Compared to half a year ago, not only did Nie Tian become stronger, but he had also grown a chunk in height.
In An Shiyi’s eyes, the Nie Tian from half a year ago had been just a child. The Nie Tian that arrived in front of her now, however, was already a teenager.
The trial in the Green Illusion Realm had caused Nie Tian’s cultivation to grow substantially, making him look as if he had thrown away his youthful look as well as immaturity and had become a person people could depend on.
Even though all those kinds of changes had made An Shiyi feel surprised, she wasn’t overly amazed by them.
What had really made An Shiyi feel deeply moved, was Nie Tian’s ident.i.ty as of today.
Nie Tian had become Wu Ji’s disciple.
She had long since heard about who Wu Ji was as well as the kind of honorable status he possessed, not only in the Lingyun Sect, but even across the entire domain.
Nie Tian, who had been chosen by Wu Ji, could be said to have had an instant success.
Because of Wu Ji being his master, Nie Tian’s future had become immeasurable.
She understood thoroughly that the ident.i.ty of being Wu Ji’s disciple had made it so that the emphatic Yuan Xian could only avoid his cutting edge and never again dare to provoke the Nie Family.
“Sister An, why are you the one welcoming the guests?” Nie Tian asked, while smiling happily.
An Shiyi came back to her senses, as she forcefully smiled, and said, ”Recently, the sect has been running short on manpower. Let’s not talk anymore, I’ll arrange people to send you to meet Jiang Lingzhu and the others.”
“She also came?” Nie Tian asked in surprise.
“Of course.” An Shiyi responded, “It’s not just you. The Lingyun Sect, Grey Valley, Black Mist Palace, as well as a few of the clan belonging to the Ling Bao Court’s underlings also have people coming.”
“Oh.” Nie Tian nodded his head.
“You should go in first. Later if I have time, I will look for you to have a chat.” An Shiyi said.
“Ok, then I’ll go in first.” Nie Tian didn’t think too much about anything.
“Liu He, bring Nie Tian to where the Lingyun Sect is.” An Shiyi instructed.
In front of the door, a person from the Ling Bao Court came out hurriedly. He said with respect, ”Please, follow me.”
- Hu! -
Also at that moment, the Dark Thunder Beast that had sent Nie Tian to this place flapped its wings and soared up, as it returned high into the clouds.
Knowing that Jiang Lingzhu, as well as the people of the Lingyun Sect, had also made it here, Nie Tian didn’t feel anxious because of the departure of the Dark Thunder Beast.
From his point of view, since Jiang Lingzhu was here, regardless of whether the Dark Thunder Beast would come and pick him up after things had ended, he could right away return to his sect along with Jiang Lingzhu and her gang.
Therefore under the guidance of the person from the Ling Bao Court, he entered the main entrance.
Inside the Ling Bao Court, stone towers stood in great numbers. There were many Lianqi warriors with different realms going in and out of these stone towers.
“It’s done! Haha! This time it has finally been refined!”
A loud and clear laugh rang loudly from within a stone cave that was on the left side of the mountain peak.
Only a man with a head full of red hair and a beard, that gave off sparks, could be seen. He was holding a sword flowing with rays of moonlight and waving it. He appeared to be insane.
Nie Tian raised his head, looked at the incomparably excited old man, and asked, “Lianqi master?”
Liu He, who was showing the way, nodded his head while smiling and humbling raised up his body. He said, “Throughout the whole realm, we, the Ling Bao Court, have the most Lianqi masters. They’re all arranged to be inside the stone caves nearby. Within the stone caves, there are Lianqi rooms. The unique Lianqi rooms are connected to the fierce flame of the earth’s core, making it easier to refine weapons.”
“The Treasure Viewing Gathering this time will have a few highly respected rich men. They all hope to refine unique spiritual weapons and sell them for a good price.”
“That’s why they rushed over these past couple of days. They want to refine weapons with ranks that are out of the ordinary.”
Nie Tian turned blank and said, ”Oh, so it’s the Treasure Viewing Gathering.”
He had heard his master Wu Ji mention about the Ling Bao Court’s Treasure Viewing Gathering, so he understood a little about it.
Liu He didn’t lie, as most of the most formidable Lianqi masters throughout the domain had come from the Ling Bao Court. The Ling Bao Court was also located at the Scarlet Flame Mountain, which was an extremely suitable location for the Lianqi masters to refine weapons.
In order for a Lianqi master to refine a spiritual weapon, they would need fierce flames to smelt the spiritual material.
There was an earth’s core flame that was hidden deep underground within the Scarlet Flame Mountain. Through special means, the Ling Bao Court could extract the earth’s core flame and transport it to each and every one of the Lianqi rooms within the stone caves, while also providing supplies for the Ling Bao Court’s Lianqi masters to refine spiritual weapons and helping them practice their own Lianqi path.
The spiritual weapons refined by the Ling Bao Court’s Lianqi masters would disseminate into Bone City, Cold Stone City, Black Cloud City, or all of the seven cities to be sold.
The Lianqi masters would get spiritual stones in return for selling the spiritual weapons, which they would then use to buy different kinds of materials to refine spiritual weapons of even higher ranks.
However, the spiritual weapons that disseminated into the seven cities would often lack quality and have a poor rating.
The Ling Bao Court would temporarily keep the ones that were truly rare and had special uses as well as high ratings. They would wait until the Treasure Viewing Gathering to sell it to the Lingyun Sect, the Grey Valley and the Black Mist Palace.
Because, only the Black Mist Palace, Grey Valley, or Lingyun Sect could afford the highly ranked spiritual weapons.
According to what Wu Ji had said, not only did the weapons, that were refined by the Ling Bao Court, excel throughout the domain, they even still had a tiny reputation throughout the stars.
Wu Ji had mentioned to him before, that they had even attracted Lianqi warriors from the other eight realms to travel across the river of stars in order to attend the Treasure Viewing Gathering held by the Ling Bao Court.
Moreover, it was also said that a portion of the spiritual weapons, that were refined by the Ling Bao Court, would also be selected to supply the Lianqi warriors from the other eight realms.
Nie Tian, who was thinking in secret, followed Liu He. After walking for a while, he was guided to a six-story stone tower.
“All of you, who came from the Lingyun Sect, have been quartered here.” Liu He notified him once, then he raised his voice and asked, “Is Mister Liu here?”
“I’m here.” Liu Yan’s voice came from within the stone tower.
“Young mister, I will take my leave.” After Liu He had heard Liu Yan’s response, he faced Nie Tian, as he brought up his body slightly and went back along the original route.
Just a moment after he had left, Liu Yan from the Lingyun Sect had already walked out.
“Were you the one calling out to me?” Liu Yan looked at Nie Tian suspiciously.
“h.e.l.lo Mister Liu!” Nie Tian greeted him with the ceremonious etiquette.
He didn’t remember Liu Yan’s appearance, but he had heard Nie Donghai and Nie Qian mention that when he was still one year of age, it was through Liu Yan nodding his head and taking out two smaller weapons that he was allowed to take part in the family general drawing a.s.sembly.
He also knew, that because of the extreme violence that he had displayed and the excessive troubles that he had caused during the general drawing a.s.sembly, that he had angered many people.
Had it not been for Liu Yan taking his side, he would have been punished by the family, when he was still extremely young.
Furthermore, the dragon bone, that had given him an immense opportunity, also came from Liu Yan.
Because of these reasons, he harbored appreciation towards Liu Yan ever since he had known about him. Unfortunately, because of his lack of ident.i.ty in the past, he didn’t have the qualifications to climb to the Lingyun Sect and therefore hadn’t been able to visit him.
For the past half a year, he had been been following Wu Ji to study at the back mountain. He was unable to depart a single step, and so still hadn’t found a chance.
To his surprise, during his trip to the Ling Bao Court this time, he had unexpectedly met Liu Yan, who had shown major kindness to him.
“He-h.e.l.lo.” Liu Yan looked at Nie Tian, who was full of sincerity, bowing in salute to him with huge respect. He was unable to make heads or tails of it; he honestly couldn’t recall who the teenager in front of him was.
“Uncle Liu, he is Nie Tian.” Jiang Lingzhu blurted out from inside the house.
“N-Nie Tian!” Liu Yan was surprised. Finally he reacted to it and said hurriedly, “So young fellow, it’s actually you! Quick, don’t be like this, I certainly can’t accept your etiquette!”
He urgently lent an arm to support Nie Tian.
But Nie Tian fell back three steps, and once again bowed in salute. Only then did he raise his head and said, “Uncle Liu, that year, I was just exactly one year old, therefore I couldn’t remember your looks. But, from a young age until now, I heard my aunt and grandfather mentioning you more than once. I have always harbored grat.i.tude towards you. I have always had the intention to visit you in the Lingyun Sect, but I never had the chance to do so.”
“Hahaha!” Liu Yan laughed heartily, and said, “Your mom was my younger sister’s disciple, so I ought to look after you. You don’t have to mind it so much.”
As the conversation went up to this point, Liu Yan stopped his loud laugh. He looked towards Nie Tian deeply, and with a complicated looked said, “I did not expect the son of my junior sister’s disciple to be more outstanding than her. At that time, your grandfather led me to you and let me test your potential. However, I didn’t manage to notice anything.
“After all, I wasn’t Martial Uncle, so I didn’t have his mental perception and wasn’t able to see through to your potential at that time.”
“But, seeing that you could be what you are today, I wholeheartedly feel happy for my junior sister. I hope that you can properly appreciate your incomparable opportunity, soar up into the sky, and rise like both of your senior brothers, stepping across the heavens one day.
Liu Yan said the matter with a serious tone.
“Many thanks to Uncle Liu’s generous love!” Nie Tian said respectfully.
“I can’t accept it, I really can’t accept it!” Liu Yan promptly shook his head. “You’re Martial Uncle’s disciple, so according to the seniority in the clan, I should also address you as my little martial uncle.”
“Let’s temporarily put the seniority aside. If you don’t mind, in the future, I’ll also address you as Uncle Liu, ok?” Nie Tian said sincerely.
“Ok then.” Liu Yan gave a delighted look. “Let’s not stand outside anymore. We’re one family, so come in quickly.”
Not long after, he led Nie Tian into the stone tower.
“Let me introduce some people to you.” After coming in, Liu Yan pointed at a few people from the Lingyun Sect and introduced them to Nie Tian in succession. “You know Jiang Lingzhu and also Ye Gumo, so I won’t speak too much about them. That is Shi Yi, she is Luo Xin, and they are both my junior brother and sister disciples. The one that brought us here was my master Wu Xing. He isn’t here because he has already gone to the Ling Bao Court to reminisce about the past.”
Nie Tian was about to salute, one by one, to those who had been mentioned by name by Liu Yan, but all of them showed a weird complexion. On the contrary, they faced him and saluted, ”I greet little Martial Uncle.”
Even Jiang Lingzhu, who had face full of unwillingness, also saluted obediently.
“Shi Yi and Luo Xin are my junior brother and sister. Shi Yi entered the sect a while ago. Around the time when your mother was still here, he was already my master’s disciple. Luo Xin was accepted by my master nine years ago. She didn’t meet you mother.” Liu Yan explained softly.
Nie Tian looked at Shi Yi, who was habitually silent. He hesitated for a while and said, ”Uncle Shi.”
“I dare not accept the honor.” Shi Yi hurriedly said.
“Luo…”
He was just about to salute Luo Xin, who looked only around her twenties. The elegant and sweet-tempered Luo Xin hurriedly said, “Don’t you say those things to me; I’m not much older than you. You can just address me as Sister Xin. By all means don’t address me as aunt, ok?”
“Sister Xin.” Nie Tian said while chuckling.
Luo Xin let out a breath, pursed her lips, smiled towards him, and said, “You little brat, you’re so lucky to have become a disciple of Martial Uncle. In addition to this, because of you, the sect broke a rule that was followed for more than ten years. This is really something to be proud of.”
“I must have some dog s.h.i.t luck.” Nie Tian mocked himself.
“Let‘s continue our talk.” Liu Yan called out to Nie Tian. He let him sit down and right away began to discuss about the Treasure Viewing Gathering.
Nie Tian could see that these people had already been discussing about it before he came in. Hence, he quietly listened.
Later on, everyone felt extremely happy as they talked to each other.
Through their conversation, Nie Tian became aware that Liu Yan also knew a little bit about spiritual weapons. He had a bit of interest towards spiritual weapons. Therefore he would attend every Ling Bao Court’s Treasure Viewing Gathering.
During that time, the seven spiritual weapons that Liu Yan had brought to the Nie family were also collected by him from the Ling Bao Court’s Treasure Viewing Gathering.
The dragon bone, which had brought Nie Tian tremendous luck, was also from one of the Treasure Viewing Gathering held by the Ling Bao Court. This had made Nie Tian secretly excited in his heart, as he looked forward to the Treasure Viewing Gathering even more.
……