5 Scroll

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(Jing's POV)

(Location: Glory City)

As we strolled past the vendors and stores, my eyes darted from place to place trying to find something suitable for me, but sadly there wasn't anything of value. That was until we walked past an old lady selling what appeared to be her family's heirlooms. 'No way is that what I think it is?'

"What's the problem?" Lin asked as I stopped in front of the old lady's little shop. I had strolled passed all of the valuable heirlooms and instead made my way over to a blank scroll. In truth, everything here was useless, well everything except this one scroll. I would have walked right past it if it weren't for Nie Lie's memories, and the reason this scroll was so valuable was because it was a blank Black-Gold ranked scroll.

Since it was blank, I would be able to make my own inscriptions on it; though I'd have to ask an Inscriptionist as my rank is too low as of now. "I just found something interesting, that's all," I replied as I called out to the old lady.

"The blank scroll, how much for it, Grandma?" I asked as I quickly inspected the scroll to make sure I wasn't making a mistake.

"Child, it's just a blank scroll, I'll take whatever willing to pay, no one's willing to buy a blank scroll after all."

Nodding, "Here, this should be enough. Take care of your family," I said to her as I handed her 50,000 demon spirit coins.

To be completely honest, this was already a scam for her: the most basic of Silver rank blank scrolls would range from 10,000 to 85,000 DSC. Besides, 50,000 demon spirit coins meant nothing to me, but considering the average income for commoners was 2,000 DSC, this money would help her out a lot.

"This…this is too much, 1,000 is fine. Please take it back," she stammered as she tried to hand the money back.

"Don't worry about it. This is nothing to my little brother, you're better off just taking it," Lin countered as he shook his head.

After spending some more time persuading her, she finally relented and took the money and we were off on our way. We were now searching for a shop that was run by the Alchemist Association, they tended to have everything a cultivator could need.

After walking for a few more minutes Lin finally turned to me with curiosity burning in his eyes. "That was a lot of demon spirit coins, so why'd you buy that?" he asked once more since I didn't bother telling him about what the scroll actually was.

I remained quiet for a few moments and only when the suspense had set in enough did I speak. "It's a blank Black-Gold ranked scroll. Do you know how rare those are? All the inscriptions we have on this level of scrolls are old and incomplete, not to mention there are barely any good Inscriptionists left who can actually make their own inscriptions; all they do is copy leftovers from the previous eras, leave them incomplete, and parade it around like it's their own accomplishment." I shook my head in disgust, I know that they wanted money but at least take pride in your work.

Lin fell silent for a few moments before he burst into laughter. "Haha, don't let those Master Inscriptionists hear you, Jing, otherwise they might die from a heart attack," he continued laughing as I joined in.

"You're right, since they can't do anything to the Young Master of the Divine Family they'll just have to torment whichever poor soul comes to them for inscriptions," I replied as my laughter died down and pity for whomever went to those old geezers set in. My dad is almost a five-star-Black-Gold ranked cultivator, and my mom is a two-star, nearing three-star, Black-Gold ranked expert as well, so there really was nothing any inscriptionist could do to me, but commoners, well let's just say that wasn't the case.

"You've got a point there," he replied before turning back to me. "Oh right I just remembered, didn't you read all the books about Alchemy and Inscriptions in the family? Don't tell me you're trying to be an Alchemist, Inscriptionist, and a Demon Spiritualist all at once!"

"Would you like a mic? People are already looking at us," I said as Lin said the last part a bit too loud and drew the attention of a few ongoers "And why do you think I read all those books for?"

To be honest, the only reason I even bothered reading those books was so that when I showed off my - Nie Lie's - abilities with inscriptions and alchemy my family wouldn't be too shocked as there would already be a foundation.

He scratched his head slightly at the reprimand before continuing, "My bad, I guess if anyone can do it, it's you."

"Of course, when I become a master inscriptionist and alchemist maybe I'll give you a discount," I replied as we arrived at the shop. Before we made our way inside I noticed a group of people exiting the shop.

'Fuck, please don't notice us, please!' I begged silently in my mind, as I put my head down and forced Lin to do the same.

I recognized the kid at the front of the group, my family did make me memorize all important figures within the city after all.

However, it seemed like luck wasn't on my side today as the kid immediately noticed us and sauntered his way over with an arrogant smile.

"Oh is that you Linjian?" he asked as the group behind him followed his lead dutifully.

The kid had crimson hair and sported a cocky smile that only served to infuriate me. From the way it looked to me, his face was built to be punched.

"Shen Fei," Lin greeted, "It's been a while since we last met. How are you?" he asked with a smile on his face, though it seemed forced.

The little shits smirk only grew, "I've been good. I just went up to a 2-start Bronze rank; last I heard you were still a 1-star Bronze rank," he said with the most condescending voice I had ever heard. God this dude was really playing the young master troupe perfectly.

Lin's smile faltered for a moment before he responded, "Haha, don't worry about me," he laughed, though anyone with any common sense could see how uncomfortable he really was.

I was still debating whether or not to interfere in this situation, but it seemed like Shen Fie truly wanted a beating with what he said next.

"Who's this little tweep? Hanging out with commoners now?" he sneered which was followed by condescending laughter from the rest of his group, further pissing me off.

Forcing down my anger I replied with a smirk, "My name is Chen Jing, the next heir to the Divine Family. Also, do you really have nothing better to be doing than antagonizing my elder brother? It seems like the Sacred Family can't even teach their children how to identify their betters."

As I saw Shen Fie getting angry, I decided to quash whatever sentiments of retaliation he could form by releasing a bit of my Soul Force in tandem with Nie Lie's bloodlust. Pardon me for being cliche, but it truly must have felt like standing in front of Mount Tai for him.

My Soul Force was already seven times stronger than the average person, and that coupled with Nie Lie's terrifying bloodlust could instill fear in even Silver rank experts. So it wasn't to anyone's surprise that Shen Fie and his entire group were rendered immobile from my presence.

'Huh, Shen Fie's Soul Force was way weaker than I thought it would be,' I mused, no matter how strong I was, Shen Fie's Soul Force strength should have at least been two times that of the average person considering he was from the Sacred Family.

Oh wait, it's probably because he used a shit load of potions to cultivate to where he was right now. Using potions is good and all but when you use too much, it can damage your foundation, hence why it was best to first create the best foundation and then spam potions. Not to mention that Shen Fie had used low-ranked potions, which would only further hamper his cultivation.

'One should use potions to supplement their cultivation only when needed. Oh well, it's not my problem.'

"Next time you see me or my brother, remember your place." With those parting words, I walked past the group and reeled my Soul Force back in.

Shen Fie nearly exploded once he heard what I had to say, but he didn't do anything back out of fear.

Originally I didn't want to interact with anyone from the Scared Family as I was just going to let Nie deal with them, but it seems like I was hoping for too much.

Those guys were really too much, it's best they're destroyed as soon as possible.

'Hmm, I can probably do what Nie Lie did and just slowly reveal that they've been claiming the works of others as their own, and once their reputation has plummeted enough I can reveal their ties to the Dark Guild, and with that their family will be captured and subjugated.'

After dealing with the Sacred Family Lin and I continued to make our way into the shop, but Lin seemed far more reserved than before.

"You have anything you're looking for?" I asked Lin as I looked around the shop. I needed to get some Soul Force crystals, some recovery pills, some herbs for some potions I'll be making, and anything else that's interesting. I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted so why not; it really was nice being rich.

"Some elixirs," Lin answered as he stood still for a few moments. "Thanks for the help outside, but next time let your big bro handle it," he continued in a subdued voice.

I chuckled slightly, though not unkindly as I responded. "Haha, I'm your brother, so you shouldn't think I'm just going to let some trash from the Sacred Family make fun of you."

His smile seemed to return at that. "I appreciate it. But that brat Shen Fei, he's going to be a problem now. He's probably going to go and tattle to his elders," Lin said with some worry, but I just laughed it off.

"Don't worry they won't, the Sacred Family cares a lot about face so they won't let anyone know that someone who's two years younger than Shen Fei outclassed him. Besides I can sense some experts protecting us," I whispered into his ear before I continued looking around the shop.

"You should've just told me that from the start!" he yelled as I broke into laughter.

(2 Hours Later)

"I can't believe you just wasted 300,000 DSC all in one go," Jing complained as I waved off his concerns.

"It's fine, we're rich," I chuckled as a purple-haired girl appeared in front of us, with another middle-aged woman following behind her.

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Hey guys, hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter. I know the scroll kind of came out of nowhere, but Nie Lie had similar luck and he won't be getting OP stuff all the time either.

By the way, who do you guys want to be the female lead? I have an idea, but I'm not really too sure who to go with. Just comment on whoever you wish for. Also, probably won't go down the harem route so just one lol.

Also still unsure about whether to kill of Nie Lie or not; MC pretty much just an off-brand version of him anyways lmao. No, but seriously, leave what you want cause I don't really have a clue

Chapter's 2k words, so once again I hope you enjoyed it, peace out, and thanks for reading, and have a good day/night. And drop them power stones, lol.