Offer of a Lifetime

Pulling his recently soul refined metal even Xie Xie broke out of his shell shocked mind to take a look at it. The metal was a bright crimson that glowed powerfully, an intense aura that made even Wu Zhangkong shiver as his instincts screamed at him.

Xie Xie himself was on the brink of falling to his knees as his inner world shook from the stress of looking at the crimson metal. It was like his mind would be destroyed, no annihilated just by looking at it for too long!

The only reason he was even able to look at it without falling unconscious was because of his martial soul, the Jade Dragon King, enhancing his mind and body to the extremes. Neither was as high as Wulin and Gu Yuena in their respective fields but he was still extremely powerful.

'Stellar Jade!? And such purity! It's the highest purity soul refined metal I've ever seen!' Wu Zhangkong thought in complete shock. He hadn't been lucky enough to see metal made by Zhen Hua himself but he couldn't imagine this wasn't far off.

If Wulin had more experience in soul refining his skills would warrant him to be promoted to rank 8 on the spot. However, he was lacking in experience at the moment and Mu Chen decided to give him a buffer period just to be safe so he would wait just about a year before promoting him.

"Teacher, I have an offer." Tang Wulin said simply, no emotion on his face but it was obvious to his perceptive teacher that the request was quite important to him. With it forcing this much emotion out of him, it had to be related to Gu Yuena.

"What is it?" Wu Zhangkong asked seriously. If it was a request requiring such serious measures he would take it equally seriously. He was confident he wouldn't have to worry about it though since his student's worries were most likely the same as his own.

"I'd like for you to use your sources to protect us. In return, I'll forge you a three word battle armor." Wulin offered seriously, his offer precious beyond belief. Three word battle armor was not a joke, no it was practically offering to make Wu Zhangkong a second life!

When compared to two word battle armor there was a large difference in not only power but also in rarity. To create a three word battle armor a saint ranked smith was required of which there were only twenty.

Even if a cultivator could gain the help of one of these elusive saint rank smiths the process itself wasn't easy and there would be a high chance of the armor being destroyed making it extremely expensive.

For that reason, only the extremely wealthy title douluos had access to three word battle armor despite it being usable even at rank seventy. To have such an offer without even needing to pay for it all was almost impossibly kind.

Yet that showed just how serious Wulin was about it. Three word battle armor could be sold for hundreds of millions at least and billions on average yet it was clear that in his mind it paled in comparison to the price of Gu Yuena's safety.

"I don't nee-" Wu Zhangkong began, intending to decline his student. The value of what he was given was near mythical in rarity, he could not accept it in good conscience considering he was going to do so anyway.

"Don't decline him. Think of it as a reward for becoming a Spirit Sage." Gu Yuena said happily, a soft smile on her beautiful face. It was obvious that it wasn't just him that had grown to care for them, the reverse was also true.

"Then I'll gratefully accept." Wu Zhangkong replied, a sincere smile on his face for the first time in years. For the first time since… since she died. He once lived purely for revenge, his flame of life replaced by an inferno desiring vengeance yet…

Now he felt like he wouldn't mind living afterward, to see the future of his students, to see the heights they reach, to attend their wedding, to teach their children, to watch them take over this world. All of that sounded… wonderfully attractive.

"I'll take a month to prepare so tell me what you want and give me the designs." Wulin said, seriously breaking Wu Zhangkong from his daydreams of such a wonderful future. It was extremely soon however the cold teacher would expect nothing left from his student.

Nodding his head seriously, Wu Zhangkong mentally planned his actions once more. With Wulin's talent being higher than he anticipated he would have to double his efforts. Perhaps he would even have to speak to the higher ups of the Tang Sect.

It was less than ideal since it was obvious that despite their overwhelming talent his two students would like to keep their daily lives unimpeded by others while they spend time with one another. Regrettably, such a thing was impossible.

With their talents there was no way for the two to be unknown for very long, even now they had people snooping around for them. It was an inevitable future that they couldn't avoid, that's why his job wasn't only to protect them but also to bring them to a level to sufficiently protect themselves.

The latter was happening quickly with their ability to fight beyond their cultivation and strong work ethic and drive to grow stronger so the former would take his focus for the moment. He trained hard however he had been slacking recently. He would need to increase his efforts.

He couldn't be surpassed by his students already, he would need to keep his position as their teacher for just a bit longer. That was his duty as a teacher and his selfishness as a guardian. He was lucky they wouldn't hesitate to feed his selfishness.

He truly had the best students imaginable. He had been a teacher for years yet never had he treasured a student as much as he did now. They may even rival his one true love in how much he cared for them.

"Uhh, what's a battle armor." Xie Xie intervened dumbly, his hand raised awkwardly.