Yasuo and Kofi were sitting inside their room meditating.
Over the past few days, Yasuo had been teaching Kofi how to cultivate his soul force. And with the help of Yasuo's saint-realm elixirs, it was finally possible.
Kofi's soul force burst out from his body. He took a deep breath in as he felt his horizon expand.
(Horizon: Term for the limit of a person's soul force)
"I just made a breakthrough!!" Kofi said excitedly.
Yasuo opened his eyes. He nodded. "Yeah, I felt your energy too. You've made it to Tier 1 Basic Earthly Realm!" ("This guy has almost no potential at all!! He should've made this breakthrough days ago!! I've given him at least ten elixirs by now!!")
Kofi pumped his fists. "Master Yasuo, thank you!! If it weren't for you, I probably would've never made it this far!!"
Yasuo smiled. ("If you really wanted to thank me, you'd show some real progress…") He stood up and headed for the door. He was going to the auction house to collect his due payments.
—
Business was amazing. Rumors of high amounts of saint-realm elixirs being sold at the auction house spread quickly around the kingdom.
As Yasuo walked through town, he looked out the corner of his eyes to his left and right. ("I'm being followed... should I confront them? They're probably trying to see where I'm getting my elixirs from. Munan, you sly dog!")
When Yasuo entered the auction house, there was already an auction going on.
Everyone was nearly flat-out refusing to bid on any other items but the elixirs. The price for them was only going up!
However, Yasuo noticed that two dark hooded figures were blocking all exits. They weren't going to let him leave so easily.
Yasuo focused. "Soul Sense..."
[Soul Sense was a Martial Skill that Yasuo created to sense the amount of souls around him, and the strength of each soul.]
Yasuo frowned. "Those hooded figures are both Lower Earthly Realm. Tiers 1 and 2. Not too bad. But they won't be enough to stop me."
—
When the auction ended, Yasuo went over to Munan for his cut of the profit.
Munan handed Yasuo another white card with gold trim. "We had an especially successful day today, the elixirs were selling by the millions!"
Yasuo took the card. "Thank you. I hope we can continue to do business in the future."
Yasuo turned around to leave, only to see six of the hooded men standing in front of him.
"Ah, but you see, Yasuo." Munan said. "I looked into your background. There's no such thing as the Oh Family. That means that you are, in fact, a commoner. And commoners do not have the capacity to make saint-tier items."
Yasuo turned back to face Munan.
Munan had a devious grin on his face. "So while I appreciate your business, I'm going to need you to tell me where you got the elixirs from."
Yasuo frowned. "I promise you, I made them myself."
Munan dropped the smile. "Don't lie to me child. Where did you get the elixirs?!"
Yasuo sighed. "So this is where we're going huh?"
Munan smirked. "I'll have you know that everyone behind you is of the Lower Earthly Realm!"
Yasuo looked at Munan uninterestingly. ("This guy is boasting about them being at the Lower Earthly Realm, when he's still at Basic...")
Yasuo shook his head in pity. "I guess Munan no longer wants to do business with little ol' me. Oh well, I'll be off then. Our relationship is hereby terminated."
Munan became angered. "Seize him!! Do not let Oh Yasuo leave here!!"
The hooded figures ran in on Yasuo.
"Uwibami, come out!" Yasuo called.
There was a necklace on Yasuo's neck that contained the Uwibami. It had a silver rope chain with a blue crystal pendant.
The pendant glowed for a moment before Uwibami came out and appeared on Yasuo's shoulder.
Yasuo pointed at the men. "Uwi, can you scorch them for me?"
Uwibami looked at the men. "rawr~"
Munan chuckled. "A baby dragon? Absurd. That thing could never cause damage to Lower Earthly Realm cultivators."
Uwibami opened his mouth and spit out a white fireball roughly four feet in diameter.
The hooded men yelled out as the fire completely overwhelmed them, burning all of their clothes away and rendering them unconscious.
"What?!!" Munan exclaimed.
Yasuo petted Uwibami. "Nice going there buddy!"
"rawr!~"
Munan clenched his fists. "But how?! What rank is that dragon?!"
Yasuo looked at Munan before leaving. "Uwi is Tier 3 Master Profound Realm."
Munan's eyes almost popped out. "MASTER?!!"
After Yasuo left, Munan was left by himself. He looked at the unconscious men. "That boy has full control over a Master Profound Stage dragon... Does that mean that Yasuo really is indeed Master Profound Realm or higher?!"
He roared out in frustration. "I'm going to get my hands on that elixir formula!"
—
Yasuo strolled through the marketplace of Alverus.
It was crowded as it usually was, with many people raring to find high-quality artifacts and ingredients.
As Yasuo went down the main road, he'd gotten close to Alverus' main entrance to the town.
The gate was opening.
"Oh. Seems like someone's coming in." Yasuo said.
The tall gates opened all the way up, and a small caravan of people came through. The ones in front rode on horses, in the middle were carriages, and in the back was a large wagon full of goods.
All of them wore purple clothing with magenta trim.
The people in the street cleared the way for them, while Yasuo admired how proper the foreigners were. As they got closer Yasuo eventually had to step aside as well.
Alverus wasn't the richest kingdom, but they weren't poor either. Still, Yasuo noticed that the citizens looked at these purple-clad folks with starry eyes, as if they were super important.
Riding in one of the carriages was a young woman. She was extremely beautiful, strikingly so, with her long black hair and gleaming violet eyes that added an undertone of mystery to her appearance.
Yasuo was totally into it. He looked at his baby dragon. "Hey Uwi. You'll have to get back in your crystal for a little while. I don't want you scaring anyone."
Uwibami glowed blue-white and then warped back into Yasuo's crystal pendant.
Yasuo ran ahead to catch up with the travelers. He strolled alongside the carriage with the pretty woman inside.
She took one look at him and tensed up, giving him a slight scowl. "What do you want?"
Yasuo smiled, resting his hands behind his head. "Nothing in particular, I just noticed you from the side of the road and thought I'd come over and say hi!"
The woman looked away from him, facing straight ahead. "Well you've said hi, now leave me alone."
"Why the cold shoulder? I was just being friendly."
"Stop!! Everyone stop!!" A voice yelled from the front of the group.
A man with long red hair and piercing black eyes hopped off one of the horses.
Yasuo didn't notice before, but everyone in the group wore clothing that he'd seen in ancient Chinese history books. Clothing from the Han Dynasty. Yasuo always liked that style, but no one dressed like that in the era he lived his previous life.
The man twice Yasuo's size strutted over, looking down on him. "Who are you?"
"My name's Yasuo."
The man gave him an unwelcoming snarl. "My name is Yang Chen of the Morning Lotus Sect."
"He has a last name... he must be important." Yasuo thought.
Chen looked at the black-haired girl inside the carriage. He reverted to Yasuo. "Why is a commoner like you speaking to my fiancée?"
"Fiancée?! You two are engaged?!" Yasuo exclaimed.
Chen lifted his chin. "That's right. You've got ten seconds to give me a satisfiable answer before I slam you into the dirt!"
Yasuo took a good look at Yang Chen. He was tall, handsome, of a fairly muscular build, and had an ego out of this world.
Yasuo knew that the morally correct thing to do here would be to respect Chen's engagement and apologize.
But Yasuo couldn't care any less about other people's relationships.
He grinned. "I thought she was pretty cute, so I came over to say hello!" ("Come on, take the bait.")
The girl blushed out of surprise.
Chen got angry. "Why you little...!! I'll teach you some respect!!"
Chen swiftly turned his body and sent a kick at Yasuo.
Yasuo took a quick step back to move out the way.
The girl in the carriage looked at Chen. "Chen, it's not that serious... he's only a child."
Yasuo crossed his arms. "Lady I am sixteen!! EVERYONE HEAR THAT?! SIX...TEEN!!"
Chen lit on fire. "You heard him right? He's sixteen. Only a year younger than me!"
Yasuo's eyes widened. "Looks like I made him pretty ticked off."
Chen created a fireball in his hand. "Feel the power of a Tier 3 Profound Master!! Hwahh!!" He threw the fireball.
Yasuo narrowly dodged out of the way. "He didn't use Status! Is that a Martial Skill?")
Jishi spoke from inside Yasuo's head. < "He is attacking with his pure soul force, which requires neither Status nor Martial Skills." >
Yasuo grinned. "There's still so much to learn about this world. Soon I'll know everything!"
Chen continued to bombard Yasuo with fire attacks.
Yasuo's eyes lit up. "Status: Blue Ember!!" He waved his finger as a wave of blue fire hit Chen head on. He was knocked to the ground.
Chen was clearly hurt. Even burned in some places.
"You're pretty strong..." the girl said from the carriage. She thought to herself, "Chen is a Tier 3 Profound Master. Could this boy be..."
Yasuo smirked at Chen. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't look down on me!"
Chen slowly stood up. "That was a lucky shot! I'll be sure to—"
"Chen!!"
The girl was sternly looking at him. "That's enough now. Status spells are only as great as their user. If you were knocked down by one spell then you're no match for him!"
Chen balled his fists. He pointed at Yasuo. "Stay away from my woman!! If I see you near her again, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!!" He went back to his horse.
Yasuo turned to the girl and gave her a slight bow. "Thanks for that. Here, a gift."
Yasuo handed her an elixir bottle. She blankly nodded and put it away as the group started moving again.
Yasuo waved them off. "Goodbye!"
—
As the group continued onward into the kingdom, the purple-eyed girl sat in her carriage inspecting the elixir.
"I've plenty of master-realm elixirs... I didn't really need this..."
She opened the bottle and took a whiff. "Guess it wouldn't hurt..."
She drank the entire bottle.
fwoom!
Her soul force flared up.
"Ah…! This elixir is far from master-realm...! It's a high-quality saint-realm!! If I cultivate a bit longer after this, I might make a breakthrough...!"
She poked her head out of the side of the carriage, looking for Yasuo. "He's gone... was he an alchemist?"
—
Chen rode his horse, leading the group.
"Tch, that little runt! Wait until I see you again. My father will definitely hear about this!!"
The person on the horse just behind him on his left, Yang Ju, chuckled to himself.
Yang Ju had light blonde hair and black eyes, in contrast to Chen.
"Aya~ Is Brother Chen that upset over such a petty squabble?"
Chen glared at him. "Shut it!! He was just a commoner! No one will care if he dies!"
Ju smiled to himself. "While that may be true, it is not becoming for the son of the Patriarch to act so brashly. That boy did not know of your engagement. Remember that we are the foreigners here."
Chen growled. "You're too soft Brother. He was fully aware of his actions. If I do not stand up for my pride, then I am not fit to be a man!"