Chapter 26 - Research

Back at the dining room, Qin Ming was happily chatting with Flender and Zhao Wuji, while Tianheng was serving Grandmaster and the other students were waiting for the Shrek's members to come so that they can start to order food.

"Principle Flender even among the Emperor Team, Xie Lingling is a true prodigy, she is only 16 this year but she has already reached the 39th rank and is not too far from the 40th rank. She's also my direct disciple but it is only a pity that her Spirit only give her the healing ability otherwise she wouldn't be any weaker than those members of the Spirit Hall either"

Xie Lingling came forward and said while bowing,

"Lingling greets Grand-Teacher Flender and Grand-Teacher Zhao"

Since she was the direct disciple of Qin Ming she had to show respect towards his teachers.

"That is truly a talent, we also have someone who is only 16 years old and is at the 39th rank"

When they heard that everyone from the Emperor Team including Qin Ming were shocked, but Qin Ming came to terms with it and asked,

"Is it the Control Spirit Master called, Thousand Hands Asura??"

Shaking his head Flender said,

"No, he's not 16 years old but instead its the Attack Spirit Master, Evil Eyed White Tiger, his name is Dai Mubai and he had recently turned 16"

When they heard that they were shocked, they knew that Dai Mubai was the oldest in the group and for him to be only 16 years old then what about the other members??

"Grand-Teacher Flender, what about Tang San, what is his age??"

"Tang San had just recently turned 13 years, he is one of the greatest Spirit Master's I've ever seen"

When they heard that Tang San was only 13 years old they were shocked without a doubt, what sort of a monster was he??

Soon they saw seven people enter the room, and on seeing them they didn't doubt that they were only 12 - 13 years old. The dinner was quite peaceful and Qin Ming complemented the Shrek Devil's for their fight and said that he would surely love to recruit them to Heaven DOu if they weren't of Shrek.

When Grandmaster refuted saying that they can still do so Flender was enraged, after arguing for a while he gave up and saw that there were more benefits for the student's than the disadvantages for Shrek.

After that Flender left the room with a depressed face after stating a few of his conditions. Fatty who saw that rushed after him, he was after all his direct disciple, soon Tang San and the others too followed him.

While they reached a balcony where Fatty was saying that he would borrow the chicken to lay eggs and that he would always be a part of Shrek everyone had a slight smile on their face.

"Dean Flender, no matter what we will always be Shrek's Seven Devils and Hongjin is right we're just borrowing the chicken to lay the egg there isn't anything wrong with it, hahaha"

Dai Mubai said with a wide grin on his face, seeing that the rest of them also had a wide grin on their face and said,

"We're the Shrek's Seven Devils!!"

After that they went back to the room to finish their meal, they saw that the Emperor Team was quietly eating their meal while Grandmaster and Tianheng were talking about something. They didn't mind that and sat and continued to eat their meal.

"Tang San, can I speak to you for a while?? Alone"

When they heard that they were all surprised with Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun and Oscar giving him thumbs up while all the girls having an angry expression on their face. Even the members of the Emperor team were shocked at that, they knew that though she was a pretty face she never showed any interest in men before and for her to ask a man to talk alone...

Tang San just stood up not minding the gazes of all the people in the room and said,

"Sure, I too wanted to talk to you about something"

…

When they entered another room, Xie Lingling asked,

"Did you feel any resonance in your Spirit before the match??"

Tang San simply nodded his head and said,

"I feel the resonance in my body, not my Spirit"

"I think the reason you felt a resonance must be because I have a special physique known as the Nine Hearts Body, ever heard of it??"

When she heard that she shook her head, though she knew a little bit of medicine, it was only due to finding ways to further improve her Spirit and see if there is any method to solve its problem. She was really intrigued by his physique of Nine Hearts Body as her Spirit was really rare and unique such that at any point of time only two can exist in the world and there have never been any records of having a Spirit which displayed any resonance to the Nine Heart's Flowering Apple in her clan.

"I've never heard about such a physique but from its name I can find how it is related to my Nine Heart's Flowering Apple but can you tell me the origin of your physique, is it hereditary or is there any method of others to acquire it??"

"I acquired this physique from a special herb known as the Nine Hearts Lotus, it is what you would call an immortal herb and are extremely rare"

"Can you tell me where you found it and how it looks like??"

"There isn't any point in doing so as this herb similar to your Spirit there can exist only one herb at any given point of time and it takes 99,000 years for the next one to bloom. As for its description, I can surely tell you about it"

He then proceeded to tell her about the Nine Heart's Flower and also told her the ingestion process, he knew that this information is priceless and would be even more to her and her clan as it is directly related to their Spirit.

"You know if you want, we can test out if there is any fusion or changes to the Spirit itself if we try for a Spirit Fusion"

She was slightly disappointed when she heard about the Herb and more so when she knows that she couldn't get it in this lifetime. But when she thought of Tang San's proposal she was slightly interested in it and took out her Spirit. A pink flower with a red tinge to it and Nine petals came out from her hand, this was the Nine Heart's Flowering Apple Spirit, seeing the Spirit this close he could surely feel the resonance to it.

Tang San wanted to delay his breakthrough until he reached the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well as absorbing the energies from there would give him a better foundation but he wasn't sad about breaking through now as the energy he got to stabilize his foundations from Xie Lingling's Spirit was almost comparable to what he would have received at the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well.

Xie Lingling felt that the energy which was produced when he came in contact with her Spirit was full of vitality and was also strengthening her body even Tang San was shocked by this, though she didn't get the Nine Heart's Body she was still able to get a better one than most Spirit Masters. Her previous Nine Hearts Flowering Apple also had a slight change where the flower grew much bigger and had a seed released from it.

When Tang San saw that seed he was shocked he felt tremendous energy coming from the seed and he was sure that it was the seed of an immortal herb. Though he wasn't sure of which herb it belonged to he saw the seed floating between the two of them and two chains of energies were released from it towards the two of them and tied it to their pinky fingers and it became a red string.

When he saw that he was surprised as he knew this string from his first life where he heard stories about it, it was the Red String of Fate. He didn't know how to respond to this and when he tried to move away he saw that the thread became almost invisible but he could still feel it and the connection he had with Xie Lingling.

She too was confused by this thread and as she didn't know about the history behind it she thought that it was just some connection made by her Spirit between her and Tang San due to his Nine Heart's Body. But when she saw Tang San right now she felt her perspective about him slightly changing, at first she just thought of him being talented and having a great body and a good face but now she didn't know why but he felt slightly more handsome than before.

"It looks like this thread is like a connection between the two of us and I can tell you position due to it and also it shares the healing ability between the two of us"

Nodding his head he said,

"Yes, I too feel the same and I also feel that if you want to use your healing ability on me you don't have have to use it by your Spirit and can use it directly on me through the thread. As expected of the Red String of Marriage"

When she heard the term Marriage she was shocked and asked while stuttering,

"W-What d-do you mean by m-m-marriage??"

"Oh, nothing much this string is called as the Red String of Fate or also the Red String of Marriage. It is said that it would tie the hands of the couple who were destined for each other"

Just when he said that the seed produced a few other strings from Lingling's side and shot across different directions. Even Tang San who saw that was shocked, he didn't expect this to happen from just touching her Spirit.

Despite having the Red God's Eye he was unable to see how many strings were there. He also couldn't feel any connections including the one with Lingling. For some reason, he instinctively knew that they would only appear after marriage or something of equal significance which was having s_e_x with the opposite party. He really didn't know whether he should laugh or cry after this.

Xie Lingling who was still in shock due to the marriage was also surprised at this and asked,

"Since there are other strings does that mean you will have other wives apart from me??"

Tang San just nodded instinctively but that only earned a glare from her and then she just walked out of the room and Tang San just followed back. When they went back to the dinning room the awkward atmosphere between Tang San and Xie Lingling was noticed by everyone but no one dared to bring it up expect Hongjun who was a complete idiot,

"Brother San, what happened between the two of you?? Did you propose to her or something??"

*Crush*

Just then the sound of glass breaking was heard and when the turned towards the noise they saw Xie Lingling looking at Hongjun as if he had murdered her entire clan. Fatty who saw that was scared shitless, though she was only a support type master he didn't know why but he felt that if he continued the topic it wasn't good for his health.

Now that she was willingly going towards a man they couldn't hide their surprise. Tang San who knew the actual reason why she had come didn't mind the gazes from others and silently got up and went to the other room with her. Xie Lingling who saw that didn't know what to say about this man who was supposedly tied to her by fate and was her future husband.

…

In the other room,

Dugu Yan and Tang San who entered didn't speak to each other for a while, she was a young woman who had just turned 17 this year and her talent was only slightly behind Lingling's as she was only a step away from the Spirit Ancestor stage and was sure to breakthrough by this month or so.

But for her to admit that Tang San who was nearly 3 years younger than she was had found an antidote to her poison which even she was unable to do would mean going against her pride. But she also knew about the problem with her Spirit so she was willing to let go of her pride and this was the reason she had called him to a separate room to talk about it.

"How were you able to find a cure for my poison??"

"Why should I tell you and if I do what will you give me as compensation??"

"You!!"

"I was willing to tell it to you for free but they way you behaved in the arena by trying to kill my friends and now where you just tried to force me to give you the antidote and the way you were acting so high and mighty, all these things made me change my mind to not give it to you.

I think we are done here so I will be taking my leave if you want the antidote, I will give it to you if you act with less arrogance"

After that, he just left the room and went back to their inn as he wanted to avoid the awkward atmosphere in the dining hall later on.

…

With the Shrek's Seven Devils all having gotten a Silver rank in the Colosseum and a gold rank as a team they didn't have anything more to do in there so they went back to the academy. Qin Ming had left along with the Emperor team as he still had to talk with the upper management of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy about them but with the talent of the Shrek's Seven Devils, it would be a sure thing for them to accept the proposal.

While they came back to the academy they had a vacation period of two months after which they would start their journey towards the Imperial Capital. Tang San didn't want to waste this time so he was going to practice his side occupations and improve his Blacksmithing and Designing to the 8-star rank.

He also decided to use all his money on his Spirit ring boosts as he knew that he would soon fight against Dugu Bo and didn't want to take any risks. He had spent a total of 1,040,000 gold coins to upgrade everything to at least the 100,000-year level.

His Blue Silver Grass's first Spirit ring which was in the 1,000-year rang needed 990,000 gold coins and his Man faced Demon spider ring which was 97,000-year-old needed 30,000 gold coins and his Three-Eyed Golden Lion and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion Skull Bone which were 99,000-year-old needed a total of 20,000 gold coins for them to reach the 100,000-year level.

He had nearly 3,000,000 gold coins mainly due to his bets in the previous fights so this much amount was not much to him for a 100,000-year boost.

After he purchased all the boosts he went into the Magical Space and absorbed them all, all the ring were boosted to the 100,000-year level except his Three-Eyed Golden Lion and the Spirit bone.

That he took out two boosts one for the bone and the other for the ring, he knew that it would be much safer to upgrade them both at once since there is a synchronization between the two of them as they came from the same beast.

While he used the two red orbs on the ring and the bone he felt something from them, he wasn't sure what it was but he knew that the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had prior knowledge of him coming to fight it as he had gained the divination skill from it, so he was sure that it had laid something in either its ring or Spirit bone.

'Not good Tang San, come into your mind sea I think we have a problem with the Three-Eyed Spirit bone'(Daydream)

He heard daydream shouting from inside his mindsea so he went in to take a look and saw that from his skull some foreign energy was entering into his mind sea. This energy slowly took shape and was forming a cocoon only then did he understand what was going on.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion before its death had placed its soul into the Skull Bone which upon reaching the 100,000-year age had let it evolve and become a human. Though since it was only a soul it would form a Spiritual form similar to Daydream, Ice Empress and Snow Empress and would be linked to his Samsara Eye.

He was still deciding whether or not to use his devour skill on the cocoon and after a while, he decided to give the beast a chance and see if it was truly willing to become an existence like Daydream and the others, if not he would not hesitate to use his devour skill on it as it was better to pick out the roots than to cut the grass.

After a while, there was a crack in the cocoon and it let out a bright light. After the light subsided a beautiful woman was standing in front of them n_a_k_e_d. Though she looked truly beautiful Tang San and the other's didn't let their guard down, she had waist length blue hair with a tinge of in them along with golden eyes and a really hot figure he was really shocked when he saw her as she was looking exactly like Qian Renxue but much more m_a_t_u_r_ed. She was easily comparable to the Snow Empress in beauty.

She looked straight at Tang San and gave a slight smile and said,

"You don't need to be on guard against me you know, I am similar to the rest of them and with you having my Spirit ring and bone you almost have entire controls over me you know"

"Well said though that isn't enough to make us let our guard down you know. It might be true that I have control over your ring and bone but that doesn't mean you will go down so easily right?? And surely you would have some grudge due to me killing you for your ring and bone right??"

"Well, I have no other method to prove that I don't mean any harm but it isn't true that I harbor a grudge against you for killing me you know. I had already reached my limit in cultivation and was going to die soon and my only hope was to reach the 100,000-year level but with the time I had left and the injuries I was destined to die unless I had a miraculous encounter which so happens to be you.

I had gotten my injuries when a beast from the forest fought with me over my territory, though I managed to kill it I was almost on the brink of death and using all I had left to heal myself I was unable to break through to the 100,000-year level.

When I fought with you I felt that you would surely kill me and so when I confirmed it with my divination skill I place my soul into my skull bone and was only hoping that you find a way to let it evolve to the 100,000-year level which would give me another chance of survival but when you absorbed me I felt a great deal of life source from your body along with the existence of three other Spirit Beasts.

This really shocked me and soon after a while I was able to heal my soul to its peak state and with you upgrading both my ring and bone to the 100,000-year level I had an option to get away from you but I decided to follow along with that worms plan and help you in becoming a god as I too felt that you have the potential to do so and even if I did separate myself from your body I will still be a human and will have to follow the usual route of cultivation which is really risky as anyone can kill me just for my ring and bone.

So choosing you was the safest, smartest and most likable option as I would prefer to have you than anyone else, you know after you absorbed my ring and bone I felt a great strength from your third Spirit this also made me like you very much"

Hearing that Tang San and the rest let their guard down against her, Tang San felt that what she said was sensible he was willing to give her a chance. He then felt a connection between the two of them, this was from the bone as well as the ring. He felt a rush of memories along with the feeling of her getting his memories, he knew that the memories she would get were only from his second and third reincarnation so he wasn't too bothered about it.

He gained an understanding of her entire life and that what she said was also true, he also saw that she had developed feelings for him. To this, he only rubbed his temple and let the matter be for later.

He then asked her,

"Why do you look like Qian Renxue??"

She had a bright smile on her face and said,

"I took the appearance of the person who you loved the most, though I had a hard time doing that as you have a lot of women you like I took most of the features from Renxue as she was your first I suppose"

"...I see. I have an odd question to ask… do you like me??"

When the others heard that they too wanted to know the answer to that question and she with a blush on her face replied while keeping both her hands on her cheeks,

"Kyaaa, how embarrassing!!!!"

'Pervert'(Daydream)

'Horny'(Ice Empress)

'....Desperate'(Snow Empress)

"I…. completely agree with all of you. By the way, what's your name??"

'You can call me Jinshi well since we'll be married in the future I guess it would be changed to Tang Jinshi or you can also call me Golden Empress'

"M-Married??"

Tang San felt a headache coming along when he saw this woman, she was really desperate for him and he didn't know how to treat her. Part of him wants to ignore her but with the face, she has it was really tough for him to do so.

"I'll call you Jin'er or Golden Empress from now on if that's fine with you"

After talking to her for a while he felt that she wasn't too bad and then left his mind sea. He then went into the pagoda and was ready to practice his side occupations.

…

Soon two months passed by and he had spent all his time inside the Magical Space.

______________________

Name: [Tang San]

Age: 13

Spirit: [Blue Silver Emperor] [Clear Sky Hammer] [Samsara Eye] [Ice Jade Empress Scorpion]

Spirit Rank: [Spirit Ancestor - 40/42]

Spirit Bones: [C_h_e_s_t: Ice Jade Empress Scorpion] [Left Arm: Ice Jade Scorpion] [Skull: Three-Eyed Golden Lion] [External Bone: Golden Trident] [External Bone: Twelve Spider Lances]

Skills: [Forbidden Heaven Technique] [Forbidden Jade Hands] [Red Gods Eye] [Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon] [Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track] [Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation] [Nine Heart's Body] [Divine Buddha Meridians] [Golden Blood Body] [Eye of Destiny] [Red String of Fate]

Profession: [8-star Blacksmith] [8-star Spirit Tool Designer] [8-star Alchemy] [8-star Spirit Doctor]

______________________

[Samsara Eye]:

Devour, Store, Refine, Absorb

Magical Space

Daydreaming Ice worm (1.000.000 years):

Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing, Spiritual Shock, Spiritual Interference

Ice Silkworm (1.000.000 years):

Imitation, Camouflage, Mind Control, Memory Alteration

Three Eyed Golden Lion (100.000 years):

Divination

Spiritual Dominance

Spiritual Link

______________________

Skull: Three-Eyed Golden Lion (100.000)-

Improved Intelligence

Eye of Fate

Dragon of Fate

______________________

He had also gotten two skills from his ring and Spirit bone.

______________________

[Spiritual Link]: Creates a link which allows one to share thoughts and minor abilities. Can also be forced upon all those who have a weaker Spiritual power than the user.

[Dragon of Fate]: Enhancing the body's strength & speed, as well as creating a powerful vortex that heavily damages the enemy.

______________________

He knew that after making it into a million-year ring and bone he would get one more ability for each of them and they would be very powerful but that would require him to spend 1,800,000,000 gold coins as he had to upgrade them both at the same time.

In these two months which was 400 times inside the space, he had gotten his Blacksmithing and Spirit Tool Designing both to the 8-star ranks. After that, since he had time in the space left he had started to enhance his Tang Sect Weapons with the help of his Spirit Tool Designing. Though he was limited by the materials and was unable to make them at the moment he had upgraded all of them except a few of the top ones like the Buddha Fury Tang Lotus, Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needle, Peac_o_c_k Plume, and the Cl_u_s_ter Soul Chasing Ball he was able to make designs for the rest of them while also making a set of Goldy Zhuge Crossbows which were enhanced with his knowledge on Spirit Tools.

He decided to call them Spirit Weapons as, unlike the Tang Sect weapons they depended on the Spirit Masters power for their output which unlike the Tang Sect weapons can only be used by Spirit Masters. He was also proud of the Tang Sect at the same time as these Hidden Weapons which used by mortals can kill Spirit Masters than Spirit Weapons which are used by Spirit Masters to kill other Spirit Masters.

Though even he had to accept that these Spirit Weapons in the hands of Spirit Masters are really destructive. If these weapons are made from scratch with a particular Spirit in mind then their capabilities are enhanced even further.

He also drew up blueprints for Spirit Weapons for a few of his friends like the White Tiger Sabre, Hell Heels, Phoenix Canon, Nine Treasures Magnifier, Sausage Shield and the Soft Bone Barrier. He also made a few auxiliary Spirit tools for them like the Flying Shoes or the Spirit Scouter (WN: I soo want someone to shout 'Its over 9000!!' Right now. Lolz dbz)

He had also made some for himself like the Ice Canon Blaster and Clear Sky Shield. He knew that he needed a defensive and attacking methods for all his future problems. With nearly 66 years worth time inside the space where he didn't age and didn't need to worry about the food he had made such a strong foundation for the Tang Sect that it would last for at least 10,000 years with just this and still be prospering.

He also started some research on a boosting type of Spirit Tools which would boost the combat power of a Spirit Master by at least 10 ranks. He had the idea of using the armors similar to the Gods Raiment but with fewer capabilities and only helpful in boosting ones combat potential.

He had only made a little headway into the topic before the duration of 2 months was over but he was still satisfied with the fruits of his research.

When he went out of his room he saw everyone having breakfast and joined them,

"Looks like the iron man has decided to join us for breakfast"

He heard Dai Mubai's voice when he got closer to the table and just gave a slight smile before he sat down and started to eat his portion of food. Everyone was eager to find out what Tang San was making this entire while so finally Hongjun had asked him. To that, he didn't reply and just took out a few of the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons and gave it to them while explaining their functions. He also gave a Goldly Zhuge Crossbow - Spirit Weapon version to all of them and also an entire set of hidden weapons for Oscar and Rongrong.

He knew that she wanted to show them to her father and decided about whether they would place a mass order on these weapons or not. After that, they all went back to pack up their stuff since they were going to leave this place and go towards the Imperial Capital.