13 Chapter 13: Returning to Spirit City, Tempering The Body, and Rest of Title at the end

Chapter 13: Returning to Spirit City, rest of title at the end (redone)

Original title = : Returning to Spirit City, Tempering the Body and rest of title at the end

Original word count = 1368 on 6/27/2023

New word count = 1773 on 8/6/2023

After spending 2 days recovering enough from the injuries Xue Tie obtained during the mission. They start their journey back to Spirit Hall. The trio of Shi Yu, Bibi Dong and Xue Tie prep the carriage. Well, mostly Shi Yu and Bibi Dong since Xue Tie's arms are still healing, and need at least a week of rest to fully recover from getting holes torn through them like swiss cheese but not as severe. He was instead sent on various diplomatic scenarios regarding acquiring a carriage that could take them back since it was a rental from a company that specializes in carriages. It's a subsidiary of the 7 Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Clan. Payment is made, luggage packaged and they set off once more.

The journey this time is uneventful except for Bibi Dong choosing to lie down on Xue Tie's lap when she wants to rest. Xue Tie naturally doesn't mind and is glad his local tsundere is getting comfortable around him.

After a few days of journeying, Xue Tie has mostly recovered but there are some minor issues related to his shredded muscles that still need to be rebuilt. So Xue Tie was given a few days that he spent recovering and working on his personal food based project. By the time his break is done, he only has at most 2 steps left before it's done. He was able to set up the final preparation in the meantime while also training his energy control since his arms were useless during this time.

He negotiated with the cooking staff of Spirit Hall for various resources and utensils, allowing him to create the necessary setup

Once his rest ends and Xue Tie regains the full usage of his arms, he returns to training. He achieves a breakthrough in level shortly after a few more days. Training continues like before but Bibi Dong and Xue Tie coordinate much better now after their life and death struggle.

Which means their instructor, Shi Yu gets to start sweating a bit as Bibi Dong's new spirit skill creates a poison mist, one that Bibi Dong has gently exposed Xue Tie to over the period of their journey back as well as the next month of their training. This has built up his tolerance to various poisons though he needs to undergo the process every so often when Bibi Dong achieves a breakthrough. But the poison also tempers his body, cleansing his meridians or simply toughening it up quite a bit.

(A/N: her first 2 spirit rings were never revealed but after that it will follow cannon)

Also as a reward for the successful mission, he was given his own Small storage item called Gazelle. Once in his room, he stored away all his essentials except clothes since he has no plans to leave but his food idea as well as Vin and Clause are stored away. He only takes out Clause when he cultivates at night anyways. Vin might have been useful on the previous mission but he has no valid reason to actually have it without revealing his ancient clan heritage and the mission succeeded regardless.

After 2 months, Xue Tie was finally able to finalize his project. It had taken so long b/c he wanted to get a better relationship with the Spirit Hall's cooks so he could use their kitchen without supervision. Using the bones of animals he had collected, he had long ago boiled them and gotten Collagen. Then during the first 2 months, he had ground down the collagen into a powder that goes by another name entirely. GELATIN.

With Gelatin and a steady supply of sugar and other ingredients he has collected plus the permission to use the kitchen. He has made it. Jello. Though a little bit sloppy still, it's progress and a craftsman should always refine his art. Which is what he does. Each following attempt is made better or turned into variance.

Xue Tie figures out how gummy worms and gummy bears are made as well in his experimentation. Upgrades people, Upgrades.

His process becomes faster and more refined each time and his own taste buds have never been so happy. The gelatin was also used as a natural food preservative through the mixing of liquids such as broths or just water. Gelatin is afterall just protein. Xue Tie can only thank the gods that Collagen is naturally flavorless and odorless otherwise his room would have stunk to hell.

(A/N: I did me fookin' research mate. Also the broth part is from personal experience, a type of Polish dish where shredded chicken, peas and carrots are put into small cups or inside glass pans and cooled. The top of it may get glazed over with frost and bits of fat but that can be rubbed off. I like it with vinegar. The stronger the better :). Fight me if you dare. )

While training years pass, Xue Tie cooks and occasionally does minor missions dealing with bandits or escape spirit beasts. He had cleared up the group that he had encountered before during his first mission in the process. Those guys aren't making any sort of comeback. You would think that the story of a child melting someone into a borderline puddle would suffice to make some people give up banditry but some people are just dumb.

In the meantime, Xue Tie reaches level 30 and has gotten his third spirit ring by visiting home and getting a ring from the kennel. He is trusted enough by spirit hall to get his own third ring. Unfortunately the age of the ring was a bit low in comparison to what his current limits are but the ability is still good.

Bibi Dong is also not far from reaching level 30 as well. While Xue Tie could help her break down the consciousness of her rings, he didn't feel safe revealing the ability to Spirit hall yet or if he ever plans to.

(A/N: I am working under the assumption that someone being in their 30s and being a titled douluo is acceptable. As I was basing it off of Tang hao being an early bird but as i'm writing this, I learned that Tang hao was 44 when Tang San was born or something. I wasn't sure. Not sure how I want to handle this since I had already mentioned that Gui Mei was already crowned as Ghost Douluo which means he is a titled douluo and around his mid-30s. So I could just make Tang Hao younger. It would explain a few of his dumb actions and why he mostly retains his look of being 30 when Tang San awakens and the story from that point. Regardless, Now that I know, I'll slow down their cultivation a bit. Cause at this rate. MC would be titled douluo in his mid 20s. Other fanfics might have it even younger but i want to stay a bit closer to the original and then make a twists later on)

(Remake edit: while looking back, I only mentioned Ghost Douluo's physical looking age and not his real age but I don't plan to change anything, just assume that everyone is more talented and mid to late 30s can produce the typical titled douluo. Which is why they get 'stuck' on that age for their appearance. And thus, Tang Hao would be early 30s to showcase his 'talent'. Makes it more believable that Tang San can become titled douluo in his 20s)

Walking in front of Spirit Hall and down the roads of spirit city is a Trolley showing off various snack like goods of a similar nature. Behind the trolley is another flat 1 foot high cart that holds a statue on it. The statue is a jello version of Godzilla. Many people, adults and especially children are curious, especially the name of the goods: 'Gummy Beasts'.

An 11 year old boy is manning the trolley as he finds a nice open area to stop and sets a chair down as he waits. This child is obviously Xue Tie who has grown up and has even taken the time to establish a tiny store for himself in his free time. Xue Tie had been able to add lots more detail to his craftsmanship over the long period of time. Xue Tie sets up a few cups of free samples to get the people interested in it while also hanging out a 2nd sign explaining the product, it reads.

"Gelatin is a product made from bones of animals like cows and pigs, through a unique process it had been refined into a powder mixed with a combination of other ingredients to create Jello or gummies. These are sweet treats for all ages and with no health problems except with overconsumption."

As for why he is informing the people of where the main ingredients are from for his store. It's mostly to educate the people who were limited in their thinking. it also serves as a sort of infomercial to attract attention before emphasizing the sweetness of the treat.

Below the text are prices for various amounts of Gummies. Specific bottles have been prepared for selling and storage of the gummies, other than simply giving out baggies of the candy which is an option.. The top of the cart has mostly prearranged bottles and in front is a display of hundreds of gummies scattered around, ready to be scooped up. While behind the cart are more prearranged bottles and bags of various weights.

Chapter 13: Returning to Spirit City, Tempering The Body, Jelly and Years Pass

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Today August 6th 2023, Webnovel has changed their set up and so i cant update my chapters on my phone anymore. Which is a dumb move. It's just annoying now to go on the dumb inkstone page, sign in and then update on my laptop. It's slower.

I also no longer know if i get power stones, comments or new subscribers for my books. How could you WebNovel? Just when I was getting comfortable ...I almost thought I lost all my chapters because only a certain number of chapters are available per 'scroll page' and I only saw 2 and thought i was looking at my other trashed book of the same name that I only left with 2 chapters.