"To another fruitful month!" A branching expert, the thin middle-aged man who had greeted Smiling Blade in the battle cages, exclaimed, his cup lifted in a toast.
"I haven’t been this entertained in years!" Ray laughed, throwing his head back. "Watching the righteous forces swallow their pride to beg me to cut them into our business will never stop being hilarious!"
"Senior Lee, Senior Smiling Blade, you have our gratitude," Grace exclaimed, her head lowered politely. "It’s all thanks to you that my beloved and I can enjoy freedom, safety, and growth."
Liam didn’t speak but raised his cup, his feral expression unable to leave his face.
The four were in a small, hexagonal room, six balconies surrounding them, showing the night sky and a mountain’s slope. The place was fancy but empty, only having pillows the four had used to create a meeting area.
Unlike the previous times, the monthly meeting had happened outside the battle cages. A foundation expert had led the couple through an endless corridor that had opened into a six-story-tall solitary pagoda on a mountain further north.
Lee had made it sound like a reward for the couple after spending half a year underground, but it was obvious the fancier location was for Smiling Blade. His presence was the only thing that had changed from the previous meetings after all.
As for Lee, he was Liam and Grace’s de facto leader, in charge of one of the factions managing the battle cages. His attire even betrayed his subservience to Smiling Blade, a long-sleeved, luxurious bluish robe having replaced the basic clothes from the previous meetings.
Even the usual cloth that held Lee’s bun together was no more, a golden hairpin having taken over that task.
Truth be told, the hierarchy had always been clear. The battle cages’ force wasn’t independent. It was an organization created and planted by the border’s criminal powers.
Still, at eighty-one minor roots, Liam felt able to sense more, finally seeing a topic explained in his Master’s inheritance.
With the higher cultivation stages being longer, the power differences they featured within them widened so significantly that cultivators had come up with additional divisions.
Branching experts could be low-stage, mid-stage, high-stage, and peak-stage depending on how advanced their cultivation was. Rank 3 items followed a similar classification, using tiers instead.
For example, Lee and Jessica were low-stage branching experts, while Smiling Blade was a high-stage powerhouse.
Instead, the rank 3 cloaking item Grace had used to steal the Rainbow Roses was mid-tier, while the fan was high-tier, those features described in the inheritance’s jade.
In a way, that classification was similar to the quasi-stage Liam had just named. The theory already existed, but his unique talent demanded an expansion, at least when it came to himself.
Of course, Liam had never asked about Lee, Jessica, and Ray. He had just caught those details during random conversations in those meetings. Yet, he could feel that power difference more starkly now, as if his existence had grown close enough to that superior stage to recognize its details.
As suffocating as Lee felt, Smiling Blade was simply terrifying. Even when he did something as basic as laughing, which he did a lot, his voice cut through the air, carrying an intrinsic superiority that applied to every aspect of his being.
’He isn’t an opponent I can face now,’ Liam calmly realized, focusing on drinking to avoid staring too much. ’Lee instead ...’
In a different situation, Liam could have used that opportunity to leave. The tall pagoda was closer than he had ever been to the northern region. If it were just Lee, it would have been worth considering making a run for it.
Liam would lose the many ingredients inside his underground cave, but that was a sacrifice worth making for freedom. The only issue would have been the unfinished business with Jessica in that case.
Of course, Ray’s presence shattered those vague plans, but it didn’t stop Liam’s nefarious thoughts, memorizing Lee’s drinking habits and the foundation experts who delivered additional jugs.
’Ingestion, inhalation, injection, and absorption,’ Liam listed in his mind. ’At higher ranks, there are also ways to infect the mind directly. Master even said that enough insights and power can make substances behave like living beings.’
Liam was reviewing ways of poisoning people. While he was the direct type, poison could and often needed to be subtle, and he might have all the right cards to rely on that approach.
For once, Liam was clueless no more. He could see and plan strategies beyond merely overpowering an opponent.
The tools were also in place. Liam had never stopped forcing the Qilin’s Idea down foundation experts’ throats. Lee had never mentioned the issue, so it was unclear what he was aware of, but even the worst-case scenario gave Liam something to work with.
As long as the foundation experts were terrified of Liam, he might convince one to spike Lee’s drink, or all the wine in the battle cages even. Liam would be fine, and Grace would have his antidotes, making it a feasible strategy.
The issue was Lee’s cultivation stage and the location. Killing Lee wasn’t the goal. Escaping was, albeit murder did sound like the easiest option, one that became more warranted once Liam asked a question.
"Senior, what’s the status of the Dark Berries’ shipment?" Liam asked. Grace and Lee had started discussing the business while Liam had been immersed in his thoughts, so his question fit right in.
"Master Black Qi, I’m sorry to say that there has been another delay," Lee said, a friendly smile on his face. "As I’m sure you are aware, the Dark Berries are in high demand, and we can’t claim priority over the northern forces without arising suspicion."
Everything Lee had said made sense. The Dark Berries were indeed a precious, poisonous rank 2 ingredient. It also came from the northern region, where established forces were already in line to purchase it.
Lee had even made it sound as if the delay was to protect Liam’s identity and safety. However, that was already the third time. Until now, Liam had actually only received two shipments.
’He is afraid I’m getting ready for the breakthrough,’ Liam confirmed. ’If I have time, I’ll kill him.’
In Liam’s mind, it was now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee was engaging in suppression. He was a hindrance in Liam’s path, so he had to be removed.
"The games cultivators play," Ray laughed vulgarly, seemingly having understood the situation and taking a jab at it. "But I do have something for you, Black Qi, a tool worthy of a master alchemist."
Naturally, Liam’s alchemical skills had long since become renowned. He didn’t know how far the news had spread, but what Ray took out from his robe did ease his feral face.
Ray placed a small square case on the floor. Liam reached for it and lifted its lid, only for what appeared in his view to make him put his drink down.
A brownish ring stood inside the container, intricate symbols carved in its surface. It felt like a rank 2 item, but those tools had qualities that their level alone couldn’t describe.
There was some enthusiasm on Ray’s face, more than usual, so Liam got the message. He let a drop of blood with his awareness fall on the ring, binding it, immediately receiving a wave of information.
Liam was lucky that his mental capacity had expanded alongside his cultivation. He would have never been able to bind additional items with the fan weighing on him otherwise.
’Is this possible, too?’ Liam gasped internally, excited.
An ethereal, square room occupied Liam’s mental eye. It was bigger than his Master’s ring, but smaller than his white one. However, some areas were dark, others were far brighter, while some had drops of water falling from the ceiling.
Liam tinkered with what the wave of information had taught him. The entirety of the ethereal space suddenly went dark, then bright again. A soft gale began to blow through it, and a downpour followed.
Moreover, when Liam poured more Qi, the downpour slowed down, albeit not in terms of quantity. It just took longer for those drops to fall.
’It can compress time and create artificial weather,’ Liam confirmed after that short test. ’This is perfect for ingredients.’
Compressing time would delay expiry dates, and specific weathers could bring certain ingredients closer to ripeness, at least when it came to the alchemical properties Liam sought.
It was indeed as Ray had said. The brownish ring was a perfect partner for an alchemist, removing issues of ingredients storage. Liam could now rid himself of all his containers, clearing enough room to fit what his cave held.
"Senior Smiling Blade, thank you," Liam genuinely said, donning the ring and cupping his fist.
"Now you can make a run without leaving anything behind," Ray exploded into a loud laugh. Lee smiled, too, but his expression had stiffened noticeably.
Meanwhile, Liam had to suppress his laugh. It seemed his opinion of Smiling Blade had been wrong, at least partially. It was unclear on which side he was or whether he just wanted to see chaos unfold.
Luckily, Grace took the reins of the conversation.
"We would never depart in such unbecoming fashion," Grace reassured, her smiling merchant mask perfectly hiding her lie. "We are greatly indebted to Senior Smiling Blade and Senior Lee, and we plan to repay you both."
"Lady Grace, please," Lee played along. "You might be outsiders, but you have done a priceless service to the faction. In my mind, you have long since become my precious Juniors."
Grace responded, and a round of polite exchanges followed, but Liam dissociated for a bit. Pleasantries had always been deeply boring for him, and learning how to join them didn’t change that.
If anything, paying attention to Smiling Blade felt more interesting. That unburdened, laughing, seemingly crazy powerhouse reminded Liam of his Master, at least when it came to how loudly and confidently they tackled life.
Relatively recent memories followed. The way Liam had dealt with the Guild’s branch, how he had confidently told Jessica that he would kill her, showed the same spark of craziness, almost making him smile.
’I’m a bit gloomier than Master,’ Liam realized, ’But I’m becoming like him.’
Even more recent memories arrived at the constant exposure to a certain scent, the same Liam carried. Pictures of water splashing, a thin, sensual body clinging tightly to him, and moans in his ears flashed in his view, forcing him to look down at his drink.
It truly wasn’t easy for Liam due to how much he sensed, and it didn’t help that the joint bath had ended a mere hour ago. He could still feel the pull on his hair, on the back of his head, where Grace had anchored herself, almost losing control whenever her pleasure spiked.
It also didn’t help that everything Grace wore, from her hairstyle to her darkened lips and her multilayered robe, had all been the result of Liam’s hands, just like his attire came from hers.
Grace had made a point to teach Liam that stuff, and there were valid reasons. He might have to deal with it on his own at some point. That uncertainty was part of the cultivation journey.
Still, Liam also saw how much Grace enjoyed that process. It fell so obviously in the spoiling category.
’I’m completely trapped,’ Liam thought, drinking. ’Here I am, having confirmed the suppression, with one or maybe two branching experts to kill and a cage to escape, thinking about lewd stuff.’
At least, the wine was good, very good, so much so that a surprising thought rang in Liam’s mind.
’Brother Lancelot, I’m enjoying this,’ Liam indulged in a brief imaginary conversation. ’You’d love seeing how much the world will get burned this time.’
Despite everything, Liam had reached eighty-one minor roots. He had mastered every rank 2 concoction. He had even made a rank 3 poison, and Grace was alive and happy. Life could be good even among darkness.
And then, a problem Liam had no way of handling was mentioned, snapping him back to reality.
"Master Black Qi," Lee addressed Liam directly. "I’m afraid the Demoness expressed the desire to watch you fight under specific conditions."
"Demoness?" Liam repeated. It was the first time he had heard that name.
"She is the leafing expert who has been watching you," Ray explained, for the first time in Liam’s life without his usual smile, actually looking quite stern. "I suggest you put up quite a spectacle. The whole border might be at risk otherwise."