When we returned to the mansion I said goodbye to the Ambassador and went to the back of the estate, where the Qin family lived. The rest of the family had now gathered there, as they had been informed by the higher ranking servants that they had been purchased and no longer worked for the Ji family. Jiang had prepared lunch for them, but otherwise she and Five had spent the time studying the level one herbology book, taking turns viewing the jade and asking each other questions, only looking them up when they weren’t sure of the answer.
Jiang introduced me to her husband, Ding, and the rest of the children, who were all named after numbers in the order of their birth. Ding and Three, a fourteen year old girl, had taken turns watching Four, Six and Seven, a twelve year old boy, six year old girl and four year old boy respectively. After introducing myself I asked Ding, One, and Two to come with me, and we went to a nearby smith shop, leaving Three to look after the others.
Once we were there I went to the counter. “I would like three skinning knives, three axes, all level one, preferably late or peak, and whatever three level one weapons these men choose.” I said, and the shop owner nodded. The three Qins looked surprised when I said that, but I encouraged them to go and choose, and they went to look through the weapons. Buying level one tools for your servants was fairly common for the rich, as it allowed them to harvest level one spirit trees and clean the bodies of spirit beasts, both lucrative tasks, so the man wasn’t that surprised by the request. Buying them weapons was a bit more unusual, as even when equipping guards you usually gave them whatever weapons you happened to have lying around, but he likely assumed that I didn’t have any weapons to give them, and so was letting them choose a weapon from here instead of a storehouse.
By the time the man had brought the knives and axes to the counter, the knives coming in cheap spirit beast leather sheathes as they were sharp enough to easily cut through mortal beast leather, the three men had brought their weapons to the counter as well. Ding had chosen a saber, as he had practiced with one a few months before becoming a slave, hoping to earn money by hunting, and just needed to polish his rusty skills with it. One had chosen a shortsword, as the longswords cost almost twice as much and he didn’t want to look greedy. Two had chosen a spear. All of the weapons and tools were made of the bones of level one spirit beasts, likely weak bloods raised in the city, as this smith specialized in bone tools. They were cheap and durable enough that I didn’t really worry about their origin, though once the family was with the White Tiger Sect I would get them proper beast bone weapons from half bloods or strong bloods, preferably one of the races with stronger bones.
After paying for everything I went next door to a general goods store. There I bought three wood hauling backpacks and twenty clay jars. While I wouldn’t be collecting the hides or blood of any vrooshkin I killed, as I had enough level one vrooshkin leather already, I didn’t want to risk killing spirit beasts without being able to collect their hides and blood. I also bought mortal grade manuals for the saber, sword, and spear, and gave them to the men along with their backpacks.
We returned to the courtyard outside of their house and the three of them put their backpacks and tools inside before taking their weapons and books outside to practice. As they practiced their basic forms I sat at a table and pulled out my talisman papers and the ink I had bought but not used much. First, I made a lantern talisman for everyone in the family, so that they could test them as well. These were a bit more energy efficient than the original one, and therefore about ten percent brighter, as I had gotten better after making all of those in the hidden realm. Next, I made ten level one metal barrier talismans on level two paper, so that it wouldn’t be damaged by the activation. I wanted to experiment with rechargeable talismans and after an hour had found a way to recharge the talisman from either a spirit stone or the qi of a cultivator of at least the same level and element. Of course, as these were on level two paper, they would need to find a level two cultivator with a metal root to recharge them, so if I wasn’t around they would need to use a spirit stone. Once I had ten of them I pulled out the level one vrooshkin leather and started making metal and fire attack talismans, practicing incorporating the malice within the leather with the attack. As the sun was starting to set the men started to head inside to wash for supper. I followed them, and once inside I pulled out the talismans.
I gave a lantern talisman to everyone and asked One and Two to teach them to use them, also returning the original one to Five. “Seven might not be able to learn to use it yet, but the others should be able to learn.” I said, and One nodded before showing his father how to use it. Once they had learned to do so, I gave each of them a barrier talisman. “These will place a level one metal barrier around you, which can protect against low level cultivators and spirit beasts. They can be used multiple times, for a total of about fity or sixty minutes, and will deactivate the barrier once you remove your qi from them, but they can run out of qi if used too much, and you will need to either have a level two cultivator with a metal root recharge them or place a spirit stone on that circle at the top to recharge it. Spirit stones are worth a lot of money, and take a week or two to recharge if you deplete them by recharging these talismans, so try not to waste the qi by using them when you don’t need to. If it helps, think of it as spending three taels a minute while these are active. It’s worth it to save your life, but not to leave on when you don’t need it. You can use them as much as you want to now, however, as I will recharge them in the morning, so please practice with them if you want to.”
I then gave Ding, Jiang, One, Two, and Five each five fire and five metal attack talismans. “These are in case you have to fight a cultivator, spirit beast, or demon beast. Just focus on the target and send qi into it and when you release it it will fly towards the target and explode when it hits them. Five might be a bit young to give her a weapon, but as she is a cultivator, she needs to learn to fight anyway.” I then looked at the men. “As for the three of you, I’m not sure how well it can know your intentions as you aren’t cultivators, so just focus really hard on what you want to hit and hopefully the talisman will figure it out. I will go and see if the Ji family will let you borrow their training field so you five can get used to using them, but I can’t guarantee that they will let you.”
Jiang looked like she just realized something. “Can we practice after we eat?” she asked. “I forgot to cook anything, because I was studying so hard with Five, but I can make something simple if you’ll allow me some time.”
“Oh, sorry about that.” I said, and pulled out a small stone worth a little over a tenth of a Stone, handing it to her. “Here. Take your family out to eat.”
She looked at the stone. “Are you sure? I don’t want to waste your money.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. If it helps, think of it as saving time so that you can study more. Besides, a bit of relaxation and good food will help you learn faster.”
With that I told them I would return after supper and left. They also left after the men put shirts on, heading for one of the cheap restaurants in a neighboring district. A tael per person was enough for a good meal, but not enough to afford such the fancy restaurants in this district, as they were geared more towards the rich families living here. If Ding and Jiang wanted to go on a date to one, though, such a stone might be sufficient as long as they didn’t drink the good alcohol.
I went to the main dining room and saw that the Ambassador and senior family members were just being served, so I sat down at the servant’s table. I could probably sit at the main table if I wished, as I was now level three, but I didn’t know anyone there, so I decided to stay with the servants. I pulled out the beast tamer’s jade to read it as I waited, so that I could learn more about the Swarm contract and control technique.
A few minutes later Xo sat down beside me. “Hey, Kev.” he said. “I heard you bought that slave family this morning. Everyone is speculating on if either of them will be able to pass the alchemist trial and become certified alchemists. The odds are currently ten to one against them in the family pool. I put three stones on them both failing. They haven’t really studied before, and I know how hard it is to learn, so I don’t think they can do more than make one mostly failed batch if they draw an easy pill. You want to place any money on them?”
I put away the book and shook my head. “No, I have a bet going with Ji Terron already, so I’ll pass. I think their odds are better than that, though, as I’ve bought them all the materials they will need to study. I’m just not sure if they can make a full batch or will need to pass by making enough partial batches to succeed.”
Xo shook his head. “You certainly have a lot of faith in them, but I just don’t see it happening. One partial batch is already being generous in my opinion. You just don’t understand how complicated it is to make pills.”
Several of his family members sat down as we spoke, but I continued. “No, but I learned talismongering in two days, at least enough to make some decent beginner talismans, so it can’t be that hard.” I pulled out a blank level one beast leather to demonstrate, and started making a lantern talisman.
“Yeah, but making talismans is way easier than making pills.” said one of the men that I had spared with my first day. I couldn’t remember his name. “I learned to make talismans in a week, but never managed to make a full successful batch of pills.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Several of the others joined in to give their opinion as I finished the talisman, at which point I touched it with my qi to make it light up. “A lantern talisman?” Xo asked. “Is this the same as the one that slave stole from you?”
“I actually gave it to her so that she could test it and I could see if she’s make a good apprentice, but this is an updated version of that.” I slid it across the table to him and when I removed my finger it started to dim. “You just need to touch your qi to it to get it to light, not actually provide any qi. It pulls qi from the air to light the area, as it doesn’t take much qi to make that much light.”
He sent a bit of qi out to wrap the talisman without touching it and the talisman grew bright again. “Interesting. Can you make it stay on without touching your qi to it? I could see these being useful in lighting up underground areas.”
I nodded. “Sure. Originally it did that, I just left that function off of this one.” I slid it back over to in front of me and added a few marks to the gathering circuit, then slid it back. This time touching your qi to it acted as a switch instead of just closing the circuit.
“Nice.” said one of the cousins. “This would work out well in the spirit stone mines under the mountain. Though leather is a bit more expensive than paper, so you might be able to make them cheaper and sell them in bulk to the city.”
“The leather will hold up better if the cave is damp, though. Paper will get damp and tear. Besides, I actually designed these to sell to the rich people of the city as an alternative to oil lamps or candles. They cost about fifteen taels to make, or about a stone for seven or eight of them, so they are closer to luxury goods than simple lighting.”
The cousin nodded. “Yeah, that might be a bit much for the city to put them in the mines for lighting, especially after you at least double that as the sell price to make a descent profit. Maybe they can give them to the guards, but the convicts will need to keep using the Night Vision technique.”
The food got to the table at that point, so we started filling out plates. “Besides.” asked one of the men. “How are the rich people supposed to use them? Not all of them are cultivators.”
“Oh, mortals can learn to move their qi, at least enough to concentrate it a bit in one body part,” I said, surprising them. “And I designed these talismans to be sensitive enough to detect that.”
“But I thought you needed a spirit root to move qi inside of yourself.” said another man.
“You need a spirit root to move it outside yourself. Inside yourself those with roots might feel like they are moving oil or water, but a mortal will feel like they are moving a thick syrup. They can do it with enough concentration and effort, but it isn’t easy. In order to use my new line of talismans, though, I think the rich will be willing to give it a try.” I was exaggerating slightly, as it was more like thin syrup for mortals, and a thick syrup to move qi in the air, but I didn’t want to worry them by making it sound like mortals could cultivate.
“Interesting,” said Xo. “I haven’t heard that before.”
“Nobody really studies it.” I said. “You just suppress a room full of people and if any of them stay awake you know they have at least one spirit root and can test them. There’s no reason to test mortals to see if they can do anything with qi.”
They nodded. That was how the family had tested them when they were children, so it made sense that that knowledge wasn’t wide spread.
After supper was over I excused myself and walked to the training field to talk to the man in charge. Normally, slaves weren’t allowed to practice with weapons, but as I was a guest they would allow my cultivator slaves and body guards to practice here for a brief period. I returned to the family’s house and, when they returned a few minutes later, I took the five with talismans to the field, once again leaving Three to watch her younger siblings.
Jiang and Five were able to quickly get the hang of the talismans, and could make it hit the target every time. The men, however, had a much tougher time. At first, they couldn’t focus on making their qi touch it while focusing on the target. Once they could, however, they didn’t focus on the target hard enough without losing focus on their qi, so when the talisman was released it just fell to the ground. By the tenth talisman, however, they had managed to hit the target, once for Two and twice for One and Ding. I advised that the three men practice with their lantern and shield talismans, trying to use both at the same time and even turn both on and off at the same time or different times, to practice, then told them that I would be back tomorrow morning after breakfast and said goodbye.
That night I meditated long enough to get my cultivation seeds to full effect, using the general mental improvement seed this time to make sure that I wasn’t focusing too heavily on any one aspect. After I finished, I spent the rest of the night making lantern and shield talismans. I would like to make a rechargeable attack item, but the nature of the attack required that all of the qi be released after hitting the target. This meant that if they were made rechargeable then whoever won would need to clean them up afterwards. I would need to find a different attack technique to make it rechargeable. Called Lightning would work, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to give that to anyone, as it was kind of my signature move after using it so much in the hidden realm. Something more like Stone Spike would likely work better, but I wasn’t sure what technique I could use that style of attack with.
I briefly looked at the taiji necklace I was wearing. While it was technically an artifact, and not a talisman, it had the ability to be used multiple times and would automatically activate if I was attacked, by certain types of attacks. The reusable talismans blurred the line somewhat between talismans and artifacts, so I was certain I could learn something by studying it. I didn’t know how it could detect incoming attacks, but if it could do it then surely I could make a talisman that did so. Perhaps it was an effect that was always active that simply flared up in response to an attack, similar to reinforcing a shield?
Or did it actually have a way to sense the world around it and respond to triggers? Maybe I could create some sort of qi based CIWS system to automatically try and shoot down incoming attacks? This was starting to sound more like an artifact or device than a talisman, though. I might have to learn to make artifacts to make such a thing, instead of just the magical items, like my sword, or the talismans I could already make.
Seeing the sun start to rise I got up and stretched, then went to the main dining hall for breakfast. The food here tasted good, but it didn’t fill you with qi and cultivation seeds like the food at the sect. “Do your chefs really study the Chef’s Path?” I asked Xo, half jokingly.
“Our head Chef is a mortal, so he doesn’t practice any cultivation technique.” Xo said, scooping some rice porridge into his mouth. “Why do you ask?”
I sighed. “When I was at the White Tiger sect their chefs always made simple foods, but they followed the Chef’s Path, so every meal filled you with qi and made you stronger. I know that some of their chefs started out as mortals, but got strong enough from eating the food that they would naturally grow meridians like the spirit beasts, which let them learn some cultivator abilities.” I didn’t want to call them cultivators, as that might upset the others, but the idea that a mortal could learn to use qi for even simple techniques would get them talking.
“Do you have any idea how that works?” asked one of the other men at the table. “Do they put herbs from body or mind tempering pills in the food? I could see that allowing them to condition their body enough from intense manual labor to reach the first level. Maybe.”
I shrugged. “They might, but I’m not sure. From the description I was given, some of the natural cultivation of a spirit beast stays behind in its meat when it dies. Their eggs also contain all of the natural cultivation that the embryo needs to be born at level one, and the milk sometimes contains a bit, to help mammal spirit beasts get stronger while still nursing. So, if you, for example, eat the raw meat of a granite goat, some of its superior strength will be absorbed by you, assuming that its muscles are refined more than yours are. Of course, most methods of cooking destroy that natural cultivation and release most of its qi, so most people don’t get any of it, but the Chef’s Path contain cooking methods and herbs you can add to preserve those, letting you temper your body by eating.”
The gathered men looked surprised. “And you are saying that a mortal chef can learn to do this?”
I nodded. “At least some of it. They can at least follow recipes and use the herbs in their cooking to flavor it. It might not be as good as if a cultivator did the cooking, as they can’t really balance the herbs with the animal’s elemental affinity properly, nor use the technique to prepare food using qi, it should be enough to help elevate the weaker people in your family. If you can get some really strong spirit beast meat, like say a level three beast, you might even be able to help a few level ones overcome their bottleneck and break through to level two. Maybe even help a peak level two just enough to push them over the threshold.”
The men started to murmur to each other about the possibility of using this, and if it might work similar to alchemy. I had finished my meal, however, and got up to leave. If they verified this and the idea managed to spread through the city, things would get more friendly for the White Tiger sect in the future.
I went to the rear of the manor and knocked on the Qin family’s door. Ding came to answer it. It seemed everyone was already up, having gotten used to waking up with the sunrise. “If you are ready,” I said, “I want to go collect spirit wood and demon cores.”
“You are going with us?” asked Ding, a bit surprised. “We’ve been sent into the woods to collect spirit wood by the Ji family before, so I assumed you would do the same.”
“Well, the wood is in pretty safe locations, but I don’t expect you to fight Vrooshkin by yourselves.” I pulled out a stack of talismans and gave ten of each type of attack talisman to the three men, then five each to the two cultivators, as they wouldn’t be entering combat. I also recharged the defensive talismans. Ding’s was almost depleted and the two other men’s were half depleted, showing that they had put in a good bit of practice last night. Five brought the two cauldrons outside, then brought out a tray full of pills that were almost perfectly round. They must have used the medicine board to prepare hundreds of pill embryos last night, as each of the nine trays appeared to have one hundred pills on it.
After they said goodbye and gathered all of their gear we set out in the direction of the White Tiger sect. “I want to introduce you to a few people, and let you get more familiar with spirit beasts, so we’ll head towards them and hopefully meet them.” Liang and Five would need the wood soon if they were going to refine the pills properly, as they only had mundane wood to do so at the moment. Spirit wood burned hotter and lasted longer if you managed to slow its burn rate, so the use of mundane wood might men that the pill didn’t reach the right temperature, and would at least require them to add more wood multiple time throughout the refinement, thus drawing them away and lowering pill quality. This meant that we could only travel for about two hours in that direction before we would need to return. While we could then leave again to gather more, they would at least have some materials to work with at that time.
