CHAPTER 286: CHAPTER 146 OPPORTUNITY_3

Ever since discovering those lights outside Black Death City that could enhance the Symbiotic Contract quality, Li Xiu had been thinking about whether he could upgrade the quality of the Fire Lotus Sword as well.

If the Fire Lotus Sword’s quality could also be upgraded to Radiance, combined with its 0.9 Primordial Embryo Quality, it would be quite powerful.

Unfortunately, those lights are things one can only stumble upon by chance, and it might not be easy to get hold of them anytime soon.

After waiting for more than an hour, the flames were still burning continuously. Shale came running over, looked at the flames, and said, "I thought something happened to you, so here you are playing with fire, what’s the situation?"

"I don’t know either, the statue’s mouth seems connected to earth fire, one of my Parasitic Contracts went in by itself, perhaps it wants to use the earth fire here to temper its Primordial Embryo, enhancing its quality to level up," Li Xiu replied.

"This works too? Then I’ll give it a try." Shale took off the Overlord Gloves and was about to throw them into the fire.

However, the Overlord Gloves seemed to be stuck to his hand, and no matter how many times Shale tried to throw them, he couldn’t get them off.

"Don’t mess around; different contracts require different opportunities for upgrading. This earth fire may not be suitable for your contract," Li Xiu said, somewhat helplessly. Shale could be a real daredevil at times.

Only then did Shale give up and put away the Overlord Gloves. But he was still not willing to let it go, so he ran to explore other parts of the Ancient City, circling around but coming back empty-handed.

"What a crappy place, besides this flaming statue, there’s nothing good here," Shale muttered in frustration.

Li Xiu just smiled and said nothing. Shale was quite the chatterbox; when Li Xiu first joined the football team, Shale was the first to jump up and tease him.

"Old Sha, I have something to ask you." Since there was nothing else to do, Li Xiu looked at Shale and said.

"What is it?" Shale looked at Li Xiu warily; he always felt there was nothing good when Li Xiu spoke to him in this tone.

"I think you’re pretty decent, so why do you have such a bad reputation?" Li Xiu actually wanted to know why everyone said Shale was a ruthless and cruel murderer before.

Shale sighed, "I didn’t want to kill anyone either, but I couldn’t survive. That year a plague of locusts struck my hometown; there wasn’t even tree bark to eat, let alone crops. My parents and several younger siblings all starved to death. I was so hungry I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to steal from the neighbor’s house. The man of the house did business outside, not exactly rich, but far better off than us farmers. At least they could eat."

Li Xiu fell silent, not sure what to say. When one is pushed to the brink of starvation, there’s nothing they won’t do.

But then unexpectedly, Shale laughed and punched Li Xiu’s chest, "I’m not what you think, I didn’t kill those people."

"At that time, I was so weak from hunger. It was my first time doing something like that, so naturally, I was really nervous and clumsy. I got caught by that family in the act. But they didn’t beat me. Instead, they gave me a bowl of rice. I’ll never forget how that couple had their daughter pass me the bowl of rice. The feeling... that rice... was so damn fragrant..."

"Later, when I really had no food and was desperately hungry, I would sneak over and steal some food. Every time, I would find something in the kitchen cabinet. Not much, but enough to keep me alive. I knew they left it for me on purpose."

At this point, Shale’s face twisted with anger, "Then one night, when I went to their house to steal food, I found the whole family lying in a pool of blood, everything taken away."

"I later found out after inquiring around; some bastards robbed their food and killed the whole family. I planned for over half a month and sneaked into one of the guy’s houses at midnight, ate his food, then stabbed the guy a few times while he was sleeping and bound him up. I didn’t kill him; he bled to death... Not one of those bastards got away... I personally took them all down..." Shale sighed, "Then I ran away and risked my life in the Trial Ground. Life has gotten better, but now, no matter how sumptuous the meal is, nothing tastes as good as it used to."

Li Xiu had never experienced such a life, so naturally, he couldn’t fully empathize, but he listened in silence.

"I don’t believe in any morality now. Whoever pays me, I’ll work for them. Do you need people? As long as the money is right, I’ll leave Kun Sha and work with you," Shale said with a laugh.

"You’ve probably heard about my situation. Things are going well in the City of Light. You’re welcome to come over anytime, but I’m really short on cash now, so I can’t offer a high salary," Li Xiu laughed.

"That’s fine. What’s a salary? Just take me into the Land of Trial a few times, and I’ll have everything I need," Shale chuckled.

As they spoke, they noticed the flame in the mouth of the Demon Spirit Statue starting to weaken. In a moment, the flame receded into the statue’s mouth and kept shrinking inside.

Soon enough, the flame became lower and lower, until it disappeared completely.

Li Xiu and Shale walked to the edge of the statue’s mouth to look down and saw a pitch-black opening. They couldn’t tell how deep it was; there was no light inside anymore.

Suddenly, a red glow flashed out from the darkness below, skimming past Li Xiu, swirling a few times in the air before stopping in front of him.

At this moment, the Fire Lotus Sword was thinner than ever, with a faint red glow emanating from its blade, with hints of gold within the red glow.

Upon closer inspection, the blade seemed to be covered with fine scales, originally crossed with faint golden thin light patterns covering the blade, resembling scales, yet also like layers of lotus petals overlapping on the blade.

Sensing the information from the Fire Lotus Sword, it had indeed upgraded from E-level to D-level and even gained a Talent Skill.

Fire Lotus Sword: Parasitic Contract.

Quality: Radiant.

Level: E.

Primordial Embryo Quality: 1.9.

Talent Skill: Fire Lotus Sword Spirit, Fire Lotus Birth.