Tang Hua had had a lot on his mind in the past month. That kid, Qing Shan, had taken a leave from the shop to train for a month, but had not come back. He could only think of the worst.
'Could he have died during training, or maybe died in a sparring match? Most of those damn brats from the three major sects are so full of themselves, I wouldn't be surprised if they used some dirty tricks to kill the boy. With his attitude, it is quite possible that he angered someone, but him losing in a battle that he excepted doesn't sound right. He definitly seemes like someone who would only accept a challenge that he has a high chance of winning, especially so in life or death battles. Ugh… This is why I shouldn't trust Fighting Cultivators…'
'I didn't know the brat for long, but I do hope that his death was painless. It certainly isnt like him to disappear without giving me notice…'
*Ring*
The door opened, and Tang Hua found himself moving into the main room.
"I'm sorry, but we are already closed for the night."
"But I am relatively sure that employees are always welcome…?"
"that is the case, but-"
Tang Hua's face twisted in such a strange way when he saw the person standing in the doorway. It was as though his eyes were bugging out of his head.
Qing Shan just stood there, observing his Senior's face as the man tried to make sense of Qing Shan's appearance. Qing Shan understood why Tang Hua was so surprised. Based on the work ethic that Qing Shan had shown, he could only be dead by now, given that no notice of his leaving was ever given to the store.
"Q-Qing Shan…!"
Qing Shan saw a tear well in Tang Hua's eye, and preteded not to notice when the man 'secretly' wiped it away.
"Where have you been! You have been away for a month more than you said!
"Wait…"
Although he had not noticed it at first, there was something much different about Qing Shan. Tang Hua tried to figure out what it may be. By the fluctuating expressions on Qing Shan's face, he definitally seemed a bit more whole than he was before, but that was not all. Suddenly, it was as though a light flickered on in his head. Qing Shan was now in the Origin Soul Realm!
"No wonder… I know you said you'd be training for a month, but I never thought you would start your breakthrough at the end of that time period! Congratulations boy!"
Finally, Qing Shan opened his mouth.
"So… Does that mean that I can get back to work tomorrow? And do I get a raise now that I am in the Origin Soul Realm? Given some practice I should be able to make some items on my own now!"
"Haha, of course! Speaking of, I have your pay for your time so far. I was planning to give it to you when you get back."
Tang Hua reached into his pocket and tossed three Barren Qi Orbs at Qing Shan, who caught them with a twinkle in his eye and I smile on his lips.
'Yes! Now I won't have to worry about money for quite some time.'
In his excitement, Qing Shan had missed one small detail, which he just then tok note of.
"Wait… Why are you giving me thre Barren Orbs? I shouldn't be pointing this out, but isn't there one extra? Wasn't our agreement one a month? I've only actually worked here for two, so why are there three."
Tang Hua smiled.
"I wanted you out of here for that one month, so I gave you a paid vacation. Since you have taken a break, you should definitely be better than you were before!"
The sarcasm was clear in Tang Hua's voice, but there was also a hint of seriousness that made Qing Shan refrain from arguing about accepting this gift.
"Oh, by the way, a beast stole my spear, so I'll drop by in the morning to start working on another one. Please leave the keys somewhere so that I can let myself in."
"Sure."
"Thanks."
With that little reunion over, Qing Shan headed to the resturaunt that was mentioned by Qian Yong. As soon as he arrived, he recognised the beauty of this place. Based on the amazing architecture and large amounts of marble, it was probably the most expensive place to eat in Fallen Sky City. The resturaunt was called Ren Familiy Delicacies. However, Qian Yong had called it by a different name. She hadreferred to it as the Beast's End. Qing Shan was quite curious about the reason behind that name, and thought it could be an interesting conversation starter.
However, it seemed like that name would not be the start of a conversation due to the obvious meaning behind that nickname. In fact, as soon as Qing Shan saw the food items he understood why the name 'Beast's End' exsisted. This was simply because all of the food was made from parts of beasts!
Once Qing Shan entered the Beast's End, he quickly found where the Qians and Ming Bai were sitting.
Before Qing Shan even got a chance to say a word, Qian Yong placed an IDS ring in front of him.
"This ring contains your share of the Fire Fox parts. Feel free to do what you wish with them, and return them to me within the week."
Qing Shan nodded, and then no one talked until they finished ordering their food. There was a truly large display of beast meat availible, and Qing Shan had trouble deciding. So, he just ordered the same as Qian Yong, who apparently came to this returaunt quite often.
As soon as she got the chance, Qian Yong spoke up once more.
"Qing Shan, now that we have taken care of all the monetary affairs, I am sure that you have not forgotten what you offered me to come on this mission? What was it, a rematch?"
"Huh? Oh… Yes. There was something like that. I am happy to oblige, but I think that we should hold it off a week so that neither of us are in danger of not being able to control our strength."
"That sounds fair."
After that little agreement between Qian Yong and Qing Shan, the latter began to enjoy his first luxury dining experience. The food came quickly, and the group of four talked non-stop about many different subjects. Throughout the dining experience, Qing Shan brought up the topic of work, and found out that only he had a stable job. Ming Bai showed some interest in Runic Forging, and said she may come to check out the Smith's Respite at some point in time. Other topics were discussed, including things relating to the trio's breakthrough into the Origin Realm. That topic had quickly been skipped, as Qian Shen kept complaining about he hadn't been able to break through.
All-in-all, the night was quite enjoyable.
After the group paid for dinner, the girls walked to their building 17-A, while Qing Shan and Qian Zhen walked over to 18-A. Qing Shan was looking forward to the next day, a time when he would finally be able to experiment with his new abilities.
Used to the schedule the group had while on the mission, Qing Shan did not sleep for long. As soon as he woke up he grabbed his locket and entered the Primal Pocket Dimension.
Sure enough, the change that Qing Shan had noticed while leaving the pocket dimension the time prior was real. Actually, he could not believe that he had only barely glimpsed such a huge change. The pocket dimension had actually expanded during his breakthrough! The Spring of Time expanded away from the two Primal elements, and small island about five meters in diameter appeared in the center of the spring. On the side of the Spring of Time opposite the Primal Wind and Fire, two more elemental orbs had appeared. They were just as large as the Primal Wind and Fire. Diagonal from the Primal Wind and across from the Primal Fire was the Primal Earth. This orb was brown, and appeared to be the filled with fist side cubes of earth that were swirling around inside of it. The other new orb appeared to be the Primal Water, and was placed parallel with the Primal Earth and across from the Primal Wind, as well as diagonal from the Primal Fire. It seemed that the opposing elements were all diagonal from each other. The Primal Water orb was encased in ice, with water whirling around on the inside at super high speeds.
It seemed like the Primal Pocket Dimension had at first only revealed the elements that shared the attributes of his Qi, which was strange because he and Liu Tiansheng had not known that he would have both Fire and Wind attributes. Now that Qing Shan had truly gained the body of a cultivator, it seemed that some of the other secrets of the Primal Pocket Dimension were being revealed.
Intrigued by the new changes Primal Elements in the pocket dimension, Qing Shan walked over to the other side of the Spring of Time. The water remained at a knee-high level throughout the whole spring, so there was nothing new there. Actually, Qing Shan also appreciated the smallest change that had happened, the small island in the middle of the Pocket Dimension. This island was untouched by the surrounding elements, which meant that Qing Shan finally had a suitable place to store things! He did not like placing items in the Spring of Time, even though the items would always remain unnaffected by the substance that was not actually water. Qing Shan moved past the island, and stepped out of the spring.
Qing Shan decded that he would first check out the Primal Water. He was quite interested to see what difficulties would arise as he tried to approach the actual Primal Element. Not waiting any longer, Qing Shan stepped forward, and began walking toward the Primal Water. Surprisingly, Qing Shan did not immediately feel a change, or understand what was happening. However, after he took his third step Qing Shan felt the teperature of the air start to rapidly decrease. It got colder and colder, until the temerpature was way below freezing point. As Qing Shan inched further and further, ice began to form on his shirt, and threatened to freeze his sweat. In total, Qing Shan only managed to make it seven meters forward, and still had more than half of the distance left to cover before he had to stop. However, the reason that Qing Shan had to stop was not due to the ice that had appeared on his body. It was merely that Qing Shan had never been exposed to the cold before, and his body was unable to handle its first exposure to extreme low temperatures right away. Qing Shan had to inch back to the Spring of Time, struggling due to internal chills and onsetting hypothermia. After Qing Shan got a good handle on his new body and grasped proper control of his Qi, he would probably be able to make it a few more meters.
After soaking in the Spring of Time, Qing Shan started to head toard the Primal Earth. He was really curious what kind of obstacle this Primal Element would throw at him, and thus stepped forward onto land. Unlike with the Primal Water, Qing Shan immediately felt the effect of the Primal Earth. He felt as though the ground was pulling him downwards. After a few forward steps, Qing Shan found out that the effects got worse over time that he stayed in one spot, no matter how far away from the Primal Earth he was. Because of this effect, Qing Shan had to move forward at a fast pace. Unfortunately, his speed was decreasing no matter how had he tried. As the downward pull of the earth increased, he had to put more strength into his legs to move forward. Qing Shan decided after eight meters that he should go back. Of the Primal Elements, this one was definitely the deadliest to approach.
Qing Shan exited the Primal Pocket Dimension to chack how much time had passed. Because of the new developments, he had completely lost track of time.
Luckily, it was not yet noon, so Qing Shan would not be late for his first shift as an Origin Soul Runic Forgemaster.