Genesis Weapon Store, Imperial City;
As the latest explosion threw the entire Imperial city and nearby towns into chaos, Mark was not moving from the spot with his consciousness still in the factor's level-3 testing ground.
Unlike the real world, here, there is no such thing as darkness. So, it looked like a bright day.
This place is originally for testing explosives and missiles, but at the moment, Mark was using it to line up the corpses before collecting each of their storage rings and other useful equipment as part of war loot.
Once he collected their storage rings and weapons, he threw away all of their bodies in the same gold-grade storage ring before dismantling them. All 23 bodies were destroyed and he earned 384 credits.
Of course, he didn't forget to inspect the details of the corpses to understand who the zheng had killed. 7 of them are from the Iron Palm Sect, 5 belonged to the Tang Dynasty, 8 belonged to the Church of the Doom, 1 is a rogue adventurer from the Phoenix Empire, 1 is actually the deputy leader of the Mage guild, and the last one is surprisingly a thief with only 3-circle realm cultivation.
The corpses of the Church of Doom's elders satisfied him the most. He doesn't know their real strength, but with losing so many elders along with the second grand elder, he was confident that he practically crippled the organization.
It is a pity that their leader escaped but it is fine. Mark doesn't want to disturb his mood with such things. As for the others, he didn't care about their background.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtFirst of all, none of these killings will be traced back to him, and secondly, even if they did, he was no longer afraid of anyone under the Demigod realm whether the zheng is with him or not. And he highly doubts that a demigod would come at him to take revenge for those people. Even if it happened, Mark still has the zheng. He can rely on the scarlet leopard.
Anyways, after cleaning up the bodies, he then searched each storage ring, transferring the useful ones directly to the inventory. There was a satisfactory smile on his face as he looked at the gains.
"From those 23 storage rings, I only earned about 146,158 gold coins but there are still 26124 ether crystals and ores. Man, these would even give me another breakthrough. Not to mention, 119 ether ores are even at peak quality. I didn't know that peak quality ether even exists. After all, even high-quality crystals are hard to find in the market.
If I think about it, all of those peak-grade ether ores came from the Tang Dynasty's experts. So, I guess the Dragon Empire has such resources. If they can afford such precious things, then, the imperial family would be able to buy all the expensive weapons from my store.
The only problem is that they don't have any competitors on their continent. For my business to thrive, conflicts or wars are necessary. The more unstable a place will be, the more profits I would be able to make. Hence, the Leon Empire would be a better client as it was surrounded by several enemies."
Apart from those gains, Mark also gained about 9 more semi-divine weapons, 4 advanced-grade Advancement pills, and lastly, an Adamantium-made brocade box with mysterious symbols on it.
Unfortunately, none of the semi-divine weapons are even of ruby quality, forcing him to dismantle them and earn a total of 2.2 million credits.
Combined with the other 6 semi-divine weapons of elves which were dismantled for a total of 3.4 million credits, he earned about 5.6 million credits, easily covering up all of his expenditure (4 million) on the skills.
"Okay, what should I do with this one?" He then clicked on the brocade box and looked at its details without taking it out of the inventory, fearing that it might react violently because of its grade.
Unknown
Grade: Diamond-God
Description: A mysterious Adamantium-made item. It is difficult to assess its grade at the system's present level. However, it was protected by high-ranking runes and spells, and could only be opened by the special key designed for it.
*Ding! Would you like to exchange the "Unknown" item for 1 million credits?
Since 1 million credits will help with nothing, Mark rejected the trade request and decided to keep it with him for a while. Since the box came from the thief's storage ring, perhaps, he would be able to find its origins if he could investigate him and find his life story.
Mark remembers the face of the thief, a young man in his early thirties, and also knows his name. So, he thought he could do it while claiming that this thief had also stolen something from him.
He didn't keep too much expectation on finding its source as it is impossible that something of a divine grade item can fall into the hands of a 3-circle realm Spirit Warrior and he gets to live for even a day. The real owner would have enough sources to track it down to the thief. Or so, he thought.
Closing down the window, Mark then proceeded to take out the ether ores to absorb their energy, leaving the refining to the system to do it in the background while he sleeps later.
For a whole hour, he greedily absorbed every bit of energy that is available in the high-quality ether ores and some ether crystals, leaving the peak-grade ones in the inventory.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBy the time, the 60-minute time limit is over and he was forced to exit the factory, Mark absorbed about 188 ether ores and 64 high-quality ether crystals of different sizes.
There are a lot of them left to be absorbed, but for now, he felt the need to rest. For a while, he went through happiness and followed by quick disappointments, a lot of times, but at the end of the day, Mark had a smile on his face while he slowly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, far away from his store, at one of the peaks at Kunyu Mountain range;
It was too dark in the surroundings with the moon hiding behind the dark clouds but Lan Jingyi has no problem with her sight as she sat before her father's grave.
"I'm really afraid to face the truth, you know. After a long time, I was not only able to see Shang Zhen with my own eyes but I could also talk to him. What if this fails and he will forever shun me? You tell me, Lan Ju. What will you do if you are in my place?"
Lan Jingyi was talking to the scarlet leopard that was sitting beside her. After the zheng saved her, getting injured in the process, the Queen Consort learned that Lan Ju will even sacrifice himself to keep her alive because of his loyalty to her father.
After calming down, she accepted her fault for abandoning him and the sect, explaining the reasons behind her decision. Later on, after the zheng managed to heal his injuries, she followed him to the sect, where she was born and grew up.
Later on, she opened up her worries to the beast emperor, whom she once treated as her eldest brother.
The zheng patiently listened to her past that involves Lu Zhen and stated his own opinion on the matter, starting with scolding her, "You are truly a coward. You are afraid of being targeted by your clan and didn't continue your father's legacy. Now, you are afraid of getting rejected by your own son and wanted to play hide and seek with him.
I'm a demigod-level beast emperor, Jingyi. I can live for ten millennia. If not Lu Zhen, then, I can still pin my hopes on his descendant or your daughter's descendant. My oath to master will not be changed. As long as I live, I will wait for a worthy heir to revive the sect. My thoughts aren't complicated as you humans.
However, you, on the other hand, were too indecisive. You took three decades to clear the misunderstandings with me when the matter isn't even that big deal to worry about.
I didn't spend too much time with Lu Zhen but as far as I can tell, he isn't the type to run away from the problem nor does he appear like a narrow-minded fool.
Since he already knew the truth but still kept silent on the matter while allowing your daughter to work in his store, it clearly indicates that nothing will be changed as long as you don't make it public. That's what I think but it's better to make it clear to him. Unless you don't know his issue, how could you find the solution?"