Word Count: 3,242
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Spirit Pagoda. The Vice Pagoda Master's exclusive Battle Armor Room.
Much like a blacksmith's forge for tempering metal, a Battle Armor Room served as a comprehensive laboratory for three secondary professions: Mecha Design, Mecha Manufacturing, and Mecha Mechanics.
This particular room occupied a generous space on the Spirit Pagoda's seventh floor. A massive silver-white worktable dominated the center, covering more than forty square meters and piled with metals of every kind.
A peerlessly beautiful woman leaned against one side of the table, her jade-white hand lightly supporting her chin. Her full, snow-white legs were crossed, and the casual posture traced out the alluring curves of her graceful body. She herself seemed entirely unaware of any of it, her gaze wholly fixed on the handsome youth engraving a spirit circuit formation nearby.
Zhao Xuanzhen sat before the metal table. In his left hand was a piece of pale purple metal, its surface etched with irregular patterns that spread like ripples on water. In his right he held a long, slender engraving knife, carving with total concentration.
Advancing in three secondary professions side by side was no easy matter. From sunrise to sunset, he had spent the entire day immersed in the fundamentals of Battle Armor theory, pausing only once for lunch. Now came the true test of what he had learned, because practice was what turned knowledge into understanding.
Purple Iron had average ductility and below-average spirit power conductivity. It counted as a cheap rare metal, generally used in the manufacture of low-level Spirit Guidance Devices.
Zhao Xuanzhen carved the Purple Iron stroke by stroke. His movements were slow, but his hand was astonishingly steady. The powerful control his Body Martial Spirit gave him over his own body was on full display, each cut precise and unerring.
One stroke followed another, and the intricate lines of the core formation gradually took shape.
Delight slowly gathered on Leng Yaozhu's face. She unconsciously stepped closer to her disciple, her hands curling into fists at some point without her noticing.
Time trickled by second by second. A deep blue light flickered in Zhao Xuanzhen's pupils. His torso did not move in the slightest, as still as a sculpture. Spirit power flowed into his fingers and guided the engraving knife through the finishing strokes, his rhythm perfectly unchanged from beginning to end.
Clang—
The last line was carved. He blew away the fine metal shavings lodged in the grooves, and a trace of exhaustion flashed through his eyes before vanishing just as quickly. He looked up at Leng Yaozhu, and relief showed in his smile.
"Teacher."
Spirit power poured slowly into the Purple Iron, and the metal burst out with a startling violet radiance. A one-foot beam of light rose straight upward without the slightest waver, every line of the formation shining with clear, translucent purple.
"First-rank spirit circuit core formation, 'Explosion.' Successfully completed."
Leng Yaozhu only needed a single glance to reach her verdict. "Xuanzhen, you're already a quasi-1-star Rank Mecha Manufacturer."
Because one only truly began touching advanced Battle Armor technology at 3-star Rank in a secondary profession, the early stages of Mecha Design, Mecha Manufacturing, and Mecha Mechanics were all evaluated by the standards of Spirit Guidance Devices.
Leng Yaozhu had spent the day teaching Mecha Design and Mecha Manufacturing. Mecha Design could not produce visible results in a single class, but Mecha Manufacturing could. For Zhao Xuanzhen to learn how to engrave a first-rank core formation in just one day was proof enough of how extraordinary his talent was.
Years of cultivating Daoist arts had made his mind far steadier than that of his peers. On top of that, he possessed two innate advantages. His True Self Martial Spirit encompassed both the brain and the eyes, and his spiritual power had already broken through to the Spirit Connection Realm.
Most core formations failed because of tiny errors during inscription. Zhao Xuanzhen, however, would almost never make such mistakes. All he needed was to memorize the structure of a core formation, use his spiritual power to render the metal as a three-dimensional image in his mind, and then reproduce it on the real thing one-to-one.
A born engraving prodigy!
Zhao Xuanzhen moved through the sea of knowledge with ease. The Auspicious Spirit Capybara beside him, by stark comparison, was suffering miserably.
Three minutes into flipping through a book, Capy-capy's eyes had already entered that state of absolute empty clarity that came only from total mental shutdown.
No wonder the 100,000-year spirit beasts of Star Dou Forest had never tried to copy humans and learn Battle Armor. This was simply not something beasts were meant to study!
Even an Auspicious Beast with absurdly high intelligence found it beyond comprehension. For those muscle-brained bruisers, it would be harder than ascending to heaven!
After reading all day, the Auspicious Spirit Capybara looked utterly lifeless, as though it had been thoroughly bullied by knowledge and stripped of every ounce of strength and every possible means of resistance.
Capy-capy status: alive, barely.
"It seems interest really is the best teacher."
Leng Yaozhu's lips slowly curved upward. "Becoming a quasi-1-star Rank Mecha Manufacturer in a single day also has something to do with your early exposure to Spirit Guidance Device theory. You memorized those basic spirit circuit core formations long ago."
Zhao Xuanzhen chuckled. He hailed from a land of competitive grinders. Studying ahead was a faith engraved into the very bones!
Wait. Something about that feels wrong...
His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and horror flashed across his face. He had always gone to the Spirit Pagoda archives alone. How did Leng Yaozhu know exactly what he had borrowed?!
Leng Yaozhu looked as though she could read minds. With a smile that was not quite a smile, she said in a voice rich with implication:
"I got curious last night and checked your borrowing records."
How was that any different from checking his browser history?!
A chill ran through Zhao Xuanzhen as if someone had yanked his loincloth off in the middle of the street. It was entirely the Spirit Pagoda's fault for keeping such highly questionable books in its collection!
"That's enough for today. Class dismissed."
Leng Yaozhu understood the art of leaving things unsaid perfectly well. She continued with an easy smile, "Let's take a walk through Shrek City tonight. After all, this should be the last evening you'll be able to enjoy for a while. I've arranged a very full schedule for the next few years.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, you'll study Mecha Design and Mecha Manufacturing. Afternoons, you'll go to the Spirit Ascension Platform to temper your practical combat ability. An Assault Spirit Master must always put battle training first.
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I've found you a Titled Douluo from the Spirit Pagoda. He'll teach you Mecha Mechanics in the Illusory Mirror Space on the seventy-eighth floor.
Sunday..."
"Day off?" Zhao Xuanzhen answered at once.
"In your dreams. Etiquette class."
The sight of his frozen expression drew a satisfied smile from Leng Yaozhu. "You'll get half a day off each week."
A person always had to choose between two things: the sweat of the strong, or the tears of the weak.
And so the food chain was forged in full. Leng Yaozhu squeezed Zhao Xuanzhen, and Zhao Xuanzhen squeezed the Auspicious Spirit Capybara!
...
Douluo Continent. Shrek City.
Shrek City had a long and storied history. Twenty thousand years it had stood without falling, and within the Sun-Moon Federation, it held a political and economic status of the highest importance.
The Sun-Moon Federation now stood in a four-way balance of power. Aside from the Federation's War God Temple in Bright City, the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda, the Tang Sect, and Shrek Academy were all located in Shrek City.
Three superpowers jointly guarding a single city was a situation without precedent in all of history. The reason it had come to pass was one man: Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, founder of the Spirit Pagoda, reviver of the Tang Sect, and legendary figure of Shrek Academy.
Huo Yuhao's original intention had been for the three great powers to coexist in peace and work together for the betterment of the Spirit Master world. Yet over ten thousand years of shifting seas and changing fields, many things had slipped beyond his control.
Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect remained as close as ever. Each occupied half of the inner city, and the upper echelons of both maintained deep ties. The Spirit Pagoda, however, had drifted apart. It now stood at the edge of Shrek City, facing from afar the towering wall that sealed off Star Dou Forest.
Moonlight filtered through thin clouds and cast down a clear, gentle glow. A cool breeze stirred the warm streetlamps lining Shrek City's long avenues and brushed a rosy tint across the faces of passersby.
Two figures emerged from the crowd and instantly seized countless gazes.
The woman was tall and exquisitely curved, her crimson hair swaying in the wind, her red lips carrying an easy smile. She was so beautiful it bordered on the unreal. The youth beside her was handsome and refined, with eyes black as lacquer that seemed to reflect both cloud-shadow and sky-light.
One older, one younger, both absurdly good-looking. Their rate of drawing second glances easily surpassed ninety percent. The thoughts of the people around them varied wildly. Some guessed they were siblings. Others suspected mother and son...
She already has a child...
Hehe. That only makes her better!
The street they were walking was called Phoenix Street, and it belonged to the Phoenix Group.
Just like the Tang Sect's Dazzling Era Tang Sect Corporation, the great families of the Spirit Pagoda were far from satisfied with the enormous profits brought in by Spirit Soul sales alone. One after another, they had backed the creation of family-run consortiums. The ancestors of the Leng Clan had founded Phoenix Group, run by professional managers while the Leng Clan sat back and collected money.
Shrek City was a massive cake. The Spirit Pagoda's families had originally held quite a few businesses within it, but as relations between the two great powers gradually soured, those ventures withdrew to other cities one by one. In the end, Phoenix Street stood alone as the last survivor.
Every so often, Leng Yaozhu would bring Zhao Xuanzhen to stroll through Phoenix Street and various other corners of Shrek City. Sometimes they bought things that caught their eye. More often, they simply walked. From time to time, a trace of reminiscence would surface in her gaze.
Across both his lifetimes combined, the most streets Zhao Xuanzhen had ever walked were undoubtedly in Leng Yaozhu's company. After all, he was the consummate 'teacher's precious boy,' responsible for accompanying her the entire time and, at the proper moments, offering a bright, earnest smile of approval for whatever had caught her interest.
"Grilled sausages! Three federation coins each, two for five!"
"Chicken giblets! Fifteen federation coins a pound! Buy one pound, get half a pound free!"
Vendors crowded both sides of Phoenix Street, their cries rising one after another without pause. The goods on display were dazzling in their variety, though food stalls made up the lion's share. Most were plainly doing business aimed at Shrek Academy students.
Master and disciple walked, stopped, and walked again. Then a small figure caught Zhao Xuanzhen's eye.
Lamplight fell over the girl's silver hair and set it gleaming like a silver moon, impossible to ignore. And she truly was beautiful to an almost excessive degree, with silver hair, silver eyes, and delicate features that looked as though they had been carved from jade.
The silver-haired girl wandered aimlessly until a fragrant smell rushed into her nose. Her large silver eyes lit up at once. In two or three quick steps she darted to the chicken giblet stall, tilted her head up at the sign reading 'fifteen a pound, buy one get half free,' and asked in a bright, clear voice:
"Hello, boss! I'm not buying. Can you give me the free half pound?"
"Whose kid is this?! Hurry up and take her away!"
Zhao Xuanzhen swore he wasn't laughing. His teeth were simply a little warm and wanted to come out for some air.
Flatly rejected by the stall owner, the silver-haired girl puffed out her cheeks and rubbed her empty stomach with one small hand.
Grrrgle—
There was no mocking that one. Her belly had genuinely just thundered!
We're both halves, so why did she inherit the earth-shattering wisdom while I got stuck with the bottomless appetite?!
Indignation flooded the silver-haired girl's heart. Her eyes locked at once onto the boy nearby whose front teeth gleamed white in the lamplight, and she declared with a face full of righteous grievance:
"Funny, is it? All I see is one poor little girl with a tough life."
"Boss, chicken giblets."
Zhao Xuanzhen held out thirty federation coins.
"Thank you! May you be happy every day and have everything go your way!"
The girl had zero backbone. The instant three pounds of chicken giblets landed in her arms, she broke into a radiant smile and began devouring them with single-minded gusto.
Thirty federation coins was pocket lint to Zhao Xuanzhen, whose allowance ran to seven figures. Leng Yaozhu did not care either, and the two of them continued on their way.
The girl clutched the bag of chicken giblets and ate with abandon. Then her gaze shifted, and she caught sight of an ancient tree by the roadside. In the center of its trunk, a demonic eye had split horrifyingly open, its stare cold enough to chill the bones!
All thought of filling her stomach vanished. The silver-haired girl recognized who had come for her and broke into a sprint.
Abnormal growths rippled through the trees lining both sides of the street. One eerie eye after another surfaced from the bark. Yet in the instant before the hidden pursuer could strike, the girl had already closed the distance to Zhao Xuanzhen and Leng Yaozhu. A flicker of unwillingness passed through the watching eyes, and the trees returned to normal.
"Little girl, you're here again. Where are your parents?" Leng Yaozhu asked, looking down at the silver-haired girl.
That fellow seemed to have given up the chase and withdrawn. The girl breathed a long sigh of relief at her narrow escape. "I'm an orphan, big sister. Could you tell me where the nearest orphanage is? I want to ask if they'll take me in."
"The nearest orphanage is three streets away." Leng Yaozhu's voice softened. "Have you awakened your Martial Spirit?
Once you've awakened, you don't necessarily need an orphanage. Sects across the continent are more than willing to raise Spirit Masters from a young age. The prerequisite, of course, is having innate spirit power."
"I have! I have!"
The silver-haired girl nodded like a chick pecking at grain. Light flashed, and a silver spear materialized in her hand, its length exceeding two feet. Fine, even dragon scales covered the slender shaft from end to end.
"Hmm?"
Zhao Xuanzhen instinctively leaned back. That dragon spear looked far too familiar!
"What's your name?"
"Na Er!"
Grateful to the kind soul who had bought her chicken giblets, the silver-haired girl reported her name without the slightest hesitation.
So it really is her!
That merciless little chicken-giblet-devouring machine really was Na Er!
Zhao Xuanzhen had not recognized her at first, because this Na Er differed somewhat from the Na Er in his memories.
The Na Er that Tang Wulin had found in Glorybound City had been Gu Yuena after an accident during her transformation, with silver hair and purple eyes. Only later had Gu Yuena split into two. The silver-haired, silver-eyed Na Er, and the black-haired, black-eyed Gu Yue.
So the girl standing before him now was half of the Silver Dragon King, Na Er!
What a heaven-sent fortune!
Fate truly was like an unannounced storm. Those without umbrellas could never escape it, and those who longed to stand in the rain could never seem to find it.
Compared to the tempest of thoughts inside Zhao Xuanzhen's head, Leng Yaozhu's reaction was far simpler. The aura of that Silver Dragon Spear was extraordinarily majestic. It had to be a top-level Martial Spirit. And the spirit power Na Er had just released was unmistakably Innate Full Spirit Power!
"Teacher, Na Er's talent is excellent. We should bring her back to the Spirit Pagoda."
Zhao Xuanzhen made the suggestion at once. When opportunity fell into your lap, letting it slip away would be a crime. No matter where Na Er was placed, nowhere would be as reliable as keeping her close.
The Spirit Pagoda already cultivated talented Spirit Masters as a matter of course, and Leng Yaozhu had been thinking along the same lines. She looked at Na Er and asked, "Na Er, would you like to come with us and become a member of the Spirit Pagoda?"
The little face scrunched up in thought for a moment before Na Er asked with great care:
"Do you provide food?"
"Room and board included, plus three thousand federation coins a month," Zhao Xuanzhen answered smoothly.
"Yes, yes, yes! Spirit Pagoda is number one under heaven!"
One adult and two children vanished into the night as they headed back toward the Spirit Pagoda. Not long after their departure, a young man and woman came walking from the distance.
The young man was handsome, his bearing refined and quietly reserved. He appeared about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and his aura was so restrained he could have passed for an ordinary person.
The woman at his side wore a water-green dress and held his arm with a bright, gentle smile. Her exquisite face was pure and elegant, and soft life energy radiated from her body, making her seem like a goddess of nature whom others could not help but feel drawn to.
"Ming-ge, why did you suddenly want to walk through Shrek City?"
"A spatial fluctuation appeared for just an instant, then quickly settled again. Nothing seems to have come of it. Perhaps I was overthinking."
…
Star Dou Forest.
Colossal trees rose on every side near the nearly dried-up Lake of Life. A sinister young man knelt on one knee before it, his expression dark.
"Boss, I failed.
A spatial rift sent her into Shrek City. Too many Titled Douluo are stationed in that place. She's already come into contact with a powerhouse who is at least a Super Douluo. I didn't dare clash with them directly."
"Then we've only found half of our Lord!"
Golden light flashed in the black dragon's eyes. It spread its claw, and a young girl floated quietly above its palm.
An accident had struck when their Lord transformed. She had split into two separate figures and been swept away by spatial rifts. The black dragon had chosen to pursue the half with the stronger power, while the young man, relying on the division and assimilation abilities unique to plant-type spirit beasts, had infiltrated Shrek City to chase the other.
"Pay her no mind. That thirty percent of power will return to me sooner or later."
The young girl's voice drifted like mist. "Within the spatial rift, I caught its aura, somewhere in the east of Douluo Continent...
Once I have stabilized the injuries from the splitting of my soul, I will personally make a move..."