Tales of Demons and Gods

Nie Li and Gu Lan awkwardly looked at each other, neither knowing how to start a conversation. Just then, Gu Bei walked in from outside.

Gu Bei blankly stared at him. “Nie Li? Why are you here? News outside is circulating. They say that you and Murong Yu had some…conflicts in the Ghastly Ruins?” he said with a slight pause.

Nie Li had a straight face as he said, “You don’t need to be too considerate of my feelings. You said ‘conflict’? What conflict? I haven’t even reached the Heavenly Fate Realm. How could I possibly be his match? Naturally, he crushed me. He even took all the soul scales I gathered!”

Gu Bei never expected Nie Li to make such a straightforward admission. Gu Bei patted his friend on the head and smiled, “Then what are you going to do? Murong Yu is still really strong. I’m afraid that even the two of us won’t be his match.”

Nie Li calmly replied, “I have no choice but to endure it for now. I have something else that I might need your help with.”

Gu Lan couldn’t help raising her head towards Nie Li. If any other youth had encountered Nie Li’s situation, they’d probably be beyond infuriated. She never expected Nie Li to deal with it so calmly.

Gu Bei hit his own chest and announced, “Say the word. No matter what it is, I’ll do my best!”

“I want you to help me acquire demon spirits with Ordinary, Good, or Excellent growth rates. As for numbers, please acquire as many as possible!” said Nie Li.

At Nie Li’s words, Gu Bei scratched his head. “I don’t know why you’d want so many demon spirits. Most of the demon spirits in the Draconic Ruins Realm are pretty high-grade creatures with Dragon Bloodlines. They’re all much better than the ordinary demon spirits you want!”

“I don’t need any demon spirits with Dragon Bloodlines.”

“If we’re just talking about ordinary demon spirits, only those with Extraordinary or God Level growth rates are good for battle. Ordinary ones with low growth rates are basically useless!” Gu Bei was rather confused. “If you want to integrate with a demon spirit, I can totally get you a better one!”

“I have my own uses for them. However much you spend in collecting the demon spirits, I’ll pay back in the future!” Nie li continued, “I need a lot of them. The more the better!”

Gu Bei thought about it for a bit, then said, “It shouldn’t cost too much to get those ordinary demon spirits. There aren’t many in the Draconic Ruins Realm, but not for the smaller realms. I can send someone to hunt for them, so I’ll be able to get you a lot in a short time!”

Nie Li gave him a light smile. “Then I’ll be troubling you!”

Gu Bei chuckled. “Why be so polite? We’re brothers! On top of that, you’ve even saved my sister!”

In just a short while, Gu Bei finished his arrangements and sent a few Heavenly Fate Realm experts to the smaller realms to hunt for ordinary demon spirits. It was a small task for them, of course. However, since Nie Li had personally entrusted this task to Gu Bei, everything would have to be very secretive. Therefore, Gu Bei only sent his most trusted aides.

In the span of a single day, Gu Bei’s men managed to gather more than twenty thousand demon spirits from one of the nearest small realms.

Nie Li received the first batch of demon spirits and returned to his room to begin refining them. There were quite a few among these twenty thousand that had Good or even Excellent growth rates.

Nie Li began the refining process by placing ten demon spirits of the same growth rate into the Nightmare Demon Pot. It’d been awhile since he last refined demon spirits, but he still managed to operate it easily.

Refinery failure!

Refinery failure!

Refinery success!

Nie Li refined batch after batch and the Nightmare Demon Pot continued to produce demon spirits with higher growth rates. The more he refined, the more energy the Nightmare Demon Pot absorbed from the disintegrated demon spirits.

Nie Li stayed in his room and continued to refine demon spirits. In the batch of twenty thousand demon spirits, there were a little over thirty with God Level growth rates. Under normal circumstances, a demon spirit with a God Level growth rate, but without the Dragon Bloodline, would only sell for somewhere between thirty to fifty spiritual stones.

That would already be considered a huge sum. After all, ordinary students, aside from those like Gu Bei who had backgrounds, would find it difficult to come up with thirty to fifty spiritual stones for free spending. Anyone from a family like Gu Bei’s would definitely choose to integrate with a demon spirit that possessed the Dragon Bloodline, or perhaps even the Ancient Bloodline. People like them wouldn’t want an ordinary demon spirit, even if it had a God Level growth rate.

Although people like Murong Yu and Hu Rong were trying ways to prevent him from obtaining more spiritual stones, Nie Li definitely wasn’t going to helplessly wait for death!

If he couldn’t collect spiritual stones from the Ghastly Ruins, then he could collect them in other ways. After all, could you die from holding your urine1? Once he obtained enough spiritual stones, his cultivation would undergo a huge surge and he’d soon surpass Murong Yu.

By now, Lu Piao and Xiao Yu had returned to the courtyard.

Nie Li was curious about Lu Piao’s bruised face. “Lu Piao, what happened to you?”

Lu Piao was extremely irritated and only became more furious as he thought about it. “Don’t remind me. I collected over three thousand soul scales from the Ghastly Ruins, but all of them were stolen by that scumbag Hua Ling’s underlings. I even got beaten up by them!”

Xiao Yu bitterly smiled. “I also encountered the same issue, but I got out slightly better, since they couldn’t defeat me with their level of strength. However, I’ve only managed to collect a little over five thousand soul scales during those two days! After I came out, I heard news that you’d exited a day earlier than me?

Nie Li nodded. “Yeah, I encountered Murong Yu and he snatched the twenty thousand soul scales that I’d gathered.” It looked like this problem wasn’t his alone; even Lu Piao and Xiao Yu were being picked on. Xiao Yu was still quite strong, so he could resist them. However, Lu Piao couldn’t do the same.

Originally, the three of them should’ve reaped rather decent profits from the Ghastly Ruins, based on their strengths. However, everything was disrupted by those scumbags.

Lu Piao angrily said, “No wonder Murong Yu managed to set a new record for himself by the time we came out! So that’s how he got more than one hundred twenty thousand soul scales!”

Xiao Yu pulled out all one hundred sixty spiritual stones that he’d managed to collect and said, “I managed to collect a few, so we can split these first!” This was the first time he’d gotten so many; after all, his past strength was incomparable to his current strength. It’s a pity that he only managed to collect so few during the once-a-month opportunity.

Although Xiao Yu’s one hundred sixty spiritual stones were a huge quantity, it was still insufficient for them. The Heavenly Energy contained in one or two hundred spiritual stones wouldn’t even cause the slightest ripple in Nie Li’s soul realm!

Nie Li shook his head and said, “There’s no need. I have other ways of obtaining spiritual stones! Some people are trying to get in our way of gathering spiritual stones, so how can we let their wishes come true? Let’s take a trip to the institute’s market!

“What are we going to the market for?”

A light flashed through Nie Li’s eyes. “To sell demon spirits!” He’d thought about letting Gu Bei sell those God Level growth rate demon spirits for him; however, after thinking over it again, he decided that it’d be better if he went personally. After all, it wouldn’t be polite to rely on Gu Bei for everything.

Furthermore, if Nie Li sold those God Level demon spirits by himself, he could claim that he’d gotten them from the Tiny World. If they didn’t believe him, they were welcome to go investigate the Tiny World themselves. Not that they’d be able to get in anyways.

Nie Li was certain that he’d suffer some obstructions in selling the God Level growth rate demon spirits; however, he’d already made mental preparations. Within the Skysoul Institute, his enemies wouldn’t dare make a move against him. Therefore, he planned to sell as many as possible.

Shouts echoed throughout the Skysoul Institute’s market as students filled the place, making transactions on various items.

Nie Li and his group made their entrance into the market.

Lu Piao became a little dejected when he realised just how poor they were. “Nie Li, during the last battle, I realised the importance of artifacts. The opponent I encountered wasn’t much stronger than me, but he had a Grade 2 artifact with him. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t be his match! Now that I’m at the market, I’ve learned that a single Grade 2 artifact costs sixty to seventy spiritual stones!

He thought back to his glory days in Glory City. Back then, a million or even ten million demon spirit coins were just loose change to him. But no one recognised demon spirit coins here!

Lu Piao could only windowshop the artifacts in envy.

When Nie Li released news that he had God Level growth rate demon spirits, it immediately attracted the attentions of many students.

“Did you guys hear? That newcomer called Nie Li is going to sell some God Level growth rate demon spirits!”

“Do they have Dragon Bloodlines?”

“No way! A demon spirit with the Dragon Bloodline and a God Level growth rate would be priceless. They’re just ordinary demon spirits with God Level growth rates!”

“Then, what’s the point?”

The students discussed amongst themselves. “A God Level isn’t bad. After all, in the smaller realms, a God Level growth rate is one in a million!”

God Level growth rate demon spirits were much too attractive for these ordinary students.

These people correctly guessed that Nie Li couldn’t collect spiritual stones the usual way, because someone was getting in his way. News that Murong Yu had served Nie Li a beating and stolen his soul scales was widespread. Although Nie Li came in with a lot of momentum, it ultimately came back to bite him in the butt. Therefore, it was reasonable that he’d be the target of bullying.

That was the rule of the Skysoul Institute. It was Nie Li’s fault he didn’t have any background worth speaking of while possessing a talent that others envied.

Lu Piao projected his voice as he began advertising. “God Level growth rate demon spirits for sale! Fresh God Level demon spirits! Fifty spiritual stones for one, but I’ll give you four for the price of three!”

Nie Li was trying to sell as many demon spirits as possible before Hua Ling and Hu Yong’s underlings arrived.

Fifty spiritual stones for one was an extremely cheap price. On top of that, they were making it four for the price of three. This offer immediately attracted many people’s attention. At the same time, it raised their curiosity. Just how many God Level growth rate demon spirits did Nie Li have?

God Level demon spirits were rather attractive goods and the potential buyers quickly increased in numbers. Soon, two transactions were made and two God Level growth rate demon spirits were sold; however, a little bargaining happened and the prices were adjusted for a total of ninety-three spiritual stones.

At first, there were plenty of people just standing by, watching. But once they confirmed that Nie Li was indeed selling genuine God Level demon spirits, their excitement rose. A few people couldn’t pull out so many spiritual stones at the moment, so they left to scrape up the funds.

God Level demon spirits were rather rare in the market, only occasionally seen around. The sudden appearance of so many God Level growth rate demon spirits had an effect like a stone thrown into the calm surface of a lake.