《Rising of the divine stone cultivation tablet》 3 New Discovery And Betrayal I woke up from a sharp pain, making it unimaginably painful in my chest, the stormy clouds pouring heavily on my body, washing away the blood. I was furious, I muttered to myself, "Why?... why does it have to be me? I was a peerless genius! Now, I''m nothing¡­" "Fang mo!" yelled a disciple from the golden divinity sect. "I heard you were joining our sect soon! That''s incredible!" "Yeah, I guess it is huh?" I replied. "I guess my goal is to make it to the top of the inner disciples?" "Haha! Knowing you, you can probably do it in a month!" He laughed. "We''ll have to wait and see!" I yelled as I ran off to get administered. As I ran towards the sect I couldn''t help but feel excited, after lots of effort, and sheer will I made it into the highest grade sect the golden divinity sect! as soon as I made it there I believed that there was no way that I wouldn''t be recruited, due to being an unparalleled genius with no rival. After a few people registered it was my turn to enter. "Hello! I''m here to register to try to get into the golden divinity sect" I said in a polite manner. "Ugh, another nobody¡­ name please?" the lady said rudely. "Oh it''s fang mo" I said holding back my rage of being called a nobody. "okay so fang mo- FANG MO?!? I''m sorry young master I didn''t know it was you! I was careless please enter!" the lady quickly apologised as she opened the door for me to enter. Slowly but surely the room eventually filled up with its minimum of 100 disciples and they began to start testing our realms. "Alright! We''re going to test your stage and realm! Anyone below qi cultivation is disqualified!" the examiner announced. "What? But the highest anyone has gone is martial master! That''s only two realms above qi cultivation! There''s no way we can do this!" some of the disciples yelled. "Silence!!! It''s your fault if you haven''t tried hard enough to cultivate! If you fail it''s your fault for not having a strong enough will, do you understand!" the examiner yelled to quiet the disciples down. "Yes sir¡­" they muttered. "We''ll start by someone who seems to have the best potential out of all of you! Fang mo! Come here!" he yelled. "Of course!" I yelled feeling excited. As I walked up to the crystal, I concentrated my energy to my fist. BANG! "Peak qi cultivation! Very good! We weren''t planning to share it today, but We also have a brand-new discovery that has been made! It''s the discovery of bone frames and martial spirits! After awakening these it will help you cultivate even faster!" the examiner explained. "What? You''re saying will power isn''t all we need to cultivate?" I asked, confused. "That''s what the new discovery states!" the examiner exclaimed looking at me as if I''m a diamond in the making, "Walk onto the plate and it will display the information on your bone frame and martial spirit! Thus awakening your inept power." I walked onto the plate and light completely surrounded me, it glowed for a minute and than finally stopped. When I walked out the machine everyone was looking at me, shocked. "Did I do too good?" I thought to myself as I turned to look at the scores. Analysed results: Bone frame: zero star morphed frame Martial spirit: light spirit first grade yellow ranked End result: failure "W-what! How is this possible! I''m supposed to be an unbeatable genius! I have made it this far without this spirit and bone frame! I can still go further!" I yelled, Everyone began laughing as my scores were pathetic mocking me about being an "unparalleled and unbeatable genius". "Enough!!" yelled the examiner, "Fang mo, I truly apologise, but we can''t allow someone labelled as a failure into the golden divinity sect, you''ll have to find somewhere else¡­" "What? You''re not letting me join? I passed? Didn''t I?" I said on the verge of exploding. "I''m truly sorry¡­" he muttered, "Good bye" "THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS" I yelled as I ran out the door back to my house on the other side of town. "How did it go young master?" The head mistress asked. "Apparently I''m trash¡­" I muttered. The head mistress glared at me "Trash?" "They discovered a way to make cultivation easier, things called bone frames and martial spirits, but I woke up a zero star bone frame and the weakest possible spirit, a first grade yellow ranked¡­" I said quietly yet with filled with rage, "After they discovered that I was labelled a failure and denied entry into the sect..." The head mistress'' glare intensified as though happy after hearing the results "Would you like me to make you some herbal medicine?" she leered. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Sure¡­" I muttered as I walked towards my room.. The head mistress glared and smiled sneakily as she entered my room with the herbal medicine "here you are young master, this time I added a secret ingredient to help you let everything go¡­" she whispered as she walked off "as well as your life¡­" I downed the entire herbal medicine and began cultivating. CRACK! I felt my bones cracking and my cultivation being removed as if my spirit was broken in half I cradled myself on the floor as my vision went blurry the last thing I saw was the head mistress laughing at me as I finally fainted. I woke up due to a sharp pain in my chest on a stormy cliff. "why¡­ why gods! Why must you ruin my life like this! I hate you! I curse you all!!!" FLASH! Lightning struck the edge of the mountain and it started to crumble, I slowly tried to crawl away but it was too late, I fell, deep into the ravine that was below, with the only thought in my head being as simple as "So this is what I get in return?" As I woke up from the fall, in a wet damp area, I looked up and I saw it, a strange item emanating light in this dark shadowy ravine, glowing in the small light reaching down, as if an ancient stone artifact older than the gods themselves. 4 The strange stone table I glared at the stone artifact as though it was bringing me towards it, emanating an energy I''ve never felt before. As I crawled towards it, I made out it''s shape to be about 2 inches thick, and about 2 feet tall and a foot wide, it had strange encryptions on it only drawing me towards it to discover more, as I crawled, more and more, I felt warmer, as if the pain was fleeting and my body was healing. Finally as I was crawling for a couple minutes, I reached the tablet, all the energy came to a halt, as I was confused, I went to touch the strange tablet and than, at instant contact there was a large reaction. BOOM! A sudden light exploded from the tablet and out the ravine, lighting up the night sky in a pure white colour disappearing a few seconds after it appeared. When I opened my eyes, the stone tablet was gone, confused, I summoned my broken light spirit to at least be able to see the area, although when I did, there was a strong ray of light , far stronger than a light spirit should give off, I turned behind me to see what was there and I was astonished. "The tablet became my martial spirit? And my wounds? They''re¡­ fine now?" I was confused, how could something this ancient be able to become my martial spirit? Where did it come from? What benefit do I gain from this? All these questions were useless for now, so I got up as my body was healed and I was good to go. Although as soon as I got up my head was filled With a piercing pain, and memories I never had came flooding into my head, knowledge I never knew existed, strange plant and their uses, even realms stronger than a martial master, but most importantly, how to Strengthen a bone frame and spirit. After I woke up, everything felt different, I felt taller, and my hair that was once brown has turned black, and it grew longer than at my shoulders. "What happened? Why am I so different?" I wondered to myself. "That''s because it''s been 100 years, your dantian and bone frame were shattered I had to heal you with the little power I have awakened from you" a voice randomly rattled inside my head. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Wh-Who are you???" I shouted. "I am the divine cultivation stone, I cannot say much, but I shall show you where some rare artifacts are in a certain area, awaken me once you have completed them¡­" the stone said as its voice slowly fleeted away. "Wait!! Come back! Why me! Why has no one found you yet!!!" I shouted. The voice did not reply, but an area on the stone lit up, flustered, I examined the stone and saw that it was the golden divine continent, and it lit up the northernmost country which was covered in different coloured dots, right next to the country I''m in. "how did it mimic the landscape?" I asked myself as it slowly vanished away. "Oh well, might as well find an exit since I''m healed" After a few hours of roaming I decided to look through the memories I''ve gained, most of them were about how to handle herbs and what their uses and attributes are, but there were three things that really stood out to me, upgrading the bone frames and martial spirit, but there was one thing I found truly unique, runes, they were shown as something that can be protective, an enhancement or even used as a barrier. I spent most of my time studying these runes and spent a little on studying bone frames and martial spirit, with runes I discovered that I need different herbs and a soul brush, which can transfer energy into the ink made from herbs to make an effective rune, meanwhile I discovered specific fruits and items that can actually be absorbed to upgrade both bone frames and spirits at the same time. After another hour of searching I finally found and exit, it was an extremely steep hill with a rocky surface, hard to climb for someone who lost their cultivation. I decided it would be good to at least reach body building 1st stage before I begin climbing. I sat down an began to meditate a technique I learnt from the stone tablet called the seven essence absorption technique which gets stronger the more essence absorbed such as the essence of the sun and moon. After a few hours, my dantian finally had a reaction, and I achieved body building 1st layer. "what? But the last time I tried it took a whole day! This technique is truly amazing!" I exclaimed as I began to climb out of the ravine. The ravine was at least a hundred metres deep and took an hour to climb. As soon as I made it out, it just became dawn, the resonating sun slowly lighting the world. Suddenly my dantian started shaking, I absorbed the essence of the sun? "How is this possible? I thought I had to practice for a long time to absorb this, I just had to wait till dawn? All of these essences are supposed to double the speed needed to cultivate! Does that mean as soon as it''s dusk, I''ll get moon essence?" I wondered. "Ah well, I guess I''ll go try and find the city" As I climbed to the top of the mountain and scouted out a city, I noticed that the city was¡­ enormous, it grew almost 10 times the size in only 100 years! Cultivation shouldn''t be able to do that so quickly! How far has cultivation truly evolved in the time I was healing? I checked on the memories from the stone to see if there was any information how the world has evolved. "1000 years of effort into 100?" I was shocked. There has never been anything like this! 5 A new civilisation There hasn''t been an increase like this ever! Confused I ran down into the city to see if there was anything interesting. Whilst heading there, I didn''t encounter a single beast, which seemed to be off, although I ignored it as I''m too weak to fight anything right now and I continued onward. After a half day''s travel, I finally made it to the city, I saw buildings almost twice as high as what the golden divinity sect was, there were buildings lined with gold and it was no longer a rustic style, everything was clean and looked futuristic, the market now filled with materials for cultivation whilst it used to just have food and clothing. "This is¡­ amazing!" I exclaimed, after looking at each and every stall. "You new here buddy?" a stranger asked as he touched my shoulder " you must be here for the spirit awakening huh? Well say no more! Come follow me!" "Oh¡­ okay?" I said, knowing that I''m going to be laughed at while tested On the way there, I saw almost no one living on the streets, I felt a sense of happiness because the city I knew had most of its population on the streets or in the slums. "We''re here! Have fun getting tested! You''ll be accepted as a proper cultivator if you have a bone frame" the young man said as he walked off "Thanks for the advice!" I shouted as he slowly faded into the distance I walked to the front to sign up for the test as it looks like the machines are more advanced and can make better scans. "Can I please have you name sir?" asked the lady at the sign ups. "Ah, it''s fang mo!" I announced proudly. "You mean like that failure who committed suicide? Haha! Your parents must have hated you for being born with a name like that!" the lady mocked as she wrote down my name. "Yeah¡­ haha" I laughed, holding back the urge to punch her. I went to step in line and decided that I wouldn''t provoke anyone as they all could probably beat me in a second. After an exceedingly long time in the line of almost 300 people, it was finally my turn. "Next up, fang mo! Please step on the plate!" said the man who seemed to be the examiner "Haha! You hear that? His name''s fang mo!!" I heard people mock me as I went up on the plate. -scanning¡­ please stay still¡­ scan complete- -scan analysis- Bone frame: one star morphed frame (normal star) Martial spirit: @%??¡Ò*¡Ý¡Ì?¡ê# - 3rd grade yellow tier mimic spirit (rare) End result: minimal acceptance Maximum estimated cultivation: peak martial warrior "What? I thought I had no bone frame? And how come I have a second spirit?" I thought to myself stunned by theses results. "It''s because I healed you" the stone than echoed in my voice "You''re awake! Does this mean you can help me?" I said to the stone thankful by the fact that I''m not alone. "Don''t get ahead of yourself kid, I''m only awake for so long, after you''ve reached peak body building, start focusing on your blood, bone, marrow, muscle and skin, it will allow you to awaken the secret perfection stage of body building, making you as strong as a peak qi collection stage person. After you''ve achieved this I need you go follow the dots I''ve shown you, they''ll help your cultivation far more than anything here. I have to sleep now, good luck!" the stone ranted as it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared "A secret body building realm?" I questioned, how could there be something I didn''t learn through the stone? Has its memory decayed? After further investigation I discovered that it was because there was too much for me to memorise, so it came with the same areas that I acquired as I lit up the northernmost country. "You''re qualified to enter a basic sect, choose between sky peak, blade mountain, and the flowing forms sect, as they have all accepted to allow you to enter" the examiner told me whilst pointing to three individuals that looked extremely high class. I decided that If I had to choose, I''d judge by the leader''s strength so I decided to try out a technique I got from the stone tablet, the ability to scan bone frame ranks from a certain distance. My eyes lit up with a purple sheen and their bones instantly appeared before me, the specific way to identify what bone frame there is a number of plain or coloured dots on the collar bone. Their bones frames from left to right were 3-star bronze frame, 2-star silver frame, and 5-star bronze frame. The choice was obvious, the blade mountain sect was clearly the best option so of course. "I choose blade mountain sect!" I announced with a clear certainty. "Blade mountain sect it is!" announced the examiner for the last time as the sect leader felt proud. "Ehem!" the sect leader cleared his throat. "our sect is on the western side of town, right near the cultivators market, I hope to see you at the sect by the end of the day to get your badge and housing unit" "Thank you, sect master!" I bowed as I soon quickly left to the direction west of the awakening area towards the cultivation market. After wandering for half an hour I finally made it to the cultivation market and saw the blade mountain sect. It was twice as large as the golden divinity sect and looked even fancier! The peaks merging together at the top and the point reaching the height of a small mountain! "This is.. incredible!" I shouted as I ran through the gates to the registration area. "Name." a man asked bluntly. "Fang mo¡­" I said, expecting to be mocked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The man mocked "Ha! Fang mo¡­ ah you''re right here, here is your badge and your housing complex number, welcome to the sect!" 6 The blade mountain sec The sect was astonishing, more than anything I could have ever believed, and it was only a basic sect! how large would the best sect in the continent be? I decided to head to my housing as I need an area to cultivate in quiet, although sadly it''s already been dusk, so I can''t absorb the essence of the moon. After I reached my complex, it was about as big as a basic house you''d find on the way here, which had me stunned as just because I''m a cultivator I can get a house? The benefits have increased massively in 100 years! I sat down and began to cultivate. "I''ll get at least body building 3rd layer!" I encouraged myself as I sat down and began circulation. Hours passed by, one hour, two hours, five hours, ten hours, Until eventually it was midday. The sun was shining brightly on a hot summer day, a soft wind swept across my face as I stopped cultivating, although, when I got up I was given a pleasant surprise. "What? I''ve gotten the 4th layer already? I thought I accounted for the speed increase?" I muttered to myself as I soon left to find a way to earn money, as I am currently broke. "New quests are in! picking magical herbs for a healing pill! It pays a low-level spirit stone per bundle!" shouted a random man "Spirit stone? Those are worth at least twenty gold coins! And with the stone tablet, I can find many herbs!" I thought to myself, excited for what was going to begin. "I''ll take the quest!" I shouted out as clearly as possible. "Hmmm¡­ do you think you can do it? You seem to be rather weak" the man said. "Oh well, everyone has to take a chance, you can find them in the forest north of here, where the giant ravine is" "Thank you very much!" I said as I walked towards the entrance to the sect. I had to try and figure out what the dots meant on the tablet, and if they are herb specific or beast specific, I decided to just go to the closest dot and pray, the dot was white in colour so I didn''t think there would be much there. The dot seemed to be about 2 hours away, but I can make it there in only an hour since I''ve upped my cultivation to the 4th layer. On the way there, I saw a few patches of the herbs and picked them along the way, not the highest quality, but still at least 10 spirit stones worth of them. After the hour and a half due to spending some time picking additional herbs I finally made it to the dot on the map. "What??? There''s¡­ herbs everywhere here!!!" I was stunned, thinking that it was only white so that it wouldn''t allow me to gain much since it''s only at my difficulty, but there are at least thousands of bundles worth! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I absorbed them into my spirit ring which can now be seen as an ancient artifact, probably far smaller than any ring that has been made these days, after picking all the stalks their was a few additional herbs that came into my eyes. There were high quality herbs that could be used to make the ink used for runes! I made sure to seclude those herbs from the healing pill herbs and decided to go to the next closest dot, expecting many herbs from this black dot, and the distance was only half an hour away! After a little bit of exploring I felt a strong energy surging from a cave. "This must be it! I shouted enthusiastically as I ran into the cave. Big mistake. ROOARRR!!!! A massive roar echoed as I felt saliva fling onto my body from this ten-metre tall beast. "It''s.. a peak rank 5 beast!!!" I said scared out of my boots. The beast roared once more, intimidating me as I took a step back. "Ooohh shit¡­" I muttered as I sprinted out of the cave "RUUUUUUUNNN!!!!!" I sprinted faster than I''ve ever ran in my life, the rush of being chased by a beast far stronger than you only tells you to get stronger, if it doesn''t kill you, you''ll only get stronger! The way of cultivation is a long and painstaking road, leaving no room for true love or friendships! After a good five hours of running around, the beast finally gave up and returned to it''s lair. "Phew!!! That was¡­ very tiring!" I barely got out as I gasped for air, feeling as if I''ll collapse at any time, I searched for a tree with a stable branch and sat down to rest and cultivate. Sitting there for a few hours I reached the 5th layer and felt full of stamina again. As I sprinted back to town, I picked up five more bundles and then made it back to the city. After an hour of running, I was finally back to the sect with the bundles of herbs and quickly ran towards the mission area. I looked around for the turn in area but I couldn''t find it. "Looking to get a quest?" a man asked. "Oh, I''m turning one in, do you know where to find the area?" I asked the senior. "Oh? Turning in so soon?" he asked "didn''t you just join?" "Ah yes, I accepted an herb searching mission so it was pretty easy!" I replied. "Oh okay, well you can find the mission turn in on the hill up top, it''s less crowded there so it''s easier to gain your reward" he told me as he pointed towards a faraway hill top. "Thank you very much" I exclaimed as I ran towards it and prayed that they would have enough space for my herbs. "I''m here to turn in a quest!" I announced as I entered. "Quest please?" the lady asked. "Collecting herbs for a healing pill!" I replied. "Okay, put them on the table¡­" the lady sighed. After she said that, I put the thousand top grade herb bundles on the table. "W-what?!? These are all top quality! We can''t take these, we need the specialist to estimate their value, we''ll be right back!" she exclaimed with a shocked expression. 7 The cultivation chamber When the lady came back, she was with an elderly man, the man was wearing a long battered cloak and looked to be almost a hundred years old. He immediately started to look at the herbs without a second thought. "These are all in pristine quality!" the old man exclaimed. "They are worth no less than 3 low-level spirit stones a bundle!" Everyone in the room was shocked, no one has found such high-quality herbs in years! Just what is my luck? As I was given 3000 low-level crystals, everyone gave me an eerie look. They planned to steal them from me! There was no way I''m going to let that happen! "Can I please rent one of the rooms downstairs in the cultivation chamber?" I asked as I gave a glare backwards to those who wanted to steal from me. "Oh! Are you sure? You know those cultivation chambers are a low-level spirit stone per hour, right?" she questioned "yes! I need to get as strong as possible so I can do even higher-level mission!" I assured her as she than gave me a pass for one of the rooms "it will be automatically billed after an hour, try not to stay in any longer than a week! The charges will double after that!" she told me as I clearly would be losing money if I stayed too long. As I entered the assigned room, I instantly started cultivating the strength of the qi in the air was almost twenty times stronger than outside! I decided that id spend time to work on my foundation so I can climb the ranks as fast as possible later on. After almost five hours of cultivating, similar to 200 hours of cultivation for someone else with my bone frame to do, I perfected my foundation and started to focus on raising my ranks. Days passed by, slowly crawling up the ranks, although it was fast, it was slower then what you would expect for twenty times. After another day, I figured out that ascending the ranks will be harder. On the last day, I finally hit 8th level. "Only a ten hours till it''s been a week!" I thought to myself as time went by so fast. "Kid, I need you to absorb that spirit for me!" the stone suddenly spoke up. "What? What spirit?" I asked confused on why a spirit was being mentioned. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "There is a spirit at least at the earth tier in the middle of this complex! I need you to absorb it for me! It''ll greatly help us for the future! And your spirit can than mimic it!" the stone told me. "alright¡­ do what you must" I said as I sat back down and continued cultivating. At that moment the stone came out and expressed an incredibly strong absorption rate, which instantly sucked up the energy in the entire building slowly but surely, the absorption came to a halt, the qi in the air dropped back down to normal levels and the slight feeling of pressure has been halted. "did¡­ we do it?" I questioned All of a sudden a searing pain in my head started to kick up, my body was burning as I felt like my bones were breaking apart my flesh, after trying to withstand the pain for two hours, I eventually fell unconscious. It was only after a few hours that I woke up, and I immediately noticed the difference. My bone frame was reinforced to a three star! And my spirit became 6th grade yellow rank! "This is, incredible!" I shouted in extreme happiness "Thank you stone!" The stone did not reply, so I assumed it was asleep once more. I immediately left and checked how many spirit stones. I had lost about 170 spirit stones, so it didn''t affect me too much. I decided the best plan was to go to the cultivators market to buy some pills and weaponry. At the market, there was only one weapon store that caught my eyes, it had these extremely old, rusty gauntlets, that clearly had something secret about them. I approached the store for closer analysation. "Excuse me sir! How much are these gauntlets?" I asked the old man. "Take ''em!" he yelled as he clearly didn''t want them. "Please sir, name a price!" I assured him as I clearly wanted to buy them. "Just gimme a silver coin for it!" he shouted angrily. "Take a gold!" I yelled as I ran off with the gauntlets. "Ugh kids these days¡­" the old man sighed. As I ran to my housing complex, I thoroughly investigated the gauntlets, they seemed as though they required a certain item or material for the secret to be activated. Unknowing of what this item is, I merely removed the rust and polished them as we''ll as I could. The gauntlets shined brightly as the job was done, the metal they were made from was at least a heaven tier material, even after being worn down so badly! After spending a day on the gauntlets, and raising my cultivation, it was finally time to head to the arena! The arena was somewhere that the disciples can fight each other and make bets on battles, the larger the other disciple bets, the larger your bet has to be, the highest bet you can bet would be your life. Disciples would often bet something like ten low-level spirit stones, but some of the rich kids force people to bet their lives using their wealth and position. The arena was a rather cruel place, although however cruel it was, It was just as good as getting resources for cultivation. Although as soon I arrived, I was greeted with a not so friendly greeting, when the round was over, the person in the arena was the guy who wanted to steal my spirit stones! He immediately spotted me and gave another glare. "Fang mo! Come down here and fight me!!!" he yelled all the way from the bottom 9 The mysterious runemaster The profit that could be made from runes was immense, the actual amount spent on each rune is about one low-level spirit stone each, but they can be sold at twenty-five low-level spirit stones at the lowest quality. The runic patterns were rather complicated to study first, but with a three-star bone frame, the comprehension of the runes was far easier than anything before. After a total of a thousand runes were made, it was already dawn, the slight breeze that came in was truly bliss after working all night. After making so many runes, there was only one thing to do, and that was to become a ''wandering runemaster''! Runemasters are highly respected and almost no one would dare to scam them, I put on a slight disguise that morphed my appearance to look older and tone my voice done a bit. The market was crowded, it was the perfect day to start selling items and wares. I immediately searched for an empty spot in the mart and came across a small clearing near the weapons and pill areas. I set down a small rug and immediately started trying to market my runes. "Buy top class basic runes that advance cultivation speed!!! Whoever offers the highest also gets one rune free!!!" I shouted hoping it should line up customers. Soon enough, there were tons of people bidding on what they want to pay for the runes. "I''ll pay a thousand!" "I''ll pay five thousand!!!" Suddenly a loud and noble sounding voiced struck "fifty thousand!!!" the man shouted "any higher bidders?" I asked looking around All of a sudden everyone went quiet. "hmph, I''ll take your entire stock old man!" he ordered, "how many do you have? Ten? A hundred? Money doesn''t matter to me, I''ll just take them, HAHAHAHAHA!" "that''ll be fifty million low-level spirit stones!" I smiled as I wrapped up all the runic talismans "eh?" the man suddenly spouted "you have a thousand runes?!?" "yes! Why? Is it too much?" I asked, "if you want I can give you a small discount?" "n-no¡­ I''ll take them!" the man almost cried "all my money for this month is gone¡­" "heh! Pathetic guy! Thankfully I made a massive profit today!" I thought to myself as he slowly stumbled away Obviously, before I went back, I had to buy more inking herbs as I ran out from all those runes. The ones I had before were merely the herbs to make a basic level rune, but in the store, there are herbs that even have high grade advanced ones! Although the cost was astronomically increased, it was worth it for the long-term investment. Low-grade runic herbs were about five spirit stones each whilst a high-grade runic herb is worth ten thousand each! Although the cost was insanely high, due to the sudden large fortune given to me, I bought a thousand bundles, you never know what could come in handy for the future. On the way back to the housing complex, I kept my ring hidden, as it contained everything special and unique to me, such as the last few items from my time, which is considered to be from an entirely different era. I immediately started cultivating as I needed to reach the perfection stage of body building so I can finally start exploring more of the dots on the stone tablet''s map. The variety of dots on the map were coloured orange, and there were many more colours like green, red and dark red, although one showed up that was rather unique, it was a rainbow patterned dot. There were a few things I figured out about the dots, they weren''t just coloured for no reason, they have meanings, white meant that it was just free treasure, black meant that you definitely shouldn''t go there if you want a reward, whilst green meant low risk, low reward and so on. The ones that were the best to go to would be the white and green dots. The knowledge known from this was merely basic, as the dots may have deeper meanings, some may mean weapons and items, or some may be a large amount of herbs. After around ten hours of cultivation, I finally ranked up again, the speed increase from my upgraded bone frame and spirit was far more than the benefit given in the chamber, around five times of that. It was finally morning and the day where the sect distributes pills to all the disciples! I immediately rushed towards the contribution hall as those who were late lose half of their pills. "Everyone form a line!" yelled the hall leader as everyone immediately did as they were told. "Everyone will get five soul forming pills! Hopefully they will nourish your mind and allow your mind to reach the stage of mental cultivation! You will also receive five body building pills to help expand your foundation and allow you to be stronger than others at your stage!" Everyone got incredibly excited, the pills they used to give out were four each, but now they''re giving out five! The increase was only by one, but that''s an additional twenty-five percent! The cost for either pill was a thousand spirit stones! For the average disciple, they usually only earn five thousand a month! There was a massive uproar as they immediately straightened up once more. After everyone got their pills, they announced the new coming of contribution points. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "ehem!! Contribution points are points you can gain on top of the rewards from the mission board, you can also gain them from challenging others! This is the last month of us giving out pills! That''s why we were so generous! Everyone starts with one point! Every point you gain is worth another pill! You can also save up points for a large reward!" the hall leader announced 10 Update on story, Soul realms and Money value hey! sorry i havent made a chapter in so long! ive been kinda stressed out since everything i had worked ahead on was kinda deleted... but its fine! im back in business and im going to try to get even more chapters out there! i mentioned mental cultivation before and realised that i havent provided any information on it yet, and the same goes with money value. so, here you go! Mental cultivation: the strength of ones soul, enforcing it to resist mind control or direct curse attacks. soul realm: 1-10 Bronze soul realm 1-10 Silver soul realm 1-10 Gold soul realm 1-10 Jade soul realm 1-?? (there will be more i promise) money values: (the average networth of a cultivator is about 10 billion, although all their prices have been largely inflated to the point that $10000 isnt even much to spend on one thing, and with the addition of ancient artifacts and spacial storage rings, i think having this much is reasonable, because im pretty sure you would definitely spend ten billion dollars to be able to store a table into a ring. what im trying to get at is that cultivators are rich, and there is ALOT of monsters, and a fair few have WAY more then one spirit stone, the largest amount of cores in one beast was the ancient crystal beast that had over ten thousand 7th rank high grade spirit cores) (stage 1-3 is considered low, stage 4-6 is mid and 7-10 is high, after rank 10, there is no longer high, mid or low) silver: $10 gold: $100 1st rank low grade spirit stone: $250 1st rank mid grade spirit stone: $500 1st rank high grade spirit stone: $1000 2nd rank low grade spirit stone: $2500 2nd rank mid grade spirit stone: $5000 2nd rank high grade spirit stone: $10000 3rd rank low grade spirit stone: $25000 3rd rank mid grade spirit stone: $50000 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 3rd rank high grade spirit stone: $75000 4th rank low grade spirit stone: $100000 4th rank mid grade spirit stone: $250000 4th rank high grade spirit stone: $500000 (spirit stones evolve into spirit cores at rank 5) 5th rank low grade spirit core: $750000 5th rank mid grade spirit stone: $1000000 5th rank high grade spirit core: $2500000 ill do another value update once he surpasses the martial warrior stage, but im pretty sure you get the drill 11 The Contribution point king! Everyone was shocked at the new system placed, the strong will get far more rewards whilst those who are weak will get close to none, even though the sect thought it was best to train the stronger ones more than those who were weak, there was still a massive outroar, although it was no where near as negative as many would have thought, they were continuously yelling things along the lines of ''this''ll be easy!'' or ''I may be weak, but i''ll try my best!'' These people were the ones most likely to fail. Finally, at the end of the presentation I immediately went into cultivation, there was only two ways to earn contribution points, finding rare treasures, or taking down rank two beasts. The options out of the two were clear on which one was most efficient, taking down beasts would be far more efficient, but at my current level, i would be wiped out, i have to at least enter the peak of body building before I can even attempt to kill a rank two, and the perfection stage would be even better. After an entire night of cultivating, I still wasnt able to reach the tenth stage, the peak of the body building realm. Although extremely close, it was the first barrier in cultivation ive had. Luckily, i remembered all the pills i have acquired through battling and the sect, each bottle contained five pills, which means i have a total of fifty-five body building pills! they will help me break through in no time! I sat down immediately, and downed one entire bottle. The qi in my body was surging, as if it was powered up by ten times its original power, I quickly sent it all down to my dantian and focused harder then i ever had in my life. As the power surge ended, i was only one surge away from ascending to the next stage! "Lets keep going!" I shouted as i downed another bottle. After it was almost night again, i downed all the bottles except one, and finally reached the peak of the tenth stage. "now, its finally time for me to enter the secret realm of body building! I needed to choose on what i needed to reinforce first, between the blood, bone, bone marrow, muscle and the skin. if I used some of the runes I made, the process will triple in speed, allowing me to reach the basic stage in the three areas, it was a hard decision, but focusing on not being breakable was the smartest choice for now, and although blood and bone marrow is the best in the long run, currently what i need is strength. After the night once more, its been over a day since i started cultivating, the strength of my body felt like it had at least doubled, and i felt lighter then i had ever felt before. "So this is what it''s like to enter a secret stage!" I thought to myself jumping around the courtyard. After an hours practice, entering the secret stage seems to have doubled my speed, greatly changing my ability to travel long distances, although i was unable to test my strength, due to the fact that these courtyards are made to take the power of the tenth stage of body building, leaving the only way to test to be an actual fight. I entered the forest and searched for beasts, specifically 2nd rank beasts, all the 1st ranks i came across i avoided, seeing as they were only worth one contribution point per kill. after roughly thirty minutes of searching I finally found one, it seemed to be at the beginning of the second stage, making it perfect to be my first target. I threw a rock at it and it hit the beast dead in the head. The beast turned around, furious, its large stature of almost three metres was incredibly intimidating, especially with its wolf like body and razor sharp claws, ready to pounce. It charged at me at full speed, and we collided mid air. BANG! a loud sound echoed through the forest, and at that moment, the beast fell to the ground. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "wait, it.. it only took one hit?" i was incredibly confused, how could i be able to defeat this beast at the lower level of rank two, and just how strong is this secret cultivation realm! The strength increase seems to double that of the beasts, meaning that I can take down even a mid rank beast with no issues! is there any end to the power of the stone cultivation tablet? And with this, It was a killing frenzy! beasts fell one after another, after finally, a total of twenty beasts were slain. "Its time to turn these in!" 12 An inner disciple! And the Journey of the secret dots! I returned to the sect, and rushed into the newly constructed contribution hall, which honestly amazed me how they''ve managed to build this place in just a little over a day, I slammed open the doors and all noise in the hall came to a halt, everyone turned to stare at me and ended up snickering at me. ''oh! it''s just fang mo'' or ''he probably came to turn in some herbs hehehe'' they mocked as if i was weaker then all of them, thinking that i was ''only at the 8th stage of body building'' whilst most of them were inner disciples. I walked up to the front desk and removed all the corpses from my storage ring. "I''d like to turn these twenty 2nd rank beasts for 200 contribution points!" I asked with a smile. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?" Everyone was shocked, how on earth could an 8th stage brat kill all of those beasts? Did he lie about how high his cultivation was? But that was impossible! his aura was only that of an 8th realm, just how good is this kid? "U-umm, allow me to verify, did you kill these beasts?" The lady at the front desk asked. "Sure did!" I sneered as i turned to see a room full of shocked faces. "here is your card, it has 200 points stored inside, we just need you to forge it with your blood. additionally, you are officially an inner disciple, you can claim your pass and new residence within a week after its been made." the lady told me, still giving me a suspicious look. I pricked my finger and pressed down my thumb against the paper, hence forming a pact and becoming accessible only to me. 200 points was massive, that is 200 pills, and far more then they were expecting the outer disciples would do, so they only set it at a point a pill. Although it''s only one person, it can definitely change the flow of pills and rare materials within the sect. After leaving the contribution hall, I knew that there was one thing I really needed to do the most, and that was to complete the perfection stage of body building. I rushed home quickly and immediately sat myself down to cultivate, this time was extremely important, i used ten runes to increase my flow of qi, and allowing me to absorb at rates 10 times faster then normal. My dantian felt flooded, all the energy flowing in was causing it to feel like bursting, I had to spread it around fast, i quickly focused all of it into my skin, reinforcing it to the peak of perfection. I then focused on my bones, then muscles, blood, and finally my marrow. All of them had finally achieved the peak of perfection, there was nothing that could stand in his way at the academy except core disciples. All of a sudden, my dantian made a sudden burst of qi once more, flooding into my bone frame, increasing it by a star. "Thats.... Thats amazing! I cant believe my bone frame ranked up just from reaching the perfection stage of body building!" I jumped in joy, it was an amazing thing that could happen, there is a very slight chance of your bone frame or spirit increasing by one if you reach the peak of a realm, but it was more likely to gain it when you''re reach the next realm, since you let off a larger burst of energy. "Okay! its time to head out one more time!" I exclaimed I went outside and everyone started to look at me differently, I was a walking money bank, of course everyone either wanted to get close to me or hunt me down. Although the perfection stage is incredibly strong, it''s impossible to be able to defend against martial techniques if I cant solidify my qi. The realm of qi collection and qi building are far easier then the realm of body building, due to the fact that there is less realms and they are easier to ascend from. After reaching the forest once more, which went from an hour to only 15 minutes to get there on foot. The forest was far more quiet then usual, there were no birds chirping, no beasts roaming, it was just the sound of the subtle wind blowing the leav- ROARR!!!!! A massive beast, towering at almost 5 metres tall! suddenly jumped out from my blind spot, nearly ripping my head off with its swift sneak attack. "A peak rank 3 beast? whats it doing here! i''ve only just entered the forest and theres a rank 3??? They should only appear in the deep woods! whats going on here!" I was shocked, i had no clue if i could beat a rank 3 beast, only those who can solidify qi have beaten rank 3''s and only the current ruler has done it before he was able to solidify qi. "Kid! look at the map of the stone! This is one of the dots on it! its only only orange since this is a novice area, but be careful! if its on the map it must have something rare about it, so stay on your toes!" the stone spoke up, although vanishing as soon as he was done. "Stay on my toes, got it!" I jumped around on the trees around the beast, since it was so large and couldn''t climb up. The beast grew infuriated and started to look as if its body was shifting. its rough fur spiked up, and a slight horn grew upon its head, the tiger like appeal completely changing into that of a dark, and rabid beast with its only motive to destroy whats in sight, its eyes growing a crimson red, let out a large burst of energy, causing most of the trees in the area to waver or break, making the fight on even ground. "You wanna go? i''ll take you on and become the first person to ever defeat a rank 3 in body building!" I shouted as i ran directly towards the beast, pulling out my gauntlets from the ring CLASH! A truely loud sound emanated throughout the entire forest, birds from miles away, flew far due to the clash, the beast didn''t go down, it took a proper hit, and its horn cracked, whilst the gauntlets stayed in perfect condition. My fists however, felt as if they were broken, there is no way a rank 3 is this tough! there is something truely odd about it, no wonder its part of the map! After several hours, we were both severely weakened, the clashes against the beast were getting weaker, as we both lost our power and energy, it was down to the final blow. There was only one of us walking out of this alive, as we charged against each other and finally clashed once more. A loud thud echoed once more. "I... I did it!" 13 Spirit bone and the auction house! After that enormous fight with the beast I collapsed, laying there for almost five hours. It was nearly dusk by the time I woke up and i had to act fast, since i was weakened and almost any rank 2 beast could kill me. I quickly put the beast in my ring and before I moved, I saw that my ring was full, it was one of the largest rings from my time, but it was considered rather small in these times, only 25m2 whilst most cultivators normally have 50m2 or even more. I searched for a large tree with a hollowed out area to rest and cultivate for the night, after it is just about to be completely night, I found the perfect tree, at this point, I was completely exhausted, there was no way I could move after I made it up, I immediately set myself down at the top, there was no chance that id be able to move any longer if I didn''t cultivate as soon as i made it. Cultivation was about to be incredibly stressful, the gap between realms is far larger than the stages, and they require almost ten times the qi and effort, and in addition to that a strong will to proceed. After building the perfect foundation, it was far easier for me, but the effort was still tremendous. In the midst of cultivating, I finally acquired the essence of the moon, doubling my cultivation speed once more. reaching the next realm without knowing, I continued cultivating, and the energy of heaven and earth came flooding to the tree, so much that it even disturbed the flow within the forest, the swirling qi could be seen by the beasts, flowing towards the tree tops, the qi from herbs, dead beasts, and rare gems all reached the my location, causing me to eventually, after the entire night, reached the 2nd stage of qi collection. "This is incredible, i never knew cultivating in the forest would be so effective!" I thought to myself "I need to reach the qi cultivation stage so I can finally properly cultivate with my spirit and bone frame" I felt full of energy and couldn''t wait to get my inner disciple residence, the inner disciples supposedly have their own cultivation chamber in their houses, and the higher rank you are, the better chamber you get. The strongest disciple has a cultivation chamber with twenty times the natural qi in the air! Meanwhile the weakest has a mere doubled amount of qi, which is also the amount that ill get. There are 200 inner disciples, and each of them are divided into grades, going from the lowest of the low which is the single striped disciples, and the best of the best, the five gold striped disciples. each rank you go up, the better your resources and cultivation chamber are, single striped disciples get the doubled rooms, whilst the five gold striped disciples get the twenty times area, with an additional increased gravitational zone, reinforced by the laws of space. The journey back from the forest took far less time than normal, only 5 minutes even, my bodies strength was almost the same, but I could feel my qi thickening and almost as if I could see it within me, a bulging core with qi entering and leaving through certain areas. After the return to the sect, I immediately asked for the beast to be butchered, and to leave anything of value to me. Hours passed and the beast was finally butchered, there were two things that intrigued me the most, the beast had ten 3rd rank high grade spirit stones inside of it despite the fact that it was clearly at the lower stages, and the second thing was a spirit bone, it looked strong and sharp and almost as if it was as strong as the wolf before it went berserk. I quickly stashed them away in my ring as it finally had space again and set off for the market, I had far more money then I needed, so I was set on buying materials to aid me in cultivation. The cultivation market was always good, but there was no way that it could provide what I wanted, there is only one place you can go if you really want expensive materials there was only one place to go, the auction house! There are all sorts of rare materials that came in and out of there, high grade pills, weapons, martial arts, you name it! There was no end to what is bought there and no end to the prices. Thankfully, due to the small fortunes i''ve come across, there should be no problem with me getting a technique or two. After walking around the city for several hours, I finally found, the auction house, its a shame that the stone doesn''t know the exact location of things, otherwise everything would be far easier to do. I went to walk in but was stopped at the entrance. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "You need a permit to proceed any further!" one of the guardsmen commanded "What? but I thought inner disciples were able to get in for free?" I was shocked, but realised that i didn''t have my pass on me "How can i prove to you that i''m an inner disciple?" "If you can prove that you''re at least in the qi collection realm, I will accept you to be an inner disciple and let you in, however next time i wont be so lenient" the guardsmen stated I walked up to him and started to circle the qi inside of me, also attracting the rest from the area around us. "Will that suffice?" I asked. "I believe it will, welcome to the auction house!" he bowed as i walked on through It was truly a sight to behold, even though it was such a small city, the auction house was so elegant, the lights flashing and the stage wide and large, I walked to the seat closest to the stage and sat myself down, an auction was just about to begin, almost a hundred more people came in after me, and the light stones then faded out. let the auction begin! 14 Tools for cultivation! and unidentifiable artifacts? The auctioneer entered the stage, his figure was well kept and in no way was he weak, most faces of the people at the auction were hidden, including mine. The people at the auction house loved to see who got what, and follow them around only to strike them down when they were at their most vulnerable point. "Welcome to our north city auction house! Today will be a fairly interesting auction, as we will sell more then just tools for cultivation, and there will be a special surprise at the end" The announcer stated "Be sure to enjoy he show!" The crowd cheered, it was unusual for the auction house to change up their methods, it has always been a place where you can expect the same things, only with more or less materials to buy. The auction begun, and they brought out their first item, it was a small bracelet, made from spiritual jade. "This jade bracelet has a miraculous effect! It can increase your cultivation speed up to three times what it was before! We are placing the starting price at ten thousand 1st grade low level spirit stones!" "Fifteen thousand!" "Twenty thousand!" "Thirty thousand!" The prices were constantly rising, and it seemed as if no one was giving up. After a small while, the prices stood still at a hundred thousand. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Any higher bidders?" The auctioneer waited, "Going once! Going twice!" The crowd stayed quiet. "Sold! To the man in court C!" It was just getting on "now for our next item!" They brought out another tool for cultivation, this one seemed stronger, as if it could do so much more! "Here we have a rather special tool, it seems to be a kind of necklace, but we can not identify it, however we know it''s value is most definitely better then the previous one! Bids start at twenty-five thousand!" The crowd stayed quiet for a while, but one man finally spoke up. "a hundred thousand!" everyone was surprised, even for an unknown item thats supposedly better then the last one, its too much of a gamble to take. The man felt incredibly confident with his choice until the stone spoke up. "kid, you''ve gotta buy that item, it will definitely help you in the future, I cant explain now, but when you make it back you can definitely use this! I''ll only speak up if there are anymore items you can buy." The stone said "got it!" I whispered I stood up, prepared to win this, "two hundred and fifty thousand!" The whole room gasped, to spend this much on an unknown tool was beyond what was expected from anyone, rich or poor. There was no way that they would risk it. I smirked because i knew no one else would dare raise the value anymore. "Going once, going twice..." The tension in the room was high, was I really about to get this? "sold!" It was a miracle, I was expecting that people were about to raise the value, until I realised that they could hunt me down for it afterwards. The auction house was never safe, and thats why so many people are terrified of spending over a hundred thousand on the items. The auction went on and nothing was out of the ordinary, the stone never really spoke only sighed, as though it was embarrassed at the fact that they sold these items at an auction house. It was finally time for the real show to begin, all the beginner''s cultivation tools were sold and it was finally time to pay lots of money, increasing your cultivation speed by three in this era was nothing, top grade artifacts could increase your cultivation by a thousand times, even more depending on the remaining quality. The strongest artifact known in all existence was the azure jade dragon badge, which increased the current cultivation king''s speed by two thousand and forty three times its normal rates. These items will never be anywhere near worth that much, since north city is one of the smallest in the nation, the strongest artifact ever sold here was only fifty times the normal rates. Although it sounds like a lot, many enchanters can easily make a bracelet be five times better then a normal cultivation tool, which is found from ancient ruins, before even my times. The first item they brought out was a set of pills, all were for those in the qi collecting to qi cultivation to rank up once immediately, this sounded like a good deal at first, however this would most definitely ruin someones foundation, due to taking pills instead of slowly building it yourself. My foundation is rather stable, but taking pills wont be safe until I reach the martial warrior stage. It was the same for the second, third, forth, and fifth items. It seems like a pill master brought in a bunch of their products to earn some additional money, since all of them were worth almost five hundred thousand a piece. Finally after thirty minutes, the pills stopped, and it was back on to cultivation tools. "this cultivation tool can multiply your abilities by twenty five times its normal rates! this is an item you do NOT want to miss! as there hasn''t been such a good item in a year!" He continued on " there are three of these items discovered, and one of them are unidentifiable, so they could be the next best seller in this location!" The crowd was excited, they never knew that something this big, believing that it was the surprise that was about to appear. "we are starting these prices at two hundred thousand each! Be careful when you leave this auction house after you have one of these babies!" the auctioneer stated. They sold incredibly well, the first two sold at almost the same value, being placed at a million 1st rank low level spirit stones, until it was finally time for the unidentified tool. "Now! the unidentified tool that we''ve all been waiting for! known for its unique seal and unknown essence, in the shape of a bracelet, the final cultivation tool of the auction!" The auctioneer gladly announced "placing this beauty at a beginning price of five hundred thousand! now bid your hearts out!" the crowd roared and instantly started bidding, the only time you would bid on an unidentified item was if it was the finale, they never leave the worst for last, and never let you down on it. The rising numbers didn''t stop. One million! One and a half million! Three million! Five million! They finally stood still at ten million, until finally the stone spoke up once more. "Kid! you''ve gotta get this artifact no matter the price! look on the map! this is what you need!" The stone said, showing me a mental image of the map. All of a sudden in shock, I called out. "Twenty five million!" The crowd was shocked, they had no clue that somebody would raise the price again, by fifteen million, no less! The north city wasn''t that rich and even those that had lots of money would go to the central city to attend auctions. "Going once! going twice! sold!" I almost screamed with joy, I won the artifact and the unidentifiable artifact before that, it''s a definite win for me in this situation, and my only worries was making it back home before someone steals them. "And now, on to the grand surprise!" Everyone was shocked, that wasn''t the grand surprise before? "Bring them out!" he shouted finally, ten people roped up in chains, wearing torn and ragged grey clothes, their faces smudged and scratched. "slaves?" 15 Slaves and true love? The slaves were all standing there, obediently waiting for their orders, they all had symbols burnt onto their chests, and when one of them disobeyed, they got shocked. The crowd seemed almost excited at this, as though they wanted these people to be sold! They mocked and said something along the lines of "thats what they get!" or "filthy elves!" I was shocked, to think that the elves that come from many nations away, were down here, in north city, what had truely happened in the past hundred years whilst I was gone? It was unknown because the stone only knew information on how to get me to become a better cultivator, or at least thats all it showed me. "These elven slaves are delightful treats, with the majority of them being perfect candidates for combat slaves, you can walk out of here with a body guard already!" The announcer exclaimed "These elven slaves will start at a million each!" The crowd instantly started raising their prices, there were only about ten people here, who had ten million or more, including me, so the chances of buying one were rather high, but what got my attention was not the elves that were made for combat, but the female elf, at the very back. "She''s... so pretty!" I blushed One by one, it was finally that girls turn. "There is something wrong about her..." The stone muttered, "Kid, she''s a catch, but she seems risky, I don''t think its worth it!" "Ten million!" I shouted, ignoring the stones wishes. "I warned you kid... I wont be awake for a few days, don''t do anything reckless, like buying slaves" The stone muttered as it went back into hiding. "Oh, shut up, she can help us, her bone frame is very strong, its a four bronze star, she can cultivate as well, additionally, if she isn''t considered a combat slave, she must have some secret techniques up her sleeve, or something similar of the sorts. "Going once! Going twice! Sold!" The auctioneer let off an unnoticed smile. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I was so excited, I managed to get a helping hand and she was gorgeous as well. The road of cultivation was usually extremely lonesome, but the fact that she was a slave? she couldn''t go against your will or even try to think about it, otherwise they will be shocked. Her seal looked slightly different to the others, it was a darker colour, more likely made from a stronger material. The auction finally ended, And it was time to head home, after wrapping everything up in my ring and grabbing the elf, I was especially cautious due to people knowing that I have such expensive materials on me and even an elven slave. I grabbed her and immediately started running towards the sect. There were two shadows approaching me and I kicked up my speed a notch. It was the final stretch, these men were at least the qi cultivating stage and it was the run for my life. If I wasn''t carrying this elvish slave, then i could have easily outran them, but she hasn''t cultivated for even a second in her life, she seems like she didn''t even know how to sit right, which is probably why she was considered useless I finally reached the gate of the sect, which was a safe zone, if you manage to enter a sect then if you attack someone the payment is your life, unless its an official duel in the arena. Although I was within sect boundaries, I still sprinted towards my residence. You cant be caught if you hide your identity, so most people still break the rules in this case. It felt amazing to be home, even if I was about to leave here in a few days, I felt as if I never wanted to leave, even if I haven''t been here long, it was a comfortable place, it had a practice dojo and everything, there was even a guest room, which was perfect in this certain predicament. I sat the elf down and Immediately checked if she was wounded. She was alright but she was passed out, we could only wait until morning came. Elves are not night creatures, The only things they do during the night are either sleep or cultivate, with the exception of dark elves who are the exact opposite. I sat down to cultivate and forgot everything, my only state of mind was on getting stronger, but it was continuously interrupted by the images of the beautiful elf''s long silky hair, and Beautiful blue eyes, her lips a hot pink and her skin as white as snow. I had to keep on shaking off the thought, but due to the thought I completely forgot to use the cultivation tools from the auction. It was finally morning, and the elf finally woke up from her long slumber. "Are you okay?" I asked politely, "Whats your name?" "Anna.." She replied softly. "Thats a pretty name!" I told her "Sure it is..." she muttered My curiosity couldn''t be held back any longer, "How come you aren''t considered a combat slave?" I asked her, "Did you use some kind of technique? She looked at me, with incredibly shocked look, "How did you know?" "I have a few techniques myself!" I told her. "It''s a family technique, which is passed down through the womens side, allowing them to hide their bone frame and cultivation" She told me, "But how did you manage to get your hands on a technique that can see through even an elf''s skill?" I stayed quiet for a minute, should I tell her about the stone? Will the stone mind if I tell her? I know he said to not do anything reckless but still, she''s my slave! She cant disobey me or anything! I think its only right to tell her. "I have a martial spirit, it used to be some ancient artifact, but it ended up possessing me and helped me out, it gave me memories of all sorts of things and a map to treasure!" I told her, knowing that she would be with me for as long as possible, and never be able to disobey me. After that, Anna let off a hidden eery smile. "Treasure?" "Yeah!" I replied staring deeply into her eyes. Her expression immediately changed, it looked far more, beautiful, as if she was flirting with me. "You know, you''re kinda cute!" she whispered to me. I immediately blushed. "I think i''m in love..." I thought to myself 16 Thank you. (So first off what i''m writing is a thank you but there will be a chapter soon, additionally if you don''t want to read the thank you, there''s a list of improvements right below it. anyways here ya go) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. All I can say is thank you for getting me a rating, for everyone that left a review I really appreciate it, i''m going to do a lot more chapters (hopefully hehe) and write better. apologies for not uploading any chapters in quite a while, i''m a bit pressed with school work so the current stability with updates is a little off, but please do expect that within a week ill hopefully be updating daily, and maybe even more! Additionally, my ink stone was a little bit messed up so I couldn''t write anyways, but its all fixed now and i''m pretty sure everything is up and running. Anyways, here is a list of improvements I wanna do on the story! LIST OF IMPROVEMENTS: - Improve the all around writing quality - Describe the landscapes and beasts better i.e: in the forest - Explain his cultivation more (whoopsies) - Make breakthroughs more detailed and describe the flow of heavens and earth - GIVE PEOPLE NAMES (this is very important, so uh... yeah, fixing that fast, which is also why I made him blow all his money) - Make money more reasonable (he got too rich too fast) - Writing his progress at the end of a chapter (if you''ve read the manga "back from the immortal world", which is also a light novel here, it explains his progress at the end of the chapter, so imma do that too) - Improve his character (so he wont be so clueless, in a kind of sorts) - To not say ''as'' too much (I usually go, "it was a hard battle, as he was a grand total of two realms below the beast." which is just annoying as you keep reading, so imma start using due to, since, caused by, etc.) - Strengthen his bases (I need to make it so that he has the ultimate base, although it wont be too crazy, kind of like Qin nan, from peerless battle spirit, when he starts forming cores, or his martial soul - Finally, To make better endings or keep it the same (all i''ve been doing is cliff hanging you guys, so i''m open to ending suggestions, or should I just keep it the same?) Additionally, a quick question: Do you want me to continue doing update chapters? or are they annoying? Also, I just want to say that there ARE martial skills, or martial techniques (which do you prefer?) and that they are accessible to those who are in the qi cultivation realm, since its ''solidified'' into a visual state. Thanks for reading the chapter and enjoy the next chapter! If you''re reading this when there is no chapter after this, give it an hour after this one, and if not, i''ll be asleep, and i''ll write in the morning (i''m Aussie) 17 A Fake Slave And Betrayal! Anna suddenly jolted up straight, as if she did something she shouldn''t have, it had been a long night, so I assumed she was just exhausted, and paid no mind to it. It was currently extremely late, and I had to cultivate, in order to protect her, and then teach her myself. She looked incredibly soft and delicate, sitting there as I set up a bed for her, although it wasn''t really considered a bed due to it being made from a few blankets and sheets, it was still far comfier than the floor. I sat down and began cultivating, and she immediately laid in bed, she looked exhausted, although she didn''t sleep for almost three hours until finally she fell asleep. I began deep meditation and lost sense of all my surroundings, all I felt was the flow of qi surrounding me, and the hard floor beneath me. The flowing qi coming through, in and out of my dantian, until finally finding its place. Hours passed, all merely spent on improving my base which will soon allow me to rapidly breakthrough after I hit the martial warrior realm. The smell in the air suddenly came back to me, as it was finally morning. And there was several more days until I left he outer disciples area, where I made my first memories of even entering a sect! I needed to cultivate even more, and I sent out Anna to go buy as many qi collecting pills as she can with my remaining five million spirit stones. She left in a hurry, and I immediately sat back down. My base for the qi collection was far too built for my second layer to handle. Even if my body was as strong as a qi cultivation realm, my qi was only just at the beginning, and expanding my base too far could result in negative effects. I hastily changed my focus to upgrading my cultivation, I needed to reach at least the fifth stage of qi collection, the peak, in order to continue expanding my base at the rate I already am. Additionally, these pills are going to help me get an even stronger base! The unknowns of expanding your base was truely a mystery, additionally, was there a secret realm to every layer? I was only told about the body building secret realm, but I don''t know about anything else, how strong could these secret realms possibly be? Many more hours passed, the expanded base aiding in cultivation far more than expected, I easily reached the fifth layer without a hitch. Finally, Anna came back from the market, at almost the most perfect timing she could ever have. "I''ve... I''ve got the pills!" Anna breathed heavily. "Thanks a lot! You can take a break, and just enjoy your time!" I smiled, it was so great seeing Anna being productive, and I couldn''t help but let out a slight blush. I took the pills from the ring I gave her and immediately consumed ten of the many hundreds remaining. The effects were better than I expected, The qi stored inside them was almost twice as much as the qi i absorbed in an hour, which is far more than the average intake. These pills seemed to be high quality pills, and I expected no less then from an elf''s super sharp and keen senses. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I cultivated for another few hours, and eventually consumed all the pills except a few, that could be kept for when Anna reaches the qi collection stage. My base was expanded to the absolute max, it seemed as if it was impossible for me to even attempt to go further, so it was finally time for me to sleep. Cultivators don''t need sleep they can gain the energy they need through cultivation, but the feeling of sleeping is far nicer than sitting there and cultivating, whilst also giving you time to refresh your qi naturally. I went into my bedroom, I was almost surprised at the fact that i''d never even used my bedroom before, the bed was untouched and seemed as if it had collected a little bit of dust. I swept all the dust off and then finally laid down, the comfort the bed gave me was so warm, after not sleeping for over a hundred years, you cant help but tear up a little in the moment. It was a little uncomfortable in the bed since it was only for the outer disciples, although that might be all those years talking instead. I passed out within only thirty minutes, and felt amazing, however that feeling wasn''t staying for long. Sphhhlt! "AAAARGHH!!!" I let out a cry of pain, and looked down, only to see I had been stabbed. "A.....nna?" Anna started mumbling, my head was spinning and I felt that I lost too much blood. "How could you... betray me?" I asked her She started laughing maniacally, "You think that my crest was real? and here i thought it was obvious that it was fake! hahahahaha!" "I.... I only treated you right! why do this, why now!" I yelled truly emptying out my heart. "You said you absorbed your spirit, if I could just get my hands on it then...." Anna paused, "Then i''d become one of the richest women alive!" I looked at her with a strong sense of guilt, if only I listened to the stone! It warned me about her, yet I let my foolish puppy love get in the way! I jumped up, almost screaming from the pain, it seems she bought a poisoned dagger with the extra money, which is why there were only several hundred pills there. I ran behind her, thankfully due to the secret realm, she couldn''t even notice me before I struck. "AAARGRAGAAAARGHHG!!!" She let out a scream, as I pierced her heart with a sword from my ring. "Is it... over?" I asked myself, walking over to her laying corpse. All of a sudden, the poison finally acted up "blarrhggh!" I coughed up blood all over the floor, my vision slowly blurred until finally, I collapsed. 18 A near death experience! And a rare event? The roof was still so rustic, although looking blurred, I was clearly still in my house, laying there, for who knows how long. "Ki!..... id!...." I heard something start to call out to me, "Kid!!" "What.... whats, going on?" I muttered. "Thank god you''re awake, kid!" The stone said, "I Thought the poison might have gone too far!" "Poison...? what?" all of a sudden my memory of that night came back. "where is she." "I''ve put her away for now, she had a cure on her, but it didn''t activate properly, so I had to help with a little bit of my own energy" The stone replied, sounding almost exhausted. "I''m sorry for being so hopeless..." I muttered, looking down, "I promise i''ll listen to you in the future..." I looked at her, only to realise that she wasn''t that pretty, I was confused on why she seemed so attractive before, but instantly assumed that she used some kind of elven spell. "It''s okay kid, something fun came out of it too, normally if there was a body left behind, I would have dissolved it and taken its qi, however, this chicks spirit is abnormal, and would be a good thing for you to absorb." The stone went on, "her bone frame is a good thing to study, it isnt so basic, it seems to have a venomous attribute to it, allowing her to produce poisons, which is most likely what she used to kill you." "What? there was such a bone frame? I cant believe this near death experience would give me such an amazing benefit! if I study it, it''ll be hard for me to not know that bone frames power!" I sat down and instantly started analysing. Analysing bone frames is a hard process, where you have to look deep into the source of that persons energy, and possibly understand it. With the stone, the chances of analysing a bone frame has skyrocketed, with it being a fifty percent chance for a full understanding. Ding! Host has fully analysed the elf''s bone frame, acquired the venom bone frame morph! "Huh?!?" I jumped up in shock, hearing the robotic voice sound echo in my head. "Sorry kid, that must be my old function acting up, i guess some of this normal stone is finally coming off!" The stone said "wait, so is this function for when you''re asleep?" I asked "yeah, it doesn''t have as much knowledge as I do right now, but if I gain back my full power, then it will be just as smart as me!" The stone said, almost too proudly. "Woah... This is going to be a great help for the future!" I replied. "You don''t want to depend to much in it kid, it seems like it''s rusty, and will probably give some false information, so definitely trust my words over its." The stone warned. "Don''t worry, I don''t think I have a reason to not trust your words, after what happened that is..." I murmured. "Look kid, don''t get too down, don''t you remember that you got the venom frame? Cheer up!" The stone continued. "You messed up, maybe you can''t trust people like you used to, but this venom bone frame is incredibly useful, sure it might''ve damaged your cultivation a littl-" "It did WHAT?!?" I yelled. "Your cultivation, it was slightly damaged when you were attacked, she just barely didn''t make you a cripple!" The stone calmed me down as it continued, "Count your blessings kid, before its too late, your fate is extreme! With the luck of being harmed twice yet still recovering, one day you''ll be able to transcend everyone if you keep this up!" "But, how will I transcend others if my cultivation keeps on weakening?" I asked. "your base, you upgraded it to the very maximum of body building, yet now your body has gained a proper taste of absorbing heaven and earths qi, you can enhance it even more!" The stone replied. "Wait, you''re saying i''m back to the body building stage???" I asked, fearing for my efforts to be lost. "sadly, yes, however you are back at the very peak, and enhancing your base will only make you grow faster then ever!" The stone cheered me on, giving me hope, I looked at myself and thought that I really did need this, even after perfecting my foundation before, with such transcending techniques, I still wasn''t going fast enough, even if my spirit was weak, or my bone frame was low quality, i absorbed the essence from the sun and moon, which is four times more than the technique alone, which that itself is four times more powerful then my previous techniques as well. "The proportions just don''t seem to add up!" I muttered to myself, before, even without awakening my spirit or bone frame, my base was far stronger, what could I be missing? But then it hit me, "I''m lacking effort! I''ve been relying on the stone too heavily! No wonder I myself aren''t well built enough!" I sat down and cultivated, the speed was far slower then in the qi collecting realm, but it was more then how it was in the body building stage before, I started to build up the energy inside my body and brought it through to my entire body, the additional qi I had from before could strengthen me far more then anyone would expect, making my base at least five times better than before, completely destroying my previous base from a hundred years ago that was only fifty percent stronger than from now. After the day of enhancing my base, I was finally done, my base went past five times, and made it all the way to ten times what it was before! The power increase in the future would be extreme, even the current rulers base is only half as strong as mine at this stage! "I''ll become the strongest, and me and this stone will ascend and become gods!" I yelled, "Just you wait, world! tomorrow i''ll gain my residence and ill be able to cultivate twice as fast! I''ll pay back what happened to me, through gaining even more strength!" 19 Subtle trust issues, and faster cultivation! Cultivation was going well, after a full nights of cultivating, I finally reached the qi collection stage once more, I felt incredible joy, like I''ve never felt before, I was finally able to bring in qi again, the feeling of it swirling inside of you, it''s so warm, almost like a mothers embrace, a feeling you never want to leave behind, and a feeling I never had before, for a long time. My cultivation, although being treated incredibly delicately, is still double the speed as before, due to my truly perfect base. I stood up and walked to see if I can go get the key to my brand new residence in the inner disciples area. "Have you guys finished maki-" I asked, although I was cut off midway. "ah! Fang mo! We''ve been wondering where you were!" The man at the desk told me. Suddenly, he looked as if he had different motives "y-you were?" I said, with I slight quiver in my voice, starting to break out into a cold sweat. "yeah! We have your key for you, here, enjoy your new residence!" He said, smiling as he waved me off. "y-yeah¡­" I said, walking away. I was confused, I''d never be afraid of someone weaker than me, so why? Why was I so afraid? Suddenly, Anna appeared in my mind, My heart started racing and I sat down at a bench I saw nearby. My heart pounded harder and faster, everything was spinning, and an intense pain, right in the middle of my chest arose, grasping it, panting and sweating heavily, It felt worse than when I was initially stabbed, until suddenly, it just stopped. People stared as they walked by, though kept on going on their way. "Kid, you alright?" The stone asked. "I¡­ I think so, what happened to me?" I asked, my voice still shaky. "You seem to have developed trust issues, I don''t think it''s safe for you to hang around with many people for a long time, although I guess that will help you in the long run" The stone said. "How, can this help me?" I said, almost aggressively, "I can''t have anyone to rely on, and this will help me???" "Sadly, it will, the less relations you make here, the easier it will be for you to ascend without a hitch, conflicting emotions about staying or leaving could very well tear you apart!" It explained. "So you''re saying this trauma is a good thing?" I asked. "In a sense." It replied. "God¡­" I sighed as I sat back and covered my eyes as I looked up, "I mean, at least I''m alive, heh¡­" "Yeah, at least you''re alive." The stone replied. I sighed as I got up, "Anyways, let''s go to my new residence, we should work on growing in strength, and reaching the qi cultivation realm, so I can truly utilise you as my spirit!" I jumped back into my usual attitude and ran towards my residence, marked on the key handed to me. When I made it to my residence, I was shocked, to think that it would be so large! A hundred years ago, I was known as an orphan who was the strongest, and was given everything, but this was slightly larger than my house before! It had golden edges, although only made to look like that, it was a true beauty, and it was mine. But it''s elegancy wasn''t what I was after, it was the cultivation chamber, even though it wasn''t as good as the paid chamber, it''s far better than sitting in your residence, and after a period, it just gets more and more expensive, meaning that inner disciples don''t have to waste their money, and also get to grow far more. I ran down to the chamber and before I started cultivating, I realised that at the centre of each of the walls was a pattern. "runes!" I exclaimed. Runes were something I''d been studying in my spare time, and something I''ve gotten fairly good at, even able to make level three runes, though it burned down my money to only a couple thousand low level spirit stones. I pulled out my rune making equipment and began to draw, the kind of runes on the walls were a level one cultivation speed rune, which was linked to the small dragon vein underneath the sect, feeding it constant power. A couple hours passed by and the four runes were finally done, I removed the stones from the wall and replaced them with my runes, instantly sending in five times more qi than before, making my residence equivalent to that of a three striped disciple. Once more, I sat down, and began drawing the energy towards me, and improved upon my base once more. Hours passed, and dusk had arrived once more, I woke up from my deep cultivation slumber, remembering a fact that almost made me want to kill myself. "I forgot to use my cultivation tools from the auction!" I yelled out. "Don''t worry kid," The stone spoke up, "they wouldn''t have been usable anyways, they were unidentified, and the other one was sealed! If you used the sealed one it could have burst your meridians!" "Well than! I guess I really am lucky after all!" I replied, slightly smug. "I can Identify the first one for you, but only after you reach the qi cultivation realm can I truly help you get the seal off of it!" It replied. "I understand, how long will it take for the other one to be identified?" I asked. "Only an hour or so, I''d suggest you explore the inner disciple''s area a little whilst waiting." The stone told me. "You don''t have to tell me twice!" I replied as I walked out and ran towards the inner market. The inner market was just as large as the market outside the sect, although this market only had things related to cultivation, there was no regular meats, only beast meats, even the utensils were made out of a spiritual metal. The markets sold runes, and even little beasts, but sadly none of them would buy anything off of you. I roamed around and bout a few more herbs, until finally, the stone was done. "Kid, This tool is better than I imagined, it''s multiplier is thirty times that of normal energy, combined with your cultivation chamber, that''s three hundred times!" The stone told me. "three hundred times?!?" I yelled. Cultivation: qi collection second stage 20 Realisation and new memories? I couldn''t believe it, three hundred times? that is incredible! The natural ability that people have can be placed nowhere near as strong as what is gained from cultivation tools. I almost jumped up and down in joy until the stone spoke up. "Hmm, so only three times better than the cultivation tools given to inner disciples¡­" it muttered. I stood there, shocked, "Only three times better? Your saying tools are given to us?" "Yeah, I hear a lot of things around so I know about it, everyone has a similar speed to you with tools, your only in the lead because you changed the runes, otherwise none of it really matters" It told me, and then continued on, "this world isn''t the same as before, you should know that by now, I even gave you the memories of this, due to the world being able to cultivate even faster, we were able to take over land, with this place being the smallest, and weakest nation." "Oh, so there''s so much more for me to discover then¡­" I muttered, knowing that I had to catch up on the on the memories that the stone gave me. "However, there is hope for you here" The stone continued, "If this is the weakest nation, than that means you can get so much more than you could have here, if you end up travelling through the nations, although I''d advise you not to not to go until you complete each checkpoint on the map." "Wait, why? Wouldn''t it be good for me to gain more things to grow in strength so I can acquire the points faster?" I asked. "Well, you see¡­" The stone paused for a second, until it continued once more, "I don''t have all my memories, I was down there for a long time, possibly since the beginning of this planet, wouldn''t you think someone else would have found me down there? I must have just emerged, all I can really remember is that if you complete this map, you''ll get another, with each part of the map unlocking my memories, and even giving you something." "That''s incredible! But you still didn''t explain on why I shouldn''t go to another nation first?" I asked once more. "Oh, sorry about that! Each nations strength is far stronger than the previous nation, at least ten times that, actually, there are only really basic sects here, with a couple second level sects, but sects go all the way up to the tenth level! And each sect level is like each nation, ten times stronger than the previous level, so be careful!" The stone explained. "I had no clue, you really have forgotten stuff," I muttered, "But I have one more question" "Shoot, kid" It replied. "How come you''re awake so much more often now?" I asked, "Before you told me to complete the map, but you''re awake?" "Ahhh¡­ Well, your qi was far more pure than I expected, so I expected that after you gained the map reward you could keep me awake, however I already have enough functionality from your qi, which is suspicious¡­" The stone went on, "How come your energy is so pure? Who was your parents?" "I¡­ I have no clue, I was an orphan, on the streets, until a cultivator came by and noticed that I had a deep motivation, I was working three jobs at only nine years old, all paying me only ten silver a month combined, yet I still fed the elderly who were also on the streets, I cared for others¡­ but they betrayed me" I told the stone, bringing up sad memories. "I''m¡­ I''m sorry kid, I didn''t mean to bring those memories up again, you might have access to my memories, but I have none of yours, I''m completely in your possession, unless forcefully removed, just know that your parents most likely already knew about bone frames and spirits, and possibly some sort of extra force as well" The stone told me. At first I was shocked, but after everything that''s been happening here, I calmed down quickly and analysed everything I''ve been told, I constantly ran through the stones memories, looking at how the nations were formed, and how we managed to grow so quickly as a whole. The people who awakened high level spirits and bone frames quickly grew, and decided that they would take back more territory from demon beasts, until a whole continent was formed, although other possible continents were still flooded with demon beasts, stronger than us all, even the cultivation king who just recently hit the fifth stage of the martial highness realm. There was only one thing I couldn''t get my head around. How could my parents have known about spirits and bone frames, and even the possibility of some sort of extra force? I knew that they were studying that, due to the fact the even if people had the same bone frame and spirit, and cultivated the same time, in the same area, one grew faster than the other, at almost double the pace than the other. After analysing for maybe another hour, I went into the contribution point stand. "It''s finally time to work on mental cultivation!" I said to myself. I walked in and spent a hundred points on mental pills, and the other hundred on some herbs for rune making. After purchasing all of this, I would be a target, thankfully I could rush home quickly since the sect''s market was so close to the residential area for inner disciples. I immediately opened up a bottle and grabbed a few pills, swallowing them, and then drawing the qi from the environment into my head, expanding my martial consciousness. Mental cultivation was a very expensive path to go down, due to each pill having a limited time of use, and you can only cultivate whilst using those pills, you could say that it was some sort of special cultivation for the rich, also known as the strong. After swallowing the three pills, my mind almost instantly entered a mental state, thus immediately entering the world of mental cultivation, when images flashed through my heads. People holding me when I was young, studying on me. I heard things along the lines of, "it''s too dangerous!" or "we can''t do this!" with the other voice saying "it''s for his own good!" and "we have to seal it!" after hearing all this, it was too much for my mind to handle, eventually till it all disappeared, giving a splitting headache. "Was that¡­ My parents?" I muttered. Cultivation: 2nd stage qi collection Mental cultivation: 1st stage soul realm Bone frame: 4 star morphed bone frame Bone frame configurations: venom Martial spirit: fifth grade yellow tier mimic spirit - ??? grade ??? tier ??? 21 Mental cultivation and a personal trader! I was shocked, to think that my origin was so mysterious? After all these years of not having parents I believed that I was thrown away, and that they didn''t want a child, but it was because they were protecting me? I only got a short glimpse of it, and everything was blurry, I remembered people rushing in and the sound of someone shouting for someone else to run. Can there really be another source of power that helps us cultivate? Could there be even more than that one to be uncovered? The science behind everything was too complex for me, and I just went back to cultivating my mind once more. Throughout the rest of the night I continued to rapidly break through stages of mental cultivation, far quicker than I would with qi cultivation, reaching the ninth stage of the soul realm. I was confused, was this where my potential lay? Mental cultivation was really only good for directly attacking people''s souls, however you couldn''t do anything serious if they weren''t an entire realm beneath you! Having a talent in mental cultivation would be the same as having a talent at identifying what shape a cloud is! There''s just no worth behind it unless you are an absolute genius! "Kid, I think you should focus on mental cultivation primarily, only cultivate your qi when you run out of pills. Although it''s an expensive route, if we can unlock more of those memories than you can maybe find out what this extra force is, and maybe even how to use it!" The stone said, gruffy as ever. "So, you went from saying I need to increase my qi quickly, but now you''re saying that I need to cultivate my soul more?" I asked, completely astonished by the stones switch in attitude. "Yeah, I know it may sound wrong but just trust me!" The stone said, assuring me once more that this is the right choice. "okay, I''ll trust you, you''ve never wanted anything wrong for me, so I''ll do what you want whenever you ask!" I told it, with my absolute trust. "step back and strip." The stone quickly said. "wh-what?" I said, utterly shocked by what it just said. "We need to run you a medical bath, your body might have been tempered for cultivation but that doesn''t mean it''s been properly strengthened, so strip" The stone said, ordering me once more. I listened to what the stone said and quickly went to the other room to prepare for the medical bath. After I was changed, I came out to a strong aroma and a large wooden bath that had a green colour to it. I quickly hopped in and it began to burn, as if I was on fire. I had to endure it so I could grow strong for the stone, it had helped me out so much, and I wouldn''t even be alive to witness how great this world has become in terms of cultivation. The pain erupted once more, until it finally settled down. When I came out, I could hardly walk, but after regaining my senses, my body was fully tempered, well balanced, and more toned than I was before. "This medical bath¡­ It''s amazing! How did you put it together?" I asked the stone. "oh it''s nothing much," The stone bragged, "just some high grade herbs that increase potential!" It came as no surprise to me, at this point, anything the stone did seemed to be normal to me, and since I rarely come into contact with other people, I felt as if this is how everyone was, until I met anna¡­ But she''s out of the equation now. I quickly returned to the markets to see if anyone was selling a large amount of soul forming pills, until I realised one thing. "I''m broke!" I yelled as soon as I went to the market. I spent the last of my money on those herbs! There''s no way I can earn some money! I looked around seeing if there was anyway to find a source of money, until I remembered all the weapons in my spacial ring from the arena. And began trading them for spirit stones. The sky tier weapons all sold for fifty thousand low level spirit stones and all of the other weapons were sold for twenty thousand, giving me just enough to buy anything I would need. I walked around the market and found some people selling a few, but it was all overpriced and not enough pills. I kept on roaming the streets till it was nearly dark till I saw this one stall. It was almost completely broken down, but I could see how quality his materials were do to the skill the stone taught me about analysation, and they were so cheap as well! How come no one has bought these? Was it only because it''s appearance was rather shabby? "Hey, can I take all of these?" I asked, although still a little nervous talking to people. "Sure! But do you really want these? I mean they look terrible" The man told me, he was thin, and awfully scruffy, as though he hadn''t eaten for days. "Yeah, I would like them, how much for the rest as well?" I asked. "For the soul forming pills it''s a hundred 1st grade low level spirit stones, and I''ll throw in everything else for five thousand more?" He told me, almost as if he was asking for me to buy them. "So cheap?" I asked. "I-" He stuttered, "I can make it cheaper! So just don''t go!" I looked at him with pity, something I''d never done with anyone, especially after the incident with Anna "Oh no, that''s not what I meant, I just think it''s all low value for how quality it is." I told him "Oh thank god¡­ I haven''t eaten in days! I spent the last of my money on the resources for this¡­ But what leads you to say their good quality? I don''t know a thing about pill making, I just chucked them into the forge and started steadily channelling my qi into it, but it wasn''t round at all!" He told me. "I uh¡­ I have a knack to find quality items¡­" I told him, trying to hide my techniques. "Oh okay, well how much do you think I should sell this for?" He asked me, full admiration in his eyes. "I''ll give you seventy thousand for all of it!" I told him with confidence. The man almost fainted after hearing this value, he was only in the inner sect for the market, he had barely any strength even after reaching the qi collection stage! After I told him this value of course he would freak out. "Are¡­ Are you sure? It''s only twenty pills of soul forming ¡­ sure there are some decent materials here like an advanced soul forming pill and some rune books, but it''s just crazy to think that you''d offer so much!" He said, like he was about to reject the offer. "I''m sure! As long as you keep on making these pills, I''ll be sure to buy from you at any time!" I assured him, as there would be no way I''d miss out on pills that were almost double the effectivity than the others! He smiled, "Than it''s a deal! I''ll trade my items only to you!" 22 25k specia- I mean, break Hey, been a small while, about a week and a half, just want to say that I''m sorry? To emphasise on what this is, I''m taking a break. I have NO CLUE where this story is going and I need planning, a proper story, a possible end, and a lot of other things, but the reason why I''m taking a break is different to any of this. I write stories for my personal enjoyment, and just to let my imagination run wild, the amount of stories I''ve written but haven''t finished is probably in the triple digits by now. I have a short span of attention and can''t handle to do things for long, as if it''s become a chore, which it what had become of this novel for me, and don''t worry, when I come back to this novel, I''ll do a burst of five chapters or something for an apology, and I know I have so many filler chapters, I''m sorry about that. All of this is something I used to distract my mind with, it''s pretty stupid how I thought that if others could make a novel then why can''t I. I have no experience, I have no proper knowledge, I''m just a fifteen year old kid who is slightly creative, there''s nothing special about my writing, it''s just like all the other ones, except with poor release rates and an inconsistent plot line. If you were liking this novel I''m sorry, but there''s a slight chance I won''t come back, I feel like another influence on this is something I wrote for school, I just want to expand upon THAT story, because I feel that has a proper plot line, and it has some ACTUAL PLANNING. I feel like I could enjoy that more then I do this, I feel like it could be so much more interesting, however posting it would only ruin it, like I did this novel. Even though it''s only two chapters a week, I find it hard, the lone fact of that is probably what makes me a bad writer, I''m not descriptive and am honestly amazed this even had the amount of reads this has, but the site/app has become nothing but a chore for me, I used to come on here all the time and read so many fun things, but every time I come on now I just feel like I HAVE to write a chapter, and it bugs me, none of this is because of you guys, but merely my own mental impulses telling me that it''s not worth it. Once again I just want to say sorry for my laziness, and that if you were enjoying this, please find something similar, and hopefully with more chapters, you can hate me for this if you want, but hey, it''s my fault anyways, thanks for the support and let''s just hope that I do come back, I tend to return to things if I work on another for long enough so you can only pray. I''ll try to see if I''m at least motivated to post every now and then but it''ll be rare, possibly only once a fortnight. Sorry. From your unmotivated, lazy, and pathetic author, Logames05