83 Chapter 82: Date (1/2)

About a week or so had passed since my level 6 test, and things had returned to normal. Sort of. Over the weekends, I returned to visit my parents, and went back to Wu Ling Academy on Monday. After class, I would return to Tushan to resume my training, both in martial arts and blacksmithing. As she promised, Tang Qi Hong helped me out a lot.

And so the weekdays flew by, and as I said, about a week had passed since my level 6 test. My promotion went without a hitch, and I received the certification and recognition, which unlocked access to three star missions and more resources. To take four star missions, I had to be at least level 7 and only level 9 students were allowed to take five star missions.

I wasn't that invested in the missions, though. I had already earned whatever gold I needed for the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship, and I was still practicing and trying to master it. There was no point in trying to buy a new martial arts technique.

While I was trying to map my future, Tang Qi Hong suddenly showed up in front of my desk, nearly scaring the hell out of me.

”Wu!”

”Whoa!” I jumped when her beautiful face suddenly appeared in front of me. She pouted and placed her hands on her hips.

”What's with that reaction?”

”Sorry…I wasn't expecting you to suddenly appear in front of me. You gave me a fright.” How embarrassing. A martial artist wasn't supposed to be caught off guard and taken by surprise, though, to be fair Tang Qi Hong wasn't emanating any killing intent at all. If anything, she was exuding an air of mischief. ”What's up?”

”Are you free today?”

I thought about it for a second. Today was a Friday, which meant I didn't have anything to do except to, y'know, go back and train. My progress with Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship was going very well, though not as well as a certain Li Fu Chen who had all the weird Perfection or Trance stages (how do you even judge whether you've reached those stages anyway?). If not, I would be assisting Tang Qi Hong with her blacksmithing.

”Do you need me to help you with blacksmithing today?”

I just helped her forge a couple of spirit armaments on Wednesday, and she had put them out on sale in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's shop branches. What, you didn't expect me to say Armament Sect Pavilions, did you?

Anyway, Tang Qi Hong usually pulled off all those large-scale blacksmithing operations once a week at most, sometimes even fortnightly. After all, those sort of blacksmithing procedures consumed a lot of qi, time and both physical and mental energy. To keep that up daily was impossible. She needed to rest for a week or she would burn herself out.

”No.”

”Then do you need me to prepare Spirit Materials for the next round?”

”No.” Tang Qi Hong sulked, obviously upset by something I said. I frowned, perplexed.

Then what is it? As I suspected, she wouldn't be assigning me new errands for the rest of the week, not after our grueling session on Wednesday.

That was why I found it stange when she approached me. She had been assigning me less Spirit Material preparation work recently, so I wasn't grinding as many monster bones into powder or refining spirit ores as I was during the first three months. Not that I would complain if she gave me those tasks. I would do them right away when we returned to Tushan City. And since it was the weekend, I planned to get them as soon as possible before I returned home tonight to accompany my family for the weekend. I was trying to be a filial son, after all.

Of course, I totally failed at that. My brother was better than me in that regard.

”Hey! Do I only ask you to accompany me for work!?”

”Actually…yes.” I nodded. I couldn't remember a time when Tang Qi Hong ever asked me to help her with anything that wasn't blacksmithing-related.

”That's…!” Tang Qi Hong looked annoyed, then caught herself before she could say another word. She frowned and thought for a bit, then her jaw dropped. ”Oh…yeah. That's right. I haven't asked you out for fun before…”

”You want to go out for fun today?”

That was fine with me. It would be a nice change of pace. I was getting burned out from training and blacksmithing everyday, anyway. While I was a hardworking person, I was only human. Doing nothing but train everyday was mentally exhausting.

”All right,” I nodded and rose from my desk. ”Where do you want to go today?”

”Let's go to Tushan City and have some fun!” Tang Qi Hong's eyes lit up when I didn't object. She seemed pretty excited.

”Even if you say that…what exactly do you mean by having some fun? In concrete terms, I mean.”

Having fun was so ambiguous. What passed off as fun for somebody could be boring to someone else. Furthermore, there were a lot of things that could be defined as fun. Did Tang Qi Hong want to go shopping? Or have a meal at a café? Or go to an amusement park? Or karaoke? It could be any of these activities, yet none of them.

”Hmm…good question.” Tang Qi Hong pondered for a bit, looking troubled as she placed a delicate-looking finger on her red lips. ”What do people usually do on a date?”

”You're asking me? Sorry, but I have no experience whatsoever.”

Tang Qi Hong scowled. ”Who else am I asking? And isn't it the guy's duty to think of something for a date?”

I cocked my head at that. ”Firstly, you're the one who asked me for a date out of nowhere, so I don't have time to think of anything. Secondly, you're admitting that this is a date, right?”

I was encroaching on dangerous territory here. The signs were all there, and I hoped I wasn't being overly self-conscious. Clearly Tang Qi Hong held no small amount of affection for me, otherwise she wouldn't be asking me out on a date.

”Ah…” Tang Qi Hong turned red and turned away with a ”hmph!” ”This isn't a date! I…I just need someone to carry my bags for me! That's all!”

”Sure.” I headed to her desk and picked up her bag. ”Any other things to carry?”

”That's…that's not what I mean!”

”Then what do you mean?” I enjoyed feigning ignorance and watching Tang Qi Hong get all flustered. It was so entertaining to watch her flail about in embarrassment.

”Ugh…” Tang Qi Hong continued to avoid my gaze, her arms crossed. ”Never mind! I'm going shopping today, and I need you to help me carry my stuff! That's all!” she then slightly turned back to look at me with one eye (the other was closed). ”In return, I'll treat you to dinner. So you shouldn't have any complaints, right?”

”Yup!”

The mere mention of free dinner had me all perked up and excited. Of course I would like nothing more than a free meal. I didn't care of Tang Qi Hong was going to burden me with the most tedious of tasks. I would do anything for a free meal.

”Good luck, Qi Hong!”

From afar, Lian Rou was flashing a thumb's up, but Tang Qi Hong pretended not to see her. Her face burning, she strode out of the classroom with her arms folded.

”Well, let's go!”

*

Despite the change in plans, we ended up taking the Phoenix Express along with Tong Xue, Lian Rou and our juniors from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect back to Tushan City. I wasn't disappointed, though. The Phoenix Express was the most convenient means of transport, and besides, Tushan City was a real city. We could stil have our date there regardless.

As the rest of the discipes headed back toward the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's temple in the middle of Tushan City, Tang Qi Hong seized my hand and dragged me away.

”We're going this way! First stop, the Spirit Materials shop!”

”Yeah, yeah. Roger that.”

I followed Tang Qi Hong closely, proceeding toward the Spirit Materials shop. It was the same one as the one Tang Qi Hong frequented, and I was used to helping her carry stuff back toward the sect's residence at the foot of the volcano.

The owner was familiar with us by now, and he grinned and waved when he saw us enter. ”Ah, Mistress Tang and her assistant! How can I help you today?”

I couldn't help but smile wryly at that. I was known to everyone in Tushan City as Tang Qi Hong's assistant. No one bothered to remember my name. Just like Lian Rou, I served as a foil to Tang Qi Hong's brightness.

”Just a couple of Mountain Demon's bones and a Solar Flare Ore today.”

I raised my eyes at that. There was quite the expensive materials that Tang Qi Hong was procuring. The Mountain Demons were known as a ferocious and powerful demonic tribe that inhabited the mountains and possessed enormous destructive strength. It took a team of several Qi Fusion Stage practitioners just to take a couple of them down. Their rumored Mountain Demon King was rumored to be on par with several Pure Spirit Stage practitioners.

That meant nothing to me, because all these stages were meaningless to me. What I managed to comprehend from all those hogwash was that Mountain Demons were crazy strong, and therefore their parts would be insanely expensive.

The Solar Flare Ore was also something that was found in the most dangerous of environments, such as in the middle of a volcano. I wondered briefly if there was an abundance of them within the Flame Volcano that Tushan City was built around, but it seemed that it required the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect masters to extract those. Even inner sect disciples such as Tang Qi Hong wouldn't be able to survive the hostile environment of the insides of a volcano, where such spirit ores were located. As usual, these ores would be crazy expensive.

”Sure.”

The store owner smiled breezily and brought them out after a moment of scrounging through his storeroom. As usual, Tang Qi Hong handed over her card, and he swiped it at the register before letting her go. I almost forgot that Tang Qi Hong, as the premier inner sect disciple (above even Liang Shao Yang), was granted unrestricted access to all the resources that the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect had. So she essentially received all those spirit materials for free.

I was so jealous. Well, not really. I wasn't really that invested in becoming a blacksmith anyway. Probably a Spirit Engraver, but even so…forging spirit armaments wasn't my kind of thing. It wasn't as if I was the only one who possessed the knowledge of crafting Terminator bombs or whatever that stupid thing was called. Hell, obviously I didn't know how to forge them.

”All right, let's go!”

Tang Qi Hong sounded cheerful as she entrusted the spirit materials to me and I carried them out. I followed her, but saw that we weren't heading in the direction of the Flame Volcano or the sect residence.

”Over here!”

Tang Qi Hong obviously had more things she wanted to buy. She was almost dancing across the streets, giggling cheerfully as she glanced at the huge glass windows and admired the things on display. Clothing, jewelry, accessories and even silverware. Tang Qi Hong had a wide range of interest, attentively staring at completely unrelated objects. One moment she had her eyes fixated on a luxurious silk dress, and the next moment she wandered to look at blue and white porcelain plates in another shop, studying their intricate patterns.

I wondered what she was looking to purchase next. Or perhaps Tang Qi Hong was merely indulging in window shopping. Smiling to myself, I indulged Tang Qi Hong on her whims, following her quietly as she raved over the myriad of things on display.

It really isn't bad, spending time like this with Qi Hong…

Looking up at the sky, I felt my spirits lift a bit. The change of pace was doing my spirit a tremendous amount of good. After the whole issue with Liang Shao Yang and his assassination attempt, and all the stress over the level 6 test and school work, just idling around and enjoying my time in Tang Qi Hong's company was extremely refreshing.

”Eh? What's this?”

Finally, Tang Qi Hong stopped in front of a shop. I wasn't sure what exactly it sold, but it seemed to be an accessory and travel shop. There were plenty of bags and pouches in the shop, along with travel equipment and the like.

”Heh…let's go in and check it out.”

Something must have finally caught Tang Qi Hong's eye, for she stopped and swiveled past the automatic entrance of the shop. The double glass doors slid open of their own volition to permit her entry and she essentially waltzed in.

Smiling, I followed her in.

”Heh…so this is a spatial storage pouch!”

When I stepped inside, I saw Tang Qi Hong leaning over the counter and admiring a tiny leather pouch the size of her fingers. It didn't even fill half of her hand, but the shopkeeper demonstrated its usefulness by stuffing several very large items, including two-meter long swords, a huge axe and a shield into the tiny pouch. All he needed to do was infuse the pouch with qi, and the armaments were sucked into its interior.

Spatial storage pouch…I had read about these items in many fantasy wuxia stories and xianxia stories, but I didn't think they actually had such objects in this world as well. Obviously they were pretty rare and expensive.

”For about 10,000 gold coins, this can be yours, Mistress Tang!”

”10,000 gold coins?!”

Tang Qi Hong did a double take, and perspiration dripped down her face. She nodded and placed it back on the counter, staring at it with a look of longing. Even as the premier inner sect disciple of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, there was no way she would have that amount of money on her person, or even in her savings.

I bit my lip and contemplated for a moment. As much as I wanted to buy that for Tang Qi Hong, I did not have the money either. Hell, it took me about 2 years just to save up to 100 gold coins, and I spent all of that months ago on the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordmanship scroll. How was I supposed to get a hundred times that amount? In twenty years? I could buy a house or two with that kind of money!

Fortunately, Tang Qi Hong wasn't expecting me to buy it for her. She bowed her head slightly and thanked the shopkeeper.

”Once I get the money, I'll come back and buy it,” she told the shopkeeper, who nodded with a bright smile.

”Yeah, I have a few of them, and they'll come in stock. Besides, if Master Hai Mo and the other masters in your sect are anything to judge by, you'll eventually learn to craft one for yourself, and even produce extra for me to sell!”

”I'll do my best,” Tang Qi Hong responded with a smile. After thanking him again, she whirled around and strode out of the shop while I followed close behind.

”Can't the sect buy that for you?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Tang Qi Hong shook her head. ”That spatial storage pouch is not considered spirit materials, and as a luxury item. If it has nothing to do with blacksmithing, then the sect will not purchase it for me.”

”You can say that it's a necessary tool for blacksmithing, for you to store spirit materials inside and carry them around or something.”

Tang Qi Hong snickered at that. ”As much as I want to, the higher-ups are not stupid. They're not going to allow loopholes like that. I can't abuse the system, even with my status…no, it is precisely because of my status that I must set a good example for all the other disciples.”

I nodded in understanding, and then thought of something else. ”Well, the shopkeeper mentioned something about you crafting it?”

”Oh, yeah. It is a spirit artifact, after all. Which means that blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers like us can forge something like that.”

Tang Qi Hong nodded. My eyes widened.

”Really?”

”Yeah. I can ask Elder Hai Mo to teach me the techniques. And while at it, I might as well show you those techniques.” She tilted her head and thought for a while. ”That would take me a couple of months to learn, though.”

A couple of months…this was a high-level technique and advanced Spirit Engraving we were talking about here. And she was saying she could learn something as complicated as that in a matter of months, when people normally took half a year to a year to perfect something like that.