Chapter 58 - Request

"Now that I have shown you their characteristics, what have you decided? Will you accept the prize prepared by the sect leader, or do you want to choose something else yourself? "

When Hei heard the question that came to him, he thought for a moment and then decided.

"I accept the reward prepared by the sect leader."

Explosive Blood Pills were ideal for him and Lian. He was confident that they would manage to resist the effects without problems. The sect leader herself had also prepared them, so they were better quality than the pills on the first floor. From the expression that Ying Yue made when she heard those pills mentioned, he realized that they were also rather rare pills to find.

The seventh elder smiled and handed the second box to Hei.

"Well, if you want, you could leave the Rainbow Metals along with the characteristics of the weapon you want. I will make sure that you deliver them to the second elder as soon as possible and get the weapon to you as soon as it is ready. "

At his proposal, Hei nodded and, taking the box containing the metals from Lian's hand, passed the box again to the seventh elder. Then he wrote down the various details on how he would like his weapon would be made, which would be a spear.

After the awards ceremony, Hei and Lian were led out by Ying Yue, who sent them off when they came out of the exchange point.

"I would like to spend more time with you, but I guess you want to start your training right away. Not to mention that I have to cultivate too. Just a warning - even if you are the first between the younger generation's inner disciples, I advise you not to slack off. You haven't yet faced us, personal disciples, in a one vs. one match. The same goes for you, Lian. If you don’t hurry to reach our cultivation stage quickly, you won’t have any hope."

Saying this, the young girl sent them off with her hand and returned to the exchange point.

At that, Hei was a little surprised. From her words, he could understand that Ying Yue believed that with their talent, they could bridge the gap of cultivation and reach their same cultivation stage.

Although Hei and Lian that they could do it thanks to Bao Bei’s teachings, it was surprising that one of the five personal disciples recognized their superior talent so openly and wasn’t upset or angry.

Smiling, Hei brought Lian and his little sisters back to his mother to tell her what he had received and to continue his training.

*

Once they returned and told their experience, Bao Bei had them resume training. Even if they had superior talent, as Ying Yue had said, they had to hurry to fill that gap.

Hei then went on to practice learning Spider Hair. It was a move that used his body hair to sense vibrations in the air. Understanding the concept was very difficult, but with the teachings of Bao Bei and the poison provided by his sisters, who acted as a catalyst, he succeeded in a short time.

Later, he also learned Snake Tongue, which consists in perceiving smells with his tongue in a broader spectrum than what he could sense with his nose. As it was necessary the poison as a catalyst, Hei was subjected to another session of poison resistance.

For this technique, he had to ingest the poison from his mouth. Therefore, by extracting poison from his sisters and mixing it with other plants to reduce the toxicity, he created a poisonous liquid with contained effects to drink during training sessions.

With the help of his family, He was eventually able to understand Snake Tongue after countless efforts and pain.

At that point, he had finished learning the techniques designed for the third stage of spirit apprentice. If he wanted to learn more, he would have to increase his cultivation.

While he was learning the two techniques, Hei had continued to cultivate without days off and was near to approach the fourth stage. The same was true for Lian, who was conducting her training separately from Hei.

It was due not only to their cultivation method but also to the continuous consumption of spirit wheat and other spirit vegetables. Furthermore, Mi had matured enough to be able to modify the honey produced by the other bees who were starting to show some signs of awakening spirit power.

Spirit honey was a food complicated to find usually, but contained a considerable energy content, stimulating the recovery of spirit power. It was ideal to consume after a cultivation session.

But in addition to his training and cultivation, Hei and Lian resumed their alchemy and training classes. As they became more familiar with the subject, they could see improvements in their ability. By now, there was little left to create their first products.

It was when a month has passed since they became known as the ingenious couple, they received a notice of gathering at the sect leader residence. It was the first time it happened since usually, the sect leader would come to them. Curious about that call, Hei and Lian decided to go immediately to the inner sect.

Because they didn't know the reason for such gathering, Bao Bei insisted on accompanying them. They also decided to bring Shui and Mi, who wanted to defend them if something happened. So Lian and Hei, who was carrying his little sisters, his mother, and Mi, went on top of Shui and rushed to the sect leader residence.

The sight of a large albino buffalo running through the streets frightened the guards at the entrance. But, recognizing who was sitting on its back, they decided to let the animal pass, considering that they couldn’t block the advance of the buffalo even if they wanted to.

In a short time, they arrived at the sect leader residence who was, in turn, guarded by guards. This time, Hei was stopped, and he was forced to leave Shui out while he and Lian came in after showing the received convocation letters.

One of the guards took the task of accompanying Hei and Lian inside and took them to a room where they could sit meanwhile. Shortly afterward, the sect leader arrived and sent the guard away and gave the two young youths a severe look.

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"Hei, Lian. Sorry if I summoned you so suddenly, but I have some things to tell you that they couldn't wait."

"Good morning, sect leader, don't worry. You can tell us." Hei replied as he offered a short bow. Lian just bowed without saying anything else.

After the rapid exchange of pleasantries, the sect leader passed to the reason why she had summoned the two youths.

"Hei, Lian. First of all, I want to congratulate you. You are at the peak of the third stage, and it shouldn’t be long until the fourth stage. In this regard, I have these to deliver to you."

The sect leader pulled out two stones from her space ring. They weren’t mere stones as they contained spirit power.

"As you can guess, these are spirit stones. However, they are third-level spirit stones or the highest you can find on the island. Normally, the maximum that is given to a younger generation inner member are second-level stones; this also applies to the elders' personal disciples. Although this is a favorable treatment, at the same time, it isn’t. As inner members, you are entitled to receive a certain amount of resources based on your score in the ranking. Since you occupy the first two places, you are entitled to the highest number of spirit stones. Instead of giving you various second-level spirit stones, I am giving you the opportunity to take a third level one. The greater the level, the purer is the amount of spirit power within. Rather than using several spirit stones of lower purity, it is better to use only a purer one, especially considering that you are close to the bottleneck to the fourth stage. With these, you can easily get over it."

The sect leader held out both hands, containing the two third-level spirit stones, towards Hei and Lian.

Hei, after getting his mother's confirmation, accepted the offer received and took the spirit stone. Lian did the same.

"I thank you, sect leader, we will make good use of the spirit stones you have given us. But I can't help but wonder why." Hei commented as he looked the sect leader in her eyes.

The woman immediately felt a chill pervading her body as she met Hei's gaze.

‘It's here. The thing that protects these two children.’ The sect leader thought to herself as she regained control of her emotions.

She knew their guardian would come if they were summoned so suddenly. Although she hoped that playing at home would help her, the pressure she felt was not less than when she went directly to Hei's spiderweb house.

"The fact is that in a month there will be the birthday of the forest kingdom king. A great celebration will be held at the capital in the royal palace. The most important sects of the kingdom have been invited. As one of the five big sects of the Rainbow Island, we Flower Sect cannot miss this event. It is a great occasion where the elderly can talk to each other, and young martial artists can exchange points. Moreover, given the gathering of influential people, a large auction will be set up where all kinds of goods will be exchanged. If I'm not mistaken, you requested to buy spirit beasts, right? Well, there is the right place to choose spirit beasts of all kinds."

Upon hearing her words, Hei was seized with excitement. All this time, he hadn’t forgotten his reward and was anxiously awaiting when the sect leader would have mentioned a possible auction in which the sect would have participated. The fact that it happened during an important event like the birthday of the sovereign of the kingdom made it even more exciting given that there would be so many spirit beasts.

"I understand, thank you very much, sect leader, for warning me. I guess Lian and I will come with you, right? "

"Exact. As younger generation inner members, first in the rankings, you have to participate in the official sect events. However, although you have immense potential, we Flower Sect cannot participate with our two most important disciples still in the third stage. The other personal disciples of the sect have already reached the fifth stage, so you must be at least at the fourth. For this reason, I decided to give you the third level spirit stone. "

Hearing those words, Hei couldn’t help but ponder to himself.

‘Fifth stage? Now I understand why Ying Yue said so. I guess they were all at the peak of the fourth stage and had to face the bottleneck. If we train non-stop, Lian and I should reach the sixth stage alongside them. At that point, we will be at the same stage of cultivation, and there will be no more excuses to avoid a direct confrontation.’

As he was thinking, the sect leader continued her speech.

"Another reason I called you is to give you your weapon and to ask you a favor."

That said, she pulled a metallic violet spear out of her space ring that had small dots on the tip with the other six colors of the rainbow. The lance was 2 meters long, and its light weight could be noticed by shaking it. It was a little longer than the one he had before, but since he was still growing, it would be fine.

Hei took the weapon from the hands of the sect leader and touched it gently. From the touch he could see its lightness and trying to bend her, he noticed its flexibility.

"I hope you like how the weapon was made. The first elder has committed himself to the best of his abilities, and the second elder has etched a formation that facilitates the transmission of spirit power in the weapon."

"Did the second elder etch a formation?"

"Yes, even if you have to wait for the meridian stage to transmit your spirit power within a weapon, this process can be avoided by understanding the intent of the weapon you want to use."

"Intent of the weapon?" Hei asked with curiosity.

"Yes. By achieving sufficient mastery with one's weapon, it is possible to manifest one's spirit power in the form of aura attacks. A rather drastic training is needed to understand the intent of a weapon, but it is something I think you can do. But it is necessary before you reach at least the fourth stage, given that with the fourth stage, it is possible to change somewhat the form assumed by one's spirit power. Therefore it becomes easier to understand the intent of the weapon. You can also visit the sect library and choose the skills you want to learn. When you go there, you will be given details on the books' differences.

Remember that despite our conflict, I, the first elder and the second elder, all share the same goal - to bring the flower sect to its ancient glories. And although they put their resources and commitment into training their personal disciples, it doesn’t mean that they are blinded by jealousy and do not recognize talent when they see it, even if it isn’t part of their faction."

"I understand sect leader, thank the first and second elder for me. And what about the favor you need? "

"Right. When entering the capital and the royal palace, each sect will have the opportunity to perform by showing their wealth or ability. They are basically like parades you can see during city festivals. Although they may appear unnecessary, over the years, they have taken on great value to show the importance of a sect, in addition to the exchange of points between the younger generation. So, I want to ask you to use your buffaloes, including your albino buffalo, to pull carts during the parade. Is it possible?"

"Using buffaloes to haul carts for the parade?"

If he had asked personally, they would have said yes without delay. But Hei didn't like to have them try so hard for the glory of others. He didn't want to force them to do something because of their sense of gratitude to him. But if he had asked for a reward for them, then it would have been different.

"I agree, but I won't do it for free," Hei said in a serious tone.

"I imagined you would say that. I will try to satisfy your request as much as possible. "

The sect leader had never expected that he would do the job for free. After all, even if he was affiliated with them, he wasn’t a member of the sect in body and spirit. So his reaction was normal.

"It's not for me. It is the buffalo who do the work, so they are the ones rewarded for their work. Considering that they are all males, I would like them to procure female water buffaloes. Is it possible?"

At Hei's request, the sect leader was left speechless.

"Yes, sure. There are no problems, but are you sure this is enough for you? "

Although she had to be happy that the request was nothing special, she couldn't help but ask when hearing his words.

"Of course, just this. As I have said, it's for them, not for me. I think one dozen buffaloes would be enough."