Su Chen and Gu Qingluo’s happy day had finally arrived.
On this day, guests came in and out of the Gu Palace, offering their congratulations. The Gu Palace was incredibly busy because of the occasion.
Because this was an engagement ceremony and not an actual marriage, the atmosphere in the Gu Clan was busy but not ceremonious, happy but not overjoyed. Compared to an actual marriage, the mood was much more carefree and lighthearted.
The primary purpose of an engagement ceremony was to introduce the son/daughter-in-law to the other side’s friends and family. The larger the Bloodline n.o.bility Clan, the more friends and family there would be, meaning that the ceremony would take more preparation as well.
Su Chen owned the service industry and the Flight Network in Swallow River City, so he knew quite a few important figures in the city. Despite this, he didn’t know everyone; that was impossible no matter how large or exceptional his brain was.
Because of this, Su Chen had been dragged by Gu Xuanmian to greet people as soon as the sun rose.
The first person he went to meet was the Gu Clan’s Ancestor, Gu Yaoye.
After the battle with the Demonic King, Gu Yaoye and the others had indeed defeated the Lightning Snake, along with a bunch of Spirit Burning Realm reinforcements. However, he himself was also wounded, so he had immediately returned to the castle to rest. As such, this was the first time they were meeting after that fight.
They went to a lonely stone room in the Gu Palace’s backyard. It seemed very ordinary, but a closer examination would reveal that this stone was Frost Flower Stone that was mined from North Sky Mountain. Frost Flower Stone had a consciousness-concentrating effect, and most normal people would only need a single piece to focus their minds. Simply put, this stone had quite a few benefits for someone cultivating their consciousness energy.
Su Chen knew that if he cultivated to the Spirit Burning Realm, consciousness power would become the most important standard of cultivation. If you ignored his equipment, Su Chen’s four hundred points of consciousness energy might be impressive amongst Light Shaking Realm cultivators, but it was not nearly as rare at the Spirit Burning Realm level.
Frost Flower Stone was quite difficult to obtain, and North Sky Mountain wasn’t within the Long Sang country’s borders, so it was always priced expensively. Most people would have a hard time even getting a decently sized chunk, but unexpectedly, Gu Yaoye had somehow obtained enough Frost Flower Stone to construct a personal cultivation room.
Su Chen felt that this Frost Flower Stone might not have been ama.s.sed by Gu Yaoye alone. More than likely, quite a few members of the Gu Clan had helped out.
This was one of the benefits of being a part of a large clan.
They might not be able to pull out a few hundred million Origin Stones at a moment’s notice, but bringing out valuable treasures might not actually be that difficult.
“What is it? Has the Ancestor’s Calming Room caught your eye?” The door to the Frost Flower Stone room opened up, revealing Gu Yaoye sitting cross-legged inside like a statue also carved out of Frost Flower Stone. While within the room, Gu Yaoye could easily sense where Su Chen’s attention was placed due to his powerful consciousness.
“Su Chen greets ancestor. I was originally wondering what kind of meeting gift I could obtain from Ancestor. Now, it seems that things are simple; any two random chunks from this room will do,” Su Chen replied with a smile. He didn’t seem to grow anxious because of the Ancestor’s sudden appearance.
Gu Yaoye said with a slight smile, “Asking for a meeting gift as soon as we meet? That doesn’t seem like the person who was throwing money all over the place before.”
Su Chen replied straightforwardly, “That was necessary as an investment. Today is probably a good day to collect some returns on those investments.”
Gu Yaoye chuckled loudly. “Alright, kid! It seems like you’ve torn down all pretenses now!”
Su Chen replied, “In front of Ancestor, who dares to keep up pretenses?”
Gu Yaoye harrumphed, “But you’re not afraid to ask for benefits as soon as you open your mouth.”
Su Chen smiled and didn’t reply.
Gu Yaoye knew that Su Chen wasn’t afraid of him. But he didn’t grow angry; instead, he laughed, saying, “Kid, you really are something else. Your heroic actions when the Demonic Beasts attacked the city not only helped us but they also saved the citizens in the city. You even sacrificed a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, if I recall correctly?”
Su Chen replied, “It was manufactured from the remains of a Demonic Emperor. They’re quite expensive.”
Gu Yaoye shook his head helplessly and tossed Su Chen a pearl. “This is the Thunder Origin Crystal refined from the Lightning Demonic King’s internal essence. Even though it can’t compare with your Demonic Emperor Shuttle as that was from a Demonic King, it is superior in that the thunder power contained within is still entirely intact. Your shuttle, on the other hand, was damaged from usage over time. This should be enough of a replacement for your Demonic Emperor Shuttle.”
Su Chen caught it and took a good look at it.
Almost anyone else would see that the bead contained a crackling ball of lightning energy. It was possible to sense the immense power within the bead just by holding it in your hand.
However, to Su Chen’s microscopic eyes, this crystal was filled to the brim with Thunder Origin Substance that could be absorbed.
Su Chen had seen quite a few Origin Crystals at this point in his life. Even though every one of them was indeed filled with Origin Substance, he had never seen one with such high concentrations. As such, he always had a hard time really applying them to practical use.
He didn’t expect the Origin Crystal of a Demonic King to be this densely packed with Thunder Origin Substance.
As he continued to inspect the item, Su Chen’s gaze grew brighter.
Once Thunder Origin Substance was concentrated enough, the difficulties in putting it into practical use would be greatly decreased.
This was like the difference between common stone and iron ore. The former could also be refined into iron with time and effort, but no one would choose to do so.
Su Chen had never possessed an Origin Crystal on the level of a Demonic King before, so he was completely caught off-guard by the level of power contained inside.
To him, there was nothing more practical that he could have asked for. As for a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, he could always just buy another one. Even though the Flood Dragon Emperor Shuttle was very good, it wasn’t unique without a replacement. On the other hand, a mysterious natural resource like Origin Substances were much more beneficial to Su Chen. The former was just a tree, while the latter was a seedling that, in Su Chen’s careful hands, would flourish and grow into a large forest.
With this Thunder Substance, all of Su Chen’s thunder-type Origin Skills would receive a significant upgrade.
As such, when Su Chen obtained the Thunder Crystal, he was naturally overjoyed. “Many thanks to Ancestor for his generosity!”
Gu Yaoye laughed. “Even though the Thunder Crystal is powerful, it isn’t an endless source of energy. Giving a rootless tree like this to anyone else would be a waste, but in your hands it may turn out to be quite valuable.”
When he heard this, Su Chen knew that the Gu Clan had investigated him quite thoroughly. Gu Yaoye clearly even knew about the fact that he and s.h.i.+ Kaihuang were the creators of the bloodline-less Yang Opening Realm technique.
Su Chen didn’t deny it and instead forged onwards. “Since Ancestor believes that this is the case, then it would be nice to get a few more of these in the future.”
Gu Yaoye harrumphed and exclaimed, “In your dreams! You saw how hard it was to deal with a Demonic King personally. Who knows how many years will go by before we are able to even take another one down? Where am I supposed to go to find you another one? Be happy with what you have.”
“Bloodline n.o.bility Clans have been around for a long time, so shouldn’t they have some stored up?” Su Chen’s face was extremely thick. He chuckled and continued, “After all, I’m not asking for much. As long as I can have a bit for my research, that will be enough.”
“Oh?” Gu Yaoye was interested. “Then what are you looking for?”
“Something fire-type related,” Su Chen replied without hesitation.
The most powerful Origin Skills he could currently use were all under the Shadow Flame family, but the power of the Shadow Flame had never depended on the presence of fire-type Origin Substance because Su Chen had never come across any. The two reasons it was so powerful was first due to Su Chen spending nearly twenty years refining and improving it, to the point that it was the technique he was the most familiar with, and secondly because of the Shadow Origin Substance.
In other words, the Shadow Flame family of skills was a fire-type family of skills that had taken a detour. There was still much room for improvement.
That would come about once Su Chen got his hands on some real fire-type Origin Substance.
Su Chen had always been looking for it but had never found it. The black stones had given him Shadow, Dragonfish, and Bewitching Origin Substances, but it didn’t contain any Fire Origin Substance. There was nothing Su Chen could do about it.
Now that an opportunity had presented itself, it would be a shame if he didn’t at least ask.
Su Chen was really just fis.h.i.+ng for a chance in a million, but Gu Yaoye unexpectedly replied, “Fire-type, you say? I think there really just might be something like that.”