“How could this be?” Master Duba collapsed hard on his chair, appearing to be extremely disappointed. “A genius who has such a fine control of Origin Energy, yet your seventh brain region is so severely damaged… Looks like there’s no way for you to ever learn Law in this life.”
Gu Tong sighed, looking at Xia Fei with sympathetic eyes as he shook his head.
Yu Xiaomo darkly mused. “Master, you nearly got blinded in your age. This person by the name of Xia Fei, the entire city has already known about him being a cripple. I wonder who thought that it’s such a great idea to take in someone who is unable to learn Law into the family? Had you accepted Xia Fei as your disciple moments ago, I’m afraid that you’d have become a laughingstock in the family.”
Duba seemed to be very infuriated at this thought as he spitefully lashed out. “Gu Tong, why didn’t you tell me about Xia Fei’s damaged seventh brain region! You nearly caused this old man to be the butt of jokes in the entire family! What genius? He’s nothing more than garbage!”
Gu Tong’s figure slightly wavered as his face paled. He meekly replied, “I originally wanted to tell you…”
“Enough!” Duba bellowed. “I think that you aren’t even qualified to take a class of disciples! You dared refer such trash to me? You clearly want to see me get laughed at! I’ll speak to the family head tomorrow to remove you from your post!”
Yu Xiaomo fanned the flames from beside him. “Master, don’t be so angry. It’s not worth it getting so mad over these two useless people. They wanted to trick you, but it’s a good thing that I got here in time, or else who knows what the outcome might be?”
Duba became even more furious hearing this, scolding Gu Tong harshly, threatening to send him to Snake Isle to be a sentry.
Duba held a high position, and there was no way a bit character like Gu Tong could react. He was speechless, lowering his head and not saying a word as he let Duba have free reign at cursing his eighteen generations of ancestors.
Xia Fei’s expression turned steely. Everything had been because of him, and Gu Tong was merely trying to help him a little, only to end up becoming the focus of Duba’s rage.
“This matter is all because of me, and it has nothing to do with Instructor Gu Tong. Whatever it is, you can take it out on me!” Xia Fei puffed up his chest and stood up.
“A mere Law disciple dared to speak like this to me?” Duba’s fury was implacable. “I see that you must have balls of steel! Men, drag him out and beat him up!”
*Whoosh!*
The three cronies of Duba, including over a dozen helpers surrounded Xia Fei, rolling up their sleeves as they prepared to act.
Xia Fei did not balk in the least, the killing intent in him bursting forth once more.
“Xia Fei, don’t be disrespectful!”
Gu Tong hurriedly stopped Xia Fei, using one hand to grab Xia Fei’s shoulder as he used his Law power to suppress Xia Fei, who was almost at his tipping point, forcibly.
“This time, I, Gu Tong, violated the etiquette first, so I’ll come and apologize another day.” Gu Tong bowed low.
Without another word, Gu Tong used his Law to keep Xia Fei restrained as he forcefully brought him out to leave Master Duba’s mansion.
…
An hour later, by an apricot grove just outside the city.
Xia Fei chewed on a blade of glass as he looked up at the artificial sun hanging above.
“Have you thought it through?” Gu Tong asked severely.
“I have.”
“And you won’t cause any trouble for Master Duba?”
“At least, not now.”
Gu Tong gave him a withering look. It was obvious that Xia Fei still felt indignant, and from his crazed actions, there was no telling if, the moment he let the young man go, he would run off to Duba’s residence and cause trouble. This was why, though Xia Fei had verbally agreed not to anger Duba any further, Gu Tong decided not to let him free.
“You must understand; the Law Realm is a distinctly hierarchical society. Even a slight difference in level is enough to oppress someone to their death. There’s no such thing as the laws found in human territory, and only the word of the strong is accepted as law here!”
“Duba is the only level 3 Energy Master in the Yu family, and the position he holds is very high. If you were to make a move on him, not only would you die, even I would be implicated by your actions.”
Xia Fei laughed. “You’ve already been implicated.”
Gu Tong sighed. “Well, I don’t blame Master Duba from getting angry over this. I can only blame myself for not having told him the whole truth from the start.”
“No, you’re not to blame,” Xia Fei very calmly said. “The only thing to blame is my seventh brain region being severely damaged, which resulted in me being seen as a cripple.”
Getting up, Xia Fei patted the dust off himself. “Instructor, don’t use your Law to restrain me anymore. I’ve really thought things through, and right now, I want to find a place that I can exchange for Origin Crystals. I hope that you can bring me to a place.”
“You’ve really thought things through?”
“Even if I haven’t, do you really plan to keep me restrained your whole life?”
“Well…”
Gu Tong was silent for a good while before he released Xia Fei. Indeed, he could not keep Xia Fei restrained his entire life.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“Somewhere I can exchange for Origin Crystals.”
“You have raw ores to exchange?” Gu Tong was skeptical.
“Some.”
“How many?”
“Not too many. Just a few tons.”
“A FEW TONS?!”
…
Xia Fei and Gu Tong left the apricot grove and headed back to the city. There was nothing out of the ordinary from Xia Fei’s expression, but his heart was already tumultuous.
‘I won’t be a man if I don’t take my revenge!’ Xia Fei had this firm belief in his mind.
Gu Tong followed behind Xia Fei as he said, “The exchange platforms in the city are all under Master Duba’s, and their exchange rate isn’t great. If you’re not in a rush, you can hand those ores to fellow comrades out on mission, and other locations can provide a nine to one, or even eight to one exchange rate, making it more worthwhile.”
Xia Fei shook his head. “There’s no need for that. I don’t have the time to wait.”
“Why are you in a rush for so many Origin Crystals, anyway? It’s not like you’re—”
Gu Tong was about to say that there was no way for Xia Fei to cultivate Law, so Origin Crystals would be useless, but the determined look in Xia Fei’s eyes made him swallow those words.
The exchange center was right at the heart of the city, right beside a fountain. This city was where low-level warriors resided, and it was hardly prosperous. Dozens of shops of all sizes at the city center made this the business district.
The signboard for Origin Crystal exchange was very obvious, and the taking up three stores side by side was already considered the biggest merchant here on the street.
It was already evening, so the taverns’ business was starting to pick up, while the daytime stores were preparing to close for the day.
“Instructor Gu!”
The storekeeper Haoping was a short but stout man, coming up to greet Gu Tong warmly the moment he saw him walk up.
After stating the business for this visit, Haoping turned to ask Xia Fei, “So this is the young man looking to exchange for Origin Crystals, huh? No problem; come with me, please.”
The store had a row of glass display, and inside were beads after beads of Origin Crystals. Most were purple, and only four or five white grade 3 crystals were placed in the most prominent spots of the store.
“I’d like to exchange for some grade 3 Origin Crystals,” Xia Fei said solemnly.
Haoping and Gu Tong were both abruptly surprised. The people residing here were all novice-level Law Warriors, and few would ask to purchase the expensive white Origin Crystals. The most commonly used were still the grade 2 Origin Crystals, and some poorer warriors would even purchase the red grade 1 crystals for use, yet Xia Fei had asked for grade 3 crystals the moment he spoke, and that shocked the two men greatly.
“Hehe! If you’re exchanging that level of Origin Crystal at the rate of ten is to one…” Haoping chuckled.
Phantom originally wanted to coax Xia Fei to stop, for it was hardly worth it to exchange for a grade 3 Origin Crystal given the current funds he had, but Xia Fei, who had already made up his mind, ignored Phantom’s words. He would force the Blood Demon Claw to mature and bloom quickly no matter what, and he was not going to wait a moment longer!
The cruel reality forced Xia Fei to possess the necessary strength, and it was a great and powerful strength!
“I don’t have any white ores, but I do have purple ones.”
With that said, Xia Fei brushed his finger on his spatial ring, taking out a crate filled with Purple Hearts of Spirit and placed it on the ground.
“This here is a ton of grade 2 Origin Energy ores, and I have more,” Xia Fei said.
Gu Tong did not dare to appear too shocked. Every purified grade 2 Origin Crystal weighed about one kilogram, meaning that a ton of raw ores would get him a hundred purified grade 2 Origin Crystals.
It should be mentioned that Haoping was only given fourteen grade 2 Origin Crystals as his monthly stipend despite being a level 4 Law Warrior, and this one crate from Xia Fei was more than the stipend he would get in half a year!
Haoping laughed. “The exchange rate for grade 2 Origin Crystal to a grade 3 Origin Crystal is 100:1. These are raw ores, so you’ll need a thousand before you can exchange for just one. This ton here will only be enough to exchange for a single purified grade 3 Origin Crystal. You should consider this carefully.”
Xia Fei nodded and took out three similar crates, including a single white grade 3 raw ore.
“I wish to exchange for three purified grade 3 Origin Crystal, and the rest can be grade 2.”
Gu Tong tapped Xia Fei on the shoulder. “I never thought that you’d be so rich. These many ores you have here are practically five years of my pay.”
Haoping’s attitude toward Xia Fei had improved considerably now. The business of crystal exchange was a very lucrative line, and an Energy Master could provide purified crystals at the rate of three to one. This basically meant that all it would take was three raw ores to purify them into a single Origin Crystal.
The Energy Master would then sell the purified crystals to the shops at eight to one. This was why Energy Masters could become the richest group of people in the Law Realm just by sitting there and turning a few pieces of ores into crystals.
Haoping would earn a lot if he took this huge batch of ores, and so he regarded Xia Fei with a warmer gaze than before.
Quickly ordering his employee to send up some tea, Haoping picked up the white raw ore and weighed it on a machine before saying, “This grade 3 ore can exchange for ten purified grade 2 crystals, but it’s already been used, only having around 40% of its original energy, so I can at most get you 4 for it.
“But since this is the first time that we are doing business, and for the sake of harmony, I shall give you 3 third-grade Origin Crystals, as well as 110 second-grade Origin Crystals. What do you think?” Haoping’s eyes glowed even as he added, “This is only because I’m showing face to Gu Tong. I wouldn’t be giving you such a deal if it were as per normal.”
Xia Fei nodded. “No problem. We have a deal.”
…
Returning to the dormitory, Pod, who had already prepared Xia Fei’s dinner, patiently waited for him. The small room had already been cleaned up by the little root, and even the leaking ceiling had been mended by him.
“Here!”
Xia Fei took out a grade 2 Origin Crystal and tossed it to Furball. The beast had originally been sleeping soundly, but the moment he saw that there was a purified crystal to eat, his eyes instantly turned green and he pounced on the Origin Crystal and sucked it dry, snuggling right up to Xia Fei as he tried to curry favor with him.
Dinner consisted of Xia Fei’s favorite fried paste noodles. Wiping his mouth after the meal, Xia Fei took out the Blood Demon Claw and placed it on the table.
The deep red color had slightly turned green, meaning that it was already on its eighth regression.
*Pa pa pa!”
Xia Fei placed the three white Origin Crystals on the table, like a tycoon placing his bet in a casino. Xia Fei was going to gamble grandly tonight!
His bet was these purified Origin Energy ores would be able to get the Blood Demon Claw to bloom in one night!
Flexing his wrist, Xia Fei said with grim determination, “I’m gonna see if your appetite’s bigger or if yours truly’s Origin Energy is greater!”
