Di Tianming was gently hugging Su Lanyue as he moved his mouth near her ears and whispered gently, "Lan'er, can you lend me some money?"
Su Lanyue, who had been expecting some sweet nothings from Di Tianming like, "Please don't go." or "I can't live without you." or "I will miss you." froze the moment she heard those words.
She thought she had heard wrong, maybe its was, "Lan'er, can you me your dudou?" so, she asked, "Hmm? What did you say? I didn't hear it clearly."
Di Tianming was already embarrassed enough to dig a whole and bury himself in it but hearing her ask to repeat his said words, he wished for the the ground below him to split open and fall into it.
Seeing him not respond, Su Lanyue waved her hand in front of his eyes, "Tianming?"
"Ah! Y-Yes. I-I was saying if you could lend me some money? I am completely broke. Look even the clothes I am wearing are yours.", he looked the other way while saying this.
Both of them descended into an awkward silence.
"Here. There are a thousand low grade spirit stones. These must enough for you to last for a while.", she signed as she spoke, understanding very well where he was coming from.
"Thank you.", Di Tianming said earnestly.
"Then, I will get going."
"Hmm.", he nodded lightly, his gaze extremely soft.
Su Lanyue then, flew away in her sword. However, his heart ached when he saw her disappear within the setting sun.
Feng Dabao was extremely jealous to see Di Tianming with Su Lanyue. He wished to be with her instead of him. However, he could swallow that dream up when he saw Di Tianming's appearance.
Then, he saw the beauty leave and felt Di Tianming's gaze shift on him as he walked towards him.
"Lead me to my room.", he said.
"Yes, guest. Xiao Jing!", Feng Dabao gestured the servant to lead him to the room.
Xiao Jing then lead Di Tianming to his room on the third floor of the inn and said, "Esteemed Guest. If you need anything just look me."
"Yes, thank you.", Di Tianming said casually as handed a spirit stone to him and proceeded to enter the room.
The room was extremely spacious. It had a king size bed and a carpet with beautiful embroidery on the floor along with a scenic view the city through the window by the table set.
Di Tianming has been extremely tired so, he directly slammed on the bed as he recalled the past two days he had spent with Su Lanyue.
During these two days, he got to know about a lot of thing through her. For instance, the Cultivation Realm of humans.
He already knew about the Body Tempering Realm and Blood Qi Realm. However, after these two realm, he only had guesses but they were mostly correct. After the Blood Qi Realm comes the Spirit Body Realm followed by the Spirit Mind Realm, the Spirit Soul Realm, Divine Essence Realm, Divine Transformation Realm and then the fabled Transcendence.
However, she didn't divulge into further detail about them and told him that he will eventually learn about them when he enters a sect otherwise it will all be pointless.
Next, she told him about the different tiers of Martial Art Techniques. They were, in ascending order - Mortal, Spirit, Earth, Heaven and Divine.
Following these were the different profession like Alchemist, Array Masters and Inscription Masters. All of the were ranked into nine stars. One star being the lowest and nine star being the highest.
As for the reason of his tiredness was Su Lanyue, herself. She, after, tasting the forbidden fruit had become a demoness of lust who was constantly sucking away his essence in the wilds.
He couldn't get an ounce of sleep. Fortunately, he was a peak-stage Blood Qi Realm cultivator so, his blood vitality was extremely vigorous and the tiger bloodline was a cherry on top, making his blood even more ferocious.
So, he was able to hold on after not getting any sleep. But no matter what, his body was still mortal and needed rest from time to time.
Soon, he slipped into deep sleep under the moonlight.
...
The next day, Di Tianming and decided to explore the city. He quickly washed up and put on his pink robe...Argh!
He cringed at first but remembering Su Lanyue say that it was made of special material which was impenetrable by sword and spear, he quickly put it one. He looked handsome anyway.
He tried contacting her but their was no response so, he decided to explore by himself.
While eating, he decided on two goals things - to buy a weapon and to buy a Martial Arts. He wanted to try something with them.
With that in mind, he set off.
The Millennium Treasure Pavilion was famous throughout the Orchid Mountain City for its vast collection of treasures of all kind. Be it pills, arrays, weapons or Martial Arts Technique, they would have it all. It was also rumored that they were a branch of the Myriad Treasure Pavilion located in the capital of State of Qi.
Currently, Di Tianming stood before a three story building as looked at the sign board that said, 'Millennium Treasure Pavilion'. People constantly entering and exiting the place, it was especially crowded due to the upcoming Sect Entrance Exam.
Taking a deep breath, he entered inside. The view inside was magnificent. Rows of shining weapons were on display along with all kinds of pills which he had never seen.
He approached a pretty lady at the reception.
"Greetings, guest! What can I do for you?", the receptionist immediately had a favourable impression of him the moment she saw his appearance.
"Hello, I am looking for Mortal grade weapons.", he asked politely.
"Please proceed to your left and turns right from their, you will be able to find the Mortal Weapons section.", she spoke while pointing at a crowed hallway.
"Thank you." he said with a smile. The receptionist immediately blushed seeing Di Tianming's smile. In her life, he was probably the most handsome man she had ever seen.
Ouyang Feitian had worked as an appraiser for Millennium Treasure Pavilion for years and has keen eyes for treasures as well as people. These days, due to the upcoming Sect Entrance Exam, the traffic in the pavilion had increased, forcing him to work over time.
Currently he was on break and was hanging out in the Mortal Weapon Section. As usual, people were coming and going when his gaze drawn to a certain someone.
He narrowed his eyes as he observed the azure haired young man. Suddenly, his eyes gleamed when his gazed landed on the pink robe. With curiosity as a fuel, he approached the young man.
Di Tianming who had just entered the Mortal Weapon section, looked around when he saw a middle-aged man approaching him. The man was wearing a plain green rob and had his hair tied into a bun.
"Welcome, dear customer! I wonder what kind of weapon you are looking for? I, Ouyang Feitian, am at your service.", Ouyang Feitian said, cupping his hands.
Di Tianming thought for a moment before replying, "I want to buy a sword."
"Please follow me."
Both of them arrived at a counter followed by Ouyang Feitian taking out a bunch of swords and arranging them in row using spirit qi. He looked at Di Tianming and introduced him to the swords, "These ten swords, here, are high-grade mortal swords while these five are top grade one. I wonder which one you like."
"What about their prices?", Di Tianming was alerted hearing the words -high grade' and 'top grade'. He thought the man would introduce him to some low grade swords first but now...
Ouyang Feitian could see the change in his gaze, thus, said assuringly, "Is it your first time buying weapons, customer? Don't worry! The mortal grade weapons are cheap unlike the Spirit Weapons."
"The high grade swords cost around a hundred low-grade spirit stones while the top-grade swords cost two hundred low-grade spirit stones."
"Its affordable.", After hearing the prices, Di Tianming was relieved, his gaze shifted to the swords.
"Too short! Too big! Too heavy! Too thin!"
Amongst the fifteen swords Ouyang Feitian introduced, he immediately rejected several of them.
Now, only seven weapons were left. Four being long swords - two high grade and two top grade. The other three weapons were a katana and two sabers.
The katana being a high grade weapon and the one of the other saber being a top grade weapon. A voice inside kept telling Di Tianming that his would enjoy a aggressive and ruthless fighting style and what is more ferocious than a saber. Thus, rejecting the long swords.
Now, only the two blade and the katana were left. He decided to buy the top-grade saber and the high-grade katana.
After buying them he was only left with 700 low grade spirit stones.
"Can you tell me the cost of the Mortal-grade Martial Arts?", he asked Ouyang Feitian.
"Well, low-grade ones cost around 100 low-grade spirit stones while the top-grade ones cost 10,000 low grade Spirit stones."
"Why so expensive? Going by the pricing structure, shouldn't they cost around the same price as weapons? Like ten spirit stones for a low grade weapon."
"Weapons are easy to make when you compare it to a Martial Arts, which requires years of experience and knowledge along with dedication and high comprehension ability."
"Then, can you show me low-grade Mortal Rank Saber Arts?", Di Tianming asked calmly.
"Of cousre.", Ouyang Feitian smiled and gestured for him to follow.
Very soon, he selected a Saber and a Sword Art before bidding farewell to Ouyang Feitian, heading back to the inn.
Looking at the disappearing figure of Di Tianming, he muttered, "If you're able to unseal that weapon, I will give an opportunity which will change you're life, brat."