Not everyone was sold on the idea of working with me to create new recipes, but this didn’t stop a couple of people from stepping forward—including the young woman who had placed second in the recent competition, who I finally learned was named Lau CoiHung. Once our group met with its first real success, however, things changed.
After only a few months of work, we were able to create the entirely unique Rank 5 Spear Vortex Pill, which combined spear-based herbs with chain-based herbs. When crushed, this pill created a powerful whirlwind of energy that sucked in anything nearby and shredded it with spear energy.
Considering that this pill used expensive Rank 5 herbs, its effects weren’t overly impressive—its spear energy was only truly deadly to Martial Grandmasters and below. Adding patterns to the pill increased the suction force of its vortex, but it didn’t do much to increase the violence of the spear energy. So, even as a three-patterned pill, it was barely capable of incapacitating Martial Lords.
To anyone solely concerned about the monetary value of our pill, this first success might have looked like an abject failure. However, the rewards for creating this pill went far beyond a few spirit stones.
As the person who took the lead in assembling the world’s very first Rank 5 Spear Vortex Pill, Lau CoiHung was awarded with an enlightenment from the Dao itself, boosting her alchemy abilities far beyond what was normal for someone of her age.
Upon seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. If I had taken the lead in concocting that first pill, then I could have been the one to receive that enlightenment. This regret didn’t last long, however. I could only receive a single enlightenment for each Rank of pill, and spending my Rank 5 enlightenment on some random weapon pill would have been far too wasteful. I would much rather save it for a pill related to beast alchemy.
When others heard about this enlightenment, however, they weren’t quite so sanguine.
While the Palace’s alchemists were constantly working to develop new recipes, nothing they had created was truly novel. They were simply new six- and nine-patterned versions of pills that had existed for centuries. Lau CoiHung’s enlightenment marked the first time in over a thousand years that anyone from this Palace had received a reward for concocting an entirely unique pill.
As news of this achievement spread, I was bombarded with requests to join my research team, with the alchemists who contacted me ranging from low-level Lords to Peak Emperors. Honestly… it was a bit much. So, I talked to Emperor Chan and had him take over the negotiations. I didn’t mind having a bit of extra help around, but ultimately, I had to remember what was important. In a little more than a decade, I would be facing off against an exceptionally dangerous opponent, and I needed to be ready.
With a nearly unprecedented level of support from the Palace’s high-level alchemists, I was able to develop a new pill recipe nearly every single month. Over the course of a single year, I was not only able to assist nearly all of the Palace’s best young alchemists in acquiring a Rank 5 enlightenment, but I was also able to assist several Emperors in acquiring a Rank 6 enlightenment.
There was one small stain on my record, however.
My focus had been on creating new pills using unusual combinations of different weapon energies. So, every pill that I had designed was centered around energies connected to the nine weapons commonly found in the Heroes Domain. Therefore, the alchemists who took the lead in concocting these pills—the person who would receive the enlightenment—had to be someone with a high affinity for one of these weapons.
For most of the Palace’s alchemists, this wasn’t a problem. After all, nearly everyone in the Heroes Domain was proficient with its weapons. For the Palace’s golden child, however, this was an issue.
Mandakh didn’t cultivate weapon qi. He was a dual-element water-wood cultivator who also happened to have a high affinity for fire. This meant that he couldn’t take the lead on any of the recipes that I had come up with and was, therefore, not able to earn any enlightenments. for karmic energy. To help you raise it, we need to send you outside the Palace, to let you live among mortals as they struggle to improve their lot in life. Normally, this isn’t a problem. We would just send you to spend some time in the City of Selfless Courage. Now, though, if you leave the Palace, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to make it back alive.”
Chan let out a soft sigh. “Sovereign Enkhtuya has done her best to keep recent events quiet, but agents of both the Devil Saint and the Saint of Tooth and Claw almost certainly know of your existence. If you leave the Palace’s protections, they will assassinate you—no matter how many assets they have to burn through in the process.”
“But as long as I stay in the Palace, I’m safe?”
“Yes. This place is protected by both the Palace’s formations and Sovereign Enkhtuya. Nothing short of an Ancestor-level cultivator can threaten you within these walls, and if one of those appears, the Saint of Heroes will be forced to intervene and stop them. However, you are only safe here. The Saint of Heroes will help safeguard the Palace, but she won’t safeguard you. This means that you cannot leave the Palace until the final competition. You cannot attend the exhibition match, you cannot go out to experience a Return to Simplicity, and there is no way for you to enhance your affinity for karmic energy.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. Even if I were only a low-level Lord, there still might have been members of the Palace who felt that I needed to compete in the exhibition match. However, if the Sovereign was actively preventing me from joining in for safety reasons, who could blame me for not participating?
“This won’t be a problem,” I told Chan. “I already have a decent karmic affinity. As long as the Palace can supply me with energy, I can break through at any time.”
Suddenly, my right hand shot up as I realized my mistake. “Of course, I will first need to take a look at the Palace’s Ruler tier cultivation techniques. Hopefully, I can find one that is a good fit for my Warrior tier techniques.”
Sadly, the Palace’s collection of Ruler tier cultivation techniques was rather disappointing. Sure, they had Peak-Yellow techniques, which was more than I could say about any faction on the Nine Rivers Continent, but that was it. Nothing was any better than the Core of Fellowship. They just had different effects.
If I wanted to use karmic energy that was generated by people loyal to the Palace, then I needed to use one of the approved techniques. These had effects ranging from increased loyalty to a greater work ethic. If I used a source of outside karmic energy, however, the Palace could provide me with techniques that had effects such as increased gullibility or increased aggression.
I didn’t find any of these techniques overly appealing, so I made copies of the manuals for each Rank of the Core of Fellowship and submitted them to the library for approval. Within the day, I was given authorization to begin using this ‘new’ technique, and within the week, my manuals were officially added to the Palace’s library.
By requesting authorization to use these techniques, I had, essentially, given them to the Palace for free. However, considering the mountain of novel pill recipes that I had given the Palace, handing over a few technique manuals was hardly worth mentioning.
Once everything was confirmed, Emperor Chan informed me that I had full access to as much Lord-level energy as I needed. So, I took enough to complete my initial ascension and locked myself away in my cultivation chamber.
As I sat there, slowly constructing my karmic core, a small part of me felt that foregoing the Return to Simplicity might have been a mistake.
Even without heading into the City of Selfless Courage, I could have still used a Rank 3 Moon Cicada Pill to reset my cultivation base while channeling the energy toward enhancing my Crescent Moon Spade. I hadn’t thought about this earlier, since I was in a hurry to grow stronger, and I didn’t really care too much about becoming a powerful warrior, but during my next life, I would need to make sure to enhance that spade as much as possible.
More importantly, though, was a Return to Simplicity only useful for enhancing one’s weapon? Was there such a thing as a Pill Cicada Pill? Could I use a Return to channel pill qi into a furnace, enhancing my ability to perform alchemy?
Even if this were possible, without a high-Rank furnace, it wouldn’t matter too much. But, once I got hold of a Rank 7+ pill furnace, I would need to look into this.