Retake *Discontinued*

Chapter Eighteen: One-Star Bronze-Ranks

Nie Tai brought Du Ze and the others to the library, leaving Nie Li to visit several pharmacies: he was going to sell a fraction of the hundreds of thousands pounds of Purple Haze Grass that they had possession of. When arriving to the room where they had been focused on cultivating, Du Ze asked Nie Tai, "Why did we not sell Purple Haze Grass to that man?"

Sitting on a small cushion, Nie Tai answered with a question, "If a random alchemist on the street was offering thirty demon-spirit coins per pound of the herb, how much would a noble offer?" Her answer startled Du Ze. He was not used to thinking about money in such a way. He suddenly realized how deep the plotting and the intelligence of the twins ran.

"These are for you all!" Exclaimed a happy voice. Nie Li appeared and tossed a couple bottles of elixirs to each person. Each bottle held ten superior soul assembling pills or ten soul enhancing pills. Even Lu Piao, a noble, couldn't still his hands when holding these elixirs. Each individual pill cost around six thousand demon-spirit coins. It cost Nie Li 350,000 demon-spirit coins: he convinced the pharmacy to cut him a small deal.

"Hurry up and use them. Oh, don't forget to take some Purple Haze Grass to soak in tonight: it will nourish your soul further!" Said Nie Tai before popping a superior soul assembling pull in her mouth. Crossing her legs, Nie Tai focused on her soul realm, ignoring the outside world. The pill caused it to surge and increased her cultivation speed by several folds. She still, however, retained the technique she had been using: forcing her soul realm to expand then compressing it as to make it as dense and strong as possible. She sunk into herself, only focused on the growth, stability, and power of her soul.

When one's soul force becomes abundant, it shows through a cyan glow during cultivation. The twins emitted this glow, unknowingly inspiring their friends to become stronger. If a soul realm could normally be compared to a pond, then Nie Tai's soul force was now similar to chaotic rapids. The soul force was spilling out of the tight boundary Nie Tai set around it only to be compressed yet again. It swirled and collided into a powerful, tumultuous pond. Nie Tai could not see the bottom of this pond; it was a hidden enigma that only pushed her to train her soul realm harder. The free-flowing soul force fought against her, wishing to only lay still, stagnant. Nie Tai, however, ushered her soul to move, grow, and to become stronger. This battle of control would astound the 'experts' of Glory City: control over soul force is hard to practice and even harder to master. A child, not even of the One-Star Bronze-Rank, had better control of her soul than the Black-Gold experts of the city.

This control was made even more impressive because of the superior soul assembling pill, which was completely absorbed by her because of the Heavenly God Cultivation technique. If ten percent of the superior soul assembling pill was absorbed, it would be considered a success. The results on Nie Tai could only be described as spectacular: her soul force rose from thirty-five to fifty-four! It made her want to immediately consume another pill, but Nie Tai had to wait for the residual effects to dissipate before she did so. A loud boom caused to her to open her eyes in surprise. Du Ze had stepped into the One-Star Bronze-Rank of a Demon Spiritualist! The group quickly congratulated Du Ze, whose eyes were glazed over with disbelief.

His eyes met Nie Tai's. His were filled with astonishment and excitement while hers were filled with delight and nostalgia. Her mind flickered to the day where he told her that he had reached One-Star Bronze-Rank in the past life. They were older, and Du Ze was in the more advanced classes while she remained behind, stagnant. Back then, his gaze was filled with pride and guilt. The pride was because he was becoming stronger, proving himself. The guilt, on the other hand, was because Nie Tai was not able to keep up with him and could only watch him shine from far away.

The boy tore his gaze away and quickly began cultivating again, eager to gain strength. Nie Tai smiled slightly and retreated back into her soul realm. It was barely three hours later when another loud boom sounded. The cause of this was Lu Piao, who had joined Du Ze in the grade of the One-Star Bronze-Ranks.

"This is simply too amazing." quietly exclaimed Du Ze. The boy sent a grateful glance towards the twins.

"Indeed." agreed Lu Piao happily. The noble boy thought out-loud quietly, "Now my father won't have a reason to beat me anymore!"

Nie Tai opened her mouth but shut it quickly, refraining from making any comment on the matter. She shared a glance with Nie Li, who had stood. Her brother said, "I'm going down. I have an appointment with someone."

Nei Tai raised an eyebrow and asked, feigning worry, "Ah, should you go alone?"

"No need. I'll be fine." he answered.

She nodded and prepared to resume cultivating. Before she could, however, she noticed Shen Chue's presence. She quietly stood and proceeded to stand in the aisle next to his own while he and his goons plotted. One said, "Hey boss! That brat seems to have a date with Miss Ye Ziyun! Should we beat him up?"

"Of course," Shen Chue answered without hesitation, "However, we cannot do this with the risk of Ye Ziyun knowing. It needs to be an internal injury without evidence of the Sacred Family's doing!"

The goons chuckled evilly in agreement at Shen Chue's statement. Nie Tai, on the other hand, smirked with arrogance. Her eyes spiked with hatred and decisiveness as she turned and walked slowly back to the table to continue with her cultivation.

Heyo! I apologize for not updating for so long: I was on vacation.

I do have a question that I want to ask. If one doesn't answer, I'll automatically assume that they agree. The question is "should Chen Linjian join the twins as a member of the group?"

This will include him traveling with them in the future and being an ally.

Again, if you don't answer, I will assume that you agree.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. If you did, tell me through the star or a comment.

Have a nice day! :D