Chapter 22: The Price of Reaching Sixth Rank

The news of Li Luo's fifth-grade water aspect spread quickly throughout the entire South Wind Academy, naturally sparking a great stir and heated discussion.

"Who would've thought, Li Luo could actually turn things around with a post-heavenly aspect. Never heard of such a thing before."

"They say it's a treasure left behind by his parents. Such a treasure is extremely rare."

"Having good parents really makes one envious, jealous, and hateful."

"Well, it's alright, I suppose. It's just a fifth-grade water aspect, nothing too special. And there's less than a month until the academy's grand examination. In such a short time, could he possibly catch up to those top students?"

"Right. The three Bei Kun fellows he defeated couldn't even crack the top ten in the First Courtyard. And from what I hear, everyone in the top ten of the First Courtyard is at the Seven-Seal Realm. Song Song Yunfeng and Lv Qing'er are the most terrifying of them—reportedly already at Dao Le Ba Yin, and the latter might be even higher."

"Mm. Li Luo has lost a crucial stretch of time. I don't think he can catch up in this final month."

And while the academy buzzed with discussion about Li Luo, he himself had already finished the day's cultivation and swiftly left the academy.

"Today's fight with Bei Kun—I won in the end, but it was a bit tougher than I imagined. If I hadn't borrowed the light-aspect force within the 'Water-Light Aspect' at the last moment to create a visual shift on Bei Kun, the fight would've dragged on longer."

In the carriage heading home, Li Luo reflected on today's battle, his expression showing little ease—instead, a hint of dissatisfaction and solemnity.

Calculating it this way, right now, even with the peculiarity of the 'Water-Light Aspect' and his own proficiency in aspect arts, his combat power should make him fear no one in the Six-Seal Realm. But against a Seven-Seal Realm opponent, his odds of winning would shrink considerably.

"Not enough. Far from enough."

Li Luo muttered to himself. His goal was to enter the Sacred Mystic Star Academy, and each year the South Wind Academy had only a handful of slots for it. Unless one was among the very top, the chances were slim.

And now, with less than a month until the grand examination, if he wanted to catch up, not only did his aspect-force level need to rise, but this fifth-grade 'Water-Light Aspect' would also likely need to advance further.

Only then could he be confident enough to face someone of Lv Qing'er's caliber.

But as the saying goes, getting the fifth-grade 'Water-Light Aspect' to sixth grade is no easy matter.

"I'll head back and chat with Sister Cai Wei first."

Li Luo grinned wryly. He figured that if he said he still needed a large quantity of fifth-grade Spirit Water Marvelous Light, Cai Wei might just swallow him whole.

The old residence, the accounts room.

Cai Wei sat at the desk, carefully flipping through the ledger. Today she wore a pale yellow long dress, her oval face delicate and alluring, carrying a charm that girls her age did not possess.

She had been reading for a long while and seemed a bit tired, so she subtly leaned forward, and the rather weighty, surging waves gently came to rest on the desk.

Hoo—

Cai Wei's entire body relaxed slightly, and she quietly let out a breath.

Bang!

Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open. Li Luo strode in: "Sister Cai Wei."

The moment his voice fell, he saw the scene before him, and Cai Wei, for a moment, didn't come back to her senses either, her beautiful eyes fixing on Li Luo with a trace of astonishment.

The atmosphere froze for several breaths.

Cai Wei's forward-leaning body jerked upright as if shocked, a faint blush flying across her fair oval face, while her beautiful eyes glared at Li Luo with embarrassed annoyance.

"Don't you know to knock before coming in?"

Li Luo broke out in a cold sweat across his forehead, then quickly lowered his head: "Sister Cai Wei, I'll definitely be careful next time!"

Seeing his extremely proper attitude, Cai Wei's embarrassed annoyance eased considerably, though she still said peevishly: "What does the young mansion master need this time?"

Li Luo glanced behind him, then shut the door with a backhand push and said: "I want to show Sister Cai Wei a treasure."

The moment his voice fell, he froze—because he saw Cai Wei raise one hand, gripping a crossbow glinting with cold light, while a dangerous smile appeared on her beautiful oval face: "Young mansion master, I'm at the Resonance Master realm, you know."

Li Luo hastily raised his hands and forced a bitter smile: "Sister Cai Wei, what are you doing?"

Cai Wei's slender willow brows lifted slightly as she scrutinized Li Luo: "Then what is this treasure you mentioned?"

Li Luo found it rather baffling, but said nothing more. With a thought, blue aspect force began to rise from within him, and faintly there seemed to be the sound of flowing water.

He revealed his own fifth-grade aspect.

Snap.

The crossbow in Cai Wei's hand clattered to the floor. Her beautiful eyes went wide, and she said, somewhat shocked: "Y-you have an aspect affinity now?"

Li Luo nodded. "Fifth-grade aspect."

Cai Wei's oval face was full of shock. After quite a while, she gradually came back to herself and said: "Was it the means left behind by the two mansion masters that helped you resolve it?"

Li Luo smiled and nodded.

Cai Wei suddenly understood, then recalled her earlier action, and her cheeks instantly burned. Li Luo's words just now had carried quite a deep double meaning, and she was no naive girl—for a moment she had thought Li Luo was about to do something.

She couldn't help the shame and indignation in her heart. Cai Wei, oh Cai Wei, you've truly embarrassed yourself to death.

But Cai Wei had, after all, seen her share of great storms. She immediately steadied her emotions and laughed as if nothing had happened: "Then congratulations to the young mansion master. If Jiang Jiang Qinge were to learn of this, I'm sure she'd be happy for you too."

Li Luo nodded. "There's one more thing. Sister Cai Wei has probably guessed it already."

"You still need Spirit Water Marvelous Light?" Cai Wei's willow brows knitted slightly.

"Mm, and this time it probably requires fifth-grade Spirit Water Marvelous Light. The thing my parents left behind needs the continual nourishment of Spirit Water Marvelous Light, otherwise over time it might dissipate." Li Luo did not say he could use Spirit Water Marvelous Light without limit to raise his aspect's grade—instead he told a lie. After all, the matter was too important, and he didn't want to expose it for now.

"Fifth-grade Spirit Water Marvelous Light." Cai Wei's brow tip tightened, her slender brows nearly meeting.

Fourth-grade Spirit Water Marvelous Light on the market runs about a thousand Sky-Scale Gold, but fifth-grade costs a full five thousand Sky-Scale Gold.

This absolutely counts as an expensive consumable.

If Li Luo only needed a few vials, it might not be a problem, but with her previous experience, Cai Wei understood that what Li Luo wanted was probably over a hundred vials.

That was no small sum.

Cai Wei's expression shifted, but what finally surprised Li Luo was that she did not look for any excuse to refuse. Instead, she nodded: "I understand. I'll do everything I can to meet your needs."

She raised her head, saw the slightly surprised look on Li Luo's face, and couldn't help a smile: "Did you think I would actually refuse you?"

"You are the young mansion master of House Luolan Mansion. All of House Luolan Mansion's assets belong to you and Jiang Jiang Qinge, so as long as you don't do anything truly absurd, you may do as you wish."

"Moreover, your possessing an aspect will have an impact on House Luolan Mansion far greater than the price of this Spirit Water Marvelous Light. So what reason would I have to refuse you?"

Li Luo said, moved: "Sister Cai Wei, you're really too understanding."

"Then could you help me get a few dozen vials of fifth-grade Spirit Water Marvelous Light first?"

Cai Wei's pale, slender hand rubbed her brow. "It's possible, but if you still need this much next time, our funds won't be enough."

House Luolan House's various industries in Tianshu Prefecture and the Chamber of Commerce income for the year only amount to a little over three hundred thousand Heaven Measure Gold, and previously, to procure Fourth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light for Li Luo, they had already spent around one hundred fifty thousand. If they now procure several dozen vials of Fifth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light, the remaining funds would basically be completely exhausted.

Cai Wei deliberated for a moment and said, "Young House Master, I plan to sell off some of House Luolan House's industries in Tianshu Prefecture as well as the Chamber of Commerce."

"House Luolan House currently doesn't have much power in Tianshu Prefecture, which has caused the industries to become overly bloated. Many of these industries are actually a burden to us. Moreover, the three houses in Tianshu Prefecture keep throwing obstacles in our way. If this continues, it will only cause greater losses and drain our energy."

"There's also the matter of the three houses. Now these three houses show signs of uniting against House Luolan House, because their interests align. If we split off some industries and throw them out, as long as we handle it well, it will inevitably spark a scramble among them. When that happens, conflicts will arise between them, making it difficult for them to coordinate against House Luolan House."

Li Luo also fell into thought. After a long while, he nodded and praised, "Sister Cai Wei, this is cutting off one's arm to save one's life, killing three warriors with two peaches."

"I don't understand these things well. I'll leave everything to Sister Cai Wei to handle. No matter what, I support you." Li Luo waved his hand grandly and said directly.

"Then I thank the Young House Master for your trust first." Cai Wei's lips curved into a smile.

Li Luo waved his hand, then seemed to remember something and said, "Right, does our House Luolan House have any industry in Tianshu Prefecture that manufactures 'Spirit Water Strange Light'? If we could make it ourselves, it should be much cheaper than the market price, right?"

Cai Wei said, "House Luolan House is a large enterprise with extensive assets, so of course we also manufacture 'Spirit Water Strange Light.' After all, this kind of Consumable is in short supply and the profits are enormous. It's just that our House Luolan House generally focuses on Third Rank and below Spirit Water Strange Light. For higher grades, very few people can compound them, so the output is also very small."

"And for Fifth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light, there are probably only a handful of people in all of Tianshu Prefecture who can refine it. Most of the Fifth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light circulating in the Tianshu Prefecture market comes from other prefectures or even Wang Cheng."

Li Luo suddenly understood. Indeed, someone who could refine Fifth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light would be a Fifth Rank Material Refiner. Such a figure could probably easily obtain a decent stipend even in a place like the Great Xia Wang Cheng, so it was normal that they were rarely seen in Tianshu Prefecture.

Li Luo thought for a moment and said, "Can Sister Cai Wei take me to the place in our House Luolan House where Spirit Water Strange Light is refined? I'm a Water Phase, and I want to learn more about the knowledge of Material Refiners."

The price of procuring Spirit Water Strange Light was too high. Moreover, Fifth Rank was manageable for now, but in the future, if Requires Seventh Rank, Eighth Rank, or even Ninth Rank Spirit Water Strange Light were needed, where would Li Luo go to find it? As far as he knew, in the entire Great Xia Kingdom, Spirit Water Strange Light above Seventh Rank produced in a year was extremely scarce.

At that point, he would most likely have to rely on himself to be self-sufficient.

Therefore, he should also prepare to become a Material Refiner.

Cai Wei had no objections to this and gave a slight nod of her fair head.

"Alright, I'll take you tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)