A great loot

from one room to another, Ethan scanned through all the rooms...

there are countless rare herbs and artifacts. there are also weapons like swords, spears and bows.

He carefully examined each weapon. there were thousands of low-grade weapons, but only eight hundred high-grade weapons.

there were also earth and heaven-grade weapons but only a few hundred combined.

looking at the look at the gains, Ethan sighed.

the loot was good enough. even in the whole kingdom, there might be only a few heaven-grade weapons. as for the high grade that's very popular among riches.

sometimes, according to the materials and the forging methods the price can be very affordable.

the earth-grade weapons are the treasures that usually the big families pass down from generation to generation.

it's not impossible to craft them, it's just that, for forging above high-grade weapons one must need to find perfect materials for crafting, regular cold iron won't be any of use.

that being said, Ethan had acquired a soul-grade weapon by chance, it can be considered as being lucky.

there were a lot of herbs in there... and these are all rare treasures.

there are some, that looked other-worldly. in short, Ethan was now rich... not that he was poor, to begin with.

"Ethan-kun have you found, what you are looking for?" Athena asked. 'kun' is the term they agreed upon after all of her nicknames.

"hey, Lady Athena, is it okay if I take these all?"

Ethan asked shamelessly.

"um... I used to lure some people with these to kill my boredom. I don't have any use for these." Athena spoke, waving her hand.

"kill boredom huh?" Ethan smiled wryly. he remembered the term dungeons very well...

"Yaling! let's go. we have to look outside."

Ethan shouted and turned to the exit.

unlike the entrance, there's a portal that directly teleports you outside.

"hm... that's very convenient."

Athena went back inside his sea of consciousness.

"Okay so tell me, do you know any place.. you know like... some volcano or something," Ethan spoke.

"I do know, it's just happened to be over there..." Athena pointed towards a cliff not far away from them.

"that...?" Ethan mumbled.

"yeah... believe me!"

"okay"

soon the three left, the cliff wasn't far from there, only half an hour of walk, they reached the cliff.

there was a cave, which looked manmade.

there were stairs leading deep down.

"Are you sure? this is the right place?" Ethan asked hesitating to enter.

"yes of course, can't you feel the fire element qi coming from there?" Athena frowned.

"nope"

"..."

"well, whatever... let's give it a try," Ethan spoke helplessly.

he just lit up a branch of a tree and slowly descended the stairs.

that was too deep. it took him half an hour with many turns, finally, he reached the bottom.

the temperature there was very high, Ethan was barely holding himself.

as for Yaling, she was in a little better condition.

"look! look! I told ya!" Athena shook her head with a smirk.

In front of them, there was a large lava pool.

"I will get roasted here... Yaling, help me look for a lotus around here." Yaling nodded looking at his poor condition.

she went to look for it. "Ethan I found it."

it took her around a few minutes to find it.

Ethan took out his soul-bound katana and asked, 'is this the Supreme yang lotus?'

[yes, that's it.] getting confirmation from lily, he nodded.

Yaling smiled and handed it over to him.

"Let's go."

as they were prepared to leave, suddenly a horse voice came from outside.

"damn it! you said there isn't anyone there?"

"yes general wang, I checked the whole area, they must've escaped."

a female voice followed.

Ethan grabbed Yaling by her wrist and pulled down behind a big boulder around there.

and immediately he took out a small yellow stone from his inventory and placed it on her palm.

"keep it low," he whispered.

Yaling nodded her head.

....

Inside the Emperor's castle,

Emperor Lian Yang was sitting with a middle-aged person.

they both had a solemn expression.

Lian Yang spoke, "you said, you got beaten up by someone?"

the middle-aged man replied, "that's right, he is a true monster, I guessed something was off about him, so I tried to test him."

hearing that Lian Yang pondered for a while, then asked, "how about his appearance?"

the middle-aged man smiled helplessly, then spoke, "he looked young, maybe he was in his early twenties? but he was very handsome with shoulder-lengthed silver hairs."

Emperor Lian Yang was shocked to his core. this man in front of him was the great general Peng Tao, he could be considered as one of the strongest on the whole continent. yet a young man ruthlessly crushed him to a half-dead state? what a joke?

"Lian Yang!"

"Lian Yang!"

"huh?" emperor Lian Yang finally woke up from his dazed state. and looked at Peng Tao, then asked, "tell me more about him!" Lian Yang exclaimed.

Peng Tao nodded and continued, "he looked like an elf, and had a companion with him."

Lian Yang's eyes widened, as he put the pieces into the board and...

"I got it!" Lian Yang exclaimed.

looking at him Peng Tao frowned, "what is it, your Majesty?"

"It must be the old Drake, of Williams. he must have broken through to the eight-stage. that old bastard is very cunning."

"you mean the duke Drake Williams?"

"yes, that silver-haired elf is very handsome. and it's not uncommon for elves to live a few hundreds of years. so it must be him. the last time I saw him, he was at the 7th stage. it must be him."

the whole area turned silent. for a while.

Peng Tao looked at the emperor and asked, "what's now?"

Lian Yang took a sip of tea then spoke, "I will try to contact duchess Elizabeth so we can directly talk to him."

Peng Tao Nodded and they talked for another hour.

.....

on the other side, Jim was talking with an Old man.

"so I can not meet him huh?" the old man sighed.

"don't worry I will ask him if I meet him again," Jim said in a haste manner.

"I see... well here... take this." the old man handed a scroll and a medallion.

"what's this?" took it and opened the scroll.

"it's the invitation for the Princess' birthday banquet. which is in a month. I am busy on the day. so take this with you." the old man smiled.

"oh.. the princess' birthday banquet? I will be glad to attend. by the way, can I bring someone with me?" he asked, as he placed the scroll and medallion in his storage ring.

"of course, you can bring three people."

"thank you very much, senior."

"it's fine, ask your master about my request."

"sure thing."

Jim bowed and immediately disappeared.

"sigh.. this young man is so mysterious, how strong would be his master?"

the old man flew away.

Jim appeared in front of his sect. He looked around then took out his new sword.

"say buddy, why do you want to be my soul bound?"

[zz... Well, I thought you can use my powers to their true extent.] a robotic male voice resounded.

"You sure are overestimating yourself! If not for my regression. I wouldn't bother to glance at a soul-grade sword."

[... Okay fine! but the old man couldn't use the draconic qi, so what's the point?]

"well... You have a point."

Jim shrugged and entered the gate.

This time all the disciples kept staring at him.

But he didn't bother with them and went for a certain quarter.

*knock* *knock*

He knocked on the door and impatiently kept fidgeting his fingers.

"who-" the door opened, revealing a beautiful woman. Her golden hairs were tied in a ponytail. and she was wearing a yellow gown.

"Jim?" she looked at the tall handsome man in front of him.

"Serena!" Jim hugged her immediately.

"w-wait! Jim?" she was startled by his sudden actions.

"let's go inside and talk!"

they both went inside and sat on the couch.

"Jim? where were you? and what happened to you?" Serena noticed his looks are somewhat different.

"Serena! you know what? I had a breakthrough!" Jim said excitedly.

Serena raised her eyebrows, "you breakthrough to the 2nd stage in less than a month?"

she was shocked at his terrifying progress.

"huh? no, no.. not the 2nd stage.." Jim was trying to say something but got interrupted.

"oh... so you broke through to the 4th level of elementary qi stage!"

she nodded in a reasonable sense.

"what? no, I broke through to the 5th stage!"

Jim said impatiently, expecting some praise.

"5th stage? stop kidding me. I understand you had a breakthrough but you don't need to slack off, you have to work harder and harder."

she said ignoring his words.

"but i-"