Thump!
Bai Hu set a large leather bag on top of a table alongside a stack of papers. The elderly man in charge of the Mission Hall looked dubiously at the young man before him.
"You really killed all these beasts?"
Bai Hu merely smiled at him and said, "I know the rules"
The elder opened the bag and inspected the various magical beast parts. Each piece was cleanly separated from the body and the foreign aura contained in them were of the same origin. He then sensed the aura in Bai Hu's body and sighed.
"Here's 380 contribution points"
Bai Hu took out his identification token and touched the elder's token. The points were then immediately deposited into his token.
"Thank you"
Whoosh!
He quickly zipped away in the direction of Arching Waters Peak. This is because he had finally heard good news after a week of hunting: his Master is back.
The familiar mountain peak appeared in his view not too long after, and soon the familiar face of his Master was before him... and the smell of alcohol.
"Oh! Is my disciple finally showing care for his poor old Master?"
"No"
"tsk"
The old man sat down with a sigh and took a swig of top quality wine from his trusty gourd.
"I deduce that you came with a request seeing as you hurried here as soon as I came back"
Bai Hu started circulating his qi for Zhong Xian to see. The qi was pure and flowed through his meridians like a river. A small qi vortex formed within his Dantian, seemingly on the verge of converging.
"Oh, you're about to break through"
He nodded, "I'm in the process of gathering materials. Namely Star Stones and treasures of opposite attributes"
"Star Stones? Those are quite rare indeed despite not being in high demand. As for treasures of opposite attributes I happen to have a pair in my possession"
Zhong Xian reached into a spatial pouch on his waist and pulled out a pair of lotuses.
Cold and hot filled the area, making Bai Hu stumble a bit and put on a qi barrier. Taking a closer look at the lotuses, Bai Hu found that one was deep red and its petals waved like fire. The other was a light blue with petals that seem sculpted from ice.
"True Flame Lotus and Ice Spirit Lotus, 2 treasures with opposite attributes that are most suitable for you level"
"Isn't your Master the greatest"
Bai Hu looked at the smug old man and sighed, "Yes Master, I am eternally grateful"
"Why don't you sound grateful then!?"
As Bai Hu was just about to fly away, a message talisman flew towards him. Zhong Xian stopped berating Bai Hu and let him read his message.
Bai Hu smiled after a while.
"Don't tell me you found a Dao Companion while I was gone?!"
"NO!"
...
Whoosh!
Bai Hu followed Hong Hua to the same house on Flowery Crest Peak where he had first exchanged goods with Shui Bing.
Creak!
"You got here quickly"
He smiled wryly, recalling his escape, "Yeah..."
Bai Hu pulled out a chair and sat down. Shui Bing then pulled several boxes from her spatial pouch once he was settled in.
"Here I have a Crowned Earth Lizard Core, Pure Flame Whale Core, Armor Beast Core, and a mid grade fire, earth, and metal spirit stone"
The 6 boxes she pulled out opened to reveal their contents.
The 3 beast cores are all of King Tier magical beasts and the mid grade spirit stones seem genuine. He picked up the fire attributed mid grade spirit stone and examined it.
It was his first time seeing any mid grade spirit stone, and the ones before him are all elemental ones too.
Indeed, a normal spirit stone is incomparable to a mid grade one, as a mid grade stone's energy is countless times more pure and abundant. There is a saying that 100 low grade spirit stones are worth a mid grade one, but no sane person would trade even a single mid grade for 1000 low grade stones.
Shui Bing spoke while he continued to inspect the goods, "This is the best I can do, as the entire sect might not have lightning or wind attributed mid grade spirit stones. Even if they did, then it would probably be one of the most guarded treasures"
Bai Hu nodded and took out several bags filled with herbs, "I'll have to thank Senior Sister Bing for wasting time on this matter"
She smiled, "If there's anything else you need, you can ask me and I'll do my best to help"
"Well since you said so, I'll have to be shameless and request another thing"
"No problem"
He took out a Star Stone from his spatial pouch and set it on the table, "I wonder if Senior has any Star Stones or information on where to obtain them. The more the merrier"
Surprised, Shui Bing took a closer look at Bai Hu's internal structures, "You're about to break through?"
"Correct"
"I happen to have a large quantity of Star Stones left over from my breakthrough. I presume you possess a Formation of that attribute?"
Bai Hu thought about how he managed to obtain the best Formation for a pretty low price and nodded.
The elegant woman in blue took a sip of her tea, "If you want, I can request for my family to allow you to use our Starlit Domain, a high grade Formation only slightly inferior to the Star Sky Gathering Formation"
Bai Hu quickly refused, "Thank you for your consideration, but I'm satisfied with what I have, I can't rely on you for everything"
Plus, he already had the best Formation, so why would he be crazy enough to give that up?
"I see..."
He could tell that Shui Bing was a little disappointed that he didn't accept her offer, but didn't want to cross any lines. After all, it would be a bad look for him if people found out that Shui Bing, the daughter of the highly powerful Elder Shui, was providing him with various support.
Bai Hu looked at the woman sitting across from him and she stared back. He still couldn't help but feel that he had seen her somewhere before the competition.
"Is something wrong?"
"Ah! N-no, well... How many Star Stones do you have?"
"Oh, r-right"
She awkwardly tilted a spatial pouch over and dozens of fist sized and even a few head sized stones appeared. Bai Hu was ecstatic to see the large quantity of Star Stones and quickly forgot about the awkward exchange a few moments ago.
Shui Bing on the other hand, just stared at Bai Hu. A hint of color appeared on her fair skin, making her look even more stunning, though Bai Hu was too preoccupied to see the sight.
If not for her ice attribute, it would have been apparent that she had been blushing. Never in her life had someone dared to brazenly look at her like that, with a gaze which carried no lust, fear, or reverence but mere curiosity.
She circulated her icy qi once to get rid of any irregularities once the young man was done looking through the stones.
Bai Hu wore a bright smile on his face, "This is more than enough. I also happen to have a few things that aren't useful to me but might prove to be of use to you"
He took out a rectangular jade box from his spatial pouch and opened it. An icy aura filled the room and a thin layer of ice crackled on the table.
Shui Bing lost composure and her eye's constricted when she saw the treasures in the box.
"High quality Frozen Jade! The eyes of a Triple Eyed Demon! And a Frozen Crane's core! Heavens... how did you manage to obtain all these treasures?!"
"Well... my harvest in the trial was pretty good"
"This..."
She took a deep breath, "I... can't accept this. It's too valuable-"
Bai Hu interrupted her, "Just take it. We can say you owe me one, how about that?"
"Ah? A-alright then, even though it feels that I owe you quite a lot"
Shui Bing gingerly took the box and placed it into her spatial pouch in a careful manner.
Bai Hu looked at the flustered woman, 'Cute'
Shui Bing's thoughts on the other hand were much more chaotic.
'Does he know? Surely not, I was perfectly disguised that time. Did he recognize me? Why is he so kind and hands-'
"What are your plans after this?"
Bai Hu's words shook her awake and she hurriedly formed a response, "I'm going to enter seclusion to solidify my realm... and mental state"
He nodded obliviously, "It's good not to progress quickly, but with slow and steady steps. I plan to take on some missions once I break through into Foundation in order to gain experience"
"I-I see. Then I wish you the best of luck"
"You too"
"Mm"