The Forbidden Flame 12 Astral Association

Zhi Ruo gazed at the approaching silhouette, flowing hair, exquisite face, and dark cold eyes.

She couldn't deny that she had a deep crush on her fellow Hunter s.h.i.+ Song ever she had laid her eyes on him.

'sigh, I wish he could be my sweetheart...G.o.d! are all novels fantasies?!, even when I awakened my bloodline and thought I was someone extraordinary, turns out I was only a frog at the bottom of the well,'

"Oh Zhi Ruo, how is it going?" exclaimed s.h.i.+ Song with his usual non-chalet att.i.tude.

"Mhm, not bad,"

"Say, I heard you got the rumored Sword King's head, is that true?" wondered Zhu Ruo.

"Sword King? more like Sword Sh*t, Just a small fry"

'Calling a Condensed Core expert a small fry doesn't feel right somehow'

"Haha, only you could call a Condensed Core expert small fry,"

"Yeah"

'sigh, no modesty'

"Alright then, excuse me Zhi Ruo, Vice President Tian Zhan needs my attendance"

Zhi Ruo gazed at him and nodded disappointingly "Mhm, I won't hold you back then"

s.h.i.+ Song smiled before continuing on.

The a.s.sociation headquarters were hidden from mortal eyes, deep within earth's crust, arrays set-up to deflect any penetrating energy that could potentially detect their existence, the a.s.sociation's connections were deep and profound, hiring an array master to set up arrays was child's play.

Science might have advanced, but the dao is deep and endless as well, in the end, science is nothing but mortals scrubbing at the dao's surface, making use of the little powder it produces.

herds of hunters could be seen inside the a.s.sociation, some applying for missions, chatting and other bragging about there latest adventures, but they share one thing in common, whenever s.h.i.+ Song walked, all makes way.

As a direct descendant of the legendary figure Wei Song, also known as Demon Hand Song this bit of statues is nothing, even though he doesn't like bathing in his father's glory, it couldn't be helped, plebeians are plebeians after all,

everyone couldn't help but s.h.i.+ver when looking at s.h.i.+ Song's Golden Triple-Headed Dragon Emblem attached to his chest, every single hunter has an emblem, but golden signifies statues, the statues belonging to the Royal Family.

offending a member of the Royal Family is considered as defiance to the a.s.sociation itself, therefore Demon Hand Song made it mandatory for all the royal family members to wear the golden emblem to be distinguished,

s.h.i.+ Song arrived before a deep dark door with a Phoenix and Dragon entwined together carved exquisitely on it, realistic enough that you could feel as if they would fly away any second now.

taking a spirit token from his pocket, he waved it in front of the door, the token shone brightly for a second before dimming again.

The door slowly opened.

As the door opened, an old man could be observed sitting in a cross-legged position, light grey hair signifying his old age was flowing behind his back and his eyes closed in deep concentration.

But contrary to what one might expect from an expert his body wasn't muscle defined but It looked saggy and his skin wrinkled.

s.h.i.+ Song though felt nothing but dread looking at this old man, because he knew better than anyone, that under this wrinkled skin is power strong enough to flatten a mountain.

the man slowly opened his eyes before gazing at s.h.i.+ Song.

s.h.i.+ Song didn't dare be disrespectful in front of this elder, even though his father was Wei Song, this old man wasn't any Tom, d.i.c.k or Harry as well, he was a man with history, to be specific, he was Tian Zhan, the creator of Dragon Weave Spear Arts and this a.s.sociation's Vice President.

A spear with a dragon coiled around the near end of the shaft could be seen beside him, 'Dragon Vessel' a spear that had tasted too much blood.

Tian Zhan signaled with his hand to a spot in front of him.

s.h.i.+ Song dared not be slow, he sat down in a crossed-legged position as well.

He finally started speaking.

"An excellent talent indeed, nearly perfecting 'Void Steps' at such a young age,"

"You are flattering me, I can't compare to Master Zhan,"

Tian Zhan looked at s.h.i.+ Song before letting out a small snicker, "I can see your heart Little Song, you are full of pride...but I hope this pride won't be your downfall, too many geniuses had fallen because of ego,"

s.h.i.+ Song felt he was about to choke, this master sure is blatant.

"Say, you didn't do the mandatory hunter task till now, did you?"

"I couldn't find a newly awakened cultivator yet,"

"You know, this task is to test a cultivators connections, because a cultivator without connections is basically like a tree without branches, I know your father forbid you from selecting people from the Royal Circle, a newly awakened mortal is a must, the bloodline doesn't matter, even If you got someone with hair that changes colors it's okay, this means that his body accepts qi, and that's the most important thing,"

"I know Master Zhan, I will do my best to find someone, but awakened mortals aren't cabbages, they are truly too difficult to find,"

"I bet you didn't even put it to mind, the task has a time limit of 5 years after becoming a Greenhorn Hunter, that is more than enough to find someone, when I was in your place I managed to recruit 32 awakened mortals, and you can't find anyone? "

"Master Zhan is mighty,"

"Kid, I'll beat you up,"

"Okay okay, I am sorry, I will find someone,"

"Fine, p.i.s.s off now, I need to continue meditating,"

After leaving.

'What bullsh*t is this, why do I have to recruit people!?, they could just come apply If they want!, and what's with my ancestor setting such weird rules,'

s.h.i.+ Song rubbed his temples while sighing, "I'll go get myself some hand-pulled noodles to relieve my stress,"