Advancing to Sequence Eight: Swindler

In the living room, Nan Fusheng recalled what the teacher had taught in class today and decided to try meditating.

He sat cross-legged and calmed his mind. Meditation required quiet first—feeling oneself, feeling nature. This was the first step.

Nan Fusheng had never had many distracting thoughts to begin with, so he quickly calmed down completely. His consciousness silently sensed his Bug Martial Soul and the faint yet undeniably present Soul Power within him. For preliminary meditation, this was enough. One first had to sense one's Martial Soul and Soul Power, keeping one's spirit closely connected to them. Only after doing this well could one proceed to true meditation.

Within his thoughts, the Bug Martial Soul slowly wriggled. Nan Fusheng suddenly felt as though he had sensed something from the world of bugs.

Though it was weak, when the time was right, it might not be impossible for it to break free from its cocoon and become a butterfly.

Weak as they were, bugs possessed tenacious vitality. They were the most numerous insects on the continent and had endured for tens of millions of years.

Even powerful Soul Beasts were on the brink of extinction, yet insects continued to survive upon this land just as they had tens of thousands of years ago.

This faint realization made Nan Fusheng vaguely sense tiny presences in the air silently pouring into his body and merging with his still-feeble Soul Power. The fusion was neither quick nor abundant.

Yet he could clearly feel his Soul Power gradually increasing through that fusion. Though it only increased bit by bit, it was steady and continuous.

After an unknown amount of time, Nan Fusheng naturally awoke from his meditative state. His entire body felt refreshed. So this was what cultivating Soul Power felt like? Not bad.

Nan Fusheng sensed that his Soul Power was already close to Level Two. With about another day of cultivation, he should be able to break through.

Cultivating Soul Power from Soul Scholar to Soul Master was not difficult. As long as one possessed Innate Soul Power, even if it was only half a level, one could steadily reach Level Ten through hard work. The only difference was how long it took.

Although Nan Fusheng possessed only one level of Innate Soul Power, and had obtained it through stealing, his physical constitution was not weak. The Potion system itself was a gradual ascent from "human" to "god." At present, his cultivation speed was roughly equivalent to someone with Level Three Innate Soul Power.

Just then, an excited shout suddenly came from next door. "Great! I have a little sister now!"

Hearing that voice, Nan Fusheng knew that Na'er, the Silver Dragon King, had officially moved into Tang Wulin's home. This also meant that he had to speed up his progress. At the same time, he could carry out an experiment he had been considering.

Nan Fusheng slowly closed his eyes and recalled several phrases with intense focus:

"Celestial Immortal of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."

"Celestial Monarch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."

"God of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."

"Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."

Nan Fusheng kept silently repeating these phrases in his heart. Suddenly, he felt as though the air around him had stopped moving, becoming viscous and eerie.

Though his eyes were tightly shut, Nan Fusheng felt a light explode before him.

Nan Fusheng opened his eyes. Billowing gray fog filled his vision—hazy, indistinct, and boundless.

After the "Swindler Potion" entered Sefirah Castle, Nan Fusheng continued reciting those words. Before him, a ball of light interwoven with gold, yellow, and red slowly emerged.

Nan Fusheng reached out, grabbed the ball of light, opened his mouth, and tossed it in. The entire process was smooth and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Immediately afterward, Nan Fusheng discovered that his face was turning red, while the rest of his body underwent similar changes.

He was certain that he now resembled a steamed shrimp, while his spirit seemed to detach from his body, turning into countless fine needles that merged into droplets of Potion and pierced into individual cells.

It was a sensation of being able to "observe" cells without needing a microscope. Standing there, Nan Fusheng "saw" the intruder enter the most minute regions of his body.

For those few seconds, he felt like a robot undergoing modifications to its components and circuitry.

After an unknown period of time, Nan Fusheng's figure was reflected within his mind, much like hearing his own singing through an in-ear monitor.

With the aid of this strange reflection, Nan Fusheng discovered that he could precisely control his facial expressions and body movements.

At that moment, he knew clearly that his advancement had succeeded. He had become a "Swindler."

Nan Fusheng withdrew from Sefirah Castle and began familiarizing himself with his abilities:

Charm: Can increase charm.

Eloquence: Makes one's words highly persuasive.

Spirit Interference: Creates illusions to deceive opponents.

Swindlers took pleasure in deceiving others and were skilled at bluffing. In addition, they were agile and rather fast.

It had been mentioned before that Potions needed to be digested. Normally, a Sequence Nine Potion took around one to two years to digest through acting. The fastest could do so in a single month.

Nan Fusheng, however, had taken nearly six years. There was nothing to be done about that—who became a Beyonder while still an infant?

Nan Fusheng had begun formally acting from the age of four to five. It was only shortly before awakening his Martial Soul that he finished digesting the Potion.

Now, as Nan Fusheng examined his condition, his Soul Power had smoothly reached Level Two, and his physical constitution had strengthened further. His cultivation speed was now roughly equivalent to someone with Level Five Innate Soul Power. Once he finished digesting the Potion, it would likely improve even further.

However, there was another problem ahead: money.

Becoming a Soul Master required money. If this had been ten thousand years ago, he could still have hunted Soul Beasts, but Soul Beasts were now nearly extinct. The only remaining way to become a Soul Master was to purchase a Soul Spirit.

Soul Spirits happened to be very expensive. Given Nan Fusheng's family circumstances, he could at most purchase the cheapest randomly selected Soul Spirit, which cost only—

thirty thousand Federal Coin.

Nan Fusheng's family was not wealthy. "Poverty" was the source of all arguments. His father had run away from home three months after he was born, while his mother had been made into his Marionette. Under such circumstances, raising him to adulthood had already consumed more than half the family's savings.

Thus, after turning four, Nan Fusheng occasionally worked odd jobs, going wherever help was needed. Obviously, most industries had no need for a child laborer. After all, the Federation had laws prohibiting the hiring of child laborers—unless the child was a Soul Master.

Those willing to hire Nan Fusheng fell into two categories. One kind pitied him and wanted to help. From them, Nan Fusheng accepted only food as payment. The other kind were human traffickers. From the former, he took only food; from the latter, he stole whenever he could and showed no mercy.

By pinching and saving pennies like this, occasionally seeking out some petty thugs for an extra meal, and adding the inheritance left at home, he had scraped together a little over thirty thousand Federal Coin.