Chains Of Heaven

In the end, the whole battle part of the tournament is weird. Everyone could enter, sure, but only the top 32 in the eliminatory could enter right away, the other 32 places were to be to a secondary competition. As I got in first place I didn't really need to participate there, instead, I just had to wait one extra day before the fighting could begin.

Right now I was on the way to a bazaar in the city. It would be an interesting place to go, I do have some new cash as every competition had a considerable reward amount and I got first place in most of them (all that had happened until this point) so I could look for some of the things I will be needing soon.

Mainly unique books (which I will not buy, just touch and take the contents into my library), herbs (I have a lot more than most but there might be some here that I have low in stock or that I simply don't have), metals for forging, musical instruments, painting materials, and many other things. I am not sure what I even need, but a good weapon would not go amiss regardless and there is bound to be some stuff that I would find interesting just laying about here.

"Enkidu, would it be okay if we go there? There is something with a good smell over there!" Medusa says while pointing at a stall not far away. Today it would be only me and her here.

Levy was to be with teacher while teacher healed his wounds while Levy was to remain in place to train his body a bit. We prepared for him some medicine to cleanse his body of excess impurities, the process is quite simple and gentle but as his body is truly too weak right now teacher wanted to stay vigil over Levy.

As for Ji Ji and Da Ming, they both would be sleeping in the apartment, they need more time to process their bloodline evolutions after all. Obviously I set out a formation around the place, that reminds me that I need to buy more formation flags as formations are damn useful. Maybe a forging hammer as well as a movable furnace for forging. Actually, there is just so much I need to get that if not for my gains I would be worried.

Who would say, being strong in this world DOES pay off, I am glad that I got some on me as now I can spend on even more on improvements for farming and other such matters. I will just hold off on doing this right away as I think that I helped those around a lot and there is plenty of other places that need attention.

I had already given them information about medicine, cultivation, construction methods, and farming as well as some good food as well. That should be enough.

I move through the stalls, no clear objective in mind as I do so. Medusa already ahead of me in a food stall, she was clearly interested in buying some food if her tail was anything to go by.

I smiled seeing all this, that is, until I saw that.

It was a black sword in display, it gave off an evil and dark vibe to it, it had some golden adornments as well as a few in green and red.

It was something I was just too familiar with, and I could feel my stomach churn at the sight of it.

"Oh, you have a good eye, this is a Heaven Smithing Sword, it is what is generated after the death of a member of one of the three supreme evil clans. They might be evil during life but now that they are dead their bodies turn into these swords, they are exceedingly sharp and powerful, the best swords for sure. It is only for 70000 purple crystals." The seller spoke but I felt revulsion at the mere thought of having one such blade.

Not because of using the body of another as a weapon, in cultivation that is quite normal and there are sections in the Celestial Designer there are clear mentions on hos to change bodies into battle puppets.

No, my problem was with what that sword means, a connection to that clan which I was born into.

I, I don't want that.

I don't wish to even think of that sect, of the fact I, in any way, am connected to them.

I turn my eye to the side, looking for what else the seller has in hopes there is something good there while no showing my current feelings.

One of the items drew my attention.

It was a spear, I touched it and tried to raise it but it was surprisingly heavy.

"Oh, you had an eye on the spear instead. A good choice, a good choice indeed. It is a..."

I shut up the man as I simply looked over the information about this spear and I was at once impressed and disappointed in it.

It has too many defects, it is not nearly good enough.

I was about to put it down and forget about it when I noticed one orb beside it. I took it out and felt a strange power in it.

"Well, that one is just a trinket, nothing to think too much about sir. It is just something I got on the seas in the east." He said and I had to held back a snort.

'Nothing much'? This is pure metal essence! It might not look like it for someone who can't realize it as it is a very rare thing indeed but to my eyes and with my knowledge in Appraisal it is as obvious as obvious can get.

The elements in nature have, in some cases, things called essence. Each different type has different attributes and uses besides the increase into the affinity to the element and the possibilities of use in combat if paired with a combat technique that is suitable for it.

Besides the use for combat, they all have unique uses, for instance, wood essence can be used in pill forging to empower a pill and make it easier to form as well as helping herbs m.a.t.u.r.e many times faster if close to it while Fire Essence is useful for pill forging, blacksmithing, and increase in the affinity to fire. Even the flames of the Phoenix, Vermilion Bird, and Golden Crow could be considered special types of Fire Essence even if a tad above the. Metal essence, in the contrary to others, is only ever really used in weapon forging.

It raises the quality of a weapon considerably and quite easily, the better the Metal Essence the better the empowerment for the item is. Metal Essence is unique in that there is no one who knows any specific way to use it in combat directly but the possibility of increasing the power of a weapon is never to be dismissed.

I take a moment to look at it's information details in the Library of Heaven's Path and the information inside is interesting but, truth be told, curious.

It is actually a construct used to hold something inside. To use metal essence to preserve an item is quite ingenious as it would preserve something in a fresh state for a long time for sure, but it still is something that almost no one can hope to achieve. Metal Essence is actually very easy to mold in shape but it tends to a certain form unless under pressure. When used on a weapon it is melted and put into the weapon, stopping being pure Metal Essence and unless you smelt the whole weapon away you can never get it back to reuse. To make Metal Essence cover something inside, it is not something that naturally happens and the blacksmithing needed to do such a thing is definetly beyond me.

This, this might really be something good.

"How much for this sphere?" I ask the shop keeper who gave me a look of pity.

"It costs 1000 purple crystals." He says and I pay him immediately before leaving.

With this new thing in hand, I begin to look around for more unique stuff that could be of use, making sure to touch every book I could in the bazaar.

First I bought many formation flags, about 2 thousand such flags for any emergency I may find myself into. As for a weapon, I could not find any weapon I liked so I will just build one myself.

Why should I depend on weapons made by others for others when I can make one myself for myself? It is much better this way.

I got a Tyrant Realm Desert Anaconda Beast Core that specializes in speeding through the desert and crushing others by estrangement. I also took one of its tendons and some of its blood. This would work as the center of power for the weapon I intend to make, making it capable of transmitting Earth Attribute energy better while having extreme flexibility, something most weapons with Earth Attribute sorely lacks.

I also bought some bone powder from an ancient vicious shark's teeth, this ought to help with transmitting water element and raising the weapon's pressure during combat, which should also be quite useful.

After that, I got wood from a 1000 years old Metal Vine, a type of vine that only exist on top of mining sites, it is quite normal in those places but having one this old is relatively rare, even if not untold off. That would be the shaft. It has great resilience and helps a bit in the transmission of Wood Attribute energy as well as Metal Attribute energy with the main characteristic of being a decent material for any weapon's handle as it can dispell some of its impact force.

And as for the actual blade, I bought a piece of Grand Dao Treasure Metal. Grand Dao Treasure Metals are a type of material used to create the best weapons. Grand Dao Treasure Metals are born with innate Dao runes called Grand Dao Metal Runes or Grand Dao Treasure Runes. These runes are very precious because if you use a profound art with the same element as the runes when you fight with them it would double the power of the technique. The problem is how many Grand Dao Treasure Metals have runes that don't seem to match anything useful for most people. Grand Dao Treasure Metals could contain several runes however and if even one matches then it is all good; the more runes it contains, the more precious the metal is as there is more chance the effect of doubling will happen and it is possible that it stacks. Metals with more than 3 runes are extremely rare and have their own names:

King Iron: metals with 4-5 runes;

Saint Copper: metals with 6-7 runes;

Immortal Gold: metals with 8-9 runes.

Immortal Gold is basically unheard off and only the Dwarfs could even change the runes as no one else has ever managed such a feat, making them the most advanced race in blacksmithing and even now their fame remains after they went extinct.

The one I got has only one symbol, a simple 'Perfect' as Rune making it simply useless for most as no technique for combat is ever considered perfect. Thus it was sold for cheap as the further one is to the Grand Dao Metal Rune the less effect it shows.

However, this is good enough for me.

I was even lucky enough to find one last thing before leaving.

I found a seller with some herbs for sell but no one wanting to even get close to him, I don't blame then as the person is under the banner of the Poison Sect, another of the three Great Evil Sects. No one dares mess with them for fear of being killed but neither does anyone wants to be around them for fear of being killed as well. They have a fierce and dangerous reputation and no one likes them in the slightest, but I never really got a problem with them in general despite them being slightly associated with THEM.

They remind me more of a Yakuza the few times I had any interaction with them, they have a certain sense of honor despite certainly being dangerous but so is most other cultivator. They learn 'unfair' and 'unhonorable' methods but, to me, this is hardly a problem, they had to study and practice to improve on it just as others do when cultivating and I know that many of those 'fair' and 'honorable' cultivators are likely to join 10 against one in a battle if they can or just bully the weak and cower to the strong.

Poison, while less favorable, is something that helps 'lower the distinction' between the strong and the weak so I don't have a problem with it.

From what I learned in history their position as one the Three Great Evil sects is more due to people fearing poison and how they allied with the other two in the past.

"Oh, I see that someone decided to approach this little one. Good, very good. So? What can this little one can do for you?" An old, small man with a long nose and dressed elegantly, asked while he was surrounded by poisonous gas.

I look down and see the herbs in display and select many of them, he raises an eyebrow at my choices before smirking slightly and asking.

"And, pray tell, what would you use these herbs for exactly?"

"Some is to replenish what I used during the entrance exam of the competition." I admitted easily enough, that nine-headed delicacy might have been delicious but it certainly cost me a lot to defeat, I need to restore my stores and improve upon then if at all possible. "And part is to be used for medicine."

"Oh, I thought they were to kill an opponent you might have during the main competition." The old man asked, showing that he likely knew who I was.

I do not mind that, and why should I when I clearly failed slightly in not calling attention.

It is not my fault everyone else is a tad too incompetent in the side jobs.

"I am not planning to use them for that, no," I said. "I would not use poison unless necessary. But, it is better to have some and don't need it than need it and not have it. Besides, Poison and Medicine are just about the same thing depending on how you use them. For instance-"

I began a little lecture before I realized about the herbs I just bought and how they could be used both for harm and to the benefit of others.

The smile of the man only grew.

"Tell you what, I will sell this to you with a 10% discount and in exchange, when you can, try and visit the Poison Sect. I think that you can help shake the younglings back there a bit, make them put some extra work before they are overthrown by an outsider in the arts of poison."

I accepted the invite and he gave me a token for me to visit. Teacher also had one but this one is for me.

I finished buying the poisonous herbs and left, now that I bought everything I just need to find a good smithy and start working in the forge properly. That will be good.