Dragon Spiked Datura

The next morning Ning'Er sat on the bed when she woke up massaging the bruises left by the initial vine lash that had sneak attacked her the previous night. She still had no idea who her attacker was although his aura felt slightly familiar. After thinking through for awhile and not being able to figure it out, she decided to set it aside and focus on the current tasks at hand.

Her priority right now was to raise Du Ze, Ziyun and Linjian's cultivation rank to Gold Rank as soon as possible so that she would have a greater chance at success during her upcoming expedition to the Ning You City Ruins. She could do her part to find the best ways for their martial comprehension to rapidly increase but the cultivation resources available in Glory City were just too poor in quality for their cultivation of soul force to match the speed of the growth in their insights.

She suddenly remembered the accidental discovery she had made when treating her grandfather. What if she could absorb and purify the energy from potent herbs, and channel it into them? The purified energy would do wonders if they could absorb it into their dantians for cultivation! She immediately made her way to the marketplace to see whether any shops contained the types of herbs she was looking for.

The problem was that there wasn't a high demand for herbs with berserk energies because cultivators could not refine such violent energy unless they had a godly technique like the ancient Purifying Art of Sacred Lightning that Ning'Er possessed. The spirit herbs with gentler energies currently used by the richer families and the Alchemist Association were far too mild for the effects she was looking for.

Therefore, the main parties that purchased the herbs she was looking for was the Beast Guild to feed the demon beasts they wanted to rank up, and the more adventurous alchemists who wanted to experiment with ways to manipulate the violent energies into useable cultivation resources. At the same time, these type of herbs were often guarded by powerful demon beasts who wanted to use it to increase their rank. It was more often that an adventurer would battle a beast in order to secure the precious materials from its corpse, then find the herb on the side, than for these herbs to be the primary target from the beginning.

She decided to visit a shop that was set up right next to the Beast Guild. The products inside were obviously catered to feed demon beasts because they were not nicely displayed or even washed before customers could browse through them. As she looked through the more potent range of plants, her eyes brightened to find a bunch of branches from the Silver Horsetail Fern. These plants were rich in energy that could only be digested by the Silver-Maned Horse, the swiftest horses in St. Ancestral Mountain Range but Ning'Er was sure that she could make use of it too. The price was rather cheap because this herb was one of the few not protected by dangerous beasts.

She then made her way to a shop specialising in rare and unusual plant material, that catered more to rich Alchemists who had dreams of being able to find some miraculous recipe that could harness the wild and berserk energies within. This was where she was most likely to find what she needed but she knew that the prices were rather high due to the shortage in supply of these types of herbs.

The old man behind the counter looked extremely irritated at her presence as he had just been peering through a magnifying glass into a large, black seed that radiated a dark aura. He waved his hands at her as though he were shooing away a pesky fly. "Go away, little girl. There's nothing that you can afford in here. I'm busy today."

"Good Sir, I wouldn't take any risks with the seed of a Devil Vine that you have in front of you. If the conditions are right, it has the potential to erupt and plant itself into a host creature...or human. Then, it's just a matter of time before it sucks away your life force like a parasite and nourish itself with your flesh, tendons and even bone marrow. By the time that it has enough strength to dig underground and move around on its own, its host would have been long dead." Ning'Er gently warned him.

His eyes opened wide in astonishment. "Devil Vine! I've never heard of such a plant but the aura around it definitely seems dangerous!" He opened up a secure box made with metalwood and sealed it within. "I'll send it to the research department and let them know to handle with extreme care!"

He then turned to Ning'Er with a smile. "I don't know whether you were telling the truth but at least it doesn't seem like you have any bad intentions by warning me. Whatever it is, this shop still won't have anything that you can afford."

"Sir, I come representing the Patriarch of the Winged Dragon Family. I'm his daughter and I've been asked to inquire about some very specific goods that you may have." she politely continued.

His expression changed and he looked at her in deep thought. His sources had informed him that the Winged Dragon Family was bouncing back from the years of suppression by the Sacred Family. The Guild of Inscriptions had even taken the initiative to partner with the Winged Dragon Family on a few key ventures together, and there was no one in Glory City that didn't know by now that this guild was entering into a new era of influence because of the rare inscriptions it had discovered!

He bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, little girl. My concerns were misplaced. How can I help you?"

She replied, "Do you have any herbs that contain berserk energies that are impossible to be utilised by human cultivators? The more violent the energy, the better..."

He was surprised at her request. "I do...coincidentally, yesterday the top adventurer in Glory City brought in some interesting herbs to sell on consignment." The head of the largest adventurer's guild was a mysterious Black Gold ranked demon spiritualist who called himself Gold Mask, after the unique headgear he wore. He wasn't aligned with any family but had built up the most successful adventurer's business in the city, and was known as one of the top ten experts of Glory City. "Unfortunately, the price he's asking for is rather obscene and he refused to even sell it to me, only leaving it behind on consignment."

He unlocked a steel lined cupboard behind him with a key hanging around his neck and took out a long box made out of Black Rock, a precious material in itself, mined from a mountain to the south. As he lifted the lid, her breath caught in her throat as she smelt the pungent scent of a fruit that was reminiscent of decaying sewage. It was a dragon spiked datura, and there were even three of them! This was a rare fruit that could only grow in the highest and most inaccessible of regions but what even more terrifying was that it was the best resource for avian demon beasts to level up from Gold Rank to Black Gold Rank! This meant that it was often fought over and protected by only the most powerful flying beasts. It would not have been easy for the Gold Mask to secure these rare items.

Ning'Er's eyes watered as the smell continued to burn through her nostrils. As much as she hated the smell, her heart was beating furiously in excitement because these were the exact cultivation resources she would need! "How much is he asking?"

He shook his head as he wondered if anyone would be willing to ever pay that amount for this type of item. "Two million...per fruit."

Ning'Er remembered that for large batches of cultivation pills in the Hong Yue Auction, they had only been sold for tens of thousands of demon spirit coins. Was there really anyone who was willing to take the chance on spending this type of money on something that would not directly raise their cultivation? Maybe if the City Lord had a powerful pet he wanted to raise up to Black Gold rank...

Six million was something that she could still afford but it would pretty much clear out most of her remaining funds until she could raise another large sum from another venture. She clenched her fists and said, "Done! I'll buy all three!"

"Like I was saying, you wouldn't...wait, what? You want to buy this for six million demon spirit coins? Are you serious?" he lost his composure for a moment at her unexpected response.

"Yes, I'm very sure. There's something my father needs that requires this type of berserk plant energy. He has given me the authority to spend this much." she confirmed.

"Very well...if you're sure, let us complete the trans..."

"Wait a moment! Set them aside for me, I will purchase them!"

An arrogant young man strode confidently into the store. "My sources in the Adventurer's Guild had told me of the amazing find by the Gold Mask. I came over as quickly as I could."

"Greetings, Chu Nan Yang." The shopowner bowed to the man in familiarity. It was the alchemy genius of the Chu Family, who were renowned as producing some of the best alchemists across the years in the city. Chu Nan Yang was the shining star of this generation, surpassing most of his elders despite his young age. He was known to experiment with new plants and herbs to create new, powerful medicines and elixirs. And it was true, he was one of the few who had the funds and the skills to go down this path. "I'm deeply sorry but I've already sold it to this young lady who is representing the Winged Dragon Family Patriarch." He emphasised the last part in hopes that it would cause the young man to show some grace.

Chu Nan Yang snorted in disdain. "The Winged Dragon Family? A fragile, dying family, tottering on its last legs! And besides I didn't see that any money had changed hands. The transaction hasn't even happened yet! Haha!" The Chu Family was a noble family closely allied with the Sacred Family and through that association, the young man had taken on the position of the Sacred Family in looking down on those that they suppressed.

Up to this point, Ning'Er had stayed silent from when the man had entered the shop. She pulled out a stack of demon crystal cards and placed it in on the counter. "Sir, this should cover the price we agreed." She deftly kept the black box with the three pieces of fruit into her interspatial ring as Chu Nan Yang looked on, his mouth hanging open at her audacity.

"Hey, young lady! How dare you? Do you even know who I am?" he stammered out as anger flashed in his beady eyes.

She completely ignored the man as she bowed to the shopowner in respect. "Thank you, Sir." With that she turned and walked out of the shop without any word.

He stood dumbfounded for a moment before running out after her where his friends had been waiting. "Stop her! She took my fruits!" The bystanders in the street looked on in curiousity as the group of young men surrounded Ning'Er with evil glares.

"What's this about you stealing my brother's stuff?"

"Don't you know who you're messing with?"

"A small little girl like you should be careful not to be too rude."

"If not, someone may need to teach you a lesson."

She looked at each of them in the eyes calmly, "You can go in and ask the shopowner whether the items I bought were paid for fairly. Why don't we go to the police department and get this sorted out?"

Chu Nan Yang's eyes communicated to his friends that he didn't want this to happen. He took a big sigh as though he were doing her a big favour and said, "Why don't I pay you double of what you paid the shop? It's something that I would find really useful for my alchemy and I don't think your family would know how to use it best anyway."

She looked at him as though he were too slow to understand what she was trying to say before slowly enunciating, "No. I. Won't. Sell." She then walked towards the edge of the ring of men surrounding her. As she walked past one of them, he secretly raised his hand from her blind spot to slap her for her arrogance. She turned her head and shot him a calm look. He didn't know why but he suddenly took a step back, tripping over a rock and falling down on his backside. It had felt like a predator were eyeing its prey before a meal but he picked himself up embarrassed as his friends laughed around him.

"It's OK, let her go! All the families of her group of friends will soon suffer and fade away like the dirt that they are, anyway!" They continued chuckling in glee as they walked in the opposite direction.

Ning'Er hid her shock as she heard these words. What had happened to the families of her friends? Were they really in trouble? She had been too busy focusing on increasing strength to get involved in too much in the operations and gossip of the families of Glory City, except to spend some time building up the Winged Dragon Family's foundation. As she began to ask around the marketplace, she slowly realised that almost every single family of her group of friends had been directly and indirectly suppressed by the Sacred Family and their allies, of course not including the Snow Wind and Divine Families. Some of those without foundation were actually on the verge of dissolving, which would require them to be absorbed into another family, organisation or guild!

That afternoon, as her friends continued to train in their battle formations, she sat in Ziyun's room and began writing letter after letter, digging into her memories of her past life to try to piece together information which would help to counter the current crisis. She was touched that they had not even uttered a word of complaint to her all this while as their families suffered, maybe afraid to create trouble for her and or to take advantage of her continuing generosity.

Then, acting on the authority of the Patriarch of the Winged Dragon Family, she called for a meeting with each of the Patriarchs in her friends' families. She knew that not all may respond but she also wanted to see their sincerity if she was going to help their families.