The seven enemies glared at Ja Sun. Why wouldn't they? Their clothes were slightly shuffled and while everyone thought they'd been molested at first, it turns out that reality was far more pragmatic and crueler. Belonging to one of the three most prominent clans of the Douluo Continent, despite their lower ranking, all of them held specialized items such as spirit blocking rope, and now, everyone was tied with their own items!
Their storage tools were robbed and their opponent still hadn't revealed anyone aside from the spirit master with a plain black mask and brilliant black combat robes. To the eyes of the defeated, the spirit master clearly belonged to a faction. This thought was solidified further when they gazed at the majestic gauntlets worn over his hands that extended a little further to his forearms.
"We have lost and you've robbed us of our tokens. But there is no need to further the aggravations since we both know that losing a battle, for us, doesn't mean the loss of life."
Ja Sun looked at the woman who spoke after exhaling a shuddering breath to forcefully calm herself. By now, the enemy group understood that the tactic of disguise, though never used in their previous battles, was far more efficient than any of them had expected. Especially when it is used by a spirit master as quick and strong as the black-robed individual in front of them.
Not only that, this spirit master must still have six other members in the hiding. Probably as fearsome as this one and if not, they would still be able to defeat their own group comprising of six supporters and one attacker.
Ja Sun, of course, knew the identities of the six girls.
In this continent, who hasn't heard of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile, Clear Sky, and Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?
The publicly acknowledged strongest support spirit, tool spirit, and beast spirit.
However, within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, only the Martial Soul of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is considered the strongest support. This martial soul, however, is also riddled with hidden problems that have forced this clan to stay only as the richest clan but not the strongest.
Each floor of the pagoda marks the peak of a spirit master's potential. For instance, the most beloved martial soul: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, has seven floors and this means the greatest achievement of the spirit master with this martial soul is to become a Spirit Sage. Still, with only being a Spirit Sage, this clan has reached the apex of support-type martial soul.
The girls in front of him, however, didn't have the legendary Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. Instead, it only had a total of two floors— Twin Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
Their greatest achievement was limited to being a Spirit Grandmaster. But six of them providing support was still extremely dangerous! And that is why Ja Sun wasn't stingy in using most of the spirit-blocking ropes to tie them down.
"I don't think your clan will care too much about you. It's merely Twin Pagodas," Ja Sun made sure to add a sliver of killing intent to rattle them and squeeze out more information. Compared to him, a young devil, how can the clan-protected individuals really understand what Ja Sun really wanted to do?
Instantly freezing up, the woman couldn't help but gulp.
"Even if I don't kill you," Ja Sun continued, "Do you think your clan can intervene with the war?" This is what Ja Sun wanted to know. The fact that nobles aren't killed if they are able to survive didn't come as a shock to him. That's how humanity works. The one-percenters have higher privileges.
"Right now, you are prisoners. In war, no less. Any of these soldiers would love to bed you and brag about it in their circles: Did you know? I made a noble lady from Seven Treasure Clan squeal under me.
Now, what do you think? Will your clan intervene?" Ja Sun's words made the six girls shudder. One particular girl gazed at the youth with her large watery eyes. She was the one called 'Ya'er', who threw herself at Ja Sun when she saw the youth being stabbed.
"I'll eat you alive!" The youth hissed but Ja Sun only snapped his fingers. The soldier that stood behind him gazed at the girls with a gulp and stepped forward.
"W-wait!" The eldest of them spoke harshly.
"Stop," Ja Sun glanced at the soldier. Right now, his reputation with this group of soldiers was great. He had practically ensured that for the next five days, all that the soldiers needed to worry about was the enemy's troops and everyone knew that it wasn't going to happen. Which meant 5 days of vacation!
Stepping back, the soldier felt reluctant.
"What is it?" Ja Sun tilted his head towards the speaker.
"The clan may not intervene, and you already know. So why bully us? Aside from this confrontation, we have no hatred. Instead, we can promise you over our Martial Souls that if protected and returned safely, we will ask our caretaker to reward you greatly!"
Ja Sun already got what he needed.
Information.
Nobles, if left alive after confrontation, aren't killed but most probably banned from the war.
Not only that, killing the nobles or mistreating them won't be considered offending the factions behind them since their authority is too low. Of course, this may change if the members have high value for the said faction.
Ja Sun was practically sure that if any of them had the Martial Soul Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, then the clan would have intervened the moment they lost.
'But... this Ultimate Grandson happens to know how to revitalize the bloodline behind the martial soul and even bring out the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda or its supreme variant, the Nine Towered Castle...'
At this moment, Ja Sun had an extreme desire to nab one of them and create the strongest support martial soul. But this was neither the right time nor the place. Not to mention, cultivating a Twin Pagoda to such a high level will be an exhausting task.
"We'll see," Ja Sun replied faintly and leaned back on his chair.
He wasn't planning on leaving and waved at the soldier, gesturing him to leave.
For the next four days, the prisoners were fed and when they needed to use the restroom, ten guards will follow them and if the females wanted to use the restroom, the youth spoke up and accompanied them to stand guard outside. Though treated with courtesy, the girls felt extremely uncomfortable due to the stares of other, repressed, soldiers but in the end, what did they actually expect?
Out of them, who didn't know what would happen in such a situation?
They all considered themselves lucky for the mercy they received.
On the fifth day, spirit energy fluctuated around Ja Sun. Opening his eyes, he exhaled deeply and his spirit energy finally calmed down.
Rank 28!
'If I absorb the Aroma Silk Tulip one last time then I will reach the peak of rank 28, a step away from rank 29.
Continuously cultivating Revitalized Blood Qi Art also showed progress and finally, out of the 512 mental needles needed to be inserted during the sixth level of the Mental Acupuncture Technique, he was already close to completing 10% of it. The moment his mental energy breaks into the ranks of Spirit Sage, he will be able to condense his Astral Combatant! That would be a qualitative change!
His Gentle Tactics were already in the realm of complete mastery. After all, Ja Sun created this combined technique, and progress in this technique would come with experience in battles and further insights. His storm steps were at the peak, too. His Fiery Golden Pupils absorbed enough yang qi every day.
So, presently, Ja Sun's condition was at its peak and he needed to find another aspect of himself to improve upon— Heart Separation Control.
With Heart Separation Control, Ja Sun will be able to expertly control his spirit skills... no, in reality, the mastery of spirit energy to create a variation of spirit skills instead meant the mastery of Heart Separation Control. The technique was a theory on how to achieve this control and for everyone, the method is different and unique to themselves.
In the morning, the Chief of the soldiers finally entered the prison ward with a letter in his hands.
"Sir... this is your proof of success. Thank you for protecting the tower. Let me see you to the exit."
While saying that, the Chief glanced at the girls with an odd flicker in his eyes. It was a little over six in the morning. Too early to be considered the start of the day. When one of the girls sleepily opened her eyes, she accidentally matched the gaze of the chief, and seeing him gaze at her legs, she shivered.
Taking the letter from the chief, Ja Sun deposited it in the storage essence tool. By now, he had too many storage tools but he wasn't the one to complain. It just meant more space!
"No problem, it was my mission. I'll leave when I feel more awake," Ja Sun replied calmly.
For God's sake! He had protected the innocence of these girls for more than four days. He would see it to the end!
Pursing his lips, the chief retreated.
"Thank... you," the petite girl who woke up looked at Ja Sun and whispered.
Not replying to her gratitude, Ja Sun leaned back and closed his eyes. Silently meditating.
In only a few hours, the room was opened without a knock and for the first time, Ja Sun saw two individuals that belonged to spirit hall and another youth who wore brown robes but the turquoise insignia over the right side of his chest resembled a beautifully embroidered pagoda.
"The mission is considered complete. The victor may leave."
One of the men from the Spirit Hall stated calmly and then fell silent. Nodding, Ja Sun didn't try to communicate or anything. He directly left after untying each of them and storing the ropes. From the bodies of each spirit master, Ja Sun felt vast layers of energy. At least, far greater than Ah Yin.
"Senior," one of the girls hurriedly spoke up when a silent yet overbearing pressure shut them all up instantly. It wasn't from the brown-robed spirit master but the two cardinals of the Spirit Hall.
"Nobility clause executed. The seven of you are no longer allowed to participate in the war and if found otherwise, will be executed.
Due to the agreement reached with the nobility, the Spirit Hall invites the seven of you to be a member of the clergy. You hold the right to reject the invitation."
Strangely, all of them nodded and accepted the invitation while the Spirit Master next to the Cardinals remained silent, indicating that this didn't bother him one bit.
---
"Congratulations."
Yu Suntao looked slightly exhausted but still presented himself well. It was already evening and he has been working non-stop for the day.
Picking up the seven square tokens one by one, Suntao read the nicknames on the token and then matched it with his own journal— A Bounty Book, before shaking his head.
"Most probably, these seven excelled in group battles only."
After transferring the merit points, Ja Sun found himself earning a total of 716 merit points which propelled his entire bank of merit points to a balance of 841 merit points.
"I want to see the rewards list," Ja Sun glanced at the numbers on his bloody token and spoke calmly. The benefit of merit points will only be seen by exchanging them in the rewards list. What's the point of saving them?
Smilingly, Yu Suntao took out a thick journal instead of a thin scroll.
"Despite natural talents, those who can reach the personalized missions are considered the cream of the crop so the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall have joined their hands in creating this lucrative lists of rewards. It has many items and as long as you know its use, everything on the list has a chance to benefit you."
Ja Sun slowly flipped through the pages. There were many items he hadn't heard of in the cheaper section of the list. As he read, the stranger his expression grew.
Including the spirit bone offered to the public, there were seven spirit bones in the list but not all was as good as it looked. A Spirit Bone, ordinarily, has six slots that can be used upon. Out of these six slots, the torso and the head spirit bones are the rarest. So, these spirit bones weren't placed on the list. Not only that, every spirit bone was below the rank of ten thousand. Out of the seven, there were four spirit bones with ages ranging between 500-900.
These spirit bones were certainly noble but not useful. After all, no ambitious spirit master would waste his body by absorbing a spirit bone under the rank of 1000-year cultivation. But due to the extremely low chances of a hundred-year-old spirit beast bringing out a spirit bone, there might be a few spenders willing to acquire these particular items just for the sake of it.
Closing it, Ja Sun pushed the journal back and whispered, "Seeds of 100-year-old blood lotus."
Already having the contents memorized, Yu Suntao knew the price of each item and the stock of the items so he replied instantly.
"How many seeds would you like to exchange?"
The price of each Blood Lotus Seed was 30 merit points! That's 3000 gold coins!
Calculating in his mind, Ja Sun coughed, "28."
He was exchanging all his merit points for the seeds. Treasures that promoted the quality of blood were rare on the list and the lotus seeds were something he could afford. So, he took it.
Yu Suntao's gaze turned slightly strange but he nodded and facilitated the exchange.
The number of merit points on Ja Sun's tokens was depleted from 841 to just 1 point and he returned to the inn.
Making sure that he converged all his presence, he walked with light steps and suddenly barged in.
*Slurp*
He met the indifferent gaze of noddle eating Ah Yin as she calmly chewed and inquired, "Sorry, I'm not naked now. Can I interest you in a bowl of soup and noodles?"
Ja Sun blinked before taking large strides and sitting in front of her, "Of course. I was so excited because I love noodles."
His smile couldn't be more sincere but Ah Yin already knew that this freak will only have the brightest grin during a painful torture. After all, Ja Sun's wretched expression as he sped ran through the Mental Acupuncture Technique was still vivid in her mind.
"Oh, I know you must be dying to hear my war stories. So this one was like this..."
With that, both of them began eating as one silently hears the story and the other exaggerated the story.
***
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