by Dragon King
Unlocking the door, Su Han changed into her indoor slippers before walking into the apartment. The smooth wooden floor was spotless, and it mirrored Su Han’s white and delicate ankles.
The facilities in the apartment were luxurious, including a super-sized flat screen TV and a huge chandelier. Next to the living room was Su Han’s cultivation room which was connected to the balcony.
“What favor do you want me to do?” Hao Ren asked. He imagined that it must be some tricky task that even an Inspector couldn’t handle.
Su Han handed a cup of tea to him before pointing upward. “A light bulb was burned out. Can you change a bulb for me?”
Hao Ren almost spat out the mouthful of tea he had just taken.
“I don’t want mortals in here, and Lu Qing doesn’t know how to do it either. So, I resort to you,” Su Han explained lightly.
Hao Ren dried the corners of his mouth and put down the cup of tea he had been drinking. He walked to the door and found the switch before pressing them down. He placed a stool under the chandelier and stood up on it before unscrewing the broken bulb and replacing it with a new one.
His parents were usually not home, and his grandma used to let him do these odd jobs. So, Hao Ren was no stranger to this.
After Hao Ren changed the bulb and pushed up the switch, the new bulb blinked twice and was on. Jumping down from the stool, he asked, “Anything else I can do for you?”
“The kitchen sink is clogged. You may help me unblock it,” Su Han responded.
“She is… Quite demanding,” Hao Ren thought and sighed before going to the kitchen. He turned on the water and found that the drainage was clogged up. He bent down and pulled out the tube before cleaning the dirty stuff off it.
While he was washing the dirty stuff off his hands, he looked back at her and asked, “Anything else?”
“The dryer rack on the balcony is loose. Can you fix it?” Su Han asked.
Sighing slightly, Hao Ren walked through Su Han’s spacious bedroom and got to the connecting balcony to check the dryer rack. Seeing that some screws on the rack were loose, he asked her for the tools and tightened the screws.
“Anything else?” Hao Ren asked her in exasperation. Su Han was obviously like an idiot in ordinary life despite her talent in cultivation.
“That’s all. I will cook us some dinner,” Su Han said.
Looking at this woman who was extraordinarily beautiful, Hao Ren shook his head immediately and said, “No, thanks.”
“Who would dare to eat dinner cooked by someone who couldn’t even handle these small jobs in her daily life?” he thought.
“This is our dinner.” Su Han dug out two packs of instant noodle from the refrigerator and tossed one at Hao Ren.
“By the way, do you want to join our Inspector System?” Su Han asked abruptly.
189 Inspector’s Temporary Help?!
“Inspector?” Hao Ren froze.
“In the Inspector System, we have Official Inspectors and Assisting Inspectors. Every Official Inspector can have one Assisting Inspector,” Su Han continued.
While she talked, she tore open the package of the instant noodle, placed all the items into a bowl, and poured hot water into it.
Hao Ren sat down and opened his package of instant noodle. It seemed like Su Han didn’t get him here to only fix the stuff for her; she also wanted to talk about this offer.
“What are Assisting Inspectors?” Hao Ren asked.
Su Han poured hot water into Hao Ren’s bowl and explained, “Assisting Inspectors don’t have to join Dragon God Shrine. The Official Inspectors can choose their own assistants and report to the headquarters. In short, they are unofficial helpers.”
Hao Ren didn’t know that Inspectors could have their own assistants. In his mind, Inspectors all operated independently.
“Most Inspectors don’t recruit assistants. After all, the Inspectors have passed multiple tests in Dragon God Shrine and have reached Kun-level at least. They didn’t need any assistance. On the contrary, the assistants might be burdens to them,” Su Han put the covers on the bowls while she explained.
Hao Ren nodded, thinking that if he were a Kun-level Master, he wouldn’t want a low Zhen-level cultivator to help him.
However, from what Su Han had told him, it seemed like she wants him to be her burden.
“The relationship between the Assisting Inspector and the Official Inspector is that of subordinate and superior. If you became my Assisting Inspector, you would be a part of Dragon God Shrine, and anyone who wants to attack you have to consider the potential backlash coming from Dragon God Shrine,” Su Han stared at Hao Ren and said slowly.
“In short, you want to protect me by giving me this identity, right?” Hao Ren asked her directly.
“I don’t have to give you special protection. With this identity, you automatically get some protection,” Su Han explained.
“Why would you do that?” Hao Ren continued to ask.
“You look good to me,” Su Han answered.
Hao Ren nodded and thought for a while before asking, “Does this have anything to do with Zhao Yanzi’s Third Uncle’s Heavenly Tribulation?”
“With Zhao Kuo’s strength, he has a 60% chance of passing the Heavenly Tribulation, which is a high success ratio itself. Combined with the careful preparations East Ocean are making, he should have a better chance than all the masters who tried to pass the Heavenly Tribulation in the last few hundred years. However, as an Inspector, I must be prepared if Zhao Kuo fails.” She lifted the cover of her bowl and picked up a pair of chopsticks.
The aroma of the instant noodle floated up. Hao Ren’s stomach grumbled, and he also lifted the cover from his bowl in a hurry.
If Zhao Kuo failed to pass the Heavenly Tribulation, West Ocean would take the opportunity to invade East Ocean’s territory. If the two sides engaged in a fierce battle, Hao Ren, a low-level cultivator, would be easily killed since no one would care if he was the Fuma or not.
This was what Su Han was worried about. That was why she watched the situation closely and wanted to give Hao Ren the title of ‘Assisting Inspector.’
Hao Ren understood Su Han’s motive. She looked cold but was quite good to him.
For Su Han, making Hao Ren her Assisting Inspector cost her nothing. Although she didn’t have high hopes for his cultivation future, he was quite useful to her, such as changing light bulbs.
“If you want the position, we’ll sign the contract. I’ll tutor you in terms of cultivation periodically, and you don’t have to do anything special for me. You just need to patrol with me when it’s necessary,” Su Han said, eating her noodles.
She was extremely beautiful, and it was somehow an enjoyment watching her eat the cheap instant noodle.
“Ok. I agree to be your… Assisting Inspector,” Hao Ren said.
“Good.” Su Han nodded and took out a piece of pale paper from her pocket. She murmured some words, and the paper turned into a beam of white light, shooting through the window.
“I just issued a voice transmission talisman to the Headquarter.” Su Han turned her head and looked at Hao Ren. “From now on, you are my Assisting Inspector.”
“Ok.” Hao Ren nodded, knowing that the so-called Assisting Inspector was just a temporary help for Su Han, not an actual Inspector in the system.
After the instant noodles, Su Han took Hao Ren into her cultivation room to teach him how to use the energy spheres.
To build the energy spheres, one must form a screen with Nature Essence using the Spirit Concentration Scroll. Since people below Kan-level couldn’t see through the essence, they also couldn’t see through the energy spheres, let alone the potential battles inside.
Under Su Han’s instructions, Hao Ren tried several times before finally releasing a layer of essence from his body and forming a solid energy sphere. It was the essential ability of all cultivators. From now on, no matter whom his rivals were, he couldn’t fight in front of mortals.
He also learned that the red spheres meant practice fights whereas the white spheres represented death battles.
After he had mastered how to create the energy spheres, Hao Ren sat down to cultivate. Su Han didn’t tell him to leave, and that meant she allowed him to stay. After all, even if Hao Ren harbored any bad intentions toward her, he would be no match for Su Han, a Qian-level Master.
They sat facing each other. The purple smoke in the incense furnace floated up gently under the soft lights in the room.
Swoosh! Hao Ren had a feeling of ventilation in his body.
In the Dragon Core, the third opening was unlocked!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Like bubbles, another two openings appeared in the Dragon Core.
Hao Ren was pleasantly surprised. He had made no progress recently with his cultivation, but he had just unlocked three openings in one go.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Before he could savor this moment, another two openings were unlocked in the Dragon Core!
Two plus three plus two. He had unlocked seven openings by now, and five of them happened in quick succession!
The feeling was so wonderful that Hao Ren didn’t dare to move. He sat quietly, hoping that more openings would be unlocked.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Hao Ren hoped to hear more of such sounds.
However, the Dragon Core was silent. It was just absorbing the essence from nature at high speed.
Hao Ren opened his eyes and saw Su Han sitting cross-legged across from him. Her posture was so still that she looked like an elegant stone statue.
He observed her closely and found her beauty flawless. Her skin was like polished jade, and her facial features were so exquisite that it looked like they came from a perfect drawing.
Her gorgeous curves were so beautiful that they made her look like the masterpiece of a great artist.
“No wonder the extremely arrogant Qin Shaoyang has fallen for her,” Hao Ren thought to himself.
He turned his head to check the time and found that it was already six o’clock in the morning!
They had spent the whole night cultivating.
Su Han opened her eyes slowly.
“Let’s have a practice battle. If your sword energies can touch me, you win.”
190 The Attack of Sword Energies
“What do I get if I win?” Hao Ren asked her immediately.
Su Han froze. She meant to improve his battle experience with this practice and had not thought of the prize.
“You can’t possibly win against me,” Su Han said lightly.
“Ok!” Hao Ren stood up, wanting to take the opportunity to test his strength after unlocking seven openings.
With a bang, he released his Nature Essence and built a red energy sphere. Compared with the state when he had only unlocked two openings, he felt a noticeable increase in the five-elemental essence in his body. The Dragon Core was like an engine and a reservoir for Nature Essence; whenever he unlocked one opening, the absorption power, and the reservoir volume would increase.
Two grey sword energies appeared in Hao Ren’s palms, and Su Han summoned a white jade sword into her hand while looking at Hao Ren.
“Let’s begin.” Hao Ren threw a grey sword energy at Su Han. The hundun sword energy was a combination of five elements or Lightning Power as Lu Linlin and Lu Lili called it.
Su Han stepped aside before shattering the hundun sword energy with the tip of her sword.
Clap! Clap… Like an exploding lightning bolt, the hundun sword energy crackled upon contact with the tip of the white jade sword.
A weak surge of lightning traveled along the sword, numbing Su Han’s fingers slightly.
Before Su Han could make any adjustments, Hao Ren threw out the second hundun sword energy, and Su Han blocked it with the body of her sword.
With another series of crackling sound, the hundun sword energy exploded, and Su Han felt another numbing sensation in her palm.
The hundun sword energy could break all five elements! Su Han’s sword was made with Tianluo Godly Jade from a place of extreme coldness, and it was a very precious material. Otherwise, Su Han wouldn’t have made it her Natal Dharma Treasure!
However, Hao Ren’s hundun sword energy could even break the special power of her jade sword while the lightning traveled along the Tianluo Godly Jade which could fend off all evil energies and all elements!
Su Han was a bit surprised. If Hao Ren were more powerful than Kan-level, she would have been defeated. If Hao Ren were at Kun-level, she would have been forced to let go of her sword in the first round!
However, that was all How Ren could do. In the past, he could only throw out one hundun sword energy; now with seven openings unlocked, he could at most throw out two. After that, he changed to the ordinary five-elemental sword energies.
Swoosh! He tossed out a white sword energy.
White represented the metal element, and Su Han cultivated the metal essences. Her sword arced elegantly in the air, and the special material of the sword turned the white sword energy into nothing.
Hao Ren flickered his wrists and pushed his palms forward, releasing so many sword energies that it looked endless.
The power in the sword energies was weak, but he would win if any one of them touched Su Han.
He drew one thread of essence from each element into each of his sword energies. If the total value of each elemental essence in Hao Ren’s body was ten, then the value of each sword energy he released was one.
Su Han had meant to test Hao Ren and give him some battle experience, but she was surprised to see that he has gotten more powerful with each attack. At first, he released one sword energy at a time with only one finger. Then, he could release two with two fingers. Now, he could release sword energies with all ten fingers at the same time!
Each attack contained ten sword energies! Hao Ren didn’t care about which elemental essence he released, so the attack was a mix of all five colors; white, green, blue, red, and yellow.
If people were watching, they would see a dizzying cluster of dancing sword energies.
Under his fierce attacks, it felt like Su Han was forced to focus on defending herself and couldn’t spare any strength to launch attacks.
Before the first wave of the ten sword energies could reach her, Hao Ren released another ten sword energies.
Su Han could have blocked these sword energies with one defense essence shield, but it wouldn’t be a good practice for either of them.
The moment she blocked ten sword energies with her sword, another ten were in the air while ten more were being released from Hao Ren’s fingers.
Su Han faced 30 sword energies altogether at the same time.
She wasn’t an experienced fighter. Therefore, she looked calm, but her movements became frantic!
Hiss!
Finally, a sword energy went through her defense and shot toward her body.
Su Han tried to dodge, but it pierced through her clothes.
At this sight, Hao Ren immediately stopped releasing more sword energies.
Su Han’s sleeve was cut, and her white skin was revealed.
Whoosh! Hao Ren withdrew the red energy sphere, signaling the end of the practice.
Su Han turned her head to look at the cut on her cloth. She withdrew her sword and pulled the sleeves together.
“How was it, Su Han?” Hao Ren asked with sincerity.
“You were ok,” Su Han said lightly. Even though she was defeated, she had to maintain the dignity of a master.
Hao Ren smiled in embarrassment. He didn’t think that his random attacks could break through Su Han’s defense. He thought Su Han had let him win to make him feel good.
“This…” He looked at her. “I’ll buy you a new blouse.”
“No.” Su Han said coldly before walking toward her bedroom.
Knowing that she had gone to her room to change, Hao Ren stood there and thought for a while. Finding it was already seven o’clock in the morning, he
went into the kitchen and took out a pan and some eggs. He began to cook.
When Su Han walked out of her room in a bright green dress, she smelled the aroma of breakfast.
She found Hao Ren in the kitchen.
Beside a pot of simple congee was a plate with four fried eggs on it.
“I made a simple breakfast.” Hao Ren poured the congee into two bowls and carried them and the plate of fried eggs to the dining table.
Su Han had always been calm, but she was panicking a little right now.
It was the first time that someone cooked her breakfast.
Usually, she would cultivate unless she got hungry. Then, she would eat instant noodles.
Hao Ren was oblivious to her complicated feelings. He just needed to eat breakfast in the morning, and the most efficient way to go about it was to cook.
Not noticing the emotions in Su Han’s eyes, he took two fried eggs into his bowl of porridge and began to eat.
Su Han sat down. She picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat as well. The fried eggs were nothing luxurious, but they were better than instant noodles.
She looked up at Hao Ren and thought about the practice battle, “He is only at Kan-level, but he can now shoot 30 sword energies continuously. If he continues to increase his strength with cultivation, he will be able to control these 30 sword energies and move them around instead of shooting them randomly. Is it possible that I underestimated the power of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll?”
After eating the simple breakfast, Hao Ren picked up his empty bowl and stood up. “If you have nothing else for me to do here, I’ll go home now.”
Su Han nodded.
Hao Ren washed his bowl in the sink. Then, he walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the door.
“Ahem! Ahem!” Looking at his back, Su Han coughed abruptly before saying, “Ugh, if you want, you can cultivate at my place for a couple of days.”
“Thank you, but I’d better go so you can cultivate without interruption,” Hao Ren said as he put on his shoes at the door.
With a fried egg on her chopsticks, Su Han gazed at him.