Passing by the ancient gates of Shrek Academy, Chen Fu turned back to look. His thoughts drifted.
Chen Fu was born in the war-torn border between the Sun–Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire. His adoptive refugee father, with exceptional reputation and influence, united refugees from both sides and built a new city out of the ruins. Though its population was diverse, the city leaned more toward the "defender" role of Star Luo. As it grew stronger, the Star Luo government eventually recognized its legitimacy and incorporated it into its administrative system.
Later, the only reason Chen Fu could enter Shrek Academy was because of the city lord's recommendation letter. With innate rank-5 soul power, he was admitted through a special recruitment track in the Soul Tool Department. Even a genius needs a stage to stand on.
"I always thought you had poor political instincts, but I never expected you'd pave the road for your child's class ascension with your own life."
Thinking of the current city lord, Chen Fu felt the man,who could never establish the same authority his father had,was hardly worth anything.
A mere small duke's general. Trash.
"Young master."
A middle-aged man who had hurried over called out softly.
"Let's go, Uncle Fu. I'll be troubling you a lot from now on."
Chen Fu turned and walked toward the end of the street with the man called Uncle Fu.
"How did things go?"
"All the shops have been transferred. Converted to gold soul coins, the total is 180,000. As you requested, I rounded off the small change."
Uncle Fu had accompanied Chen Fu to Shrek City back then. They rented a small shop that sold low-end, standard soul tools Chen Fu made for practice. The superb quality earned them many loyal customers.
"Good. Well done."
Nodding, Chen Fu walked through several streets until he reached the busiest main avenue of Shrek City.
This street had exits from both the inner and outer academies and was always bustling.
Normally, even 180,000 gold soul coins couldn't make a splash here.
After looking around, Chen Fu finally walked into a large flower shop with heavy classical architectural style.
"Hello, customer. What can I help you with?"
Seeing someone finally enter, the dozing girl behind the counter quickly straightened her dress and poked her head out.
"Oh! A rare guest! What's going on today that blew the library gatekeeper out of his cave?"
Once she saw who it was, she was shocked. This junior had been quite famous.
"I heard you opened a flower shop on the commercial street, senior, but I didn't expect you to open one in such a prime location."
Renting such expensive land just to sell flowers with low added value was surprising.
"Hehe, I like it."
She giggled and didn't explain further.
"I want to discuss a cooperation."
"Alright, go ahead."
She invited them to sit and poured tea.
"I want to rent part of your shop to sell soul tools."
"Huh? Sure."
She seemed surprised but agreed readily.
"No need for rent. If I remember right, if the academy hadn't issued a ban back then, the city's entire low-end soul tool market would've been monopolized by you." Thinking of something amusing, Mo Ling's slightly chubby cheeks lifted in a smile.
"Then what does Senior Mo want?" Chen Fu smiled as well. New techniques, new materials, new designs, more efficient processes,he hadn't expected Shrek City's soul tool market to be so weak. Later he learned why: his one- and two-rank soul tools were equivalent to other people's two- and three-rank tools, and of even better quality.
"Anything at all?" Mo Ling propped her chin up, her bright eyes shimmering.
"You can make a wish first. I'll do my best to fulfill it."
When researching [Nirvana], Chen Fu had asked many students about their martial spirit traits, leaving many promises behind,each fulfilled perfectly,earning him the nickname "Little Wishing Machine."
"Hehe, my request isn't high. I just wonder… can you fix the poison in my martial spirit?" Mo Ling smiled at him.
"A snake-type martial spirit… Are you a Green-Scaled Snake?" That martial spirit was known for its toxin issues.
No, that didn't make sense. Her big round eyes, chubby cheeks, and not-too-bright expression didn't match any serpent-type traits. Chen Fu kept this thought to himself.
"Feels like you're thinking something rude." She rolled her eyes at him. "When I was young, I got greedy and ate a leftover pellet from a Green-Scaled Snake King. I was saved, but it left a hidden problem. My soul power carries poison, and the deeper I cultivate, the worse it gets."
This was also why she chose to lie flat after graduation,higher cultivation meant a higher risk of sudden death.
Her martial spirit was a Treasure Gold-Thread Bear, a hamster-type spirit symbolizing wealth and good fortune. Its combat ability was weak, but her luck was excellent.
Chen Fu didn't ask why she didn't use standard detoxification methods for Green-Scaled Snake poison. Snake-type soul masters could control it, but Mo Ling couldn't.
"A martial spirit contamination phenomenon," Chen Fu concluded. His research in martial spirits had given him many insights.
Compared to the uncontrollable nature of evil flame in the spiritual root, this form of snake-poison contamination was actually more manageable.
A martial spirit is formed from both spiritual and bloodline factors. In Mo Ling's case, the bloodline had been infected, causing incompatibility between the two.
At this point, she would either need purification or further contamination to force a mutation.
He presented both options and waited for her choice.
Seeing Mo Ling's conflicted expression, Chen Fu offered advice: "Promoting a mutation takes longer but may give you a higher potential."
"Alright! Then purify it!" Mo Ling slapped the table. This hamster just wanted to be a pure hamster.
So she's making this harder, huh? Chen Fu felt helpless.
The purification method required some anatomical knowledge, which he rarely dealt with.
"Give me two months. First, I'll fix your cultivation issue. Then we'll see about removing the internal toxin."
Now with a plan, he gave the steps.
"Hurray! This hamster lives again!"
After sending away the bouncing Mo Ling, Chen Fu and Uncle Fu discussed minor modifications to the shop with her staff.
First, he hung his golden plaque, "Lin," outside, right beside Mo Ling's "Lanxiang Pavilion." Good products shouldn't fear being hidden away, though Chen Fu didn't worry about that.
A notice was also posted: Soul tools from rank 1 to 5 sold irregularly. Rank-4 and rank-5 custom orders accepted. Limited to ten customers per month.
People walking by noticed the activity around Lanxiang Pavilion and came to look.
"So Lin Pavilion moved here. Good, I never liked that Lanxiang Pavilion."
"I heard Chen Fu didn't enter the inner court. When those forces realized it and tried to recruit him, he was already gone."
"Master Chen's skill keeps improving. He's finally selling rank-4 and rank-5 tools."
People buzzed with discussion. Those interested went to ask Uncle Fu about the opening date.
Not long after, Chen Fu looked at the long list of reservation requests and felt a headache. Did they really think he was a wishing machine?
"Young master, someone from Nine Treasures City is here." Uncle Fu reported. He could refuse some, but not this supplier's representative.
"Alright. Let's see if he wants to make a wish too. Oh, and tell those wanting custom orders to pick them up next month."
Rubbing his temples, Chen Fu sighed. He did have many dealings with Nine Treasures City, but all were normal business.
"Intelligent technology should be scheduled soon. Basic programming is doable, but how should I implement soul-spirit shortcuts…?"
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