Once we had eaten, everyone went to perform final checks on all of the supplies. I went to Jiang to make sure she had everything she needed, and nodded to the other women standing there. “I just want to make sure you didn’t forget anything, as this is your first caravan trip.” I said.

  Jiang nodded. “I think so. Clothing, alchemical supplies, cauldron, wood, pills, medical kit, a barrel of water.” I gave her a confused look. “Middle level two spirit water from behind the main house. I suppose we could drink it if we can’t find a clean water source, but I plan on using it to make pills, as it improves their quality.”

  I nodded. “What about satiation pills, for emergencies?”

  She nodded. “Five and I both made a batch last night before bed. I made nine average and one lower and she made eight average and two higher. I brought all three bottles with me.” I nodded. I knew I was forgetting something. On Earth you would bring a toiletry kit, but she knew the Cleaning technique so that wasn’t strictly necessary. I looked at the other ladies standing there. “Excuse me, but can you think of anything she’s missing?”

  One of the women nodded. “Perfume and makeup? The cleaning technique is fine for bathing, but you need to look and smell your best.”

  I shook my head. “Not exactly needed.” I said. The women seemed surprised that I said that, but smiled and nodded.

  “Money?” another woman suggested. “Not just a few stones either, but mortal money. We’ll be spending half our travel time in Mortal Valley, so taels are a necessity if you want to do any trade.”

  I nodded. “Then I’ll see if the family is willing to buy a stone from me, since I don’t have any on me.” I found one of the servants and asked about trading a stone for mortal taels and he informed me that anyone in the family could do so. I looked around for someone that wasn’t part of the caravan and saw a familiar man leaving the dining room and turning towards the alchemy rooms. “Hey Xo.” I said, jogging over. “Your wouldn’t happen to have a hundred or so taels on you, would you?” I asked. “I’ll give you a few talismans for it if you want. I just gave away all of my stones so that the servants could make an emergency supply run, so I’m out at the moment.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got some. What kind of talisman are we talking about?”

  “What kind do you want?” I asked. “Want a stun one?” I threw a level one stun bolt at the nearby wall to demonstrate. “It knocks opponents down or out without seriously injuring them.”

  “That’s a pretty interesting effect.” he said. “I can think of several instances where you don’t want to harm someone but want to make them stop. Sure, that works.”

  “Level one or two?” I could theoretically make him one of those reusable level two ones, or even a reusable level one on level two paper, but they took several minutes, so this would just be a basic one.

  “How about one of each?” He said, pulling out several handfuls of gems. I nodded and went to a nearby dining table, then quickly made him one of each. I walked back over and handed him three talismans. “It doesn’t need to dry because I just qi burned the paper,” I said, “It’s slightly less efficient than with the ink, but not enough to make the effect too weak. I also included a free lantern talisman.”

  “Is this like the one that caused trouble for Five that you demonstrated the other day?” he asked and I shook my head.

  “This is just a normal talisman. Touch your qi to it and it turns on, more qi to make it brighter, and remove it to turn it off. I can sell you the demonstration one from the other day, though. Mortals can use it, so it would make a great gift for one.” I said, smiling. I knew he had a mortal lover the wasn’t an official concubine, so he might be interested.

  “No, I’m fine for now.” He said, handing me the gems. “This is two hundred taels of gems. That should be enough to cover the value of the talismans.” A level two talisman cost about a stone to make if you bought the materials from a store and a level one talisman about twenty taels, but they would sell for at least twice that. While he didn’t pay the rate a shops would sell them for, I wouldn’t lose money at this rate, so I accepted.

  I thanked him, then returned to Jiang. “Here’s one hundred taels.” I said, handing her half the pile. “That should be enough for you to do some shopping when we get to the valley.” The ladies smiled at me giving her so much, but couldn’t think of anything else she missed, so I left to check my own supplies.

  “He really likes to dote on you, doesn’t he? Gives you so much spending money and doesn’t even care if you wear makeup or perfume.” The older woman said. “I wish I could find a level three man. I’d never have to worry about money, especially if he was that generous.”

  “Oh, I’m not his concubine.” Jiang corrected them. “I asked if he wanted that last night and he said no. Do you really think he’s interested in me?”

  “Have you known a man to treat his woman that well and not have feelings for her?” asked another woman.

  “I’m not his woman. Well, I guess technically he did own me until last night, but he freed me and didn’t seem interested in anything more than earning money from loan repayments.”

  “Really?” asked the older woman. She was middle level two and the other two were middle and early level one. “There must be a reason a man would treat his slave so well, but not want to bed her. Can you tell us the specifics?”

  Five minutes later Jiang finished telling them about everything that happened with me and her family from the time I came to town until now, not that I knew at the time. I had only heard the comment about me doting on her before leaving to make sure no one else wanted any talismans before we set out.

  “That must be it, then.” the older woman said. “He knew you were married and didn’t want to break up your family. He probably wants your relationship to remain unofficial until your kids have grown up. You are both cultivators, after all, so even if he has to wait twenty years, with you being at least level two by then, you’ll only look five years older. By then your mortal husband will be in his fifties, which many mortal men don’t make it to, so he can just pick things up then. He even set the loan for that long to give you a time.”

  “You really think so?” Jiang asked, wondering about the possibility. She loved Ding, of course, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t acknowledge that another man had feelings for her, especially when they would both outlive her current husband and could just get together then. Who didn’t want to feel like they were still attractive? Besides, with the conversation she had with Ding last night, something might be possible before then.

  “Either that,” said the youngest woman, in her early twenties at the oldest, “Or he’s interested in Five. You can legally take a woman as a concubine at sixteen, and since she’s ten and already a cultivator, she might still look thirteen when she’s old enough. I’ve met plenty of men that were into little girls, and that would be a legal way to fulfill those urges.” One of the reasons that people waited until they were teenagers to first break through was so that it didn’t stunt their physical appearance. Internally they would still develop at the same rate, but externally things were more complicated. Five would likely look like she was thirteen when she was sixteen and like she was fifteen when she was twenty, which would cause her to either attract perverted men or have to delay finding a man until her mid to late twenties, then date younger men. This was the same reason that Ben, who broke through at fourteen, still looked underage even though he was in his early twenties.

  “I don’t think that he’s that kind of man.” Jiang said, a bit worried. “He just wanted her to be his apprentice, nothing more. If anything, she would be his new daughter.”

  “That doesn’t stop all men.” said the woman in middle, the middle level one.

  “Surely he doesn’t…” Jiang said, then got even more worried.

  “Why don’t you test him?” said the oldest woman. “Try to seduce him. You don’t even need to follow through if you don’t want to. If he’s interested in you, he won’t be interested in her. Men who are into kids usually aren’t also into women their own age, especially when that woman is pregnant.”

  “I think I’m actually older than him, but I get the idea. I’ll try that.”

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  Once the servants returned with all of the beast bags, the higher ranked servant still being out to pay for everything, I put them all in one of my extra storage bags. All of the people in the caravan already had a storage bag, or I would have given them one, so I still had a dozen or so extras. These bags won’t fit in my normal storage bags once full, but collapsed they were barely small enough.

  From the number of bags and the stated cost I knew that they had only spent half the money, so I told Ji Bo to consider the rest of it to be an advance on the talisman leather I wanted to buy. For one hundred and fifty stones they could hire a level three mercenary for almost a month. If they knew the location of a level three beast, it would now cost them nothing out of pocket to send one out to hunt one or two beasts.

  Just before we set out, I saw a small bird fly towards me. “Maque Xiao?” I asked in surprise, as the bird landed on my shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the Qin’s? Is something wrong?” He chirped and shook his head, then nuzzled up against my cheek. I sent the strong strand of qi he sent me and its cultivation seed into the correct areas and reached up to pet him. He appeared to be in the middle of level two now, so the seed was stronger and more detailed than before. “Did you just miss me and want to say goodbye?” He lifted his wings almost like he was shrugging at my question.

  I was about to ask another question when I saw the Qin family step through the archway at the side of the plaza. Most of them were carrying a pet, Three holding the puppy and Five holding the lion. They went to where Jiang was standing. “Here.” said Ding, holding out the flood dragon. “The kids wanted you to take the snake with you for protection, though I’m not sure that’s because they don’t like snakes or if they are worried about you.” Smiling at the joke, she took it and let it wrap around her wrist. Once there it seemed to relax considerably, and I could feel it start to go to sleep.

  “Thank you, children.” she said, and they ran over to give her hugs. When they were done, she stood up and Ding grabbed her and gave her a kiss.

  “Just be careful, okay?” he said, worriedly.

  Wanting to ease their concerns, I walked over. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s safe.” I said. “I already gave her a barrier talisman just in case, and will keep her out of serious combat.” Ding nodded.

  “Is momma going to be safe?” asked Six, petting his quail for comfort, and I knelt down.

  “Your momma will be fine.” I said. “We’re just going on a short trip, and when we are finished she’ll come back to stay with you in your new home. I’ll even make sure she brings everyone a gift too, and I’ll bring the rest of you pets.”

  “Can I get a puppy?” asked Six.

  “You already have a quail,” I said, petting the bird. It made a cooing sound and rubbed against my hand. It couldn’t give me qi or a seed, as I wasn’t bonded to it, but it could do that for Six if they had a strong enough bond. “I’ll probably bring Three one, since she seems to like puppies.” She had set the Burnt Wolf pup on the ground and it was running in circles around her. Somehow it had found a stick and had lit one end, so there was a trail of smoke following it. “I’m sure she’ll let you play with it.”

  He nodded but looked sad. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I patted his head and stood up. Ding came over and gave him a hug and said something to him which seemed to cheer him up. After Ding stood up I asked him what kind of pet he wanted. “Maybe a hunting dog?” I suggested.

  “Well, the kids really seem to like dogs, and it would make protecting them easier. But livestock would be more practical.”

  I nodded. “I actually caught some thunder wolves about a week and a half ago with the White Tiger group, so I know there are some in the area. Maybe I’ll find a young one, so it can grow on you. I doubt you’ll need livestock, though, as they have plenty.”

  He nodded and everyone said goodbye, as Ji Bo was ordering everyone to board the wagons. Ding made sure everyone was out of the way of the caravan. Once we were certain that we weren’t missing anyone or anything, the last of us climbed into various wagons and we set off. The Ambassador and I got a nicer carriage, more akin to a stage coach from the eighteen hundreds, which even had leaf springs made out of compressed bone to make the ride smoother. It had a bed like a truck, where Jiang and the comfort women rode, along with the lock boxes containing the most valuable supplies. As our carriage carried the VIPs and valuables, it was the only one being pulled by a half-blood spirit horse, the others using weak blood horses or goats. This horse was half Fire horse, and was already early level two, so it should be able to outrun all mortal horses and most spirit horses, and keep up that pace for hours if needed.

  Ji Bo and Ji Wan would share the carriage with the Ambassador and I part of the time, though they would need to manage the caravan while we were moving as well, so they both carried flying artifacts with them. While Ji Bo seemed to have a spear which he kept in his storage bag, throwing it out the door and jumping on it any time he needed to deal with an issue, Ji Wan only had a giant wooden leaf shaped item. They were usually only used as floating platforms. much like one would use a ladder or people on Earth would use an elevator, but it could move forward almost as fast as a running horse if one was willing to spend the qi, so it was fast enough to be useful here.

  “What weapon do you use?” I asked Ji Wan shortly after we set off. “Since you don’t have a flying weapon I was wondering.”

  He nodded. “I actually have a paint brush and a quickbrush.” he said, using the term for what I would call a marker. “The quickbrush just stores qi so that I can use spells without using my own qi, letting me fight for longer. The paint brush can expand its bristles into a whip and obey simple mental commands like grabbing someone. They were expensive, and I actually bought the paint brush at the auction house, as no one in town makes proper artifacts. Sure, there are a few that can combine beast and other materials to make fine equipment. This quickbrush is actually made of the wood of a level three spirit willow and the wool of a level three spirit sheep, then combined in a way that lets it provide almost all of the qi for techniques focused through it. Compared to an expanding brush-whip, though, that too mundane. Crystal summit, though, has proper artifact crafters.”

  So, he had a magic wand and a fancy whip. They weren’t the most impressive weapons, and I would have preferred if he had answered “Daggers”, as they could at least cause some damage in a fight, but those items should let him at least hold him own.

  “So you guys went to an auction while I was away?” I asked, and the Ambassador nodded, holding up the book he was reading.

  “I bought this technique at the auction too.” The cover said Earth Core Manual. “It’s a technique for letting your golden core take on some of the properties of spirit stones so that it can store qi more densely.”

  “But spirit stones have a much lower storage density than cores. Wouldn’t that decrease the density?” I wasn’t sure how one would improve the density of an almost pure mass of solid qi other than removing the impurities. Artificial cores actually held around thirty percent more by volume than the cores inside of people, as they didn’t contain proteins or other biochemicals.

  “Actually, it’s trying to mimic these.” The Ambassador said, then pulled out a tiny yellow shard which radiated a tiny amount of Earth qi comparable to an Average spirit root in quality. “This is called an essence stone, and while it functions similarly to a spirit stone, the qi inside of it is much more dense, with higher densities corresponding to higher purity qi, and is available for every spirit root, even some rare ones.

  He handed the shard to me and I looked it over. I tried to absorb a bit of the qi, to test how it was like a spirit stone, and my body instantly tried to resist with a my metal root. I could tell that it was clashing similar to a how a person’s would clash during dual cultivation or a suppression battle. As its qi density was slightly higher than mine and its quality was only average, whereas my metal root was Master, I could probably train my qi pressure with it but not my root quality. “This would make a good way to train my qi.” I said, and the Ambassador nodded.

  “That’s actually the main use for them, though sometimes artifacts will need specific elements to function.”

  “Like how my seal plate needs the five elements, but can get them from the user or their allies.”

  He nodded. “Exactly. That tiny shard is worth around one hundred stones, though, so it would be too expensive to use them for common artifacts. Not that your plate is exactly common. It’s level four, which means that it can probably sell for ten thousand stones at a minimum.”

  “Probably closer to fifty thousand.” said Ji Wan. “Defensive items are always in demand.”

  I nodded. “Well, I’m not willing to sell this one, but I can talk to my Dao Companion about making a few more for sell here.”

  He nodded. “I can’t afford one for myself, but I’m sure my family’s elders would love to purchase one. A barrier that can be deployed or worn is quite useful.”

  I nodded. “Then I’ll make sure to return with one if she can solve the issues.” I pulled my own book from my bag, motion sickness thankfully being something that cultivators didn’t need to deal with. “I would love to read that book when you are finished with it,” I said to the Ambassador. “You might find mine interesting as well.”

  He looked at the cover. “What is the Dancing Dragon Technique about?” he asked.

  “It’s a combined sword and qi technique.” I answered. “Essentially, it teaches you to make an artificial fire spirit in the shape of a dragon that can obey your commands and coordinate with your own sword attacks to devastate the enemy.”

  He nodded. “While I would love to learn a sword technique some time soon, I don’t have a Fire root, so I can’t make use of that technique. Now that I think about it, you don’t have an Earth root either, so you can’t really use my manual either.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from each other’s techniques. Mine contains information about how to make artificial spirits that can act independently, and yours teaches how to incorporate elemental qi into the core. If I can learn the principles behind that, I can probably incorporate Fire or Metal qi, possibly both, into my core to improve it, though I won’t be entering level four for a while. I can probably do the same with my technique and make you an Earth spirit technique of some type. It will probably only be Average quality, as I’m sure the manual contains some specialized Fire things that won’t cross over, but it is probably possible.”

  The Ambassador nodded. “Fine, but this book cost me one hundred and ten thousand, so be careful with it.” I nodded and I tried to return the shard to him. He shook his head and motioned for me to keep it. “I won’t get any more use from that stone for the time being. You can use it to cultivate, and return it once it is no longer needed. My wife has a Water root, and it will help her training considerably, so I can’t give it to you, but you can keep it for now.” I nodded and put it in my storage bag.