The carriage, on the way home.
Dust-covered, Xu Bai rested his chin in his hand with a miserable look on his face, sighing now and then.
At last, he truly understood what it meant to take things for granted.
Digging soil was simple, but digging a whole lot of it was no easy task. At least, if he wanted to make a small landmass in the Beast Taming Space, he and First definitely couldn't manage it in a short time.
He and First had spent the entire morning digging, and had only managed about twenty cubic meters.
Fortunately, the soil they'd dug up was enough to plant five fruit trees and Little Blue Silver Grass. But when he saw how far away his goal still was, Xu Bai decided to leave.
"Transforming the Beast Taming Space is a long and arduous road..."
With a sigh, Xu Bai closed his eyes and rested, recovering his energy.
The journey passed without incident. By the time they returned to Huangshan City, it was already dark.
As the saying went, a golden nest or silver nest couldn't beat your own doghouse.
Once home, Xu Bai washed up and hurried into his bedroom. He pulled up the covers and sank blissfully into sleep.
The next morning dawned clear, with not a cloud in the sky.
He still didn't train First that day. After breakfast, Xu Bai went to the Seven Treasures Trading House and ordered five more ten-year-old Clear Heart Orange Trees.
Then he planted the trees and refined Hundred Herb Liquid.
That filled the morning. In the afternoon, he went to the branch hall to read, and only the next day did life return to its usual routine.
Another six days passed like this. All ten Clear Heart Orange Trees bore fruit, producing two hundred and ten oranges in total.
Xu Bai made a trip to Qinghe City and sold them for two hundred and fifty-two Gold Soul Coins.
Although his little vault was gradually filling up, he was still a long way from having fifteen hundred Gold Soul Coins.
And that was only the cost of materials for one batch of Spirit Ascension Liquid. Refining Spirit Ascension Liquid was much harder than refining Hundred Herb Liquid.
It had taken him four batches of materials to successfully refine Hundred Herb Liquid. He'd surely need even more for Spirit Ascension Liquid—probably ten batches at the very least.
Ten batches meant fifteen thousand Gold Soul Coins!
Realizing just how broke he was, Xu Bai suddenly turned to First, who spent every day doing nothing but training, eating, and sleeping. In a fit of resentment, he took First to dig soil for another whole day.
After that, ten more Clear Heart Orange Trees stood in the Beast Taming Space.
With the increased yield, they could produce at least four hundred oranges at a time.
That meant four hundred and eighty Gold Soul Coins every six days, or two thousand four hundred in a month...
By that reckoning, fifteen thousand Gold Soul Coins didn't seem like all that much. If he lived frugally, he could save it up in six or seven months...
From then on, Xu Bai enjoyed a happy life: every six days he went to Qinghe City, and the rest of the time he either trained First or studied at the branch hall.
Just like that, more than half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, Xu Bai received some good news.
First's racial skill proficiency had finally reached mastery.
No wonder First was a genius. It hadn't even been a month since he awakened his racial skill, and already his skill proficiency had reached mastery.
With mastery-level Metal Spirit Power, First could finally kill without making a sound.
When his proficiency had only been at the practiced level, First needed to focus his mental energy to control a single piece of metal.
But after reaching mastery, metal was practically an extension of First's own limbs. As long as he wanted, he could control metal throwing knives and put on a little show in midair, peeling an apple with style.
Most importantly, when paired with the Iron Skewers, the skill had formidable killing power.
Under First's control, the Iron Skewers needed almost no buildup to pierce straight through a tree thick enough for a person to wrap their arms around.
Xu Bai didn't know how strong a One-Ring Soul Master was, but he felt that a One-Ring defensive Soul Master definitely couldn't withstand First's attack. With a little careful planning, First might even be able to take down a Soul Grandmaster.
He felt a little more confident, but he was nowhere near cocky enough to stop selling Clear Heart Oranges.
As they said, the first time was unfamiliar, the second time came easy.
Xu Bai had already sold them four times, so he could say he knew the ropes.
After quickly completing the handover with the young lady in blue, Xu Bai didn't head straight home as usual. Instead, he had the carriage turn around and set its destination as the Hengduan Mountain Range.
First had been weak before, so Xu Bai had never dared to go and register any Soul Beasts, all for the sake of safety. As a result, his cheat—one that gave him free mental energy—had never shown its true power.
Now it was time to let this world see just how terrifying a cheater could be!
If the carriage took the main road and hurried along, it would take about four or five hours to reach the Hengduan Mountain Range.
Xu Bai had expected another dull, uneventful ride before they reached the market outside the Hengduan Mountain Range in the blink of an eye. But, unexpectedly, trouble struck when they'd only covered half the distance.
A horse suddenly whinnied outside. The carriage then screeched to a halt, nearly pitching Xu Bai, who'd been dozing, head over heels.
"Driver, what's going on?" Xu Bai furrowed his brows, looking displeased.
His little vault had gradually filled up, and he'd decided to splurge for once, paying the high price of half a Gold Soul Coin to hire a veteran driver with plenty of experience.
This kind of low-level mistake didn't seem like something a seasoned driver would make. Could it be that I've been cheated?
Just as Xu Bai was pondering this, the driver's voice came from outside, tinged with fear. "Young master, there are highway robbers out here, and one of them is a Soul Master lord..."
The driver was practically in tears. In all his years driving carriages, he'd never seen anyone dare to rob people on the main road, let alone a band of robbers with a Soul Master lord among them...
It wasn't as if his carriage looked fancy. What could a Soul Master lord possibly want from it? He'd change whatever it was as soon as he got home!
"Highway robbers with a Soul Master?" Xu Bai raised his eyebrows. Suddenly, he thought of something. With a flick of his mind, he released First from the Beast Taming Space.
The moment First appeared, he was about to let out a tiger's roar when Xu Bai stopped him with a look. Then, through Telepathy, he said:
"First, it looks like we've run into trouble. When I go out in a moment, I'll leave a gap for you. Keep an eye out. We'll use the sound of something hitting iron as our signal. When you hear it, don't worry about who you're facing—just use those Iron Skewers as throwing knives and turn them into a sieve. Got it?"
Hearing this, First nodded, excitement gleaming in his tiger eyes.
After so many days, he finally had a chance to fight for real.
It was a shame his Beast Tamer wanted him to hide in the carriage and control those throwing knives. He still preferred the feel of a close-quarters fight, trading blow for blow.
Seeing this, Xu Bai said no more to First. He called out to the driver, then cautiously stepped out of the carriage.
Sure enough, seven masked men stood not far away, their weapons a motley assortment of daggers, long staffs, and the like. They were presumably their Martial Souls.
The only one worth noticing was the burly man in front, with a battered greatsword resting on his shoulder. One white and one yellow Soul Ring floated beneath his feet, making it clear that he was a Soul Grandmaster.
Seeing the other side's lineup, Xu Bai's expression turned grave. A Hundred-Year Soul Ring rose beneath his feet, and he smiled. "Good sirs, I'm a member of the Huangshan Chen Clan. May I ask what brings you here? I hope you'll explain, so we can avoid any misunderstanding."
When you were away from home, you could give yourself whatever identity you wanted.
The Chen Family of Huangshan City was a Soul King family with some renown in the area. Combined with his age and Hundred-Year Soul Ring, Xu Bai hoped he could scare this group off.
First might be able to kill the Soul Grandmaster, but that was only a possibility, and First had never been in a real fight.
The stakes were too high if he lost. Xu Bai didn't want to gamble.