Before becoming the Lord of North Lake City, I had set three goals for myself. The first was to reach Peak Lord so that I would have access to as many credits as possible in the event of my death. The second was to master the skills of a Pill Lord to the best of my ability. And the third was to find novel ways of boosting a domain’s karmic energy production that I could offer to the Brilliant Sun Empire.

All of these goals required intense study and concentration, and they resulted in me spending countless hours locked away in a cultivation chamber or a workshop.

Reaching Martial Lord 4 wasn’t too difficult. I had excess karmic energy leftover after ascending to Lord 3, and gaining enough to ascend to Lord 4 only took a few more short months. My bottleneck was, once again, my qi levels. I couldn’t cultivate qi fast enough to both practice alchemy and keep up with my karmic energy gains.

By setting alchemy aside and focusing on nothing but my advancement, I was able to scrape together the qi I needed for my ascension. However, the need to swap between tasks like this left me dissatisfied, and I knew that the higher my realm climbed, the worse this problem would become.

I needed a solution. I needed Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. And to make those pills, I needed to improve my skill in alchemy.

In recent months, my alchemy skills had begun to progress at a far faster pace than I had originally anticipated.

The book that Emperor Li had left me was a big part of this. Unlike other alchemists, I didn’t have to worry about encountering large spikes in difficulty when learning a new recipe, as everything had been laid out for me in an intentional, methodical fashion. This not only allowed me to rapidly advance, but it also stopped me from wasting precious herbs on pills that were far beyond my abilities.

The more my alchemy progressed, however, the more lopsided my deal with the Situ Clan felt. They were providing me with an ample supply of the herbs I needed, and in return, I was giving them 80% of the pills that I made with those herbs.

Early on, this arrangement had been mutually beneficial. I was wasting a significant number of herbs in the learning process, and having the Situ Clan absorb this upfront cost had been worth the excessive compensation in pills that I had to hand over on the backend.

However, as I became more skilled, the number of herbs that I was wasting decreased, and the balance of this deal shifted. The pills I made weren’t always up to my standards, but they could almost always be sold for enough to cover the cost of ingredients.

At this point, the main benefit of working with the Situ Clan was that they provided me with access to a large number of herbs. Again, though, this benefit had also begun to fade. As my skills progressed, I needed rarer and more expensive herbs, and the Situ Clan could no longer provide them in large quantities.

When the situation was nearly at its breaking point, one of Mei’s Seeds intervened.

The first thing she did was to renegotiate my agreement with the Situ Clan. She established a complex percentage structure based on the quantity of herbs available, the rarity of the materials, the value of the pills produced, and several other factors. I didn’t understand all the math, but with some herbs, I would need to hand over 90% of the pills I produced, while with others, I only had to hand over 30%.

After we left the Situ Clan, the Seed insisted that we visit the Blue Wind Pavilion to negotiate agreements with other suppliers. Her main concern was establishing contracts with herbalists to provide me with a large quantity of the herbs for the Rank 4 pills that I had already mastered. She wanted me to have as much access as possible to the most profitable herbs available.

Once this was done, she then opened negotiations with groups from other kingdoms that could provide the rarer herbs that I needed.

This Seed had proved that she was an extraordinarily capable negotiator, so I hoped that she could continue to take care of such things for me in the future. I offered her a percentage of my returns–since she would be acting as my agent in these matters–but she turned it down, insisting that it was her duty as Flower Mei’s Seed.

While my progress in Lord-level alchemy was swift, it wasn’t entirely without problems. Even with the increased herb supplies available to me, I was still unable to make decent Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills.

I was using the recipe in Emperor Li’s book, but to purify the herbs without the medicinal energy dissipating, I needed to use my will-lock at full force. Because of this, when the flames of my fire seed entered the locked space to cleanse the toxins, I lost nearly all control over them.

After several attempts at creating Qi Gathering Pills with the Cold Mountain Fire, I eventually had to concede that it was futile. The best that I had been able to make was a Low-Purity pill with only 60% efficacy. It was complete trash. I needed to do better, and to do better, I needed a better spirit fire.

I still had the Earth-Rank Three Thousand Flames Spirit Fire that Emperor Li had given me, but whenever I opened its jade box, every fiber of my being screamed that it was something far beyond my ability to control. I could attempt to fuse with it, but if I failed, in the best case, I would have to expel the flame and let it evaporate into the air. In the worst case, my entire body would be burned to ash.

An Earth-Rank fire was too much. I needed a Profound-Rank fire–something that was powerful enough to work through my will-lock while also being weak enough for me to control.

I had slowly built a small fortune from my Rank 4 pills, but while spirit fires suitable for alchemy were available, they didn’t come cheap. None were within my price range. Despite putting out feelers through the Pavilion, I had yet to hear any good news. So, it came as a shock when one of Mei’s Seeds approached me with a way to acquire one.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from NovelBin. Please report it.

“Lord Su, there will be an auction in Moonlight Dew City next week. We have information that a wood-based Profound-Rank spirit fire will be up for auction and have arranged transport for you through the Pavilion.”

If this information was freely available, why hadn’t I heard anything? Were my sources in the Pavilion less reliable than I had hoped? That was something to keep in mind for the future, but for the moment, I needed to get that fire.

Our trip to Moonlight Dew City was grueling. I had expected this city to be in Brilliant Sun or one of the other nearby domains, but instead, we had to have crossed through at least one entire empire to reach it. Even though our carriage was being pulled by Rank 3 wind horses, this journey took us over six days to complete.

The Seed who accompanied me on the trip was extremely professional. The entire time we were in the carriage, she was reading ledgers and taking notes. She was only a low-level Grandmaster, so I had expected her to spend more time cultivating, but she was focused on her work. I could only be grateful that someone like her was looking after my city so that I could focus more on my personal goals.

Moonlight Dew City was a remote border town in the Cold Moon Empire that must have only barely qualified for the title of ‘city.’ Nearly all the buildings were dirty and ramshackle, and I had a hard time believing that anything of value could be found in the place.

The auction house we were brought to was a dilapidated building that looked like it only rarely received any visitors. Inside, slightly more than two dozen people were sitting on dusty wooden chairs, waiting for the auction to begin.

After the hall was about half full, a portly man walked up on stage to begin the event. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Moonlight Dew Auction House. We have a special treat for you today. A few brave cultivators from our fair city recently entered the Trial of Moonlight in an attempt to win its inheritance. They did not succeed, unfortunately, but they were able to bring out many fascinating treasures that I am sure will astound and amaze.”

He gestured off to the side, where a homely young woman brought out a cloth-covered pedestal and placed it in the middle of the stage.

“Our first item for today is something that no cultivator can do without. It is a weapon of incredible power!”

The woman removed the cloth to reveal a chipped steel sword. It looked ancient, and it clearly hadn’t been maintained in years–if not centuries. Wondering what was so special about it, I looked at it in qi vision.

The sword had lines of metal energy running across the entire length of its cutting edge. I wasn’t sure what they did. I could only guess that they made it ‘cut better’ in some way.

The auctioneer gave us a wide, ingratiating smile. “As you know, refined weapons are extremely rare, and our appraisers have concluded that a Master Refiner took part in the creation of this blade, making it a priceless artifact. This may be the only chance that you will ever have to purchase such a majestic weapon. Think carefully before letting it pass into someone else’s hands. The starting bid is 10,000 gold.”

I looked at the blade closely. I wasn’t sure how much a normal Rank 2 refined weapon would be worth, but there was no way that this blade was worth anywhere near 10,000 gold. The lines of energy along its edge had gaps and gouges missing. I would be afraid to use it for fear of the damn thing exploding on me.

Others in the audience, however, did not share my perspective. The final sale price was 32,500 gold. It was insane to pay so much for a shoddy blade, but there are always people with more money than sense.

Several other items went up for auction after the sword, but I ignored them. None of them would help me with my goals.

Slightly after halfway through, the auctioneer removed a cloth to reveal an old, battered jade box. When he did, the Seed sitting next to me put her hand on my arm and squeezed.

“This box was found at the end of a dangerous corridor where one of our brave citizens risked his life to secure it. We haven’t been able to open it, so we cannot speak to its content, but any item guarded in such a way must be of great value. The starting bid is 100,000 gold.”

I was about to speak up when a young man in bright robes who was holding a colorful drink shouted, “500,000 gold.”

After several seconds passed with no other bids, I raised my hand. “600,000.”

The man gave me an evil look. “700,000.”

“Eight.”

“Nine!” he shouted.

“One million,” I calmly responded.

He snarled at me. “This item belongs to the Wei Clan! Are you challenging the Wei Clan!? One spirit stone!”

The crowd gasped at this. Most of them had likely never seen a spirit stone before.

“Five spirit stones,” I nonchalantly responded.

The man threw his drink on the floor. “You’ll regret this!”

The auctioneer looked worried, but he completed the bidding process. “Five spirit stones. Sold!”

I sat through the rest of the auction in case something interesting came up, but there was nothing useful. So, with our mission complete, it was time to head home.

When the Seed and I stepped out of the auction house, however, a large gang was assembled and waiting for us, with the young man from the auction at its front. “That spirit fire belongs to the Wei Clan. Hand it over, and we’ll leave you with a complete corpse.”

I looked at the men around me and saw that none of them were above Martial Grandmaster 1. I could kill them all without lifting a finger by simply locking them down with my will. I stepped forward to take care of them so that I could hurry back to my workshop and start experimenting with my new fire.

Before I could move, the Seed placed her hand on my arm and shook her head. “Take out your Pavilion badge.”

Deciding to follow her lead, I reached into my storage bag, pulled out my red-gold badge, and held it up for all the thugs to see.

The Seed spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “You are threatening a Pill Lord who is a red-gold member of the Blue Wind Pavilion. Is the Wei Clan declaring war on the Pavilion?”

The crowd immediately froze, and the Seed didn’t wait for a response. She pulled my arm and led me to our carriage at a leisurely pace.

After we were seated inside, she gave me a steady look. “They may attempt to chase us down after we leave town, but it is unlikely. If they have spirit stones, then they have the backing of a Lord, and anyone who has risen to the level of Martial Lord should understand the power of the Blue Wind Pavilion. Still, I will guide the carriage so that we are not followed.”

I let her do what she felt was best as I began a far more important task.

Opening the jade box that I had purchased was a simple process. After studying it for only a short time, I was able to use qi vision to see through its locking mechanism. Then, I inserted my qi in the correct pattern, and the lid popped open.

I stuck my hand inside and quickly fused with the spirit fire.

After successfully absorbing the fire, I began practicing with it. In the carriage, all I could do was get a basic feel for how to use it, but this practice gave me an understanding of the differences between Yellow and Profound fires. The core of the difference was their power. Profound-Rank spirit fires had a higher quality of energy that made them much more difficult to control. My Peak six-star wood affinity, however, proved to be more than up to the task.

Upon my return to Eight Flower, my real work started. With a proper spirit fire in hand, I was able to concoct Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. I couldn’t make Perfect ones, but they were near the peak of High-Purity. I generally disliked taking non-Perfect pills, but this was something that every cultivator did eventually.

Using these pills, I rapidly increased my cultivation base and reached Martial Lord 5 in short order.

Unfortunately, while I wanted to spend all my time in seclusion, certain matters required my attention, due to my position as city lord.