Chapter 345: Churning Politics
"What, Divine Martial Spirit?" Ranze grabbed hold of the brick, gazing at it in suspicion, "Are you drunk? Wait, can Martial Spirits even get drunk? There are only Trash, Human, Earth, and Heaven among Martial Spirits."
"No, there is also the category of Divine Martial Spirits." The brick retorted, slapping him on the cheek before hovering in the air, "Divine Martial Spirits are those with mysterious powers."
"Mysterious powers…" Ranze almost drooled upon hearing the word 'mysterious' before gathering his bearings, asking, "What does that mean?"
"Trash Martial Spirits consists of all tools, Human Martial Spirits consists of various beasts, so on and so forth." The brick said, continuing, "But, Divine Spirits are special in that there are only four in total."
"Among them is me, the Heaven Encompassing Brick." The brick said, "And, my special ability is to absorb any Trash Martial Spirit and turn into them."
"What's the use of that? Trash Martial Spirit still has no value, even if it can change into other varieties." Ranze said, disappointed.
"Heh, that's because you're trash. It's not my fault." The brick snorted, "And, my power is beyond what you can imagine. First of all, as a Divine Martial Spirit, I can never be suppressed by even Heaven Martial Spirits. Second, with every increase in the Stage, you can gain an additional Trash Martial Spirit."
"In the Origin Refinement Stage, you can use one brick. In the Martial Origin Stage, there would be two bricks. If you change one brick into a Sword Martial Spirit and the other into a Shield Martial Spirit, your Origin Essence will obtain the properties of both the sharpness of a sword and the defensiveness of a shield."
"I see," Ranze nodded in understanding, "In the Martial Origin Stage, I can use one to defend myself and the other to attack my opponents."
"That's not all, you can vary its forms as you wish." The brick said, "As long as I devour that Trash Martial Spirit, I can change forms into that."
"I see, that's amazing." Ranze laughed, "With this, I won't be a trash for long. I'll eventually turn into a powerhouse!"
Now that he was fired up, Ranze began preparing for the journey. What he hadn't expected was the presence of a tiny worm on the sleeves of his clothes, listening to his conversation all along.
It was a miniature Spydragon that Compass Carburettor had sent to tail him, eventually causing it to latch onto his clothes and see and hear everything he experienced.
Currently, Compass Carburettor was seated at a table beside Old Zen, calmly eating food, from time to time sending them inside his Dimensional Space. As there was plenty of food and wine in the place, none noticed anything amiss.
This allowed him to casually steal them and provide them to Grisha and Gana. And once Grisha had her fill, she healed Stencil, ensuring her body had enough nutrition to survive.
Grisha was fully taking care of Stencil, causing him to feel grateful for her. He was really glad that he had brought the women with him. Otherwise, if he was alone, it would have been hard to search for resources while caring for Stencil.
It was also risky in that case.
"Old Zen, it's my pleasure to meet you here." One of the Elders from the Giant Whale Sect arrived before their table, showing respect to Old Zen.
Every Elder or person of importance was in the Martial Providence Stage, powerhouses that each wielded significant influence. So, they were polite to one another unless there existed any grudge between them.
Due to his purpose of running an auction house, Old Zen catered to the wordy needs of every expert here, also paying attention to those that he thought would reach the Martial Providence Stage in the future.
In the Gaider Realm, most of the population consisted of mortals. Less than three percent of them embarked on their cultivation journey.
At most one in a thousand cultivators reached the Martial Origin Stage. Cultivation required a lot of resources and hence was hard even for powerful Clans.
So, very few were allotted enough resources to reach the Martial Origin Stage and become the elites of their respective Clans/Sects.
And finally, there were those at the Martial Providence Stage. There existed at most a couple dozen of them in Gaoan City and judging by the way they talked, most of them were at the early layers of the Martial Providence Stage.
Whether it was the Origin Refinement Stage, Martial Origin Stage, or the Martial Providence Stage, all were subdivided into nine layers. Each layer acted as a bottleneck that one had to cross to grow stronger.
And the higher their Stage, the tougher it was to break through the bottlenecks in each successive layer. This was why most of the powerhouses were only at the first or second layers at the Martial Providence Stage.
"There are only some that truly hold influence in this region." Old Zen said to Compass Carburettor, pointing at the Giant Whale Sect Master, "He has attained the peak in the Martial Providence Stage. So, anything that happens in Gaoan City wouldn't escape his influence. The only reason I could maintain my auction house is that I'm a good friend of his."
"Come, I'll introduce him to you." Old Zen had been talkative all along, giving Compass Carburettor insight into the various politics and power struggles in the place. He also introduced him to a lot of powerful people.
"Sect Master," Old Zen arrived before the Giant Whale Sect Master, cupping his fists as he pointed at Compass Carburettor, "This is Lord Gahrat that is currently residing as a guest in our auction house. He has brought a mysterious material that I hope to auction off in two days."
"Mysterious item?" The Giant Whale Sect Master raised an eyebrow, glancing at Compass Carburettor, frowning that he couldn't see through the strength of the other party, turning a tad respectful immediately before asking Old Zen, "What exactly is it?"
"It's something Lord Gahrat addressed as the Unbreakable Etherite. And, it seems to be true." Old Zen said, controlling his voice as he whispered, "Even my attacks failed to scratch it."
"Even yours?" The Giant Whale Sect Master was surprised, thinking, 'If it's true, then it'll make a fine material for Xuer to fuse with once she reaches the Martial Origin Stage.'
