I Have a Golden Crow

"Brother Tree, you've got so many fruits." Du Yu hugged Little Tai Sui, looking up at the lush Burning Sun Fire Phoenix Tree.

Between the layers of leaves, it looked like many fiery red fruits were hidden.

Is it because the Fire Phoenix Tree advanced to Spirit Level, so the yield shot up?

Du Yu walked to the wall, reached out to part the branches, and sure enough, spotted some hidden Firethorn Fruits.

Since the Fire Phoenix Tree was stuck in the northeast corner of the living room, and it's so massive it could only squeeze to grow, the whole east wall had basically turned into a wall of leaves.

Not just that wall—even the ceiling between the living room and balcony, had totally been taken over by Fire Phoenix Tree's branches.

Man, my home's honestly green as heck…

Hearing Du Yu's words, a branch drooped down from the ceiling, with exactly three Firethorn Fruits hanging from it.

"Naisi!" Du Yu picked all three Firethorn Fruits, then summoned Xiaoyan and Ghost Firefly.

Eat up, don't be polite!

This is way too comfy.

Having a Spirit-level Demonic Plant at home not only makes the Fire Demon Breath super dense and perfect for cultivation, it also turns out high-level Fire Element fruits!

Forget about anyone else, I'm jealous of myself…

Should I try to get a few more Fire Phoenix Trees?

No idea how much the seedlings cost, but from what Du Yu could tell, a Spirit Level·Firewood Tree with this kind of yield probably isn't on the market, right?

They're probably all taken by the authorities for making cookies or something.

"Hiss..." Du Yu ate a Firethorn Fruit himself, inhaled a sharp breath, and ran into the bathroom with a grimace.

After a shower and washing up, Du Yu checked the time—3:20 PM.

He changed his clothes and hurried out of the bedroom: "Brother Tree, I'm off to the Bookstore Headquarters. I'll be back tonight, you watch the house for me."

"Shoo~"

A branch suddenly shot out and wrapped around Du Yu's wrist.

"Hm?" Du Yu was putting on his shoes, but was yanked back half a step.

The Fire Phoenix Tree clearly didn't want him to go.

There was this split second where a scene from a Stephen Chow movie popped into Du Yu's mind:

Is it really okay if I don't go to work?

I'll take care of you…

Du Yu's face turned weird. But honestly, with the Spirit-level Fire Phoenix Tree's yield, it actually could support him?

After a bit of tug-of-war, Du Yu slapped on his baseball cap and finally got out the door.

To catch the Bookstore Headquarters before closing, Du Yu actually splurged and caught a cab.

Even though he only had 300-something RMB in his phone wallet, this trip was to make more money!

Now he had a house, his demon pets had high-quality food in bulk; time to live it up a little…

Four big words: Things are looking up!

Half an hour later, the taxi slowly pulled into the Bookstore Headquarters' compound.

After scanning to pay and getting out, Du Yu saw a few guys smoking by the garbage can at the main door.

As he walked toward the entrance, one of the bespectacled guys looked kind of familiar.

Last time he came here with Big Bro and Third Sis to claim their reward, wasn't it this guy who helped them out?

"Brother Wang?" Du Yu called out uncertainly.

The guys all turned to look, who knows how many of them were actually surnamed Wang.

Wang Zongying broke into a smile. "Xiaodu, you're here!"

"Ha! Brother Wang, what a coincidence."

Wang Zongying stubbed out his cigarette and strode over, "Here to collect a prize again? Haven't seen any big events at headquarters lately."

"Nah, Brother Wang, my demon pet just advanced to Celestial level. I'm here for an evaluation, see if I can snag a ranking or something."

Wang Zongying blinked, surprised. "Already at Celestial?"

"Yup." Du Yu nodded straight away.

"Good kid—what'd I tell you, first disciple for a reason!" Wang Zongying laughed, slinging an arm over Du Yu's shoulder, looking super chummy as he led Du Yu inside.

Du Yu almost wanted to say, "Actually, Xiaoyan advanced over a month ago." But he thought it over, and swallowed it back down.

"By the way, Brother Wang, I also wanna try making some Newbie Demon Soldiers."

"Now that you're a Demon Tamer..." Wang Zongying started, then suddenly realized, "Ah, right, without a Demon Tamer's blessing, your demon pets wouldn't hit this level so fast."

"Hehe~"

"Come on—they're loaded with weapons here. I'll let you get a feel for making Demon Soldiers."

After getting their IDs checked, Du Yu followed Wang Zongying up to the fourth floor.

Wang Zongying: "Newbie Demon Soldier buyback price isn't great, market's down recently."

Du Yu: "I thought it was a fixed price?"

Wang Zongying: "It sort of is, but a few months ago, demand for Newbie Demon Soldiers spiked so the price shot up, too."

Du Yu had a flash of insight: "That was when a bunch of Paper Crane Disciples awakened, right?"

"Exactly." Wang Zongying nodded, smiling. "But Paper Crane Disciples grow crazy fast. Most of them are Demon Tamer Journeymen now, and some, like you, made it into Demon Tamer level already.

The lowest-level Newbie Demon Soldiers just don't cut it anymore—bare minimum, they've gotta come with Demon Soldier Arrays.

You're a Demon Tamer now, but your Demon Soul hasn't fully formed—you can't engrave arrays onto Demon Soldiers yet."

"Yeah, I know."

Still chatting, they got to the office on the fourth floor.

Wang Zongying knocked a few times, before opening his office door: "Xiaochen, go grab 10 Fire Element wooden bows waiting to be sharpened... Oh, and Du Yu—"

"Huh?"

Wang Zongying: "Do you use any weapons other than bows?"

"Short blades."

Wang Zongying grinned, "How would you rate your skills?"

Du Yu hesitated. "Eh, not bad, I guess?"

"Never mind then." Wang Zongying turned to the young woman who'd just walked out, "Bring 10 Fire Element wooden bows, newbie level—grade 1 material, no need for embedded arrays."

"Alright." The young woman looked to be in her mid-20s, with short hair and a navy uniform, looked pretty official.

She nodded to Du Yu before heading off.

"Come in, take a seat. I'll help you get in touch with the evaluation department."

"Thanks, Brother Wang."

"Don't mention it." Wang Zongying picked up the phone, glancing at the clock on the wall.

Not long after, Miss Chen came back, carrying a bundle of Demon Soldier Bows.

Seeing Wang Zongying still on the phone, she smiled at Du Yu and reached out her hand, "I've heard so much about you, Du Yu. My name's Chen Lingxi."

"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you." Du Yu said quickly. He was confident his name probably meant nothing most places, but at the City Bookstore HQ, it must be pretty well-known.

"Brother Wang's busy. I'll take you to make Demon Soldiers." Chen Lingxi indicated the room across the hall.

Wang Zongying nodded his approval, so Du Yu got up right away. "Thanks a lot, Sister Chen."

"Hehe." Chen Lingxi chuckled, glancing at Du Yu's eyes before leading him across, "First time making Demon Soldiers?"

"Yeah, my instructor at the academy said it wasn't all that hard."

"Mm." Chen Lingxi opened the door—windowless, walls soft, an interrogation room, basically.

Du Yu was busy looking around, while Chen Lingxi locked the door behind them.

She piled the wooden bows in the corner and casually grabbed one to hand to Du Yu: "First, adjust the unfinished Demon Soul you cultivated inside. You should know—a Demon Soul is basically an extension of your thoughts.

You need to pour all your understanding of bow and arrow skills into a wisp of your Demon Soul."

"Mm." Du Yu nodded. Earlier this morning, he'd talked all night with Master Qing at home, who had already explained this stuff in detail.

Du Yu closed his eyes, gripping the bow, guiding a shred of Residual Soul inside him.

Chen Lingxi felt the Demon Breath fluctuations around, and went on, "Wrap your Residual Soul with Fire Demon Breath and infuse both into the bow to 'sharpen' it."

For normal weapons, "sharpening" just means making them sharper—a regular part of crafting.

But for Demon Soldiers, "sharpening" means infusing the weapon with Demon Breath attributes.

Chen Lingxi saw Du Yu gripping the bow, and naturally noticed the wisp of Residual Soul floating from his hand.

As Demon Breath entered, the Demon Soul surged through the bow, rushing out to both tips.

In just a few seconds, the light brown wooden bow started looking kind of "scorched."

"Crack!"

A sudden break!

Du Yu stared in shock, opening his eyes just in time to see the charred black bow snap in two and hit the floor.

He was still holding a handful of burnt black wood.

Now that's what you call crispy…

"Uh?" Du Yu's face looked pretty awkward.

Chen Lingxi comforted him, "It's alright. It's your first time—you're just short on experience."

Du Yu whispered, "You're not gonna make me pay for that, right?"

"Hehe, no need." Looked like Chen Lingxi liked to laugh—total sweetheart.

She grabbed another wooden bow and handed it over, "Take it slow this time. Especially when channeling Demon Breath and Demon Soul through the bow, be more careful."

"Um…" Du Yu agreed, but deep down he was heartbroken!

The bow was trashed, and his Demon Breath and Demon Soul were gone too!

Demon Breath was whatever, he could just absorb more. But cultivating Demon Soul was a whole different story.

When Du Yu first gathered his Demon Soul, Little Fen Yang helped guide the process—it all seemed smooth and easy.

But Little Fen Yang only taught him that one time, and after that, it took a lot of time and effort for Du Yu to condense any Residual Soul on his own.

"By the way, Sister Chen, what's the current buy-back price for newbie level Demon Soldiers?"

"Five hundred yuan."

Du Yu nodded—same as what he saw online.

Come to think of it, is the price so low because everyone keeps wrecking their materials like me, and they don't even have to pay for it?

Knowing the Demon Spirit Bookstore, they're definitely making up for it somewhere…

Hmm…

He had 10 wisps of Residual Soul in total. Whether he succeeded in sharpening the Demon Soldier or not, he'd use up one each time.

Right now, he'd already blown one!

Chen Lingxi: "If you bring your own materials, the buyback price is higher.

But if you refine and pick the bow wood yourself, it's gotta meet the Bookstore's standards—I can give you the list later if you want."

"Nah, forget it." Du Yu shook his head. Who's got that kind of time? Honestly, grinding the battlefield is way more chill, right?

In the Bottomless Pit, one Celestial-level Demon Crystal is 8 points, worth 400 bucks.

Plus, he wouldn't waste any Demon Soul—in fact, the Shadow Gu Tower could even absorb more!

Other Demon Tamers avoid the cold and won't go to the Bottomless Pit. Maybe they come here to "sell Demon Soul for cash," but down there, he could live like a king.

No matter how you slice it, the battlefield's just better.

While thinking, he watched as another layer of black char appeared on the light brown bow in his hands.

This time, Du Yu was extra careful, guiding Demon Breath and Demon Soul to slowly spread inside the bow—attack and defend at once.

After about ten seconds, Du Yu felt the bow tremble slightly in his grip.

"Vumm..."

"You did it," Chen Lingxi said, a bit of admiration in her eyes.

Chen Lingxi knew perfectly well that most of the 10 bows Wang Zongying brought were really just "school fees" for Du Yu.

But Du Yu figured it out on his second go. Clearly, he was great at controlling his own Demon Breath and Demon Soul!

Du Yu opened his eyes and looked at his first homemade Black Wood Bow, face lit up with joy.

Phew~

He suddenly nocked an arrow and drew the bow—instantly forming a burning Fire Arrow.

Nice!

No need to get greedy. I'll just make four of these Beginner's Bows today and pocket a quick two grand!

After that, forget it. Demon Soul's too tough to refine—I should focus on leveling myself up instead.

Once the day comes when I can embed Demon Soldier Arrays, then I'll come back for a big payday!

Demon Soldiers with arrays embedded fetch a few thousand, maybe even tens of thousands, right?