I wasn’t sure what my trip to the Brilliant Sun Empire would entail, so I made thorough preparations beforehand. I needed to stock my storage space well just in case the journey proved to be fatal.


    Pill Emperor Li had left me with three items. A book, a box, and a coin. The first two were too large to keep, but the coin was by far the most important to me anyway. I didn’t know what its significance was, but it was the first thing I stored away to take with me.


    Another important treasure I needed to keep was the small pouch of seeds given to me by SuYin. I didn’t know what they were, but if Mei wanted me to have them, I felt that they must be important.


    Next were pills. In the past, I always took cultivation resources back with me, but I had never needed them. Getting basic herbs for cultivation pills was easy, so they were just taking up space. Instead, the most important pill to take with me was the Nutrition Pill. The original Su Fang’s body was a mess, and I had relied on a Rank 1 healing pill to fix it. It did a decent job, but a Nutrition Pill could help further heal my body during those early stages.


    The only other pills I decided to take with me were poison pills. I needed to be able to die as quickly as possible, no matter the situation. I had no idea how much effect the Rank 3 poison I had made in the past would have on a Lord or King, so I reformulated it with the most powerful Rank 4 herbs I could. I didn’t have a Lord to test it on, but I was confident it would do the job.


    I went through everything else I had or could get, and there was nothing else I thought I needed to take. Spirit stones would be nice, but with access to the right herbs, I could earn them easily enough. I pocketed a little loose change, just to be safe, but other than that, I didn’t think there was anything I really needed.


    So, it was time to start on Emperor Li’s book. My first idea was to try and copy down all of its information onto small, thin pieces of paper that I could safely place in my storage space. When I tried that though, my writing became smudged and illegible. No matter how many times I wrote down the information, no matter how careful I was, the final result was an illegible mess.


    This strange effect seemed to only apply to the parts of the book I couldn’t understand. Everything from the simplest parts to the most difficult passages I had memorized were able to be copied without issue, but the parts of the book beyond my understanding would twist and turn as I tried to write them.


    I could copy things I didn’t know, but I couldn’t copy things I was incapable of understanding.


    That being the case, I began doing something I considered nearly sacrilegious. I couldn’t take Emperor Li’s book with me. It was simply too large. However, it was made of paper. I began ripping out every page that covered topics too advanced for me to understand. This hurt their value since they no longer retained the context of the entire book, but I had to accept that loss. I folded the papers and crammed as many as I could into my storage space, saving as much of the book as I could.


    I looked at the jade box that contained the spirit fire he had given me. I never got to use it because of my lacking affinities. It was a shame. Maybe in a future life I would have another opportunity to try it out.


    With the storage in my soul filled with what I wanted to keep, I packed my storage bag with all of the sundry goods that might be useful on a trip to Brilliant Sun then left to arrange transport.


    My first thought was to use a Pavilion coach because it would be safe, and it would let me enter the empire in style. Delivered to the Blue Wind Pavilion, I would announce myself as a Pill Lord, apply to upgrade my red-gold badge to two-stars, take the test, and use it to grab the Royal Family’s attention with the same method that had made me stand out when I first entered Eight Flower.


    The more my thoughts traveled down that direction, the more uneasy I felt.


    My soul used all of its remaining strength to force my mind to accept a different plan. I needed to travel in a more low-key manner. I needed to understand the location terrain before making a show of myself. With those thoughts firmly planted in my head, I went to the Heaven District and boarded a somewhat worn-out carriage that was going to the Brilliant Sun Empire.


    <hr>


    Not long after the carriage crossed the border, its rocking, bumpy movement came to an abrupt halt. Wondering what the problem was, I looked out the window and saw that we were completely surrounded by uniformed men on horses.


    “Alchemist Su, please step out of the carriage,” boomed a loud voice.


    With an impassive face, I opened the door and stepped out.


    A group of three people approached me. In front was a middle-aged man in a bright red uniform with a military bearing about him. He stood stiff and straight, and he carried a blade at his hip.


    On the left was an elderly man in black robes who seemed to have his head perpetually bowed. I assumed he was a servant or personal guard.


    On the right was the former queen of the Eight Flower Kingdom.


    “Queen Duge,” I nodded in acknowledgment.


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    She smirked. “My term recently ended, so I am no longer a queen. You may refer to me by my martial title. King Duge.”


    “King Duge,” I bowed my head once more. “How may I help you on this fine day?”


    “Alchemist Su, our kingdom is in dire need of your services, so I must regretfully conscript you. Please follow us to your posting.”


    I wanted to laugh but held it in. “I assume I don’t have a choice in this matter?”


    Her eyes narrowed. “No, you don’t.”


    “Very well, lead the way.”


    The man at the front gestured to a nearby soldier.


    “Alchemist Su, please hand over any storage bag in your possession.”


    I handed it over without comment. When I did, the soldier looked at his leader who nodded. This made me think the leader had some way to check if I had other hidden storage items.


    “This way sir,” said the soldier, leading me away.


    <hr>


    The carriage he took me to was much nicer than the one I had been riding in. The seats were well upholstered and had thick cushions. Its suspension was good enough that I barely noticed any movement as we traveled down a rocky road.


    I was brought out of the carriage by a team of guards who watched my every movement and was ushered into an opulent courtyard mansion.


    “Alchemist Su,” said the former queen, entering after I did. “What do you think of your new home? We’ve tried to provide you with every luxury available.”


    I looked at the solid wood furniture, the delicate porcelains, and the gilded decorations.


    “What do you want?”


    “Direct as ever,” the queen smirked. “As we discussed before, I want the information about the formations used to create pills. Once I have it, this lovely manor is yours.”


    I shook my head. “I told you. I’m bound by oaths. I cannot disclose any information about formations.”


    She grinned. “Of course, but I’m no stranger to those pesky oaths. They only matter in Eight Flower. Here, even if you break them, nothing will happen.”


    It was true, in a way. As long as I never returned to Eight Flower, it wouldn’t matter if I broke an oath because the only enforcement mechanism was the kingdom’s formation. However, since my oath was connected through the Heavenly Dao, I was pretty confident breaking it would have serious long-term implications for future lives.


    “Sorry, Qu— King Duge. I will not break my oath.”


    She threw her head back and laughed. “Excellent, that’s what I was hoping for. I love a man with conviction.”


    She clapped her hands twice, a servant entered, and the queen nodded at him.


    “This way, sir,” the servant said in a dry voice.


    I didn’t fight the process. It wouldn’t have done any good, and besides, I wanted to see what they had planned for me.


    The servant led me down a flight of stairs into a stark stone basement. There was very little light, and it smelled of mildew.


    The basement was a large open space with an alchemy workbench and bed, but a line of rusty iron bars crossed the length of the room, separating the exit from the living space. The servant opened a door and gestured for me to enter.


    I did so, and he closed the door behind me.


    I looked back at him. “You do realize that I’m a Martial Lord, right? I’m pretty sure I can easily bend simple rusted iron at point, let alone melt it with my fire.”


    He looked at me impassively. “Sir, the bars are there for your protection. If you try to force your way across, a formation will activate, and you will be seriously injured. None of us would like that to happen.”


    “Thank you for the consideration, then.”


    “Of course, sir. The lady has asked me to inform you of her orders. You are to begin explaining your formation designs within a week. If you do not, we will begin to take more forceful measures that you will not enjoy. I will give you time to get settled and come back to check on your decision tomorrow. I apologize for any inconvenience you may have suffered.”


    “Thank you for the hospitality,” I said in as polite a manner as I could. “See you tomorrow.”


    The servant left me alone in the damp, dark cell to ponder my future if I didn’t comply.


    A deep sense of hopelessness welled up within me. It was a feeling that nothing would matter at this point. There was no way to escape. My captors would never let me leave. They might make my accommodations better, they might treat me like royalty, but they will never give me my freedom. My entire soul burned with the knowledge that there was no way of achieving my goals in this life.


    I felt a subtle shift in my thoughts. I began to think more clearly about how I must proceed. I couldn’t escape, but that didn’t mean my life was already over.


    I sat down in the middle of the cell and started cultivating.


    I was a Peak Lord and couldn’t break through to Martial King without kingdom-level karma, which I would never receive in this life. However, I did have a significant reserve of city-level karma stashed away in my dantian ready to use.


    I had long ago cultivated to the limit of the Lord realm, and in that cell, I began to push further. As I pushed more and more qi into my core, the density increased further than ever before, but breaking through the wall of true advancement was impossible.


    I kept pushing. Cracks started to appear on my core. The wall blocking me from advancing was as solid as ever, but my core could no longer withstand the pressure. I kept pushing.


    When my core neared its breaking point, I braided all my reserves of karmic energy into my qi and shoved it into my core.


    My core imploded.


    Instead of bursting outward, the shards of my broken core rushed to the center of the concentrated qi it had once contained.


    The world shattered, and I felt an opening to one of the chains binding me to this world at the center of the maelstrom of qi and karmic energy. I took every remaining bit of energy in my body and threw it at that chain.


    The chain was far thicker and more durable than the ones I had broken in the past. This time, with everything I could throw at it, it didn’t break, but it did crack just the slightest bit. That was enough. I felt the laws of the world loosen their restrictions on me, if only slightly.


    I had advanced to False King.


    I collapsed onto the floor. My body was exhausted, and my qi was completely depleted. I wanted to lay there for the rest of my life.


    The sound of clapping echoed through my cell. I turned my head to see the queen on the other side of the bars.


    “I was wondering what was causing such a ruckus down here. You certainly do put on an excellent show. Congratulations on your advancement, but I will warn you, a False King has no better chance at escaping from here than a Lord does.”


    Laying sprawled on the floor in my weary state, I still found the energy to smile at her.


    “That… that is something I agree with.”


    I mentally opened my storage space and sent a poison pill directly into my mouth. Before the queen understood what was happening, the pill dissolved in my mouth and poison entered my body.


    You have died. Calculating…


    You died as a False Martial King. 200,000,000 credits awarded.


    Total Credits: 200,000,000