Chapter 100 - Heavenly Medicine Pagoda (1)

Kai woke up the next day feeling refreshed and well-rested. He opened the door to go downstairs and was surprised to find a large box left by his doorstep. Kai took the box into his room and a few minutes later, he stepped out of his room again, but this time he was dressed in an elegant-looking set of black scaled armor.

The new armor was made up of various pieces that he could wear over his current clothing. The armor covered his chest, shoulders, and arms as well as two side pieces that protected his thighs. The armor was a beautiful polished black with lustrous interlocked scales that contrasted well with the white robes that Kai wore underneath.

Kai grinned while using [Qi Detection] on the armor.

[Salamander-Scale Armor(High)] [Grade-2] [Qi 788]

The armor was of good quality, but unfortunately, it was still only [Grade-2] which was not too useful to the current Kai.

"Let's see what I can do to improve it a little...", Kai thought as he closed his eyes and began infusing Qi into the armor using his Qi-Rotation skill. After a few minutes, armor glowed and even started to shake slightly. If someone was watching, they would have seen the scales visibly harden and compact while also becoming more flexible and breathable.

When Kai could no longer infuse Qi into the armor, he opened his eyes and checked it again.

[Salamander Scale Armor (Superior)] [Grade-2] [Qi 999]

"Looks like it worked!", Kai thought while stroking the armor. Kai tested out the durability of the scales and nodded his head once he was satisfied. The armor was at the peak of [Grade-2]. Kai figured it should be able to absorb a few attacks from a [Grade-3] beast before being damaged which was good enough for now.

Kai headed downstairs and found Jian-Yi and Jian-Na preparing breakfast. He greeted them with a smile then went over to the dining table and waited patiently while watching them work.

The two greeted Kai respectfully and went on with their tasks dutifully. Old Lao had taught them well as they prepared and served all of Kai's favorite food.

"Have you two gotten used to your new lives?. If you have any complaints, please let me know". Kai said while digging into the food.

"Thank you, My lord, we honestly have no complaints!", Jian-Yi said while waving her hands and sighing in relief when she saw Kai enjoying the food.

"Yes, everyone has treated us well. We are in your debt!...", said Jian-Na in a small voice.

"Well that's good to hear. Keep doing well and you will be rewarded. Any merits and contributions will always be rewarded accordingly". Kai said while thinking about possible ways to get a contribution system similar to what the Hunter's Lodge had, but for his followers.

As Kai thought of this, he felt a sudden surge of Qi coming from upstairs. Kai quickly focused on it and found that it was Mina who seemed to be building up a large amount of Thunder-Qi that was quickly going out of control.

"...I'll also have to find another place for them to practice as well. These Qi surges could end up drawing unwanted attention to us...", Kai thought as he absorbed then dissipated the excess Qi through his core connection with Mina. Once the Qi was all gone, Kai instructed Mina to come downstairs. Kai

Mina came downstairs while scratching her head in embarrassment.

"Greetings Master..." she said nervously. Kai simply smiled and beckoned her to come over and have breakfast, which she did.

"Mina, you're quite talented but such a considerable amount of Qi can quickly go unstable and backfire if you aren't careful. Once everyone is here, I will give you all a task that will aid in your control of Qi", Kai said after some thought.

Mina was glad to see that Kai wasn't mad and sat down to have breakfast with him. A while later, Ryu came down with a tired look on his face. He greeted Kai respectfully, then immediately fell asleep on his chair, leaving everyone speechless.

While Mina rushed to wake Ryu up, Old Lao came downstairs and walked over to Kai. He bowed respectfully then noticed the armor that Kai was wearing. "Good Morning Master, I see that you receive the package?", Old Lao asked curiously.

"Ah yes I did. Thank you", Kai said while flashing the armor.

Old Lao's merchant eyes quickly noticed the superb quality of the armor which was worlds better than what he had bought. "Could this be the same armor?...", Old Lao thought to himself. What were the odds that Kai had just gotten himself a set of similar-looking armor but of significantly higher quality?.

"For now, you three should focus on deepening your affinity and control over your respective elemental-Qi", Kai said in a serious tone, completely shifting the course of the discussion.

"Only when you can maintain a stable surge of elemental-Qi in your hand for more than a minute, will be ready for the next step of training. Until then, you are forbidden from exerting large amounts of elemental-Qi. This is for your safety, understood?"

"Yes Master!", the three responded in unison.

"stable...", Mina repeated under her breath. She knew that Kai had added that specifically for her. Kai had already explained to Mina that Thunder-Qi was the most unstable of the three Qi-elements that Kai had taught them because it was a forced combination of the two other Qi-elements. It had a much higher chance of going out of control, however, Kai was confident that she would be able to master it.

After breakfast, Kai gave another announcement.

"Oh, one more thing. We'll be opening up the alchemy store for business today!", Kai said with a wide grin on his face. This caused the room to fall completely silent as everyone in the room looked at each other in disbelief. Kai declared that Old Lao would be the store's manager, while the actual day-to-day running would be left with Jian-Yi and Jian-Na. Both were from a merchant family so they had some experience in shopkeeping. Old Lao would only deal with VIP clients directly as well as tally up the earnings.

The two girls were delighted to hear the news and were eager to show off their skills. Jian-Yi was the more extroverted of the two and had purple eyes. She had a huge smile on her face when she heard the news. Standing nervously behind her was Jian-Na, the more introverted sister. She had jade-green eyes and was soft-spoken. She nervously clutched at her sister's dress but also seemed quite happy.

The twins wore dresses made in Kai's signature Wuxia theme. The sleeves were long and wide with only the tips of their fingers sticking out. The dressed hugged their waists but were loose by the hips and interlaced with various layers down to their feet which made them impressive to look at.

After the tasks were decided on, everyone started to help stock the shelves with pills. Their only inventory would be [Basic-Healing-Pills] for the moment since this is all Kai could make, but they had them in large quantities and at high-grade quality, so Kai was confident that they would sell well.

When everything was ready, Old Lao and Ryu put up a large sign at the entrance that read; "Heavenly Medicine Pagoda, Grand Opening!"

Kai would soon be heading into the Twin-Lions Sect's pocket dimension for a few days, so he had hastened the store's grand opening in this way.