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Dark Rose House Territory-

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The Blood Bone Sect met with the Patriarch and de facto leader of the Dark Rose House. So powerful was this man people wondered why he didn't take over the Empire. Of course, he thought about it but the future was to deadly for them to waste personnel.

What the populace didn't know was that the amount of Territory available had long since been reduced by the Demonic Beasts and their Demon Sovereigns. Anyone who looked closely would see the routes taken to move between the Kingdoms and the Imperial Trade Routes as a whole had decreased or become much more dangerous.

"Report."

"Patriarch, the Disciples that succumbed to the Temptation by the Blood Creature were all eliminated. Because of their actions, it implicated the Ash Bone Sect and we were forced to dissolve. Splitting up it took a while to infiltrate and gather safe passage to this continent."

"And the remains of the creature?"

"One Gu Worm egg." The Blood Sect elder stepped forward and handed it over. "It has no ties to the others and is a simple Demon Beast for now. The Manual to help raise the Worms is damaged like everything else we received."

"Oh Muscado, this is more than what I expected. Make sure all those in this Blood Sect are vetted." The Patriarch of the Dark Rose House raised the Gu Worm egg up to the light. With the reflection from the candles, the container showed the egg no bigger than a goofball. "I know the perfect host for you."

"Sir.. are you saying that you will keep the ties to the Ash Bone Sect alive here?"

"No, we are the last of the AShbone Sect my brother, the Sect did not survive the change of times and the folly of others, this Blood Sect sounds good to me. You will be its Sect Leader and I an Honorary Elder. Together I will help you gain the support you need here."

"I think you brother." Smiling wildly, the Blood Sect Elder didn't expect this. He was under the impression his Senior Brother would want to rebuild the Sect and take all its resources for himself. "What about the one who helped to destroy Lord Ghast?"

"I say we could reward them but I rather not waste resources trying to find out who it is. More important matters to attend to. Let the World think the Gu Worm is gone while we bring it back. Of course, after it is modified with the Ancient Techniques of the Ash Bone Sect!"

the talks went on for hours until the Patriarch remembered prior engagements.

"My son has been gone for a while... I think it best to give this to him."

"Brother, why not one of your daughters?"

"Bah, they wouldn't know what to do with this kind of power. One is almost dead but at least she is an excuse for me to get that useless uncle of mine in check. She can live a little longer and burns his authority." Walking out of the chamber, both Ash Bone Sect members had much to do.

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Payment already in use-

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Leroy looked inside and nodded that the payment was just right. He even pulled out one of the Amp Flowers to chew on it. He then spit it into a small pot. Sprinkling some seeds into the pot, it was then planted in the backyard.

All the while reading the notebook.

"Ehh.. wow. That is the late stages." Leroy looked it over all just the same after figuring out what it was. Best to make sure it was what he surmised. Always good when they brought him the results from their use of Pulse Checking. "Oh my, well that is weird. The fact the area is ok here and here is quite something. Not my specialty but it is treatable."

"Are you sure?" Constance asked. She could feel the agitation of Elder Boksun from how lightly Leroy took it. "Can you do it?"

"Nope. But others should be able to if they follow this process." Leroy took out a notebook. Flipping to a specific section he copied the pages onto loose leaf parchment and stook it into the notebook that was first given to him. "A Foundation Realm cultivator can do it but a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator has the better chance with their control level. The targeting of microorganisms is quite dangerous. If you can get a Spirit Severing Cultivator to do it.. well-guaranteed success."

"I see." Constance looked over what he copied then looked at the notebook he copied it from. It was new and definitely recently done. She could tell by the lack of wear and tear around it that older notebooks would have. "We won't take up any more of your time."

Constance and Tang Ansui shared a look mouthing Soul Serving to each other. They didn't know Leroy knew about the higher Realm Cultivators or had studied them already to the extent he knew their abilities.

Collecting her disciples, Elder Boksun was to happy that she could be treated. She no longer cared about what happened just before or her original Mission that was quite frankly something that would take her remaining lifespan. She had been living with the disease since she was a child and only slowed it down by cultivating diligently.

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"Haa, you have done a great thing." Tang Ansui had known the woman for a while and found out several centuries ago of her predicament. Not much he could do so he was happy to see she had a new lease on life. "Really good, but the use of Sword Intetn, when did you reach it?"

"Like now I guess. I don't know if it can be called that since I have to be really angry to do it. A better grasp of Fist Intent overall." Hie wrapped it around his fist and did a slight clutch of his hand before letting it dissipate. Chewing the remainder of the Amp Flower, he could feel his blood hum. "Don't know if will help, but here are my thoughts on Swords."

Tang Ansui was distracted by the refined Fist Intent that was much more in control compared to Sword Intent. Considering how the latter was full of Murderous Intent it was quite dangerous but if it was mixed with Fist Intent how dangerous would it be?

"Thank you." Taking the notebook, Tang Ansui's face started to fall and his eye started to twitch. But the more he read the more he felt like he understood the weapon itself. The man even started muttering as his Qi circulated. "A sword is not my body for it is made from outside forces, the concept be one with the weapon is flawed for I can only be one with myself. An outside extension can only respond so much compared to a natural extension like one's arms or legs."

Leroy was only speaking from a modern person's view and simple psychology learned from a rotation at a psych-ward. That specific field was more than a problem for him but that didn't mean nothing was learned.

While he worked away, inside the home the trio woke up one after the other. Sairoi was the first one and feeling the Sword Qi outside she moved that way. Ignoring she needed to clean herself up.

Long Fei was next and he immediately smelt the stench. Moving to the bathing area to clean himself up immediately. Unaware his frame had increased by a noticeable margin.

Charlotte was the last but she closed her eyes as she felt her cultivation changed a little. Looking inward she could see the Inscription Patterns that circled her Dantian. The biggest thing was that her Dantian looked 5x bigger and the Qi inside was robust with power.

'I know.. this.. but mom said it skipped me.' Looking at her mother's side curse she was depressed but smiled once she noticed her Dantian spun faster and she understood her techniques more. 'Mom said the curse makes it harder to cultivate! That's not the case with me!'

Slipping deeper into her own cultivation, she was unaffected by anything else.

Outside Saiori was enraptured by the Sword Intent around Tang Ansui. She stared unblinking while her cultivation circled on its own and she took in the understanding before her. The Way of the Sword opened up to her deeper and deeper.

Unlike Leroy who had modern thinking of how weapons work and his intellect keeping the weapons concepts as what they were and not part of a person, those born and raised in this Dimension did not have that type of thinking.

Someone like Saiori who believed that with her sword she could take care of all her problems both past and present, and long as she walked the Way of the Sword she could take care of any future problem as well this was in line with what she needed.

*Woosh!* Both Saiori and Tang Ansui's eyes lit up as their Qi turned into Sword Qi. It was sharp and deadly compared to the Qi in their Dantian already. Around their Dantians, an embryonic film formed that started to gestate their understanding and would incorporate their Sword Qi into all their attacks in the future.

"One more step further." Tang Ansui smiled as he looked over his body. Outward there was no change as he was able to hide his cultivation and accomplishments long ago. Internally his entire body was like a sword but very much human physically. "I must think you my friend, I no longer have to suppress my cultivation and can step into the 9th Rank of the Nascent Soul Realm."

Considering he was not expecting to make any progress due to personal problems and family ones, Tang Ansui had long ago focused only on the sword and his Occupation. Able to contend with members of the Soul Severing Realm's early stages, he could now deal with those in the middle stages if not the upper without losing out.

"Your welcome." Leroy looked at Saiori who came out of her understanding and was more than happy. "The Sword embryo state will take a while for you to wield and understand, Make sure you keep your Sword Intent sealed during this time."

"I understand." Saori had a lot to work on to fix herself already so dealing with jealous people all day every day was too annoying. "I have various palm techniques I am trying to develop and my overall cultivation to increase."

"Vice principal Jin is your Teacher, I am sure he can help you greatly with those. As for your sword techniques, who did you learn those from?" Tang Ansui sucked a cold breath when the girl pointed at Leroy. "Well, that is something. When you have time, read over these Manuals, I am sure you will understand something more from it."

After saying a few words, Tang Ansui left.

"These are really nice." Saiori could feel something stirring in her Dantian still. "I will make sure to pass them to you when finished."

"Thanks, but how do you feel overall?" Leroy meant her feelings with everything happening. "Do you need anything?"

"No." Saiori gave him a comforting hug. "Just feel realy happy. I like Tang Ansui and his daughter. I hope they keep coming around." She didn't mention the others which had Leroy thoughtful about them.

Which he should be, a friend was moving to compelte his goals but would be putting himself on the wrong side of the fence of Leroy.

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Aftermath of the Tourney-

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Leroy was in his room trying to figure out what the last skill happens to be once more. Unable to duplicate the effect easily, it was put on the back burner. Currently, he was waiting on the prized from Old Jin.

Tang Xui and Tang Bo were out spending proceeds from the bet still.

"Haaaaa, forget it." Leroy sighed heavily. Looking at the other funds earned from the bets that Tang Xui did on his behalf was a nice comfort. "Hope the orders finish for my next move as well as the small request for some clothes come in."

Spotter was running around in front of him. The fire eagle was growing quite well and started to understand some simple commands and gestures. The Demon Beast Manual would take a while to learn more about still. The help from the Icebeast Dantian was extremely slow.

"Let's try this to see what happens." Leroy concentrated his qi into a blue flame in his right hand. In his left hand, he focused the qi into lighting. The fire was much bigger and purer compared to the lighting, however. "Spotter, come eat."

"Bucaww!" The fire bird looked up and dashed over. Its eyes gleaming in hunger as it went for the fire. "Coo! Coooo!" Happy it ate the fire and sat down. The lighting not even drawing its attention.

"So preference thing I guess?" Leroy frowned. Neither gave a feeling of danger so why didn't it want the lighting? 'Is it because it saw "lighting" injure me before or another matter entirely?' As he thought it over, Jasmine came in with Xiao Mei in tow. Both are dressed in nice noble clothing with armored pieces for protection. More towards protection which was smart. "Hey..."