by Tao Wong
Straightening, Wu Ying glanced at the seal Uncle Tung was holding up. “Yes, honored Elder.”
“So he’s still alive. And out of wine again. Fine…” Uncle Tung walked inside the room and rooted around the back. Eventually, he came back with a dusty wine jar.
Zhong Shei’s eyes widened as he stared at the jar before looking between it and Wu Ying incredulously. As Wu Ying held out both hands to take it, Uncle Tung pulled his hands back.
“Elder?”
“I have a better idea.” Uncle Tung turned to Zhong Shei, holding the wine bottle in front of him. “You’ll guard and deliver this for me. Along with a letter.”
“Uncle, I have a job.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Uncle Tung said with a casual wave. “This one does not look strong enough to guard this properly. Not alone. And you need tempering. A good trip might open your eyes.”
“But Lady Ong—”
“Will get her armor. When you’re back,” Uncle Tung said sternly. “How long have you been stuck at the eight level?”
“A year.”
“With the amount of spirit pills and meat you ingest, you should already have broken through,” Uncle Tung said. “You need more experiences. More enlightenment. And discipline. This trip will be good for you.”
“But Father—”
“Will agree with me,” Uncle Tung stated flatly.
“I can’t just leave…”
“Three days,” Uncle Tung said, glancing at Wu Ying. “A fleet of boats is leaving in that time. I will arrange for passage for you both.” Uncle Tung’s eyes raked over Wu Ying, taking in his peasant clothing and his bag. “I will send Ah Kong with you to find accommodations, and he will pass word of which boat later.”
“Yes, honored elder,” Wu Ying said agreeably.
Since Zhong Shei would be looking after the other jar, it was of no concern to Wu Ying. Though the trip might be somewhat uncomfortable, especially with the way the other man was glaring at him. At the dismissive wave of Uncle Tung’s hand, Wu Ying scurried out of the room and met with the aforementioned servant.
Wu Ying and the servant left while Uncle Tung’s slowly rising voice grew behind them as he scolded his nephew, who continued to attempt to wheedle his way out of the trip. As he left, Wu Ying could not help but consider that perhaps it was for the best that his family was small.
***
Ah Kong, the servant, was taciturn and quiet but knowledgeable of the city. Wu Ying’s attempts at dispelling the distance between them could not make the other open up to casual conversation, but at the end of their short trip to a clean, well-priced, and convenient travelers’ inn, Wu Ying had garnered the information he required. After paying the fee for a private room for a few days, Wu Ying made his way back out to look for the recommended merchant.
While it might have been convenient for there to be a single location to sell his beast stones, real life did not work that way. As such, finding an honest and trustworthy merchant was important. Luckily, Ah Kong knew of a few, one of whom had a shop close to the inn. While he was a little concerned that Ah Kong might be receiving a kickback for his recommendations, it was unlikely to be an issue. A servant of such a powerful and famous merchant easily made more money doing his job than any little kickback someone like Wu Ying could create—even if the merchant completely scammed him.
And thankfully, Wu Ying was not a complete greenhorn in the sale of beast cores. While there were numerous things he did not know, the occasional appearance of those creatures in the vicinity of the village was a fact of life. As such, most children grew up watching and learning the basic pricing for such items.
In general, demonic beast cores held significantly lower value than normal spirit beast cores. Due to the corruption in these cores, alchemists and doctors needed to purify the cores before they could be used. Most demon cores were, at best, a fifth of the price of a spirit core of the same type and size.
Along with type, the originating animal, size, element, and cultivation level all mattered. Animals from predators were generally more expensive, due to their overall rarity. Those kinds of cores were used by cultivators and were best sold to merchants who dealt with cultivators since they had the higher demand. Alchemists and doctors were more likely to buy herbivorous or prey spirit beast cores since their gentler natures made for better pills and medicine.
All of which explained why Wu Ying was visiting a merchant rather than a doctor with the demon beast cores he held. After all, the vast majority of the cores he had came from predators who’d felt that Wu Ying would make a decent snack.
“Good day. How are you doing? How may we help you today?” the merchant called to Wu Ying the moment he entered, his eyes raking over Wu Ying’s poorly dressed form without judgment. His smile did not even waver. Definitely a man who was successful at this business.
“I would like to sell some demon and spirit cores,” Wu Ying said as he approached the counter.
Wu Ying surveyed the contents of the store. It was very much as Ah Kong had described—a medium-sized store whose primary stock was geared toward cultivators. On this floor alone, Wu Ying saw scrolls filled with cultivation manuals, martial art styles, and battle techniques, swords and other weapons of varying quality, an assortment of pills and herbs which Wu Ying mostly could not recognize, and of course, the ubiquitous labeled and prepared spirit stones. Each of those stones had been carefully prepped to allow cultivators to draw in the stored chi, with its attendant element, and—if a cultivator was lucky—the creature’s enlightenment. Of course, unprepped stones could be absorbed raw, but cultivators would find the process more difficult and less efficient.
“Of course. One moment,” the merchant said, walking to the side a bit and reaching beneath his counter.
He came up with a simple wooden tray with a white cloth placed upon it before he gestured for Wu Ying to showcase the stones. After they’d tumbled into the tray, the merchant picked up a nearby stick and pushed them around, separating the stones by color and size with quick flicks. The merchant held a hand over each location, humming softly to himself.
“Eight cores. Five demon cores of small size from various predator animals. Three spirit beast cores of intermediate size, one of which comes from the rare green spirit snake,” the merchant said with a smile. “I can offer… hmmm… five taels for the demon cores. The spirit beast cores are worth five and a half tael each, but the snake’s rare. I can sell that one immediately after processing. Call it seven tael for that one. The offer is only if you sell all of them here though.”
Wu Ying did the math in his head quickly. Twenty-three tael for all his cores—much better than he had expected to receive. Selling prices in the city were higher than when the traders came to his village, which, come to think of it, made sense. After all, those traders had to transport the cores to the cities or sects, running the risk of being robbed.
Keeping his features smooth, Wu Ying considered the matter before sweeping his gaze over the shop. “If we traded for some items, I assume there’d be a better rate?”
“Of course.” The merchant nodded. “If you wish to look around, I will cover the stones and place them back here. When you are done, inform me and we can complete the deal.”
“Good,” Wu Ying said with a smile.
The merchant quickly did as he suggested, placing the beast cores and tray behind the counter while Wu Ying seriously perused the goods. As he walked around slowly, he considered what he needed.
Most importantly, a sword. The one he currently wielded was broken, and even if he managed to sell it or have it fixed, it would still be fatally flawed. Better to sell the metal and buy a new, untarnished sword. Cultivation manuals and styles were probably too expensive for him. In addition, he had so much still to learn that adding more styles would be foolish. Still, Wu Ying knew he was fast closing in on the Energy Gathering portion of his cultivation, so a quick perusal of those manuals might make sense. As for cultivation resources, th
ose were important. Wu Ying was tempted to look into another Meridian Cleansing pill, though a snide portion of his mind pointed out that perhaps some healing pills or concoctions might be better.
Mind made up, Wu Ying moved more determinedly through the store. The weapons were stacked in three distinct locations—those that were piled in a barrel on the floor, those that were carefully displayed but still in easy reach of the shoppers, and those placed behind the counters, carefully displayed and out of reach without aid. A quick glance at the pricing of the jian within reach showed that Wu Ying could forget about the better weapons. Each of the displayed jian cost forty to fifty tael each—or put another way, the full price of a single good harvest. Even if they could harvest three times a year, that money had to go into buying the sundry requirements of the farm, from additional feed for the horse, farming equipment, clothing, firewood, and more.
Turning away from those swords, Wu Ying dug into the pile of swords in the barrel. Those swords were similar to the one given to him by Liu Tsong—made of poor steel or iron and forged by an apprentice blacksmith. On the other hand, they had the advantage of being cheap. In truth, Wu Ying was surprised to find such a barrel here—after all, most cultivators would be richer than him, right? Or perhaps not. Cultivation resources were expensive. Spirit cores were expensive. Cultivation manuals were expensive. And weapons from bandits and the like were plentiful and easy to collect, especially if they attacked you.
That thought made Wu Ying’s hands pause as he considered that he might be pawing through a dead person’s belongings. Then the practical youth shrugged. Not as if it was the first or last time he had used someone’s discarded or relieved possessions. And…
“This looks good,” Wu Ying said as he drew a sword fully from its scabbard.
He eyed the weapon along its edge, checking its line, and pursed his lips when he saw the nicks. Nothing a good file and a few hours’ work could not fix. Slapping the flat of the blade a few times, he watched the weapon wobble before he balanced the blade on his finger to find its center. A little too far forward and the steel was poor, having slightly too much of a spring for Wu Ying’s liking. But the scabbard was functional, the hilt tight, and it still held a good edge. Best of all, it only cost nine tael.
Next up was the cultivation manuals and styles. A quick perusal over the various names and the introductions informed Wu Ying of that most important of facts—he just didn’t have enough knowledge to be perusing the information. More time spent learning would be better. As he turned away, Wu Ying saw the title of a familiar style out of the corner of his eye.
“Yellow Emperor’s Cultivation Style—Energy Gathering stage?” Wu Ying muttered as he picked up the book. The cost was only five tael, which was surprising. What was even more surprising was that there were another four copies right underneath the one he’d picked up. He turned to the merchant. “Why is this so cheap?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s the Yellow Emperor’s style. Every family of note has a copy already. Though mine is an exact copy. Guaranteed. I also have cultivation notes from Tsifu Liu and Tsifu Teck in there.”
“Is it still elemental-free?” Wu Ying asked. There were a number of cultivation styles like that, though few decided to pursue that course of cultivation after Body Cleansing. Each stage after Body Cleansing took more and more chi, time, and enlightenment. Sticking to an elemental-free style was hobbling oneself in the long-term. But still…
“Of course. The Yellow Emperor was the emperor of all. How could he be that if he constrained himself to a single element?” the merchant said with a snort.
“Is there a Core cultivation method for this style then?”
“Yes. Though that’s where it stops. To grow your nascent soul, you’ll need to find your own path. The Yellow Emperor famously never left a cultivation manual for that, saying that there could only ever be one emperor.”
Wu Ying nodded slowly. Growing the nascent soul was important, since it basically allowed a human to restart, developing a portion of them that was untainted by the world. With a fully-grown nascent soul inside their body, a cultivator could touch upon the dao, achieving immortality. If there was a stage after one broke through the nascent soul stage, the gods were not speaking. Still, this information made clear that while dithering on what to do for his cultivation was possible in the short-term, it was not possible in the long-term. Still… Wu Ying placed the scroll alongside the sword and moved on.
Potions, pills, and pastes. No poisons—but that kind of thing wouldn’t be sold in a merchant’s shop. Few cultivators would ever want to be known to be a poison user. As for medicines, while there were numerous medicines that were particularly useful for any specific ailment—over-drafting of chi, meridian healing, internal injuries, and more—Wu Ying was no doctor. Better to go with something a little more generic. He picked up the bottle of pills that promised to speed up healing before he turned to the cultivation resources.
The various cultivation resources could roughly be divided into three areas: those that directly helped within any single cultivation grade, like the Meridian Cleansing Pill; those that aided the development of one’s affinity to a specific element; and those that helped with enlightenment. Of course, Wu Ying recalled his father’s derisive tone about those who sought enlightenment via drugs. His father had famously characterized those cultivators as dung-rolling, goat-loving slackers.
With those words ringing in his mind, Wu Ying looked at the cultivation boosters. Even the basic Meridian Cleansing pill by an apprentice alchemist was worth nearly twenty taels for a full bottle. Setting the pills aside, Wu Ying eyed the various jade adornments clustered next to the pills. Those made no sense to him.
“What are the jade pieces for?” Wu Ying asked.
“You know how jade can protect and collects chi? Most of these have been worked to collect ambient chi. When placed on the body, it speeds up cultivation as they provide another source of chi. Of course, in time, you might need to recharge the jade,” the merchant said, walking over and pointing at a pale bracelet. “Take this one for example. This is moon jade, charmed to draw chi from moonlight. When placed out in the open during the full moon, it absorbs and cleanses the chi of the moonlight. When you next cultivate, you will be able to draw that chi into your body, speeding up the process. Of course, it’s more effective for fire-aspected cultivators. Air cultivators find it good too.”
“Thank you. Are there any you could recommend?” Wu Ying said, curiosity aroused.
“For you?” The merchant eyed Wu Ying and the cores before sweeping his gaze over the bottle of healing pills, the sword, and the cultivation manual in Wu Ying’s hand. “Perhaps this bracelet. It’s unaspected and unworked, so it’s only marginally effective. But if you find a charm-maker or blacksmith, you could have it fixed. The quality is quite good after all.”
“Thank you.”
Since Wu Ying looked to be done with asking, the merchant walked back to his counter and continued to clean his wares. Wu Ying browsed through the cultivation aids a little longer, briefly eying the various protective talismans before discarding them and picking up the jade bracelet.
After placing the bottle of healing pills and the bracelet on the table in front of the merchant, Wu Ying unhooked his sword. “I’d like to see if I can trade this in too.”
“May I?” The merchant gestured.
“Of course. It is broken, but the iron could be reused,” Wu Ying warned.
“Ah.” Taking his hand back, the merchant shook his head. “I’m sorry, we don’t deal with broken weapons at all. There are a few blacksmiths you could see about this. But for the rest, we can certainly talk.”
Wu Ying sighed but took back the sword, strapping it back to his belt. He leaned forward, a smile crossing his lips as he got ready to haggle.
***
A half hour later, Wu Ying walked out of the store with everything he’d wanted and an additional two tael. Whistling, Wu Ying made his way to th
e recommended blacksmith, where another short period of bargaining commenced. Afterward, Wu Ying walked out with a simple belt knife, one that could be used for cutting bread, chopping meat, or stabbing enemies as needed.
Having completed his errands, Wu Ying made his way back to the inn while musing about the remainder of his free time. A nagging guilt informed Wu Ying that he had placed his training to the side in the last few days in his attempt to hurry to the city. A couple of days of dedicated practice could do wonders. But as Wu Ying walked through the city, he knew that he would be remiss in leaving without seeing some of the sights. There were palatial buildings, temples, cultivated parks, and martial arts centers to see! And, most importantly, new cuisine to taste.
As Wu Ying resumed his walk with a baked, stuffed bun in hand, he pondered his options. As Uncle Tung had pointed out, cultivation and training without enlightenment was a surefire way of stalling oneself. Guilt was another hindrance in cultivation. Guilt and regret would hinder him if he did not see the city, but so would it if he did nothing but waste his time.
Wu Ying quietly plotted out his next few days as he entered the inn’s bottom floor and took a seat at one of the many dining tables. Training tonight, then rest. Then more training in the morning, followed by sight-seeing in the afternoon. He would spend a few hours in the mid-afternoon on more training, then more sight-seeing and snacking before returning to the inn for dinner. Or eating out, if he found some place reasonable. Then training again.
That should satisfy his guilty conscience. And if not… well, Wu Ying would adjust his schedule until the nagging guilt and regret balanced themselves out. After all, that was part of living too.
Chapter 17
Days later, Wu Ying found himself standing on the bow of a ship, watching as Lieutenant Tung Zhong Shei said goodbye to Ah Kong and his gathered friends. No family, Wu Ying absently noted, but it was not as if Zhong Shei was leaving forever. Just a short trip before he came back. That Zhong Shei’s friends included a bevy of pretty young girls was not surprising—but from the way the guard constantly searched the crowds, it was obvious that a particular young lady was not there.
