The Perfect Customer

Aerion spent around twenty hours every day meditating, slaying beasts in the Dungeon and fighting himself. The rest of his time was spent either resting or trading. He got a steady flow of resources, it was almost never-ending. He even went over to the lower cities to assist his lower sect members as well. After a month, he became a household name. Almost everyone knew who he was in the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect, the only people who didn't were those who were closed-door cultivating (aka living under a rock).

"Junior brother Aerion, may I have a moment of your time?"

One fateful day, a certain prince approached Aerion. Just when he was about to return to his room, Mu Hanyi called his name. Aerion stopped his walk and turned around. Upon a quick observation, he found out who stopped him in his tracks. It was none other than one of his future competitors, Mu Hanyi! Aerion wondered what this mighty figure wanted from a sword-making genius such as himself... sounds pretty obvious, he wanted a sword.

"Oh, it's senior brother Hanyi, I've been looking forward to meeting you... but I did not expect this day to come so soon. I wonder, what would someone like you need from me?"

"I've heard of your excellent sword crafting ability, apparently, you can turn trash into gold... is this true?"

Aerion proudly nodded. "You won't find anyone better in the entire Snow Song Realm."

"Then I would like you to reforge this sword of mine."

He took out a sword and presented it to Aerion who then observed it, it was of a far better grade than the others he had reforged previously. "I can definitely do that, but it won't be cheap for you, senior brother. But you're a core disciple of the Divine Ice Phoenix Hall so it should balance things out."

"As long as it's a reasonable price, I am willing to pay."

"Good, remember those words. You'll have to wait a day or so before I can get it done." Aerion smiled.

"That is fine... you belong to the Ice Phoenix 36th Palace, am I correct?"

"Yes, you are."

"Then I shall visit you tomorrow, junior brother."

Even Mu Hanyi came to me for an upgrade... my business must really be taking off, hahaha. I should make the most out of this opportunity and rob him clean.

Aerion returned to his room to reforge the sword and continue with his cultivation strength training. He was extremely close to Divine Origin 8, just one more step and he would breakthrough. The easiest way to do so is in a battle... at least for him, it is. So he went into the dungeon once more and decided to finally advance to the next floor. After wrecking the Divine Tribulation elder, he entered through the portal and realised that it wasn't quite a floor.

This...

It was a world of never-ending lightning. The red sky was covered by ominous clouds which released lightning and thunder his way. Beneath him was a sea of fire and nothing more. Out of nowhere, hurricanes of fire started to form... of course, they were coming for him. The world could simply be described as a living hell. But this... this didn't mean it had to be a bad thing. In fact, for a person like Aerion, it was heaven in disguise!

So much elemental energy...

Aerion started to absorb as much of it as he could. The fire hurricanes could damage him but it wasn't anything he had to worry about, however... things started to take a turn for the worst when elemental entities started to form. The more correct term would be elemental warriors... and all of them had complete immunity to fire, lightning and wind. At first, there was only one of them.

Aerion saw the elemental warrior's heavy sword descend down so he stepped to the side using Star God's Broken Shadow. The warrior's elemental immunity put Aerion in a really bad position since most of his moves were based on the elements of fire, lightning and wind. He took out the Heaven Smiting Sword and prepared to defend himself against the warrior's next attack.

Counter kill.

Aerion parried the warrior's attack and countered with an attack of his own. It was a diagonal downward slash from left to right which resulted in a large wound but not quite life-threatening for the elemental warrior. It would seem that he had good endurance along with his immunity.

This dungeon, it definitely has something against me... you grant me a blessing like this floor but somehow manage to turn it around, into a curse!

Aerion gracefully escaped the elemental warrior's next attack. Then he forcefully transformed into Phase 4 which caused his strength to soar a few levels. This time he met the elemental warrior's swing head-on with the Heaven Smiting Sword.

BOOM.

The moment the two heavy swords collided, a huge shockwave erupted which could have easily dispersed any hurricane. As their battle continued, Aerion started to gain the upper hand as he became more immersed in the battle. The elemental warrior couldn't cut through his peerless defence nor could he perfectly defend against his monstrous offence. It was a physical battle and Aerion was winning it completely.

Enough playing around... Heavenly Wolf Slash!

With a mighty Heavenly Wolf Slash, he ended the elemental warrior's existence.

Now then, back to meditating.

Then two elemental warriors appeared, both stronger than the previous one. Divine Tribulation 4 wouldn't be so bad if they weren't immune to his strongest attacks.

Damn this dungeon, can't I breakthrough in peace!?

Aerion picked up the Heaven Smiting Sword with both hands and blocked the first warrior's attack. The second one decided to flank him from behind. Aerion noticed this and swiftly escaped upwards using the Star God's Broken Shadow.

Heavenly Wolf Slash!

Aerion sent a Heavenly Wolf Slash to one of the elemental warriors. The slash tore the warrior apart, killing him in a few, short, seconds. Now that it was back to one-on-one, Aerion had the upper hand again. He quickly finished off the elemental warrior.

Three Divine Tribulation 5 elemental warriors appeared shortly after. Aerion stood absolutely no chance and he realised this as soon as they started to use wind-based profound skills. But he valiantly stood his ground, for a really long time. But then the Silver Calamity gate forcefully closed itself due to his exhaustion. The three elemental warriors suppressed him completely and began to deal fatal blow after fatal blow.

Death was certain.

"It looks like the little dragon needs some help... but he's too proud to admit it... hmm. I shall be kind."

The fire and darkness of the two Ancestral Gods fused perfectly into one and began to rejuvenate its host. Fire, Dragon, Sky, Darkness, Destruction, Blood and Underworld... these were all things that Aerios and Rotias respectively ruled over. Aerion couldn't quite command Aerios' divine powers yet... but Rotias could certainly control his own.

What... is this power?

Aerion stood up and noticed that his wounds were being completely and utterly closed. The aura around him was immensely dark and frightening that it even made the emotionless elemental warriors shudder slightly.

"Finish them quickly," Rotias commanded. "Or you will find yourself in the same situation."

Right...

Aerion grasped and lifted the Heaven Smiting Sword once again. He felt like he was born anew as he opened Silver Calamity once again. Crimson and silver wings, black horns and tail... he looked like a combination of human and dragon. The crimson scales were noticeably darker while his silver scales remained unchanged. Aerion's eyes glowed red with killing intent as the dark, fiery, aura around him erupted.

DESTROYING SKY DECIMATING EARTH!

BOOOOM.

Once the explosion cleared, Aerion found out that all three of the elemental warriors were dead. Aerion breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Heretic God was truly impressive, I must admit. He made the most out of his Creation God powers... hehe, but this is far better!"

Rotias gave Aerion a certain part of his memory which was mostly related to the profound skill.

Dark Void Of Endless Destruction...?

"Fun fact, I almost defeated Aerios with it but that stubborn fool never gave up... the attack will drain your profound energy so don't use it recklessly or you might die a pitiful death."

"Is there a reason why Aerios never left behind a Profound Art?"

"Hmm, he did have one and he did not bother to leave it with you. It would seem that he did, indeed, want you to make your own. You've done a pretty good job so far, creating four without much effort."

"You mean... Ghost Fire Breath, Supreme Silver Ghost Fist, Soul Shattering Slash and the clone?"

"Yes, you should get around naming 'the clone'. Don't you dare give it the trash name of Fire-Blood Doppelganger..."

"Hahaha, I definitely won't. But I doubt that I will be using it much since my new Perfect Sword Spirit should be superior."

"That is true, but if you ever lose an arm, for example, you could turn it into a clone... just because you have one, doesn't mean you can't use the other."

"You are right about that."

The dungeon cooled off and Aerion managed to break through to the eighth stage of the Divine Origin Realm. Then tomorrow came and he prepared to reap the rewards for the sword he had reforged for Mu Hanyi. As a professional haggler, who had gained far more than he should have on many trades, Aerion was more than capable of getting a good deal. Even if he was older, Mu Hanyi had nowhere near the experience Aerion had accumulated. But Aerion wasn't willing to completely scam him... I mean, that would be quite dishonourable so he put a little bit more effort into making the sword.

I'm fancying a few Starpicker Stones, Aerion thought as he left his cultivation room.