Chapter 156 – Marriage
In a couple of moments, the hide was cut into a simple shape. Then, Liu Ming stored away the sword as he grabbed the hide. With his other hand, he took the animal tendon and slightly shook it.
“Sou!”
The front end of the tendon trembled as it became completely straight. Then, a slight black gas twirled around it before the tendon immediately started to weave through the edges of the hide like a snake.
With a couple of breaths, Liu Ming pinched the remaining animal tendon off. He grabbed one corner of the hide and shook the entire thing. Surprisingly, the hide transformed into a crude hide armor.
Although the hide armor’s shape was quite odd, it protected the heart along with a couple of vitals.
Liu Ming then wore the armor tight on his skin. After trying it, he showed an expression of content.
This kind of a simple hide armor creation was something that he had learned while surviving for many years on Savage Island. He was surprised that despite not using it for years, he still remembered the process.
Then, Liu Ming tugged the hide off of him, and with a beckon, he grabbed another scale. His other sleeve suddenly waved as a green light shot out. After circling around Liu Ming once, it obediently fell into his hands.
It was the Jade Shadow Needle.
Liu Ming’s finger moved as he tightened his grip onto the needle. After taking a deep breath, he stabbed the needle at a scarlet scale in his other hand.
An ear-piercing sound was emitted from the scale!
All that Liu Ming was able to see were green flashes that sparked from between the needle and the scale. It was as if the needle was stabbing steel.
In the time it took for to drink a cup of tea, the Jade Shadow Needle finally pierced through the scale with a “pu” sound.
Liu Ming cracked open his mouth and shook his slightly sore finger. He then threaded the animal tendon through a hole in the scale and started to sew the scale onto the hide.
Moments later, the scale was tightly attached to the animal hide.
Liu Ming used his finger to lightly tug the scale. When the scale showed no sign of falling off the hide, he revealed a satisfied expression.
Using the same method, Liu Ming used the Jade Shadow Needle to pierce through all of the scarlet scales.
Even though these scales were the weakest on the entire dragon shell, it still took Liu Ming quite a bit of effort to pierce through every single one of them.
A couple of hours later, Liu Ming sewed the final scale onto the animal hide and a crude, simple scaled armor was before him.
This hide armor was slightly different from other armors in that the density of scales was greater in regions around vitals. In other places, there were only a couple of scales.
It wasn’t that Liu Ming was not willing to use extra dragon scales, but rather because if there were too many scales on the hide armor, they would definitely affect the mobility of Liu Ming.
After all, this wasn’t a true armor that was refined by a blacksmith. The scales on the hide had not been specially treated which meant that they were rigid rather than flexible.
However, even like this, Liu Ming was very satisfied.
He believed that this armor was essentially another life for him. Even if he met a strong opponent, one he couldn’t defeat, he did not have to fear losing his life because of the armor.
However, the aura of the dragon had yet to be cleansed. Otherwise, once Liu Ming wore the armor out, a lot of people would sense the aura and immediately hone in on him.
Thankfully, Liu Ming knew a Spirit Liquid that specialized in eliminating the aura of monsters.
The formula of the Spirit Liquid was also extremely simple. All Liu Ming had to do was find a couple of medicinal herbs and mix them together to create the liquid. It was so simple that some people even sold completed versions of the liquid in the Gray Market.
It looked like Liu Ming had to run to the Gray Market tomorrow.
Liu Ming thought like this as he stored the hide armor and the Scarlet Dragon shell back into the Sumeru Conch. With another flick of his sleeve, the light barrier that surrounded him started to shatter into pieces. Then, Liu Ming simply closed his eyes and went back to cultivating.
…
By the morning of the next day, Liu Ming had already gone to the Gray Market, and in his hands was a completed Spirit Liquid.
Liu Ming had quite great luck and as soon as he got to the market, he found a disciple selling the Spirit Liquid.
However, when he excitedly flew toward the Nine Infant Mountain to go back to his dwelling, another gray cloud flew up and came straight for him.
Shocked. Liu Ming paused and focused his gaze on the gray cloud flying at him.
In moments, he showed a face of understanding.
“Junior Bai, it has been a long time. You are truly a busy person now. For us to go the Nine Infant Mountain to meet you is quite difficult seeing how your faction’s disciples all stop us from doing so.“ The person incoming shook a couple of times before flying near Liu Ming. With a smile, the person spoke with some blame.
It was actually Mu Xianyun!
“Senior Mu must be joking. I only recently got back and had some things to take care of which was why I told my seniors that if someone came looking for me, they should tell them to check back at another time.” Liu Ming cupped his hands and replied in an apologetic tone.
“So it’s like that. No wonder. Junior took the entire sect by surprise this time and definitely gained some benefits from the Secret Realm which would naturally mean that you are busier now. However, this time, I have quite urgent matters that I must tell Junior. Do you have some time right now?” When Mu Yunxian heard this, her expression was quite complex as she looked at Liu Ming and slowly spoke.
“Senior, why are your actions so foreign? How about this, this place is a little too obvious. Why don’t we go down and discuss this.” Liu Ming slightly smiled and made a response without the slightest hesitation.
Mu Yunxian naturally had no objections, and thus, both of the their clouds landed among a rocky region below.
“Junior Bai, did you know that Mingzhu had been taken to the Mu Clan a couple days ago by my brother?” The moment Mu Yunxian opened her mouth, she gave a big shock to Liu Ming.
“What do you mean by this senior?” Liu Ming’s smile faded as he asked.
“Looks like junior really is unaware of this matter. Did you know that after Gao Chong came back from the Secret Realm to the sect, he has been in secluded cultivation. It is rumored that he is making preparations for breaking through to the Spirit Master level. Ever since he went into cultivation, the Sect Leader did not allow Mingzhu into the Blood Control Mountain. In addition, he sent word to the Mu Clan saying that Mu Mingzhu’s servitude to the sect has been released.” Mu Yunxian said with an odd glint in her eyes.
Liu Ming did not respond after hearing these words. Instead, her brow furrowed.
“Junior, relax. Even if Gao Chong really wants to go to the Spirit Master level, he won’t be able to be ready so quickly. I estimate that it will be three months to half a year before he can truly start trying. In addition, the whole process of transforming True Yuan into liquid will take at least a year.” Mu Yunxian smiled as she said.
“I naturally understand this argument. However, Senior Mu trying to find me this time wasn’t only because of this matter, right?” Liu Ming asked calmly.
“Of course not. Even if I didn’t say those things, I believe that Liu Ming would have figured them out soon enough. What I wanted to talk to you about is that after the Bai Clan figured out you gained a spot among the top ten Core Disciples in the sect, they contacted the Mu Clan to set a time for the marriage between you and Mingzhu. It will be in half a year.” Mu Yunxian stated with a bitter smile.
“What, set a date. Did your Mu Clan accept?” This time, Liu Ming’s face really changed.
“Originally, my brother was quite hesitant. However, once he heard you entered the Life and Death Trials, he immediately agreed and the two clans used the quickest speed possible to send out wedding invitations to friendly clans. Truth be told, once you became a top ten disciple in the sect, I thought that your Bai Clan would reject the marriage. After all, with your status in the sect, Mingzhu is a couple levels away from you. Bai Clan could definitely find another female disciple that has a Spiritual Pulse as their daughter-in-law. However, your clan seemed ever more hurried than our Mu Clan with how they set a wedding date. Junior Bai, is there something that I don’t know?” Mu Yunxian’s face was slightly strange as she asked.
“Something hidden! Of course there is something, however, it is not too convenient for me to tell senior. For now, looking at the situation, it seems like I have to go back to the Bai Clan.” After hearing what Mu Yunxian said, Liu Ming could neither cry nor laugh in his heart. He could only keep a calm expression on his face as he replied.
“Since junior has trouble telling me, then I won’t be forcing it. However, I want to ask junior one thing, will you really marry Mingzhu as your wife?” Mu Yunxian was silent for a moment before asking with some seriousness.
“Probably not. After all, the person Mingzhu wants to ask is not me and I similarly don’t have many feelings toward Mingzhu.” Liu Ming winced his eyes before lightly replying.
“I understand. That’s a pity, I originally really looked forward to you and Mingzhu’s marriage. However, for the marriage, I really can’t say much to the Mu Clan side. You will have to deal with this yourself Junior Bai.” Mu Yunxian didn’t seem too surprised after hearing Liu Ming’s words and instead lightly sighed.
“Alright, since Senior can understand my situation, that is for the best. In addition, I may possibly leave the sect for quite a while very soon. Senior Mu should take care of herself. The time is not early and I’ll be heading back.” Liu Ming saw how calm the girl was and was quite surprised. He nodded before saying words of leave.
Mu Yunxian naturally did not obstruct him and watched Liu Ming summon a gray cloud to fly toward the Nine Infant Mountain.
At this time, Mu Yunxian also flew into the sky and headed in the opposite direction.
This time, she only flew a small distance before landing inside an area of small forests.
“Yunxian, how is it? Did Junior Bai agree to marry to Mingzhu.” A youth with a grim face walked out of the forest and showed a lot of concern on his face.
It was Du Hai from the Baleful Yin Faction.
“As expected, Junior Bai would not marry Mingzhu.” Mu Yunxian gave a bitter smile as she replied.
“What? That Bai Chongtian thinks that his status is greater than before. He actually dares to do something like going back on the marriage agreement!” Du Hai heard this and immediately showed some anger.
“This is something that we can’t blame Junior Bai for. The marriage was originally forced onto them by our two clans, and he had never spoke of something like marrying Mingzhu. Imagine if it was you, you probably wouldn’t want to marry a girl that had someone else in her heart. In addition, this girl’s status and yours don’t even match up.” Mu Yunxian shook her head and replied.