Breakthrough

<<<Training Ground, Shin Akagawa>>>

Out of the pill that the Akagawa Clan introduced to Glory City, the Soul Gathering Pill was the lowest Soul Enhancing Pill that they sold, only being used by Bronze rank or people who didn't even get into the Bronze rank, technically speaking this pill was able to increase the cultivation speed up to 20/30% while a normal pill from Glory City would only boost up to 10%.

Taking one out from his spatial ring he observed the difference between these and the one he gave to Nie Li and his group, after all the one he gave Nie Li where the one he made himself as he trained his Alchemist abilities while these were the one made by the experts alchemist from his clan.

Placing it inside his mouth he felt the pill melt as the effects were immediate, his soul energy started to move more wildly and frantically as his soul realm was stimulated like never before.

Taking a deep breath the air coming out of his mouth became misty as something akin to fog while the veins in his hands became more apparent, at this moment instead of having his soul energy run amok he was still holding on it, this was a something that only the people who trained in the Blood River Cultivation Technique could do.

When a normal Demon Spiritualist cultivated they would not be able to control much of the flow of the soul energy in their body only being able to change its direction but it was different for the people training in the secrets cultivation techniques of the Akagawa clan.

Because of the unique soul realm Shin, just like the his other predecessors, were able to control the flow of their soul energy, this normally helped during a breakthrough or during a block in the cultivation as they would be able to hold onto their soul force before crashing the bottleneck with all their might successfully breaking through the next rank, because of than any person that had that soul form would never be stopped by a bottleneck.

After holding for a few more seconds, Shin finally released his soul force as it started to circle almost like a river.

'198…199…200!'

Feeling his soul point reach the second star Shin whole body shined as a crimson aura appeared around him but even then he didn't stop as he continued to ride the feeling of breaking through while also absorbing more and more soul energy.

"*Fuu* Just one pill was enough to bring me halfway to the second star…I should wait a little before taking another one or my cultivation will be too unstable."

The change from one star to two stars wasn't as big as he expected and while he could clearly feel it, his overall strength didn't increase by much.

"Now I should also train my body to balance things out."

The body cultivation technique he gave Ning'er, the Prime Titan Body Technique, while extremely powerful for fighters it required also a lot of training on the body, it was also because of that that almost no Demon Spiritualist would train also their body with such technique as they didn't feel the need to also spend time on this while they could cultivate or train in martial arts.

Repeating a series of exercises that was written in the technique he couldn't help but exhale as sweat covered his body sticking his clothes close to his skin but he paid it no mind as he continued.

Gritting his teeth he could feel the muscle on his body burn while his vision was getting hazy and shaky, right now he was upside down lifting his body with one hand as the other moved toward his hips but as he was reaching his hip he faltered as he fell on the ground gasping for air with his eyes half closed.

'This technique is too much! And this is supposed to be the easiest exercise…'

Even while lamenting in his mind he still was glad of having come across this after all the bigger the strain the bigger the gains he would receive by training with this.

After a little rest he proceeded with his exercise as he spent the whole night training with the moon as his only companion.

<<<Central Market, Shin Akagawa>>>

Walking around the main market area of Glory city he looked at the various things being sold there with little to no interest.

Like the other two days in the morning he went to class where he met Xiao Ning'er as they had breakfast together before separating as that day it was Shen Xiu lesson, after class he decided to take a look at the central market area to see if he could find anything that would caught his eyes but so far he didn't have much luck.

'It's a shame Ning'er couldn't come… Maybe I'll just go to her instead.'

He asked the girl if he wanted to come with him but she refused as she said that she had to make a quick trip back home for some things that she didn't tell him, fortunately enough one of her clan compound was close enough that she could easily stay in there and come from and to school everyday without losing too much time but she still preferred to stay in the school dorms most of the time.

"Shin!"

Hearing a voice from behind he turned around as he saw Ye Ziyun walk quickly toward him with a smile, she stopped close enough that if they lifted their hands they would hug but she paid it no mind as she looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"Ye Ziyun… Fancy meeting you here."

Shin looked closely at the girl in front of him, long purple hairs that flowed behind her till her back and bright violet eyes that seemed to have found something precious at that moment.

Since the first day in school the two haven't talked and even there Shin doesn't remember talking to her but the girl in front of him looked at him as if he was an old friend of hers.

"Just call me Ziyun, no need to be so formal."

Hearing him greeting her so coldly she pouted a little, since banquet she wasn't able to find an opportunity to meet him again because of that she was a little sad thinking that she lost another possible friend because of her position just like it happened in the past, but after seeing him in the school she had been far more than happy as she wanted to make friend with the boy but for some reason he would always find an excuse to stay away from her or straight up ignore her.

"This… Fine, so? Why are you here in the market?" As Shin was about to deny her he stopped as he received the full blast of her glare so he made the thoughtful decision of retreating.

With a beaming smile Ye Ziyun put her hand behind her back as she turned a little to look at the market.

"I'm only taking a stroll, are you free? Would you accompany me?"

Seeing no real reason to refuse, as he was as bored as he could be, he accepted with a nod before starting to walk with her as the girl in question widened her smile before starting her barrage of questions.

The two slowly walked around the market as they looked over the various merchandise put on display, much to Shin amusement Ye Ziyun would always stop at any stall as she would curiously look over the things and ask him any type of question about the things on sale like a child that went out for the first time in their life.

'Maybe it actually is the first time she went out…'

Shin could understand her excitement after all both of them were the son/daughter of the city lords of their own cities so he knew what sort of security and limit were put on her.

"Shin! Shin! Look, what's that?"

For some time now she has been dragging him around holding his arm as she went from stall to stall but Shin didn't really mind it, after looking at the stall his brows were raised in curiosity as he explained to her.

"That's a stall that sells demon spirits, it's quite rare to see one in here."

Most demon spirits went directly toward the Xuan Spirit Merchant Hall, normally the ones that were sold like this were the bronze or silver rank that Glory City deemed as trash as they didn't have the concept of Demon Spirit Talent, Bloodline and the knowledge on how to increase the demon spirit strength.

'It's really a waste for them to use the demon spirit as a one-time spirit as soon as the cultivation of the Demon Spiritualist overtake the one of the Demon Spirit, who knows how many good talents demon spirit were being thrown away each year…'

Hearing his answer Ye Ziyun curiosity diminished a little, she obviously knew what demon spirit were and while she never saw them in this form she wasn't as interest in them as she wasn't even a silver rank and the perk of being the daughter of the City Lord was that she would get a powerful one without much problem.

Shin instead kept on looking over the various demon spirits to see if there was a useful one, and much to his surprise he did find a useful one.

'Scarlet Flickering Fox, Blood Attribute, 5 Star Bronze rank, God Level Talent with a normal Bloodline.'

Thanks to the Seizing Moon Cultivation Technique once he started forming the various moon in his soul realm he will be able to keep as many demon spirit as the number of moon in his soul realm, because of that to make it worth he should also think about demon spirit that while may not giving him much fighting power they would also be helpful in other situations.

The Scarlet Flickering Fox, just like its name, was an extremely fast demon beast that was an expert in stealth and tracking people and beast by scent, the 'Flickering' part of its name was because of its small and quick movements that made him hard to see, so it was a surprise that someone was actually able to kill one.

"Excuse me, how much does this cost?"

Just as Ye Ziyun was about to move onto the next one she turned, hearing Shin ask about the price of one of the demon spirits to the old man selling them, one look at the demon spirit she could tell it was just a Bronze rank demon spirit.

"Shin… Do you need money? I can buy you a better one if you want?"

Seeing him try to buy that weak demon spirit she couldn't help but wonder if the Akagawa clan had problem of money, she even offered to buy a better one for her new-friend but all that she received was Shin hand on her head hitting her lightly not causing her any pain only a giddy feeling at the intimate action.

"What are you saying, don't underestimate the Akagawa clan, not even your family may have as much money as us right now… I'm just buying it for something else."

Turning once again to the old man Shin saw him look at the demon spirit for a moment before giving his price.

"... Five thousand Demon Spirit Coins!"

Fortunately to Shin this amount was nothing, taking out five thousand Demon spirit Coins he gave them directly to him.

"Thanks for the patronage!"

Taking the money quickly, the old man gave his best smile as he handed the demon spirit before the young man before he could change idea. Ignoring him Shin took out a special jade used to store demon spirit before placing it inside, turning to Ye Ziyun he looked at her with a small smile.

"Let's go?"

Ye Ziyun was momentarily stunned at him but not long after she sighed as she instinctively grabbed his arm hugging it before starting to walk again.

"So? You really are not going to explain why you took that demon spirit?"

Not answering immediately he thought for a moment whenever he wanted to tell her but after a couple of seconds of silence he felt her stop, looking back at the girl he saw her look toward a stall not showing her face, he could feel her hand tightened on his arm as she clearly was nervous if she was going to far with her question.

'What's the point of asking if you're going to regret it so much…'

Thinking that he laughed lightly as he gave her head another harmless chop.

"Silly girl, I'm not angry just because of you asking… But here is not the place to tell you maybe another time."

He didn't have a problem with giving her the information about demon spirit that the normal citizens of Glory City didn't have but he didn't want to cause any problem by being overheard.

'And it's strange her father hasn't told her this already…Maybe they will explain it to her when she reaches Silver rank.'

Seeing as he didn't get angry or tired of her attitude she smiled as she regained her vigor before dragging him even more around the stall. Today was a rare day where she could actually go around the market with a friend so she wanted to experience it to the fullest.

As the sun started to set the two returned to the institute or well Shin returned as she apparently stayed at her own home instead of staying in a dorm, after accompanying her close to her own home Shin returned alone to the institute much to the sadness of the girl who wanted to stay out some more.

Looking at the orange sky he slowly walked toward his own small house but stopped as he heard another pair of steps behind him, turning around he traced his thumb on his spatial ring ready to take out a weapon but stopped as he saw the person in front of him.

"Ning'er?"

There standing like a rabbit caught by a wolf, stood Ning'er, her beautiful orange hair reflecting the orange sunlight as she looked at Shin with a small smile that made his heart skip a beat.

Smiling more widely at his mention of her name she skipped over to him.

"Hey Shin… How was your day?"

Smiling back at her he started to walk back toward his house as she followed him happily.

"It was good, I bought a couple of things in the market… How did it go with your family?"

Somehow he could see her mood drop a little as he told her about his day in the market before her mood further dropped at the mention of her family.

"Ning'er.. Are you ok?"

Stopping, he asked that as the girl in question froze on the spot, she looked away as a small blush appeared on her face before she calmed down.

"I'm ok, my family just gave me a little trouble but nothing major…"

Seeing as she didn't want to explain further Shin could only drop the matter for the moment, walking all the way to his house Shin entered as he saw Ning'er follow him inside, before making her sit down on his bed as he took a seat in front of it.

"Did you think about what to do with the cultivation techniques I gave you?"

Hearing his question Ning'er blush disappeared as she gave him a serious expression.

"Shin, those cultivation techniques are too powerful for me just accept them without giving anything back…"

Shin only waved his hand at her as he snorted playfully.

"I already gave them to you so just accept them, I don't want to hear no 'I'll pay you back' or anything similar."

Saying that he went to take a pair of cups for tea along with a teapot that had a small inscription on it, the inscription would light up warming any liquid inside of it, something that Shin was thankful for.

"Shin… Do you like Ye Ziyun?"

He almost dropped the cups hearing that question that came out of nowhere, carefully placing the cups on the small tea table in the room he looked at Ning'er with a questioning gaze.

Ning'er instead refused to met his gaze as she looked down at her hand while fidgeting, while returning to the institute she happened to see Shin and Ye Ziyun walking side by side with Ye Ziyun hugging Shin arm all around the market, she wanted to call out to them and join them but her own circumstance with Ziyun stopped her as she only looked at the from afar.

Thinking back to today Shin understood that she may have seen the two of them walking in the market today he also understood why she was asking that after all he wasn't that dense to not see what relationship they were building intentionally or unintentionally.

Sighing he thought back to her question. Did he like Ye Ziyun? If he had to answer that question then it would be a yes, he liked her as a friend but nothing more at the moment but even then he could see maybe one day their relationship would grow closer so unless she fell in love with someone else or Shin entered a relationship with someone else then they may end up together.

"At the moment I don't see her as more than a friend, but I can't say that it will remain like that in the future."

Sure he could have simply said that he didn't feel anything to her and while that answer would have also made her more happy he didn't want to hide the truth like that, especially since they weren't in a relationship in the first place so he didn't do anything wrong by saying that.

Xiao Ning'er at that moment was having her own thoughts on the matter, after hearing Shin answer she started thinking deeply as he let her thoughts in peace.

She couldn't deny the feeling she felt for him especially after seeing the scene of Shin and Ye Ziyun so close with each other, strangely enough she didn't feel bad about seeing him with another woman but instead she felt bad because she felt like she was going to be left behind.

'Maybe it's because she was Ye Ziyun…'

From Shin words she understood he wasn't against the idea of having more than one wife but so was she, in Glory city it was normal for the patriarch of a family to have more than one wife even the city lord had two wives just like his father and other patriarchs, obviously none of them were like Shen Fei as they only loved two or three women that they had a close relationship with not like the young master of the Sacred family who took every woman that entered his eyes as his even against their will.

Shuddering at the thought of Shen Fei she calmed down the rage that was slowly building up in her before her thought returned to the situation at hand.

"I understand… I will accept the cultivation technique as long as it's not a problem for you."

She won't give up her feelings for Shin but to not give up and continue to rely on him she needed more strength and while it was still relying on him she really needed those cultivation techniques as they would help her fight for her own freedom and make her worthy of standing alongside him.

'Just these two cultivation techniques are so strong, who knows what else he is training with, his future achievement will be a lot bigger than Lord Ye Mo.'

Thinking back at Lord Ye Mo she remembered how friendly the old man had been with Shin and that only served to increase her alarm bells in her head, if he had already been accepted by the Ye Ziyun family then it was only a matter of time before the two fell for each other.

Watching the girl in front of him go from one emotion to another had been amusing but unless he planned to keep her for the night he had quickly finished with her treatment before night arrived.

Clapping his hand to get her attention, he smiled as she turned to him while tilting her head.

"I don't mind if you want to stay here but if you want to return before night how about we start with your treatment?"

Ning'er nodded her head blushfully as she started undressing, not going unnoticed by Shin as she undressed a little more than normal this time.

Like this the night arrived as Ning'er decided, much to Shin's surprise, to remain under the pretext of having him explain in detail about the techniques he gave her.

It was in the middle of the night as they took a break having finished everything as they were talking about random things that Ning'er took a deep breath before speaking.

"I once was a close friend with Ye Ziyun…"

Hearing that Shin stopped looking outside from the window before turning to her showing he was giving his full attention about what she was about to say.

"We have been friends since we were small, our mothers were quite close and since we both had the same age and were both girls our parents arranged us to be friends, something that resulted in not being needed as we were able to get close to each other almost instantly."

As if remembering some good memories a small self-pitying smile adorned her face, right now they were seated side by side so Shin took the opportunity to extend his hand, placing it over her as she took it instantly, tightly gripping it with her other hand.

"Everything was going well until the day my arranged marriage was announced, I was far from happy about it but I didn't have anyone to blame so I took my anger out on the only person I could at that time, it just so happened that the person in question was Ziyun…"

Closing her eyes she leaned her body onto Shin's shoulder bathing in his warmth, surprising him a little.

"I said stupid things that were untrue… I blamed her for something that she had not say or part in… That day I left the city lord mansion crying as that was also the last day I ever talked to her."

Small tears ran down Ning'er face as she remembered the friendship she lost, Shin grabbed her cheek with his free hand wiping the tears as she leaned on the hand.

"Ning'er it wasn't your fault, it's normal to be angry in that situation, sure you were wrong in taking out your anger on her but everyone makes mistakes. And like my mother always told me, 'As long as blood isn't spilled any relationship can be mended.' It may take some time to return like before but if you want to be friends with her again I'm sure she won't turn you away."

Shin was sure of the last thing he said, after all he personally saw how lonely she was living in the city lord mansion.

Hearing his words more tears spilled from her before she threw herself to him, her hands closing on his back hugging him closely as her head rested in the crook of his neck.

Shin accepted her hug as he tried his best to comfort the crying girl in his embrace and while he seemed calm on the outside he was internally sweating cold thankful that he was able to say something good to her as he is never good at dealing with other people's feelings.

After letting her pour out her pent up feeling for a little he waited for her to calm down before continuing.

"Do you want to reconcile with Ziyun?" Seeing her nod her head while still hugging him close and not letting go he smiled as he adjusted his position a little.

"I can help you if you want, it may not be easy but I'll be there with you to help you."

Feeling Ning'er tightening her hold on him he gave up on thinking on how to get out of that situation as he simply repositioned himself to be able to lean his back onto the wall, it was especially difficult as Ning'er wouldn't let go of him for even a second.

'I still don't understand if you are a really spoiled or reserved girl…' thinking that he looked downward toward the strange girl he ended up befriending and growing close with as he entered the Institute, after bawling her eyes out one could see them a little red but even then her beauty was unchanged as she held strongly onto Shin breathing calmly with her eyes closed.

"Did you really fall asleep… "

Not believing what he saw he was about to pinch her cheek to wake her up but he couldn't master the force to do it so after fighting with himself for a couple of minutes he simply decided to give up and remain like that looking forward to her reaction in the morning.

"At least this wall is pretty comfortable…"

Closing his eyes he tried to get some sleep, while he didn't need much sleep he still was a simple Bronze rank so he still preferred to sleep every time he could so that in the case he needed to stay awake for some day one after the other he had the energy to do so.