Dante was quite satisfied with Liang's growth. Since then, Liang mostly spent his time going between the Alchemist Association to make money and fighting outside the city to gather killing points.
The Enhanced Energy Elixir was priced at 1 Killing Point for the Body Tempering version, 10 Killing Points for the Martial Warrior version, 100 Killing Points for the Martial Blood version, and so on.
Now that Liang had become a Martial Warrior and had even reached Great Completion in this time, he only had two more sub-realms to go before he became a Martial Blood realm powerhouse, a growth speed that surpassed Dante and Shui Binglan.
However, he still did not have an Internal Art because neither Dante nor his system could test for Internal Arts talent. A special item had to be used, one that only an Internal Arts master could produce, and while Dante was quite advanced in the Inferno Ascension technique, he did not possess the specific information needed to craft that item.
In fact, acquiring it was very difficult, so he couldn't even take it out for his AI to research and replicate a way. Of course, with his recent acquisition of Quantum Replication, this was no longer an issue.
With that in mind, Dante got out of his bed and entered his courtyard. As usual, the diligent and cute Jia Susu was working hard in her practice. Dante had given her an Enhanced Energy Elixir the last time, and this had allowed the poorly talented young lady to progress greatly in a short period of time.
She was now at the Perfection of Body Tempering, and while her talent would normally not allow her to ever progress beyond this level, Dante could still push her up. Still, Dante did not do so because Jia Susu was still very young and had a bright future ahead of her as his personal servant disciple.
If she advanced, she would likely be accepted by the hall as a proper disciple, probably an inner one, and her poor talent would be exposed in no time, leading to mistreatment and ostracization. She would go from being seen as a genius to trash, and who knows what that could do to her mental state.
Right now, she was very happy in life. Her Senior Brother Dante was very kind and doted on her, and her family's situation had improved because of her affiliation with him. Not to mention that her own growth in power gave her more security and joy.
When Dante appeared, Jia Susu stopped her practice and ran over with a look of happiness.
"Senior Brother Dante, you're here!" She chirped with joy.
"You have done well, Susu," Dante praised as he gave her a gentle pat on her head.
"Hehe, it's all thanks to you. That concoction you gave me was much better than Blood Energy Soup," Jia Susu revealed while enjoying the acknowledgment.
Dante nodded and folded his arms across his much broader chest compared to when he first came here. "I obtained that from a secret cave left by a top alchemist. It's part of the reparations owed to me by those elders who tried to assassinate me."
"Oh… then, isn't it very valuable?" Jia Susu asked with hesitation.
"For me? Not really. But I have no one else I like in this hall, so you were the perfect choice. Keep being yourself, Susu, and you will go far," Dante remarked kindly.
Dante chatted with her for a bit, getting an update on the hall's current actions. The only thing of interest was naturally the apprehension of a demonic martial artist by Core Disciple Shui Binglan, and the entire hall was buzzing about it.
Dante smirked and left his courtyard, heading towards the Administration Hall. Many disciples he met on the way greeted him respectfully upon seeing his gi, but they also had strange expressions on their faces.
Dante had already read their minds and knew that after Shui Binglan had captured that demonic martial artist, many were beginning to compare the two of them. Obviously, as the only two core disciples who were directly recruited into their positions, they stood out greatly.
Not to mention that they were both the only ones who cultivated Internal Arts too. Many disciples had been there when Dante first cultivated the Inferno Ascension technique and caused a big disturbance, and the assessment by Hao Donglei had already subtly spread.
Shui Binglan had Martial Blood realm blood energy before practicing, but Dante had half-step Martial Grandmaster realm blood energy before practicing! Shui Binglan took a few months to initiate herself in her Internal Art, but Dante exploded with fire and achieved the first level in just a few seconds!
As such, Shui Binglan had been seen as second to Dante for the longest time up until now. When Dante publicly revealed he was breaking through to the Martial Warrior realm back then, it even set off more quakes, though the theoretically took 1 and a half months to do it, but it was far shorter in reality.
However, after this, Dante had gone radio silent as if he was dead. Even though he had returned here many times, only Jia Susu knew that. To the others, Dante had secluded himself from the world and had made himself mysterious since then.
Since no one could figure out his current depth or what he was doing, many soon forgot about him. Now that Shui Binglan was in the limelight due to her capture, many subtly felt like she was the number 1 core disciple without compare.
However, seeing Dante walk around startled them and made them remember his prowess, which led them to wonder if Dante was purposefully coming to surpass Shui Binglan. No one would feel good having someone they surpassed suddenly catch up and even be viewed favorably above them, which was what many felt was the truth.
Dante calmly entered the office of Hao Donglei, where the large, tanned-skin Hao Donglei sat with his bald head shining due to the sunlight reflecting off of it. He was boredly looking through some scrolls until Dante entered.
Seemingly happy to have an excuse for a break, he put them aside and then focused on Dante with a smile. However, his smile disappeared once he sensed Dante's blood Qi, which was as thick as a very large ocean.
This made Hao Donglei stand up with shock. "You…!! You've become a Martial God??"
Dante smiled and calmed Hao Donglei down. "I just broke through to the Martial Master stage a few hours ago. Due to a special synergy with my Internal Art, I have more than double the blood Qi I should have."
Hao Donglei sat down and seemed to accept this, though he knew there were holes in it. However, he would go mad if he didn't have some reasonable sound excuse for how Dante could break common sense so casually.
"Hmm, that's amazing. You're pretty much qualified to head to the province now that you have reached the Martial Master stage. Normally, I would advise you to wait a bit and consolidate your power before going, but you're probably more or less what your competitors should fear, rather than the other way around," Hao Donglei remarked with amusement.
Dante folded his arms. "No need, I have no plans of leaving the city yet. There are some things I need to do and achieve here, so I will be sticking around for a while."
Hao Donglei was surprised and then nodded. "Alright, then what did you come here for?"
"I want one of those things you used to test my Internal Arts talent, or at least the method to create it," Dante stated his desires straightforwardly.
Hao Donglei opened a drawer and took out the Orb of True Force that Dante had once used to test his talent and then placed it in Dante's hands without pause. Dante was surprised by the ease at which he got such a rare item, for he remembered that Internal Arts users had to be at least level 5 before they could create this stably.
He was still at level 4 right now, but would obviously be leveling up to level 5 soon. Still, knowing that Hao Donglei gave it to him without hemming or hawing made Dante feel strange.
"Don't be surprised. Your talent is greater than even the founder of our Supreme Martial Hall. You are destined to either reach his level or surpass him, so why should I calculate the gains and losses with you?" Hao Donglei simply pointed out.
Dante sighed and nodded. "What about the production method?"
"It's nothing complex, just condense your Internal Force and try to remove your elemental affinity. So, basically, raw energy compressed into the form of the orb you're holding," Hao Donglei shrugged as he elaborated.
Dante nodded and glanced at Hao Donglei before he left the office. "Also, as for the things those foolish elders promised me, you can use them however you want. Think of it as my gift to you for your care."
Hao Donglei's eyes gleamed as Dante passed that statement before leaving. Here he was thinking of how to present those things to Dante in a suitable manner, but they were now his? Now that was the definition of 'reap what you sow' in a positive sense, for there was one item among them that Hao Donglei desperately needed.
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