Of course, the produce of this world should naturally keep for months or years, but refrigeration couldn’t hurt, assuming decay would happen at all in his ring if he didn’t wish it to. He’d need to do some tests to find out. In the meantime though…
Liu Jian was peering with wide-eyed wonder at the ugly little ring on Alex's finger.
“That ring. It’s a storage device?” whispered the alchemist.
His daughter whistled. "And it's so small! Certainly, it's close to being full. It almost has to be, at that size."
“All this time, our young tenant’s been hiding a treasure away that’s worth a double handful of platinum phoenix, at least!” Liu Jian cleared his throat. “Truly, an impressive heirloom, Alex, but my daughter makes a good point. With limited storage capacity, there are far better prizes worthy of space in your magical artifact than a few apples, as delightful a treat as they may be to the palate.”
Liu Ji nodded. “Father’s right, Alex. But at least now we’ll have plenty of apples to fill us up, no matter where we adventure in the forest!”
Alex grinned. "Let's just say carry weight is not a limiting factor for me."
Liu Jian frowned. “What exactly are you saying?”
Alex held the man’s gaze. “It means there’s no limit.”
The man blinked. “Alex...”
“And I hope that secret will stay with us. Always.”
Liu Li paled. “Alex, there is no such thing as unlimited storage. Even if it had the dimensions of a jade class treasure, the property of kings and emperors, it would hold a hundred cubic feet at most, and would sell for a fortune in spirit pearls. Yet you’re saying you have an artifact with unlimited storage space. Do you even have any idea how much a treasure like that would be worth?”
Alex shrugged. “It doesn’t even matter. To me? It’s priceless.” He then flashed a bemused grin. “In every game I’ve ever played, whether Post-Apocalyptic Armageddon or Skydragon, the one and only cheat code I always insisted upon using was unlimited carry weight. The ability to loot an entire freaking dungeon and not have to do a dozen speed-runs selling all that crap at the merchants' stalls? The countless hours I'm spared from that grind? Absolutely priceless!" He chuckled. “I know that might not make much sense...”
“No sense at all,” assured Liu Li.
“But I couldn’t be happier to have it. Besides, just look at this ugly little copper ring. Who would pay a fortune for it? Who would believe it was worth much of anything? And the people who would pay a fortune might find it far more expedient just to kill off the Ruidian in their way, and claim it for themselves.”
Both his companions looked away. Neither denied it.
“When you consider both who I am and the fact that this ring looks so unremarkable it wouldn’t get nearly what it was worth in any kind of auction, even if I could hide my identity, maximizing its utility by using it myself is the smartest play I have.”
Liu Li just shook her head. “Alright, so maybe it would be tricky to sell it. You’d need to be the one making use of it, proving how much it can hold by demonstration. Because your assertion that such an ugly little trinket is superior to every gold and jade artifact in the emperor’s own palace? It’s flat out impossible, Alex. Any number of lords would strike you dead for even daring to make that claim."
Alex grinned. “Because I'm a rankless outsider, vulnerable to having his wealth seized under any pretext. And my executioners will no doubt pocket my ring as ‘evidence' that their butchery was just. A ring they could have any tinkerer duplicate, declaring it proof of my deception, while keeping the real thing for themselves, when they find out that my claims were true."
Liu Li paled.
Liu Jian gave a bitter chuckle. “At least our young friend here is no fool. He already understands the ruthless duplicity and treachery hiding in the heart of our wondrous city. No matter how noble the hero, he will forever be more at risk of perishing from corrupt nobles within his home city than honorable enemies without.”
Alex bowed. “Precisely, Master Jian. The bitter duplicity of men who are supposed to act with honor, so damn eager to sentence a young man to a cruel death, just so they could steal credit for stopping a boatload of enemies eager to poison an entire city, is a lesson this one will never forget.”
Liu Li swallowed. “And now you’re going to insist once more that that boy’s tale, a dusty legend over a thousand years old, is your own.”
Alex grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it. But at least there's one claim I can actually prove. Let me be the party pack mule. You just fill me up, and we’ll see how much loot we end up with by the time we’re done our monster hunt.”
Liu Jian’s furrowed brows mellowed into a bemused chuckle. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, lad? Very well. We’ll see just how much your ring can hold. And don’t worry, neither my daughter nor myself will betray the confidence you have shared with us. My word as a cultivator upon it.”
Liu Li’s eyes widened. “Father! You’re putting your cultivation purity in peril.”
Alex blinked. “Wait, breaking your word has real-life consequences beyond the social, here?”
Liu Li nodded. “Of course, Alex. The purity of our Qi, the smoothness of our cycling, has everything to do with our sense of purpose, who and what we are to the world. But the integrity of our bodies and our spirits are factored in. If we break faith, break an oath, especially after formally swearing ourselves to silence, it threatens our entire foundation. That’s why absolutely no cultivator will give their word casually. Too much can go wrong if you slip up and break it, even if it’s unintentional.”
Alex swallowed, bowing his head. “Thank you for honoring me with your oath,” he said. “I’ll try to be worthy.”
Liu Jian snorted. "If you really can store all the meat, hide, herbs, and monster cores we can find, you'll have made it up to us many times over."
Liu Li nodded “And we should give him a full share of whatever we find.”
Liu Jian’s brow furrowed.
“Think about it, Father! It’s true, he’s just a babe in the woods to us, skill-wise, but he can learn to pluck the right herbs as fast as anyone can, especially with his gifts! And the amount of beast cores and hides and meat and perfectly ripe apples we can take with us will no longer be limited to the storage space of your pack!”
Her father sighed before dipping his head in assent. "You're lucky to have such a devoted advocate, Alex."
Alex grinned. “I agree, sir.”
“Be worthy of her.”
Alex and Liu Li shared a wide-eyed glance as her father picked up his pace, sharing a silent shrug as they scanned the woodlands for the prizes they sought.
For all that both his companions seemed eager to get started harvesting, that first day they did nothing but march ever deeper through the woods, following a path only they could sense.
It wasn't until the next day, after an uneventful evening setting up camp and gazing at the stars, that Alex caught sight of his first wonder.
They had gotten up at the crack of dawn, making their way with spears and ji at the ready along a trail only the other two could sense, when suddenly the primeval woodlands opened up into a massive glade, the sun shining brightly overhead as they finally left the cover of the trees overhead, gazing upon an island in the middle of a pristine lake bluer than any body of water Alex had ever seen before. The island was covered in exotic wildflowers, with dozens of towering conifers standing sentinel along its shores.
Liu Jian held up his hand, motioning them to utter silence, and Alex suddenly sensed both his companions’ fear. What made it so awful was that he had absolutely no idea what the problem was, or what he should be looking out for.
“Hopefully we have nothing to fear,” Liu Jian declared. “The spirit beast that guards this clearing has left to claim a mate, as he does every five years, in the height of spring.” He flashed a smug grin. “Which is why I waited so long to restock my precious sup
plies, so we could make our first stop here and gain perhaps the most priceless treasures of all.”
“Fantastic!” Alex enthused. “Let’s go make our fortune, then.”
A grip as hard as iron held him fast so firmly, he hissed in pain.
“Don’t be a fool, boy. Just because the beast should be gone...”
“Doesn’t mean he is,” Alex whispered.
Liu Jian gave a curt nod, and it seemed they spent endless minutes waiting, the man whispering odd chants, and Alex could feel the air shimmering with the weight of elemental Qi hovering in the air. Jiu Li’s anxiety was a palpable thing, and certainly didn’t help his own.
At last, Liu Jian nodded his head with a certain amount of satisfaction. “It is safe. Thanks to the cockatrice that makes this part of the woods its home, only the smallest spirit beasts are likely to be found. So, it should be safe, for the most part. Safer than other areas of the woods, at least.”
“Until papa cockatrice comes home,” Alex clarified.
Liu Jian snorted but did not deny it, and for all that Alex was worried about massive spirit carp, barracuda, or whatever other nasties might be hiding in the pristine blue lake between shore and island, the alchemist just stuck a single finger into the water, nodded, and pulled out a miniature sampan, with enough room to fit the three of them and not much more, before pointing at the odd-shaped oar.
“Well, boy? Get rowing.”
Alex winced. “I’m not exactly sure how to row a boat with just one oar…
Liu Jian grunted, quickly grabbing the yuloh, showing Alex how it pivoted on the boat's stern. The side to side motion generated forward thrust with each stroke as the blade was twisted, Liu Jian making lazy figure-eight motions through the water, the yuloh never having to be lifted out the water like was the case when using a double oar rowing method.
After gazing at the rowing technique for a few minutes, Alex did his best to take over, though he only managed to send them spinning in circles. Liu Jian snorted while his daughter laughed, declaring him hopeless, and finished rowing them to the island dotted with giant conifers soaring as high as any redwood.
With careful glances up at the sky, their boat already stored away just in case, father and daughter split up to examine the conifers, and Alex spent a few moments getting a very good look at the undersides of a massive tree with piles of dried needles covering its roots.
Then his partner clasped his hand so tightly it hurt.
“Over here, Alex!” whispered an excited Liu Li, quickly dragging him over to a second tree, all but shoving his head underneath the canopy.
“There, Alex, do you see it? The pair of silver blossoms glowing right by the trunk? Silverbell is a natural distiller of Qi. It’s priceless!”
Alex felt his heart skip a beat as he realized that far more than dried up pine needles were hidden underneath this tree. The air was redolent with the scents of honeysuckle, pine, and the rich loamy smile of pristine soil. Alex carefully lifted up the lowest branches, breathless at the sight of the Silverbell blossom, imagining he could feel the waves of gentle life-giving energy radiating from it.
“It has the ability to absorb the toxic waste we give off while cultivating, the chaotic effluvia present in large cities and wildlands filled with dangerous beasts, and most especially dungeons, and transform it all into pure Qi and radiant energy naturally attuned to the elements of Water, Wood, and Earth,” Liu Li explained.
Alex nodded, noting all the other aromatic plants around it, smelling the exotic scents of wildflowers, basil, thyme, and peppermint; as impressed by the dense collection of herbs and mushrooms beside the Silverbell blossom as he was by the Qi distilling plant itself.
“All these herbs and flowers here, it's like a collection of Master Liu's most priceless cuttings! A miniature herb garden of the most potent botanicals for all his formulas, all gathered here, blossoming where the sunlight is completely blocked off by the giant pine,” Alex whispered, more than a little awed by the find.
Liu Li grinned. “That’s because the energy these little blossoms give off is like sunlight, only richer. Better. That’s why we always look under every giant conifer we find, for treasure troves of plants like this.”
Alex frowned, carefully noting the Blackcap Head, Deathwort, Crimson Parsnip, and a dozen other botanicals that could be used to generate the most toxic poisons, in addition to the Sageroot, Lotus Blossom, and dozens of other herbs so valuable in cultivating and healing. “But there are any number of poisonous plants hidden amongst these priceless herbs. I spot at least a dozen varieties. Though it's odd how the toxic and beneficial seem to separate so naturally from one another. A careful gatherer won't be in danger of brushing against Toxic Tapinella mushrooms while harvesting the Sageroot, but still, harvesting this bounty would be perilous to anyone who's not an experienced herbalist or alchemist."
“An interesting observation,” Liu Li quietly said, peering at Alex with odd intensity.
He winced, realizing he had perhaps said more than he should have.
"The answer is simple. The Silverbell blossoms are a boon in their ability to distill not just the sacred energy of Heaven and Earth, but the chaotic effluvia of both the natural and man-made world. Of course, this means that some of the most toxic plants known to man are drawn to Silverbell Blossoms, just as are some of the most sacred plants that store such pristine Qi."
Piercing jade green eyes peered into his own. “Now I have a question for you, Alex. How the hell were you able to spot the poisonous nature of half those plants? Most of them are unknown to anyone not in the Jianghu sect, and only their elite assassins would know about so many, save the pair of poisons Father taught you how to make for hunting Spirit Beasts.”
Alex kept his face carefully bank. He could tell by her twitch that she knew as well as he that that wasn’t all it was used for.
She glared at the Foolsbane and Deathberries. “And it seems you know exactly what these plants are used for.”
Alex nodded. “You’re glaring at the Foolsbane and that tiny cluster of Deathberries. The poisons they generate are both toxic and caustic. Fatal not only on contact, but if the smoke is inhaled. Even tiny amounts poured into, say, a city’s water supply, would have devastating results. It might not kill everyone, but it would leave them weak and debilitated, easy prey for an invading force.”
She blinked. “I didn’t even know that. My question is, how do you? Some of these plants are so toxic, their active ingredients so volatile, that Father judges them not worth the risk of storing for a 3-week trip back to his apothecary, not even safely secured within a bag of holding that should store all ingredients indefinitely, no matter how much gold Elder Ying would happily pay him if Father could safely bring these exotic poisons back to the city."
Alex felt his cheeks grow hot under her considering stare. “Tell me the truth, Alex. Are you one of Elder Ying’s recruits? I’ve heard that he’ll occasionally take foreigners into the Jianghu sect. Making use of their differences, their ability to walk in plain sight in those city boroughs foreign workers and traders have made their own, over the centuries."
Her gaze grew strangely sympathetic. “If you’ve run away… I know how harsh the Jianghu can be to orphans and strays it takes under its wing. But even Elder Ying has acknowledged your worth as Father's assistant. He already knows you live with us, Alex. You're living on borrowed time, unless you come clean with us, so Father can formally claim you. And with your skills as a compounder, I wouldn't be surprised if your former master lets you go with the lightest of punishments, knowing you're far more useful working as a gifted herbalist for the Jianghu, than dead in a gutter somewhere from a failed assassination attempt you didn't really have the heart to carry out."
Alex smiled into her worried eyes, grateful that suspicion had so quickly morphed into concern. At least she didn’t fear he could ever be any kind of threat to her. And the way his heart swelled up whenever he caught her smile, how precious she was to h
im, how grateful he was to her and her father both, he’d sooner cut off his own fingers than cause her harm.
Maybe she could sense it in his gaze.
“I would never hurt you,” he softly said.
Her smile turned sad. “What, was Elder Ying displeased with Father for some reason, and you were the hidden dagger with the pretty hilt designed to slip past all his sigils and wards?” She chuckled softly. “But you fell in love with the beautiful fox girl, and so didn’t have the heart to kill us after all. So, Father Ying took pity on us and lifted his doom from upon us?”
Alex couldn’t help chuckling at that. “No, Liu Li. It’s a wonderful story, but factually wrong on all accounts, except for falling for the beautiful fox girl, maybe.” He blinked at her sudden flush, feeling his own cheeks grow hot. Why the hell had he said that?
He quickly cleared his throat. “I recognize most of these herbs as the botanicals used to create the toxic brews I found in the galleon I woke up in.”
Liu Li's tender gaze suddenly hardened. "Before blowing up an entire ship full of invaders and helping WiFu and his daughter Jin Yu, the ancestral mother of our present city lord, rescue the entire city, a thousand years ago? Is that what you’re saying, Alex? Do you seriously think anyone would believe you to be the foreigner in that ancient tale?”
Alex sighed. “You know what? Believe whatever you like. But no, I’m not Elder Ying’s mysterious lost protege, or a runaway assassin’s apprentice, or anything else but what I’ve already told you. And I will always be grateful that you took me in when you could have left me to fend for myself on the cruel city streets.” His eyes met her own. “My word as a cultivator upon it.”
“That’s a serious oath, Alex. If you’re lying...”
“I know.”
She paled at that. “So, you really have nothing to do with the Jianghu.” Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. “Save what working for us has brought you.”
Alex grinned. “I’m a realist, Liu Li. You do what you have to, to survive. If working under the auspices of a band of rogues and assassins is what it took for me to keep my precious fox girl alive, I would do the same as your father.”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 25
