Chapter 313: Conflict
In one of the Heaven stage cultivation rooms, Nie Tian condensed spiritual energy balls with the special technique he had learned from the mysterious land, and used them to speed up his cultivation.
Unlike the Void Illusion Mountain Range, the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth in this cultivation room was incomparably rich and pure. Not a shred of impurities could be found within it.
Nie Tian’s efficiency at condensing spiritual energy balls had improved significantly since he had entered the Heaven stage.
Therefore, it wasn’t very long before the consumption of the spiritual Qi went beyond the room’s capacity.
A special spell formation that served the purpose of adjusting the spiritual Qi in the cultivation rooms was triggered.
Just like the Lesser Heaven stage cultivation rooms on the first floor, there were also two Heaven stage cultivation rooms on the second floor.
When the spiritual Qi in Nie Tian’s room grew so faint that it couldn’t support his cultivation, the special spell formation would channel spiritual Qi from the other cultivation room into Nie Tian’s to balance the density of spiritual Qi in both rooms.
In the other cultivation room, a late Heaven stage cultivator, who was on the verge of making a breakthrough, instantly sensed the anomaly.
After sensing for a while longer, he was convinced that the spiritual Qi in his room was indeed on the decline, so he couldn’t help but walk out of his room and go downstairs.
He strode up to Shi Qing and asked with an angry face, “What the hell are you doing? Why is the spiritual Qi in my cultivation room becoming fainter and fainter? I’m at a crucial phase. The drop in the spiritual Qi will make a huge impact on my imminent breakthrough!”
“Sorry, I’ll ask my men about what’s going on,” Shi Qing replied with a pleasant attitude.
He knew that the late Heaven stage young man in front of him was also a guest elder of the Blood Skull. Although his personal strength wasn’t very impressive, he was a relative of another powerful guest elder of the Blood Skull.
Shi Qing summoned the person who was in charge of filling the grand spell formation with spirit stones and monitoring its operation from the basement.
The man scooted up to Shi Qing, smiled embarrassedly, and said, “My lord, it’s the same situation as when Hua Tian was here last time.”
Shi Qing’s eyes flickered as he asked, “He caused this again?”
The man nodded. “The consumption of the spiritual Qi in Hua Tian’s room is so fast that our spell formation automatically channeled the spiritual Qi from the other room into his.”
Shi Nan, the late Heaven stage young man, frowned and said with an discontented expression, “Hua Tian? I know he is your youngest guest elder, and everyone in the city has been talking about him lately. But I’m also the Blood Skull’s guest elder. Plus, I became a guest elder of the Blood Skull long before he did.
“Don’t tell me that, just because he’s close to your young lord, he can steal spiritual Qi from my cultivation room! He’s being too domineering, isn’t he?!
“Also, don’t you always advocate the Blood Skull’s fairness?”
The late Heaven stage Shi Nan had an uncle named Shi Hui, who was a late Greater Heaven stage expert, and one of the most powerful guest elders of the Blood Skull.
Like Li Langfeng, Shi Hui was also famous for his toughness and difficulty to deal with. Just like how the Dark Moon treated Li Langfeng, the Blood Skull also treated Shi Hui with great care and respect.
Although Shi Nan was at the late Heaven stage, he wasn’t any stronger than other cultivators with the same cultivation base as him.
The only reason the Blood Skull had made him a guest elder was solely because they had to give face to Shi Hui.
Shi Nan had alway been bossy in front of the other guest elders of the Blood Skull. He even got into conflicts with formal Blood Skull members from time to time.
However, most Blood Skull members tried not to offend him because Shi Hui was his uncle.
“How about this,” Shi Qing said with a smile. “I’ll give you a discount on the charges for that cultivation room. Normally, we charge fifty spirit stones for two hours in that cultivation room. Now, I’ll settle for half of that. What do you say?”
“What?!” Not only was Shi Nan not pleased, but he was further angered by Shi Qing’s offer. “Do you think I care about those spirit stones? I want to make my breakthrough as soon as possible. What I need is a cultivation room filled with rich spiritual Qi! I don’t need spirit stones; I need to break through the Heaven stage!”
Shi Qing frowned slightly.
According to his understanding of Shi Nan’s situation, he would still need to cultivate for a long time before he could break through with his current cultivation base.
Furthermore, Shi Nan actually wasn’t as rich as he let on. He had followed his uncle, Shi Hui, to the Void Illusion Mountain Range a few times, but he hadn’t gained much during those trips. Most of the spirit stones he had were given to him by Shi Hui.
In Shi Qing’s eyes, even though Shi Nan’s cultivation base was currently higher than Nie Tian’s, his potential was far inferior to Nie Tian’s.
Even though Nie Tian was only at the early Heaven stage, he had slaughtered quite a few late Heaven stage Dark Moon experts in the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
In the hilly area and wasteland, he had killed an even larger number of Hunters, many of whom were also at the late Heaven stage, the same as Shi Nan.
As for Shi Nan, he was only slightly stronger than his peers with the same cultivation base as him.
If it weren’t for his uncle, Shi Nan would never have been made a guest elder of the Blood Skull.
After a moment of hesitation, Shi Qing said, “There’s something wrong with the Heaven stage cultivation rooms. However, one of the Greater Heaven stage cultivation rooms is still available. We normally charge 300 spirit stones for a Greater Heaven stage cultivation room for two hours. I’m willing to let you use it at a rate of 150 spirit stones for two hours. That’s half the normal price. What do you say?”
The rate for a Lesser Heaven stage cultivation room was 10 spirit stones for two hours. The rate for a Heaven stage cultivation room was 50 spirit stones for two hours. The rate for a Greater Heaven stage cultivation room was 300 spirit stones for two hours.
These were the prices the Blood Skull had set according to the levels of purity and density of the spiritual Qi in the cultivation rooms, and were actually quite fair.
Shi Qing knew that Nie Tian was part of the reason he had survived Li Langfeng in the Void Illusion Mountain Range. Furthermore, he had seen Nie Tian’s limitless potential, and didn’t want to interrupt his cultivation. Therefore, he was willing to use his authority to lower the rate in order to calm Shi Nan, even if it meant that he would have to make up for the difference himself.
“The purity and density of the spiritual Qi in a Greater Heaven stage cultivation room is several times higher than that of a Heaven stage room. I won’t be able to consume that much. It will be a waste of my spirit stones!” Shi Nan’s face flushed as he continued, “I’m at the Heaven stage, so the cultivation room I rented suits me the best!”
As seasoned and foxy as Shi Qing was, he immediately understood that Shi Nan must not have enough spirit stones to pay for the price he had just offered for a Greater Heaven stage cultivation room.
After realizing that Shi Nan was actually strapped for spirit stones, yet he still talked big and sought trouble, Shi Qing’s expression grew somewhat displeased, “So what do you want?”
Shi Nan let out a cold harrumph. “You go and tell that Hua Tian punk to stop his cultivation! He’s delayed my breakthrough. For that, he’ll come out here and apologize to me, and he won’t be allowed to use that cultivation room until I break through into the Greater Heaven stage.
Shi Qing frowned. “What?!”
At that moment, a few others who had been waiting to register and rent the cultivation rooms witnessed the conversation between Shi Qing and Shi Nan.
One of them hastily left the establishment.
Before long, the man appeared in a secluded courtyard in the Blood Skull’s headquarters, which was designated for their guest elders.
Among the decorative rocks and pagodas, Shi Hui and a few other guest elders were discussing matters, and Nie Tian was the center of their discussion.
The news of Nie Tian coming to rent a cultivation room had already spread out in the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
“The Blood Skull’s first early Heaven stage guest elder,” A man said with a sarcastic laugh. “The Blood Skull must be going backwards. I can’t believe they actually took in an early Heaven stage young man as guest elder. We, as a whole, are brought down by such disgraceful demeanor.”
“I heard that guy killed a lot of enemies with cultivation bases higher than his own. I’m afraid it won’t be long before this capable kid rides roughshod over us.”
“Who knows if that’s true. Perhaps the Blood Skull was only making a boast of his battle prowess. Cai Yuan might have granted him the guest elder’s identity only because he’s close to Pei Qiqi. Everybody knows Cai Yuan’s affection for Pei Qiqi. I’d say he’s capable of doing anything to please that woman.”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility. They only bragged about the kid’s strength to not give people a cause for gossip. I may believe that, as an early Heaven stage cultivator, he killed middle Heaven stage cultivators. However, I’ll never believe that he killed more than one late Heaven stage cultivator!”
“The Blood Skull even launched a cleansing operation against the Hunters just to rescue him.”
“We’re also the Blood Skull’s guest elders, but we never received such special treatment. This kid must be good at cultivating relationships. Considering his relationship with Pei Qiqi, I’m afraid it won’t be long before the day comes when he bosses us around.”
The group of guest elders discussed and made fun of Nie Tian.
At that moment, the man arrived from the establishment of cultivation rooms. As soon as he rushed in, he bowed respectfully to a square-faced, bearded man and said, “Lord Shi, Shi Nan is having a conflict with Hua Tian over the use of cultivation rooms.”
Shi Hui’s expression immediately sank. “The same Hua Tian who just returned with the Blood Skull?”
“Yeah, that’s him!”
“What’s happened?”
“Hua Tian consumed the spiritual Qi in his cultivation room so fast that the spell formation at the bottom of the cultivation rooms was triggered, which channeled the spiritual Qi from Shi Nan’s room into Hua Tian’s.”
Shi Hui sprang to his feet. “This little punk is too impudent!”
The group of guest elders followed Shi Hui out of the courtyard and toward the Blood Skull’s cultivation rooms.
Moments later, they arrived. Shi Qing was still trying to calm Shi Nan, telling him that when Nie Tian’s time ran out and he walked out of his room, he would have him apologize to Shi Nan.
“I heard something unpleasant has happened here.” Shi Hui strode into the establishment.
“Brother Shi.” Upon seeing Shi Hui, Shi Qing’s expression flickered slightly. Shi Qing walked up to him and said, smiling, “How come you are bothered by small things like this?”
With these words, he shot a fierce look at the informer before continuing, “You can rest assured. I’ll handle the matter properly. There’s no need to jeopardize the harmonious atmosphere over such trivial things, right? After all, you’re all guest elders of the Blood Skull.”
Shi Hui let out a cold harrumph. “Someone is riding roughshod over my nephew. How do you expect me not to be angry?! Little Nan is every bit as much a guest elder of the Blood Skull as Hua Tian is. What right does Hua Tian have to steal his spiritual Qi? Didn’t Little Nan pay enough spirit stones for that cultivation room?”
“Misunderstanding. It’s merely a misunderstanding.” Shi Qing did his utmost to reconcile.
He was well-aware that not only was Shi Hui very renowned among all of the Blood Skull’s guest elders, but he was also good at forming cliques.
Some of the guest elders even took orders from Shi Hui. If he couldn’t handle this incident properly, the unity of all the Blood Skull’s guest elders might be jeopardized.
“Tell Hua Tian to come out,” Shi Hui said impatiently.
After a moment of hesitation, Shi Qing nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll tell him to give you an explanation.”