse's heavy weapon.

Then after shaking his head in disappointment the boy returned it to the stand and looked for another, such action caused these guards to sweat from fear while thanking their fortune because just before some of them were about to say something funny to the boy.

Wen Zedong was surprised when he saw this boy's personal guard block his way and shake his head, since when was a spirit apprentice realm guard this intimidating! Feeling the pressure from the man which was no less than a lord's made the grandmaster blacksmith hesitate whether or not should he call these guards to throw him out of his shop.

"Whatever you're after in the auction house my young master can give you if you prove yourself worthy enough to get a brick, I was the one to sell this brick to the auction house before and believe it or not you wouldn't get to catch the event even if you insisted on causing a scene, you'll only come to regret ignoring white-sovereign Mu Jianhong's last disciple when he visited your place, go before your team of foolish guards say something which they'll terribly regret for the rest of their lives." Rong Qing spoke and Wen Zedong shuddered in excitement when he noticed the confident tune of Qing when he said that the source of the brick was him and the original source of it is this boy, then he shuddered in fear when this guard told him that this boy was Jianhong's disciple.

Knowing that this matter can't be risked, Wen Zedong nodded and turned on his heels to follow Lin.

"Everyone is dismissed, go take a rest or something and tell little Zhenzhen to come see me she has been in the forge for a while now." Once Wen Zedong entered the spirit equipment display area he dismissed the guards and ardered them to bring his odd granddaughter.

Despite being an accomplished blacksmith in the grandmaster rank, Wen Zedong never liked it because his cute granddaughter took after him in being obsessed with the art for forging, he always saw this profession as something best suitable for a male, what use will it be for a female to have blisters and calluses on her fingers and bulging shoulder and arm muscles?

Still he followed obediently after Lin and sucked one breath after another as the boy raised heavier and heavier tools which were mostly blunt weapons and got the feeling of their weight in his arm, two horses worth of weight, two and a quarter, two and half, three horses!

'Just how strong is he? Even I am not sure I can raise that mace or flail singlehandedly without relying on the assistance of my spirit energy cultivation.' Wen Zedong thought as he saw Lin raise the flail weighing three and quarter horses then twirl it for a while then raise the next heavy weapon which is a mace completely made from heavy-gold essence and weighing three and half horses then again he seemed disappointed with it's weight.

"Grandpa why did you call for me? I was just about to finish making my first spirit too-.... i-impossible! this can't be true, I must've inhaled too much of the fire toxins and am seeing things." A cute little girl who looks to be no older than thirteen years old with dirty clothes and arms and a face covered in black coal-like smudges and some yellow bandana on her hair which was gathered in a bun on top of her head entered the spirit weapon display area, she was grumbling about how she was close then noticed Lin's small body which was previously hidden by her grandfather as he twisted his wrist and caused it to snap as he toyed around with the four horses heavy short handled hammer in his hand.

Stopping in place and rubbing her eyes which caused the black smudges to spread further on her cheeks and made her look like a zombie, she tugged at her grandfather clothes and found him shaking his head while looking at her with eyes shocked just like hers while raising his shoulders helplessly as if saying : 'I wish it was little Zhenzhen, but it couldn't get more real than what it already is' then he pinched her waist to prove it which caused his granddaughter to grimace in pain.

"Oww, be gentle with the ladies grandpa haven't grandma ever taught you that?" Yelping in pain, Wen Zhenzhen frowned at her grandpa's rude awakening while saying that she gave Lin a piercing glare full of envy.

She always hated her own inferiority because of gender restrictions, she did her best in spirit cultivation and was thankful that her martial-spirit was suitable for the profession of blacksmithing and her affinities are fire and wood which were very compatible for the profession of alchemy, despite her grandfather begging her to focus on alchemy and play being a forger however she wants in his shop.

Wen Zhenzhen still did her thing and listened only to herself, when her grandfather told her that she needs to work like any other apprentice in his forge and shop, she didn't mutter a single complaint in almost a decade and worked hard to learn until she's only a step away from becoming a master blacksmith, when she was about to see if her fruit of working for years like a blue-collar apprentice would ripen this time, she was pulled rudely to see this sight of a brat handling heavy tools as if they're sticks!

"Watch your tongue young lady, that's sovereign Jianhong's disciple right there, if you embarrass me you can forget about entering my forge for six months to come." Pinching her dirty cheeks, Wen Zedong glared at his precious yet stupidly stubborn granddaughter while warning her to behave.

"So that's the one being talked about in the restaurants, I heard he dared to make fun of sky queen Hongtian when she visited our city to her face, hey scary uncle, did he really do it?" Removing her grandfather's fingers which were like pliers grasping her cheeks with annoyance, Zhenzhen walked next to Rong Qing and after confirming that his intimidating feeling wasn't compatible with his weak cultivation she poked him with her elbow while asking as she looked at Lin who found no heavier weapon than the one in his hand in this place, it was a brown hammer with a head as wide as Lin's waist on one side and the other narrowed down to appear like a nail at the tip, the handle was medium length and made from a dark-purple metal and embedded with scaly greenish-red leather on the gripping area, that same handle was sticking out from the center of the hammerhead with a jagged blade that resembled a spear-tip and looked sharp on both edges to cut flesh and pierce bones.

"Ask him, young master was there alone that time." Giving this dirty girl a strange look, Rong Qing took a step away while answering.

After years of being used to be a stranger, he wasn't used to talking to anyone else other than his young master and little brother Chi who joined the service of this genius boy before him.

"Tch, I won't bite you know, keke at least not much." Making an evil face at the man who kept his distance from her, Zhenzhen tried to tease him but Rong Qing gave her only a glance before shaking his head at how innocent and good-hearted person such as this girl would've been crying her soul out just because she dared to say something like that to his previous self.

'that isn't me anymore, I've already got my hand on two advanced space talismans, I can go visit my clan and warn them of the possibility of that senile fuck going there or to master's sect to avenge his loss, if they notified the cultivation alliance or the temple of transparency's branch they can ambush him and end his dao if he dares go there, while in here young master Lin's master sovereign Jianhong and a few other sovereigns can protect us from the geezer but I doubt he have the courage to try and annoy sovereign Jianhong, I heard his dao of the wind has almost reached the chaotic-wind purity of dao energy years back but I'm not sure if it was true.' thinking that, Rong Qing saw Lin look at him and smile while looking at him and the small girl.

"Senior, what is this hammer made of? How heavy is it? What level on the spirit tool ranking is it? Is it possible to make something a bit heavier but suitable for my affinities since this one is suitable for earth energy and lightning energy users. Mine affinity is-" while speaking Lin remembered the green liver and decided to confirm something, stopping suddenly he said : "Do you happen to have a testing device here? I would like to check my physical strength." Seeing the elder blacksmith nod, Lin cupped his fist and requested.

"Eh!, After asking all these questions he just stopped at the most important part, this is so lame right scary uncle! It must've been hard on you following the kid all this time uahhh what's up with the scary look? Wanna fight huh?" Again Zhenzhen poked Rong Qing with her elbow as she spoke then she found him glaring at her and started pulling her sleeves up as if she's not afraid of his intimidating aura.

Lin knew the way of using such tools and directly held the central pillar and knew that this time it was testing his bone age, like he expected it was six and half years, this delinquent of a blacksmith apprentice (which is Zhenzhen) forgot that she was currently in the most important phase before a fight which is the face-off to pressure your opponent with your aura to gain momentum on the fight itself, she stared at the age indicated on the potential measurement tool of her grandpa with disbelief then a flick on her forehead from Rong Qing made her squeak in pain.

"You lose, never take your eyes from an opponent standing in front of you or you'll die before you regret it, had this challenge been before you would've been dead by now." Rong Qing said while ignoring the hatefulness in the glare of the little girl.

"Humph, you're a cheater." Wen Zhenzhen massaged her forehead which caused the smudges to cover almost all of her face, then she puckered her lips while looking at Lin.

She decided to ignore this scary idiot.

"Rong Qing, apologize to the young lady. And you young lady should take this lesson to heart, someone like him speaks from experience after decades of living balancing between life and death encounters. His intimidating aura isn't just for show young lady, despite having his cultivation crippled and his martial-spirit wiped out, he rose from the ashes like a reborn phoenix with better affinities and stronger martial-spirit. Even I have only less than half of his affinities, had he been my age then calling him my rival would be appropriate and reasonable, you and I shouldn't underestimate his experience or his current cultivation. Last time we sparred he easily suppressed me despite my physical strength superiority." Lin noticed how Zhenzhen was able to communicate with Rong Qing, he spoke to get them acquainted together, as for the age difference between them? Years do fly by and in five or six years this girl would be ripe for Qing's taking.

"Apologies young lady, this Qing was rude." Without hesitation Rong Qing was bowing deeply while cupping his fist towards Wen Zhenzhen like Lin ordered.

Meanwhile Wen Zhenzhen didn't believe Lin's praising words of his scary uncle, while watching the measurement tool change color from red to orange then slowed down slightly at yellow then finally the final and ninth segment was fully lit up then the central pole changed to green indicating Lin has reached at least one bull of strength or ten horses!

The green pole stopped at one tenth of the second part of the first segment and Lin knew that he had the force of one bull one horse and some scattered dogs or chickens.

Then it was the spirit affinity test and the ball of dark-gold color of the light element appeared again on top of the central pole yet it felt not pure like the one which appeared on Wei's ship, then it was gone and returned to his dantian, again another ball of fire appeared but this time the fire was gold-red instead or the previous red-orange and the fire energy itself seemed stronger than before by at least four or five times!

Lin was about to place his arm again on the central pole to take the next test yet another ball of green energy which felt revitalizing and nourishing appeared on the center, honestly, he was hoping for such a case to happen yet when it did Lin felt a huge headache coming when he thought that he would need to study all these elements as he grows stronger.

Waiting for another surprise he thanked his luck since nothing happened, as he placed his palm on the central pole again he asked the elder blacksmith : "Senior, what is going to be tested next?" Lin found differences in this tool from Zhang's tool and didn't want to reveal too much.

"Soul force, opened acupoints for the Qi vitality system then finally martial-spirit awakening time." Wen Zedong said while looking at Rong Qing with dread, if that boy has less than half of this amazing guard's affinities then he must have seven!

When Lin revealed that Rong Qing was previously crippled and had his martial-spirit wiped out then managed to regain his cultivation, Zedong believed it because that strange aura must've resulted from these years of life and death encounters.

Soul force was measured by nine poles separated in nine segments just like the the rest of the tests, the first red pole fully lit means a soul force comparable to the soul sense able to spread for ten meters, the orange pole fully lit means one hundred meters of soul sense or comparable soul force, the yellow pole fully lit means one kilometer of soul sense or comparable soul force, the green pole fully lit means ten kilometers of soul sense or comparable soul force, the cyan pole fully lit means one hundred kilometers of soul sense or comparable soul force, blue equals one milion, purple equals ten million, black equals a hundred million kilometers, and white equals one billion kilometers of soul sense or comparable soul force.

This time Wen Zedong and his granddaughter's mouths and eyes gaped wide as they watched the red, orange, yellow, green, and more than half of the cyan pole fully lit up in the span of two seconds!

Then Lin placed his arm again on the central pole while sighing at how his soul force should've filled the cyan pole completely and filled a quarter of the next blue pole, this next test should be the final secret to reveal to these two but he can warn them to keep their mouths shut since they're under his master's control.

"How is it calculated this time senior, I never tested how many opened acupoints I have." Lin asked as he watched the red pole's nine segments lit up then the orange then the yellow then three of the green pole's nine segments were lit.

"T-thirty! He opened all of these acupoints and fully linked them despite being only six and half! Hey scary- I mean Qing, is it true that you have more affinities than him? What are they?" Wen Zhenzhen gasped in shock while seeing Lin's measurements with her own eyes, then she remembered what Lin said about this cheater being better than him in spirit energy cultivation and asked this Qing fellow obviously curious.

Rong Qing was likewise shocked by Lin's improvement in the Qi refinement system since a couple days ago they sparred and Lin was at least weaker than he currently is by at least ten acupoints worth of physical strength, even if Qing had better experience and control over the darkness and soul attributes, the difference between a minor Qi refiner and a spirit apprentice realm cultivator with the destruction element is very hard for anyone to surpass it even he himself with the years worth of experience, of course with his gaseous chaos energy, Rong Qing felt like he has a chance against Lin even if his Qi vitality system has clearly attained the first step of stability.

"Qing, it is rude to ignore a lady when she's talking to you, thank you senior I'm done with the test. So, as you already saw previously senior, my affinities are light, fire and wood, my physical strength is above the one bull point and my soul force is aplenty, my requirements are a heavy and sturdy weapon which can be further upgraded as I get stronger while it can withstand the fusion of my energies as well." Lin left the small platform while reminding the dazed Qing to mind his manners, then told the old blacksmith his requirements.

Rong Qing seemed to hesitate slightly then leaned to whisper in the young girl's ear, seeing her nod excitedly and whisper in his ear back the words "I promise" he leaned again next to her ears and told her the five affinities he has.

"Ah! T-that's amazing uncle Qing, and that after getting your cultivation crippled and martial-spirit wiped out once, unbelievable!" Wen Zhenzhen kept oogling the former assassin with her eyes as she spoke while she held on to both of his hands and excitedly swung them back and forth.

"Ehm.... Young master Tai Lin, first, allow me to introduce to you these old bones, my name is Wen Zedong and this is my precious granddaughter Wen Zhenzhen, secondly, your spirit weapon wouldn't be a problem to make it heavy, but the affinities and the required materials for it to properly conduct and withstand such a triple fusion of energies would need to be perfectly done. Earlier fellow cultivator Rong said that you're in possession and are the source of these solidified sin energy bricks, I'm seventy percent certain that with that rare material's help this one will be able to make it to the ancestor rank in my profession as a forger and the spirit weapon that Ill make for you would be at least a level seven spirit weapon." Zedong coughed slightly to awake his granddaughter that she's holding hands with a person she was about to fight just earlier, then after his introduction with Lin he told him his aim and Rong Qing was amazed that this old blacksmith was at the peak of the grandmaster rank in his profession, but after looking at the hundreds of spirit tools on display he accepted the reality and looked at Lin who kept his silence.

Finally Lin nodded then took out the boots, gloves, chainmail, cape, pendant and the fire crystal vest, then he took one brick of solidified sin energy.

Lin : "Senior Zedong, these equipments are in a need for improvements as well, see what you can do after finishing up your breakthrough, oh I have the intact body of a fire-eating dark-lizard, would that be of any help for you? And a fire tulip, yuan fruit, yang ginseng, dark wood tree branch, well see for yourself." Remembering all the things inside his ring which started to take all of the space already, Lin counted the items which he thought might be of use to this forger, then he felt like he might miss something and decided to take them out all at once.

Rong Qing's items and equipments were included as well, yet he felt disgust deep down inside him just by looking at them.

Wen Zedong and his granddaughter were going crazy when such a great amount of valuable materials and spirit equipments suddenly came out from the ring of a kid no older than seven! Had they known that Lin kept the spirit crystals, cultivation resources, the eleven sin energy bricks, the poisonous pills and devil cultivation pills from Weisheng and Qing's rings, and the cultivation techniques and manuals plus the assassin guild's capes certainly they would be shouting at his face : "Exactly how the fuck are you so rich while being so young."

Sighing, Wen Zedong started to check every composition of metals or materials on each equipment to see if he will be needing to melt it later to extract certain type, some of the herbs will be useful in the quenching phase to help the final production be extra more conductive to spirit energy, the fire-eating dark-lizard would be great be that, bones, scales, leather, core, blood or marrow, only the flesh would be returned back to this young master since the meat of a fire-eating dark-lizard is a delicacy with great benefits to fire cultivators.

Zhenzhen : "This lizard should be made into a full-body armor for uncle Qing, his weapons seems to be of a very fine quality already, if we make a full set with it then he wouldn't have to worry about changing his gear until he reaches the king realm." She had to say it since Lin has no affinity to darkness while this uncle Qing does.

Lin : "Right, even if your robes look to be able to help you defend, the idea of young lady Zhenzhen is spot on. Good to see someone else other than me caring for your future Qing."

Qing : "As you command young master, personally I think this precious gift is wasted on someone as talentless as me."

Zhenzhen : "Tch, keep saying that and Ill spread your secret, since your young master Lin agreed then you should accept it and be grateful."

Lin smiled when he saw this girl and Rong Qing click so well and become closer, just like what Wang tried to do with Zhang before, Lin was laying down the foundations for a future relationship between these two.

But he has to be patient if he wanted this to work, because Lin knew that right now Rong Qing had nothing else inside his head other than going back to meet his family.

Finally, Wen Zedong collected all the materials and items that Lin had brought out, still when he held these evil equipments he felt a similarities between Rong Qing's aura and the aura emitted from these equipments! After Zedong checked by sensing Qing's aura again, he noticed that the difference is that, one aura is filled with an evil vibe full of malice and the other is filled with a pure vibe of intimidation full of dominating superiority.

Zedong : "Young master Lin, as promised, once I reach the ancestral rank in my profession these materials and equipments will be turned into the items you requested to be made or improved, the meat from this lizard will be sent to you once the deboner finishes his work but I'm afraid that the rest of it's body will be used alongside some of these evil equipments to make the full-body armor for fellow cultivator Rong, of course your help will be needed to purify some of the evil energy in these tools and equipments but I believe with young master's pure light energy the matter will be over in no time."

Lin : "Good, all these items were taking up much space from my space ring anyway, first let me wish you the best of luck on your future breakthrough senior Zedong, just don't worry if this attempt was a failure this guarantee that you'll be assured a second chance. Young lady Wen please take care of Qing when I send him towards your shop later in the future, my little deer must've been dying from boredom already, I just hope she likes her new shoes." Saying that Lin quickly took out another brick of sin energy to ease the mind of this blacksmith who seemed worried about failing to ascend to the ancestor rank more than failing to create the items he requires, seeing Zedong beaming with a smile Lin cupped his fist and left towards Qiang Chi who was brushing the hairs of the mule deer like the apprentice taught him, the sight of such a large human in a bear armor taking care of Lin's spoilt mount was strange sight indeed.

Rong Qing nodded at the elder and the little girl before following after Lin, Zhenzhen smirked at how awkward this personal guard of sovereign Jianhong's disciple was before helping her gramps who started shouting at her for wasting time already.

The man was in a hurry to go to the auction house to fight others for a single sin energy brick, yet Lin gave him one in exchange for his service then eased his mind by revealing another, generous couldn't be said about this kind treatment from Lin, right now the boy was like his benefactor who gave him timely assistance when he needed it best and Wen Zedong never liked to feel indebted to anyone, not only he has to succeed in his breakthrough but also he has to give this genius the best spirit equipments and tools he can make.

Only by doing that can Wen Zedong feel better about himself.

Lin : "You seem to like your new shoes, good, go on let's take another stroll around, now that I think about it, you don't have a name yet. Hrrrrm, want me to come up with one for you or do you have one that you like?" Lin used a soul link technique with this deer and asked her again.

'Shuang, the woman who took me from the family I had once was called Shuang, she met me then got killed later afterwards and the people who killed her took me and sold me in the city that we met, since that woman was beautiful and kind to me then I don't mind being called like her.' After hearing what his mount said Lin wanted to let this beast know that he'll never bully her but he decided to let his actions prove that instead.

"Good name, Shuang it is then. I believe you know my name but I'm actually called Lin, this is Qing and I believe you know Qiang. Don't go making troubles on your own and no one will dare bully you, if someone tried to bully you or did, then come to me little Shuang Ill vent out your frustrations to the best of my abilities, alright!" Patting the deer's neck, Lin told her the name of his company then promised her his protection while feeding her another fruit.

Cheerfulness and liveliness were pouring out from this spotted mule deer, Shuang was easily attracted to strange scenes and easily distracted by the faintest noise.

As if her timid nature was providing her the best senses for Shuang to pick up the smallest change in her surroundings, in case of danger this deer could flee once the predators attempt to pounce on her.

Soon it became midnight and Lin who expected the city to sleep, found out that a city of cultivators actually doesn't seem to know the meaning of rest, despite it being the middle of the freezing winter back in his village, Lin was not met with a single sign of the weather changing yet, looking up he saw the moon not bothered by a single cloud anywhere and his keen sense for coldness didn't warn him of the temperature dropping.

Lin previously in his earlier life and on the first few years of this life would shiver and shudder from the slightest cold breeze of dawn even if it was the middle of summer!

"Did you hear, the auction house was extremely rowdy this time, the solidified sin energy brick was fought for by a few blue-king seniors from the guild, guess how much it was sold out for?" One mercenary in a gold armor entered a shop then started speaking with the owner which was one of his childhood friends.

"I heard the amount of that precious energy was pure enough to make a young monk who just joined the temple of transparency reach attainments comparable to a lord if he started from scratch, plus how valuable it is for forgers and alchemists if used to concoct pills or create spirit tools or equipments it can boost the quality and level of the tool itself and help with the profession rank increase. One mercenary mentioned to me earlier that this sin energy is no less valuable than the faith energy which people from the church of light covet so much, so I think it was sold for spirit essence not for high grade spirit cryastals." The owner scratched his cheek as he spoke then sighed and said his presumption.

"Wrong, it was sold to one of the three white-sovereign seniors for spirit jades, not the ones we buy and contain information about techniques and comprehensions and such, but the jade which has the supreme dao energy which only sovereigns can use!" The mercenary smirked and exaggeratedly waved his arms around as he spoke.

Rong Qing was shocked by the mount his brick was sold for and felt like he was still scammed despite doing his best to make the price higher than what he though the market price would be, looking at Lin he bowed in apology for wasting his resources.

Lin : "Heh, was it a lesson learned?"

Qing : "Yes, a harsh lesson young master, a very harsh lesson indeed."

Lin : "Then you didn't lose by much in the end. When do you plan on going back to your family?"

Qing : "Once the young master allowes it, I bought two advanced space talismans to make it a quick journey."

Lin : "Then go already, Qiang Chi is here to take care of me while you're gone."

Qing was shocked by the ease of Lin's dismissal, hurrying to bow deeply to give his gratitude to Lin, he patted little Chi's shoulder and told him to be careful even if he felt like it was un-needed.

Then Rong Qing hurried towards the nearest gate to exit the city before activating one of the talismans with a heart burning with the fire of longing for his family, just the release he felt once he was inside the territories of his sunrise empire again was making him feel lighter with every step towards his home.

Meanwhile as Rong Qing was heading back home, Lin took Shuang and Chi back to the Cheng clan's residence after some time of strolling aimlessly and buying the deer whatever she felt like eating.

Wei was back with the others and together with Lai and Wang they were discussing how to sell the bricks after seeing what happened today in the auction.

Lai : "Lin said to pawn them and later bet on him, that's what I should do." He seemed to change a lot from the very first few encounters with Lin.

Wei : "Are you messed up in the head after the blade in your head chopped every braincell you have like onion rings? Lin is the freaking sovereign's last disciple now, do you think he'll ever let him endanger himself in the arena?"

Wang : "Just wait until Lin returns and ask him since you two are not in agreement with each other's opinion."

Lin : "So my life is endangered in the arena, hrrmmm. Looks like someone was planning on making me a pawn of his little scheme to make money."

Wei's face blackened and he coughed then tried to cover his panick with a glass of wine.

Wang : "You're here at last, besides Zhang who is currently riding the rainbow, all of us are only arguing." While pointing up towards Zhang's room where he and little Tong are connected at the hips, Wang shrugged while pointing at the two men who kept trying to influence one another.

Lin : "No problem, Chi bring me something to eat, plain bread is good, olive oil and a salad is better and fruits would be best, I don't feel like eating any meat right now since there's such a huge prey in front of me and waiting for me to tear it apart, remember Wei, in these types of situations it isn't your experience or financial sense that you should be relying on the most, it's your news and information gathering resources which you should've been more focused on."

Wei shuddered when Lin spoke about the huge prey, he thought this kid would start getting physical with him and toss him around like a ball, but Lin started teaching him a lesson instead and Wei entered his well mannered mood and listened with rapt attention to each word.

Lin : "Had you knew what happened in the meeting master had with the high commanders of this city and Hongtian the sky queen then you would've knew that my fights in the arena aren't going to be against humans but against beasts from her territories, of course, this information should be kept between us otherwise another slimmer and faster bird would beat you to the worm. The previous plans should proceed like mentioned early and your family should do it's best to seize the majority of the businesses in the southern part of the city as fast as possible."

The three stared at Lin as if he was sick or confused about the whole situation, they should pawn the brick and bet on him as he fights not to waste their money or at least some parts of it on acquiring businesses on the worst and least popular places of the city! If they're entering these businesses then they should take the places near the plaza or in the far north of the city where the majority of the big clans are monopolizing the hot areas where the traffic never stops.

The south areas of the city had experienced being ruined or attacked by beasts before in many occasions, that's why Wei bought a whole residence, if it was in the north side of the city then poor Zhang would've been fucking his woman as she leans on Wang's back because the room they bought was too tight to accomodate these guys.

Lin : "I can explain but I won't, you know why merchant Wei?"

Wei : "Because it's your money and your investment."

Lin : "Exactly, the beasts are coming and your businesses in this southern part won't be serving humans but beasts instead, choose the locations, category of business and the workforce extremely wisely, remember, your prices will be twenty percent lower than the market and your service and prices will be closely monitored so don't try to seek the needless profits. The prices are lower for your service but the items these beasts will bring would be rare and already tagged by the coalition of management, if you hoard all these rare materials for market price then sell them for sky high prices in other cities. What will happen merchant Wei?"

Lin smiled when he saw Wei's eyes glow and his face flush from excitement and his flappy chest rise and fall as if he just ran a marathon.

"Three birds one stone, excellent." Wei banged on the table as he said that while imagining himself winning from the countless different businesses he can get his hands on in the southern part of the city, while these businesses served the beasts on everything at a twenty percent discount, he would seek to make connections with the beasts and buy their materials and products then resell them later on the cities of the Dou empire and the Cai empire to help them flourish, all the while betting on Lin's win in the arena.

Lin : "Heh, wrong, four birds after we sell the bricks in various famous auction houses while seeking to exchange them for the materials I want if possible." Then he stuck his fork in the salad and chewed up.

Wei, Lai and Wang, felt like they're facing a mind that will some day control the flow of this world's economy with a single word, the chill that tickled their spines wasn't out of fear but out of inferiority.

Lin only asked Wei of these two items back in the ship and they thought he forgot them momentarily until he grows a bit stronger, yet Lin only grew deeper and mysterious in their eyes as he told them again that he's after these soul related treasures, this time none of them felt like he needs to wait or be careful because someone might try and bully him.

The backing he acquired with Mu Jianhong taking him as a disciple, the fortune he acquired as well after by chance encountering Rong Qing but he wasn't satisfied with the wealth he has and planned on expanding his capital on four sides at the same time!