Against The Heavens

Of course, such pressure would not even cause Li Yang to bat an eye. With a calm and steady gait, he pushed open the golden door engraved with a soaring dragon and entered the building.

Li Yang found that the inside was less grand and overbearing than the outside of the building. St.u.r.dy chairs and tables made out of carved wood were placed around on the first floor, giving people a place to sit. Bookshelves lined the walls, a large number of varying books available.

On the other side of the room was a set of stairs that lead up to the second floor. On the left side of the room stood a lone counter, a single person present behind the counter. There was also a door that led deeper into the building located behind the counter. On the right side of the room stood a counter where people could buy various alcoholic drinks.

The atmosphere inside the building was slightly pressuring, with people of all types of shapes and forms sitting at the tables placed around. Some people were drinking, some were simply chatting silently, while others were enjoying the company of women or men.

Upon Li Yang entering the room, many of the people sitting there turned to inspect the newcomer. Upon seeing how small and thin Li Yang was, some people"s mouths curled into slight sneers. But no one said anything, after all, it was hard to judge someone"s strength from just their looks.

While the people were inspecting Li Yang, he and Jinwu were inspecting them. On the first floor, the highest cultivation that Li Yang saw was a person at the middle stage of the Mortal Rune realm, a person with two runes. It seemed like the people with higher cultivation had all moved to the higher floors.

"I am here to sign up as a One-Clawed Dragon."

Li Yang swept the inside of the room once more, before walking up to the counter at the left side of the room. He did not waste any words, directly stating what he was there for. Behind the counter stood a short and stout woman, with short orange hair and scarred skin.

"You do know that it is incredibly easy to die while you are out on a mission? We will not be held accountable if anything were to happen to you. You also need a certain level of strength, otherwise, you will just die when you attempt the entry mission."

The woman raised an eyebrow as she looked at Li Yang. Three scars on his face and clad in the skin of a wolf, he looked like quite a ferocious person. But it was still obvious that he was very young, much younger than most people that joined them.

"I know, and I am prepared. I also want to send a message to someone."

Li Yang nodded his head, his eyes completely calm. He also did not forget his second reason for coming here, seeing if he could find and contact Fang Ying.

"Very well, don"t say that I did not warn you. Who do you want to send a message to?"

Since she had already warned him once, the woman would obviously not say any more, his life was his own after all. She took out a small book and a pen, preparing to write down the message Li Yang wanted to send and who to send it to.

"A person called Fang Ying, her age should not be too far from mine. She should have white hair and specialize in the laws of poison."

Li Yang listed the most notable things about Fang Ying, at least the things that were most notable about her in their previous life. He did not know anything about her in this life, so he did not know if her looks and specializations had changed. But he chose to a.s.sume that they had not changed, as his own had not changed.

"Alright, I will check in our archive"s later on if we know a person like that. If we find multiple people that fit your criteria, we will send the message to all of them. Is that fine?"

The woman slightly raised her eyebrows, feeling a slight headache approach. With just this information, how was she supposed to find the specific person that he wanted to receive the message? In that case, it was simply better to send it to everyone who fit the criteria.

"That is fine. The message is very simple, just send the words "Huo clan compet.i.tion, Li Yang"."

Li Yang did not mind how they went about it, as long as they made sure that she got the message. The reason he said the Huo clan compet.i.tion, rather than letting her know where he was, was to give himself some time to grow stronger.

"Very well, I will let you know once the message has been delivered. As for your entry mission to prove that you have the strength required to become a One-Clawed Dragon."

The woman wrote down what Li Yang had said, making sure that she would not forget it. After she finished writing it down, she bent down slightly and picked up an old book from behind the counter, looking through it as she spoke.

"There is a small group of bandits that have been terrorizing the road to the west, about three day"s travel, their leader as well as his beast companion should be around the early stage of the Mortal Rune realm, the lowest threshold for a One-Clawed Dragon. Bring us their heads. Upon bringing their heads, you will be granted the rank of One-Clawed Dragon."

After looking through the book for a bit, she stopped at a certain page, reading up the information that was written there. Such weak bandits could easily be handled by the city guards, but the Royal Dragon Pavilion sometimes kept such people around as they could be used to test the strength of new applicants.

"What do I do about the Demon Crystal of his beast companion?"

Li Yang nodded his head, mentally noting down the information, before asking a question. Since the beast companion had reached the early stage of the Mortal Rune realm, it would obviously have a Demon Crystal.

A Demon Crystal was to a Demonic beast what a rune was to a human. While humans engraved several runes, a Demonic beast strengthened it"s Demon Crystal. The Demon Crystal contained all the energy of the Demonic beast, so the stronger the Demonic beast, the more energy this Demon Crystal contained.

"Why would we want that? Since we have no way to extract its energy, you can just throw it away."

In response to Li Yang"s words, the woman behind the counter looked at him like she had seen an idiot. She waved her hand and spoke nonchalantly, slightly stunning Li Yang.

They had no way to extract the energy from the Demon Crystal, so he should just throw it away? Throw away one of the most valuable parts of a Demonic beast? Even the current him was able to refine the energy inside a Demon Crystal, so how was it that they had no idea how to extract its energy?

"Very well."

Despite his thoughts, Li Yang"s face did not change, still as calm and carefree as always. Since they had no use for Demon Crystals, it simply meant that he could take any that he found for himself. This would make it much easier for him to increase his strength, so he would not complain.

Li Yang did not waste any more time inside the building, leaving it after he finished all his business. The faster he became a One-Clawed Dragon, the faster he could start earning money and other resources, so he wanted to finish this mission as fast as possible.