Failure

At last.

Shi Fen sought out nearly a hundred monsters of various levels and species to fight one-on-one, discovering what made his Perfect Level movement technique different.

Shi Fen's ability to process information was extraordinary. In battle, he calculated every detail with incredible precision. On top of that, his Spiritual Master abilities had reached the Invincible War God level, giving him exceptional senses and reflexes.

Even without using Spiritual Force, he could fight with ease. Shi Fen's astonishing ability to process information had given rise to a unique Perfect Level movement technique.

That made it impossible for Shi Fen to truly start from scratch and hone his blade skills.

"Being too strong is a problem, too."

Shi Fen gave up on practicing with his blade and used Spiritual Force to unleash more than a dozen throwing knives, slaughtering monsters in a frenzy. He obtained a vast amount of monster materials, piling them into a mountain inside his World Ring.

Shi Fen planned to bundle up these monster materials and take them back to provide Three Stones with raw materials for researching Kro Alloy. He had promised Shi Tie that he would bring back a large quantity of monster materials. If not for that excuse, Shi Tie wouldn't have let him leave.

The monsters in County 0231 were all in for a terrible time, as Shi Fen mercilessly slaughtered them.

At noon.

"There should be enough monster materials now."

Shi Fen sent Hong a video of rat-like monsters gathering in a sewer. He had recorded it after "accidentally" noticing the large gathering while using Spiritual Force, then quietly filming it out of suspicion.

Shi Fen called Hong.

"Big brother, I found a large number of rat-like monsters gathering underground in County 0231, where I am. I sent you the video. Could a monster tide be about to happen?"

"What are you doing there?" Hong's puzzled voice came through.

"Heh, my family wants to try making Kro Alloy, so they sent me out to collect materials," Shi Fen explained.

"Oh, that explains it. Don't hang up. Let me watch the video." Hong suddenly understood. Shi Fen was an Invincible War God-level Spiritual Master; the only reason he'd go to a little county like this was to collect materials from low-level monsters.

"Okay."

Hong suddenly said, "There really could be a monster tide. There are quite a lot of rats gathered there. Stay and keep watch for now. If a monster tide happens, you might be able to save some people. I'll send someone to investigate. If it turns out to be nothing, I'll let you know."

"Okay." Shi Fen agreed without hesitation.

Hong acted quickly.

Hong immediately dispatched a God of War squad to investigate the area in person.

Shi Fen waited where he was for about twenty minutes. Suddenly, the red light on his Communication Bracelet flashed, and a danger warning sounded. "A rat tide may occur at your location. Extreme danger. Extreme danger. Evacuate immediately. Evacuate immediately."

Shi Fen smiled faintly. Today's matter had been resolved perfectly.

After receiving the alert, the many Martial Artists gathered in County 0231 immediately packed up and sprinted toward the Supply Base.

His Communication Bracelet vibrated again. It was a call from Hong. Shi Fen answered at once.

"All right, you can head back. I've sent a fighter jet to stand by nearby. If those damn rats try anything, they'll regret it. If a monster tide really happens today, I'll give you credit for it. Ha ha!" Hong's hearty laughter came through the phone.

"I don't need the money. You don't have to give me credit," Shi Fen said quickly.

"I wasn't going to give you money anyway. It's just a title." Hong laughed even harder.

"Fine. I don't care about that stuff anyway."

After ending the call, Shi Fen found an empty, spacious room and poured out the huge quantity of monster materials in his World Ring.

Using some small tools, Shi Fen stitched various monster hides together to make an enormous hide sack. He put the materials inside and wrapped them up into a bundle the size of a small room.

With the enormous bundle on his back, Shi Fen set off for home.

On the way back, Shi Fen's huge bundle stood out so much that the many Martial Artists returning after receiving the alert all noticed him. No one dared approach him to strike up a conversation. It was obvious from his strength that he wasn't an ordinary Martial Artist, and no one would provoke a powerful person carrying a fortune for no reason.

Shi Fen reached the Supply Base without trouble and submitted materials from two Intermediate Beast Generals to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, earning some money and contribution points. Someone would arrange to deliver the rest of the monster materials to his home.

Shi Fen's strength ranking was finally updated, and he became a Mid-Level War General Martial Artist.

Shi Fen didn't wait there for Luo Feng and boarded a train home instead. He had promised his father that he would teach them how to make Kro Alloy when he got home that evening.

After dinner that night.

The ten tons of Blue Gold Shi Fen had ordered earlier and the monster materials shipped over that day arrived at the same time. Shi Fen quickly finished forging, then left his father and older brother deep in thought as he went to deliver Luo Feng's new blade.

When the new Youquan Blade arrived, Luo Feng was overjoyed to see that it looked exactly the same as the old one, yet was a whole grade higher in quality.

Luo Feng had become quite famous, but his nickname was a little strange.

"The Madman with the Youquan Blade."

Luo Feng didn't care about it at all. Those people were just jealous that he had a Youquan Blade.

When Luo Feng returned home, he learned that Shi Fen had helped his family improve their strength. Now, with the new Youquan Blade as well, he felt extremely indebted to Shi Fen. No matter how Shi Fen tried to dissuade him, Luo Feng insisted on paying him.

In the end, Shi Fen finally gave in to Luo Feng's insistence. He accepted the 30 million Luo Feng gave him, and only then did Luo Feng's family let him leave.

When he got home that night.

Shi Fen contacted his master and asked for help.

Shi Fen had used his master's Forging Room before and had noticed that it contained many advanced, practical devices. Swallowing his pride, he used his master's connections to "borrow" money from him and purchase some of the same forging equipment, planning to build Three Stones a state-of-the-art Forging Room.

That way, Shi Fen would have somewhere to forge when he returned, too. The "high-level" Forging Room he had built before couldn't withstand the strength of a High-level War God.

The next day.

Shi Fen put away all his electronic devices and paid cash at the market for an unregistered, assembled phone with navigation. He planned to use it for navigation.

That would help prevent information leaks.

And keep his whereabouts from being exposed.

Shi Fen activated the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror and shot into the sky, transforming into a streak of light as he flew at more than ten times the speed of sound.

After reaching the Australian Continent.

Shi Fen connected his Spiritual Force to the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's detection function, and a flood of information poured into his mind. Everything within a thousand-kilometer radius was laid bare before him.

"I never expected this. I found not only Mist Island, but the Black Ink Star Ship, too."

Delighted, Shi Fen piloted the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror straight toward his target. "Looks like the Black Ink Star Ship's Small Detector isn't as powerful as my Black Mirror."

This was an unexpected bonus.

When he reached the area around Mist Island, Shi Fen emerged from the Treasure Refining World. He evaded the various lurking monsters and cautiously made his way onto the island.

Shi Fen kept monitoring the activity inside the ship.

He stood there for a long time, but nothing happened...

"Looks like I'll have to make some noise." Shi Fen glanced at the nine towering willows. He wasn't planning to deal with them for now. He found several Lord-level Monsters and fought them fiercely before killing them with throwing knives and "viciously" dismembering them to harvest their materials.

"Hm? Why is nothing happening yet?"

Shi Fen went to challenge the Spirits of Vegetation again.

Nothing changed inside the ship, let alone any sign of Babata.

Unwilling to give up, Shi Fen went to fight the nine willows. He didn't take their Willow Hearts; he just wanted to make more of a commotion.

The ship remained exactly as it was.

Gritting his teeth, Shi Fen rode the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror straight down to provoke the Cloud-Touching Vine deep underground. The Cloud-Touching Vine was enraged and immediately lashed out with vines several kilometers long, attacking everything around it.

The ship remained exactly as it was.

"Damn, not even that got a reaction." Shi Fen was really starting to panic.

He had finally decided to come cause some trouble, hoping to deal with Babata, but Babata seemed to be asleep and completely unaware of the outside world.

Completely frantic, Shi Fen turned into a troublemaking kid, running all over Mist Island to "fan the flames" and "stir up trouble." He kept at it from morning until night, wreaking havoc on every powerful creature on the island.

It was still no use...

"Looks like I came too early. Babata must be in hibernation." Come to think of it, if Babata never slept, he would have noticed Luo Feng the first time he came here. He wouldn't have waited until Luo Feng's second visit to choose him.

Shi Fen had spent the whole day causing trouble. He was both angry and exhausted.

Finally, he angrily picked a few Spirits of Vegetation that would be hard for anyone to notice, then rode the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror home.

"Looks like I'll still have to rely on Luo Feng." Shi Fen was helpless. He felt that it just wasn't meant to be.

Still, the trip hadn't been a waste. Shi Fen had dug up nine Spirits of Vegetation in total, seven of which had been hidden in extremely secluded places. When those people came next time, the Spirits of Vegetation in plain sight would still be there. The people who came later to harvest them wouldn't realize that anyone had been here.

"But I do feel bad for those Martial Artists risking their lives..."

When Shi Fen got home, he focused on teaching his father and older brother how to forge Kro Alloy. He left Elder Qian's personal secret formula untouched and taught them only the techniques publicly available through the Extreme Martial Arts Hall. These public techniques were just right to help the two of them get started.

Shi Fen was convinced that once his strength helped Elder Qian break through, he could ask him for a favor while he was in a good mood. Then Three Stones wouldn't have to worry about lacking good techniques to learn in the future.

A little over two months after Shi Fen went to Mist Island.

Babata awoke from his slumber right on schedule. Today was the day he inspected the changes on Mist Island.

Babata was immediately startled when he saw what had happened outside. Compared to the last time he had awakened, Mist Island was now in complete disarray, as if it had been through countless battles. After asking the Cloud-Touching Vine outside, Babata learned that a freakish Spiritual Master had come to the island. He had controlled a whole lot of throwing knives and caused trouble everywhere, even coming specifically to provoke the vine. The Cloud-Touching Vine had been helpless against him and had let him escape unharmed.

The free-roaming Cloud-Touching Vine was too weak, and its consciousness was too feeble. It could only give Babata a rough account of what had happened.

After receiving the information from the Cloud-Touching Vine, Babata trembled with excitement. "A prodigy Spiritual Master has appeared on Earth. I'm finally about to be free. He took nine Spirits of Vegetation, so he must know their value. He'll definitely come back after he's used them!"

Babata excitedly waited inside the ship for the prodigy to return.

Unfortunately, Shi Fen had no idea this had happened.

Shi Fen continued following his original plan, moving forward step by step.