Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Sitting inside the carriage, Ethan Drake listened to the hoofbeats he had heard for an entire month. With some emotion, he looked through the window toward the top of the city gate. There, the words "Spirit City" stood clearly.
After the carriage entered Spirit City, Ethan Drake lowered the curtain and once again reviewed the speech he had planned.
First, greet her politely. Then use the Elder Token to exchange for a cultivation method. After that, ask indirectly about the matter of twin Martial Souls. Finally, end with love.
After all, they had loved each other once. She would surely agree, right?
Although Ethan Drake, known as the "Master," had been unable to swallow his pride and see her again all these years, he would obtain a Heaven Grade cultivation method for Tang San no matter what. Even if it cost him face, even if he had to sell misery and hardship, he had to get it.
Ethan Drake strengthened his resolve in his heart. Just then, cheers sounded beside his carriage.
"Aha, Luci, come chase me! Mine is a spirit-drive bike fitted with a Spirit Meister-grade Spirit Power block. Can you catch up?"
"It is only a Spirit Meister-grade Spirit Power block. Nare, just you wait. My dad said that while a bicycle is not as effortless as a spirit-drive bike, as long as you work hard, its speed has no upper limit!"
Listening to the two children cheering outside, Ethan Drake frowned in confusion. "Spirit-drive bike? Bicycle? What are those?"
Ethan Drake pulled open the curtain and looked outside. Two children were there, both riding vehicles with only a front wheel and a rear wheel. One boy had his front foot placed on a small platform and looked relaxed. The other boy looked exhausted as he kept pedaling with both legs.
Looking at the two fast-moving unknown "vehicles," Ethan Drake thought in confusion, "What are those things?"
He observed them the entire way but could not make sense of them. Only after reaching his destination did he finally give up.
"Driver, do you know what those two vehicles are?" Ethan Drake asked the driver after stepping down from the carriage, pointing at the two vehicles as they went away.
"Hm, sir, you are not a local, are you? Those are a spirit-drive bike and a bicycle. I hear they are products from the Soulcraft Shop.
"A bicycle alone costs one gold spirit coin. You can custom-order a stronger or prettier one, but that is definitely more expensive.
"As for the spirit-drive bike, I hear the cheapest one costs twenty gold, and it can only carry an ordinary Spirit Master-grade Spirit Power block."
"Wait. What is that Spirit Power block?" Another unknown term in the driver's words caught Ethan Drake's attention. In the short time since he arrived in Spirit City, this was already the third thing he had heard that he did not recognize.
"I hear it can store Spirit Power, and it can also be used to operate many spirit tools. Right, that spirit-drive bike from earlier is one kind of spirit tool."
"Then spirit tools..."
After that, Ethan Drake asked the driver many questions about spirit tools. As a carriage driver who traveled all over the place, the man knew a little more than ordinary people. He could answer about half of Drake's questions, but he truly knew nothing about principles or manufacturing methods. If not for the fact that this man had hired him for a full month, he would not have bothered answering so much.
Only after Ethan Drake could no longer get anything else from him did he let the driver leave. Then he turned and entered the inn he had already chosen.
After paying for lodging, the first thing Ethan Drake did was return to his room and start touching and testing everything.
"So this is a Spirit Power block and a Spirit Power lamp. The brightness really is stronger than ordinary candles... This is a water heater. Is it also controlled by a Spirit Power block? That driver said these things are already present in the imperial capitals of Polaris and Star Stripe. I only did not pass through the Polaris capital on this trip, so I never saw them."
After tinkering for a while, the scattered spirit tools in the room could no longer satisfy Ethan Drake's curiosity. Now, he urgently wanted to visit the Soulcraft Shop the driver had mentioned.
Ethan Drake tightened the front of his clothing and felt the hard Elder Token against his chest. A thought arose in his mind.
"After I see Bibi Dong, I am not sure whether I can keep this Elder Token. Why not let it be useful one more time?"
With the idea and the confidence to back it, Ethan Drake acted immediately. He left the inn, called another carriage, and gave his destination: the main branch of the Soulcraft Shop.
After roughly ten minutes by carriage, Ethan Drake arrived before the Soulcraft Shop's main storefront.
The main store was enormous, even larger than the Spirit Hall branch in Notting City by two full circles. The colorful little lanterns above the signboard were one reason it drew his attention.
Before Ethan Drake even went inside, the two guards stationed at the door caught his eye. Normally, he would not have looked twice at two gatekeepers. But if those two gatekeepers had obvious Spirit Power, the matter was different.
Because his own Spirit Power level was what it was, he could not accurately judge their level. But if he had to say it, those two felt no weaker than the Spirit Hall branch master in Notting City.
In other words, two Spirit Leaders, or possibly even Spirit Daoists, were only qualified to guard the door here.
While Ethan Drake was shocked by Spirit Hall's wealth, he also grew curious about what exactly was inside this Soulcraft Shop that could make at least Spirit Leader-level Spirit Masters serve as door guards.
As he walked to the Soulcraft Shop entrance, even he, the "Master," became unconsciously nervous. But the hard object at his chest filled him with confidence again.
He gently pushed the door open. A spacious, bright, and spotless hall appeared before his eyes.
What kind of environment a place had determined what kind of mood it gave people. Ethan Drake's mood had just eased when a Spirit Elite carrying a mop and broom quietly walked past in front of him. The tension that had just faded from Drake returned at once.
Spirit Power level had always been one of his sore spots. No one here mocked him, but their silent actions made him feel a far deeper mockery instead.
As the saying went, one either exploded in silence or perished in silence.
"Go. Call your manager out." Ethan Drake waved his hand at a receptionist, and the Elder Token appeared in his palm.
The Elder Token. Seeing this token was like seeing an elder.
"Greetings, Elder!"
Everyone bowed.
Ethan Drake nodded in satisfaction at the behavior of these Spirit Hall members.
"Enough. Bring the person in charge here. I need to speak with him."
After that, under the receptionist's enthusiastic reception, Ethan Drake sat there like an honored lord and began drinking tea.
A short while later, a somewhat plump middle-aged man with an honest-looking smile arrived before Ethan Drake.
"Greetings, Elder. I am the manager here. What orders do you have?"
Ethan Drake sensed the man's Spirit Power, which was even richer than Flender's Spirit King-level aura, and one term surfaced in his mind.
Spirit Emperor!