Yang Zhai came in front of the same store from where he had bought the Sun stone and Moon stone when he advanced to rank 2.
He entered the store and went to the counter.
"Can I have two sun stones of liberty and five moon stones? Also, I need three sun stones of suppression."
"Wait just a minute, sir, let me bring them."
Yang Zhai was still wearing his black cloak and his face was hidden.
While the woman was getting the stones, Yang Zhai looked around and his gaze fell on something.
"Oh, I did not see that coming."
"Here, sir, everything that you wanted. You need to give me 11 mid-grade and 60 low-grade essence stones." The storekeeper handed Yang Zhai the stones he needed, summing up to 1160 low-grade essence stones.
A mid-grade essence stone could rival a hundred low-grade essence stones. Yang Zhai only had 7 mid-grade essence stones left from the ones he had taken from the manager of the Moon Bull inn. Besides that, he only had low-grade essence stones that he had taken from the village leader.
Each Sun stone of liberty and Moon stone was sold for eighty low-grade essence stones. This might seem a low price, but in actuality, it was a very high price.
Every essence stone that Yang Zhai had was stolen, he did not even have a single essence stone that he had earned himself. It could be seen how difficult it was to earn essence stones.
This price was a kind of suppression placed by the Bai clan. No poor person could buy these sun stones and moon stones. As for the wealthy people, they would not buy these stones as they did not need to.
Every kid in a clan was required to awaken their aperture at 14 years with the help of the clan: otherwise, there were severe punishments for the ones who awakened their aperture without the help of the clan. Almost the whole world followed this procedure.
A kid could awaken their aperture easily after reaching 14 years. Before that, it was considered difficult to awaken one's aperture. At this age, the children would be more intelligent and have more energy than in the early years.
So, the wealthy people would not want to anger the clan by helping their children awaken their apertures by themselves: thus, they would send their children to the academies for their cultivation. And the Bai clan gives the sun stones and moon stones to their disciples when they needed them.
However, only the people who could not advance to the next stage within their academy years would buy these stones and the ones who awake their aperture without the clan's help.
And the Sun stone of suppression caused 200 low-grade essence stones. It was because they were used for advancing from rank 2 to rank 3.
Right now, Yang Zhai only had 7 mid-grade essence stones, and he wanted to avoid wasting them as they could come in handy during a fight.
Yang Zhai activated his bracelet storage treasure and pulled out some low-grade essence stones. They only amounted up to nine hundred low-grade essence stones. Yang Zhai then pulled out two hundred and sixty more essence stones. After that, he gave the essence stones to the storekeeper.
"Here, they are a total of eleven hundred and sixty low-grade essence stones. Also, is that a Night Owl?" Yang Zhai looked at a black owl —after giving the essence stones— and asked.
"Sir, you have quite a knowledge. Yes, it is a Night Owl."
"Of what rank?"
"Rank 2,"
"How much?"
"One hundred and fifty mid-grade essence stones."
"Isn't it too expensive?"
"Sir, it is not found in this area, so this price is not expensive."
Yang Zhai did not have this many essence stones, so he left just like he came.
"Night Owl, huh? I think it would be best for the yellow lines." Yang Zhai contemplated on his way to his new rented house.
Yang Zhai had just been wondering about the next beast that he could use for the yellow lines when he advances to rank 3. He thought he would have to search the forest, but he found the perfect beast that he could use.
Night Owls had the ability to see far and wide, and as their names suggested, they could also see everything clearly at night.
It was useless to the ones who did not have any Ka to enslave it. Enslaving a beast with one's will without using a Ka was dangerous.
Kas were pure and could be enslaved, and they also had pure wills, unlike the beasts which possessed chaotic wills. It was just like a human. Thus, these beasts could only be enslaved by the ones with subjugation methods.
Yang Zhai came outside his new rented house and knocked on the door.
"Brother, you're back." It was Li Na who opened the door.
"Call Si Yu, I have something to discuss."
"Okay, brother, wait."
Yang Zhai pulled out all of the essence stones that he had and placed them on the floor.
"What is it, brother?"
Si Yu entered Yang Zhai's room and saw a lot of essence stones on the floor. He was shocked to see this many essence stones as he had never even seen 5 essence stones at once, let alone this many.
"You two should sit down and count these essence stones, I need to know how many of these are."
"Huh," Si Yu and Li Na were taken aback by Yang Zhai's sentence. They had to count this many?
"Also, I got Sun stones and moon stones for you, after you finish counting these essence stones, you can start your advancement."
"Really?!!"
"For real!!! We can advance to the next stage!!!"
Si Yu and Li Na could not control their excitement and began to count the essence stones in hurry, they could not wait to advance to the next stage.
Yang Zhai looked at the two. He had expected this. This was the reason he had asked them to count the essence stones: first, he could know how many essence stones he had, and it would also save his time. Secondly, he wanted to see If Si Yu and Li Na were falling for his trap or not.
He had held them back from advancing to rank 2 for a while now. They had been impatiently waiting every day for their advancement to rank 2, making their emotions accumulate. Then, he suddenly gives them what they wanted.
How would a person react in a situation like this? It was pretty obvious, they would feel that they owed Yang Zhai and would also have improved their opinion of him unconsciously. Yang Zhai wanted to make them dependent on him, and for that, he would have to slowly make their minds adapt to him unconsciously. Not even letting them realize it.
Yang Zhai sat on a chair and crossed his legs, then he placed his elbow on the armrest of the chair and rested his head on the backside of his hand, examining the two. He wanted to make sure that they do not lie to him or hide any essence stones.
He wanted to know by seeing their expressions all the time to see if they, for even a little second, develop greed in their mind. A person's expression could tell their whole mind's development.
In the meantime, he was also cultivating. He was multitasking right now. He did not want to waste his time.
"Brother, the ones I counted are one thousand five hundred and three." Si Yu hurriedly stood up and came to Yang Zhai before informing him with enthusiasm.
"Brother Fen, mine are one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine." Li Na also stood up and informed Yang Zhai with excitement.
Both of them looked at Yang Zhai with glowing eyes, seeming to be waiting for their rewards. They couldn't wait to advance to the next stage.
Impressive, they did not even once think of having these essence stones: Yang Zhai pondered.
He had not even once seen any other expression on their faces besides excitement. They did not even hesitate while counting the essence stones. Their body language and hands also did not show any hesitation.
Their eyes were also half focused on the essence stones, they just counted every essence stone like they were not important. And from the way they threw the essence stones at one side after counting them showed that they did not care for them.
"Here," Yang Zhai gave them two Sunstone and two moon stones. He also began to explain to them how to advance to rank 2. Si Yu and Li Na were fully focused on listening to Yang Zhai while he was explaining the advancement process.
"Doesn't that mean that others will discover us if our advancement causes a reaction with the outside world?"
"No, you won't cause any reaction with the outside world as you two have physiques. Didn't you notice that your speed of cultivation is quite fast?"
"So, it means we can advance without any worries."
"Yeah."
Advancing without the Sunstone and the Moon stone was not impossible, but it was difficult. To advance without Sunstone, a cultivator could use anything containing the sun's essence and energy, and the same was the case for the Moon stone.
"Don't sit here and go to your room to advance. Also, I will be a little busy, so don't enter my room until I allow you to, do you understand?"
"Yes, brother."
Si Yu and Li Na listened to Yang Zhai and went back to their room. Yang Zhai also gave them five essence stones each for their advancement.
Yang Zhai sat on the bed after the two left. He also wanted to advance to rank 3 today.
!*****!*****!