Yu Xian did not dwell on the matter any further; he felt that pondering it any deeper would simply be impolite.
He glanced at Xiong Da beside him, closed the stat panel, and asked, "Did you know you possess the Black Bear Pure Yang Body, making you exceptionally well-suited for cultivating fire-attribute arts?"
"There's such a thing?" The fat on Xiong Da jiggled violently as he gasped in surprise.
Of the techniques he cultivated, the Black Wind Scripture was wind-attribute while the Black Cassock Scripture was metal-attribute; neither had anything to do with fire.
"Bat, do you have any fire-attribute demon-cultivation arts on your end?" Yu Xian simply dialed Bat's number and asked.
At the Yanjing headquarters, Bat listened to Yu Xian's request over his phone and replied, "Yes. I'll transmit the list to you so you can check for yourself."
With that, he hung up and immediately sent all the fire-attribute demon-cultivation arts over to Yu Xian.
Catching on, Xiong Da hastily chimed in, "Proprietor, I can get my paws on fire-attribute arts myself. There's no need to waste a favor on my account."
"No favors used. That guy Bat lists clear prices for everything—completely fair and square," Yu Xian said to Xiong Da while browsing the file Bat had sent over.
Curious, Xiong Da leaned in to look as well. Man and bear both widened their eyes, thoroughly astonished by the sheer scale of the selection.
"Over three hundred thousand arts?! Who knew fire-attribute demon-cultivation arts were a dime a dozen?" Xiong Da couldn't help grumbling after staring at the screen for a full half-hour.
Yu Xian hadn't anticipated that Qilin would possess so many fire-attribute demon-cultivation arts either. If the arts hadn't been restricted specifically to demon cultivators, he couldn't even imagine how astronomical the total number of fire-attribute manuals would be.
Evidently, fire attributes were ubiquitous and dirt cheap no matter where one went.
"This Fire Cloud Moon-Devouring Scripture seems decent. Once cultivated to major success, the crescent on your chest turns red, allowing you to unleash massive clouds of fire-attribute mist that sweep through everything like a tidal wave of flames," Yu Xian recommended.
Xiong Da shook his head. "Proprietor, I think the crescent on my chest looks pretty nice as it is. Wouldn't turning red be a bit too sissy? Besides, speaking for myself, I prefer body-refining arts—ideally the kind with stronger defense."
"You've got a bright future."
Yu Xian had a thousand things to say, but in the end, none of them made it past his lips, leaving him no choice but to give Xiong Da a thumbs-up.
Playing it safe was good.
Put another way, cowardice was simply prudence—no wonder Xiong Da could have lived to be three billion years old.
In fact, Xiong Da's current defenses were already in a league of their own among Tiger ranks. Invulnerability, Bronze Skin, Iron Bones, and the Cassock Demon Robe—stacked together, there were truly very few who could pierce his guard.
Though Nora's exploding bullets had made him yelp and wail a moment ago, his skin hadn't even broken; to him, it was roughly akin to getting pelted by BB pellets.
Granted, because it was only a spar, Nora hadn't used the far more potent explosive bullets, but even if she had, they likely wouldn't have injured Xiong Da anyway.
"Proprietor, what do you think of this art?" Xiong Da dragged a claw across Yu Xian's phone screen, carving a long scratch that dissolved the display into colorful static.
He had only intended to swipe up on the screen.
Yet having never used a phone before, he had no sense of delicate control and wrecked the screen.
Phones produced by Qilin were indeed sturdy, but that didn't change the fact that Xiong Da was a Tiger-rank; the hardness of his claws far exceeded any phone.
A chilly gust blew past. Man and bear stared at the glitched screen, sinking into a momentary silence.
Fortunately, if there was one thing Yu Xian never lacked, it was spare phones. Mainly because phones were simply too fragile—back on Mars, he had gone through at least fifty, if not a hundred, so he was already thoroughly accustomed to it.
Sighing, he retrieved a new Qilin phone from his storage ring, reverified his identity, and reopened the file. "Don't touch it. I'll operate it. Just call out when you see an art you like."
"Right, right!" Xiong Da hastily nodded in agreement.
Moments later, through their joint effort, the screen stopped on a bizarre art titled Rocket Blazing Bear Art.
This technique had three defining traits: first, hardness; second, speed; and third, unyielding power. In truth, the art was quite straightforward: one cultivated a nuclear-powered Golden Core inside the body and continuously tempered and reinforced the physical flesh with core flames.
Its combat style was equally simple.
The cultivator merely needed to cloak their body in flames and slam into enemies like a rocket. In short, this art followed a single philosophy: *Either the enemy dies, or I do!*
"Isn't this a bit too reckless?" Yu Xian asked, looking at Xiong Da in surprise.
Just moments ago he had pegged Xiong Da as a coward, only for the bear to pick a technique meant for charging head-on to the bitter end.
Xiong Da shook his head. "With attack methods this extreme, I bet its defensive capabilities won't disappoint either."
"Fair enough. Let's hope so."
Seeing Xiong Da's insistence, Yu Xian relented.
After redeeming the art, Yu Xian accompanied Xiong Da in reading through the entire manual. It indeed drastically strengthened the practitioner's physique—primarily because without such physical reinforcement, one couldn't withstand the pressure of a nuclear-powered Golden Core in the first place.
Moreover, the technique genuinely relied on ramming opponents with one's own body; without sufficient hardness, wouldn't smashing into things be throwing an egg against a rock and courting death?
Once Xiong Da memorized the entire manual, Yu Xian slipped the phone into his pants pocket. Suddenly, the phone in his other pocket began ringing. Pulling it out, he found that it was actually a call from Nora.
A smile surfaced on his face. Answering the call, he was about to speak when Nora beat him to it: "Yu Xian, the Progenitor made a breakthrough!"
"The Progenitor broke through? He's Dragon-rank now?" Yu Xian asked in astonishment.
Nora replied, "Mm. Every member of the Blood Clan is celebrating right now. My father has already departed for Rome. It looks like something huge is about to happen."
In the past, the Blood Clan's greatest shortcoming had been the lack of a Dragon-rank powerhouse.
Although the Progenitor of the Blood Clan was an extraordinary, beyond-standard Tiger-rank who could even contend with ordinary Dragon-ranks at night, he ultimately possessed flaws, and true top-tier powerhouses had never taken him seriously.
Yet now that the Progenitor had broken through to Dragon-rank, everything changed.
The Blood Clan had always possessed wealth and influence, lacking only pinnacle combat power. Now that the Progenitor had advanced to Dragon-rank and filled that void, the world's existing balance of power was very likely to be shattered.
Even though the Progenitor had only just reached Dragon-rank, an irregular existence like him defied common logic; it was entirely possible he already possessed power on par with Minister Yu Lie.
With personal strength, political influence, and financial might all in hand, what was he still lacking?
Yu Xian offered Nora continuous comfort, but an uneasy foreboding lingered within her, as though a major upheaval loomed on the horizon. Near daybreak, Yu Xian's other phone rang once more.
"Little Yu, return for a meeting. Don't send an avatar—this matters greatly to you," Xiao Cheng said immediately upon Yu Xian answering the call.
Catching on, Yu Xian asked, "Is it because the Blood Clan's Progenitor advanced?"
"Yes. Not only did he advance, but he has also occupied Rome and formally proclaimed the founding of a nation," Xiao Cheng said gravely.
Yu Xian's eyes widened instantly upon hearing this, and he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath. The Blood Clan Progenitor's ambitions had indeed begun to swell. Moreover, having operated in Rome for several centuries, all officialdom throughout Rome had long since become his people; one could say that the moment he proclaimed the nation's founding, Rome truly became his kingdom.
"Let's go. We're heading to Yanjing—and while we're there, we can get your ID processed!"
Yu Xian stood up, said a brief word to Nora, pocketed both phones, and spoke to Xiong Da.
In the next second, a bubble enveloped man and bear. Their surroundings shifted instantaneously, and they were already standing inside Qilin's headquarters in Yanjing.
Chapter 152