Spirit Realm

The next day, at dawn, after Qin Lie woke up, he discovered that he was lying in that little room with spirit tablets piled up everywhere.

He didn’t remember when he got knocked out cold and only faintly remembered that Li Mu had said many interesting things about the outside world. He didn’t seem to have drank much, either. Yet, he was thoroughly drunk.

Li’s Shop was very quiet; there were no clamorous noises around the perimeter. After he washed up and took a stroll in the courtyard, he found that Li Mu and that big wolfdog named Little Ice, were both gone, unbeknownst to him where they went.

Incredibly, even though he drank to the point of being dead drunk, he unexpectedly did not feel his head pounding away ready to burst open at any moment this morning.

On the contrary, he felt extremely clear headed, and his eyes were also glowing with health and vigor.

“Scarlet Tide Continent, the boundlessly vast Spirit Realm, the numerous valiant powers, the super powerful continents who proudly stands…”

In the little courtyard, Qin Lie stood below a tree and recalled Li Mu’s words from last night as his thoughts wandered. “So the level of existences such as the Dark Asura Hall and Seven Fiends Valley aren’t the absolute strongest powers either. They also needed to adhere to the other two Copper Ranked powers.”

He felt the his own minisculity.

“Everything, will have to begin from here!” Looking in the direction of Nebula Pavilion, Qin Lie uttered a low roar, the expression in his eyes resolute and firm.

Soon after, he exited Li’s Shop, heeding Li Mu’s suggestion, and went towards Nebula Pavilion in the southern part of the city

Over two hours later.

He arrived at Nebula Pavilion and explained the situation to the guardhouse in front of the gate, saying that he was Qin Lie and had come to Nebula Pavilion to check in.

“Please wait for a moment, I will go inform Young Master Kang Zhi. He has instructed us to let him know if you came,” respectfully spoke a guard.

Qin Lie nodded.

The gate guard hurriedly left.

Soon enough, little fatty Kang Zhi as well as Han Feng arrived together and happily laughed the moment he saw Qin Lie. “Damn guy, you are finally willing to come report in at Nebula Pavilion! I really can’t figure you out, what were you doing at Li’s Shop? That’s only a spirit material shop, what can it give you?”

“Qin Lie, I’ll take you to my father,” cordially said Han Feng.

“Alright.” Side by side, Qin Lie and the two entered Nebula Pavilion.

Tall and lofty complexes of stone buildings towered within Nebula Pavilion; there were martial practitioners entering and exiting from many of the stone buildings. All of those people held an identity card in their hands as they spoke about something at the registry before the gates.

“Look, that is the training ground. There are many rooms inside; some rooms are gravity rooms, some rooms have relatively denser spirit energy, and some rooms are suitable for meditation. There are also some rooms with thick and tough walls that are used for battles. Martial practitioners of Nebula Pavilion can make use of the various training rooms via contribution points…”

Han Feng pointed at a group of buildings that occupied nearly seven hectares of land and explained to Qin Lie, “Nebula Pavilion’s martial practitioners can register through their cards and then choose specific training rooms. Tempering their spirit art and spirit techniques, gaining experiences through sparring, all of these take place within this training ground.”

Qin Lie slightly nodded while listening and inwardly exclaimed that Nebula Pavilion was truly Nebula Pavilion; as expected, it was not something that the Ling Family could match up to.

The Ling Family only had one martial arts arena. Other than its size being on the larger side, there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it, and no standalone special training rooms existed either, unable to aid a martial practitioner’s cultivation by much.

“To the left is the Scripture Tower, it is full of various kinds of books regarding the martial practitioning realms and also some low level spirit arts and skills. To the many who have recently entered the martial way, they will be able to obtain a rough understanding about cultivation through the books inside. Mn, respective scriptures with detailed explanations regarding the partitioning of realms as well as the level of spirit artifacts, spirit stones, and spirit arts can all be found there.”

Han Feng smiled and spoke once more, “Of course, most of them are all general knowledge. The spirit arts and techniques put on display are also all below Common Sixth Rank. We, Nebula Pavilion, are after all merely a Limestone ranked power, unlike the sort of place like Dark Asura Hall. Naturally, it is impossible for the scriptures and books that are kept here to be exceedingly valuable.”

“One can also borrow scriptures to read with contribution points?” A joyous expression emerged in Qin Lie’s eyes.

Regarding the various realms of the martial way, as well as knowledge about artifact forging, he didn’t know much about them. His familiarity with these general things weren’t much at all, which was why he was still worried about breaking through to the eighth level of the Refinement Realm even after his meridians were filled with the thunderous energy.

Without realizing that as long as meridians were permeated with energy, whether it be spirit energy or anything else, it could be considered as having broken through to the eighth level of the Refinement Realm.

——Regarding this, he had already ascertained it through using the Ling Family’s Realm Assessing Stone.

The reason as to why he was so confused was precisely because he was not well versed in much of what would be considered general knowledge about the Refinement Realm. This had caused him to be anxious while worrying about his progress for a while.

Nebula Pavilion’s Scripture Tower had the introduction to the basic knowledges regarding the martial way within it; learning this, his expression secretly filled with joyous surprise. He decided that he would visit the Scripture Tower more often and thoroughly learn whatever knowledge that a martial practitioner ought to know in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

“Of course, all texts in the Scripture Tower can be borrowed using contribution points.” Han Feng affirmed that first and then added on, “However, the number of contribution points needed for high level spirit arts is awfully high.”

“The building across the Scripture Tower, yeah, that one on our right, would be the Artifact Tower. There are some spirit materials and spirit herbs in there. Naturally, the most precious would be spirit artifacts. However, the rank of the spirit artifacts inside aren’t especially high either and are generally below Common Grade Five. Definitely lower than Armament Pavilion’s spirit artifacts, for sure. They can also be traded with contribution points…”

Along the way, Kang Zhi and Han Feng explained things about Nebula Pavilion in detail, putting emphasis on the training ground, Scripture Tower, Armament Tower, and such places where martial practitioners would often visit, giving Qin Lie a very direct understanding of Nebula Pavilion. It also secretly amazed Qin Lie, as he finally understood why Ling Feng and the others wanted to join Nebula Pavilion so much so as though their lives depended on it.

As long as they became one of Nebula Pavilion’s members, those training grounds, Scripture Tower and Armament Tower, could all be used whenever they wanted through the means of contribution points, benefitting from Nebula Pavilion’s resources and strengthening their cultivation realm.

This was clearly much, much better than staying in Ling Town to cultivate.

The three chatted as Qin Lie was given a tour, and very soon, they arrived at Elder Han Qingrui’s place. Han Feng hollered before even entering the door, “Dad, I brought Qin Lie here to register.”

“Haha, come in, come in.” Han Qingrui smiled.

“Uncle Han.” Kang Zhi intimately greeted, squinting his little eyes, and then pulled Qin Lie and said, “Qin Lie, call Uncle Han.”

“Uncle Han,” Qin Lie spoke.

Han Qingrui nodded with a smile and sized up Qin Lie with a glance as he said with gentle laughter, “Not bad, young man. Mhm, not bad at all. Even though you’ve just arrived at Nebula Pavilion, this Uncle Han has revered your distinguished name for a long time.”

“Uncle Han flatters me,” Qin Lie said humbly.

“I had already finished setting up your identity card a long time ago. Here, take this.” Han Qingrui handed over a greenish-brown iron plate. The front side of the plate had the insignia of a nebula while the back was inscribed with Qin Lie’s name. “At first, Ling Lie was inscribed on it, but then, we found that you, brat, had used an alias, even wasting an extra plate for us.”

“You damned chump, to even conceal your name to us back then, how surly!” Kang Zhi humphed.

“This is the Nebula Token.” Qin Lie smiled and took another plate out, handing it over to Han Qingrui.

The Nebula Token was specially made for Tu Mo and Tu Ze by Nebula Pavilion’s Tu Shixiong. It was a symbol of status and also a voucher to enter Nebula Pavilion. It was just that he no longer needed the Nebula Token anymore. Moreover, this token was also extremely important to Tu Ze; thus, he took it out.

Han Qingrui nodded, took the Nebula Token, and then pondered for a bit and said, “Qin Lie, normally speaking, members who have just joined Nebula Pavilion can all choose to follow an elder and decide the general direction of their future based on that. Of the Five Elders of Nebula Pavilion, I am responsible for the management within the pavilion, the distribution of missions, and levying vassal power’s tributes. There is also the arranging of spirit materials and enumerating the contribution points of members…

“Ye Yangqiu, or Elder Ye, is responsible for discipline. Within the pavilion, regardless of who it is that interferes with Nebula Pavilion’s interests or disobeys Nebula Pavilion’s rules, will all be subjected to punishment by Ye Yangqiu.

“Elder Du Haitian is usually in charge of external matters, such as the gathering of spirit materials, capturing of spirit beasts, and assisting Nebula Pavilion in search for new ores and mines.

“Elder Chu Yan and Elder Wei Xing are mainly in charge of external battles, stifling Shattered Ice Manor, and infiltration of other powers.”

Han Qingrui looked at him and explained, “Us five elders are responsible for our own duties and are respectively in charge of different affairs. Of them, my affairs are relatively safe and relaxed, so normally there wouldn’t be any injuries or deaths. Naturally, gaining large amounts of contribution points will also be relatively difficult. Elder Ye Yangqiu isn’t too different from me either, the casualties are relatively few. There is not usually a need for manpower to be replenished, and contribution points aren’t easy to come by either.”

Pausing for a bit, he once again spoke, “The ones who are always in need of large amounts of manpower, are Elder Du Haitian, Chu Yan, and Wei Xing. Their missions are against the external and often move about outside. Hunting and slaying enemies are both relatively dangerous, but it’s also very easy to obtain contribution points. Mn, newcomers to the pavilion can freely choose to hold a position under the wings of any of the five elders. Have you made a decision before arriving?”

Qin Lie blankly stared for a bit. Through Han Qingrui’s explanations, he once again gained a new understanding about Nebula Pavilion.

He muttered in his heart that this truly is Nebula Pavilion. The rules are clear-cut, and every single elder takes charge of their duties and is responsible for different affairs, so that Nebula Pavilion is managed in a neat and tidy fashion.

——This is what a power ought to be like.

“Qin Lie, you definitely can’t choose Du Haitian or Wei Xing. Du Haitian has grievances with the Ling Family, while Wei Xing… is also Liu Yuntao’s underling alongside Du Haitian. Neither of them are in the same camp as my father.” The eyes of little fatty Kang Zhi flickered with a glint at this time as he said, “My dad is in the same camp as Uncle Han and Chu Peng’s father, Uncle Chu…”

Last night, Li Mu had also roughly talked about Nebula Pavilion’s state of affairs. Li Mu told him that Tu Ze’s elder brother, Tu Mo, was currently at the late stage of the Natal Opening Realm, reportedly having almost crossed into the Manifestation Realm. Tu Mo had also both openly declared and hinted that once he breaks through to the Manifestation Realm, he will go to Dark Asura Hall to seek his father Tu Shixiong.

Tu Mo and Tu Ze’s parents were both currently at Dark Asura Hall. Furthermore, Tu Shixiong was a commander of Dark Asura Hall; Tu Mo’s transition would be easy and clearly planned out.

As for Tu Ze… his realm was still too low and tentatively insufficient to manage Nebula Pavilion. He will follow his father’s wishes, which was for him stay in Nebula Pavilion and continue to improve himself.

Only after he reaches a sufficiently high realm would it be possible for him to assume control of Nebula Pavilion. Only then could he be like his elder brother, Tu Mo, and also enter Dark Asura Hall after breaking through to the Manifestation realm, joining his father and elder brother.

Once Tu Mo leaves, the empty position of Nebula Pavilion’s Pavilion Master must be filled by one of the two Vice Pavilion Masters, either Kang Hui or Liu Yuntao.

Kang Hui was Kang Zhi’s father and was very good friends with Chu Peng’s father, Chu Yan, as well as Han Feng’s father, Han Qingrui. Liu Yuntao roped in Du Haitian and Wei Xing while Ye Yangqiu did not lean towards either side, giving face to no one…

The way Kang Zhi said it, Qin Lie naturally understood what he meant. However, he had decided long before he came here——He had come for Yao Tai.

“Uncle Han, I wish to follow Great Master Yao, Yao Tai, and want to become his artifact forging assistant. What do you think?” Qin Lie asked in a serious manner.

“Great Master Yao?”

The three, Han Qingrui, Han Feng, as well as Kang Zhi, all had faces of astonishment as their eyes revealed expressions of strangeness.

…