Chapter 16: Training, Scattering Pursuers, and 8 Months(edited)

Chapter 16: Training, Scattering Pursuers, and 8 Months (edited)

Original word count = 991 on 6/27/2023 (i had finally remembered that 6/27 had actually been the day that I transitioned this book from a 'novel' to a 'fanfic' under webnovels view. So the first 20 had just been catching up to where the novel got to before I fixed my mistake. Just like Webnovel fixing their mistake and bringing back the author tab for the app. huzzah)

New word count = 1111 on 8/10/2023

After his disastrous defeat at the hands and feet of Xue Tie, Yu Xiaogang ran off to the local hotel that was reserved for the temporary members that came for the feast. Other youths from the Spirit Hall arrived and the party continued as they began to mingle amongst each other.

Nobody bothered to challenge Xue Tie as they were both cautious against him while also curious what his spirit skills are so they can try to get the upper hand in the competition. Whilst the less serious ones tried to simply court Bibi Dong but Xue Tie was adamant to serve as her guardian for the day.

This earned the ire of many boys while the girls turned their ire at Bibi Dong. Especially after they tasted the gummies and by asking the Spirit Hall's servants. Everyone learned that the gummies were Xue Tie's creation. His popularity rose further and the girls were practically swooning.

Even amongst the locals since they interact very little with him in the first place. Xue Tie instead gets bombarded on how he made it, where he sells them, and all the details. He can only direct them to his store provided by the Spirit Hall. The animosity for him has grown less as a result while for Bibi Dong it has grown higher.

"Money, looks, and strength. Oh, such an ideal man is so close yet so far.", some of the girls complain in their hearts or even vocally. Bibi Dong instead is confused by the hateful looks and how she earned the ire of the other girls as she is too inexperienced with love or anything not related to work/training or her duties to Spirit Hall. During the party, she only gave a speech and Introduced herself personally to a few of them while rejecting various newly formed group invitations.

After a few hours, the party soon ends. Most of the people are escorted to the same hotel as Yu Xiaogang while others return home. The same goes for Xue Tie and Bibi Dong.

Once the news gets around the city about the competition. The traveling merchants get to work, either as hired help or for free due to the excitement. The world's reaction was quite interesting. Many people were excited to see what the next generation of youths could do while others were upset it was limited to Spirit Hall only, and the last handful of people interested in the competition do so to gather information about the next generation of Spirit Hall. By limiting the competition and with such appetizing rewards, this makes Spirit Hall only more appealing as compared to other clans or even empires.

Yet such things do not matter to our protagonist. Both he and Bibi Dong resumed their training from the business and interactions with others.

Unfortunately, over the course of the 8 months, they were the ones responsible for the safety of the temporary members. So they had to resolve fights and arguments. Bibi Dong had to deal with less of that after a week of interruptions in her cultivation. She directly beat up every one of the girls and even the boys who were causing trouble with the girls. The fear of death was delivered and they settled down quickly.

The boys were more difficult as they took it as a challenge from Xue Tie but he never used his martial spirit to beat them down. It got to a point where they stage fights to distract Xue Tie from cultivation. And unlike Bibi Dong, he does not have the adequate status to beat them up. Even if he calls himself Bibi Dong's senior brother. It's not an official title by the Spirit Hall. Yet people caught on quickly to what Is going on and all the merchants who deal business with Xue Ties store whether as suppliers or intermediaries for selling jello and gummies. They raised their prices right in the face of those newcomers. The daily food expenses skyrocketed and in the last 3 months, they finally simmered down otherwise they would all be broke. Mostly due to their temporary status, they could not take missions except city ones like cleaning the streets and whatnot. These don't pay much and also distract them from cultivating too.

Soon, 8 months pass and decorations are arranged everywhere in Spirit City, to celebrate the junior Spirit Master competition starting in 2 days. Many people arrived and a large fan base was made regarding Gummy Beasts.

Xue Tie's store became a popular hit due to the variety of various candies and forms of the gummies except for chocolate and its stretchy nature which is amusing to both kids and new adults arriving in the city. It didn't help that Xue Tie announced a special discount for the duration of the competition, offering a small treat bag for any purchase above a certain amount.

This spiked sales but the employees were warned months before this deal and so a large surplus was arranged through the help of collaboration. Businesses who wanted to study how Gelatin was made and perhaps find their own method or craft regarding gelatin. Every time Xue Tie proposed such events and conditions, all other merchants took notice and began their own types like anniversaries, birthday events and even a similar Junior Spirit Master Competition discount for the duration of the competition

Xue Tie even got to meet his parents again, they were surprised that Xue Tie is ready a spirit Grandmaster (3 rings spirit master), though it wasn't out of their expectations. Even Xue Tie was surprised by his speed as in the past few months he realized that the special energy which had been helping him this whole time was likely the after-effects of the herb he ate from the Trials and not Vin as he guessed it was the alternative. No, Vin only helps in prolonging his periods of meditation while the herb was making it more effective. Xue Tie was saddened his cultivation slowed down but he found it fine since he has already set up a very good basis for his power.