The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao did not say anything and quietly watched as Mark worked on the armor on the anvil. He finished casting the first armor. He did not use the snakeskin after that but went on to use the same process and cast two more metallic armors. 

After he was done, he turned around and was about to say something when he spotted Daina standing in a daze. He was surprised but then smiled. He nodded and walked to the side table where the set of snakeskins was placed. He brought the snakeskin and stretched it over the armor. Then he used a few tongs to make them hold the snakeskin in place. 

Then he placed the armor inside the furnace. He adjusted the temperature of the flames and activated a few arrays inside the furnace. The objective of this action was to make the metal heat up and the snakeskin attacks itself to the metal due to high heat. However, Mark did not want to burn the scales on the outside. The strength of a golden core beast was strong enough to handle the blow of the same strength and with the circulation of the spirit energy, it could even handle a blow at the full strength of a nascent soul realm cultivator. 

The armor was made from some precious metal combined with the scales of a golden core five-colored boa. This armor would be able to take a blow from an early stage ascended mortal realm cultivator. After the metal and the snakeskin stuck to each other. Mark took it out of the furnace and placed it on the anvil again. He spoke directly into the mind of Yang Dao, " What sort of inscription you want, it is up to you. I will just add the basic ones." 

The boy nodded and Mark began to work. He added a standard fortification inscription on the inside of the armor. This inscription will make the armor stronger when the spirit energy is channeled through it. The ink to write inscriptions was made of grade six material and was very expensive. 

Mark did the same thing for the two more armors and said to Lars, "This is done." 

Lars nodded and took out a pouch from his space ring, and said, "Take it, Dao will not owe, you know more than I do." 

The two completed the transaction. Daina seemed to have woken up at this moment. She looked around and asked, "Dao, would you believe what I just saw?" 

Yang Dao said, "You just saw the metal structure, how it alters when mixed with other elements and refined under the strong beating of the hammer and lightning. Right?" his tone was very steady and calm. 

Daina nodded and asked, "How do you know? Did you also gain insights?" 

The boy shook his head with a smile and said, "I saw this same thing when I was six. Senior Mark was refining a sword for my cousin and we were watching him. However, they do not allow me to take up refining, being paranoid about my growth." 

He glared at his uncle making the person feel goosebumps. Lars said, "You are in the sect now. You can take up all the courses and streams you want. I will not tell your grandmother." 

Yang Dao squinted his eyes and said, "Old Man, these are your words. If you dared go back on them, and someone came up to scold me, I will push the blame on you and you know very well what will happen then." 

Lars said, "You, how come the ladies at home call you rabbit? You are a young fox, through and through." 

Yang Dao shrugged and said, "I will tell mother you called her fox." 

Lars was stumped and so were the others. They never expected this kid to be so black-bellied. Mark said, "Good boy." as he burst into loud laughter. 

Yang Dao walked over to the table where the three armors were placed. He said, "Senior Mark, you are still using this crude technique. Why do you not go to join some sect and you will promote to the saint refiner rank." 

Mark shook his head and said, "You know that I do not like to be bounded. I will create a technique of my own. Do not worry, I will soon complete it and then I will refine you an elegant long spear." 

Yang Dao looked at the man and sighed. He waved his hand and kept one armor in his space ring and picked up another one to walk over to Alisha and stuffed it in her hands. The girl could still not believe what was happening to her because this armor was a treasured artifact of grade four. She wanted to give it back to Yang Dao but noticing his strict gaze she could only accept it.

Yang Dao said, "Senior Mark, Uncle Lars, we shall leave now, the auction at the trading center should have ended by now, we need to regroup and leave back to the sect." 

Mark nodded and Lars gave Yang Dao a gentle embrace and said, "Be careful out there. Okay?" 

Yang Dao nodded and then the three disciples left after greeting the elders. Mark said, "Lars, this brat is very gifted. He can surely achieve the saint ranks in any profession he gets into. Why do you people stop him?" 

Lars said, "He was five years old when he started proper spiritual cultivation and within a day, he made a breakthrough to the first level of body formation realm. His gifts are powerful and he is a gifted child. However, there are a lot of people in the immortal plane, who covet the gifts of the others." 

The two people chatted for a bit before Lars collected the armor and left the shop too. 

...

On the other side, Yang Dao and the rest of the group met each other in front of the teleportation formation and were talking about a few things that happened in the auction but when they heard that Daina gained insights on refining they all thought they lost a bog time. 

Yang Dao watched them all and said, "Opportunities are called opportunities for a reason. Let us go back to the sect, we have been away for a day now, I have a few things to deal with as well." 

Thale and the others nodded and they left the place. The teleportation made their travel complete in just a few minutes. Yang Dao decided to go to the alchemy peak and pay a visit to his cousin. Thale and the others had to submit the task to the alchemy hall so they all moved together. 

After reaching the first floor of the alchemy hall, Yang Dao asked the deacon on duty, "Deacon, is Elder Jing Shui inside?" 

The deacon was surprised by the polite attitude of the dao child and pleasantly replied, "Young Master, Elder Jing is at her own residence. You can meet her in the morning, however, if you have something urgent to discuss then your aid shall be able to guide you up the mountain." 

Yang Dao thanked the man and left the place with Alisha, but not before bidding farewell to the rest and making an appointment with Daina for the day after. Alisha was an old disciple and she was aware of all the main spots in the sect. She guided the boy to climb the stone path up the mountain. 

The place was illuminated with moon pearls hanging from the poles. The boy said, "The air around here is more pleasant than the rest of the supremacy, I presume." 

Alisha nodded, "This is thanks to the herb gardens all over the mountain." 

The two climbed the mountain and came to the summit where a palace stood, however, the aesthetics of this palace were not luxurious but very mundane looking, close to nature. The vines trailing up and down the walls were making it look very fresh to the Dao child. 

A few golden core disciples were patrolling around the place and two Nascent realm cultivators were standing at the main entrance of the palace, guarding the place. Yang Dao was about to state his identity when a soft voice sounded, "Dao, come in." 

The elder on the guard's position waved his hand and opened the gates, letting Yang Dao and Alisha inside. The two met a service disciple waiting for them. The disciple was a middle-aged lady, she said, "The mistress is waiting for young master in the study if you please follow me." 

The woman bowed to Yang Dao. The dao child said, "Aunt, you do not have to bow to me. You are elder to me, please, stand up. I will follow you." 

The service disciples were of the lowest status in the sect, and often they were mistreated, so the woman was surprised. She nodded with a smile on her face and led the two inside. After a long walk through the winding corridors, they came to a room. 

The woman said, "The mistress is inside." 

Yang Dao smiled and thanked her before knocking on the door, and said, "Elder Jing, May I come in?"