Super Gene Optimization Fluid

"Quick! Quickly show me this mystical pearl!" said Huo Yutong with a sense of urgency, an almost imperceptible flash of cunning appearing in his pupils.

Xia Fei had very sharp eyes, so this particular detail did not escape his sight. He somewhat uncertainly took out the Heavenly Beast Spirit Pearl, saying, "This is something that I inadvertently came across, so I've got no clue whether it's of high or low quality."

"High! Absolutely high!" Huo Yutong held the Heavenly Pearl as he kept heaping praises on it. "A pearl of this clarity! Too bad it got harvested a little too early. If given another handful of decades or even a hundred years, it'd definitely have been a perfect specimen!"

Xia Fei pouted and remained silent, snatching back the pearl. He did not have the patience to wait another hundred years for it to become perfect.

Lightly stroking the pearl, Huo Yutong hesitantly asked, "I wonder what the two benefactors have in mind, sending you to me with this pearl?"

Xia Fei suppressed his voice and answered, "A Celestial Zerohammer."

"What! A Celestial Zerohammer?!" Huo Yutong blurted out.

Xia Fei nodded. "That's right. I came here this time in hopes that the master here would be kind enough to lend me a hand in constructing the legendary Celestial Zerohammer. This Heavenly Beast Spirit Pearl will be used as the catalyst to forge a divine weapon."

"Hmm… That's a little difficult." Huo Yutong sat up straight. He meaningfully stroked his beard with one hand, while he gripped that Heavenly Beast Spirit Pearl with the other, unwilling to part with it.

"I won't lie to you; the benefactors helped me get back my life again, so there's no way I can say no to their request. Unfortunately, this Celestial Zerohammer isn't just something any artificer can construct. I really don't have the cultivation to do it," Huo Yutong said with regret.

Xia Fei had already expected him to decline the request, smiling as he said, "Master, you're second to none in the entire White Horse Constellation. Since you are unable to construct the Celestial Zerohammer, I'm afraid that there won't be anyone else who can do so."

Huo Yutong craftily replied, "That's not true! Xia Laoshi from your Skywing Clan is also a highly skilled artificer."

Xia Fei countered, "Xia Laoshi is an energy artificer, not like you. When it comes to pure forgery, you're naturally the better candidate.

"Besides, from what I know, there isn't just one type of Celestial Zerohammer. It can be graded as primary, intermediate, advanced, super, and godly. Though you're unable to forge something at the super or god grade, an advanced Celestial Zerohammer array should be no problem for someone like you."

What Xia Fei said was true. He had learned about the five grades of the Celestial Zerohammer from the Black and White Gods, and based on their explanation, the array that had forged him his Blood Crystal should be a super grade. The difficulty was horrendously high. Xia Fei was simply very lucky to have come across that ancient array before. Normally, just coming across an advanced grade was rare enough.

Huo Yutong seemed slightly moved, loudly admitting, "That's true! Xia Laoshi views with disdain and looks down on everyone because of his status as an energy master, so in terms of pure forging skills, I'm still better than him by quite a bit. Also, it's not completely impossible for me to construct an advanced grade array."

Xia Fei hurriedly rejoiced. "Then I will have to depend on you, senior, for this!"

Huo Yutong waved his hand dismissively. "Don't be happy just yet. I did indeed attempt to construct an advanced grade Celestial Zerohammer in the past, but I can't guarantee its success all the time. Besides, a Celestial Zerohammer costs a lot of resources."

Sure enough, the old demon lord was right. While Huo Yutong seemed like someone who did not care for worldly possessions, he still had to charge a fee for his service.

Xia Fei was a miser when it came to spending money, but as long as what he was spending on could be of aid to him, he was not one to be thrifty. After all, he needed to be alive first before he could spend what money he had to his name. A profession like the warrior always required a foundation of money in any case.

Smiling, Xia Fei said, "Don't worry, master. I will gladly bear all the costs to this, no two words about it."

Huo Yutong appeared to be angered upon hearing his statement, snorting in disdain. "Who do you take me for? I, Huo Yutong, don't care about such vulgar things!"

Xia Fei was put in a slightly awkward spot, unaware just what pretense the artificer was trying to put on. The one who wanted money was him, but the one who turned around and stated about not caring about such stuff was him, too.

"You're of course willing to provide the materials I require to make the Celestial Zerohammer, aren't you? I've always lived a very simple life, so I don't have that much savings to speak of. Though I said that I have no care for fortune, I should still leave some for posterity. Such a monumental project will surely take several months of ceaseless work as well as plenty of my life energy," Huo Yutong grumbled.

Xia Fei now had the complete picture. There was nothing to the integrity or nobility that Huo Yutong spoke of. It seemed like he had no wish for money, but what he wanted was the materials!

This was basically as good as asking for money directly. Getting Xia Fei to buy his materials, the potential cost would perhaps be far higher than giving him a bill outright. By comparison, even Xiao Laoshi's honesty was way more straightforward. At least, his greed had a clear price tag, unlike Huo Yutong, whose demands were practically bottomless.

'It's like being an escort and even paying for the room!' Xia Fei was already cursing inwardly, yet he still appeared extremely respectful outwardly. He even went as far as to commend Huo Yutong over his lack of desires for worldly possessions.

Huo Yutong did not hesitate to agree to the arrangement at once. After all, Xia Fei was someone that the Black and White Gods had introduced to him and was also someone who had once pulled a fast one on his old nemesis, Xia Laoshi. Xia Fei's cleverness and his skills on flattery while maintaining a bright smile were qualities that Huo Yutong found very likable.

"Just purchase the materials I need based on this list I have here. Time is of the essence, so don't spend more than a month on this. Given my current cultivation, I'm only staying in the White Horse Constellation purely because of my unwillingness to leave. Alas, those above don't intend on letting me off; in half a year, I'll have to leave even if I don't want to. If you can find everything on the list in the next month, then there won't be any problems going forward, but if you fail to find everything, then we can only ask for the fates to kindly let us cross paths once more some time in the future," Huo Yutong handed Xia Fei a list as he waxed poetically.

For people like him and Xia Laoshi, staying here in White Horse Constellation was no more than a waste of their talent. The God Race was their ultimate destination; Xia Laoshi was only staying put because the Skywing Clan's ancestor up there showed great care for his progeny, giving a strict order for the old man to remain here. Meanwhile, it seemed like Huo Yutong had reasons to postpone joining the God Race at present.

Xia Fei took the list and looked through it. There were more materials needed than what he expected, but the construction of the Celestial Zerohammer was bound to have waste, so preparing more would not be too big an issue. However, there was an additional item included, Solid Gold Flying Cicada Pupa!

"Solid Gold Flying Cicada Pupa!" Oro exclaimed. "To think that he'd want such an item, and not just one, but nine! I dare to wager that there's no need for so many in the construction of the divine weapon!"

Hearing the old demon lord's words, Xia Fei could guess that this Solid Gold Flying Cicada Pupa was something amazing. Otherwise, given Oro's identity, there would be no need for him to express such a shock. He was the Black-armored War God of the Demon Race, so what had he not seen?

Xia Fei frowned. "Is everything on the list necessary? Can I perhaps replace some items with others?"

His meaning was spoken very subtly. This was so he would not offend Huo Yutong.

Huo Yutong kept a straight face as he answered, "Not one item must be unaccounted for! What we're trying to make here is the Celestial Zerohammer! The best advanced-grade array to boot! Not one item can be missed, or else the consequences can be disastrous…"

....

Putting away the list, Xia Fei left Huo Yutong's residence. The old demon lord somewhat happily gloated, "I told you; not a single artificer won't have a love for wealth and money; this person merely has a different way of expressing his demands. We're talking about nine Solid Gold Flying Cicada Pupae here. It seems that you'll be breaking the bank this time."

Xia Fei curiously wondered. "Just what is this Solid Gold FLying Cicada Pupa? Is it really that expensive?"

Oro nodded. "That item is useless to a warrior, but it's a very rare material to artificers, with being required to forge law force or make powerful weapons. Price-wise, I'm afraid that it can go for as high as ten thousand grade 5 Origin Crystals."

Shocked!

Xia Fei felt his scalp go numb. Everyone knew that grade 5 Origin Crystals were the highest that could be found in White Horse Constellation; he only had eleven thousand of such in his hands at the moment. Even if Xia Fei were to round up all his assets, he would at most afford just three! This was after selling everything in his spatial rings, including the contents of his bank vaults!

"So expensive!" Xia Fei paled.

Oro shrugged. "Money isn't important. What's important is the amount Huo Yutong asked. I very much suspect that you'll find nine or more Solid Gold Flying Cicada Pupae."

"Sinister. Truly too sinister!" Xia Fei muttered to himself. He suddenly realized that Xia Laoshi was truly the most honest artificer, while the likes of Huo Yutong were the real ones who had insatiable greed! They leveraged on their skills and were completely heartless when they struck.

It was too bad that the relationship between Xia Fei and Xia Laoshi was terrible. The last time Xia Fei brought Furball and Peacock Blue to clean out Xia Laoshi's stores, the old man nearly staked his life to get rid of him, so if he were to go back and beg for that old man's help, he would really just be asking for it.

Besides, Xia Laoshi was a level four master in both artificing and energy, specializing in energy artificiary, possessing a mixture of knowledge at best. Meanwhile, Huo Yutong was a level 6 great artificer, devoted to the Law of Forgery. As the saying went, 'different professions have different specializations.' Huo Yutong could construct an advanced grade Celestial Zerohammer, while Xia Laoshi could not. Of course, there was no way for the latter to match up to the former's skill in terms of energy artificing, either.

The two were good at different things, and when it came to constructing a Celestial Zerohammer, Huo Yutong was the more reliable choice. He might be more expensive, but at the very least, it would not be a waste of his precious Heavenly Beast Spirit Pearl.

Caught between a rock and hard place, Xia Fei felt a headache coming on as he returned to the Wind Garden. He had a glum face.

Xia Wuye saw Xia Fei return and came over to greet him with a smile. Xia Fei remembered about the matter of the Goose Pagoda's Grand Meet, so he asked, "Wuye, it will be the Sunnis's Goose Pagoda Constellation's trade fair soon; I wonder if we received an invitation from them for it?"

Xia Wuye straightened his back as he did his best to recall, replying with knitted eyebrows. "There's indeed an invitation that arrived not too long ago, but I threw it away."

"Threw it?!" Xia Fei felt annoyed. The Sunnis were a more powerful sapient species than the humans in the Law Realm, and the events they hosted should be at an even higher grade. Plenty of clans would rush to attend it, yet an invitation to such a prestigious event had actually been casually thrown away by a Skywing? What nonsense was this?

"Yes, I threw it away. We don't have anyone in the clan, since everyone else's elsewhere. Even if someone wants to go, they'll just go straight to the place. Why would they even have any use for an invitation? We, Skywings, are never one for cumbersome etiquette." Xia Wuye gave a simple explanation.

"Well, I'm actually thinking of heading over to see what it's all about,"Xia Fei said, somewhat troubled.

Xia Wuye burst into raucous laughter as he mysteriously commented, "Young Master Fei, don't you already have a Demonic Wing Token? That's the true all-access pass of us, Skywings. It works far better than some lousy invitation."

Xia Fei was speechless. He nodded and then moved to head over to the backyard of his room. Xia Wuye seemed to remember something at this time, for he called, "Oh, right! Don't head out tonight. Master Zonghai said that he'll be imparting the Law of Speed to you."