Returning to the villa, Xue Chang couldn't help but sigh at the unproductive day.
While he had Lou Lan and Lou Ning stay with him due to a misunderstanding at first, now they had genuinely interested him.
Not only did they have something great like water essence, but they even had something on them that Yong Heng was interested in.
In any other situation, he would be stressing over how to obtain it from them. He didn't like the idea of stealing it so his only option left was to buy it.
But he was extremely poor, what could he possibly use as compensation for the objects?
The answer was the only thing he had an abundance of. And coincidently enough, it was the exact same thing they needed.
Earth fire!
Xue Chang hadn't told them his offer yet, but now that he knew what he needed to do then things might become easier.
Although he wasn't sure why Yong Heng was so interested in the moonlit jade, even he felt something was special about it.
The jade was valuable in itself, but he could see something strange about its aura.
It was a pearly white that trickled from the statue fluidly, like a stream of a river.
But within the flow, he could see something else inside of it. Another aura, much darker and more sinister than the outer layer.
Stepping up to the front door of his house, he grabbed the handle and slowly opened it up. What meant him was a room lit alight with a lamp hanging in the corner of the room.
Unlike the desolate, empty rooms that encompassed the house before, now all types of decors and appliance enclosed the area.
Elegant granite tables, soft cushioned chairs, well crafted marble counters, and all types of other things decorated the house.
"Hmm, the workers did a good job in transporting our items over. I didn't expect them to help us set up everything though."
Lou Ning quickly placed Lou Lan down on the couch they now had nearby.
Now with time to rest and actually chat, Xue Chang figured it was a good time to question Lou Ning again.
"I just don't get it. If Lou Lan already had water essence, then why would he want earth fire? There's no order in which one practices with elemental energy."
Lou Ning wrapped Lou Lan tightly in a blanket, giving him the appearance of a butterfly within a cocoon.
"Its not like its a big secret. My cousin can be said to be a type of genius, I'm sure you've probably noticed by now but we have a very special background. Both him and I are part of the Immortal Lou Clan, i Lou Ning and he Lou Lan are the first people within our bloodline who had ever practiced cultivation before."
Xue Chang's brows furrowed in surprise and worry. He wasn't surprised from the fact that they were from the Lou Clan but from the second half of the revelation. They were the first people in their respective bloodline to ever walk the oath of cultivation... just like he and Xue Hai were supposed to be.
He never really thought of it before, but how can such powerful and large families like theirs only ever produce a couple of cultivators. Even normal mortal families had better chances than the did. Xue Chang felt that something was wrong but he couldn't piece it together.
"But our story doesn't end there," explaining a bit about their clan and about the sect behind them, Lou Ning finally told Xue Chang about Lou Lan's unique cultivation technique. "Dragonfish Ascension, it is only suitable for people with a very specific body type. Lou Lan is not like other people, he can in fact train two elements at a time instead of one. While this doesn't seem very impressive, it allows him to train much quicker than others and in the early stages especially he is almost invincible. Unfortunately he can't train one without training the other at the same time."
"So you mean his chosen elements are fire and water?"
Lou Ning nodded in affirmation, "Dragonfish Ascension is a special technique that allows one to spend half the time while doubling the effect of one's training. Your speed in cultivation is basically doubled, but only when training with elemental energy of water and fire. That's why we needed the elemental energies so badly."
Xue Chang nodded and asked a couple more questions to satisfy his curiosity. Apparently, although they were considered important personnels to the clan, they were still to be tested.
their test was to currently find a way to obtain their own resources and get to the first or second level as a minimum before they can return to the clan. They could not use their family influence to obtain these resources however.
The cousins believed that if they obtained enough resources to get Lou Lan to the order level at least, they could get their clan to help them purchase more resources.
now the puzzle pieces connected together. With his father's previous words and the actions of these two people, Xue Chang finally understood everything.
"But now we have no hope. We've lost our chance at obtaining any earth fire. And we certainly don't have enough money to purchase some when the guild officially begins to sell their supplies." Collapsing onto the couch set up behind her, Lou Ning threw her head back and let off a long sigh.
But before she could fall into lamentation over her own situation, Xue Chang stepped up to her and gave off a small grin, "I think I have an offer for you!"
________
"How the hell..." Lou Lan, who had just woken up a few minutes prior, stood within the hidden basement of Xue Chang's house. He was completely frozen in shock with an expression of disbelief covering his face.
Before him were several stone barrels filled to the brim with bubbling red liquid. Heat radiated from the top of these barrels, as rich elemental energy surged within the air.
"Th-this is-!"
"Condensed earth fire." Xue Chang finished off Lou Lan's sentence for him with a slight smile building at the corner of his lips. Taking a basin sitting on a bench nearby, he dipped it into the barrel and scooped up a bowl full of earth fire.
Holding it up toward Lou Lan, Xue Chang stared into the other party's eyes as he awaited a response.
"So all you want is some of my water essence and the jade, and you'll provide me with earth fire to practice with right?"
"Pretty much."
Lou Lan couldn't help laugh at all of the difficulties he had before when searching for earth fire. If he knew that Xue Chang had access to so much earth fire before, he wouldn't have wasted so much time.
"You really are a cruel business man you know that? Coming up when all my other options have run out..."
"So, deal or no deal?"
"Of course it's a deal. Cheers to our new relationship!"
"And to future business deals hopefully."
Lou Lan took the basin from Xue Chang grinning to himself the entire time. They laughed together in the basements while Xue Chang took the vial of Water essence from Lou Lan's hand.
From an outside perspective, they almost appeared like friends exchanging cups of brotherhood.