Chapter 11

Ning'er couldn't help keep her eyes from straying to Shin Longs form as they walked down the main street leading away from the Holy Orchid Institute. He was such an interesting person.

His past was well known to those of the nobility, and his name was upon everybody's lips after his showing yesterday. Yet, for all that, what did anyone really know what he was like as a person? Besides maybe her teacher Shen Xiu, whom was his aunt that seemed to have a close relationship with him.

Like her, he'd chosen to sit away from everyone else when class started up. But he hadn't paid attention to the lessons at all, he'd spent his time during classes cultivating, as if there was nothing he could learn from the apprentice class.

Which, thinking on it now after her meeting with him last night, might just be true. The kind of expertise he would need to have to modify a cultivation technique like that, and improve upon it to the point where briefly cultivating just this morning for a few minutes led her to gaining a surge of growth in her soul realm, would be master level, if not beyond.

Ning'er could have broken through to the one star bronze rank today already if she wasn't pacing herself to give her meridans a chance to heal more.

"Hoh?" Shin Long hummed, and Ning'er watched as he eyed a street vendor unloading his wares. Placing small, spherical orbs out on display atop his stall. Demon Spirits. Though not very powerful ones from what she could see. Just those made from common demon beasts, those so weak they were usually kept as pets and were pretty useless for a demon spiritualist besides giving a stronger form to take on, very few of them even had any special ability or power.

It was a common sight. The street leading up to the Holy Orchid Institute was always teaming with vendors selling wares that would only see use from cultivators. It was the best place for them to make money considering how many noble children went to the institute.

Shin Long made his way over to the vendor, "Hey uncle," he greeted the man familiarly, "How much you selling these for?" he asked, pointing at the line up of six demon spirits the man ended up putting up for display.

"Ah young master," the salesman rubbed his hands together and smiled, "These are going quite cheap, only five thousand, two hundred demon spirit coins a piece."

"Ah, so you make about two hundred profit per demon spirit you make then huh?" Shin Long hummed in interest, "Which you then use the profits with to make even more over a period of time. A pretty decent idea."

Well, few bought them for merging with. But Ning'er did know it was common practice for noble children to buy them and collect them. She'd actually seen that annoyance Shen Yue buy all six of the demon spirits this same man had put up for sale yesterday after class, trying to show off his wealth to Ye Ziyun.

"Indeed," the salesman nodded, "So does the young master want to buy any?"

"Sadly I can't right now despite how big a help they'd be," Shin Long responded with a shrug, "But I'll definitely look you up in a few days uncle, once I get more money in and I'll buy as many as you have then."

Ah that was right. Shin Long couldn't have a lot of money, not being an orphan that had practically raised himself. She knew he'd been hunting demon beasts in the training grounds since he moved into his dorm, the rumours about the population of Horned Sheep being cut down by a ton had been gossiped about a lot at the institute, and she'd realised last night it must have been him.

Still, he needed them for something? Before Ning'er noticed what she was doing, she had already followed behind Shin Long up to the stall, "In that case," the orange haired girl spoke up, "I'll take two of them." her weekly allowance was fifteen thousand demon spirit coins. She had enough left over for two of them, and it was a small price to pay if Shin Long desired them.

A strong, yet gentle hand was placed on her shoulder and Shin Long gave her a small smile, "You don't need to buy them for me Ning'er," he told her, "I'll have more than enough for them in a few days." he assured her.

Ning'er's face flushed. The weight of his hand on her shoulder, and the way he smiled at her had her heart thumping a mile a minute. "I-I want to though," she stuttered a bit as she replied, "Just think of it as a small gift of my appreciation after what you did for me."

"I didn't do it for a reward you know," Shin Long pointed out. And she believed him, she'd felt he was exceedingly kind after last night, despite the tough front he presented, "..But if you're set on it, I won't insult you by turning down the gesture."

The smile that spread across Ning'er's face was so wide it almost hurt, "T-then pick whatever two you want," she said in return. Something did occur to her though, "Why do you need them though?" they were so weak, that they were beneath someone of Shin Longs talent to use as his merged demon spirit. And why would he need multiple of them?

"..Eh," he bit his lip for a moment before sighing and nodding his head, "How about I tell you once we get out of here?"

"That works for me." Ning'er nodded, continuing to smile.

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Shin Long had been grinning widely ever since they left the demon spirit stall behind. For the life of her, Ning'er couldn't understand why he was so happy. He'd actually cheered in excitement when checking over the demon spirits that were being sold in the stall, and quite literally rushed her to get them for him.

Even while the massive gates of Glory City slammed shut behind them with enough force to kick up a blast of wind that would send normal people flying, all Ning'er had eyes for was the smile on her new...friends...face.

It was just a duo of Red Crab and Red Eagle demon spirits. What was there to be excited about? The eagles flew in large flocks over glory City all the time, and their only offensive ability was to heat up their feathers till they caught alight with tiny embers of flame. And the crab was even worse. you could find dozens of them at nearly any little river or pond within the city, and their only offensive weapon was the fact that they had one claw that was twice the size of the other, which didn't mean much considering the crabs themselves were about a foot in height at most.

"Why are you so happy?" she couldn't help herself and had to ask.

"Because both of these demon spirits have extraordinary growth rates!" Shin Long replied promptly and loudly, holding both spherical spirit containers into the air and smiling excitedly at them, "I wasn't expecting to find anything like this for a while and especially not at a random stall."

"Growth rates?" Ning'er titled her head and asked. She'd never heard of them term before. The common practice of a demon spiritualist was to integrate a demon spirit, the best they could get and use it until they gained a better and stronger one that they could merge with.

Shin Long blinked and then looked at her as if she were an idiot. Ning'ers cheeks flushed with embarrassment, even if she didn't understand the reason behind it.

"Oh!" he blinked again, "I forgot how wasteful everyone is with their demon spirits without actually truly understanding them."

Ning'er had a feeling she should feel insulted on her ancestor's behalves, but honestly, she just giggled at the casual insult to hundreds of years of established practice.

"See, demon spirits like us humans have talent," Shin Long began explaining, and she listened in interest, "These talents, going from Poor, to Good, Excellent, then Extraordinary and finally God are kind of like our soul force colours. They determine a demon spirits talent for getting stronger."

"Demon spirits can get stronger!?" Ning'er gasped in shock. That changed, so much! There were many who gave up demon spirits who fit them better because the spirits were weaker than others they obtained. If they could get stronger, there wouldn't be a call to waste such expensive spirits.

"Yep!" Shin Long beamed, "It's pretty simple really. Demon spirits will grow slightly as their demon spiritualist does, and if you focus on them, you can actually cultivate their power as well."

He stepped closer to Ning'er after saying that and showed her the two demon spirits she'd bought him, "These two might be incredibly weak," he confided, "But with their amazing growth rates, it'll be a simple matter to increase their power."

Shin Long really was something else wasn't he? He was a talent she could never hope to match at the rate she was going now. He was so smart, and wise. He knew so much, and he was so strong too!

"And," he continued, holding the spirits up into the air, his unique red soul force with green lightning bolts shimmering through it bursting into existence around his arm, just as he closed his fingers around the demon spirits, "With my special cultivation technique, I can raise more than one spirit at a time!" and before Ning'ers astonished eyes, he opened his hand a moment later, to reveal both demon spirits gone!

"Ah!" she yelped in shock a split moment later, when his aura burst to life around him, ascending into the air in a massive pillar of crimson red soul force that pushed her back a few feet, large cackling green lightning bolts zapping the ground around it. She looked at Shin Longs face, and couldn't help but gaze at him in awe when he looked back at her, both oh his eyes emitting blinding light that hid his pupils and whites from view, one glowing emerald green, the other a dark crimson red.

He'd just broken through to the Silver Rank!