By simply stepping forward, I could, potentially, become the next Saint of Myriad Herbs and claim the seed of a Heaven-Rank spirit fire. Should I do it? It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t tempted. However, my greed for the riches of a Saint hadn’t blinded me to the realities of my situation.

Saints were, supposedly, the “Chosen of Khörs.”

If I stepped forward and Khörs chose me to become the next Saint, then I would be on the fast track to having my soul annihilated by Heavenly lightning. Sure, I could try to escape this fate by dying before I was forced to “ascend,” but would that work? Probably, but I couldn’t be entirely certain, since I didn’t know what Oaths or other restrictions might come into play.

Worse, it was clear that this opportunity was intended for the youths who had spent the last 50 years in the Temple. If I stepped forward and wasn’t chosen, I would end up with nothing more than the enmity of countless powerful cultivators.

In any case, if “Khörs” wanted to choose me as the next Saint of Myriad Herbs, he would do so whether I stepped forward or not, so I didn’t see any reason to volunteer myself for the position.

Of course, I could try just snatching the seed, but even if I somehow managed to pull that off, such an act would mean my death, and I wasn’t quite ready for this life to end. Yes, a Heaven-Rank fire seed was attractive, but now that I knew how they were made, I could look into producing them en masse. Better to spend this life gathering knowledge and mastering Rank 7 alchemy than throwing it away to grab a fire seed that almost certainly be too powerful for me to even use.

With all of this in mind, when Yargui called for people to step forward, I simply stood my ground and watched things unfold.

A line of five Peak Spirits marched forward from the crescent of Bloodline tier cultivators, with all five being some variety of urgamal. Next, a row of five Spirits and five Peak Sovereigns stepped up behind them—nine urgamal and one human. Finally, a line of lower-level Sovereigns walked to the front of the crescent but didn’t enter the depression or approach the fire seed.

Yargui let out a powerful burst of wood qi, with a sizable portion of this energy directed at the spirit fire.

Great Khörs, here stand all who wish to accept the mantle of Saint. Who is fated to become your Chosen? We beseech you. Let your will be known.

Yargui continued to send streamers of qi toward the fire seed, but acting of its own volition, this energy avoided the seed and accumulated in the space a few meters behind it. There, the shoot of a newly sprouted tree crept out of the ground, growing at an abnormally fast rate.

When Yargui’s energy started to falter, the other four Ancestors stepped forward to support her, and as the minutes passed, what started as a tiny seedling grew into a towering, translucent bodhi tree.

After reaching a height of over 20 meters, this tree was no longer content with the energy provided to it by the Ancestors. It began pulling on all the energy in its surroundings—not just the ambient energy in the environment, either.

First, I felt a tug on my dantians as qi leaked out of my body. Then, I stared in shock as the outer layer of my core broke apart—its karmic energy streaming toward the bodhi tree. A few seconds later, this shock turned to horror as the outermost edges of my soul began to unravel.

I tried to fight back against this, but the pull of the bodhi tree was inexorable.

I wasn’t the only one that this was happening to. Every cultivator in attendance—all of the Rulers, Sovereigns, Spirits, and Ancestors—was having their bodies and souls drained of energy.

Before I could make up my mind to swallow a poison pill and escape, the pull on my soul slowed and came to a stop, followed shortly thereafter by the pull on my energy body. Then, the leaves of the bodhi tree began to glow as a pillar of light shot up from one of the cultivators in front of me.

This light didn’t come from any of the Martial Spirits, and it didn’t come from any of the Sovereigns who had chosen to step forward. Instead, it came from a young man who had remained at the back of the group of Bloodline Tier cultivators

Yargui took several long moments before sending out a final burst of qi.

Saint… Mandakh, approach and claim your predecessor’s Gift.

I studied Mandakh carefully as he walked forward on shaky legs. The energy of the bodhi tree was pouring into him, but he showed no signs of becoming any more powerful. Instead, he seemed to weaken until, eventually, he disappeared entirely.

In normal vision, I could still see Mandakh reach for the Heaven-Rank fire seed, but in energy vision, he was invisible.

As the ceremony came to a close and the bodhi tree faded from existence, I expected everyone to start teleporting away. Instead, both Enkhtuya and the bulbous flower set down roots as they settled in for a long wait.

Over the next few days, we remained on our hilltop as groups were called up one at a time and given various appointments.

The five urgamal who had stepped forward to form the first row of Martial Spirits were each named the new Martial Ancestors of their respective Bloodlines. According to Enkhtuya, the older ancestors would step down, but they wouldn’t ascend for another few hundred years, giving them time to guide their replacements.

Next, each of the Palaces were called forward and assigned a new Palace Master. First, all of the Spirit-level Palaces were called forth. Then, all of the Sovereign-level Palaces that were located within the Myriad Herb Domain were called forward. Only after addressing the leaders from each of these Palaces did the Ancestors deign to call forth those of us from other domains.

When a portal finally appeared in front of us and Enkhtuya motioned us forward, the bulbous flower next to me let out an excited burst of wood qi.

Don’t worry, human. As your new Sovereign, I will ensure that you always have a place within my Palace. We will, of course, need to find you a more suitable workshop—somewhere a bit lower down the mountain—but as long as your efforts will not be forgotten.

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After a single glance in the flower’s direction, I ignored this comment and followed Enkhtuya through the portal.

We appeared in front of Saint Mandakh, with the new Ancestors lined up on his right and the old Ancestors on his left. Yargui, however, was the only one who spoke.

Sovereign Enkhtuya, you have greatly improved your Palace, and you have helped to ensure that the Saint’s ascension was a success. In recognition of these contributions, two of your descendants will be given the opportunity to advance to Sovereign, with the possibility for one of them rising to Spirit and becoming a Junior Elder of the Temple.

After Enkhtuya lowered her branches in odd mimicry of a bow, Yargui continued.

Su Fang, thanks in large part to your efforts in developing new pills, the former Saint was able to persevere until the eighth stage of his Tribulation. In recognition of this feat, you will be named the new Palace Master and Emissary to the Heroes Domain, allowing you to ascend to Martial Sovereign. To facilitate this advancement, you may either request entry into an existing Bloodline or form a new one of your own.

Next to me, the bulbous flower vibrated in outrage, looking like she was about to burst into flames. However, under the gaze of the new Saint and his Ancestors, she didn’t dare utter a single word of complaint.

Once Yargui’s pronouncement was complete, Mandakh looked at me, but he refrained from speaking. He only clenched a fist to create a portal and send us back halfway across the world.

Upon our return to the Heroes Domain, Enkhtuya spent several days making sure that everything was in order before officially stepping down from her position. Then, after a small ceremony witnessed only by the Palace’s higher-ups, she departed for Myriad Herb Domain, taking the two urgamal elders with her.

It was more than a little odd that our Palace no longer had a single urgamal amongst its elders. However, considering all those who had joined us to research new pill recipes, I was certain this absence wouldn’t last long.

Previously, I had thought that, with the Saint’s ascension behind us, several of these researchers might want to return home, leaving us short-staffed. Instead, I received a missive from one of the Temple’s elders stating that over a hundred alchemists had already requested a transfer to my Palace, and as the new Palace Master, it was my job to decide which of these transfers to allow.

With the Rank 6 Flower Strengthening Pill having proved effective, the flower-type Ancestors were eager for us to improve upon it before they were forced to ascend themselves. At the same time, the non-flower-types demanded that we research pills that would be effective on them. Since none of the Ancestors were planning to ascend within the next 200 years, there wasn’t too much urgency to these requests, but they all wanted assurances that we hadn’t forgotten about them.

Of somewhat more pressing concern were the visitors who showed up only one day after I assumed my new post.

The “fish people” from the Abyssal Depths were finally ready to follow through on the agreement that we had made 50 years earlier, and they were prepared to do so in force. Their initial team included one Sovereign, six Emperors, and more than a dozen Kings—each of whom was a trained alchemist. And that was only the start.

After a long meeting where we hammered out a few of the more problematic details of our cooperation, the fish people went to the plains west of the Palace and dug a massive hole with a long trench that ran between it and the mountain. Then, using a series of portals, they connected this hole to the ocean, transforming it into a saltwater lake.

Once everything was ready, the lake was then populated by a host of powerful sea creatures—some of which cultivated demonic energy, and some of which cultivated qi. Our goal was to develop pills that would be effective on both “fish people” and “spirit fish.” The “demonic fish” were there to serve as a source of ingredients.

Two days after I met with the group from the Abyssal Depths, I received visitors from the Wong Clan, the Li Clan, and the True Martial Domain. All three groups wanted the same thing—body-strengthening pills for humans—and they had already agreed to work together to achieve this.

The deal I made with them was an almost exact duplicate of the one I had made with the Abyssal Depths. They would provide both herbs and alchemists to develop new pills, while my teams provided the necessary training and support.

At first, the humans were less than enthusiastic about learning alchemy alongside creatures from the Abyssal Depths. However, when they learned that this meant experimenting with the ocean’s rare and unique herbs—herbs that had the potential to make their body-strengthening pills all the more powerful—they got on board.

And what did I get out of all this? What was my reward for spending so much time and energy analyzing herbal teas?

First, I made sure to collect seeds and samples of every herb that made its way to the Palace. I also requested samples of higher-Rank herbs that we weren’t yet ready to use. Rank 8 and 9 herbs were considered too valuable to simply hand over, but each domain was at least willing to provide me with a few random seeds.

These herbs were just small bonuses, though. The real cost of my services was something much more straightforward: spirit stones. In each agreement, I extorted the domains for as many spirit stones as I could manage.

Why? Because spirit stones were, in essence, solidified energy—energy that I could use to expand my inner world.

A normal, low-grade spirit stone couldn’t do much. When channeled properly, with all its energy being fed to my spatial fire seed, a single stone could grow my world by, at most, a cubic meter. A mid-grade spirit stone, however, contained the energy of 10,000 low-grade stones. And a high-grade stone contained the energy of 10,000 mid-grade stones. This meant that 10 high-grade spirit stones were capable of expanding my inner world by nearly a full cubic kilometer.

Therefore, I only needed 80,000 high-grade spirit stones to push my world to its next evolution.

Of course, channeling such a dense torrent of energy directly into my soul wouldn’t be easy, and while there was a high demand for body-strengthening pills, high-grade spirit stones weren’t exactly cabbages. Most of my compensation came in the form of mid-grade spirit stones. This actually worked out in my favor, though, since channeling the energy of mid-grade stones was a much simpler process.

Eventually, I would still need to upgrade my soul’s Qi Gathering Formation, but these spirit stones were a shortcut that could quickly push my inner world to Rank 5 and allow me to carry Martial Sovereigns back through time.

While all of this was going on, I also expanded my dealings with Emperor Chan.

Thanks to its recent victory in the semicentennial Three-Star Ascension Tournament, the sect controlled by the Chan Clan had been granted the right to have one of its members ascend to Martial Sovereign. Not only did this give the clan access to more resources, but it also increased the demand for Ascension Pills.

The Saint of Heroes kept a tight leash on how many Bloodline tier cultivators she allowed in her domain, and the Chan Clan would need to wait 50 years before they would have a chance to gain a second Sovereign. However, having encountered their first taste of success, they were eager for more. So, the clan was pouring all of its resources into raising as many new Emperors as they could.

The herbs for these pills were somewhat expensive, but for a new three-star sect, they were manageable. The real problem was the lack of suitable demon beast carcasses.

Each Rank 6 Ascension Pill required a Peak Rank 5 demon beast. I had shown that five suitable Rank 4 beasts could be used instead, but for residents of the Heroes Domain, collecting a compatible set of Rank 4 beasts proved even more difficult than finding a Rank 5 beast.

This lack of demon beasts wasn’t just a problem for the Chan Clan, either. All of the body-strengthening pills we were trying to develop need bits and pieces from random, freshly killed demon beasts.

When developing pills for the urgamal, this wasn’t a problem. We could just cut off the stems and branches of wu-based urgamal. These urgamal weren’t exactly happy about this arrangement, but this ‘pruning’ didn’t do any lasting damage, and they were generously compensated for their services.

To develop pills for humans and “spirit fish,” however, we needed true demon beast carcasses, and we needed a lot of them.

Thankfully, only a few months after I was appointed to the position of Palace Master, a large number of ‘volunteers’ showed up, and they were more than willing to take part in our experiments.