Chapter 96
Invincible?

Chu Shen faced the four men while three of them walked forward slowly, leaving the one with the bow at a distance. Bringing out his hammer, the three men brought out their own weapons. Two were armed with swords while another with a spear.

Slowly they circled around Chu Shen. Everyone’s body shields appeared simultaneously, like an invisible signal was given. “Why are you attacking me? I did you no wrong.” Chu Shen asked, while facing the one in front of him.

The man grinned. “Well, I may not have a grudge with you, but someone want’s that knowledge you have. All we are doing is collecting a paycheck. Don’t worry though, we won’t kill you. Come along quietly. There is no shame for a Level 3 Martial Practitioner facing four Level 10 Martial Practitioners to surrender.”

Chu Shen did not reply but merely hefted his hammer in response. The man sighed. “Oh well, I didn’t think it would work anyways. Okay boys, we go with the first formation.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, an arrow streaked towards Chu Shen. Hurriedly bringing up his hammer, Chu Shen knocked the hammer away. But unfortunately, the attack was merely a distraction.

A wall of energy suddenly appeared between the front man and man beside him. Quickly glancing around, Chu Shen realized he was in a triangle shaped cage of energy that came to a dome, closing off all routes of escape.

The man smiled at him sadistically. “Alright then, I would surrender now. You have no chance of escaping.”

“Hey! Aren’t you supposed to capture me too?” A voice called out. Everyone’s heads swiveled towards the source of the voice. Everyone could see Lucas as he stepped out of the forest and faced the captured Chu Shen.

“That’s the mortal servant. Take care of him, alive if you can.” The man who had been speaking to Chu Shen gestured towards the archer. The archer nodded and immediately lifted his bow, launching an arrow towards Lucas.

The arrow hit Lucas, flying right through him. His image distorted and then reappeared five yards away. “Come on now, you missed. Try again~.”

The archer immediately became incensed and started launching arrow after arrow. Five, ten, thirty, forty. Not a single one of his arrows actually touched Lucas.

The archer, who was at first blinded by rage, broke out into cold sweat. He had cooled off by now and realized something was off. This kid was so fast that he couldn’t even see him move. This boy was dangerous.

While the archer started trying to think, Lucas stood there watching him. “Can’t hit me?” Lucas asked. “Well if you can’t, then how about I hit you?” Lucas held up a palm. Suddenly, a beam of silver-blue energy erupted from his palm.

The beam was like several lightning bolts tangled together and shot towards the archer. Face immediately paling at the immense power he could sense, he immediately tried to dodge but unfortunately, the beam was too fast. It was already upon him before he could think.

Circulating his Qi, the archer strengthened his shield as much as possible. Unfortunately, he did not have a melee weapon to help block the attack so he had to take it on with his hands.

The lightning beam struck the archer, launching him backwards. The beam continuing striking the archer. His body shield flared up for a second before dimming and disappearing. The archer immediately screamed as the lightning beam cut through his body without resistance.

His body convulsed, his skin burning from the massive amount of energy coursing through him. A five inch hole was burned through his arm and chest. The archer was dead without a doubt.

“Huh. Guess he was just a bit too weak.” Lucas said, looking a bit disappointed. The three men were stunned by the sudden death of their companion, but they were jolted out of their shock by Lucas’ word.

“Don’t move. If you do then we will kill your friend here.” The man said. To emphasize his point, the barriers surrounding Chu Shen immediately shrunk. “We can crush him with the barrier with a single thought.”

Lucas held up a finger and shook it. “Uh uh uh. You shouldn’t do that.”

The man laughed. “And why wouldn’t I-” Immediately his head burst into a mist of blood as Chu Shen’s hammer passed through the barrier and his body shield like a hot knife through butter.

Of course Chu Shen was never captured. He just wanted to give Lucas a chance to test his toys. “Come on Lucas, let’s get this over with.”

Lucas sighed. “Well, we could give them a fighting chance you know? I still need to test out my toys.”

Chu Shen glared at him. Lucas shrugged. “All right fine.”

The two shocked companions had already started to escape. Lucas raised his hand up before suddenly bringing it down. Immediately three other beams of lightning shot out from right behind the two fleeing companions. They died, writhing in pain from the lightning.

Lucas smiled. “Well, it’s too bad the Beast Core Drones have only one shot but they are very powerful”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah. You seem to be invincible so long as they don’t see the holo-drone. Using the other drones to make it seem like you are shooting it from you palm was genius.”

Lucas grinned at the compliment. “Well, we should get on our way. Mind bringing out the jetpack so I can control it?”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Not yet, we need to check their bodies for loot.” He went over and started to check the corpses. They didn’t have a whole lot, they were from a small branch of the Black Rose Guild anyways. As a matter of fact, the only spatial ring was on the leaders body.

Lucas sighed. “They were really too poor. Anways, lets go.”

1. N/a

Chapter 95
Confrontation

“So when are we going to fly again?” Lucas asked. Currently Chu Shen was carrying his braincase under his arm. The jetpack was still stored inside his spatial ring for some reason.

“Well we still need to get far enough away so they won’t detect us from the city. There are some true powerhouses there and if we are not far enough it could spell disaster. Now shut up, there’s a caravan coming.”

They waited while the large procession of wagons, guards, and merchants passed by. The animals that pulled the wagons looked like horses with scales and horns.

They were Lizard Horses, famed for their stamina and defense though their attack and speed were questionable. These traits made them the best for pulling carriages such as these.

After they passed Lucas started talking again. “So why am I not using the Holo-Drone again? It can fly you know since I don’t feel like being carried.”

“Because, what will people think of a metal flying ball? To most you might be a wondrous artifact, something that others would kill us for. And yes I know it has an invisibility mode and we already proved that I can’t see it.”

“However, we can’t guarantee that the invisibility will hold up against someone with a higher level cultivation. If they see you then, once again, it will spell disaster. Especially since they will be stronger than me.”

“Well, I think with my new toys I should be able to take care of one or two stronger martial artists.”

“This is our lives we are talking about. We can’t take such risks. Until you can prove the trustworthiness of the invisibility cloak, or it is a life and death situation, we cannot take the chance.”

“Humph. With such a sub-standard fabber, I can’t make a better cloaking system. We need to make another fabber but the materials just aren’t available without extensive searching using the mineral scanner.”

“Sorry Lucas, you are going to have to wait. We are already pushing our luck the way it is.”

“Fine.”

Meanwhile, the four man group from the Black Rose Guild followed behind them. They were mounted on Lizard Horses. While Lizard Horses were not fast or agile in combat, it was still true they were one of the best long distance mounts there was for land. All of the real elites used flying mounts.

Slowly they closed in on Chu Shen and Lucas. Soon they reached a distance of about two miles from the city. Chu Shen took out the jetpack and put Lucas in it. “Alright then Lucas, you ready to go?”

“You bet.”

As Chu Shen started to strap it on, he felt a disturbance in the force. Ahem, Qi. Reacting immediately, Chu Shen jumped backwards. An arrow streaked past him, sinking into the ground like a hot knife through butter.

Cold sweat dripped off of his forehead. Luckily he felt the Qi surging towards him otherwise he would have been hit by the arrow. He jumped into the forest nearby. It was a good thing he did too.

Four Lizard Horses reached the spot he jumped off the road within ten seconds him jumping. One of the men on the horses held a bow in his hand. The man was frowning.

“They said he was a Martial Student. No way am I buying that, no student could have sensed my arrow, let alone dodged it.”

One of the other men sighed and scratched his head. “Well, if the arrow had hit his leg like we planned, he wouldn’t have been able to flee. Seems like we need to hunt him down now. What a bother.”

The man was promptly hit upside the head by the first person who spoke. “Oh shut up. We’re getting paid for this, so do your job! Now, let’s go. Let the horses follow from a distance so they don’t get in the way. He shouldn’t have fled too far.”

Suddenly the man frowned. “Hmm. It seems like our prey isn’t that timid. Get ready boys, he scanned us so I know where he is now.” The man rubbed his hands. “Looks like this isn’t going to take as long as you thought eh?” He elbowed the second man who spoke.

“Yeah, it’s better this way otherwise it’s too much of a hassle.”

When the four men rode their horses up, Chu Shen immediately frowned. Pulling out the Holo-Drone, along with four tube-shaped objects, Chu Shen loaded Lucas’ braincase into the drone.

“Alright Lucas, you ready?”

The drone floated up a bit with only a soft blue glow along with the four tubes. “Yep. How do I look?” When he said that, a blue light shot out and seemed to scan all of them. Suddenly they disappeared from his sight.

“Great job. Now are you ready?” Chu Shen asked. Then Lucas appeared in front of him, looking the exact same as he did before he had self-destructed.

Lucas nodded. “Yep, I’m ready.”

“Good now I am going to use my spiritual sense to determine how strong they are before we fight. Be ready because they will immediately be able to find me. Tell me quick, are there any open areas nearby?”

“Yes. There is one without any animals around. But why don’t you want to fight them on the road?”

“Because if we do then some caravans may become involved. There would be too many complications. Of course if we are outclassed by them, running until I can put the jetpack on while you distract them is the best course of action.”

“Okay then, I trust your judgement. Anyways, I can get you to the clearing anytime your ready.”

Excellent. I’m scanning them now. Get ready to guide me to the clearing.” Upon scanning them Chu Shen nodded. “All four of them are Level four Martial Practitioners. Troublesome, but not enough to put us in dire straights.”

“Good.” Lucas disappeared into thin air while Chu Shen ran towards the clearing, small balls of light guiding him to the clearing. Chu Shen could hear other martial artists following him.

Reaching the clearing, Chu Shen ran to the other side before then turning around. Reaching his right hand up his left hands sleeve, Chu Shen seemed to fiddling with something. Right as he finished, they appeared.

The Black Rose Guild.

1. N/a

Chapter 94
Lucas Revives

Chu Shen was quite busy forging for a month. Originally Chu Shen thought that having ten gold was a lot but apparently not. For someone who could forge a Grade 5 weapon in a half hour, it was child’s play to earn such money.

The master smith had been shocked at having a hundred gold and commented how it took half a year to make that amount. The gold Chu Shen earned in this month was over two hundred gold alone. As for the reason, it was simple. Chu Shen was an artificer.

A smith has to buy the materials and then forge the weapon. Afterwards it needs to be inscribed otherwise it can only be considered a trashy weapon and not a true weapon. Because of this a smith has to split the profit 50-50 with the inscriptionist, not to mention the cost for it.

Considering all this, if a weapon sells for 80 silver, which is how much a Low-Tier Grade 5 weapon costs, the smith would be lucky to have made a profit of 30 or even 20 silver. Truly artificing is a noble profession.

Chu Shen forged for five hours everyday. Using these five hours he would sell ten weapons making 800 silver or 8 gold everyday. Using 1 gold to replenish his materials, Chu Shen would be able to forge for the next day.

Chu Shen also spent another two hours using the library that the Four Treasures Shop allowed him authority. Since his tablets authority outweighed his true ability, some of the books were far out of his understanding. His abilities soared as he learned.

But as the saying goes, you learn more walking a thousand miles than reading a thousand books. Chu Shen spent another two hours experimenting and applying the theories that he learned from the library, using another gold to buy materials. But he was able to earn it back from the products he made.

Next he talked with Lucas for an hour, since he said he was bored. Finally Chu Shen used another hour to cultivate. With this, Chu Shen was busy for eleven hours straight. Truly working from tirelessly. With this, Chu Shen earned over 210 gold.

While Chu Shen enjoyed this leisurely lifestyle, others cursed at him for doing so.

The Black Rose Guild had successfully sent a group of four to track down and capture Chu Shen. All of them were peak Martial Practitioners being at level 10. They were one of the elite squads and were considered quite good at such a low level branch of the Black Rose Guild.

Once they arrived, they bought some room at an inn. “Come one, we need to capture that boy right away.” One of the men stood up like he was going to go looking for him right now.

“Sit down you!” One of the other men grabbed him and hauled him back into his chair. “We have eyes on him in the city. Until he leaves we cannot attack him inside the city, otherwise we will be smacking the city lord’s face and our Black Rose Guild would not be able to protect us. Wait until he is outside the city, then we strike.”

The man who was pulled back into his chair huffed. “Fine. It is an accurate assessment but if this takes longer than half a month I am leaving.”

One of the other men who had not spoken yet rolled his eyes. “You always were impatient. How about you use this time to cultivate?”

“Nah, I would rather kill something. I need action.” The impulsive man sighed. “Unfortunately there really is nothing here. I hope that Chu Shen leaves the city soon.”

Meanwhile, Chu Shen exited the Four Treasure Shop’s main business center. He walked out rubbing his spatial ring. “I got all the materials Lucas told me he needed. I can’t wait to find out what he made his body like this time.”

Chu Shen walked into his house at the Black Night Sect. Taking out Lucas from the spatial ring, he placed his braincase on the bed. “So Chu Shen, you came home early. Why?”

He shrugged. “Well I finally gathered all those materials you needed. I think it’s time to make that body you were talking about.”

“Yeah. That will be great. Now bring out the fabber and start loading up the materials according to the schematics.”

Chu Shen did as Lucas said. The materials were only a very small portion of the overall materials that he had bought. Looking curiously, Chu Shen waited for the fabber to finish.

Upon looking at the finished product, he immediately became confused. It was a fairly large box with a circular dent in the top. Looking around for a bit, Chu Shen found that was all that was truly there.

“What is this thing Lucas? I thought you wanted a body?”

Lucas sighed. “Well, in order to make synthetic skin, I need some very specific materials. Unfortunately, you don’t have them since you guys don’t need polyvinyl, polyethylene, and other plastic products.”
“So I made this, a mineral scanner. You should be able to find the unrefined products in the wild and transport them here. With that I will be able to walk around like a person and not some metallic monster.”

Chu Shen nodded. Of course this made sense. In order to make synthetic skin, such plastic materials were needed but plastic was not used by martial artists since only modern factories actually used them

“So what do I need to do?”

“All you need to do is activate this thing and carry it with you when you fly. I will come with you to manage the software and also to activate the jetpack. So don’t fret, it won’t take that long.”

“Besides that, I have a couple other things I need you to make for me. You did agree to it. So go ahead and load it inside the fabber.”

Chu Shen sighed and started working. Grumbling, he muttered under his breath. “I’m not a slave. When you get out, i’m going to repay you back so much for this.”

The next day, Chu Shen departed from the city. Inside the inn, the brash man from the Black Rose Guild was sleeping soundly. All of a sudden, he was rudely shoved out of bed.

Jumping up, the man grabbed his sword from the stand. “Who dares to treat me lik-”

“Give it a rest. Come on we need to move out.” One of the other men stood in front of him, glaring at the man harshly.

“The prey is leaving the city.”

1. N/a

Chapter 93
Impressing Them

The Four Treasure Shop. A prestigious shop made up of masters of various crafts that sells materials for inscriptions, alchemy, and forging. Then there is the section for Martial Artists where all of the finished products made by their craftsmen are sold.

Those who were geniuses in the paths that supported the martial way were highly valued by the shop. The reason for this was naturally profit. By finding and nurturing young geniuses, obviously they would have a loyal crafter later.

Chu Shen was not a stranger to the Four Treasures Shop. As a matter of fact, he bought materials from them when he lived back in the mercenary city. Of course, that was only a branch shop. By coincidence, the main branch was actually located here. It was of course because Wildent was the third largest city.

The master smith and Chu Shen walked into the store. Upon entering a beautiful female attendant immediately approached them, smiling. “Hello honored customer. What may I do for you?”

The master smith took out an iron tablet with writing inscribed on it. “I, Huaga Osna, request for this young man to be tested as an artificer using my authority as an iron level smith of the Four Treasure Shop.”

The attendant was stunned for a second before adopting a serious look on her face. Glancing at Chu Shen for a moment, she then turned to face the master smith Huaga Osna.

“As an iron level smith, being above a copper and bronze members, you may request this. I will take the boy to the artificer exam area. Meanwhile, please remain here until the exam is done.”

Osna bowed his head in acknowledgment. Turning to Chu Shen he patted him on the back. “Good luck boy. Try your best on the exam, hold nothing back. The better your weapon, the better your treatment.”

Chu Shen nodded and followed the attendant. She lead him to the back and knocked on a door. “Come in.” They walked into the room. Facing them was a wrinkly old man behind a desk.

The attendant bowed to the“Iron level smith Huaga Osna has request this boy be tested as an artificer. Please allow him to take the test.” The wrinkled old man looked at Chu Shen and nodded his head.

“For one so young requesting to be tested as an artificer, I wonder how far you will go. Come here young one.” Chu Shen approached the old man. When he did, the old man pulsed Qi through his body.

“Hmm. Your bone does not lie. You are thirteen, very young to be testing as an artificer. If you pass it will show your potential and even if you don’t, to be a Martial Practitioner at such a young age means you are a once in a century genius. Go, take him to the practice arena.”

Bowing, the attendant left and took Chu Shen to another area. Here another attendant took over while the first one left for the shop area. Chu Shen was lead to a forge.

“If you have any materials you need to forge, ask me now. You must pay for any materials after the trial but if you can forge a good sword the Four Treasure Shop will buy it, allowing you to pay us back this way.”

“Thank you. Can you get me the inscription ink for five tries of the [Channelling Inscription], [Hardening Inscription] and a [Burst Inscription] also get me a…..” Chu Shen started to immediately list different metals he need along with the amounts he needed. Finally Chu Shen needed some special wood for the fuel.

The attendant merely listened while Chu Shen listed these materials but inwardly he was shocked that such a young boy was so professional. Normally only experienced smiths could rattle materials off like that.

“Let me go get the materials for you.” The attendant left but within five minutes he was back. He had none of the materials in his hands. While Chu Shen was a bit confused as to where they were, the attendant took the materials out of a spatial ring he wore.

“I will stay here to assess your forging process and to assist you if need be. Please start forging.”

Chu Shen nodded and placed the wood under the forge. Lighting up the wood, he waited until it reached a good temperature. Placing the ores on it, Chu Shen started melting them down. As he waited, Chu Shen took out a crystal. It had a strangely cold aura to it.

The crystal was foggy and gave off a kind of mist around it. Using the hammer that came with the forge, Chu Shen smashed the crystal into dust. Ice formed on the edge of the hammer. Smashing the ice by pounding the hammer on the edge of the table, Chu Shen put the crystal dust into a jade box.

Continuing with the forging now that the materials were starting to soften, he pounded the metal, driving out the impurities. Chu Shen then brought out the crystal dust and poured it into the liquid metal. Mixing the materials together, Chu Shen ensured an even mixture. He had some problems since the materials started to cool from the dust but placing it back into the forge fixed that real quick.

Next, he poured the blended metal into a cast. He had to wait for it to cool but it did not take long because of the crystal dust. Taking it out of the container, Chu Shen sharpened the sword against a grindstone. Normally he didn’t do this but to ensure the highest quality sword it was a must.

Taking out the inscription bottles, Chu Shen started to inscribe. Normally such normal inscriptions would take less than ten minutes. But this was no ordinary inscriptions. Chu Shen had practiced this before but modifying inscriptions still took longer.

After thirty minutes, the sword was done. Unlike the normal silver look steel swords had, it looked like diamonds had been encrusted on the blade. It glittered with crystalline brilliance. It gave off a cold Qi and the edge flashed, making it seem deadly.

The attendant bowed. “That was a masterful performance. It seems you are no ordinary forger. Let us take the sword to the elder. He will be able to evaluate it.”

Soon they stood in front of the elder. The elder held the sword up. Channelling Qi into it and using his spiritual sense to inspect everything in detail. Placing the sword down, the elder looked at Chu Shen in shock.

“Son, may you explain exactly what the sword is and what it’s effects are. I wish to know how the maker would describe such a sword.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Well I used several different materials which I am sure you know from looking at it. But they most significant was using Frost Crystal to give it a slight ice attribute.”

“I gave it three inscriptions. I used a hardening, channelling, and burst inscription. All three are basic inscriptions but I modified the channelling and burst inscriptions.”

“The Frost Crystal has the ability to turn Martial Qi that is channelled through it into frost Qi. Granted the frost Qi is fairly weak. But the longer you channel Qi through the Frost Crystal, the stronger the frost Qi becomes.”

“As you know the burst inscription stores Qi and then unleashes it in one blow. I modified it so that the stored Qi will continuously flow throughout the entire sword using the channeling inscription.”

“Upon martial Qi being channelled into the sword, the frost Qi will then be stored back inside the burst inscription allowing you to utilize a burst of intense frost Qi.”

“The longer it is since you used the burst inscription, the more terrifying the blow. Though it is a one use weapon and needs at least ten minutes to be truly effective.”

The elder nodded at the words Chu Shen said. “Truly a good sword. I see you did not forge a sheath for it though?”

Chu Shen looked at it, then nodded a bit sheepishly. “I kind of forget about that.”

The elder smiled at Chu Shen. “It seems like you still need some experience. In order to preserve the Frost Ore you need to have a sheath. It will also need nourishment of ice attribute treasures in order to keep its attributes.”

“Honestly all that is necessary is to dip the sword into liquid ice, a material readily available that we can line a sheath with. Besides that, I would say the sword is a masterpiece.”

“It can be considered as a Low-Tier Martial Weapon Grade 10. It could even be considered as a Grade 1 Mid-Tier weapon but the nourishing aspect of the sword brings it down slightly.”

The elder then pulled out a steel tablet. Inscribed on it was the characters for Artificer Five Star below that was the number 13 and Chu Shen’s name. Artificers were ranked upon the inscriptions they could place on artifacts and the inscriptions upon the effects they could bring.

A five star inscription was suitable for Mid-Rank artifacts. Chu Shen looked at the tablet before looking back up at the elder. “To be honest, you should have only gotten a Bronze tablet and a four star inscription based on your skills. However, you are young and your future limitless.”

“As a result I deem you worthy of a Steel rank tablet. The tablet is your identification for the Four Treasures Shop. It will give you a thirty percent off all of our merchandise, the ability to use our forges for free, and finally the ability to request and accept missions from us.”

“Be warned that you will need to provide a reward if you do request a mission. As for the downsides. All we request is that you forge one Low-Tier weapon at the 4th grade or better each month along with selling all weapons you forge to us. Don’t worry, we will give you a fair price. We will also provide a salary for you. How does ten gold sound per month?”

Chu Shen was slightly shocked. He had heard from the master smith they treated their crafters well but the treatment was truly great. Ten gold a month for exclusive selling rights and one sword a month? Truly joining a big organization was a good idea.

With this, he should be able to make Lucas as good as new within a month! Chu Shen cupped his hands and bowed to the elder. “Thank you kind sir. I will not forget your magnanimity.”

The elder waved his hand. “No it is my pleasure to accept someone so talented into our Four Treasure Shop. With this, we should soon have a seven or even eight star artificer within ten years. You said it was Huaga Osna that recommended you? Well, tell him he will receive a hundred gold as payment for finding a genius like you.”

Chu Shen thanked them a couple more times before going out into the shop. There the master smith waited anxiously. Upon seeing Chu Shen he rushed up to him. “So how did it go? What kind of weapon did you forge?”

“I forged a Grade 10 Low-Tier Martial Weapon.” Chu Shen said proudly, puffing his chest up a little bit.

The master smith grinned. “Great news, great news. Show me your tablet, quickly!”

Chu Shen brought out the steel tablet. Immediately the master smith was shocked. “They gave you a steel one! I only have an Iron tablet, ranked one below yours. Ugh. If I was as young as you and forged as good as I do now I bet I could have gotten a silver tablet.”

“Ah, to envy youth is a privilege of the old. It is only too bad I did not have your talent. Luckily I discovered you.”

Chu Shen then told the master smith that he would be receiving a hundred gold as payment for recommending Chu Shen to the Four Treasure Shop. Immediately Huaga Osna became overjoyed! His shop earned that much money in half a year. To receive that much now was a great blessing!

Chu Shen then quietly departed for their forge, intending to start making a sheath for the sword and then more swords to earn money for Lucas.

1. N/a

Chapter 92
Forging Again

“Okay, here’s your money. Now remember that you have used up your three chances to hunt here for the month. Don’t come here until next month.” The guard kindly reminded Chu Shen.

Chu Shen, who had small rips and patches of dust on his robe nodded at the guard. “Thanks, see you next month then.” With the courtesies done, Chu Shen left for his house. Once there, he changed into some cleaner clothes

“Alright, now I need to find a local forge. I should be able to rent some time there. Wait, first I need to buy the inscription ink and the materials to forge. I should be able to forge some basic swords, sabres, and a couple shields.”

Chu Shen nodded. Now that he had his plan, he just needed to execute it. Heading out, Chu Shen bought the necessary materials and asked for directions to a nearby forge.

Walking in, Chu Shen found the attendant. “Uh excuse me?”

The attendant looked up at him, blinking in confusion. “Yes? What is it?”

“Well I was wondering, this is a forge right?”

“Yes, it is. We accept custom orders if you wish to do so.”

“No. Actually, I wanted to know if I could borrow your forge so I can make some weapons.”

The attendant blinked rapidly for a second. “I…….. I’m not sure what to do. I think I need to talk to the master smith before I can make this decision. Give me a moment while I find him.”

The attendant walked through a door leading to a closed end of the shop. When the door opened Chu Shen could hear the faint ding of metal hitting metal and the shop noticeably heated up a couple degrees.

After a couple seconds, a huge man stepped into the shop, ducking to avoid hitting the doorway. The man was had his clothes covered in ash, presumably from the forge.

“So, who wants to use my forge!” The man boomed out. Chu Shen raised his hand. The man looked at him for a second before laughing. He laughed so hard that tears came out. Chu Shen only stared it him.

The man wiped a tear away. “Huh. So it’s just a brat. And I thought I might be able to hire a new forger. Go on then, leave. I don’t need an assistant right now.”

“No. I can forge artifacts all by myself. I can forge Low-Tier Martial artifacts fairly proficiently.” Chu Shen stated indignantly.

“Oh? Someone as young as you boasts about forging Low-Tier Martial artifacts? Does that mean you are an artificer?” The man said. As he did became more serious. An artificer was just too rare. If this kid truly was an artificer then he couldn’t offend him.

“Of course I can.” Chu Shen said imperiously. So many people had been arrogant and looked down upon him for so long, Chu Shen was fed up with it. Now it was his turn to be arrogant.

After a second though, Chu Shen seemed to deflate. It made him so mad when others acted arrogant. If he started doing it, didn’t that make him no better than them? Sighing, Chu Shen shrugged. No use thinking too deeply.
The man meanwhile had studied Chu Shen. Reaching out, he grabbed Chu Shen’s hand. They had slight callouses, though they were very faint. The man nodded. Seemed as though this kid did have some experience with wielding a hammer.

“Alright. I hope you can sympathize with me when I tell you that I can’t believe your story without proof. If I believed everyone that said the things you do, I would be considered a fool. So prove yourself.”

“I can give you an hour on an unused forge. If you can make a Low-Tier Martial weapon like you said, I will let you use the forge for free. But if you can’t or you damage my forge, I need you to pay me instead.”

Chu Shen nodded. It was a fair deal. If he had expected the master smith to trust such an unbelievable claim of talent without a shred of proof than all that would have proven was that the master smith was indeed a fool. “Alright, just lead me to the forge. I brought my own materials.”

The master smith nodded. “Alright. The assistant here will help you in the forge so that you aren’t distracted. You, lead this young man to forge nine. If I remember correctly, the blacksmith is taking leave for cultivation.”

The attendant who had followed the master smith back looked around for a second before pointing at himself. The man rolled his eyes. “Yes you, now go help this kid.”

The attendant didn’t say anything, only gesturing for Chu Shen to follow him. Chu Shen followed the attendant. There was a large open hall. Smoke was everywhere though most of it was billowing through the large holes on the ceiling. Obviously they were chimneys for ventilation.

The sounds of forging surrounded Chu Shen, putting him at ease. He had spent a majority of his life forging so these sounds were like a soothing lullaby to him.

Chu Shen was lead to an open room. Inside was the forge and some tools that were laid off to the side. The attendant took up a seat outside the forge while Chu Shen started laying out the materials he needed to forge. He then started mixing together the inscription ink.

Both him and the attendant said nothing about him not helping. Honestly it was Chu Shen’s way of giving face and being tactful. The real reason the attendant was here was to personally witness Chu Shen forging. Otherwise, what if Chu Shen just pretended to forge and brought out a weapon that he had bought previously?

Chu Shen started to forge, placing the metals together. Then using his Qi to manipulate the fire, he assured the even melting of the materials. Pounding out the impurities, Chu Shen repeated the steps several times. Pouring out the purified metal into the cast, Chu Shen waited for it too cool off.

Placing the finished sword on a table, Chu Shen then started the inscription process. The inscription was a simple [Burst Inscription] that stored Qi that the user could unleash all at once. Chu Shen succeeded on his first try, considering it was an inscription that he had used many times. He also used the [Hardening Inscription] to increase the sword’s durability.

As Chu Shen held up the sword to inspect it, the attendant started clapping. “I am impressed. I have seen many blacksmiths as adept as you at forging, but many were already past their prime. It is inspiring to see such talent in one so young.”

Chu Shen nodded in recognition of the praise. “Well I have been forging for a long time so it is no big surprise that I can forge so good.”

“Either way it is an achievement to be proud off. Let us go see the master smith to validate the bet.”

“Yes, let’s go.” Chu Shen found the master smith pounding away on a spear. They waited for a while and soon he put the spear in water and then left it to cool. Turning, the man expressed surprise when he saw Chu Shen.

“What? What is it boy? It’s been barely over a half hour. You can’t be quitting already?” The man cocked his head, obviously questioning Chu Shen.

Chu Shen shook his head in denial. “Quite the opposite. I am already done with the forging. Here, can you inspect this sword I forged?” The attendant held the sword in his hand and gave it the master smith upon Chu Shen’s prompting.

The smith looked at it, inspecting it very closely with his eyes and spiritual sense. Qi surged into it as he inspected the inscriptions. Sighing, the smith placed the sword beside the cooling spear. Turning to Chu Shen he sighed.

“I admit, you are a great forger. Your foundations are very solid. The sword has had all the materials spread evenly throughout the entire sword ensuring there are no weak points along with there being almost no impurities.”

“Not to mention that the inscriptions have no error and match the sword exactly. Truly worthy of an artificer. If I had to rank this sword, I would say it is a Grade 3 Low-Tier Martial Weapon.”

“May I ask though, have you joined any other factions as an artificer?” Chu Shen was startled at the question before shaking his head. “Good. I have joined the Four Materials Shop. For someone with as much potential as you, they will certainly treat you well.”

Chu Shen thought about it for a second. “What kind of benefits would I receive?”

The master smith shook his head. “I don’t know. It depends upon your age, cultivation, and the best quality artifact you can make. But I know for me, I can receive 30% off on all materials along with being able to make requests. All I need to do is forge ten swords that can be turned into High-Tier Martial Weapons. And I am just a blacksmith, without being an artificer.”

Chu Shen realized, wasn’t this exactly what he needed? He needed to practice his classical forging and inscriptions, he also needed to gather the materials needed for Lucas to be reborn. Depending upon the benefits and restrictions, this should be exactly what he needed

“I will join the Four Materials Shop.”

“Okay, come with me. I will take you to join them.”

1. N/a

Chapter 91
Hunting Again

Chu Shen stretched. Sitting in one place for two long was a bit concerning. Counting the days, Chu Shen realized he had been meditating for a whole week. Surprisingly though, he didn’t feel very hungry. After he experienced Master Ti Wu’s ‘training’, he had thought that he would have been starving.

After thinking for a bit, Chu Shen realized the difference. Before, Chu Shen was using up his Qi as a replacement for food but his Qi ran out since he couldn’t replenish it while he was training. But when he meditated, he needed to replenish his Qi, resulting in his him having a surplus of Qi.

Chu Shen sighed. Bringing out Lucas he set his braincase on the bed. “So Lucas, how is the body going?”

“Well it’s nice to know i’m remembered every once in awhile. You didn’t talk to me for THREE WEEKS! Do you have any idea how bored i’ve been? I created over fifty different body designs. FIFTY! I even started working on weaponry designs based off that book on resources you gave me!”

Chu Shen rolled his eyes, though Lucas’ bare bones braincase wouldn’t be able to pick the motion up. “I’m sorry Lucas. I needed to cultivate and I’ve been busy for a while. I was training with Master Ti Wu for two weeks and then I cultivated for a week straight. I didn’t have a lot of downtime to chat.”

“Fine, I guess you were busy with important stuff. More important than me. No hard feelings.”

“Lucaasssss.” Chu Shen whined. “You know i’m just trying this for you. Here’s what I plan to do. I ran out of money buying beast cores to breakthrough fast. So I am going to go hunting for some beasts to earn some money. Once I have enough, I plan to start forging and selling inscripted weapons. I can earn money fast with that, enough to buy the materials for your body.”

Chu Shen looked expectantly at Lucas’ braincase. There was an awkward pause as Lucas digested this. Finally, Lucas replied. “Alright, I agree with your plan. But how about you make me a couple things as well as the body. Consider it an apology.”

Chu Shen pumped his fist in the air. “Alright! So do you want to go back into the spatial ring? Or I can leave you in the house?”

“Any other options? I’m getting really bored in here.”

“No, none that I can think of.”

“Fine. I need to pick which model to go with anyways.” Lucas disappeared inside Chu Shen’s spatial ring. Chu Shen departed for the Chu Sect to find someone to recommend him a good place to hunt.

As it turns out, the Black Night Sect actually had a hunting ground at the edge of the sect where they raised Primordial Beasts. Anyone could enter, but any beast cores or pelts must be sold to the Black Night Sect and the price they were bought at was 10% less than they would go for outside the sect.

Normally this would make it less visited but to the sect disciples this was a blessing. The reason for that was they could trade in contribution points instead of money which could be exchanged for items and training areas.

To the sect this was a bonus since they could reap materials at a lower cost. It also helped train the disciples in combat. To everyone involved it was a win-win. Except those who were from outside the sect. Which was exactly why Chu Shen was mad.

“I can enter but only three times a month! And each time can only be three days at a time!? This is totally awful! But at least they told me the strongest Primordial Beast is a Class 6 beast. With that I should be able to use my spiritual sense.”

Chu Shen grumbled about all the restrictions that were placed on him when he entered. But he supposed they made sense. Only letting people enter 9 days a month restricted people so that they couldn’t over hunt the primordial beasts, even if the ones they chose repopulated quickly.

Chu Shen learned all of this after he asked the guards that managed this forest. The forest was divided into sections, with each one having an array to keep them separated. They would separate the beasts according to Class and they would restrict the cultivation level to also prevent the slaughter of beasts.

Arrays are costly to make and the result was that the highest rank Primordial Beast they could keep was a Class 8 beast. Otherwise the price would be astronomical to keep the array working.

Sending out his Spiritual Sense, Chu Shen started hunting. He was now a Martial Practitioner, the equivalent of a class 5 beast. With the highest class beast being a class 6, Chu Shen didn’t fear being found out since he could still run away from a beast at that power level.

Other cultivators could sense it when they were scanned by spiritual sense. The reason for this is that a person uses their soul to ‘perceive’ the world around them. Other cultivators could sense this using their own soul.

But if the difference in strength was too much, then they could mask their own cultivation. They could also track down those who scanned them with spiritual sense.

Chu Shen hunted for a while. Using his spiritual sense, he scanned a couple hundred meters in front of him. When he did though, Chu Shen heard a loud ROAR echo out from in front of him. All the birds within a mile took flight.

Chu Shen immediately took off running in the opposite direction. Behind him, the Cracking of trees could be heard. As Chu Shen disappeared, a large white ape could be seen running through the forest.

Opening it’s mouth, a beam of white energy shot towards Chu Shen. When that white beam shot out, the surrounding temperature immediately dropped. The very air froze around the beam, ice crystals appearing as the water in the air froze. It even started snowing.

The beam struck Chu Shen. However, the beam only seemed to disappear into the gray energy that coated his body. Seeing this, the apes eyes turned bloodshot.

ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR

Letting out an ear splitting roar, the ape charged after Chu Shen. It was surprisingly fast for it’s size. Chu Shen was barely able to keep in front of it. The ape kept launching beams of white light at him but Chu Shen was able to block them all with minimum effort.

As a matter of fact, with each strike Chu Shen would have a burst of speed, slightly increasing the distance. Finally the ape let out a Huff that leveled a tree. With that, the ape departed into the forest.

Chu Shen let out a sigh of relief. That was a close one. If the ape had pursued him for another half-hour, he would have run out of Qi. Of course, if the ape kept on firing those ice Qi beams at him, then he would have been fine. The passive absorption of the major meridian helped a lot as well.

It had already pursued him for over three hours during which Chu Shen had to defend against constant attacks while using Comet Travels Through and Stars Dance to their highest level. The expenditure of Qi was boggling.

Chu Shen cursed the ape for making him waste so much time. It was truly unfortunate he encountered the class 6 Arctic Ape. He used a couple Qi replenishing pills to replenish a bit of energy before continuing his hunting.

Meanwhile, the Black Rose Guild had started using its connections to track Chu Shen. It would take a month and a half of travel in order for the Black Rose Guild to receive the bird’s message, gather a team for the mission, and then send them to the branch office located at Wildent.

However, half that time had already passed. Chu Shen didn’t know it, but he was running out of time.

1. N/a

Chapter 90
Breakthrough

Chu Shen sat down in a lotus position. Taking out the ten beast cores he had bought, he prepared to start breaking through. He thought back on what Master Ti Wu had explained why Void constitutions were superior to all others.

In order to explain that, one must understand the cultivation process of those with other types of innate constitutions. For this explanation, Master Ti Wu had used fire constitutions as an example.

Those with a fire constitution only had to absorb fire Qi in order to advance their cultivation. They didn’t need to grow their souls since they could control their Qi without worry about a cultivation deviation, just like Chu Shen.

But it was also true they could only absorb fire Qi.The reason for this was that their body would reject any other kind of Qi. If they tried absorbing other types, it would either cause them tremendous pain.

However, people with these kinds of constitutions were both lucky and unlucky. There was always two edges to a blade. While it was true that they only had to absorb Qi that was related to their element, they also had to have increasingly stronger sources. As their body became stronger, it needed a stronger and more pure source.

For example, those at the mortal realm would easily advance when they cultivate around campfires or a candle-rich environments. However, upon breaking through they would need to find a better source like a hot spring.

Later on they would need to find volcanoes or other sources rich with natural fire Qi. Eventually even places like this would not be sufficient and they would need to find abnormal places with extreme fire. And these abnormal places would be quite dangerous, only the lucky would survive.

However, those with a Void constitution are favored greatly by the heavens. Maybe it was a result of having all of the elements, including their opposites, in one form that resulted in such a heaven-defying ability.

It was all because null Qi has the unique characteristic of being able to absorb and convert all kinds of Qi. Because of this unique feature, it surpasses all other forms of constitution. Whereas others have to search for places with extremes of their elements, those with Void Constitution only have to absorb and convert regular Qi around them.

If others knew about this they would cough up blood in shame. They had pay terrible prices to cultivate but these Void users can just cultivate like normal? No, it would be more accurate to say that all they have to do is absorb energy to cultivate. They don’t even have to go through hardship to grow their soul!

Truly a heaven defying ability. The only reason why Chu Shen wasn’t cultivating like mad was so that he could temper himself with others the same power level as him.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have enough combat experience, unlike those wily foxes who clawed their way to the top. With this Chu Shen was able to feel the dangers of death and improve his battle sense. Otherwise if the two were on even terms or even if Chu Shen only had a slight advantage, he would lose because of being outwitted and outmaneuvered.

Chu Shen started to cultivate. Circulating his Qi, he also reached his soul out to ‘grab’ Qi. Qi flooded into his dantian. Using this Qi he started directing it towards the many minor meridians located at his pores.

In order to advance to the Martial Student stage, one needed to unblock the outer meridians, which was a collection of minor meridians right under the skin.

Each tiny meridian, which numbered in the billions, was a channel that let Chu Shen’s soul out into the world to absorb Qi. It was also how Chu Shen was able to release Qi.

Each successive breakthrough would lead to an increase of Qi that could flow into or out of the body at one time and also how much could be stored inside the meridians. This led to each level increasing the amount of power one could unleash at one time and also how many times one could unleash such a move.

Chu Shen started using his Qi to unblock the meridians, pushing past and expelling the impurities located inside the meridians. It took a long time to go to each cluster of minor meridians and break through it. With one swift swoop, he broke through to level 5. As he broke through, thick stinky black slime was exuded from all of his pores.

Repeating the process he broke to level 6, then level 7. However, Chu Shen sense his stamina fading. He didn’t have enough Qi to continue this breakneck speed. Chu Shen had been conserving as much energy as possible by passively absorbing Qi to slow down the expenditure of Qi.

But the rate of Qi being used far exceeded that of Qi absorbed. He just couldn’t split his attention, or rather soul, to breakthrough and absorb Qi. Sighing, Chu Shen stopped just as he finished breaking through to level 7. He opened his eyes and looked at the beast cores surrounding him.

Chu Shen reached out his hand, covered in gray Qi. Beast cores looked like glowing crystal orbs, emitting soft glows that were different colors based upon their attribute.

Upon Chu Shen’s energy coated hand touching the beast core, the energy moved, covering the beast core in gray energy. When that happened, the gray Qi started pulsing with energy. With each pulse, the gray Qi started getting brighter and the beast core became dimmer.

After a while, the beast core became a dull, see through crystal orb. Chu Shen, who looked a little pale from Qi exhaustion, regained his color. Sighing again, Chu Shen closed his eyes and started the breakthrough process again.

The beast core he just absorbed helped him regain about 70% of his energy, enough to continue breaking through. Continuing, Chu Shen managed to breakthrough to level 8. However, now his Qi reserves were down to 12%.

Each time he broke through he would gain a surge of Qi, but this surge of Qi was miniscule compared to what his capacity was with each breakthrough. Not to mention that the energy needed to break through increased exponentially.

Chu Shen absorbed two beast cores on the same level as the one he had absorbed before. But whereas the first one increased energy by about 50%, the two combined only filled him up by 80%, increasing his Qi reserves to 92%! That was a reduction of 10%!

Using this energy, Chu Shen broke through to level 10. Upon reaching this stage he had his Qi at about 7%! This massive reduction in Qi, even when he had absorbed two beast cores, showed the amount of energy needed to clear his meridians.

Chu Shen absorbed the other five beast cores that he had placed around him. His Qi reserves increased from his 7%, to 51%. He still had to breakthrough to become a Martial Practitioner.

Chu Shen was in no hurry though. His breakthroughs had taken him about two days to complete. What was a couple more hours compared to that? Chu Shen was patient and slowly absorbed Qi from the surrounding area.

The Black Night Sect had a fairly large concentration of energy, making it easier to replenish his energy. With the millions of minor meridians absorbing Qi like a sponge, Chu Shen was able to replenish his Qi by the beginning of the third day.

Taking a deep breath, Chu Shen prepared to propel himself to the Martial Practitioner stage. In order to break through such a stage, he needed to open up a major meridian.

The body had 7 major meridians. The were located in the right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm, head, heart, and dantian. Chu Shen sent his Qi forth to the meridian on his left leg, like a seething wave smashing against a dam it hit the meridian.

The meridians impurities however, did not break. Chu Shen did not become discouraged, he could sense it move slightly. Repeatedly bashing into the impurities, Chu Shen worked at the meridian.

He lost track of just how many times he smashed into that meridian. But it eventually broke. When it did, Chu Shen felt a new surge of Qi come into his body. This surge nourished his dantian, causing it to expand slightly. However, it was not as much as he had expected.

At the same time, Chu Shen realized there was an issue with this new channel for Qi. He could sense a great energy just outside his reach and that what he received so far was just a trickle.

It was the same as digging out a channel leading to a lake. Chu Shen already had one channel from the outer meridians connecting the lake, which was his body. But this new channel, even if it was dug, passed by the lake and all he received was what seeped through.

Chu Shen needed to force this channel to connect to his body otherwise he could not use his soul to gather energy from this channel. It would mean that although he had taken the first step into this new realm, he could not be considered a true Martial Practitioner.

Chu Shen started using his soul to drag this channel in the right direction. Unknown to him, a long time passed by as he concentrated whole heartedly on syncing his meridians together.

Eventually though, Chu Shen succeeded. With that, the major meridian successfully linked up with his internal meridians. Immediately a huge surge of Qi came gushing in, just like a river that has become cleared of blockages.

Chu Shen manipulated that energy towards his dantian. When it reached the dantian it filled up to the brim, overflowing with Qi. With a bang, the Dantian suddenly expanded. It became twice as big as it was now. The Qi in his body turned from a big pond to a small lake all at once.

Chu Shen sent his soul along the open pathway. He basked in this open feeling, like he could fly. His soul started to change, becoming…..stronger. It was an adaptation triggered by the opening of his major meridians, even if it was only the first step.

If before his soul was like a hand, dragging and manipulating Qi from the outside, it now became a multi-purpose machine. Chu Shen was able to sense Qi outside his body. He could sense the cultivation level of the people in the cabins around him.

Obviously, this was the spiritual sense that his father spoke of. The reason why cultivators could sense everything around them. Another change that occurred was the major meridian turned into a whirlpool, absorbing energy.

Chu Shen could feel the Qi he could unleash had increased. Trying it out, he formed a simple sphere of Qi in front of him. Frowning, Chu Shen stared at it for a second before coming to a conclusion.

Apparently the major meridians also allowed you to unleash Qi, but there was an issue. The major meridians passively absorbed Qi. He couldn’t stop it, at all. So when he wanted to send out Qi, he had to force his way through, like a boat traveling upstream.

Compared to the minor meridians, it was a major disadvantage. Obviously Chu Shen would not be able to massively increase his output of Qi. But every time he advanced, it strengthened his body, including the meridians.

Because of that, his body and meridians would be able to handle more Qi, letting him unleash more. As a result, he wasn’t too worried about this minor setback. Chu Shen was, however, overjoyed with another aspect of the meridians.

Because of his soul being able to go so far from his body, about 500 meters, Chu Shen could control Qi and create structures from that distance. With that, his range of combat expanded far beyond that he had before. He could send his Qi as projectiles for a thousand meters though he lost fine control if it went beyond 500 meters.

Chu Shen let out a sigh. The breakthrough process was finally over, now he had to clean off all these filthy impurities. Putting his hands on his knees, Chu Shen went to stand up. As he did though, he fell over.

Making a helpless face, Chu Shen just laid there. ‘Seriously! I thought Cultivators didn’t have to worry about their muscles falling asleep!’

1. N/a

Chapter 89
Spies

In the outer disciples courtyards, all was silent. Suddenly, a door on the house on the far edge of the courtyard burst open. Chu Shen came out, looking very ragged. His stomach let out a loud growl.

Stumbling, he exited the building. “Food…..I need……foood.” Chu Shen gasped. He quickly ran to the east side of town, leaving the sect for some of the local shops outside. Chu Shen remembered a couple restaurants that he had passed by when he went to the sect.

Slowing himself down, he noticed some very curious glances cast his way. Looking down, he saw that he still had on his clothes covered in dust from his travels. Chu Shen shrugged. He was just hungry. After all, for two weeks he had been fighting the pillar warriors with the only downtime being when he slept.

Calming himself, he stepped inside the restaurant. Looking at his rather poor clothes, he had to prove that he had money before they gave him a table. Chu Shen ate like a beast, ravenously devouring everything.

Finishing with his rather large meal, Chu Shen left for the local shops. Using up the last of his gold, Chu Shen set out for some of the other local stores to start preparing for his breakthrough.

“Get out! You! Get out of my store you filthy beggar!” Chu Shen was sent flying out of the store, landing in a heap on the side of the road. Dusting himself off he glared at the store manager.

“I have the money, you saw that. So why did you throw me out?” Chu Shen asked a little angry now.

The store manager glared back. “Because you dare ask for ten percent off! I should have known from those dusty clothes of yours. Trying to save some money for yourself. Humph! If I had a servant like you, I would have fired you a long time ago.”

“What! But you didn’t even give me chance to explain why I wanted ten percent off! It’s because I have a medallion from the Black Night Sect that gives me ten percent off on the stores they manage.”

The store manager only snorted. “Like I would believe an urchin like you would actually have a medallion like that. Get out of my sights you, you, you…..oh.” The manager, who was at first bellowing out loud suddenly stopped, staring at Chu Shen who had a black medallion glistening in his palm.

The manager looked at it for a second before glancing back at Chu Shen. “I am so sorry sir. If you had just shown that to begin with, none of that would have happened. Here, let me give you a hand. Please come in.”

Many of the people who had stopped to watch this show chuckled at the man’s misfortune. If Chu Shen became displeased and reported this manager’s behavior to the Black Night Sect, then he would undoubtedly be fired.

However, while Chu Shen was escorted in by the nervous manager of the store, he did not notice a couple of more covetous glances that were shot towards him. The manager of the Black Rose Guild highly valued the crafter he had. As a result, he sent out reward posters to many of the surrounding towns.

Wildent, as a very large city, was also included in this area. It only took some time to get here since the distance was very large and they didn’t have jetpacks.

Chu Shen received a new fancy pair of clothes more befitting him from the manager. He also received a twenty percent off the beast cores from the manager. Chu Shen could have bought more with the money he earned but he decided not to punish the manager.

The manager was only kicking out what he thought was a presumptuous customer, though the insults was pretty rude. It wasn’t enough to be vindictive and make him suffer too big a loss.

Chu Shen bought only what he had planned to begin with. Going to a few more stores he bought a couple more stuff including some medicinal pills. He was received a lot more graciously now that he had on some better clothes.

Traveling back to the Black Night Sect, he failed to notice the man that followed him. Once he walked into the sect, the man who was trailing him stopped. Even he did not dare try and enter the sect without permission.

The man quickly departed, heading for the Black Rose Guilds branch located in the city. Soon after, a messenger bird departed from the guild with a scroll attached to its back. The man also left, a couple gold pieces richer.

Chu Shen, however, remained ignorant to the troubles he was in. He headed back to his house, not really paying attention. Just as he put his hand on the door to walk in, a voice called out.

“Hey! Who are you exactly!? This is the residences for the outer sect disciples!” Chu Shen turned around. A kid around his age stood there glaring at Chu Shen. “I know all the outer disciples and you’re not one of them.”

Chu Shen sighed. ‘I have had enough with arrogant people. First the restaurant, then the shop, and now this. Argh!’

He turned to the kid. “I have permission from one of the elders to use this residence.”

The kid looked at him for a second before holding a hand out. Chu Shen looked at it for a second in confusion. “What. What do you want.”

The kid rolled his eyes. “I need to see your guest pass otherwise, how am I supposed to believe you were invited by an elder to stay here.”

Chu Shen nodded in understanding but internally he was screaming at the kid. Why did he have to make things difficult when Chu Shen just wanted to meditate in peace? Come on, give me some peace kid!

Chu Shen brought out the guest pass. The kid looked at it before nodding. “Okay so I guess you can stay in the Black Night Sect. But you still haven’t proven you have permission to stay here.”

Chu Shen then brought out the token given to him by the elder. The kid sighed and finally acquiesced. “Alright, I suppose your story isn’t too far fetched. Go on, I won’t stop you now.”

Suddenly one of the doors to the other houses opened, revealing a young man. “Stop making things difficult for others Cang Ming! You don’t even have any authority here!”

Cang Ming turned around and started arguing with him. “What do you mean I don’t have any authority! I have plenty auth……”

Their voices faded as Chu Shen just ignored them and walked into his cabin, shutting the door firmly behind him. The soundproof array made sure none of their voices reached him.

Chu Shen sighed. He slid down the door and just sat on the floor, resting. But his slump didn’t last long before an eager gleam appeared in his eye.

“Alright, it’s time to make a breakthrough.”

1. N/a

Chapter 88
Meeting the Leg Destroyer

Upon entering the sect, Chu Shen was taken to a fairly luxurious house. Inside he met the man who destroyed Lucas’ leg. The man dismissed the guard, who bowed and left for her post.

The man looked at him for a second. “I am sorry for what happened to your…… odd friend. So what can I do to make up for it young one.”

“Well, I just need a place to cultivate in peace for a while. Do you think that would be sufficient?” Chu Shen inquired.

The man laughed. “And here I was worried you would ask for some weapons or something. I am glad I did not meet someone greedy. As for arranging for a place you can cultivate peacefully, I can do that. I am one of the elders of the outer sect. I will have one of the guards show you to the house you asked for.”

The man tossed him a black medallion. “This is a guest medallion. With it, you can enter the sect but you won’t access to any cultivation resources. However, you will receive a ten percent discount on the stores we manage. The will have a sign with the Night character beside their door.”

Chu Shen bowed. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Take it as me thanking you for helping clear an inner demon.” The man called for a guard, who lead Chu Shen out to the nearby forest. At the edge was a series of small cabins.

“These are the cabins for the outer sect disciples. Your cabin is on the edge over there. If any of them bother you, show them the medallion from Lin Qun, the sect elder you met. No problems should arise if you do so.”

Chu Shen cupped his hands and bowed before heading off to his cabin. Closing the door he sighed. Taking out the jetpack, he removed Lucas’ braincase from it and set it down on the bed.

“So Chu Shen, can you take out the fabber? I was in the middle of designing my body with it.”

Chu Shen shook his head. “No. The fabber is one of the secrets we need to protect. If someone discovers it, it could have disastrous consequences. Though I doubt they would know what they have it would still be disastrous.”

A sigh came from the speakers. “Oh well, it can’t be helped. How about you put me inside the spatial ring then? I can still use the fabber in there.”

Chu Shen nodded before stopping. “Wait, I was told life couldn’t exist inside spatial rings, so how can you live there?”

“Because I am a cyborg. There is no air or food inside a spatial ring, but I don’t have to worry about that since I am not an organic.”

“Oh, great. See you later then.” Chu Shen put Lucas’ braincase back inside the spatial ring. Sitting down on the bed he decided to take a nap. Tomorrow would be when he started cultivating. For now, he was still a bit sore from the fall earlier and he couldn’t rest when he was flying.

Closing his eyes, he suddenly heard an old man’s voice. “So brat, you finally came to visit eh?”

He shot up like a rocket. He was back inside the cave studded with forging items but now it also had beast cores, technological gadgets, and a couple open martial art books. Master Ti Wu faced him with a smirk.

Chu Shen looked around in confusion. “Wait. I didn’t want to come here, so why am I here?”

“Because I summoned you of course. I need you to get stronger of course. I can’t have you relaxing now.” Ti Wu beckoned him. “Come, I will take you to face the pillar warriors again.”

Chu Shen backed away. “No need. I already passed right? So I don’t need to do it again.”

Ti Wi made a ‘come forth’ gesture and Chu Shen involuntarily flew through the air towards him. Landing at his feet, Ti Wu let out a cold snort. “Of course you are not finished. I need you to pass another couple pillars in order for you to learn more martial arts.”

“Right now, the number of true martial arts you know can be counted on one hand. You should know that a martial art can boost your striking power by a hundred percent, not just let it go farther. You know two defense techniques, two movement techniques, and one attack technique.”

“But the problem arises from this confounded Voids Hand’s rules. I can’t avoid the rules they have and seven is the limit. You passed six columns so you can only choose six techniques from the library, excluding the cultivation technique I gave you to begin with.”

“So in order to learn some more techniques you need to beat some more column warriors. If you can’t do that you can do some trials. We will also start training you in combat experience by having you fight the column warriors until you die.”

Chu Shen backed up a little bit. “Uh master. I am not sure I completely agree with this plan.”

Ti Wu snorted. “Well whether you agree or not is irrelevant. As your master I am telling you that you will go through this trial. Don’t worry, you might suffer a bit but you won’t die. Now hurry up, we have work to do.”

Chu Shen disappeared with a wave of Master Ti Wu’s hand and reappeared in a cave surrounded by nine jade pillars. Ti Wu, on the other hand, appeared outside the pillars.

One of the jade pillars lit up while Ti Wu rubbed his hand in glee. A shadow with a saber and a leather breastplate appeared in front of Chu Shen while a replica of his metal hammer appeared in his hands. It was the shadow from the seventh pillar!

Chu Shen looked at the shadow. Compared to what he remembered it seemed…..different. Like it was more realistic. There was slight differences that he would not have noticed if it had not been the training Grandmaster Qin made him do. He could see slight tension in the shadows arms like it had muscles and wasn’t made of pure energy.

“By the way, I was able to use those lessons you got from that Qin guy to make these pillar warriors actual bodies. They are no longer shadow and are the exact same as a person. So now you training here will not be detrimental to your combat experience but actually helpful.”

Chu Shen shook his head. He finally got done with that workaholic Grandmaster Qin and now he had to deal with the sadistic Master Ti Wu. He really did associate with the wrong teachers.

Ti Wu grinned at Chu Shen which sent chills down his spine. “Luckily you don’t need to eat for a while since you can survive on Qi instead. So get ready, you are not going to leave here for a while.”

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Chapter 87
Entering the Black Night Sect

“So Chu Shen, do you have a plan or are you going to fly around aimlessly?” Lucas asked with the jetpacks speakers. They had taken off less than five minutes ago and so far they were only following the road away from the mercenary city.

“Of course I have a plan.” Chu Shen huffed in exasperation. “I need to buy a map to Wildent and then go see that man who blew off your leg on accident.”

Lucas’ stunned voice shrieked out. “That LUNATIC! No! NO! I still haven’t forgiven him for blowing off my leg, that b*stard!”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Oh it wasn’t that bad. You were able to make another, though it didn’t help much since your body is ashes now. Besides, he promised to help us in repayment for all the trouble and I need a place to breakthrough.”

“Breakthrough to what?”

“To the Martial Practicioner stage of course. I need to become stronger and that is about the most I can delay. With that, I should be able to collect the materials needed to build you an improved body.”

“Alright then. The scanners on this thing are limited to radar and some cameras, so I can tell we are coming up on a town but that’s all. It is fairly large, as big as the one we just left so we should stop here. I’ll let you down not too far so you can walk in.”

“Thanks Lucas.” Chu Shen didn’t have to wait long before the town was in sight. They were among the clouds to avoid detection but the toy like houses were evidence that they didn’t steer wrong.

Lucas started diving for the forest. At first, Chu Shen wasn’t too concerned. At least, not until the forest was less than a hundred feet away with no sign of slowing down.

“LUUUCAAASSS! SLOW DOWN!”

“Hehehe. Don’t worry, your body’s pretty strong, it won’t break from just this. Fortunately I armored the jetpack so it won’t break either.”

“I HATE YOU SO MUCHHHH!” Chu Shen covered himself in Qi and covered his head with his arms. SNAP CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK THUD. He crashed through several trees before landing heavily on the ground.

Chu Shen stumbled to his feet, feeling a bit battered. Groggily shaking his head, he finally stopped seeing spots. Lucas meanwhile, was feeling very ashamed.

“I thought he knew I was joking. Dangit man, why do you have to be so serious! I was going to slow down before we hit the tree line but how was I supposed to know you were going to store me inside the spatial ring before I even got the chance. DANGIT!”

Shaking off the impact, Chu Shen walked into town with a couple dirt marks on his clothes but no worse off than before. Buying the map and a bite to eat, he quickly left the town. He was a bit hesitant, but he still brought out the jetpack.

Unexpectedly, instead of Lucas pulling another prank, he started apologizing fiercely. At first Chu Shen was a bit stunned. It wasn’t until he paid attention to what Lucas was saying that he nodded and agreed with Lucas. Even Lucas knew when to stop a joke so his whole talk about crashing was just his blustering, nothing more.

Sighing, Chu Shen forgave him and quickly started on his way to Wildent city. Two days later they arrived. As they neared the city though, Chu Shen had Lucas bring down the jetpack.

“Why should we set down here, we are still a mile out from the city?” Lucas was puzzled. It was still pretty far, why walk when you could fly?

“Because I heard from the shop I bought the map at that Wildent city is a very prosperous trade town. It is supposed to be the third best city in the entire kingdom.”

“Oh. No wonder there was so many caravans passing by.”

“And with such a big city, there must be a lot of martial artists there. Some of them must be pretty high leveled as well. It would be bad if we were detected so it’s best to be cautious.”

“Okay.” Chu Shen stored Lucas inside the spatial ring and set out. Trekking out of the forest, Chu Shen set off across the road. He wasn’t in a hurry since he didn’t have a time limit. So he strolled off unhurriedly to the city of Wildent.

Upon arriving he went through the gates unchecked. Arriving near a food stand, he bought some kebabs since he had been flying for eight hours. Asking the vendor where the black night sect was, he was directed to the east side of town.

Arriving in front of the gates for the Black Night sect, he looked at it for a second. From what he was told when he asked for directions, this was one of the top sects in the city. The entire eastern section was taken over by the Black Night sect which managed most of the local shops.

As for the actual sect, it was located near the walls and encompassed a great deal of the mountains located near the town. Often towns and sects would locate themselves near forests or mountains.

The reason being that cultivators needed seclusion to breakthrough and these terrains made it easy to become isolated. As a result, the Black Night sect being located on the edge of town was just to have more room for cultivators and to grow resources. Each sect was like a miniature town.

“Hey you! Kid, back away. The Black Night Sect isn’t recruiting today, go home.” The guard yelled from the gates.

Chu Shen cupped his hands. “I’m sorry. I am looking for someone that sent me here.”

“Shoo kid, I’m not here to babysit.” The guard dismissed him with a bored face. However, an elbow jolted slightly. The second guard, a female coincidentally, came over to him.

“What is it sweetie, who are you looking for? You can tell big sis here.” She spoke in a crooning voice. Chu Shen just looked at her for a second before shaking his head. She was offering help, no need to refuse. Even if the source acted a bit weird.

“I don’t know the person’s name but he said to show the guards this and they would know what to do.” He fished out the token that he received from the man who took Lucas’ leg.

The guard only admired the cute thirteen year old Chu Shen’s face at first. That was, until she glimpsed the medallion. It was bronze with the symbol for Night on one end and Lin Qun on the other.

She inhaled sharply. Unexpectedly, this was a medallion belonging to an outer sect elder! She glanced at Chu Shen. So young yet he had such great connections.

“Wait here for a moment. I will go see Lin Qun about your visit. Can I have your name?” She asked politely, no longer speaking in a childish manner. The other guard was a bit puzzled until he saw the medallion. He showed shock at seeing it, but then he became a little nervous.

“He wouldn’t know my name. Just tell him the kids who were on a walk on the mountains are here. He should know who we are from that.”

The guard nodded and ran off. The first guard stood there for a second before coming over to Chu Shen. “Uh, sorry about earlier. If I had known about the medallion I wouldn’t have been so rude.”

Chu Shen nodded. “I understand. Just try and be nicer in the future. It would be bad if you offended someone too powerful because you were rude.”

The guard nodded hastily before returning to his post. It took about ten minutes but the female guard appeared again. “Follow me, he said that he wants to meet you.”

With that, Chu Shen entered the Black Night Sect.

1. N/a

Chapter 86
Skipping Town

“So Lucas, do you really have the materials needed to build a jetpack?” Chu Shen asked Lucas, casting a questioning glance at Lucas.

Lucas rolled his eyes, though it was hard to catch the gesture since his body was a little grainy from the hologram. “Well I was planning on building you one to begin with. I mean, you did say that only high level experts can fly. So a jetpack would be a great way to escape. So I went and bought the materials myself. Took some planning to get the plastic and some specific metals but otherwise easy.”

“The jetpack is using ionic engines to fly so all it needs is electricity to create a stream of ions for propulsion. Otherwise finding some jet fuel would be tricky. Just go to the back and find the chest labeled LZ-9.” Lucas gestured to the back towards the storage room.

In order to organize everything, they would organize everything into wooden chests. The raw materials would be placed inside and labeled. The prosthetics would be labeled as LA-10 for the left arm, RE-1 for the right eye and so forth. This way they only had to bring out the appropriate chest, put the measurements in, and then wait for the fabber to finish.

Chu Shen looked inside the chest, glimpsing some metal ores and a couple vials with liquid contained. Dragging out the chest, he placed the materials into the fabber. It whirred as Lucas brought up a design and it started working.

In less than ten minutes there was a chime. Opening it up, Chu Shen faced a squat cylinder about two feet high and a foot in diameter. It had a blunt tapered end on the top and a circular bottom.

Chu Shen looked at it for a second before looking up at Lucas. “So how am I supposed to wear it?”

Lucas shrugged. “Well, I forgot the harness. Just bring some metal and some cushions.”

Chu Shen quickly collected everything and then put the jetpack. With a simple scan and some programming to put the jetpack as the base, a basic frame was created. It looked like a curved X with the ends connecting to the jetpack. The cushions were put on the inside of the X for comfort and there was a small square on the inside and a circular insert.

Chu Shen pointed to it. “So Lucas, what is that for exactly?”

Lucas smiled. “It’s for the beast core. I used inscription ink and labeled it as ‘decal’ in the machine to create an inscription. The square is for you to carry me. I didn’t really have time to collect the materials for controls so I decided to use myself as an interface. With this I can control the jetpack directly and you can just hang on for the ride. ”

Chu Shen eyed Lucas distrustfully but eventually agreed to the plan. He just didn’t have an alternative. “Okay. Now that it’s done, let’s get going. We need to skip town before the Black Rose Guild sends someone after us.”

Chu Shen hefted the jetpack. Sticking his hands through the holes in the X, he wore it like some weird bookbag. Lucas was frantically waving his arms though. “Hey! Don’t forget me!”

Chu Shen sighed. “Well alright then.” He took off the jetpack. Storing the fabber into his spatial ring, he pulled out a lightning attribute beast core. The circular insert opened up, revealing an inscription. Placing the beast core inside, he saw the light turn red on the top.

Picking up the square box with Lucas’ positronic brain, Chu Shen placed it inside the square and then stored it inside the spatial ring. If he wore it in public, it would bring about too many questions.

Walking outside, Chu Shen swiftly left for the edge of town. Unknown to him though, was the person that followed him through the streets to the edge of town. Soon, he reached the gates of the town. Chu Shen walked towards the forest, intending to take off from there.

He had scarcely gone thirty feet into the forest when Chu Shen sensed a surge of Qi come whistling towards his back. Quickly activating the <Stars Dance> technique, he swiftly dodged the blade of Qi.

Turning around he saw a man dressed in black holding a saber facing him. The man in black pointed his blade towards him. “I am with the Black Rose Guild. Until we can complete the investigation of the death of our four agents, you are to remain in town. Return before I am forced to make you.”

Chu Shen frowned. Unexpectedly, there was a Martial Student that was following him. Granted, he was only Level 7 so it wasn’t a big deal but still. This was going to slow him down.

“I am just leaving to hunt some beast cores down. That is no business of the Black Rose Guild. Let me leave in peace, I don’t have a quarrel with you.” Chu Shen gave the man a way out.

Unfortunately, he did not recognize Mount Tai. “If you won’t go back willingly, then I will make you!” With that, the man dashed forward. Chu Shen reacted instantly and took out his hammer. Both of them became coated with Qi as the fight began. The man’s saber flashed, sending several Qi blades at Chu Shen.

Clearly this person was skilled. The Qi blades were sent in an ever tightening square, closing off any way of retreat for Chu Shen. Unfortunately for the man, Chu Shen had been training with the ‘grandmaster’ for a week in predicting the movements of his opponents.

No matter how fast the man slashed his saber, there would be gaps in the Qi. <Stars Dance> was incredibly well suited to dodging between these small gaps since it was an agility based technique.

The Qi blades soared at him, appearing inescapable. But Chu Shen’s body flickered and the energy seemed to pass through him. Suddenly he disappeared and reappeared right next to the man in black.

Chu Shen had become increasingly proficient in switching between <Comet Travels Through> and <Stars Dance>. Using <Comet Travels Through> to close the distance between him and the opponent was the best way to use the technique which was designed for fast linear movements.

His hammer coated in gray colored Qi, Chu Shen swung it at the man’s chest. The man’s face sank. They were too close and the hammer was too fast. He couldn’t dodge it, only take it head on. The man took consolation in the fact that he would undoubtedly come out on top since his cultivation was greater.

The man heard in the background a kind of high pitched whining, but before he could think too deeply, their weapons clashed. The hammer met the saber, but unexpectedly the Qi coating the saber disappeared upon contact with the Qi on the hammer.

The hammer struck the saber head on, both meeting in a physical clash. The strength of Chu Shen, which was equal to a Level 9 Martial Student, struck the man’s saber. The saber flew out of the man’s hand, splitting the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

At the same time the man spat out a mouthful of blood, his face becoming pale. ‘What the heck is this! This force struck my internal organs without warning! How is it possible that with one blow this person managed to severely injure me! I need to get out of here otherwise, I’ll die.’

With that thought resounding in the man’s head, he turned around and ran towards the city. The man was in such a hurry, he didn’t even wipe the trickle of blood that came from his mouth.

Unfortunately, Chu Shen knew he couldn’t let this man be. This man tried to attack him and was with the same guild that killed Lucas, sort of. Shooting forward, he swung his hammer, increasing the weight of it twenty fold when it was about to hit the man.

With a loud THUD, the man was struck in his back. Folding over almost completely in half, it was obvious that the man took severe damage. The man did not make a sound though and only flew forwards, propelled by the heavy strike into a tree.

Chu Shen swung his hammer, crushing the man’s head before running deeper into the jungle. He brought out his jetpack once he was far enough away. “Lucas we need to go now. The Black Rose Guild was keeping eyes on us though I took care of it.”

Lucas, who no longer had projectors for a hologram, spoke up using the speakers on his positronic brain case. “Okay, let’s go then.” Immediately there was a whining sound from the jetpack. Within ten seconds the jetpack suddenly shot upwards.

“LUUUCAAAASSSS. A WARNING WOULD BE GOOD, OW OW OWWWW!” Chu Shen screamed as the hot ions burned his legs. His Qi covered his body, absorbing the burning hot fuel.

Lucas just cackled over the speakers. “Hehehehe. That never gets old. I guess not going with anti-gravity was a good thing.”

1. N/a