Following the banquet, everyone returned to their rooms to cultivate. We had been warned several times that winning the previous competition hadn’t guaranteed us membership in the Palace of the Herb Sovereign, and everyone appeared eager to spend this trip making their final preparations for whatever lay ahead.

For me, this was somewhat problematic. To cultivate pill qi, I needed to use a powerful Qi Gathering Formation that would cause issues for the formations inscribed on the underside of our carriage—formations that were both greasing the wheels and shielding us from attacks. To cultivate moon spade qi, on the other hand, I needed to use a spirit fire, which I didn’t want anyone to know I had.

Neither of these problems was unsolvable. For example, instead of using a spirit fire, I could use an Attunement Pill to cultivate moon spade qi—which was likely what everyone else was doing. After taking a moment to consider my situation, however, I couldn’t help but feel that locking myself away to cultivate would be a waste of a perfect opportunity to learn more about this continent.

So, after taking a moment in my room to organize my thoughts, I walked back up to the observation room on the third floor.

Aside from the onyx table and chairs, the place was entirely empty. This meant that, since this room took up the entirety of the third floor, there was a lot of unused space toward the front of the carriage.

Moving up to where I could barely see the tops of the heads of the two giant earthstrider bison, I took a plush sofa out of my inner world and positioned it to give me a good view out the front window. Then, I placed a small table in front of this sofa and set my pill furnace down atop it.

Performing alchemy in a public space, where I could easily become distracted, was far from a good idea, but I wasn’t planning to do anything that required constant focus. I just wanted to spend some time examining herbs and studying ways to join them together more naturally, without needing to rely on spirit fires and toxic energies. Focusing entirely on this task might have been more efficient, but keeping an eye on the outside world didn’t require too much of my attention, and it might allow me to learn valuable information.

From this position, high up in the carriage, I was able to get a much better sense of the local terrain than when we had been walking along the side of the road.

The flower- and grass-covered hills that surrounded the city no longer looked natural in any way. From this vantage, I could see that the spacing between the hills was far too regular, and the streams that ran between them had been laid out deliberately to ensure that every hill had sufficient access to water.

Near the city, these hills were close together and covered in Rank 1 and 2 herbs. As we got further out, though, the herbs transitioned to Ranks 3 and 4. The hills with these higher-level herbs were spaced much further apart, but the land between these hills wasn’t wasted. This was where the city grew its mortal food crops.

After a couple of hours of travel, both the hills and the mortal crops faded and were replaced with small, scattered mountains that served as gardens for Rank 5 and 6 herbs.

Staring at this scene, it took me longer than it should have to figure out what was going on.

Low-level herbs didn’t require much energy, so they could be grown close together. They also grew rather quickly, so they were perfect for planting near the city, where everything would need to be harvested before the end-of-year festival destroyed it.

As for the scattered mountains, these were the city’s outer layer of defense. Invading beasts would be drawn in by the high-level herbs, where Kings and Emperors could dispatch them before they caused any trouble for the mortals who lived in the city’s scattered farming villages.

On the Nine Rivers Continent, nothing like this had been necessary. Occasionally, a few random beasts would wander out of the wilderness and snack on people’s herb gardens, so herbalists had hired mercenaries to protect them, but no one would have even considered protecting entire cities with this kind of layered defense. There simply weren’t enough dangerous beasts around to make it worth the effort.

Considering the number of demon beasts that infested the Heroes Domain, however, this style of layered defense was something that I would need to remember when I began looking to set up cities of my own.

After passing the mountains where the city grew its Rank 6 herbs, we entered untamed lands where the terrain became more varied and chaotic. Patches of blasted landscape told tales of clashes between powerful cultivators, and wide swaths of torn-up earth marked the passage of herds of demon beasts.

Not long after entering this wilderness, the earthstrider bison veered to the right, pulling our carriage off the road and into the foothills of a distant mountain range. At first, I expected this to cause our carriage to start bumping and swaying as it passed over the rocky, uneven terrain. However, the bison tapped into their internal energy to flatten the land below them. This allowed our carriage to continue moving forward so smoothly that if I hadn’t been looking out the window, I wouldn’t have even been able to tell that we had left the road at all.

Hours began to pass one after another, and aside from the occasional wild animal in the distance, there wasn’t much to see. Occasionally, the bison would turn this way or that, making me think that we were avoiding inhabited areas, but I never saw anything that allowed me to confirm this suspicion.

After over an entire day of travel, I hadn’t seen a single person. No one was roaming the lands around us, and no one had come up to the third floor to join me. Everyone was content to stay locked away in their rooms, and Emperor Chan hadn’t gathered us for any more meals.

This situation wasn’t too surprising in and of itself. What was surprising was that not a single one of the pampered former Disciples offered a single word of complaint. They just stayed in their rooms and worked hard to make the best use of their time.

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Midway through the second day of our journey, the bison came to a stop at the edge of a river. I had already watched them trample across half a dozen streams and tributaries, but crossing a two-kilometer-wide river must have been a bit much for them.

To get us past this obstacle, the elderly Beast King, Qongqor, jumped from the side of the carriage onto the head of one of the bison. Then, channeling his water qi, he turned the surface of the river into a solid bridge.

Without needing even a single word of command, the bison trundled onto this water bridge, and we continued on our journey.

Once both carriages were successfully across, the Beast King jumped back to the carriage and entered through a door on the second floor.

I expected not to see the man again until we came upon another obstacle that the bison couldn’t deal with, but only minutes after disappearing into our carriage, Beast King Qongqor climbed the stairs and joined me on the third floor.

“You know, you Disciples are always too focused on your studies. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a single one of you smart enough to bring a couch along like this. It’s good to see that at least someone knows how to relax.”

Keeping a small portion of my mind on what was happening inside my pill furnace, I looked over at the old man and gave him a polite smile. “Their futures are going to be decided by what happens once we reach the City of Selfless Courage. It’s only natural for them to want to do their best.”

“Aye, not sayin’ it ain’t, but them seeds ‘re already in the ground. We’ll be in Selfless Courage within the month. They might be able to advance another stage before then, maybe two, but that’s not gonna be enough to change anything.”

I nodded my head in silent agreement. While advancing from Master 1 to Master 3 would give the former Disciples a couple of important meridians, these meridians wouldn’t do much to improve their alchemy skills. The formations on the pill furnaces here could typically supply all the energy one might need. Affinities, experience, and the power of one’s blessing were all far more important, but these would be difficult to change during our short time in this carriage.

As our conversation fell into companionable silence, Qongqor pulled out a teapot, set it down next to my pill furnace, and filled it with a dozen basic herbs. I wasn’t familiar with this precise assortment, but several of the herbs could be used to make Rank 0 Sleeping Pills, so I had a decent guess as to what the old man was trying to create.

Strangely, though, Qongqor didn’t tap into his qi or start performing alchemy. Instead, he pulled out a kettle and filled the teapot with hot water. Then, after letting the herbs steep for several minutes, he took out a teacup and poured himself a drink.

When Qongqor saw that I was looking at him, he didn’t say anything. He just pulled out another teacup and handed it to me.

Following the old man’s lead, I poured myself some tea, but I didn’t move to drink it immediately. While I didn’t sense any malintent from the old man, I was still more than a little worried about drinking an unknown beverage made from a blend of several unpurified herbs. So, before taking any risks, I activated energy vision and studied the old man’s brew.

Under my gaze, the liquid in my teacup transformed into a swirling maelstrom of complex energies. The edge of this vortex was composed of nearly pure medicinal energy, but at its center, medicinal energy was locked in a relentless war against toxic energy.

I shifted my gaze to Qongqor, who gave me a light smile.

“This is something I learned from my grandpappy. Pure urgamal might be good herbalists, but they make terrible alchemists. So, they have to rely on these herbal teas. These might not be quite as potent as your pills, but they’ll get the job done.”

“Considering the herbs you used, would that job be putting me to sleep?”

Qongqor chuckled. “No, lad. If you were a mortal, sure, it could knock you right now. But for anyone above Disciple 3 or so, it’ll just help you relax.”

I looked back at the tea. The old man was probably right about the effects, but what about all those toxins…

Seeing my hesitation, Qongqor laughed again as he shook his head. “Don’t worry. The extra herbs‘ll keep the toxins trapped so they’ll… pass right through, if ya know what I mean. I know a few guys who prefer to take herbal baths, just to make sure no toxins can stick around, but for me, a silly bath can’t compete with the pleasure of a good tea.”

With one last wary glance, I took a hesitant breath, followed the old man’s advice, and drained the cup. But as I did so, I paid careful attention to the tea’s toxins. The moment they entered my body, I wrapped them in pill qi to ensure they didn’t cause any problems.

To my slight surprise, Qongqor turned out to be right—mostly. The toxins that were locked in a war at the center of the medicinal energy did, indeed, seem to pass straight through my system. Only those at the edge of the tea’s maelstrom showed any signs of wanting to become lodged in my body. These scattered toxins were easy enough to deal with, however. Using my pill qi, I just shipped them off to the site of my next toxic meridian.

Despite my focus on dealing with the toxic energies, I was still able to notice that the tea had a nice floral taste and that its medicinal effects were also pretty good. The only real problems were the few bits of toxic energy that didn’t get trapped within the maelstrom, but if I could figure out a way to get rid of them, this tea wouldn’t be half bad.

After giving me a minute or two to sit in silent contemplation, Qongqor looked over at me. “What ‘cha think about that girl? Think she’ll make it to Selfless Courage with us?”

It took me a second to remember who he was talking about. When I did, I shook my head. “No, she seemed a bit too taken with that gift of hers, and that was only a greeting gift. By now, she has to be wondering what she’ll get if she joins them.”

The old man let out a muted chuckle. “Aye, and I’m sure Chan did little to convince her otherwise. She might’ve gotten lucky, having him along. Might’ve saved her a bit of heartbreak at the Palace, ya know?”

I let out an amused snort. “Maybe, but if she actually thinks that joining an Emperor-level faction will make it any easier to advance to Sovereign or Spirit, she’s in for a rude awakening.”

The old man bobbed his head. “Eh, you’re not wrong about that. If she has the talent, rising up to King or Emperor in a four-star’s gonna be easier than fighting for a place in the Temple—less people to compete against. But if she wants to go any further than that, she’ll have to worry about fightin’ off all them other sects to help the Open Fist advance. In the Palace, she’d only have to worry ‘bout beatin’ up other children.”

As our conversation lapsed into silence once more, I decided to probe the old man for information. Unfortunately, though, he was exactly who he appeared to be—an old wagon driver. Sure, he was able to tell me stories about all the Sovereigns he had met back when they were still “young kids like me,” but there was little of substance to these tales.

That said, as a wagon driver, Qongqor was able to provide me with one item of immense value: an atlas with up-to-date maps of the Heroes Domain. These maps didn’t just show the political boundaries of the 117 different Sovereign realms. They also showed where all the major roads and waterways were.

When I flipped to a map halfway through the book, Qongqor grunted and shook his head. “Ignore the south. The map’s a bit old, and some fool hero down there’s been tearing the place apart the past few years. He’s likely gone and created a whole new mountain range or two by now. Will be a while before things settle out well enough that mappin’ it’s not a waste of time.”

While the old man had been more than happy to let me look at this atlas, it was far too valuable for him to give away. Thankfully, though, that wasn’t necessary. The moment I had first touched it, it had already been copied into my mental library, where I could review it at my leisure.