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***
"Hey, Clone, massage my legs."
Surrounded by beautiful clusters of crystals of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Ah Yin looked particularly beautiful. Instead of sitting cross-legged in attention, she lied down lazily and basked in the energy surrounding this location that propelled her cultivation.
Hearing her words, with his martial soul activated and his body transformed, Ja Sun sighed and looked back. His ability to increase cultivation pace was running so Ah Yin's progress was even more noteworthy while he was observing the well itself, not because of the immortal fruit he had managed to realize ripe within the depths of the pond but because this was the last piece of clue he needed to understand regarding the natural formation. The array of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had a large number of smaller formations hidden within that continuously drew power from the surroundings and transformed it. In essence, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was self-sufficient because it no longer needed additional energy to remain and had its surroundings continuously transform into a form of area suitable for its existence. In return, the Yin Yang Well itself would let out nourishing energy that stabilizes the surroundings.
'It's already the sixth day and she...'
"I'm still Ja Sun, you stupid bitch," he groaned. He wouldn't have himself be treated like a servant even if it's his clone, more specifically, a clone with shared senses because of the Death Astral Combatant.
"But you said you're a clone. It means your value compared to my man is much lower," Ah Yin retorted calmly, sunbathing without being offended by verbal insults.
"Just so I understand, you know that whatever you are saying right now is being actually heard by me... the one in the camp."
"What about it?" Ah Yin continued calmly, "I'm not ashamed of calling the Evil Grandson my man... just so you know, my man is a skilled individual who would beat anyone up just because they called me a bitch. You might not know that he is perfectly capable of matching a Titled Douluo."
"Ah, so that's how it is," Ja Sun's lips twitched as he nodded, 'You just feel embarrassed saying all that to my face,' he realized.
"It's Ultimate Grandson, by the way. Whoever that Evil Grandson is supposed to be is just a figment of the imagination of the Spirit Hall."
"No, he is evil," Ah Yin sat up, seriously looking at Ja Sun, "That man will not let go of any chance to touch me even in a public place. And he constantly leers at other beautiful women with dark intentions, too."
"You know what," Ja Sun smiled, "He might just be like that. Oh, he just touched Erlong. Wooh! Bibi Dong, too. I have to say that they are a fine treat, both of them."
Ah Yin glared at him before lying down once again, cultivating as she would do in the past 'life,' just by staying still.
Meanwhile, Ja Sun smiled and continued to focus on the task. He felt bittersweet. The fact that Ah Yin strictly denied the clone any touch made him feel unbelievably happy but their time in this crater is also the one spent privately and the sheer lack of conversation made him sigh. After all, only one of them could be away from the camp at a time.
Why?
If Ja Sun left then the clone cannot use the Skull Bone's ability to disguise and hide the fact that Ah Yin is gone. So, he had to stay in the camp and reach out to the Yin Yang Well using the Death Astral Combatant. Honestly, it made no difference whatsoever.
---
It was the seventh day of the Second Week within the group's stay inside of the Sunset Forest. Everyone had gained quite a lot but it was for a fact that every single one of them from the 'original' team could be considered experts. Aside from Liu Erlong who finally absorbed her fifty spirit ring and Oscar and Jun'er who leveled up by a rank each, becoming Rank 39 Spirit Elder and Rank 47 Spirit Ancestor respectively, only Bibi Dong had her cultivation increased by two ranks, finally becoming a rank 69 Spirit Emperor.
It wasn't just the increase of her Spirit Rank. The poison from her Martial Soul, the Death Spider Emperor had been upgraded due to the venomous immortal herb: Bloody Swan Kiss. Her own resistance to poison related to the physical excitement of her body had grown to the extreme and with that came the ability to regulate such physical display of excitement. She could now control her emotions not only at a spiritual level due to her training under Qian Xunji, but also the physical cause of such emotions, the hormones, at a significant level. She might have achieved a level of control that Ja Sun both feared and desired.
He feared controlling his emotions and turning into an empty shell of cold rationality but the darkest and the deepest desires of his body simultaneously envied such control. Bibi Dong wasn't secretive regarding her upgrade knowing that she owed it to Ja Sun and Ah Yin who found her this amazing Immortal Herb. After all, now her capacity of absorbing poison had also increased by quite a bit.
But she didn't show over-the-top affection. She had kissed Ja Sun once in excitement and then regretted it, not the action itself. If he jumped in to save her life even if she didn't ask for it once again, she would still do the same, too. It's the mockery that came after. Light-hearted those jokes may have been but it still set Bibi Dong a little self-conscious of her actions.
"Shouldn't you be cultivating? Learn a little from Ah Yin. You're just growing more and more frivolous," Hu Lana shook her head with a disapproving gaze. Aside from 'Ah Yin' in the tent, who was nothing but a true illusion from the Yin-Yang True Illusion Skill, everyone was outside. The sun was pleasant and there was a slight chill of autumn present in the air. The more they go to the north, the colder the temperature will become because of the Icy Northern Domain.
Hearing her, Ja Sun snorted and replied, "Erlong and others have almost caught up to you. Show some dignity as the elder sister and cultivate yourself, would you."
Both of them glared at each other until Bibi Dong coughed.
"No need to point fingers. Honestly, the result of the training has exceeded my expectations and it is because of a few fortuitous encounters along the way. In our group, half of us also have Spirit Bones. If everything goes right in our training session within the Icebound Forest next, we are sure to win this competition.
I'm sure you would want that, too."
She looked at Tang Yuehua. Now, Tang Yuehua represented Clear Sky Clan's benefits, too. Sue had also shown herself to be a woman to not forget any kindness. If nothing goes wrong then Yuehua would persuade the teammates to let her have the Spirit Bone of the Nine-headed Giant not for herself but her clan. However, if Bibi Dong was slightly resistive of this particular knowledge before, she wasn't now.
"Oh, hey, she's the reason why our training in controlling our Spirit Energy has now started to progress notably," Ja Sun chuckled, "I wouldn't mind if she did get a spirit bone in return."
It was true. By the end of the week, everyone had begun to feel the effects of the Calm Circle suppressing their spirit energy.
"You're only saying that because you have too many Spirit Bones," Xie Xan snorted.
"And you can't have any one of them for free," Ja Sun chortled.
"I don't think I can be particularly useful. Over the week, we couldn't find anything. The Spirit Beasts we did corner... were rejected by my martial soul itself," Yuehua mumbled with a defeated expression.
Over this week, everyone collectively cornered two flying-type Spirit Beasts. This was the best guess they had for Yuehua's breakthrough. But showing enough intelligence, before they took the ultimate price from the Spirit Beast, the Clear Phoenix would come out and reject the Spirit Beast they chose. And it couldn't stay out long enough because Yuehua did not have enough Spirit Energy to support its movements.
Of course, Yuehua had the choice of ignoring Clear Phoenix's suggestions but in the end, there remained a risk that by absorbing the said spirit rings, she might inflict a negative situation on herself and her martial soul. After all, every Spirit Master would look for the most compatible spirit beast they can ascertain. Even the Fire Horned Tyrant that Liu Erlong absorbed wasn't her first choice. But she could no longer be patient because of the inability to find a flame-attributed lizard and the more she dragged it on, the lower her chance of finding something will be because their next destination was the one of icy hell.
Seeing Yuehua's depressed expression, everyone grew silent for a moment.
She truly was the weakest member of the group. And with Oscar and Jun'er, Yuehua wasn't needed in any immediate battles in the upcoming competition so the woman herself felt the need to grow and prove her existence within the team.
"Don't worry, if there is no compatible spirit beast here then there might be others. Ordinarily, special martial souls such as yours might not be the fortunate kind because of all the requirements to grow and nurture in the right direction. But now you're a part of the Spirit Hall and moreover, you're under me—"
*Khnnk*
Two odd stifled but snorted chuckles echoed at once. Xie Xan expertly ducked while Ja Sun rolled away instantly, dodging two venomous strikes from Bibi Dong at once.
"Ehm, as I was saying," she stated coolly, her current progress allowing Bibi Dong to overlook her students' mischievous nature but she couldn't speak the same words as before, "I will see to it that you grow better than others. At least, Ka-ul and Xie Xan. And if there isn't any spirit beast here, then we will look somewhere else."
"It's going to be fine. Even I'm not that worried about my progress," Oscar spoke up. He had just enough combat abilities to survive in a group and was learning well with all his combat training with his teammates.
"On that note, I feel that staying with Xie Xan and Ka-ul for too long is affecting your progress," Bibi Dong eyed Oscar, "I will have you three train separately from now on."
"Ohhhh," The three men who barely formed a bond over a hot spring and face masks in the Heaven Dou City groaned collectively. But they couldn't do anything. More often than not, Bibi Dong's words were absolute.
Smiling with a hint of pride, Bibi Dong set everyone to their tasks and was left to think about what to do with Ja Sun. With everyone having their own tasks, it was assured that Yuehua wasn't needed to have her domain used for a while so she, Ja Sun, and Ah Yin were left. Liu Erlong trained Yuehua and Oscar in combat in the meantime. Jun'er and Hu Lana sparred against a Xie Xan where he was only allowed to use his martial soul and not the spirit skills, the same went for Jun'er, and meanwhile, Hu Lana was only allowed to use her daggers.
What Bibi Dong wanted to let her team have was combat experience. She always planned for the long term and these two years, aside from spirit enhancement, were all about foundational training, to begin with.
If fortunate, a Spirit Master tends to live a long and healthy life. Once her team has enough combat experience, their subsequent missions and adventures would naturally make them experienced in using their spirit skills more efficiently, too.
Anyway, it was just two years and she wasn't delusional to ask for everything. That's why she was appointed to lead the class of experienced spirit masters from an organized war and due to personal reasons, she only chose with the slightest talent to enter the ranks of the Titled Douluo. For her own foundation, to be exact.
This was quite a long-term investment. Not only in a monetary sense because she lost it all to Ja Sun early in the training, but in time and teaching. Something she felt quite gratified about. She was calculative but not heartless after all.
Finally, she looked at Ja Sun and he looked back at her. Both of them were silent.
"Have you heard anything from Grandmaster?" She finally spoke up.
"No, it's been two weeks now," Ja Sun shrugged. He had barely scratched the surface on all the knowledge regarding arrays he had but the inheritance granted by Qian Daoliu helped him a lot in understanding the array around the Yin Yang Well. By knowing the basic theories, he could finally speculate in a broader spectrum.
"Do you have any thoughts about why he hasn't made a contact?"
Ja Sun frowned and pondered.
"Maybe he is torn over what to read next? You know, he finally got some time to read novels when he began instructing us occasionally. I think that right now, he is just enjoying some time off from his duty."
"And you know what Grandmaster's duties are?" Bibi Dong inquired.
"Yes. Staying in Spirit Hall... and doing nothing but cultivate," Ja Sun shrugged. Qian Daoliu made everyone from the team known about the fact that the Seven 'Elders' that tested him and Ah Yin were in fact the supreme existence that represented the martial side of the Spirit Hall— The Priests. Qian Daoliu led this faction and all seven of them were Titled Douluo with potent combat potential. But, they weren't bound by political responsibilities and were tasked to restrain the political faction of the Spirit Hall headed by the Supreme Pontiff and other Titled Douluos with significantly lower combat strength.
Two opposing sides have to lead the Spirit Hall to its current glory.
Qian Daoliu, the Grand Priest, has very few responsibilities now and his strength is mysterious and unknowing.
"You are... right," Bibi Dong's lips twitched and she sat on the ground. After constant breakthroughs in a week and having her foundation deepened and fortified with the Bloody Swan Kiss, Bibi Dong felt like taking a break. And while Hu Lana did say that Ja Sun doesn't train, he was already close to being a Spirit Emperor in this short period of time. It's good that he didn't train arduously.
But it wasn't that Ja Sun didn't like to train.
Anyone would feel intoxicated by their strength getting higher. But right now, Ja Sun wanted to get his left arm back so that he can consume the Beautiful Silk Tulip and absorb the 80000-year-old Hell White Tiger Spirit Bone.
There would certainly be a resonance of spirit energy and it will prove beneficial to his martial soul, too. And all this would naturally increase his spirit rank.
"Now that we are alone, let me thank you once again for the Bloody Swan Kiss," Bibi Dong smiled.
"It's quite alright. Remember, this was a trade so I and Ah Yin earned something, too."
He sat down.
Bibi Dong didn't say anything more and the duo remained silent while the sound of the constant battles echoed around them. They had taken a week to clear their surroundings discreetly so right now they did not fear any disturbance for the time they are supposed to stay here for the training.
However, unlike the calm that he and Bibi Dong found themselves in, situations were drastically different back at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
---
"Is this how they did it in your previous life?" Ah Yin sneered coldly.
"I'm telling you," Ja Sun didn't look at her and began writing a few things, on the verge of making the breakthrough in his understanding, "the women in those videos live to be spat at."
"Well, I don't!" Ah Yin growled softly.
"I hear you, but I'm just a clone so what do I know. I'm just saying when you and Ja Sun do get it done... you know, in a day or two, try some new stuff. And oh, you know how poor Ja Sun lost his left arm so try taking initiative. Hmm, let me tell you about the art of seduction: Stripping."
"You're incorrigible!" She hissed with slightly reddened cheeks.
"Hey, I'm just a clone!"
"Whatever! And you can tell Ja Sun that we aren't going to do anything in anywhere near now!"
"Oh, he asks why?"
"Y-you!"
Ah Yin almost pulled her hair out, but then she remembered how horrid Ja Sun looked like a bald man and stopped in her tracks.
"Sure, come out of the tent tonight," She replied coldly, a strand of blue silver king coiling around her index finger, "I have the firmest grip he will ever enjoy."
Ja Sun shivered.
"What do you know the value of a penis? You're just a plant."
"Oh, wow, and you're just a pervert."
"Yes!" Ja Sun smiled in excitement.
"I know, you're a filthy pervert! You enjoy that, don't you? Maybe I will step on you and let you lick my feet you pain enjoying masochistic freak!" Ah Yin hissed with an odd glow in her eyes and Ja Sun turned to look at her weirdly.
"No time for dirty talk, I understand what this formation is all about! I have figured out the array but I think I need to dive into the pool to find out what created this Pond in the first place."
Ah Yin blushed.
"Then say it beforehand... stupid," She mumbled and looked away as he shrugged.
[Objective: Understand the natural arrays and formation of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and find an enclosed space to pump your fist in.
Mission Rank: B
Mission Rewards: Yin-Yang Gathering Formation
Time Limit: 7 days]