Gu Yue's Disappointment

Douluo Continent

Shrek City

Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

Fan Lin began to take actions after his last call with Gu Yue. Gu Yue had opted out of his plan but her words did made him rearrange a better plan. Once again.

Now Fan Lin didn't need Gu Yue as he had a bigger person to rely on.

He first increased the number of people under his control through the command toxin and made all of them his informants in the Spirit Pagoda. Now he had a wide variety of things that he could use to blackmail and use others before taking them out.

He invested the rest his time to memorize about the various plants, herbs, trees, landscape and environment that the Previous Starduo forest had and began to find all the remaining floral DNA strands from the past, while marking all the places in the Douluo Continent to find the rest of them.

He later on created a fake plan called the Resurgence of Life where he proposed of a method to reforestation of an area at a price which will be divided between him and Spirit Pagoda.

In the proposed plan, he stated that his fifth ring increases the growth speed of the plants in the area around him and he wanted to commercialize this through the Spirit Pagoda.

Why though? Because his Boundless Ring looked like a small forest on its own and made his lie more believable.

He knew that it was the most reckless and danger sounding plan to a normal person as they could be imprisoned and used as an living plant fertilizer to raise the Spirit herbs and other things to a higher quality but Fan Lin wasn't a normal human and neither did he care about that.

He was a madman! Anyone who will come to use him will die a gruesome death as even if he died, he will doom the world with him only leaving behind the soul beasts.

He then went to propose his plan to Leng Yaozhu and easily got her support when he told her the amount of money that they charge for a reforestation of a particular place when the manipulation of the general public and their opinions were taken into account.

But Leng Yaozhu found a lot of flaws in his plan and asked him to recreate a better one with more benefits to the Spirit Pagoda and she will bring this topic to the Elite Members meeting, and that's what he was waiting for.

He returned to his room and spent the next two weeks into his own 'preparation' while acting as if he was actually working on the project of his.

When he was finally done with his preparation, he finally went to show the 'newly' create plan to Leng Yaozhu while talking about the next step of his plan and how HE will benefit the Spirit Pagoda.

Leng Yaozhu and Fan Lin began to discuss more about the it in detail and as Fan Lin was going to come to the pivotal point, someone came at the exact wrong time;

"...convert this amount of land to our liking. If we did this and used the set price that you gave me, we could possibly..."

He looked at her and stopped speaking. Now was not the time to include her.

...

Gu Yue came to the Spirit Pagoda and avoided Fan Lin as usual.

Nearly a month has passed since Gu Yue had decided to opt out of helping Fan Lin as his plan was too radical and dangerous, along with the fact that Fan Lin had done nothing sort of amazing that would install confidence in her for his plan.

What he proposed was too risky and dangerous. Their current conditions didn't allow them to succeed. Fan Lin was too weak to be even thinking about the scale that he wanted to implement his plan on.

He was planning on using the 20 million square kilometres of area of the western front as the cornerstone of the New Starduo forest.

Yeah, like the Federation, Shrek Academy, Tang Sect and Spirit Pagoda would let him create a forest of that size.

And lets just say they did, but Fan Lin planned to raise the soul beasts in there!

Hence after much consideration, she had decided to opt out. She knew that Fan Lin needed her and, if going by his words, she was a crucial part of his plan.

Now that she had opted out, he will have to stop it in the meantime or find a suitable replacement which she was sure wasn't possible.

When the time comes and she sees the chances of success go up, she will obviously join the plan, if he still wanted to do so.

But in the present, it wasn't worth it. A single mistake and everything that she and her companions had worked for would be in vain, they might even have a hard time continuing with their own plan much less Fan Lin's near nonsense of a plan.

Hence she ignored him in the meantime and focused her all in helping Wulin and her friends to compete for the grade competition in a month.

Except that was the last conversation that she had with him as he never called again. The rumours about him also died down and everyone quickly forgot about him.

She didn't know what Fan Lin was upto.

While she was thinking about him and her friends Battle Armor designs, she reached the room of her Master and entered it after getting her permission.

"...convert this amount of land to our liking. If we did this and used the set price that you gave me, we could possibly..."

Fan Lin stopped and looked at Gu Yue who just entered her Master, Leng Yaozhu's room.

Leng Yaozhu also glanced at her and then at Fan Lin.

"I will explain the rest later."

Fan Lin turned to Leng Yaozhu and closed the file that he was showing her.

"You can finish the rest now, why wait for later."

Leng Yaozhu said while signalling Gu Yue to wait for a while.

"I am finished for now. Will talk to you when I get something else."

Fan Lin gave a slight nod and left her room. Leng Yaozhu looked at his leaving back and asked Gu Yue after he left the room.

"Is he always like this to others?" [Leng Yaozhu]

"He changed a little." [Gu Yue]

She looked at her disciple's face and made some small talk to know about her time in Shrek.

"What were you guys talking?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue asked after some small talk.

"Oh nothing that interesting. He is a good lad and I can now understand why he can earn so much money through his shop."

Leng Yaozhu said, totally unaware that Fan Lin's only contribution to the shop's earning was the creation of the shop's products, everything else were done by the handler and her friends.

And she will never know.

...

Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

Fan Lin's private room.

Fan Lin returned to his room and put the file in his hands in his storage necklace.

He looked at his room, it was a mess as heaps of papers, maps, books and files about the various things were completely piled up in the room.

He tiptoed his way to his work desk avoiding all the books and random papers that were filled with information and looked at the massive map of the Douluo Continent.

The map, beginning from the Western area was a third full of green checkpoints. He folded the map and put it into his storage soul guide as well.

"I hope I don't have to use too much command toxin for my approval."

He muttered and drifted to sleep. He needed it.

.....

Control toxin:

A toxin that can control others.

Limitations: Effects depends on physical state, low availability of previous life herbs.

Command Toxin:

Instills total control on the victims which can be 're-programmed' however the user wants, be it memory wipeout, fake memories creation, fake thoughts, change in personality, habits, speech pattern or how they perceive the world.

Can cause instant death if commanded.

Limitations: Don't know why it doesn't work above lvl 70. Need to research.

Decay poison:

Intermediate grade:

Decays the targets from the inside, except the decay is in order of mental state (thought paralysis) and physical state (nervous system breakdown and paralysis and corpse decay (just normal cellular decomposition that occurs suddenly after 59 minutes.)

Limitations: still not confirmed but not usable above lvl 70.

D-S 1 :

A simple world devastating toxin. Causes cellular destruction of the living things. It was made in such a way the vegetation of all kinds grows from the bodies of its victims while the quantity and quality of the poison increases with each new victim.

Capable of worldly destruction in Nine hours.

PS- a diluted version can be used as a rejuvenation toxin that can turn a barren land into a forest in a blink of an eye. The toxin contains the DNA patterns and genetic code of nearly 4 billion plants.

Currently stored in one of the green vials in the poison suitcase.

.....

Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

Fan Lin's room

'I should have done this from the beginning.'

I thought, my mind a little hazy.

'What 'not gonna repeat my past life actions' ?

I just want to repent.

'I am Surya Jayvardhan and Gloomy Forest. Fan Lin came later. If I didn't want to remember myself, I should have just erased myself, by my own self. Just the fact that I haven't done it should be enough of an indicator that I don't want to forget my past."

No, not like this. I won't think like this.

"Isn't it? Then why do I always have this guilt? Why do I have to live like this, trapped in my own shell, barricaded by my frail conscience?"

That's the price for what I did.

"Ain't I a hypocrite when I say I want to save the soul beasts but never use the abilities that I excel in? I am the being closest to a God, I can rewrite the world in a flash and yet what am I doing? Wasting my time while blaming myself on the deaths of those that died due to their foolishness and greed. They went against a God, their end should have been worse. He spared them... I saved them... and what do we get?"

Have I moped enough? Did my God complex end? Is something left? Should I be the one to ask myself. I am Gloomy Forest.

"I am Gloomy Forest! That title belongs to me. Not to Fan Lin."

"Does the life of others really not worth than my personal guilt?"

Don't change the topic. Am I an alter ego?

"Ahh, so fake, so much drama. I could have just believed in myself and let go. Why stop it? Why did I thought of using time consuming means to do something to soothe my desires and then give it a grand theme as the saving of the soul beasts. I know what I am saving them for."

I love them and that's why I am saving them.

"I am not saving them because they should be saved. I am just doing a charade to keep myself from remembering the things I did."

I am not. My feelings for them are genuine. So is my desire to save them. It's not a charade.

"It's just a small play to keep myself occupied thinking that I am doing a good thing; saving the weak and minority. Hahaha. Foolish self of mine."

Human heart is fickle. Others won't understand it.

"Accept it? That's what I am saying. I am beyond human. A being that could literally change the world. Why do I have to restrain myself and create this low level creations. What about the D-S or the named series? In this world, I can create things thousand times better that the past. Maybe I can even kill him."

That's an overestimation on my part.

"Just when did I became this weak."

*knock knock knock*

Fan Lin woke up at the sounds of knocking on his door. He looked at the ceiling and thought about the dream that he had.

"Why did I dream of roasted Tangerines?

He whispered to himself unaware of the happenings in his dreams.

*Knock knock*

The knocking sounds came again, making him get up from the chair he was sleeping on and went to open the door.

'This the most revered building in the Douluo Continent and they can't even install automatic doors in my room?'

He input the password and opened the door.

"Come in."

He looked at the person who came to his room and continued to speak.

"I didn't expect you to come."

"I didn't come to visit you. Here, my Master asked to deliver this to you."

It was Gu Yue. She observed him and his messy room.

"This one's cleaner that the last one. Here."

She tried to hand over the weird parchment to Fan Lin. Emphasis on tried as Fan Lin didn't take the parchment and looked at her.

She returned his gaze and gently threw the parchment onto his work desk.

"You found my replacement, good for you."

She turned around to leave after saying that.

"I didn't find your replacement, I just found someone better. Wanna listen to the new plan?"

Fan Lin said, his words causing her to stop as she glared at him and coldly said.

"You and your plans, they keep changing, don't they?" [Gu Yue]

"Talk about being unreasonable. You are the one who asked, no, not that, pleaded me for a better plan. I now have one." [Fan Lin]

"Say that to me when you succeed. Empty words can be spoken by anyone." [Gu Yue]

"I won't need to say anything to you at that time. I don't need your assistance but I -" [Fan Lin]

"Hmph! I wish you success then." [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue cut his mid-sentence and left.

"- I want your support." [Fan Lin]

He whispered in a low voice while watching the door close.

"Did she somehow knew about it?"

He mumbled and stored all the stuff in his room into a new ring in a hurry.

'Now is not the time to use her. The protagonist group will obviously be a part of the Shrek's Seven Devils and enter the inner court. If I used her right, at the right time at that, then I can deal with Wulin if he gets in my way.'

'She is the female lead, Wulin will do anything to save her, right?'

'Considering that I am going to reshape this world power structure in a few years, they are obviously going to be affected by that.'

'Shrek and Tang Sect will obviously get in my way later on, I can use Wulin to force them to back down.'

"She still has some use in the future."

'As for the Federation and Spirit Pagoda, I need to increase my influence in the Spirit Pagoda slowly and send some people to control the parliament that runs the Federation.'

'Too bad, I ran out of the command toxin once again or I would have progressed further.'

'... No, not anymore. Too much reliance on my poisons could lead to unforeseen circumstances. For now, let's focus on the plan, then my cultivation and lastly secondary profession.'

Fan Lin thought as he looked at the map.

He eyes went towards the direction of the Starduo forest , the last shelter of the remaining soul beasts.

He took out his soul communicator and dialed the number of his Handler.

"Use all the money to buy as much land as you can from the western area."

{That area ia mostly deserts?}

"I know that."

{Okay. Exactly which area would you like to buy?}

"One that is away from human civilization and seldom have any human visitor."

{... The purpose?}

"State that I am buying it to raise some herbs. Any problem."

{Okay.}

Toto toot toot toot.

'I need to change the ringtone.'

....

Gu Yue had strong senses and she had heard him whispering 'But I want your support' when she left the room

She stopped a few distance from his room, hid herself and used her senses to pry what he was mumbling inside and she so wished that she hadn't.

She still has some use in the future.

That's what she heard. Her legs began to move again as she silently moved through the corridors and hallways.

Her eyes calm and serene, just like the depths of the ocean.

...

An hour later.

Leng Yaozhu's workroom.

"Are you angry?"

Leng Yaozhu looked at the icy expression of Gu Yue and asked in a warm tone.

"Mm-hmm."

Gu Yue just shook her head and focused on the design draft in front of her without speaking.

"If you say so. Did you deliver the approval letter to him?"

Leng Yaozhu understood the situation. She could have given the approval letter to him when he was there but chose not to. How else can she force Gu Yue to visit him?

She saw her youth in Gu Yue.

"Hmm."

Gu Yue nodded her head while still focusing on the design draft.

"He is a weird lad, you know. Students literally dream of joining Shrek Academy and being a part of it and yet he quit that and came to Spirit Pagoda."

"His actions are quite suspicious in that regard. I wonder what changed his mind. What do you think?"

Leng Yaozhu passed the topic to Gu Yue in a light tone.

"He is just weird."

Gu Yue answered. Her design draft was finished.

"Yeah he is. Do you know what he proposed to me when he joined the Spirit Pagoda?" [Leng Yaozhu]

Leng Yaozhu asked Gu Yue while glancing over at her design draft.

She was interested in something. The first time that Fan Lin came to do his tower attack, it was through the recommendation of Gu Yue.

Gu Yue wouldn't help a person she hated. Fan Lin also seemed close to her.

Then what happened that she and Fan Lin aren't even keen on even staying in the same room much less talk to each other.

Fan Lin was a talent as well and possibly on the same level as Gu Yue. Maybe a little lower but his fast cultivation speed takes care of that gap.

Leng Yaozhu wanted to know. She wanted to know why were they acting normal?

"Something related to soul beasts or forest."

Gu Yue calmly answered.

"Yeah but not quite on the point."

"He said he wanted to buy the western front. The whole western front and then replant it and make it livable."

'Yeah, livable but not for humans' [Gu Yue]

"And the plan he put forward for that was quite good. He even got the approval of the 19 of the 36 council members." [Leng Yaozhu]

Leng Yaozhu softly said while observing each reaction of Gu Yue. Her words visibly perked Gu Yue as her eyes shifted in attention towards the topic.

"Wanna know his plan?" [Leng Yaozhu]

She slowly asked Gu Yue but got a straight calm denial.

"Don't wanna." [Gu Yue]

Leng Yaozhu smiled at Gu Yue's words as if she already knew what she was going to say.

"Uhm, could it be that you already know about it? Is it? Well I won't pry much but can you tell me just one thing. Can I trust him?"

She looked straight at her disciple, her words calm and collected but having a sharp edge to it.

Fan Lin was an extraordinary talent.

He was a Spirit King under fifteen years old. He possessed a complete set of Three Word Battle Armor. He was also quite proficient in his secondary profession having more than a hundred thousand unique soul circuit designs under his name, and he even has a hundred thousand year old spirit soul.

So the fact that neither Shrek nor the Tang Sect tried to retain him in their own institutions was problematic.

Fan Lin, despite his extraordinary repertoire, wasn't an inner court student at Shrek. Nor was he an important member of the Tang Sect and from their attitude, it was quite clear that they knew about him from a long time.

So the problem came, if they knew the value of Fan Lin, then why didn't they poach him up for themselves

The answer to it was quite simple. Fan Lin either had rejected them on his own or, the one that she feared, he had a big enough flaw that the two institutions didn't dare to take him.

Whatever the answer was, she didn't know.

What she knew and not just her but literally all the council members that read his proposal, even Qiangu Donfeng as well, was that Fan Lin had joined the Spirit Pagoda for a personal reason and was currently staying in it.

If he had rejected the two institutions then they wanted to know why.

If he had a flaw in him, then they wanted to know what, so that they can deal with him.

The Spirit Pagoda would not raise a problematic future through their own resources, that's just raising a dog that will bite its owner.

Leng Yaozhu was also troubled by this problem. A shining treasure was like an invitation to the greedy, the fact that no one took it and the treasure came to the treasurer on its own was both creepy and scary at the same time.

What if the treasure is a cursed one? Slowly destroying the possessor as time passes?

To Leng Yaozhu, the only way to get Fan Lin's life at Shrek and his actual thoughts was through a person close to him.

Fan Lin was a loner though.

And that literally ended the prospect of finding about him through someone else.

But then Leng Yaozhu remembered Gu Yue and Fan Lin's unknown relation.

Even though they avoided each other, Gu Yue was the one who recommended Fan Lin for the Tower Attack.

Fan Lin also said that he will consider the opinion of Gu Yue on whether he should join the Spirit Pagoda or not.

Now they were avoiding each other. There really had to be something going on between them.

Gu Yue looked at the probing eyes of her Master that seemed to ask for her honest opinion.

"Depends on what you are asking him for?" [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue answered in a relaxed tone while recalling about what Fan Lin had shown to her and about what she had heard from the others. Both of which felt like two entire different people.

"Mind explaining that in detail." [Leng Yaozhu]

"He will do what he likes, if he doesn't like, he won't even take any interest in that particular thing. If forced, he will either give up in the beginning or do the job halfheartedly. That's what his Class President said about him." [Gu Yue]

Leng Yaozhu gestured Gu Yue to continue on her topic.

"He is ruthless, calm, composed and... thinks attacking soul beasts to be too beneath himself, saying that there was no point in killing those that can't even properly scream in terror and fear. What's the point in bullying mute beings when their are humans available." [Gu Yue]

'Yuanen talked about this, so it's not a lie.' [Gu Yue]

"Hmm. That does align with the reports from our staff?" [Leng Yaozhu]

"And he has the tendency of using others through money or blackmailing. Don't trust what he says to you or the emotions that he exhibits, they are lies. No one knows what he actually wants. He will go to any lengths, lies, deception and even showing weakness to make your guard down and trust him, soon you will be trapped in his words and unknowingly follow what he wants you to do on your own." [Gu Yue]

'Maybe the promise of the forest was a lie as well.' [Gu Yue]

Gu Yue kept talking about him. She didn't know why she was telling this to her Master but saying the truth about him did make her heart feel more burdened.

"All in all, he is a disappointment. Talking big and using your desires and weaknesses for his own use. A scum." [Gu Yue]

Leng Yaozhu has been silently observing the changes in her disciple's voice while waiting for an opportunity to hit the hammer when the iron was at it's hottest.

"What did he do to you?" [Leng Yaozhu]

"He... Nothing." [Gu Yue]

Leng Yaozhu asked Gu Yue and Gu Yue nearly said the words in her mouth before glaring at her master in silence. She now understood the purpose of her Master.

"I am sorry, I just couldn't help myself." [Leng Yaozhu]

Her master apologized sincerely but Gu knew just how sincere and apologetic she was.

"It seems I have invited a troublesome fellow to the Pagoda, isn't it? We even passed his first suggestion..." [Leng Yaozhu]

'I need to discuss this information with the council members and President later on.' [Leng Yaozhu]

Leng Yaozhu can now partially understand the reason why the Shrek Academy and Tang Sect hadn't taken any steps to poach him, they were taking their time to understand Fan Lin's true nature and desire before letting him too close to their core.

.....

The Spirit Pagoda was a relatively democratic organization. There was a council of thirty-six elders who would handle all important decisions.There were a few superior officers above the council. This included the Spirit Pagoda Master, two vice Pagoda Masters, and four spiriters. They made up forty-two members in total, and they collectively formed the superior officers of the organization. Even the Pagoda Master could not do as he wished. However, the Pagoda Master had the right to veto, which was the greatest power he held. The vice Pagoda Master and spiriters had two votes each, which was only one vote less than the Pagoda Master's three votes. Every council elder had one vote. Whenever there was an important decision to be made, it was the time for a collective vote to be done.

Fan Lin was briefing over the parchment that Gu Yue threw on his table before leaving.

It was the approval letter from the Spirit Pagoda council that they have taken interest in his small project and will allow him to use the name of the Spirit Pagoda to complete his 'Reforestation'.

What reforestation you ask?

For that, we have to look back at the contents of the small project of Fan Lin.

[Project - Resurgence of Life (Temporary name)

I am Fan Lin. A rank 51 Spirit King and a three word Battle Armorer. I want to be a Four Word Battle Armor before I reach 20 and obviously need the resources and wealth for that.

I have a small shop that earns me millions every month and I am a certified Rank 7 Mecha Designer with a little bit of prestige.

I have attached my other information with this file with my contact ID. Feel free to call me if you are interested in me.

Now that the introductions over. Let's get to the main topic.

<Omit the first few paragraphs if you are not interested in the origins of my ability.>

After the acquisition of my hundred thousand year old spirit soul and fifth spirit ring, I was severely disappointed in my soul skills that it provided me. One was Boundless Vitality that increases the effects of my plant related soul skills and the second was Blue Silver Energy Spear, a chargeable attack that wasn't that devastating as it is a weaker mutated version of the Blue Silver Emperor Spear of Tang San.

My first soul skill increased my digestion. My second soul skill was Crystallokinesis and allowed crystal manipulation. My third soul skill was a passive Energy body that increased my physical abilities. My fourth soul skill increases my cultivation speed in areas rich with ice elements.

Four soul skills, only one usable for combat.

Now you should be able to understand my disappointment and the reason for the following actions that I was going to take.

I wanted a stronger soul skill or at least an upgrade and hence decided to combine all my spirit rings together and now they aren't separating.

But I gained a new soul skill as I wanted. Name - Boundless Ring, Increases the growth of plants. That's it but the area of effect and quality of the improvement has increases with the amount of soul power you input.

The side effect being that I can't use any of my previous soul skills, even my Crystallokinesis.

Now I am a control type Spirit King with a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and just one soul skill and even that increases the growth of plants around me.

You should be able to understand my need for wealth and the reason why I want a Four Word Battle Armor. I hope so.

(I have attached all the pictures, skill effects, Spirit Pagoda staff assessment on my new spirit ring and other to the end of the file.)

Now that the 1st page is already over, let's get to the serious stuff.

Second Page :

Below is the map of the whole Douluo Continent and the green dots are the barren points that come into the public and private zone.

Throughout the whole of Douluo Continent, I have found out and compiled 55,634 areas that could be reforested. The area ranging from a few hundred metres to hundreds of kilometres.

Most of these area are not suitable for the growing conditions of the plants as they fall in deserts, polluted areas, dry and barren lands or rocky mountains with no vegetation; and growing trees or plants using normal methods would be near impossible in these places. It doesn't affect me in any kind though.

My plan is to replant the areas and get some money from the Federation for it.

Since the Federation Parliament is already drafting many bills to save the environment and all, I hope to ride on this chance to earn a huge amount of money from them while also doing a good work.

There is just a small problem. The Federation won't give me any kind of monetary compensation even if I were to reforest the whole Douluo Continent.

The Spirit Pagoda comes into the play here. I want to use the name of the Spirit Pagoda to sign a deal with the Federation on the reforestation of marked areas and even areas that they want for a price.

The Spirit Pagoda can take 40%, I take 50% and the remaining ten percent can be donated to the charity to instill a better public image.

The whole project is mine alone and I am also the only expenditure (just my boarding and traveling costs).

The Spirit Pagoda would get 40% of my earnings, a better public image among the public, and my allegiance just for sealing the deal.

I hope you approve of this.

(Once again, I have already attested and attached all the documents regarding this project in the file that was submitted to the Vice President, Leng Yaozhu on xx/xx) ]

The rest of the pages were pictures and locations of the barren land with the information of the local wildlife and vegetation and weather conditions.

Yeah, this was the project he sent to get approved upon and yeah, the first page was his friendly introduction.

It was mainly filled with believable lies with some hints of truth.

As for what was he reading to Leng Yaozhu before Gu Yue came, that was her wanting to know more about his project as his file didn't have that much details except for the locations and such.

And now his project was approved.

...

Spirit Pagoda only helds the council meeting for important purposes and this clearly wasn't that important to them but they still held a meeting.

Not because Leng Yaozhu urged them to. Also not because the President of the Spirit Pagoda Qiangu Donfeng allowed Fan Lin's project approval even before the meeting.

It was because Fan Lin send it to them and it was his first project under the Spirit Pagoda.

The whole higher hierarchy knew about the kid who had a hundred thousand year old spirit soul as his fifth ring while possessing a Three Word Battle Armor when he wasn't even a proper teen.

According to them, the future of Fan Lin was limitless since they were sure that none of them had seen a case like his in their whole lives.

So they all held a meeting, not to discuss about the project, that was already approved as Fan Lin had already stated, the only expenditure was him and Spirit Pagoda will get 40% of his earnings without doing anything at all.

To them it was a simple story: a poor boy who can grow plants is using it to earn money. That's it.

With their involvement, the Spirit Pagoda council members were sure that they will be able to get a really high deal from the Federation as one of the parliamentary factions was indeed planning and preaching about the environment conservation.

The topic of the discussion was Fan Lin and his arrival at Spirit Pagoda and him having no affiliations to any big background or families.

He was like a wild shiny that an adventure suddenly encountered, they were quite happy about him but the happiness was short-lived as the shiny evolves and the evolved form isn't a shiny.

That type of feeling.

They all discussed about the various aspects of him, his behaviour in the Spirit Ascension platform, his fighting styles in the Spirit Soul Tower and the fact that he had quit Shrek to join the Spirit Pagoda even though there was no need to quit Shrek to join the Spirit Pagoda.

The question baffled them to no end. They have seen kids literally breakdown and cry or form mental demons when they couldn't get into Shrek and then someone, a strong someone quits in the middle of his studies. That's sus.

The only possible answer that they came after a lot of discussion was that Fan Lin was either disgruntled at the fact that Shrek didn't invite him to the inner court with his strength or he might have a bad relationship to someone in Shrek.

They finally adjourned the meeting and decided to gather more information on him by themselves. If used well, Fan Lin can become a rising point for the Spirit Pagoda as he was strong, had strong physique, high cultivation speed, Three Word Battle Armor, a hundred thousand year old spirit soul and an orphan with no love interest.

He was practically a ready made dish that they can fully enjoy without much investment.

.....