"Additionally, the Spirit Hall has confirmed the new Saintess, Hu Liena. The Saint Son has not been decided yet, but with your talent, Gu Chen, you could compete for that position."
"Three days later, I'll take you both to report to the Spirit Hall Academy. It just so happens that it's the enrollment period for the academy, and when you get there, the dean will explain the rules to you."
After saying this, Demon Slayer Douluo was followed by Thousand-Jin Douluo, who added, "Saintess Hu Liena is from the faction of Bibi Dong. Pope Qian Xunji sees her as a thorn in his side, so be cautious when dealing with her in the academy."
Gu Chen nodded, and together with Gu Yue Na, bowed slightly, saying, "Thank you for the reminder, we will be careful."
Seeing their respectful attitude, the two Title Douluos smiled with satisfaction and said, "For the next three days, relax in Soul Hall City and get familiar with the place. Here, take this Elder's Token. When you show it, anyone from the Spirit Hall will treat it like seeing the sub-chapel leader."
As they didn't know about Gu Zuan Gu Chen's reputation, they didn't realize how powerful he really was...
After Gu Chen received the token, the two Title Douluos left the inn.
"We've completed the first step of joining Spirit Hall. What should we do next?" Gu Yue Na, usually a decisive girl, had grown more dependent on Gu Chen than she realized.
Gu Chen smiled faintly and slowly spoke eight words: "Eliminate rivals, win hearts."
These eight words would be their main goals for the coming years!
"Change your clothes, and let's take a stroll around Soul Hall City." Gu Chen glanced at Gu Yue Na, who was wearing cute little bear pajamas, and spoke softly.
Gu Yue Na nodded and entered the bathroom.
"System, I want to try the lottery."
"Ding!"
"100 system points have been deducted. Remaining points: 400."
"Congratulations, the host has received: 'Thank you for your patronage!'"
"..." Gu Chen was left speechless.
"Try again!" Gu Chen said, intending to test the waters, keeping 300 points for a ten-pull later.
"Ding!"
"100 system points have been deducted. Remaining points: 300."
"Congratulations, the host has received: 'Low-level Slave Talisman*1'"
"Huh?" Gu Chen raised an eyebrow and asked, "Check the Low-level Slave Talisman."
"Ding!"
"Low-level Slave Talisman Usable Times: 1 Usage: Write the name and birth details of the person to be enslaved on the talisman paper and then ignite it.
Usage Conditions: The person to be enslaved must have a loyalty of over 60% to the host, and their rank must be below Title Douluo. Additionally, the person cannot be Tang San, Xiao Wu, Tang Hao, Qian Daoliu, Qian Xunji, A Yin, or Gu Yue Na."
"By the way, this is the Low-level Slave Talisman. Are there higher-level Slave Talismans? Can I check their properties?" Gu Chen was curious, even though he didn't have the higher-level versions.
"Ding!"
"Intermediate Slave Talisman Usable Times: 1 Usage: Write the name and birth details of the person to be enslaved on the talisman paper and then ignite it.
Usage Conditions: The person to be enslaved must have a loyalty of over 50% to the host, and their rank must be below God-level. The person cannot be Tang San, Xiao Wu, Tang Hao, Qian Daoliu, Qian Xunji, A Yin, or Gu Yue Na.
High-level Slave Talisman Usable Times: 1 Usage: Write the name and birth details of the person to be enslaved on the talisman paper and then ignite it.
Usage Conditions: The person to be enslaved must have a rank below God-level. The person cannot be Tang San, Xiao Wu, Tang Hao, Qian Daoliu, Qian Xunji, A Yin, or Gu Yue Na.
God-level Slave Talisman Usable Times: 1 Usage: Write the name and birth details of the person to be enslaved on the talisman paper and then ignite it.
Usage Conditions: The person cannot be Tang San, Xiao Wu, Tang Hao, Qian Daoliu, Qian Xunji, A Yin, or Gu Yue Na."
So there are even higher-level Slave Talismans?
Gu Chen froze for a moment, then asked curiously, "What does loyalty mean? When I checked other people's profiles, I didn't see this option."
"Ding!"
"When the host checks the profiles of Tang San, Xiao Wu, Tang Hao, Qian Daoliu, Qian Xunji, A Yin, Gu Yue Na, or the host's own, loyalty will not be displayed. Host, in the five years you've checked your own task profile, the only other profile you've looked at is Gu Yue Na's. You're such a wife-loving man!"
"Stupid system, stop making nonsense! Who's a wife-loving man?!" Gu Chen shouted in annoyance.
The system fell silent.
"Let's go." At this moment, Gu Yue Na came out of the bathroom, having changed out of her cute bear pajamas. Now she wore a white knee-length dress that complemented her silver hair, amethyst-like eyes, and cherry lips, giving her an unusual beauty.
"Wait." Gu Chen said, pulling out a parchment scroll and dipping a brush into ink to write on it.
Gu Yue Na curiously watched beside him, realizing that this was something like a "paper phoenix."
Half an hour later, Gu Chen exhaled a long breath and carefully stored the parchment scroll in his system bag.
"Let's go." Gu Chen smiled, and the two of them walked out of the inn and began exploring Soul Hall City.
Soul Hall City was indeed one of the three great cities, bustling with life, and it even had a street dedicated to food, much like the food streets from Gu Chen's past life. Every shop on the street sold delicious food.
Gu Yue Na seemed to have a "foodie" nature, her hands never stopped, and Gu Chen was surprised to see items like candied hawthorns and malt sugar—foods from his previous life.
"Mm..." After finishing her malt sugar, Gu Yue Na fixed her gaze on the candied hawthorn in Gu Chen's hand.
Gu Chen smiled indulgently and handed her the candied hawthorn, which Gu Yue Na eagerly accepted.
"Wait, this one... I think I've had it before..." Gu Chen suddenly remembered something.
...
After strolling through the food street, they came to the commercial street in Soul Hall City, a thousand-meter-long area that caused Gu Yue Na's storage ring to be filled with several hundred new outfits.
"Stop for a moment." Gu Chen noticed a blacksmith shop at a corner, with the sign reading "Soul Tool Blacksmith Shop."
"What's up?" Gu Yue Na mumbled with the candied hawthorn still in her mouth.
"I'm going into this blacksmith shop. Wait for me outside." Gu Chen said.
Gu Yue Na nodded obediently and waited outside.
Gu Chen entered the blacksmith shop, where the air was filled with the sounds of hammering. He approached a desk that seemed like the front desk.
"Weapon forging starts from 10 gold spirit coins, with a ten-day reservation required, and you can pick up your item ten days later. If you have a VIP card from Soul Tool Blacksmith Shop, you can get an 8% discount and pick up the item within three days." A blacksmith noticed Gu Chen and said.
Gu Chen smiled and replied, "I have my own blueprints and want to commission you to forge something. Price is not an issue, but I need to pick it up within a day."
With that, Gu Chen slid his hand to his waist and secretly took out a large bag of gold spirit coins from his system bag, placing it on the desk with a loud "duang" sound.
The blacksmith immediately recognized that Gu Chen wasn't ordinary—after all, people with storage soul tools were usually nobles or officials. But the sound of the gold coins hitting the desk made the blacksmith's eyes widen in shock. That sound alone indicated at least a thousand gold spirit coins.
"I'm the head of the Soul Tool Blacksmith Shop. Please tell me what you need." The blacksmith put down his forging hammer and spoke with a change in tone.
Gu Chen took out the parchment scroll from earlier, spreading it out on the desk, and said to the blacksmith shop manager, "I am willing to pay 2,000 gold spirit coins to commission you to forge 500 of these paper phoenixes in black iron. Also, I need 5,000 meters of steel wire with a diameter of 0.01 millimeters, made from black iron. I will pay 1,500 gold spirit coins for that. Additionally, I need the items delivered within a day, and I'm willing to pay an extra 500 gold spirit coins as a reward."
The blacksmith shop manager's face changed dramatically. This was a 4,000 gold spirit coin order! In Soul Hall City, it was one of the rarer and larger commissions.
After carefully calculating the shop's capabilities, the manager nodded and said, "Our Soul Tool Blacksmith Shop is the largest in Soul Hall City, with ten branches and 1,000 blacksmiths. We will do our best to fulfill your request and have the items ready within a day."
Gu Chen nodded lightly, took out the parchment scroll and a bag of gold spirit coins, and placed them on the desk. "This is the deposit of 2,000 gold spirit coins. When the items are completed, I will pay the remaining 2,000 gold spirit coins."
After the manager confirmed the amount of gold spirit coins, he handed over a card made of black iron and said, "This is our Soul Tool Blacksmith Shop's VIP card. It grants you an 20% discount. When you come to pick up the items tomorrow, you'll only need to pay an additional 1,300 gold spirit coins."
"Alright." Gu Chen nodded and took the VIP card.
If anyone were to ask what he planned to make, it would be unquestionable. The Paper Phoenix was a necessary item for him to release the secret technique, Secret Technique: Paper Phoenix, after inheriting the Yuan Ge legacy. The black iron wire was essential for controlling puppets and also a necessary condition for releasing the secret technique, Cross Flash.
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Funny Bit from Author's Note:
I just saw a random one-star review saying, "I see the comments here are all four and five stars, so I feel a bit embarrassed. I'll give you a five-star, but on an installment plan."
What the heck, where did this lunatic come from? Is it from the hospital? Are patients running out of the hospital?