I returned home around eight in the evening, which cannot be called late, but it's no longer early. Even after the bath and a cup of miraculous tea, I felt as drained as a lemon; it was damn unpleasant!
"So, how was your training with your teacher?" Xu Zhao Ting asked a little sarcastically when he saw me arrive.
"Everything is excellent," I replied a little sluggishly. "He has damn difficult training!" I said, collapsing onto the bed, my whole body still aching from the training.
"Ha, it seems I did the right thing by not becoming his student," Xu Zhao Ting chuckled. "Otherwise, I'd be lying here with you right now."
"Leave me alone," I grumbled. "Did you break through to the mid-level?"
"No, not yet, but I think I'll break through soon," Xu Zhao Ting replied, looking a little sad, but as always, confidently.
"I see. Let's hurry. I want to go to Shanghai in a week to sell souls and buy a spatial bracelet," I said, lying face down on the pillow.
"Really? And when did you manage to catch so many souls?" he asked me, slightly surprised.
"Well, I still need a couple of souls to buy the spatial bracelet, but I want to catch them in a week, so I plan to hunt intensively," I replied confidently after a minute of thought. How else could I explain the presence of a leader's soul, which covers most of the bracelet's cost? It's good that he doesn't know the exact number of soul vessels I have.
"I see. I'll stay out of the way. If I break through, I'll go with you and awaken the second element," Xu Zhao Ting said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Agreed, but you better break through, because you've been saying for how long now that you're almost there? A month?" I smirked, sitting up on the bed.
"Ah, you! No tact!" he got angry. Yes, you can joke with him almost as much as you want, but you can't touch his development or family.
"Don't worry about it, go back to cultivating," I stopped him with a gesture, and then I myself returned to cultivating. Of the seven stars of space, only five were subdued, with difficulty, and two remained! I already have ideas on how to use this magic in combat, but first, I need to gain control over all the stars.
To my deep surprise, I didn't have nightmares that night either. Has my glitch finally passed? I don't know, but I hope so, because nightmares can significantly hinder my path to great power. And I definitely don't need that! The next day, as agreed, we went hunting. And although my whole body ached and hurt from yesterday's training, it didn't significantly affect my combat skills, fortunately!
In just one day, we managed to kill about six alligators and earn about five hundred thousand yuan in total. A pretty good earning for one day's work, wouldn't you say? It's a shame that even such a sum means nothing to me; I need much more,
First, to buy everything necessary for training with the old man. I studied in detail last night what is required for these medicines; ten thousand yuan a day is just the beginning! Second, I also need resources to strengthen my seeds and finally bring them to the level of small seeds. Third, I am gradually studying the books that PinZhou Lun gave me. Artifacts require a lot of resources, both for creating the artifact itself and for the tools; creating them can cost a lot of money.
As for the resources needed to create the artifact itself, there are fewer problems with them, as I can obtain them myself. For example, monster bones or alligator skin, these are all used in low-level simple artifacts. I can also obtain one of the most expensive components myself, namely souls. Fortunately for me, not all artifacts require whole souls; for many weak artifacts, shards can be used. Of course, artifacts that use shards and weak souls are weaker than those that use stronger and more suitable souls, but it will be enough for me to try my hand.
The next three days, which were allocated for rest, I spent training with the old man. Every day I came to him at noon, ran at least sixteen kilometers with one-kilogram weights, and after warming up, I repeated the same movements as on the first day. I didn't feel any significant increase in strength, only fatigue and muscle pain; it's foolish to expect results from training the very next day!
However, what truly developed at an almost seven-league stride was my cultivation! Thanks to the old man's miraculous teas and baths, I was able to subdue the thirty-first star and almost the sixth star of space in these three days! This is actually a very good result! During this time, I only had one nightmare, on the day of the hunt, and it was quite standard, related to hunting. I consider this a good sign, and it's gradually letting me go.
As for Xu Zhou Tin, he cultivated around the clock without sparing himself, striving to break through to the intermediate level. This greatly surprised me; he is usually very diligent, and lately, he has become even more so. I hope he doesn't burst from his own diligence! However, on the third day of rest, when I returned from training, he announced to me:
"Brother Jiaxing Yun, I did it!" he started shouting at me right from the doorstep, which almost made me fall. After training, the fatigue was immense, and he was still shouting!
"What happened? Why are you shouting like that? Did you really break through to the intermediate level?" I asked him, recovering from his shout and heading towards the bed.
"Yes!" he declared confidently, following me. "When will your old man give you another day off? We're going to Shanghai!"
"Just tomorrow, you're lucky," I said, slightly gloomily from fatigue, sitting on the bed and starting to cultivate.
That evening, I also took a step forward; the sixth star of space submitted, only the last one remained! That night, nightmares once again bypassed me, which, as always, I was incredibly happy about. It seems they have truly retreated! Getting up early, we took the morning train and headed to Shanghai. Upon arrival, we split up. I went to the market to sell souls and buy everything I needed, while Xu Zhou Tin went to the Pearl Tower to awaken his second element.
"Which element do you want to awaken?" I asked him when we were leaving the station.
"I don't know. Definitely not light or water; I don't want them," he said, lost in thought. He had been beaming with joy since yesterday! "Maybe earth, to protect myself, or wind, to be able to escape, like you do. I'm still not sure."
"I see. Good luck, just remember not to register your second element in the league. The Keepers might realize we're not on Danthou but in Huzhou, and then there will be problems," I decided to warn him again, although I had been saying it all the way. But this matter is truly important!
"Of course, I remember!" he replied happily, turning in another direction. "I don't want to harm you."
After that, I quickly headed to the market, where I started going from stall to stall, looking for someone to buy my souls. Of course, selling them at auction is much more profitable and less troublesome. But not all auctions allow simple hunters, and it can also take even more time than simply selling souls at the market.
After spending a couple of hours looking for the best price, I sold four servant souls and one leader for a total of thirty-two million yuan. After that, I started looking for a spatial bracelet, which is why I came to Shanghai. Spatial bracelets are very rare, so they are only sold in large markets in big cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing. After spending another hour and after intense bargaining, I bought a spatial bracelet with a volume of five cubic meters for twenty-eight million. Immediately after the purchase, I hid my backpack in the bracelet; it took up a small part of the bracelet's entire space. This is simply an incredible thing!
After the purchase, I had seven million yuan left, a very substantial sum, but it was spent very quickly. First, for five million, another reusable vessel for servant souls was purchased, and second, for the remaining two million, I bought tools for creating simple artifacts. The most expensive was the soul fixer, which cost about a million; it is necessary to connect the main structure and the soul used, only after that the item becomes an artifact capable of being stored in the mage's inner world. I also left about a hundred thousand, which were supposed to go to the old man, he really took ten thousand yuan from me every day! And this is not counting the fact that the further along, the more complex and expensive medicines I will need!
After all the purchases, I headed to the train station, where I was supposed to meet Xu Zhou Tin. As a result, I was satisfied with the trip, as now, as soon as I find the necessary materials, I can start creating simple artifacts. I think after the next hunt, we'll start. Arriving at the station, I quickly found Xu Zhou Tin; he was sitting in the waiting room in high spirits.
"So, how is it? Which element did you awaken?" I asked, sitting next to him.
"Wind," he replied cheerfully. I felt a slight awkwardness; now we have the same set of elements, among the known ones. After thinking a little, I vaguely remembered that in the original, his second element was also wind, which means that the canon, as expected, is striving to be fulfilled in all its details, and I haven't influenced Xu Zhou Tin enough for him to awaken any other element. In principle, this is not bad, but I don't care.
"Cool, now we're damn similar," I said with a smirk, well, what else? It's true.
"Maybe you can take me to that old man too? We have the same elements, so I can be no worse than you," he said, leaning against the bench.
"No, I don't think that would suit you in any case," I said, thinking a little. I absolutely must not take him to the old man!
"Why not?" he asked me in surprise. "We have the same elements, so our capabilities are almost the same."
"That's true, but you're already used to shelling enemies from afar," I began. "Besides, it will take a lot of time for your mastery of wind magic to reach mine; it will simply be ineffective. You'd better develop in the direction of a mid-range fighter, and use wind for evasion."
"Perhaps you're right," he said, thinking a little. "I'll probably do that."
"That's great. You'll be killing monsters from afar, and I'll finish them up close, just like we used to do, only now you'll have more maneuverability. When you learn to create the star path of wind, try not to finish creating the wrath of lightning before starting to compose the star path of wind; this will help you evade more effectively," I said, deciding to share one of my secrets with him.
"And how do you know that? Have you already learned to compose the star path of lightning?" Xu Zhou Tin asked with surprise in his voice.
"Yes, during the week of cultivation," I said carelessly. "I tried it once, and it worked. I think it will be useful, only I'm releasing lightning magic slowly for now."