The Spirit Pagoda's Core Disciple
After introducing himself, the man in black nodded and turned to leave, genuinely acting as though he had simply been passing by. Before he left, he added one last remark.
"You have great talent for forging. Keep working hard."
"I understand, Senior..."
Watching him leave, Chen Jianshu felt that the burly figure in black robes edged with gold was definitely no ordinary person. After all, there was no mistaking the bearing of someone in a position of power.
He was probably a master blacksmith who knew forging inside and out. With that thought, he put the matter aside and took his metal to submit for the commission.
The receptionist had been a little stunned to see a rank-two blacksmith complete a Thousand Refinement piece, but after looking at the forging record and confirming that he had forged it himself, the receptionist looked even more shocked.
So you're not a rank-two blacksmith, but a rank-three blacksmith! Are you kidding me?! A six-year-old rank-three blacksmith!
After collecting the commission fee of nearly 150,000 Federation coins, Chen Jianshu took out his phone and scanned the Blacksmith Association's official account. That way, he could accept commissions online and wouldn't have to come here every time he needed to forge.
Afterward, he left the Blacksmith Association and glanced at the sky. It had already grown dark, so he immediately ran toward the resettlement housing where he lived. Passing a bustling snack street along the way, he bought a serving of beef offal for dinner.
After returning to his resettlement housing, he first washed away the fatigue of the day and then ate dinner. Finally, he studied his Martial Soul in bed.
His Martial Soul seemed to require him to fight to obtain currency, but the times were too peaceful. If he wanted to fight, he could only do so by entering competitions or going to places like the Spirit Ascension Platform.
The currency he received also depended on the strength of his opponent and the extent to which he defeated them.
For example, if Chen Jianshu defeated a Soul Master and that Soul Master was ordinary, the reward would be smaller. Conversely, if he defeated a Soul Master at the level of a heaven's chosen, the reward would be greater.
It worked on the same principle as two-star and four-star encounters in Currency War: the stronger and more talented the enemy he fought, the greater the reward.
Of course, there were also criteria for judging the outcome. For example, he had to defeat his opponent and meet a threshold of twenty-five percent of their health, among other things, before the rewards could be settled.
In other words, even if Chen Jianshu found a Limit Douluo to throw a match against him, it would be useless. Only defeating his opponent fair and square would count.
For now, there was nothing he could do about it, so he could only put fighting aside. He was ten million in debt, and he still had to attend school and earn money to repay it.
Just thinking about the ten-million debt weighing on him made his vision go dark, and he could only devote himself to cultivation.
For the next few days, his schedule remained highly regular. After breakfast in the morning, he went to Eastsea Junior Academy, and after school ended at three in the afternoon, he went to the Blacksmith Association to forge metal.
It was said that Saint Craftsman Di Tian, the honorary president of the Blacksmith Association, was temporarily staying in Eastsea City, and people from many prominent families were begging for a chance to meet him.
Mu Chen, the president of the Eastsea Blacksmith Association, had taken his daughter to pay his respects to Di Tian. It was said that this eight-star Saint Craftsman had once received guidance from him as well.
Chen Jianshu was happy to enjoy his leisure, but soon he received a message. Looking closely, he saw that it came from the Spirit Pagoda's official account.
[Spirit Pagoda]: Congratulations on becoming a core disciple of the Spirit Pagoda. You will receive a fixed allocation of cultivation resources each month, as well as one free opportunity per month to enter the Spirit Ascension Platform to ascend your spirit.
"I've become a core disciple? Wasn't the selection for core disciples supposed to be extremely strict? Didn't you have to go through layer upon layer of approval just to have a chance?"
Looking at the message, he took a sip of the milk tea in his hand, confusion flashing in his eyes. The Spirit Pagoda had a limited number of core disciple positions, and every one of them was an elite.
Cultivation talent, secondary profession talent, combat skills—none could be lacking. He hadn't done anything, yet he had become a core disciple?
While he was wondering about it, another notification suddenly popped up on his account. An extra ten million had appeared in it. These were cultivation resources from the Spirit Pagoda: ten million a month.
At the same time, the Spirit Pagoda's store and its various heavenly materials and earthly treasures would also be open to him. He could spend money to buy cultivation resources.
He wasn't in a hurry to exchange the money for those heavenly materials and earthly treasures, however. Instead, he headed to the Spirit Pagoda, intending to pay off his debt first.
But when he arrived at the Spirit Pagoda, he was told that his debt had already been paid in full.
"What? You're saying my debt was paid off by one of the Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups?"
He was a little dazed by the news. Had some higher-up taken a liking to him and wanted to accept him as a disciple? Otherwise, why would they suddenly be so generous as to wipe out his debt?
"Yes, young man. Not long ago, one of the Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups paid off your debt."
The receptionist nodded and patiently explained. Chen Jianshu was left a mess in the wind. Were the Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups all people with too much money and nowhere to spend it?
They just wiped out my debt like that? How strange... He couldn't make sense of it no matter how hard he thought. The receptionist looked at him, envy flashing in their eyes. To be noticed by a higher-up at such a young age, his future prospects were boundless.
At present, though, the Spirit Pagoda had two pagoda masters, four Vice Pagoda Masters, eight Spirit Transmitters, and a full 108 elders.
Those elders included the human side's Titled Douluo elders as well as the Soul Beast side's Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast elders.
Of course, those Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast elders were still alive and had not become Soul Spirits. Once they became Soul Spirits, they would leave the council of elders and either be supported by the Spirit Pagoda or remain with a Soul Master family as an ancestor.
Otherwise, there would have been more than 108 elders. Even the War God Temple had a full thirty War Gods; their numbers had all increased manyfold.
The only ones that probably hadn't grown much stronger were Shrek and the Tang Sect. The Tang Sect had only a handful of Titled Douluo, with one Limit Douluo holding the fort.
Amorous Douluo's husband, Ruthless Douluo, was stationed far away with the Blood God Legion in the Endless Mountains.
Shrek, meanwhile, had three Limit Douluo holding the fort: Qingtian Douluo, Yue Tian Douluo, and Light and Dark Douluo. There were also six pavilion elders and around six titled elders stationed there.
Although the Spirit Pagoda's power utterly eclipsed Shrek's, it kept a very low profile. It was said that this was a principle left behind by the Spirit Pagoda's first pagoda master.
The Spirit Pagoda's principle was: don't stir up trouble, but don't fear it either.
On top of that, Shrek Academy had always been jumping about with great enthusiasm, and the Federation had recently been planning to send Shrek a barrage of rockets.
The Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups also knew that the more enthusiastically they jumped, the more likely they were to be called to account, so every one of them behaved honestly. The credit for that mainly went to their ideology and ethics classes.
Meanwhile, Di Tian, one of the Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups, personally supervised tax payments. If anyone evaded taxes, Pagoda Master Di Tian would show them no consideration. Throughout the Spirit Pagoda, aside from a few Ferocious Beast higher-ups, everyone had to address him respectfully as Pagoda Master or Old Ancestor, so naturally no one dared disobey.
P.S. I have something to do tonight and need to attend a meeting, so there will be two updates.