After spending an hour witnessing the three elements of light, earth, and gold mostly racing one another towards the ship where these different strands of energy headed-towards Lin and Lai... finally Tao saw a change happen to the situation when the strands of gold and earth-energy stopped being attracted towards the blade-user who opened his eyes.

“Eh! what the fuck? how come I’m the first one to finish digging some of his latent-potential?” Lai felt sourness in his mouth despite having attained a minor breakthrough in spirit-cultivation and assimilating some minor-comprehensions in how to use the abilities of his martial-spirit and integrate them with his blade-intent and spirit-energy in his attacks. Simply because Lin—who's a few major-realms lower than him and more than a decade younger in age—wasn't done digging out his latent-potential yet! light-energy is everywhere around him and Lai discovered that any type of spirit-energy within the area of his perception are currently being forcefully pushed away by these strands of the light-element which swarmed this territory... the blade-user himself somehow felt suppressed and pressured almost to the degree of suffocation just because he’s sitting next to the boy.

“Shut up and quickly get away from brother Lin... y-you moron what’s with the look on your face? old Tao said that you would've been forcefully awakened from your state of near-death already if it wasn't for my brother Lin! for a whole hour he’s been going easy on purpose while attracting the light-energy, I just don’t understand why he’s doing it for... your sake.” Liao Lai heard Tang Wei's scolding and felt his mind going numb. His natural-attitude as a bully almost flared instinctively—since the blade-user wanted to vent these feelings of frustration as healthy as possible by cutting or beating something to a pulp—felt a sudden urge to strangle the boy right now! but... in the end he sighed and moved away from Lin silently like he was told by the useless fatty.

'Goddamn-it! this kid is... fucking infuriating, how could someone be born with this shitload of talent? it's just... fucking unfair! whenever I think about it, it drives me into a crazy state of unwillingness, yet I keep comparing myself to him again, and again, and again! as if I’m in some kind of endless loop.' Lai glared towards the boy’s glowing body with his light-green eyes but within these pair of eyes was mostly confusion and loss of understanding what’s going-on with him... the blade-user scratched at the scar on his face while standing at the side and silently watched the little "freak of nature" soon afterwards the situation turned-out to become just like how Wei said! once Lai moved away from Lin—like everyone else on the ship including Sun and Wei who moved the "battleground" of their "competition" further away from the boy—the light-energy in the area—which have been swarming a big zone around the ship for quite a while now—became absolutely crazy and these countless strands dived into Lin's dantian-space... the amount of light-energy strands entering the kid’s dantian-space frightened Tao, Lai and even Wei who isn’t experienced like them when it comes to spirit-cultivation. Because that huge amount of spirit-energy being attracted all at once without taking a break or interval to refine it... by a first-stage spirit-apprentice! could cause said idiot—who dares to bite more than they could chew—to cough blood before suffering from cultivation-deviation if... they stopped the madness before it’s too late for them to be saved! because if they don’t... their martial-spirit itself would be attacked and entirely consumed by the unrefined-energy within the dantian-space... if they continue that mad behavior much further? then their dantian-space would react like a spirit-realm during the stage of its birth! not only would elements of their natural-affinity be attracted towards them but also any and every kind of spirit-energy strand would enter freely without permission to cause a mess within a dantian-space which lost its warden—which is the martial-spirit that previously got devoured by unrefined-energy which its owner neglected refining—the outcome would be either the spirit-cultivator imploding directly from inside after the dantian-walls fissure and crack beyond limit then all the spirit-energy within the dantian-space break-free and go out once again towards the spirit-world and bask in its laws and follow the movement of its different daos or... the dantian-walls hold and the user withers away until his death and the dantian-space itself would evolve gradually after its successful birth within the spirit-world  until it becomes a hidden-realm somewhere within the spirit-world but... that can only happen if one of those in the peak major-realms of spirit-cultivation suffered from that fate! these are kings, emperors, and sovereigns. The kid in front of them is... on the very first-stage of the very first major-realm! he couldn’t be considered on the first step of spirit-cultivation... Lai was about to move and inject some of his spirit-energy inside the boy’s body to wake him up from the state of near-death but... old Tao shook his head towards the blade-user and nodded to notify him that he’s going to personally intervene and save Lin once the first sign of danger appears. However... the freak never slowed his speed of attracting the strands of light-energy... the freak never revealed a single sign of suffering from any difficulty in refining that great amount of energy... the freak never gained a breakthrough or single sub-realm in spirit-cultivation despite what’s been happening for a while now! because he’s still a first-stage spirit-apprentice but... his light-energy—which was already very pure and extremely refined for someone who’s still at the doors of spirit-cultivation—began to reveal signs of becoming more refined and more purified after every second. Yes Lin’s spirit-energy never reached the quality-rank of liquid-form or anything of the sorts—which is the clear advantage those who reach the first-stage of the major-realm of spirit-master receive—but... that’s the heaviest, thickest, purest, and most refined spirit-energy in the quality-rank of gaseous-form which Tao, Lai, and Wei have ever seen in their life! apparently the surprises weren’t over yet for these three because after just a few minutes of watching that mad rush happen right in front of their eyes... the three of them saw the light-energy emitted from these pair of wings—which completely shined in the glowing color of pure gold which Lai and Wei thought is the most refined degree the spirit-energy of the element of light could reach—gain a higher grade of purity while maintaining the gaseous-form. Lines of the dark-gold color appeared on the gold-feathers and began to aggressively repaint the gold-feathers of Lin’s martial-spirit in a deeper and darker color! a color of light-energy which is a hundred-times more thick and heavy... a color of light-energy which is a hundred-times more refined and pure... if compared to the light-energy of the gold-color.

“This... is absurd! fucking hell... just how deep is this kid? how further is he going to wound my confidence? old Tao... have you ever seen or heard of this grade of light-energy in the gaseous-form before?” Liao Lai sat-down and leaned his back on the gunwale of the ship then asked Peng Tao who’s been watching with rapt attention like the blade-user himself while Lin accumulated energy.

“Heard of it once. They say... the fourteenth-pope of the church of light, has refined light-energy to a similar grade in the gaseous-form once before but, even the pope himself... wasn't able do it in the apprentice-realm like Lin here, according to how I heard about that amazing achievement... it was done when the pope was in the master-realm. Heh... we're talking about the person, who comes second in rank when it comes to the achievement of... the fastest individuals to awaken the martial-spirit within the whole spirit-world here, past, present, and future! the fact that you're getting frustrated by the kid’s potential is... laughable indeed. Hahaha... when you think about it, it’s cute jealousy from a senior towards a blessed-junior! despite being a hopeless-case when it comes to further cultivation in the system of spirit-energy... even I’m feeling slightly like yourself right now, but don’t let these feelings get to your head though, because if you do... you’ll be a failure when it comes to weapon-intent, especially the dao of wielding the blade.” In his surprise... Tao’s agitation made him unintentionally pluck a couple strands of his long beard when he witnessed Lin attain this extremely-high grade of light-energy! then he quickly regained some of his composure only on the exterior while speaking his answer and softly ridiculing the blade-user but... on the interior-level... the old man was hiding deep shock within these hawk-eyes of his.

“See that? that's my brother! y-you... "blade for brains" would be taught a lesson if you dare bully me again. Humph, humph, humph... better remember that this fatty has a... "backer" now.” Tang Wei was shivering from excitement while bragging these words like an overweight peacock! raising his chin up, buffing-out his chest, and sticking his nose to face the sky arrogantly... Wei spoke about Lin's achievements like they’re his own while threatening the blade-user but... deep inside this fatty was thinking about to benefit from the boy’s existence by his side during the remaining part of their journey back to the clan! specifically about how much money can they make together if Lin agreed to enlist his name in the fighting competitions. By betting on this new brother of his—which he just met a couple hours earlier—Wei can receive a great-fortune! even if it’s after they split the pot between them.

“How's Zhang and Wang?” Lai asked old Tao. The blade-user was trying to distract himself from these annoying thoughts by changing the topic of their conversation.

“Zhang is still asleep like a newborn baby, thankfully Lin was careful while dealing with our stubborn companion and didn’t allow the bull-headed fool any opportunity to hurt himself! Wang succeeded in his breakthrough and is currently two stages below you and one stage below young-master Wei but... he's currently still meditating, I bet he’s digesting the comprehensions which young-master Lin bestowed upon him with his kind words. The wind which young-master Lin’s arrival made, has caused you all to ascend one stage in your spirit-cultivation except for Zhang but... I believe he'll certainly rise a stage when he wakes up.” Peng Tao was feeling giddy with excitement and his eyes never left Lin when he spoke because he’s supposed to save the boy at the first sign of danger during this insane accumulation of light-energy. Even Sun ignored the fatty—who couldn’t keep-up with him in the food-competition—and crouched nearby the boy and the red-tiger basked in this light which is coming from the body of its buddy.

“Om!...” An omnidirectional shockwave of air-pressure suddenly began from Lin's body and extended into the surrounding in a circle of fierce wind... while covering their bodies with a layer of spirit-energy—which is their energy-armor—the three spirit-cultivators ignored the crewmates—which began to panic and complain because this shockwave almost pushed a few of them into the ocean-water—and watched how the pair of wings on the boy’s back completely changed in color and gained a size or two... bigger! when Lin drank the snake-venom wine his spirit-wings were gold in color on every feather except for one dark-gold feather on each wing—which was honestly strange in the eyes of old Tao especially the existence of these strange symbols on each of the two feathers—but... old Tao’s hawk-eyes clearly noticed that before the color of these pair of wings turned completely dark-gold in color... these symbol-feathers received a second change in their color! now these two symbol-feathers are alternating between bleak grey in color and black then white. From where he stood. Peng Tao saw another two feathers change their color to the bleak grey color like the symbol-feathers which kept jumping between black, grey, and white colors... these two new feathers are between the shoulder-blades of Lin’s body right below the boy’s back of the neck and at the roots of each of the two wings! since these two feathers are the closest feathers from each wing to one another at Lin's back... both of them together formed a strange picture in the eyes of old Tao once the pair of wings fluttered. Afterwards the experienced old man confirmed—what he saw earlier on these newly changed feathers—that they each indeed has half of what seems like the symbol of leaf-less branches depicting the "crown" of a tree! then after these spirit-wings fluttered and regained their motionless state... Tao was able to see that there’s a glowing image of a tree on the boy's spine. The roots of that tree began from the area of Lin’s tailbone and extended their network towards the legs... finally all traces of the tree and its silhouette disappeared from the boy’s body but... the split-symbols on the two new feathers remained. The light-energy which surrounded their ship for almost two hours settled down in the end and Lin's dark-gold wings were deactivated.

“Huh! why isn't brother Lin awake yet? old Tao... is something wrong with your wine?” Tang Wei who was about to go and congratulate his brother Lin on his gains suddenly stopped and asked because he noticed that the eyes of the boy are still shut while the vital-signs of the kid are still very faint... which means that he’s still in the state of near-death.

“Tsk, my wine is perfect! young-master Lin hasn't finished unearthing his latent-potential... that’s all. Think about it... first was his body with the phenomenon of nature-breath, then the refinement of spirit-energy happened afterwards, if you would take a wild-guess then... what comes next must be?” Peng Tao didn’t know that he’s tugging at his long beard slightly hard while he spoke with Wei.

“His so-” When Wei figured-out what old Tao meant he answered in excitement but the experienced cultivator interrupted him.

“That’s right! the thing which makes young-master Lin the most frightening... his soul-” The man was feeling excited and dazzled by how much benefit his own brewery of the snake-venom wine gave the boy. Especially because that’s the last wine-gourd of the snake-venom that old Tao has made back then when he was living his glory days but... the following words were suddenly strangled in his throat when Peng Tao and the rest saw the small red fire that appeared on the area of Lin's right-breast.

“Is that? intent!” Liao Lai stuttered these words while staring in disbelief at the boy... the sight of the blade-user gawking was very comical really! since among those boarding this ship... none has keener sense towards foreign and uncommon types of energy, “O-old Tao! are you sure that you gave me the same wine? y-you didn't give me a counterfeit-wine or anything of the like... did you?” Twisting his neck to look towards Tao... Lai gave the old man a very suspicious look.

“Screw you! young-master Wei is allowed to doubt my wine but you’re not allowed to do so, just because you're inferior to young-master Lin... doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to point fingers at this senior to blame or to make excuses. Tsk... why does it suddenly feel to me like... I just wasted some of my best wine on someone ungrateful such as you? I wonder if made the right choice back then... humph.” Peng Tao snickered when he heard Lai and gave the blade-user a taste of his own cynicism but... secretly the old man was really double-checking inside his space-ring to see if he really did give them the wrong gourd or anything! then old Tao gave Lai an annoyed look afterwards confirming... especially since Lin was the one to pour both cups of wine from the same gourd... if so... then how could there be any kind of trickery at play there in that situation? if there’s trickery... then it’s surely isn’t being played at the blade-user by Peng Tao but... young-master Lin himself! from the way this boy behaved himself so far... then it’s unlikely that he would play such silly games on Lai... simply because that blade-user isn’t worth the effort to begin with. The temperature of the air in the ship and the surrounding areas quickly became a few dozen degrees higher and the crewmates began to sweat terribly! these people poured water on themselves and looked with some worry towards the dancing fire which caused this nasty heat-wave... still none of them uttered a word when they saw boss Tao calmly watch the boy without doing anything to stop that fire from causing troubles for them. Sun was the only party which felt ecstatic by the existence of this small fire! when the red-tiger saw the red-fire appear on the chest of its buddy it quickly transformed back into a small kitten and sat on the boy’s lap to enjoy being close to this fire... which is closer to the liking of the great-sage’s tamed-beast if compared to the light-energy. However... that small fire on Lin's right-chest area appeared then vanished quickly after a few minutes—which made Sun slightly unhappy and caused the crewmates to release a sigh of relief—but... what happened next made everyone on the ship shiver in fear be that a mortal or cultivator or... beast. When a stifling pressure of soul-force spread from Lin... the crewmates felt cold-sweat on their skin and their bodies became completely restrained by what would seem like... thin air... again! fear was written all-over their frozen-faces and panic filled their hearts... these people felt like nothing but a flock of sheep in a slaughterhouse... utterly helpless in the face of the butcher’s knife and incomparably weak to do anything about it.

“Lai... Wei... you two use your spirit-energy and reinforce the protective-formations to stop the soul-pressure from affecting the crewmates, quickly help them before their souls scatter into nothing,” Tao ran towards the core of the protective-formations and gave his orders once he felt the soul-pressure descend on the ship, “I’ll try and do my best to manually control the formation and feed the weak bodies of these people some of my wood-energy.” Even the oldest cultivator—who has the second-strongest soul-force among the five spirit-cultivators because of his previous attainments as a spirit-tyrant—felt like walking knee-deep in thick mud while moving under that soul-pressure which kept increasing in power.

Sun just kept looking up towards Lin with worry while that soul-pressure washed over his smaller body and suppressed his soul and demonic-core but... the orange-kitten wasn’t worried about itself at all! the great-sage’s tamed-beast was worried about its owner who still seem like he’s dead... still it didn't even whimper once and curled itself in his lap because it trusted that its buddy wouldn’t hurt it.

'Tsk. That wine really helped the brat touch upon the nature of his intent, it’s fire huh! but... why wasn't it light? his physique is the guiding-light, and his natural-affinity is perfect for the element of light, even when the qi-acupoints were opened earlier the light-energy from a great distance away didn't hesitate to respond once the phenomenon of nature-breath happened and raced towards his body just to occupy it on a much deeper-level... these strands even fought for the position of the boy’s heart. Heh. This is getting interesting,' Kai was standing right in front of Lin and calmly giving the boy’s affinities and attainment a deeper thought while scratching his own muzzle but... the talking-raccoon could never be seen by anyone on the ship! the awakened-soul of the ring watched while the boy's soul-force increase and along-with it his soul-pressure on the cute pet—who suffered in silence—and thought about the confusing reason of why is the intent of Lin is of the elemental-nature of fire and not light? because every kind of lead within the kid’s affinities, attainments, potential, and character! leads and points towards... light, 'Whatever... I better remove the stupid boy’s pet from here or it’ll delay his accumulations when it comes to the soul, or it just might explode if the kid couldn’t hold himself back anymore, this state should end sooner than later anyway... the brat has been on a smooth sail in cultivation as it is so far... he shouldn’t be left to enjoy the comforts and care of others anymore. Maybe I should order him to enter the great-forest... no... it’s not yet time for me to take-over. Sigh! me... and my soft heart.' Kai vanished from the ship and Sun disappeared soon after he did.

On the ship. Lin was left alone while three spirit-grandmasters infused their spirit-energy to the protective-formations to help almost three-hundred of the mortal-crewmates to survive this soul-pressure.

Ming actively attempted to alleviate the soul-pressure on these unfortunate people by diverting some of it away from the ship or directing it upwards towards the sky! not because he’s caring for these people but... because Lin would simply be traumatized if he woke-up from that state of near-death to discover that he killed them all or some of them. Ming wouldn't even hesitate to bestow life to these people—who dares to die and cause Lin to be sad—if he could... just to strangle them personally one by one! if their death... made Lin feel bad about himself. The deadly-sin of pride already has made plans to humiliate and awfully shame Mia once they meet again... it would be to the best if he grabbed Lily from their village and managed to get a meat-suit for himself and bring-out his siblings from deep within Lin’s soul-source before they get to meet Mia! that would be the best payback for that bitch who castrated their sweet Lin.

In just ten minutes... Tao, Lai, and Wei began to feel like they just wouldn't be able to hold back the soul-pressure anymore! the three of them were panicking once they noticed that they’re on the verge of losing their hold on the protective-formation any second now... then Wang appeared on deck after he felt that there’s some danger while he meditated. Once the handsome-man saw the three grandmasters sweating and gritting their teeth while infusing their spirit-energy directly into the protective-formations through its core or one of its nodes... and the anxious crewmates on the other side doing their work of maintaining the ship’s course and speed while staring towards Lin like he's the devil reincarnate! Wang quickly figured the reason of his previous feeling and the reason of the danger then hurried to sit next to Wei and Lai before infusing his ice-energy through the formation’s node to reinforce it against the kid’s soul-force which attempted to suppress everything around the boy... the addition of Wang’s ice-energy really helped a lot and gave the trio a minute to catch their breath afterwards but... this soul-pressure proved itself unrelenting... and its power... is ever-increasing without an end in sight! at least for the four of them. Half an hour later... the four of them found themselves back to square-one! the crewmates could visibly see them giving it their all and doing their best to feed the protective-formations with their spirit-energy... in-order to maintain the invisible-barrier and in-order to push-back this soul-pressure or at least to divert it away from the helpless crewmates. However... what these crewmates didn’t understand is that these four understood that this soul-pressure would be lethal against themselves too! if... it caught them individually but... without the assistance of the soul-formation—which ancestor-Han made and integrated with the protective-formations—then they’re already divided. Every formation inscription and rune on the ship was flickering weakly and appeared to be on the verge of losing their glow... not because the protective-formations are weak or anything but... because the direct input of spirit-energy is still insufficient to withstand that soul-pressure! what caused the four of them to look with shock at the boy as that this insane amount of soul-pressure isn’t focused against the barrier—which they’re trying so hard to keep it against it—but... is the random bursts of soul-force which happen to attack the barrier randomly. Then Zhang appeared from the hatch which leads to the floors below the deck... the strong man was rubbing his drowsy-eyes and yawning lazily.

“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 to the afterlife—which could happen any second now—and his four friends sitting cross-legged and sending spirit-energy to the ship's protective-formations while having bloodshot eyes and red faces.

“Ah! boss Zhang is here.”

“Big-brother Zhang. Quickly help them reinforce the protective-formations... hurry!”

“Shameless old Cao still calling someone who’s younger as "big brother" but... if it means getting the opportunity to live and see tomorrow, then why not? big-brother Zhang, please go help the bosses... or we're all going to burst if that soul-pressure hits us a second tim-”

“Even at such a dire time! you two still dare to jape... boss Zhang, please go help them first, we'll explain everything to you later if the bosses wouldn’t say. Quickly please! there's no time to waste here, our lives are in danger.”

Zhang found the crewmates surrounding him once he appeared then lady cook hit a few idiots with her ladle then pushed the simple man to sit next to Lai, Wei, and Wang. After he sat-down the strong man listened to the crewmates who narrated in detail about everything that Zhang missed in his sleep... the look which he gave Lin has within it another layer of respect and admiration! before the simple man slipped into unconsciousness he was really exhausted beyond limit and expected himself to suffer some difficulties once he wakes but... when he woke-up Zhang felt reinvigorated and in tip-top condition which means that this boy didn’t allow harm to fall on his opponent after his win was assured. Before he slipped into unconsciousness Zhang did do his best to resist the soul-pressure from Lin alone yet couldn't withstand it for ten seconds! yet now here he's... joining four other spirit-grandmasters and being assisted by a formation but... they can barely hold it back at the cost of lots of their spirit-energy... just to resist minority of the boy’s soul-pressure. Zhang immediately understood that Lin’s current soul-force isn’t anywhere near what he got to confront previously... if compared to before then the previous-version of Lin had raw soul-force and this version has an extremely refined and thick soul-force which is much greater in amount and strength! But... the addition of Zhang's earth and fire-energy evened-out the scales... which means that his four friends finally could get to relax... at last.

“Well... I feel like someone just screwed me in the ass! then for whatever reason he dug all that shit out... and smeared it all-over my face then stuffed the rest down my throat. Really... what the fuck? this kid successfully managed to screw my brains in a single day... like none could ever do in twenty-five years, even if all those who tried were combined! it took the effort from five of us... just to protect ourselves and these people in a thin-shell, and he doesn't seem to be focusing his soul-pressure on us at all!” Lai said while gritting his teeth and felt an awful taste in his mouth... it tasted like defeat and uselessness! which caused his light-green eyes to harden and reflexively be squinted in a sharp glow when he glared towards Lin.

“I take it that what you said means : I'll be down to earth from now on. This is what it feels to be in the presence of a true genius, I’m not talking about someone who could reach the peak of cultivation, because despite being rare indeed... there’s a few dozens of these in every generation, some of them fall too early at the hands of others... and some of them fall under the pressure or temptation. I’m talking about a genius who has enough potential to suppress an era here! that’s why you need to be very careful and very prepared or prepare for death... before you look at him frostily like you do right now, especially after knowing what he's already capable of... then you’re a fool who forgot himself and just another insignificant-bug under his shoes... among many bugs who dares to block his path! your best option is to get rid of him while he's not yet at the bigger stage, but be careful because he’s already standing on a higher platform than yours, and be careful... because once you fail then even our great-ancestor himself wouldn't be able to protect you or any of us, while the five-clans would be met with a great catastrophe—which is certain to come—not too far in the future. Maybe after our clans are massacred he would ascertain that we’re wiped-out completely by chasing-down our fellow clan members like dogs all-over the world. Don’t forget what he said... if you ruffle his feathers then he would actively seek you out to bully you.” Tao let out a breath of relief when the danger passed and looked towards Lai then warned him.

“Who dares? there's still so much money to be made together with brother Lin!” Tang Wei flared-up in pure-anger while he threatened to punish whoever dares to hurt Lin with his lightning... his energy-armor from purple-lightning crackled dangerously and the fat on his body jiggled from his shaking-rage! the fatty has plans to make money with Lin's assistance... these plans are yet to be achieved after all... not to mention that these plans are the first layer of his business-schemes.

“Zhang will really beat-up anyone who tries to hurt Lin, even if Lin doesn't want to become my friend... I’ll still protect him with my life, he’s a nice person, he didn’t let me be harmed by his soul-pressure after I fell unconscious.” Zhang said evenly and calmly but... the look he gave Lai the bully afterwards meant : 'I'll really break all of your bones if you tried to bully my little friend.'

“Tsk. As if "blade for brains" here could touch a single hair on Lin's body, heh... what a joke? I say we let him try, it’ll be very funny to see him embarrass himself... again! maybe this time he would use his blade just to be slammed to the ground face-first once again.” Wang said while giving a charming smile to the annoyed blade-user.

“At least I didn’t fall on my ass after getting flicked like an annoying fly!” Lai retorted and Wang slightly blushed.

“When you see this kind of genius... then the best course of action is to make him your goal, you do your best not to lose sight of his back... ever! if you do? hehehe... you'll forever regret not pushing yourselves harder... you’ll forever regret not doing your best to improve yourselves. Holding-on to this boy’s thigh with all of our strength... could be the mark where our clans gets a chance for a complete-revival in the future, so... just don't be an idiot, or just like he said before... you narrow-minded fool. Why not? imagine if you just used that fire of unwillingness—which keeps growing within your chest—to fuel your hard work, imagine using it to push yourself further and harder! You could seek the limits of your own blade-dao instead.” Peng Tao got-up from the location of the formation-core and patted his clothes then walked towards Lai and smacked him on the back of the head lightly while he spoke.

“It was just a joke you... "uptight morons" I was never going to challenge him or scheme against him, maybe... in the future, when I'm confident in my win... at least somehow so! and all of you seem to forget... that the one behind him is a... soul-keeper, I’m not a fool who dares to underestimate such a great person.” Liao Lai shrugged after answering then removed the wide blade from his back and placed it horizontally on his lap. While running his fingers slowly on its sharp-edge silently and slowly... the blade-user was thinking about the words which Lin said about the difference between a sword and a blade! his blade is two-meters long and two-palms wide is made from some black metal that doesn’t reflect light at all... on the blunt-edge that black-blade is three-fingers thick. Two veins for spirit-energy run-down on the middle of the blade between both edges... these energy-veins allow Lai to infuse his spirit-energy easier within the black-blade and release that accumulated and concentrated spirit-energy during his attacks! One of the energy-veins is brown in color while the other is yellow in color... these two lines were specifically made by the person who forged this black-blade for his two natural-affinities for the elements of gold and earth but... even though the black metal which this blade is made from doesn’t reflect light at all... the sharp-edge of the blade shined in silver color after the blade-user caressed the sharp-edge with his fingers and it looked a lot sharper than before.

Peng Tao smirked when he noticed how Lai seems to be burning with eagerness to become stronger just to test himself against this genius... when the old man turned to look towards Lin he realized that during the previous chaotic mess during their panic to stop the soul-pressure... they actually forgot to take the boy’s small pet away to safety! after scanning with his eyes in the surrounding area old Tao failed to see it anywhere... he really wanted to slap himself because of this neglect.

“Where's his tamed-beast? has anyone seen the pet which young-master Lin had on his shoulder? anybody,” Peng Tao asked his friends and the crewmates and the answers he heard in return was... silence! these confused eyes which kept looking around in loss made him feel panicky... and uncomfortable... because if that demonic-beast was lost and this young-master Lin became annoyed with them... then it means that he might refuse to help them and just lord over them until his grandfather Ming arrives to take him back, “The fuck are you standing there holding your skirts for? search the damn ship you pack of useless monkeys! leave no corner unchecked... don’t you dare come back here until you find the tiger or if you have news about its whereabouts... at least” Peng Tao shouted at them and the crewmates jumped in fear when boss Tao revealed his extreme anger! scattering like a group of frightened mice they started searching everywhere on the ship but... none of them dared to go anywhere near Lin himself.

“I don't remember seeing the kitten at all from the moment I came back up, tiger you say?” Wang asked while raising an eyebrow! if he remembers correctly... then Lin's pet is just a normal young-cat which is in the demonic realm, “Did it breakthrough and reach the realm of devil-beast? it didn’t feel like it to me.” The handsome man muttered.

“No it didn’t. It can change shape and transform in the realm of demonic-beast, what you saw before was its secondary-form which it uses to save its energy, tsk... even his pet isn't simple at all! it's a variant of some winged-tiger species, but I bet that it can give any peak spirit-disciple a run for their money's worth, in a one-on-one fight and despite the odds... it might actually be able to win against a spirit-master too.” Liao Lai said while running his fingers on the sharp-edge of his black-blade which gained more and more of silver glow on its surface.

“That so! no wonder it was so agitated when it saw my martial-spirit, that has always happened with intelligent-beasts from the feline branch! somehow... all of them just wants to attack me once any of these beasts see my martial-spirit, for some reason it’s cute yet extremely dangerous to be targeted by all these beasts. Heh.” Wang figured-out why Sun seemed annoyed with him and planned to tease and play with Lin's pet later after it’s found! his smile was like a sly-leopard creeping on the branches of a tree and stalking its target in complete silence...indeed a leopard can’t change its spots.

“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 found Tang Wei’s fat and bouncy body giggle its way towards him with a pale and smiling face! the boy asked while looking around for Sun who isn't in the range of his soul-sense... the great-sage thought that maybe his tamed-beast has another form which makes its soul-aura different and searched for any new beast on the ship.

“Heh. It’s nothing much really... we just had to spend some spirit-energy to help these crewmates, since they wouldn’t be able to withstand the aftershocks of soul-pressure while you underwent the state of near-death and all, enough about them... say! how do you feel brother Lin?” After shrugging carelessly... Wei told Lin why he looks slightly exhausted then asked about the boy’s current condition to change the topic.

“I feel... really good actually! not only is the range of my soul-sense extending further than before but also my body feels... excellent, oh... have you seen where Sun wen-” Lin squeezed his right-hand into a fist while he answered then when he was about to ask Wei about the location of his mischievous-buddy... Ming told his brother that Sun actually disappeared from their lap just before the soul-pressure became unbearable for the red-tiger to endure! the deadly-sin of pride apologized because he really wanted to push their buddy away from them at that time but... the circumstances were beyond his capabilities to control and all Ming could do was to try and alleviate the soul-pressure from Sun slightly. Even Ming himself was blocked from control on their soul-force at the end! he had to watch helplessly from the sidelines while that soul-pressure of theirs increased passively and uncontrollably struck every in random directions.

“This-” Wei was shocked by the sudden question from this new friend of his and awkwardly tried to quickly find a gentle way to explain the strange circumstances behind the disappearance of Lin's pet but the boy quickly interrupted him before he got to really say anything, “Don't worry about it... I think I know exactly where he went.” The great-sage just can't think of anyone else who can do "that"—which is making things or people just appear or disappear from one place or space to another—other than Kai himself! after all... the talking-raccoon has done it previously where Lin himself was the target and transported the boy to a strange forest which is massive enough to occupy an entire country from the look of it! then with a simple glance Kai sent him back to the second-island which is in the middle of the massive ocean.

'Senior Kai. Thank you for taking care of my friend during my neglect, it’s such a heartwarming and great feeling, I’m blessed and proud... I consider myself the luckiest person alive to be under your mighty-protection and wise-care.' Lin sent this message with his soul-sense towards the ring of origin and smiled helplessly while watching the clear signs of how much suffering and trouble these cultivators and crewmates must’ve went through earlier because of him.

“Snort. You stupid boy! you better watch-out the next time you try and consume such a rare-resource which can boost your aspects like so, luck of the idiot I say... over-all attainments in body, spirit, intent, and soul. Tsk, be careful like I said... otherwise I won't even bother to do anything if this happens a second-time, even if it’s so easy for me... like blinking or scratching my nose, I wouldn't help.” Kai's voice rang in the boy's head—loud and deafening like thunder—then Sun appeared on the great-sage’s shoulder which is much to the surprise of the five spirit-cultivators on the ship who felt like Sun just appeared from thin air.

'As you command senior Kai. Should I seclude myself away from others when it happens again? or... is there a better way to prevent such a situation from happening? I... don’t want to hurt my friends.' Lin rubbed his cheek against Sun's small and cute head then enjoyed this weird feeling of having to suck-up to that talking-raccoon! who’s cold and apathetic on the exterior yet soft and kind in the interior... behind all that grumpy-attitude... and all that nasty-temper... this formidable Kai is helping the boy and teaching him in his own harsh-style of mentoring.

“Use a damn formation... you dimwit! tsk... did you crawl from under a rock or something?” Kai barked at Lin and made the great-sage go dizzy from the aftereffects of hearing these words... meanwhile Ming who’s inside the soul-world just sniggered when he heard that.

'Senior Kai is wise indeed. I’ll be sure to use a formation the next time something like this happens for sure, thanks for your guidance and thanks for saving my friend, I’m in full admiration... senior Kai. My sincerest apologies for interrupting your peaceful moments with my insignificant issues.' Lin replied while filtering-out the insults from the words Kai said and focusing on the instructions... meanwhile inside the ring of origin... the awakened-soul in the shape of a raccoon was actually smiling very widely with great amusement! because of how the boy has always kept himself calm and cool headed no matter how much Kai aggressively attempted to frustrate the great-sage with his words... if only Kai would know that during his previous-life Lin was actually called the "cheerful frost" because he never lost his composure even once... no matter how much the hosts—who were specialists in psychology and philosophy—did their best while trying to annoy the great-sage during the live-interviews! Lin was always capable of saying anything in any situation without truly losing control over his emotions... even when he appeared to be annoyed or angry... in truth he was never truly pushed to the state where people could say that he lost his temper! but he was slightly frustrated by these hosts—who pushed their luck by going after him like sharks who smelled fresh blood—and just released some steam by harmlessly putting them in their place. Even when Mia castrated him... the boy wasn't feeling anger at the poor girl—who has seven deadly-sins targeting her because of what she did—but... the great-sage really wanted the saintess to leave his sight... because at that time... there’s honestly no way in hell that he could be able to just forgive her! no matter what she tried to say or do.

“L... brother Lin! how did you do it? I never felt any space-energy when your pet appeared just now, do you... have a monster-medallion on you?” Liao Lai finally broke the ensuing silence after Sun appeared and asked Lin while his light-green eyes kept staring wide-open directly towards the boy's golden pupils.

“Hey! since when did you get permission to call young-master Lin directly by his name? since when were you allowed to call him "brother"? you’re indeed an... idiot!” Peng Tao smacked Lai on the back of the head once again while speaking these words then whistled loudly to grab the attention of the crewmates—who were down below-deck and diligently searching for Sun—and shouted, “Search is over boys and girls, there’s no need to flip the ship over and shake it by the hull.” Then the old man patted Zhang's shoulder once then encouraged the simple man with a gestured from his head towards Lin who stood some distance away and is speaking with young-master Wei... the message was clear : 'Go tell it to the boy directly, whatever that’s you have in your chest, because now is your chance big guy.' That’s what this gesture meant after Zhang witnessed it.

“I don't know what a monster-medallion is but... grandpa Ming did leave me some "things" in case of an emergency, despite me really wanting you to be my number-one minion... I just can't deny the help which your wine gave me old Tao, that’s why you can’t become one of my minions anymore, congratulations on the promotion! now I consider you a friend whom I owe a favor. Thanks for the wine... it didn’t taste the best, but... it’s by far, the one which gave me the best help! thanks for the opportunity.” Lin gave an answer to Lai whose attitude towards him seemed different compared to before in the way which the blade-user tried to present himself in a way that’s much closer to the boy! then great-sage Lin smiled towards the oldest cultivator when he saw Peng Tao look at him with approving-eyes... Lin joked with the calm hawk-eyed man and followed his words by a respectful bow.

“Hahahahah... even being one of your minions would be an honor, no matter which number I get in the long list of rankings... not to mention becoming a friend and one who’s fortunate with a great-favor! young-master Lin can ride on-top of these old bones of mine and work me like a slave however you like, and I’ll be smiling from the grave... what a great day... what a great friend... I’m fortunate, fortunate indeed by having encountered young-master Lin in this life on mine.” Peng Tao guffawed in laughter when he witnessed Lin bow towards him after that joke which tickled him in the right spots... then he hurried to quickly return the bow with a much lower and a much more respectful bow of his own.

“Stop kissing his ass already! we all understand how eager you’re to take him as your new master. Snort.” Lai was still not sure if he should do the same like old Tao by openly and completely surrender his pride and lower himself to Lin... then these words escaped his lips before he even got to think! his bad habits were at work here and the blade-user instantly understood that what he just said did sound really... really offensive to both Peng Tao and the boy... who warned him before not to "ruffle his feathers" Liao Lia knew that he just placed himself on a "pedestal" by the words he just said—which means that Lin can target him for a reason now—somehow the blade-user felt like he’s on the passive receiving-end in this situation... which is a spot that he doesn’t like to be on when the one who’s standing against him is this freak of nature who looks cute and harmless! to make things worse is the fact that this kid is younger than Lai by so many years... which shames him greatly to be punished by such individual.

“hmmm... Zhang, is it just me or... doesn’t our "blade for brains" here sound a lot like a sexually-frustrated housewife?” Wang smirked and elbowed Zhang while he spoke.

“En. He does sounds like my mother back in the days when my father had to take long trips away from the clan.” Zhang’s answer had cruel-honesty like always! the sharp-simplicity of these words when relating the events with the topic made it feel for the blade-user... like there’s some blunt-knife that’s peeling-off his face.

“Bffft...” Some of the crewmates which just returned to deck couldn’t stifle their laughter completely and covered their mouth with their hands before boss Lai spotted them! but... their stomachs and sides hurt like hell when they didn’t release these laughs.

Liao Lai just gave the duo—who made fun of him earlier—a glare of annoyance then focused back on the wide-blade on his lap! but... Wei and Tao clearly noticed signs of how ashamed of himself the blade-user is at this moment... despite how much he tried to keep his silence in a failed-attempt to cover his embarrassment.

Zhang stood-up and walked towards Lin then offered the boy his open palm in a handshake-gesture, “Let's be friends.” The wide oxen-eyes of the strong man were clear and devoid of negativity or schemes whatsoever.

“Heh. Sure! why not?” Offering his smaller palm and saying so... Lin shrugged his shoulders and shook Zhang's palm then the boy squeezed whatever his smaller hand could hold on the simple man’s hand which is much bigger than his own.

“Hmmm!...” After raising an eyebrow towards the kid once he sensed this hidden-competition which Lin just offered... Zhang did the same and clamped his thick-fingers in an attempt to beat the boy in his own game! but... after the strong man reached the maximum-force he can supply his own hand and the limit of power his finger could rise into when it comes to grip-pressure... the simple man was stunned once he found that didn’t win in this game yet! and to his surprise... Lin kept squeezing harder on Zhang’s hand.

'He's stronger than before, I knew that from the moment I saw him open his eyes but... he was weaker than me earlier when we sparred, that’s if we’re comparing the strength of our physiques! yet now his grip-strength is already stronger than mine.' Zhang thought while feeling the bones of his right-hand be grinded forcefully against one another... and the shape of his skin being deformed and changing color under Lin's vice-like grip! if only had Zhang knew that this boy actually wasn't giving it his all earlier... and that this great-sage was kind enough to stop gripping any tighter with his fingers when he sensed that the resistance from Zhang’s grip weakened then stopped resisting all-together because of the disparity in their powers.

“Lin. You're strong and I really respect your strength but... I won't lose! I’ll work even harder to catch-up with you.” Zhang repeatedly made a fist with his aching right-hand then opened it again and again once Lin let go... then said these words to show his respect... which sounded cute in its own way! then the strong man returned towards his room to cultivate after nodding towards Wang... the smile on the face of the simple and muscular man added with the excitement inside the wide and honest oxen-eyes eyes from before made Wang look at his best-friend—who left to his quarters with so much joy—then the handsome-man felt a shudder on the back of his neck. Because Wang remembered the days of their youth... when the cute-kid met young-Zhang for the first time in the clan’s training-grounds and managed to beat the stubborn-kid in their first duel! Zhang had similar look in his eyes at that time and Wang could never manage to win against this best-friend of his again in any competition when there’s strength at play... As for the case of when Zhang met Lai for the first time and stupid Lai tried to bully them both despite the duo actually being older than the boy with the weirdly-huge wooden-blade? Zhang's eyes had reddened that time when Lai called them names but he held himself back! then Zhang ended-up beating the arrogant brat from the Lai clan halfway to death with no regard for his own wounds... just because young-Lai dared to beat Wang on the head with his wooden-blade so ruthlessly to the degree of cracking the skin and drawing blood... these people know that Zhang is always so dangerous when his oxen-eyes redden... that’s true someway or another but... they just don’t understand that he’s even more dangerous whenever this stubborn-man is excited like now... Wang knows just why... because the simple man would train like a maniac without ever getting tired! if he’s confident in anything... then it’s indeed his stamina. Zhang said it himself but people misunderstood it... Wang really feels pity for the fools who laughed.

“Brother Wei. Being a merchant... do you have very good connections?” Lin smiled while looking at the departing back of this simpleton Zhang then went to sit on his chair at the table before asking Wei who followed after the boy and sat his fat butt on the chair next to him.

“I'm a merchant! what kind of a failure as a merchant do you think I am? of course I have connections, my connections extends everywhere within the western-domain of the southern-continent, my connections reach the western-islands, some places within the domain of the eastern-heights are available for my connections to retrieve resources... they’re not much but with time that might change in the future after my connections grow more solid.” After proudly saying that... Wei began stuffing his mouth with food! this fatty would always feel hungry once he’s talking about profits or forming business deals.

“Then you can resources find certain "items" for me? or—at least—bring reliable-news of the whereabouts of said items... right!” Lin asked while watching Sun show his small set of fangs to this fatty—who lost the previous eating-competition and dared to resume eating ahead of him—then looked at this greedy merchant and waited for him to answer.

“Certainly! what are we looking for here? spirit-pills? property? spirit-tools? medicinal-ingredients? cultivation-techniques? or is it... combat-techniques? movement-techniques? secret-techniques? natural-treasures maybe?” Tang Wei seems to have an amazingly weird-ability of multitasking between eating-ravenously and talking business without having a single one of his words being deformed or misheard at all.

“A green-stem of the white-lotus emperor or earth-mercury... I need any information related to them, I already know where these miraculous-treasures originate from but... if I could save myself the trouble of having to personally go and search the great-forest which is the territory of the elves, or the great-plains in the western-continent then I’d rather just pay the price.” Lin casually mentioned two extremely rare natural soul-treasures which caused Wang, Tao, Lai, and Wei to give him strange looks... the fatty even forgot to continue eating.

“This!... brother Lin sure overestimates my poor connections, the earlier acquiring of the... you know, was just plain luck after a lot of hard work. I heard that earth-mercury did indeed appear about fifteen years ago within the biggest auction of a city which belongs to the cultivation-alliance deep in the central-territories, not mentioning the price that was paid in-exchange for it—which is a lot more than what the biggest-treasury of my five-clans can withhold right now like a dozen-times over—the ones who dared to buy it were from the temple of transparency itself, yet afterwards they were actually attacked by devil-cultivators! and still lost it if my information is correct... after a fight which witnessed the downfall of some seniors in the emperor-realm from both sides, as for the white-lotus stem? the elves are a faction which is best left alone, otherwise it would be serious, serious trouble... if they were offended by anyone. After all... they're among the top management within the "faithful-coalition" even the people from the cultivation-alliance itself, wouldn't dare to swagger into the great-forest without good reason, despite having reason they sure would be prepared to lose a chunk of their flesh behind anyway.” Wei gave a pained look after knowing how difficult Lin's requests are but... he was careful enough while speaking and didn’t mention the water-pearl out of fear that one of the waiters might hear about it.

“I see... well, just keep your ears open and notify me if something comes-up on your radar then.” Lin nodded and spoke to calm the anxious fatty. The boy never thought it would be easy to get his hands on these two items... especially after Kai told him that it will be costly if he attempted to buy it! but... it seems like it’ll be dangerous too on-top of being hard acquire... since even if he has the money to buy it... others might target him and steal it.

“Radar! what's that?” Tang Wei asked while feeling confusion.

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

“I do,” It was Wang who answered actually, “Zhang is... addicted to physical-strength, a bit too much actually, it became his habit to test himself like every few days! but... I don't know why he always insists that I carry some of his stuff in my space-ring, now I finally get to see some reason behind his stubbornness... I guess.” Wang waved his arm and a platform appeared next to the table. It’s made from some dark-metal and has countless colorful-runes and formation-inscriptions all-over its surface... it’s nine meters wide and circular in shape and has eight similarly colorful metal-poles which are spread around on its edges! each of these poles is exactly one meter tall... meanwhile in the center of this platform is the ninth-pole which seems like it’s entirely made from spirit-crystals. After seeing Lin stare at the platform then back at them in ignorance made the group of four spirit-cultivators really puzzled! being a person with such a formidable grandfather like Ming the soul-keeper... this boy should be able to know how to use such simple spirit-tool... heck... almost any upstarting spirit-cultivator knows the use of this tool which can test physical-strength, bone-age, the grade of martial-spirit, natural-affinity for spirit-energy, and the exact time of awakening the martial-spirit. Some tools of higher-grade which could test the attainments of people could identify special-physiques, the number of unlocked qi-acupoints, soul-force, the nature of intent, and many more uses which they—the experienced ones—don’t even know.

“Your clan doesn’t have one of these? didn't you use this spirit-tool before? you never seen one of these tools before! oh no... young-master Lin must’ve had tough experiences back home.” Lai smiled when he saw the great-sage obviously in a loss of what to do next to test his attainments. The blade-user intentionally stressed the words "young-master Lin" to vent some of his frustrations on this country-bumpkin.

“Shut-up idiot! don’t you know how to actually think before you talk? you moron... have you ever thought about the scenario where young-master Lin gets irritated by what you just said? then he smacks you face-first to the floor for it? again! humph,” Wang snapped at Lai and intentionally mentioned the funny scenario that surfaced in his head, “That sure would be fun to watch.” Then he winked towards the boy in a gesture which encourages the receiver to do just that! the handsome-man was annoyed because the blade-user brought-up the incident where Lin flicked him earlier... he wanted to make the kid embarrass Lai again so that he wouldn’t dare make fun of him again... so what if the bully got bullied because of him? that just might teach him a lesson... a valuable lesson.

Lai on the other hand was shocked by this aggressive attack from this fucking "dandy" and his face blackened then the muscles on his neck stiffened like wood when he heard and witnessed Wang actively try and goad Lin to attack him! the blade-user—which was expecting the kid to embarrass him like Wang wanted—kept looking warily towards this new young-master while mentally preparing himself to fight seriously this time against this freak.

“Heh.” Old Tao just smiled while enjoying this light-mood—which is happening between the quarrelling-youngsters—but... he didn't do or say anything to intervene and help the blade-user escape the boy's punishment if this little-ancestor wanted to spank Lai... then he can go ahead and do it! no need to ask for permission from him or anyone else on this ship.

“No. Someone tried once... to test and personally confirm the exact time of when did my martial-spirit awakened, but... let’s say that the timing and location weren't right, that’s why I didn't get to actually see the spirit-tool for myself. What do I need to do to use it?” Lin remembered Mia and the time when her younger-version hurt his arm within the borders of her private space-ring! and how his arm remained paralyzed or not functioning like normal for a few days then sighed... afterwards the boy calmly confirmed Lai's hidden-meaning by asking for guidance from Wang. Once again... Lin's answer confused the group of four 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 after remembering what the boy said to him before... 'What do you have to do to make me comfortable? is to stop trying to dig around my secrets. If I trust you... then you would be hearing about them directly from me, without any regard for what kind of secret... or how deep that secret is.'

“This attainment-testing spirit-tool can only measure your physical-strength, bone-age, natural-affinity for spirit-energy, and the exact time of awakening the martial-spirit. Our five-clans used to have a few of these testing-tool which are of a higher-quality! ones which could test more than four-aspects of attainment but... those were lost long ago alongside most of our treasures, resources, businesses, and countless of lives from our five-clans. When the great-ancestor was fatally-wounded... the rest became easy-pickings for those with evil-intentions.” Wang shrugged after he saw Lin completely disregard Lai and told the boy this testing-tool’s capabilities... but at the end of his words the handsome-man became overly sentimental.

Old Tao gave Lai a knowing look which meant : 'See! that's what happens when you provoke a foe which you can't afford to receive their retaliation... you better remember this feeling well, you idiot.' then the oldest spirit-cultivator smiled and looked towards Lin who walked and stood in front of the center-pole then began to look below at the formation-inscriptions and runes which cover this nine meter wide platform.

“Do I just stand still and let this tool scan over my body? don’t give me that look, I already asked how once before but... the answer I received was a history lesson instead, tsk.” Again what Lin said made the group of four stare at him strangely and Wei glared at Wang who caused this brother of his to be embarrassed. The boy is someone who’s originally from a sophisticated-world thorough and thorough... the idea of tools—are made to help ease the lives of their creators—was ingrained into his subconscious after all! since this testing-tool is able to measure all these things... then it certainly have some kind of "sensors" or "scanners" or something of the same purpose... right! it must be... the great-sage certainly missed the location of these operators.

“Young-master Lin. J-just place your hand on the crystal-pole ahead of you, oh! remember that you shouldn't resist against the strand of energy inside the pole, don’t block it from entering your body... it’s just a weak strand of neutral-energy that has no affinity of its own.” Old Tao quickly came to the rescue and told the great-sage what to do before Lai got any chance to make fun of the boy once again! because maybe if the blade-user did... then Lin would really make a sorry sight out of him.

After nodding once... Lin placed his opened right-hand on the crystal-pole. Immediately afterwards the great-sage felt some kind of weak-energy tickle his skin gently like a feather! that gentle-energy seemed to be trying to enter his body after asking politely... once the boy let this gentle-energy enter his body... Lin felt it move all-over the place within his body very... very quickly! if it wasn’t for his extremely strong soul-force then he really wouldn’t have noticed where the gentle-energy went or when it returned... before returning to the crystal-pole... that strand of gentle-energy actually extracted an insignificant part from the great-sage’s blood and Lin allowed it to happen once he confirmed that it’s really just some of his blood.

“Buzz...” Shaking slightly in a loud noise... the boy felt his palm being shaken-off of the crystal-pole and the great-sage took a quick step back while being on-guard against this testing-tool! but nothing actually happened and Lin twisted his neck to look towards Tao and the rest to confirm if what happened earlier is... normal. The boy knew that he must’ve embarrassed himself in the eyes of the likes of "blade for brains" when he received an assuring smile in return from Wei, Wang and Tao... and an amused smile from Lai who felt like watching a monkey eating bananas for the first time! Lin hummed then looked back towards the crystal-pole.

“This tool gives the results for physical-strength first. There's nine-poles all in all... and each pole has a different colors, but... there’s nine-segments on each pole no-matter the color! first-pole is of the red-color... which is the lowest-grade of physical-strength among all colors, each segment of that color means having the strength of one "chicken" when the very first-segment is completely lit-up... it means having two-chickens’ worth of strength while each following segment means an increase of one more chicken! all the way until the ninth segment... which means ten chickens’ worth of physical-strength, if the first-pole is completely lit-up and there’s more physical-strength remaining? then after red colored pole comes the orange-pole. When the first-segment is completely lit-up in orange-glow then it means having the physical-strength of two "dogs" and each dog equals the physical-strength of ten chickens... like before on the red-pole... the ninth-segment completely lit-up in orange-color means ten-dogs’ worth of physical-strength. Yellow-colored and third-pole begins with the physical-strength of two "horses" and each horse equals the physical-strength of ten-dogs... and the yellow-pole ends with ten-horses’ worth of physical-strength on the last segment. Green-colored and fourth-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "bulls" and each bull equals the physical-strength of ten-horses... and the green-pole ends with ten-bulls’ worth of physical-strength. Cyan-colored and fifth-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "wolves" and each wolf equals the physical-strength of ten-bulls... and the cyan-pole ends with ten-wolves’ worth of physical-strength. Blue-colored and sixth-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "elephants" and... Purple-colored and seventh-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "tigers" of... Black-colored and eighth-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "phoenixes"... finally! White-colored and ninth-pole, begins with the physical-strength of two "dragons" and I won’t bore you with the rest.” Wang quickly explained to Lin while pointing at each of the nine-poles on this black-platform by its color and Lin was amused by the names of each rank! still... what do you get if you convert a chicken's worth of physical-strength to kilograms? he really has to ask huh.

“So a... chicken equals how many kilograms of physical-strength? grams... maybe?” Lin asked Wang while avoiding eye-contact and acted like he’s watching the red-pole which began to glow in the red-color starting from the lowest-segment... when he didn’t receive a quick answer the boy changed the conversion-ratio into something else. That glow rose-upwards on the segments from the second to third... in no time it lit-up the eighth and ninth-segments then a much more brighter red-color shone after the glow reached the top of the first-pole! the red-color flickered on and off twice on the red-pole before a line of red-glow extended on the floor of the platform... it began from the base of the red-pole and appeared to be heading towards the crystal-pole which is at the center... honestly the boy thought that this glow would head directly towards the second-pole which is the orange-pole. Once the red-glow reached the central-pole—which Lin believes that it’s made from spirit-crystals—that became completely red in color then another line—which is glowing orange in color instead of red—extended towards the orange-pole from the crystal-pole and once the glow reached that second-pole its segments lit-up one by one from the bottom upwards and the rising orange-glow reached the middle in a matter of a couple seconds.

“Ten kilograms of physical-strength but... that doesn't mean those with less physical-strength wouldn't be able to win against those with more physical-strength, it all comes down to the technique of the user, I believe young-master Lin completely understands my meaning, since you already demonstrated it for all of us here earlier.” Wang noticed how Lin used the standard of measurements which belongs to these "people" but... the handsome-man kept his mouth shut and watched the orange-segments light-up gradually after answering the boy! simply because despite being nothing more than mortals which are doomed mostly to become "lowly slaves" the great-majority of people from that "race" really are smarter than the rare-minority from the rest of intelligent-races.

Earlier when the red-segments on the first-pole glowed one after another... none of the four spirit-cultivators—which are feeling fortunate in getting this opportunity to witness Lin’s first attainment-test—doubted that this would top that first-pole completely! especially after most of them exchanged blows with the kid beforehand... they all already fully-understand that this "little-monster" is not only fast but also really... really strong if compared with those from his age or those who are a few years older. Not to mention that Lin has already refined his hand-to-hand combat-techniques and countering-abilities to a flawless-degree—which forced Peng Tao who’s the most experienced individual among the five spirit-cultivators to admit his inferiority to this young boy after their duel—the only question that remained on their minds right now is... how many segments on the orange-pole could he be able to light up? After the first orange-segment was completely lit-up... the group of four men watched with rapt-attention and in complete silence while the orange-glow ascended to the second orange-segment then filled it completely with bright glow! third orange-segment is the mark of the one who’s the weakest physically among the group of five spirit-cultivators which is Wei. Their young-master is known to have the physical-strength of three dogs—which equals four-hundred kilograms of power if the fatty punched someone without relying on the usage of his lightning-energy—meanwhile the fifth orange-segment is Wang's limit of physical-strength of five-dogs—which equals six-hundred kilograms of power—that’s only because this handsome-man actually focused most of his efforts on speed and doesn't even care at all about power! eighth orange-segment is old Tao's current limit after the ex-tyrant suffered from vitality-deterioration but... eight-dogs of pure physical-strength—which equals nine-hundred kilograms of power—is already an insane amount of strength... since this power comes from a single punch then a single kick could at least deliver double that amount of pressure! but... their expectations were completely wrong when they witnessed a fully lit-up orange-pole... then the yellow-line of glow moved towards the yellow-colored and third-pole after the crystal-pole in the center changed color for the second time and became completely orange in color. Wei, Wang, and Tao looked at Lin with pairs of amazed-eyes! meanwhile Lai was feeling worried and hoped that Lin's physical-strength would stop halfway-through the first yellow-segment on the third-pole like him... the blade-user actually has the physical-strength of one-horse and half—which equals one-ton and five-hundred kilograms of power—maybe that explains how this fellow can swing that heavy and wide-blade of his without needing to rely on his spirit-cultivation at all... Wei clearly remembers when he tried to test his physical-strength at the age of seven years old once before... his punching-power was one-chicken and half! the fatty smacked his lips cunningly and created a mental-note for the future... the merchant understood that he really has to advise Lin to refrain from showing his full-power too early when he enters the fighting-competitions . Wei's narrow-eyes narrowed even further when he grinned but... below these thick-eyelids the fatty’s pupils almost changed into colorful-coins! while visions of countless people wailing loudly like ghosts and crying tears of regret after losing all of their money—which they bet on the wrong-side—while he on the other hand is standing in the middle-of an endless-ocean which is made-of spirit-coins, spirit-crystals, natural-treasures, invincibly-strong and formidable spirit-tools and inheritance-equipment and laughing like a maniac towards the sky! while these visions of fantasy kept playing within the fatty’s head... the grin on his face widened more and more yet the person himself didn't even notice the huge amount of drool—which dripped from his chin without end—Lai's face blackened when he witnessed the first yellow-segment on the third-pole become completely lit-up! the blade-user just couldn’t stop himself from frowning deeply while being overcome with a mixture of emotions... these emotions really caused him extreme discomfort. Tao and Wang were breathing ruggedly and exchanging looks of pure-disbelief... physical-strength of two-horses at the age of six—according to what Lin said earlier—is the undisputed-fact that this kid has monstrous-talent in the system of body-refinement! since Peng Tao already witnessed Lin earlier with his own two-eyes when the boy initiate the phenomenon of nature-breath... he wasn’t too surprised like the handsome-man but... witnessing this made him become one-hundred percent sure that Lin will gain access of qi-vitality soon and go far in that extremely difficult system. Among the four-systems of cultivation—which Tao believes that they do exist—Lin already has all of them... be that soul, spirit, body, or intent! this boy can certainly over-shine people whom Peng Tao thought of them previously as being the true supreme-geniuses of the spirit-world once before. Even the best of those—which he once called era-leading geniuses in Tao's opinion before meeting Lin—are only dual-system cultivators... they take one aspect or system as their main-focus while making the other system their secondary-focus! nothing more than a supplementary-aspect for their main-system of cultivation! Lin on the other hand... appears to be really lacking in the aspect of intent... and slightly behind his peers in the aspect of spirit. However... his extremely-pure and greatly-refined light-energy can more than compensate for that small-disadvantage—which is certainly going to be erased in the future since the kid’s refined spirit-energy would make it an effortless task to quickly up-take those ahead of him from within the same generation—but... when it comes to the body and soul-aspects the situation differs and flips to his advantage in a landslide! the boy can walk-over his fellow juniors from the same generation if physical-strength is compared... maybe only these rare few descendants of the barbarian-emperor could give Lin a chance to test the limits of his physical-body or overcome him in the system of body-refinement. Still... if Lin is allowed to freely mix soul-force or spirit-energy and use these formidable-techniques of his during the fight? then Peng Tao just can't imagine a junior from his generation or a senior from Lai’s generation who’s below the tyrant-realm—or maybe those from the tyrant-realm would struggle against the kid too—that might’ve the capabilities to win against Lin in a one-on-one situation. Tao is just that sure... this kid can really suppress a full-fledged spirit-tyrant if he’s adamant about keeping his foe from leaving. Not to mention that Lin’s extremely young age just gives him higher-chances and much more opportunities to strengthen his foundations in the aspect of intent! unlike others who get the chance to discover their potential in the system of intent in a much older age... since the boy already touched upon the nature of his intent earlier—which leans towards the elemental-section of intent-energy and not towards the weapon-section of intent-energy each branch has its advantages and disadvantages—seeing the calm expression on Lin’s face while he watched his physical-strength being measured... reminded Peng Tao of how sharp-minded this boy has been ever since they met... somehow the oldest spirit-cultivator on the ship was reminded of how the boy kept testing them with his actions and words while studying them with these cool and quick-witted pair of pure gold-pupils! then wiped some imaginary sweat from his forehead... because old Tao just created an image of Lin in his head... an image where the boy—who has that wise-personality of his—is taking slow and measured-steps upwards towards the peak of the world of cultivation... while perfecting all of his aspects and unearthing all of his latent-potential he’s diligently mixing-up the four aspects of cultivation perfectly! then wiping-down all opposition and suppressing all directions of the spirit-world. While pressing hard with the fingers of his left-hand on his right-hand which began to shake due to this excessive amount of imagination! old Tao looked at the yellow glow which is about to fill the second yellow-segment on the third-pole of this measurement-test for physical-strength. Three-horses of strength already but... the yellow glow isn't going to stop from the look of it—which caused Lai to grit his teeth since this situation is just preposterous—yet... the blade-user kept his mouth shut and made sure that no words would escape his lips this time... after all this monster-like kid has really turned-out to become someone who’s physically two-times stronger than himself! since he can't use spirit-energy or blade-intent to suppress the boy without being seen like someone who’s taking things too far and bullying a junior—especially after the warning which he clearly heard from Ming the soul-keeper about this specific-point—Lai just can't rely only on the physical-strength of his body to suppress this little-monster... not to mention that if Lai stubbornly and idiotically used his spirit-energy and blade-intent against Lin... then this kid would just use his own spirit-wings and soul-force to counter him... the end would be certain suppression for the blade-user. Maybe the boy would learn to use his fire-intent soon in the future and enjoy cornering Lai from four sides just for fun because he tried to "play" with him once before back in the days.

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

“Buzz...” The crystal-pole in the center of the black platform became completely yellow in color then the yellow glow fell to exactly what the yellow glow has reached on the third-pole before a faint buzzing-sound could be heard from the crystal-pole... Wang was the first person to move among the four spirit-cultivators who got to witness this event... the handsome-man quickly went to check the final-result of this test in apparent excitement. “Hahaha. Guys listen... it’s three-horses, seven-dogs, and five-chickens! what an amazing physical-power that you have in your small physique right now young-master Lin, do you want to know Zhang's best record yet?” Wang announced the attainments—numbers—of this boy to his fellow clan-mates then turned to congratulate Lin and asked him with a grin on his face. “Sure... why not? but... he said that he would be working very hard though! so I bet that he’s going to break that record later, anyway... say it.” After shrugging his shoulders Lin nodded while admiring his own record of physical-strength that was converted from these horses, dogs, and chickens—or whatever—into numbers! which are calculated in kilograms... these damn idiots who made this tool must be some kind of fools... certainly they must be like so. “Three-horses, four-dogs, and... two chickens! among those on-board of this ship... you're currently the person who has the highest attainments when it comes to physical-strength young-master Lin, and when it comes to the attainments of soul-force you’re also number one. Heh... I bet that Zhang will work even harder after he learns about your records in physical-strength, I really don’t want to see that side of him but... whatever I guess. Next on this testing-tool would be the measurements of your bone-age, so... just like before, after you place your hand on the crystal-pole the test would begin. The red-pole reveals the age of those between two to ten years depending on which segment the glow would stop eventually, the orange-pole reveals those from twenty to one-hundred years, what follows on each pole afterwards is calculated in the same method... since you already understand it then... go ahead.” Wang was really excited and told Lin what comes next after seeing old Tao’s frown.

Meanwhile... Wei's face revealed a broader-smile after these attainments rang in his ears with the cheerful-tunes of fortune falling in his lap... while more and more spirit-coins, spirit-crystals, countless amount of treasures, and spirit-resources popped-up and appeared within his imagination... some of them could be seen in the depth of this fatty’s pair of eyes! he just carefully hid that wealth from the eyes of others. Tao just shook his head and did his best to calm his agitation while convincing himself that this boy is their ally and the future is certainly going to be bright because of his existence... they just need to be calm and discreet about it until the right moment before they... explode in the face of their enemies! Lai just ran his fingers on the sharp-edge of his wide-blade and watched in silence while thinking : 'This... has got nothing to do with me, these... are his attainments, not mine! getting affected by these matters... would only cause my blade to dull, the blade isn’t sharp if the mind isn’t, the blade isn’t heavy if the heart is unsettled...' Lai repeated his own calming-mantra within his head while watching the first red-segment become fully lit-up in red glow, second-segment, third, fourth, and fifth! then... the red stopped moving or rising any further after filling one-sixth of the sixth-segment... the true bone-age of this boy Lin is confirmed... it matched his words since all four of them could see it clearly. The kid is... six years and less than three months old... he’s a soul-clone and a person who has an insanely-refined light-energy which Andreas—the fourteenth-pope of the church of light and current top-dog of that great-sect—couldn’t attain within a similar spirit-realm! plus a great and exaggerated-amount of pure physical-strength within that small body of his which could effortlessly place him head to head with high-born and talented barbarians... and what comes last in this boy’s list of current successful-attainments would be the dormant and untapped-talent—which he has—for fire-intent.

“Next would be the test that reveals the natural-affinity for spirit-elements, that can only be tested by those who already awakened their martial-spirits... of course you know! heh, silly me. Since the poorly-made formations on this testing-tool can't identify every spirit-element that exist within the spirit-world... then some natural-affinities which are for some rare and variant-elements might not appear at all, anyway... young-master Lin, this crystal-pole has to extract some of your own spirit-energy before revealing—what it can reveal of—your natural-affinities, this platform would activate each spirit-element through its special formations! so... try not to resist against it when you feel some of your spirit-energy seeping into the crystal-pole, it's normal... you just relax because this is how this shitty tool works.” Wang informed Lin patiently and the boy smiled after hearing that last phrase! but... the great-sage didn't hesitate before placing his hand for the third-time on the crystal-pole.

The four spirit-cultivators—which are being the only audience for Lin while he tested his natural-affinity—waited expectantly for any kind of surprise that might still be hidden from their eyes somewhere between the many folds of latent-potential which are within this strange kid’s body! after placing his palm on-top of the crystal-pole Lin didn't feel any of the "neutral-energy" politely requesting permission to enter his body like before but... the boy felt a gentle-tug at the surface of the skin on his hand instead... once the great-sage allowed that tug to take what it wants... Lin felt a small part of his spirit-energy entering the crystal-pole then he lost all connection with that spirit-energy right afterwards.

“Buzz...” Again his hand was gently pushed-off this crystal-pole but this time Lin didn't wondrously look towards Wang... the great-sage has become experienced in using this platform.

“Whoosh!...” A ball of light-energy appeared on-top of the crystal-pole... it’s dark-gold in color and is so thick light-energy in an extremely-refined state—which felt heavy in the perception of each of the four spirit-cultivators—then with a poof that ball of light-energy was gone from the sight and senses of his small audience! only Lin knew where that ball of light-energy went... because the boy clearly felt that strand of energy race-back towards the area of his dantian-space before quickly returning to its rightful place within the center of its own nebula... that dark-gold ball of light-energy from before is one of the two dark-gold clouds which the great-sage helped before! its own nebula is currently formed completely from similarly dark-gold clouds but... none of these two clouds—which rule the nebulas—seemed threatened by the fact at all.

“Crackle!...” Then a small red-fire appeared on the crystal-pole... the appearance of this fire grabbed Lin’s attention! the boy watched closely while its tongues danced slowly in the absence of wind... one second later that red-fire willingly moved towards the great-sage’s body but... slowly—which didn’t startle Lin who knows what it means to be burned to death—then that small red-fire actually stuck itself to the surface the area of the boy’s right-chest... this time the great-sage was really surprised by the warm he felt and the harm which he didn’t receive! his soul-force clearly notified Lin of how potent and dangerous... of how high-temperature that small and cute-looking red-fire actually has. Sun was quick to change-form from a tiger—which is a necessary-size while having such a free and huge-meal—and transform into a kitten before jumping on his buddy’s shoulder then use his paws which are coated with fire-energy to scratch at Lin's fire-energy playfully like a cat playing with a ball until it disappeared.

“Buzz...” The crystal-pole buzzed then returned to its previous silence.

Lai sighed in relief when Lin turned-out to become someone who’s without any hidden natural-affinities to anything besides light and fire-energy... at least that’s according to this low-quality testing-tool! so far so good at least there’s hope for the blade-user to show his own brilliance.

“The last thing which this tool can test is... the time of awakening the martial-spirit, each one of these poles being fully lit-up represents one year of time without awakening the martial-spirit, this test beings with the red-pole like always but... once you place your hand on the crystal-pole you’ll find that these each one of these nine-poles would be separated into twelve-segments instead of just nine-segments. Remember... during this test, young-master Lin actually needs to keep your hand on the crystal-pole, in-order for the test to be perfectly accurate... young-master Lin should wait until the buzz happens from this crystal-pole, when it happens... then it means that these formations has completed their workings, now... whenever you're ready.” Wang spoke then extended his hands towards the boy’s pet to hop-on... because this test has to be taken alone... and Lin was surprised when he found that Sun actually obliged to be carried by the handsome-man without having to say anything to persuade his buddy! smiling in a wickedly-charming smile... Wang gave the tiger in kitten-form which sat on his shoulder a look and found the tiger looking back at him with its yellow eyes. Then the red-tiger actually sniffed the man before giving him a lick on the cheek which made the handsome fellow snigger... because ever since he made amends with his martial-spirit after Lin's advice... Wang felt like the ice-leopard within his dantian-space is eager to be released outside! Just so that it could be allowed to play with this red-tiger. Lin shrugged after seeing that sight then placed his hand on the crystal-pole for the fourth-time and last time... one red line of glow moved quickly from the bottom of the central-pole towards the red-pole. Once that glowing line reached the base of the red-pole a change happened and its segments increased in number by three additional segments and became twelve-segments on the pole like Wang said earlier... then the red glow quickly moved upwards and lit one segment after another from the bottom.

“Young-master Lin... at what age did you awaken your martial-spirit exactly?” Lai asked suddenly and his question made Tao squint his eyes... because the question just couldn't be chosen at a timing which is any more critical... inwardly the oldest spirit-cultivator sighed because he understands that some habits just don’t... die young! however... these "habits" can make people die much younger.

Wang turned towards the blade-user and glare at this idiotic-bully but... the handsome-man only scowled with a sneer on his face and refused to curse the narrow-mind of this person! since it’s pointless to argue with idiots... he’s just a hopeless case really.

Wei looked towards Lai with a pair of frosty-eyes then turned his head to look at the platform because the red glow has topped the highest-segment on the red-pole and left it fully lit-up... meanwhile another line of orange glow quickly moved towards the second-pole... the fatty felt like he would be wasting his time if he talked with this Lai who just can't seem to be able to really "grow-up" no matter how much all of them diligently tried to correct this behavior of his.

“Quicker than you did... that’s for sure! in fact... I'm sure that, no-one in the recorded-history of this spirit-world is actually faster than me in awakening their martial-spirit.” The boy gave this annoying Lai a side-glance because the intentions of this blade-user are very obvious in the eyes of Lin... especially after that last question. Since having someone like that left unchecked would remain like a grain of sand in the eyes of this great-sage! leaving Lai without teaching him some proper-manners is going to prove troublesome sooner or later for sure... that's why the boy acted arrogantly on purpose when he answered the question... to bait him into one difficult situation which is certainly going to teach this blade-user to learn to be respectful... at least in his presence! not only is this Lai narrow-minded and an intolerable- bully but also vain and shallow like someone who doesn’t even know the weight of the responsibility which is placed on his shoulder and the size of expectations those around him are hoping that he would deliver their group someday which would give meaning to all the patience and self-control that they invested during the years they tolerated this blade-user’s sickening-attitude.

Peng Tao and Wang were surprised by Lin's domineering words which are filled with forcefulness and pride! because unlike when the great-sage acted so calm and collected when speaking about his matters just earlier... right now he’s leering at Liao Lai and aggressively-provoked him in return while giving the blade-user the perfect chance to play the bully’s favorite-game! a game which from the look of it and the exchange between the two of them... Liao Lai seems to be the one who’s going to win. After all... in their group of five spirit-cultivators... Liao Lai has the record of second-best in awakening his martial-spirit after young-master Wei! Tang Wei who 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 three remaining spirit-cultivators in the group which are Peng Tao, Wang Zhang, and Zhang Wang... crossed the mark of five years and awakened their martial-spirits in different days of the first month. Tao has the best-record among the three of them with only two days after five years of waiting the awakening to happen... while Zhang comes in second among the three "late-bloomers" with the record of twenty-three days after five years... finally there’s Wang with twenty-five days after five years! just two days behind his best-friend. However... in the eyes of Tao, Wang, and Wei... the problem isn’t their records! the problem is what Lin said about being the "number-one" individual across history... the kid is a monster indeed but... from the look of it and despite his pure spirit-energy and all that... he must’ve awakened his martial-spirit at least after reaching four and half years... that’s the main reason this idiot "blade for brains" dared to open his mouth in the first place to taunt this little-ancestor.

“Hah. Young-master Lin should stop bragging because... lying is a sin! after all this tool could prove these words of yours.” While faking his shock in the beginning then showing signs of amusement on his expression later and glee within his green-eyes... Lai answered the boy in an exaggerated tone of voice! clearly this blade-user was trying his best to hold himself from smiling while giving Lin an act of being worried while looking towards the black-platform.

“Cut the bullshit you big idiot who can’t even give an act... just answer this if you dare! do you want to bet on it? notice that the orange-pole is almost about to be fully lit already, so... if I were you I would make-up my mind fast, because this is the only opportunity that you’ll get to play silly games with me without suffering much punishment in return. It's very simple, if what I said earlier turns-out to be just a silly lie then I’ll kneel and kowtow to you while I apologizing! I’ll only rise from the ground after you accept my apology but... if what I said is true? then you'll do just the same.” Lin didn't give the others a chance to intervene or speak for his sake because clearly some of them actually think that he's getting carried-away with his words after that childish-taunt from the idiot in their group! the boy told Lai the rules of his bet but... the gaze which the great-sage gave the blade-user afterwards was like he’s looking at nothing other than some ant below his feet... such an infuriating high and mighty attitude when coupled with the condescending-looks from a kid did all the work on a vain person like this Lai... instantly the blade-user lost his fake-attitude and that thin mask of worried-expression which the man had on his face before fell... Lai glared back at Lin with his pair of sharp-looking light-green eyes.

“Young-master Li-” Peng Tao tried to speak to calm the boy but he was surprised when he found that Lin only gave him a sidelong-glance then interrupting him by raising a single finger from his left-hand towards the old man.

“No-one is to butt-in on this matter, I've tolerated this person long enough, if he dares to take this chance in making this... Lin! son of Tai the mighty and Tian the beauty... kneel and kowtow, then at least... he can gain some of my respect, my respect for having the guts and courage to even try and do so, if he doesn't even have that kind of backbone in him? then... maybe he should melt that blade of his and make a hoe from it instead, then that new tool of his to cultivate some land! who knows? maybe after some farming that inborn-vanity and extreme-shallowness would be grinded-down with time... after some effort it might bud us some proper blade-user, someone with sharpness that’s befitting a well-balanced personality, not something like this which is so crooked down the middle... no matter how I look at him, I find myself wanting to throw him in some mental-institution, such a sorry person, such a sorry personality.” Lin snapped at Lai and his tongue lashed-out at the man like a whip which is made from a well-oiled python-skin! Tao, Wei, and Wang... were just extremely shocked by the unexpected harsh-scolding which the boy gave the blade-user but... the thing which made them gasping for breath was how cruel and venomous the words from the great-sage were and superior-attitude and expressions which accompanied each of his words... these facial-expressions and body-language could really make the calmest-sage flare-up in rage! when the words which provoked not only the personality and doubted the courage of the blade-user but also ridiculed his dao got added to the mix they felt how angry their poor bully is... Wang and Tao were already prepared to forcefully block Lai if he dared to do anything... "funny" to this fearless boy.

“Y...yo-” Liao Lai pointed at Lin while reaching his hand and holding the handle of his wide-blade but... the great-sage gave him the same sneer and interrupted the blade-user from talking too.

“You... what? I can beat your sorry ass and leave you bloodied and halfway to a slow death! if I want... and while only using my soul-force to trash your worthless self, I ignored your childish-lines and pitiful-attitude once and again, when I try to give you a taste of your own medicine you just... stammer! then like the stupid and narrow-minded bully which you clearly... are! you can only think about reverting back to violence, a typical-method from a bully to remove embarrassment from affecting their soft-emotions... after their image of being strong on the exterior got slapped a few times over by someone stronger, now they find themselves in the exact same position, like you... who’s faced with someone which you can't beat no matter how many times you wish for it to be true, now what? remember that while you stand there... helpless like an idiot who’s unable to retaliate against me, the yellow-pole is now almost fully lit-up so... either you scram out of my sight right now with your tail between your legs like a coward and avoid plaguing me with your rubbish in the future, because you’ll always remain a coward who can always bully the weak and fear the strong... or bet, win or lose doesn't matter in my eyes I would kneel if I lose and you would do the same if you suffer that fate! at least that way you’ll get the chance to be my equal for once in your life, and I’ll be somewhat able to neglect your existence in my presence in the future while knowing that there's actually some hope left somewhere within you and a chance for someone to straighten-out your crookedness someday in the future.” Lin was whipping Lai with his words in the most satisfactory scolding that Wang has ever heard... meanwhile Lai was at the bursting-point under this onslaught of words from the boy’s mouth.

“Bet then! remember that you’re the one who set the par so high. Humph. The best-record in my spirit-world for the quickest awakening of martial-spirit is... four years, six months, and... seventeen days. It belongs to the junior sect-master of the heart-seeking sect... Dan Pengfei.” After releasing one breath which is filled with hot anger and pure rage... Lai finally spoke when he noticed the yellow glow reach the top of the third-pole then a green line extended towards the fourth-pole.

“Bet it’s. Now... open your blind eyes and look very closely, because you won’t get to see the cyan glow since the fifth-pole is never getting lit-up in this test.” Lin gave Lai a final look which seemed different from the previous ones in a way before giving the blade-user and the others a hint which means that his own record when awakening the martial-spirit is... less than four years! Peng Tao's hawk-eyes became filled with eagerness and anticipation while he watched the glow of green color move in a straight line until it reached the base of the green-pole then one segment after another segment was lit... fourth-segment... ninth-segment, tenth-segment... eleventh-segment! once Lai saw the green glow reach so high on the fourth-pole he became so ecstatic... that’s a chance for him to prove that the words from this boy are nothing but farts of nasty wind... if the green pole is fully lit-up... Wang began to frown in worry for the kid who wouldn’t find Lai tolerating this slip-up even if he indeed awakened his martial-spirit before Dan Pengfei... meanwhile Wei didn't seem to care at all about where, how, why, or when... did Lin awaken his martial-spirit... at all actually! as long as this fatty can perfectly and "honorably" win money with the help of this brother of his... then all is good for him... as for the bet? and Lin scolding Lai to hell and back? the merchant just smiled and extended his greasy sausage-like fingers across the table to pull a chunk of meat then dip it in sauce before throwing it inside his mouth. But... Wei didn’t forget to smile when Sun found-out that he's trying to cheat in their private-competition... again.

The four spirit-cultivators noticed at once that the glow suddenly slowed-down its ascent to a "snail's pace" after reaching the last and twelfth-segment of the fourth-pole! after rising just a tiny bit over one-tenth on the final-segment the glow halted its movement completely.

“Buzz...” The crystal-pole made a buzzing noise then the pole itself became green in color and Wang was—like always—the first one to make a move to check the results... meanwhile Lin didn't remove his hand from the crystal-pole—like he was told just to make sure no-one would question the result later—but he kept looking straight towards Lai and maintained eye-contact with these light-green eyes—Which became filled with disbelief, despair, reluctance, regret, and unwillingness—to express his solid confidence in himself. Wang sucked a long and cold breath after confirming the numbers then after looking towards Lin with pure and absolute admiration... the handsome-man revealed a smirk towards the blade-user before nodding his head towards Peng Tao while doing his absolute best to try and contain these incomparable feelings of excitement! since the formations on this testing-tool would be flawed if the user attempted to manipulate them somehow... after all Lin is... an extraordinary soul-cultivator! someone who has already acquired formidable attainments in that mysterious aspect of cultivation. So... maybe the boy can do that without the four of them even noticing a thing! that's why Peng Tao maintained his calm and remained silent after seeing the result with his own hawk-eyes... the oldest spirit-cultivator on the ship just waited patiently until Zhang Wang confirms the legitimacy of the previous readings directly from the core of the formations on the black-platform... once old Tao witnessed the handsome-man nod while smiling... the experienced cultivator smiled helplessly then looked apathetically at Lai—who doesn’t seem to have accepted this misfortune which he dived-in head-long with his own free will—then turned to back towards his young-master Wei and revealed rare emotions of excitement on his face. If Peng Tao has been thinking of this boy Lin like he’s some sort of precious-treasure before seeing that last result... then afterwards this kid has already proved that he’s like an expansive-vault filled with heavenly-treasures! the boy himself is like a key to others... a key that can open doors which lead to unbelievably prosperous future... a future which is filled with great-chances and countless opportunities... within Tang Wei's narrow-eyes Peng Tao actually caught a glimpse of these glittering-treasures! and from the smile on the face of his young-master Wei... the oldest spirit-cultivator in this small group immediately understood that there’s an opportunity lying-ahead... an opportunity that might allow their five-clans to swim in spirit-resources and possess many treasures.

“Three years, eleven months and... f-four days... c-congratulations young-master Lin! you won the bet.” Wang pressed his right-hand on his heart to calm himself from these intense feelings of agitation but... the handsome-man still stammered slightly while announcing the pleasant result of the most exciting bet... and relished-in the aftereffects of the most stunning surprise in his life. 'I'm actually in the presence of the person who has the best achievement in awakening his martial-spirit... the quickest person ever in fifty-million years! certainly Zhang would be working even harder on his cultivation from now on, I bet he would keep pouting once I drag him with me into these "locations" and complain about the time which he could’ve spent cultivating, hehe. But... I’ve no choice myself when it comes to this issue, I can’t be seen visiting these places on my own! I guess he would just have to bear with me for a while in the future, since I’ve a secret mission of my own... one which I just, don’t dare return without achieving it successfully.' Wang thought while feeling the urge to shake Lin's hand just like Zhang did earlier and directly tell the boy "let's be friends" but... the handsome-man understands that such forthright-attitude does suit the personality of his honest and simple friend! it doesn’t fit well with the personality of someone Wang.

“You can kneel now.” Lin removed his hand from the crystal-pole then walked towards his seat on the table and said that short line without looking at Liao Lai... the boy intentionally left his small back wide open for the blade-user and didn’t expose any sign of being on-guard! but... he doesn’t need to look after his safety since there’s the existence of Ming within his soul-world... that deadly-sin would instantly move them away from danger once the first sign of danger appears from anybody. If this Lai tried to sneak-attack the great-sage in this situation? then Lin wouldn’t intervene to stop his brother from doing anything to this Lai... even if Ming went for the man’s life! before parting way with this group... of course the boy would take the water-pearl with him and pay Wei a visit later in the future to repay for what he took... because so far that fatty didn’t provoke or offend the great-sage.

Tao and Wang noticed how Lin is being careless in the way he’s behaving completely unguarded in front of the loser—who’s shocked into utter silence by the result—and took a few steps forward and closer towards Lai... both men kept every breath of their friend under their piercing eyes and nervously watched the strongest member of their group... very... very closely! if the blade-user attempted to make any sudden movement right now? then there would be no other choice for both of them but... to give it everything they’ve got to stop Lai... no matter the cost! their five-clans could face complete annihilation if something happened to Lin... the irony in this situation is that... not only is Lin currently accepted as a brother by their young-master Wei but also what the boy has behind him. A monstrosity in the realm of soul-keeper—an individual which their five-clans can't afford the price of offending and shouldn’t draw his ire at all—mustn’t be bothered... end of discussion! since Lai is the one who started it and kept provoking Lin like a child... while the boy acted like the grown-up in that weird and uncomfortable situation and repeatedly ignored the blade-user... until finally the great-sage couldn’t tolerate the behavior of their friend and cornered Lai... even they have nothing to say on behalf of their clansman. After all... Lin didn't physically do anything to force Lai into accepting the bet—which had fair terms and terribly unfair condition for the boy to actually win—but... these words from the kid really didn’t leave any room for the blade-user to retreat at all! old Tao sensed that if Lai had backed-off from the bet then most likely he would’ve succumbed to heart-demons... however that hidden-danger is now gone since the man accepted the bet in the end... he only needs to swallow his pride and face the consequences of his actions and... just kneel and kowtow. Both parties agreed previously that this is going to be the fate of the loser but... will Liao Lai—the gang's bully—with his haughty character and ever-conceited personality really do such a thing? the oldest in the group is certain that if Liao Lai backed-off from the deal after already agreeing to it... then that action of naked-cowardliness in front of young-masters Wei and Lin would certainly attract the infection of mental-demons in the future—which is an issue that’s much harder to fix unlike heart-demons—which can’t be removed by making Liao Lai gradually interact with Lin who caused the cracks on the foundations in the first place until the blade-user can normally spar with the boy... all of these issues that might come—depending on Lai’s choice right now—can be avoided straight-away if the man himself could just bring himself to... bend his knees! in a way... heart-demons only affects the person and make its prey fear whoever that caused the demons to be birthed within their hearts... meanwhile mental-demons make their target see the whole world and everything around them from a hostile perspective or... mental-demons would—at least—cloud the reasonable-judgment of its prey the rest of their life—if they couldn’t remove them—which gives these people extreme-difficulty in actually trusting others or differentiating between the meaning of friend and foe. Still... the most venomous-effect of mental-demons is that they not only delay the journey of cultivation for their prey... but also if the issue is left unchecked for a long time then it can affect the dao itself within the prey and aggressively veer them off their correct and most compatible path towards the peak.

Liao Lai was already showing signs of "crookedness" like Lin called him... unlike how blade-users should be... Lai always had this unsatisfied-passion... a passion which birthed so much impatience for the blade-user demonstrate his strength to those around him but... the circumstances of their five-clans are too sensitive which forced the man into keeping his head down and burying these expectations—which Lai always had of himself—this self-disappointment kept festering within his belly which led to this embarrassment. Since a blade isn't a sword then if a blade-strike misses its target the user needs to link the next slash as fluid as and as quick a possible or their weakness will show to the enemy—since a gap in their actions would give the enemy an opportunity to deliver the punishment—meanwhile the sword is different it’s a weapon which has two sharp-edges which allow faster recovery-time from its user once a strike misses! Lai understands that he missed his first strike—which he verbally aimed—at Lin but... now here he’s passively standing there like a fool and staring at the boy who walked away calmly without giving his opponent a single glance after clearly winning the bet just like he said before... these confident steps seemed steady and heavy but... in the eyes of the loser... each time the great-sage stepped on the floor... these pair of small feet crushed and turned Lai's pride and confidence into mush. The blade-user sensed no soul-force coming from Lin's body in this moment at all but... the blade-user felt like there's a pair of eyes which closely peered at the depth of his soul right now... Lai vaguely sensed that he's probably going to lose more than just his life right and here right now if he allowed his emotions to control his actions... these emotions—which he’s experiencing at that moment—screamed at him to sneak-attack the boy now while he’s vulnerable.

'Am I... really that vain and shallow person like he said? clearly he was sure of his win, clearly he cornered me into accepting that bet to embarrass me but... where was my reason when I started arguing with a kid not even half my age? just because he's better than me I wanted to suppress him! where was the confidence in myself? or the confidence in my ability to improve... where did it go? when did I lose sight of myself?' While looking at the small back of this boy Lin—who moved slowly towards the table and took his seat—the blade-user’s brain was chaotically overtaken and dragged into a very crowded location within his mind—a place which caused Lai to think about many things—Liao Lai felt the bitterness of those who lost to opponents which has their eyes set firmly on other opponents that would switch-places with them after they’re out of the picture.

“Ka... crack...” Lai bent his knees and the loud sound of him kneeling instantly grabbed the attention of the crewmates all-over the ship... then the blade-user lowered his head and rammed it by the forehead on the floor which cracked a blank of the wood.

“Huh! what's going on? wasn't this boy who’s called Lin using boss Zhang’s testing-tool?”

“I don't know but... for a while now, the air over there has been tense and serious, almost too heavy and stifling... to me at least”

“Eh! boss Lai is... he's kowtowing.”

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

“Yes it must be true! just look at how boss Tao and Wang are looking at the boy, there’s fire in these eyes.”

While the crewmates watched from afar warily since none of them wants to be scolded by Peng Tao or any of the bosses... silence became the lord of the other part of the ship.

Lin sat almost giving his back towards the kowtowing Liao Lai... Tang Wei looked towards his personal-guard apathetically while silently chewing on his food—Which is rare to happen—Peng Tao nodded inwardly when he saw Lai kneel and kowtow—like he should since he lost after agreeing to the bet—kneeling and kowtowing right now is going to make him feel bad about himself that’s true but... at least he escaped the danger of mental-demons by doing so which makes it the best kind of loss. “Young-master Li-” old Tao tried to speak on behalf of Lai—after all teaching this blade genius of theirs a lesson is one thing and breaking his will is an entirely different matter—But... he was interrupted again by Lin who said : “Senior Tao. When a fly keeps buzzing around me, I don't get angry at it, at all... because the bug itself isn't an intelligent being, like all of us here... and because it’s a creature which is completely driven by its instincts, and is just behaving according to these instincts but... when a sane person goes too far, then they need to understand that the patience of people... isn't unlimited! this time it was me who had to act and mimic a solid wall to stop this man’s reckless and unreasonable behavior... what if I was not only someone who’s narrow-minded like him but also someone who’s even more of a bully? not only could you yourself be hurt right now alongside Zhang, Wang, and Wei—including the idiot himself of course—but also the harm would extend to these crewmates then the harm would extend to their families back home... families which depend-on the support of these people and expect their return. What if I was an extremely narrow-minded individual and decided to target your five-clans? what if I was absolutely narrow-minded and deviously patient and waited until I can uproot your five-clans and remove them from the history of this spirit-world?” Lin was like a machine-gun once he spoke and Peng Tao felt his throat go drier after each word he heard from the boy! even he couldn't find an answer to them despite all of his experience... the oldest spirit-cultivator has seen it before with his own eyes... old Tao has heard of it happen before with his own ears. People of many social-ranks getting killed for reasons which are less offending... families getting tortured for years then wiped-out from history books after a single gaze which some of their juniors gave or an innocent word that they ignorantly spoke... entire clans—which are completely formed from cultivators—getting themselves annihilated for benefit or because of a whim from those who are stronger.

The look that Wang gave Lin became different from his previous looks… because earlier the handsome-man saw Lin as a cute but formidable junior which has a great future ahead of him and a playful character which makes it tricky for others to take advantage of the kid without suffering some losses or learning some tough lessons! now the boy grew bigger in the eyes of Wang... looking at the great-sage made it seem like he’s facing a very tall mountain... a mountain which hides many secrets deep within its body and many more behind it while firmly remaining unaffected by its environment.

“I... I'm... I'm sorry! young-master Lin, you won... I accept my loss.” Liao Lai felt a shudder of fear when he heard these words from Lin... after all the blade-user witnessed and heard of many incidents similar to this situation! just like old Tao.

“First of all. I never needed you to kneel, kowtow, or apologize. What happened here is... a lesson, one that I hope it’s worth learning, a test of your character... had you refused to honor an agreement with me? heh... then I would've left this without hesitation, I'm sure that money-grubber here would've killed you... at least! why? because I was planning on taking something which belongs to him with me, I believe you already know what I’m talking about here. Listen... if a blade is bent beyond limit? then... just break it, save yourself the effort and the trouble of trying to straighten it, save yourself from wasting precious-time while doing so! did you know that some eagles actually suffer from a similar condition? their claws and their beak grow a bit too long... gradually in time their only hunting and protection-tools become hooked in a steeper-angle... until their claws and beak turn into useless and harmless-weapons... completely round and ineffective against the weakest prey on their menu! their round-beak makes it extremely hard for them to eat, their round and twisted-claws makes it hard for these birds to stand normally on a flat surface, perching on trees or mountains become a dream within a dream for them... because a simple breeze would make them fall if they dare to sleep on high territories. Their only available-tool left intact is their... feathers! the survival-tool but... from the lack of nutrition... these feathers become weak and some of them break or fall, gradually these eagles lose their two sets of tools—hunting-tools and survival-tools—now they face a crossroad in their life—which has only two paths—first option these eagles can take is easy... shrivel on some tree or in a crack at some mountain until they drop dead or... find some sturdy rock and repeatedly hit with their round-beak until it break! and grind their claws all the way to the root, they pluck the worn-out and broken feathers on their bodies... after struggling against starving hunger they grow a new cloak of strong and firm feathers which cover their exhausted old bodies, new and sharp-claws sprout on their talons, another beak gradually grow on their heads... do you know what happens next? these birds end-up living long years afterwards which practically amounts to another life. These words of mine can be treated as wind... I don’t care if you do but... these friends of yours, don't need a bully among their ranks... they seem to already have the whole world doing just that to them, so... if you care for them, then protect them from yourself, before you even begin to care about protecting them from others! if you can't do that? then just leave them in their struggle, go forge a path of your own... on your own. That would make them less distracted by your unnecessary troubles and burden... while you on the other hand can become more focused on your own matters.” Lin spoke without turning to face Liao Lai who raised his head from the floor to look towards him... Tang Wei's narrow-eyelids twitched at the corner when he heard the boy admit that he was about to rob him of the water-pearl then the fatty sighed inwardly and felt relief since Lai honored the agreement! old Tao felt his own heart beat much faster than normal within his chest when the great-sage mentioned the story of these eagles... meanwhile Wang kept nodding repeatedly when Lin revealed the fact that Lai has been nothing but a burden on their group... especially ever since Tang Wei began to expand his businesses towards the western-islands.

After pulling him up by the shoulder... Peng Tao gave Liao Lai a moment to think before smiling and kindly patting the shoulders of the blade-user... after all it’s okay to be lively but... when one of them is being reckless then not only could that behavior harm said person himself but also it could bring harm on the rest of them as well.

“Go take a rest... try to get some sleep little-Lai, you can think deep and hard on every word you heard from young-master Lin after you wake-up.” Tao gently smacked Lai—which is the person who has the highest attainment in spirit-cultivation on this ship—on the back of the head once he saw him turn to leave... an action which didn’t offend the man at all because he seemed lost in his thoughts! while passing the crewmates—who were evidently acting like they’re working hard—Liao Lai was about to rattle them a bit—which has become a habit that he used to do just for fun—then the blade-user suddenly remembered the events of this day... which made him stand still for a few seconds apparently lost in his thoughts because Lai was gazing at thin air! after his moment of daze was over... Liao Lai silently left towards the layers below-deck. The crewmates—which has become used to the harassment from this boss since long ago—exchanged puzzled looks with one another while keeping their silence until Lai moved away from the surface of the ship.

“Is this... some kind of a trap?” One crewmate leaned closer and whispered softly in the ear of her friend.

“Shhhh! boss Lai could be just testing us, after all... we did see what happened earlier.” The woman whispered back to her friend then resumed her fake attitude of doing her job and checking the sails for any damage.

Liao Lai heard the crewmates talking behind his back—like always—previously the blade-user would snicker to himself and think "how weak and dumb these people are" because... the blade-user could kill them all if he wants! none of his friends would seriously blame him if he did... these people are only mortals in the end while he’s a spirit-cultivator from the main-clan... these crewmates are from the side-branches of the five-clans... mortals who has no worth in the eyes of cultivators like him. But... Lin did show Liao Lai what his "true worth" actually is in the eyes of others... what his character amounts to in the eyes of others... the boy was like someone who cruelly held a large mirror in the face of the blade-user... a mirror which can reflect the truth! then forced Lai to take a long and close look at himself in that mirror... the man witnessed how his friends... people which he grew-up with... people which he kicked their butts back in the days when they were juniors... people which he argued with... people which he fought with... people which he idolized... people which he protected and people which bled after protecting him. Yet... Lai saw them all unknowingly agreeing with each word the boy said... even the blade-user couldn't refute them once. While walking towards his room... Lai was met with the sight of Zhang who’s famous for carelessly leaving the door of his room wide-open whenever he cultivated... like always! the scene of this simpleton sitting there in the cross-legged position directly on the floor and meditating... is a clear sign of trust from the strong man towards his travelling-companions. Liao Lai just couldn't do the same... despite being with his friends... even back in his Liao clan! the blade-user would always close his door and activate the protective-formations before he begins his cultivation... just to prevent others from affecting the calm of his meditation. 'Do I differ that much from Zhang? that simpleton! is that why Lin was quick to befriend him?' After shaking his head to remove these thoughts... Liao Lai left silently after extending a hand to pull the door of Zhang's room and close it shut! once he entered his room... the blade-user was about to close his door and activate the formation—just like he's used to do—then his hand stopped right before it could reach the doorknob... and Lai discovered that his fingers are shivering and his hand is shaking for the first time of his life—unlike how steady they always have been—it felt like there’s an invisible-barrier that his body itself is refusing enter. “Sigh...” Suddenly letting-out one heavy sigh which felt like mountains’ worth of burden off of his chest... Lai sat-down then placed his wide-blade to the side before leaning his back on his soft bed—which he doesn’t use much—then kept staring towards the ceiling of his room.

......

After Lai left.

Wang and Tao moved and took their seats on on the same table with Lin and Wei but... unlike before... the air just wasn't cheerful like it was before when Lin had just arrived.

“Brother Lin... just how could you?” Suddenly Wei's voice broke the silence... it sounded like a grumbling housewife who’s complaining about being abandoned by her husband.

Wang smiled when he remembered how Lin blatantly mentioned stealing Wei's water-pearl—which Wang and Zhang had to act as bait and risk their lives to attract the aquatic-beast—which is the creature that guarded the camouflage clam—it away until old Tao successfully took the pearl from the harmless-clam—seeing Lin smile after hearing these words from Wei caused Wang to become confused about the reason behind the boy’s smile! meanwhile Tao felt like there's something behind that smile on Lin’s cute face... it’s confidence! the confidence of someone who’s in control of everything around him.

“Now that I remember... grandpa Ming did give me some "gifts" maybe I should... just keep them!” Lin drummed the fingers of one hand on the table lazily while supporting his chin with the other hand.

“Brother Lin! are you not afraid that I might report this naughty behavior of yours to senior Ming? h-hurry up now... show me, or I’ll 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... despite how rough these words from the fatty might seem he was in fact already kneeling next to the boy’s chair! and almost begging with these narrow-eyes of his.

“You're a merchant who understand that benefits takes first priority... especially the long-term ones.” Lin said that then waved his arm and the wooden-boxes which are filled with spirit-coins and spirit-crystals appeared then the weapons and armors appeared to the side... the boy only kept the tools related to alchemy and the three-legged bronze-cauldron, the medicinal-ingredients, the body of the fire-eating dark-lizard, and the spirit jades which contain the comprehensions of Weisheng the previous owner of this space-ring! Wei's narrow-eyes opened wide and resembled two bright-torches in the dark... the fatty jumped towards the nearest wooden-box and opened it only to be stunned when he found that box filled to the brim with high-grade spirit-crystals... After jumping in joy—which made his fat wiggle in a strange and awkward dance—Wei quickly stored that wooden-box into the safety of being inside one of the many storage-items on his body! all of these pieces of jewelry on his arms and legs aren't there just for the extravagance of it... after all every single one of them is storage-item of varying capacity and rankings among storage-items of the spirit-rank. Wang became interested in a pair of leather boots and took them then quickly branded them with his ice-energy but... when the handsome-man attempted to extend his arm towards a pair of metal-greaves—which are padded with some greenish leather in the interior—that he sensed strong wind-energy being emitted from them... he found old Tao snatching them with a straight expression on his face! Wei began to panic when he witnessed how Wang and Tao naturally took what they wanted from these spirit-tools... a scary scene for the fatty who quickened his movement between these valuable items and stored them one by one inside the space-tools—which are mostly filled with merchandize after a long journey—that’s why Wei only stored the most valuable items after inspecting their value with his keen merchant-eyes.

Lin kept tickling Sun's belly and watched the three spirit-cultivators rummage through his things... it isn't even close to a fair exchange between this stuff and the water-pearl! after all... the water-pearl is worth more than a hundred-times the worth of these wooden-boxes—which are filled with coins—that’s of quite a sum in value... while these spirit-crystals of the high-grade are valuable indeed but the count of boxes is few if compared to the wooden-boxes which are filled with coins. The spirit-weapons and equipment are valuable if their level is high and if they’re items needed by the market... what good is there for any spirit-cultivator in having a spirit-tool that they can't use? Wang got a pair of gloves and a pair of boots for himself while old Tao took the wind-greaves and a piece of armor that cover the upper-body for himself... not forgetting about his best-friend Zhang! the handsome-man found a helmet and a pair of shoulder-pauldrons... meanwhile Tao took the only complete set of full-body armor... the old man grabbed the silver-armor and went towards Lai’s room to hand it to the blade-user while shaking his head at how quick their young-master Wei’s reaction was... because before these two got to snatch anymore—of his stuff—Wei had taken inventory of the gifts Lin gave and glared towards them like a lioness who’s protecting her cubs! of course the merchant is angry because he already noticed that every spirit-item that Wang and Tao took... is a level-five spirit-tool or... higher! which is much to Wei's frustration because only those in the tyrant-realm get to use these tools without difficulty... grandmaster-realm cultivators can use these spirit-items while suffering from the high demand of energy-consumption... master-realm cultivators would burn-out their energy-tank very... very quickly if they used a spirit-item of that level! meanwhile those in the disciple-realm would have to sacrifice some of their cultivation to activate the tool itself... especially the set of silver-armor—which Tao took for Lai—it’s at least a level-six spirit-item... not to mention that it’s a set! a complete full-body armor that’s specifically made for spirit-cultivators who use the element of earth... just thinking about how much money he could've made by selling these spirit-items—which these bullies took from him—made Wei grunt in annoyance while thinking 'If only had I been a bit faster.' then the fatty pouted his thick-lips and kicked at thin-air.

However... when Wei sat next to Lin his wide-smile appeared once again and he hid his current mood very well while in the presence of his brother.

“My dear brother Lin. senior Ming really is... generous! such precious gifts for me and my people on-top of us enjoying your company, does make me blush in shame... indeed we're a tiny clan, currently weak and poor, only the help from the Wang, Zhang, Liao, and Peng clans keeps us "Tangs’" from falling... without them my Tang clan would’ve been left in ruin long ago. If it wasn't for the location of the city which my ancestor choose for the headquarters of the Tang clan... where the city itself is being located between two empires which their rulers have very friendly-connections with my great-grandfather since their junior years then... I fear my clan would've been no more centuries 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 during our times of hardship and need, it could've been much worse than that if it wasn't for old Tao who sacrificed his cultivation to stop the schemes of our enemies from reaching full-completion by rescuing my big brother, I don’t mean to rant for no reason... it’s just that... the road ahead won't be easy for any of us at all, despite my great-grandfather being gravely wounded in his soul-source, despite being proven by many experts... our enemies never relaxed their vigilance... yet! they made sure to keep our five-clans closely under their scrutinizing eyes. Currently we’re moving undercover and disguising our identities behind fake ones. So... are you prepared? being with us might get you subjected to harassment... or offended by people who doesn't know your true identity, just because you're with us.” Tang Wei said to Lin and waited for him to give him his answer.

“If I say that I'm not prepared... would you return the gifts that grandpa Ming left for you and your men?” While smiling... Lin drummed the surface of the table and asked.

“Hell no! this fatty would be a sinner and a failure of a merchant if I return the gift, so... like it or not, you're stuck with me from now on. Brother Lin. Like it or not, you're going to eat from the same plate with me, you’re going to taste the same bitter fruit which I've been tasting since I was born. Humph!” While slapping Lin's back and glaring at him just like how the fatty glared at Wang and Tao earlier... the merchant said then got up from his chair to "seclude himself within his room" just to count this fortune which just fell in his lap... privately! after all... the plans which Wei has been formulating needs to be changed... because earlier the fatty was planning to start small then grow bigger while maintaining care because his liquid assets were limited and the freedom he has when redirecting the clan-funds is restricted according to the needs of many within the five-clans... but now this merchant has got his hands on the funding which he hoped to get... Tang Wei only needs to perfect his plans and make the right moves when the time is right.