With my deal in place with Grandmaster Ning, I said a quick goodbye to my classmates, returned the scrolls to the library, and skipped out on my last two weeks of classes. This behavior might have raised some red flags for someone in the Academy, but when I returned, I was going to have to live these two weeks over again, and I didn’t want this life to taint what would happen next time.


    After I left, my first objective was to reach Peak Grandmaster as quickly as possible.


    Instead of booking a room at an inn, I used some of my cash reserves to purchase an apartment near the Blue Wind Pavilion. Inside, I set up a small alchemy workshop and a cultivation room with the best Qi Gathering Formation I was capable of creating.


    In this manner, I spent the next four years in quiet cultivation. As I did, I was constantly asking myself if this was the balance I had been looking for. Several years of slow cultivation with classmates followed by long years of isolation. For some reason, it was more difficult to concentrate on pure cultivation than it had been in the past.


    To simplify things, I didn’t use my Earth-Rank technique. Instead, I went with a Peak-Yellow one. It wasn’t nearly as powerful, but it let me cultivate quickly. For the Master realm, I only needed to create twelve basic meridians, which was far faster than the complex network the Peak-Earth technique required.


    As for the Grandmaster realm, while I wanted to use a Peak-Yellow technique here also, I knew I needed to do better. Peak-Yellow dantians had problems that might come back to haunt me later. Instead, I took a hybrid approach, using the dantian construction from my Rank 3 Peak-Earth technique but connecting it to my meridians using the Peak-Yellow technique’s method out of necessity.


    None of my classmates or teachers would have been at all pleased with my final result, but it was quick. Since I didn’t have any capillary meridians, I didn’t have to worry about them getting clogged as I cultivated at the Grandmaster level. Because of this, while the techniques I used were at a lower level than my last life, I felt more powerful since my qi moved freely.


    Now, all I needed was for Grandmaster Ning to fulfill his side of our bargain.


    <hr>


    Not knowing how to contact the Grandmaster, I sent a message via the Blue Wind Pavilion. I gave them the details of how he was my teacher at the Academy and that he may still be there or he may have returned to the sect. With the information network of the Pavilion, and the fact that Ning was a prominent family, this was all they needed to deliver my message.


    The next day, a servant arrived at my door with an invitation to join the Grandmaster at his estate in the city.


    As I found out, it was a stretch to say that this particular estate was ‘in the city.’ The carriage that was sent to take me there rolled out of the city gates opposite the direction of the Yellow Orchid Academy. While the western hills held the Academy, the hills east of the city held several sprawling mansions.


    The one I was delivered to was a three-story courtyard-style complex surrounded by a large stone wall. Every inch of the wall had been carved with delicate reliefs in a grand display of the owner’s wealth and opulence.


    The sitting room I was brought to looked simple by comparison. It contained only basic wooden furniture and a small stone tea set sitting on one of the tables. When I looked at the room in energy vision though, I saw that everything was brimming with power. The grain of the wood the chairs were made from looked like it might obliterate me if I touched it.


    Only at the servant’s gentle urging was I willing to tentatively take a seat.


    After sitting for 15 minutes, I was wondering how long it would take for Grandmaster Ning to arrive. After the wait stretched to 30 minutes, I began to get slightly annoyed. At the one-hour mark, I knew that the delay had to be deliberate, but the splendor of this mansion told me that it wasn’t my place to question my host.


    Instead of worrying further, I needed to do something to keep my mind occupied. After a quick look around the room, my gaze landed on the stone tea set. The wood was interesting, but I didn’t know anything about plants. Stone, however, was something that I had been studying under Master Tan.


    Looking at the small teacup, I couldn’t help but be enamored by the energy it contained. I instinctively reached out with my hand to pick it up but quickly caught myself. I turned to the servant who had been waiting patiently near the door.


    “May I?”


    After a brief pause, he nodded without saying anything.


    I picked up the cup and began examining it closely. The energy inside of it was strange. It wasn’t qi, it wasn’t medicinal energy, and it wasn’t demonic energy. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt like I had seen something like it before. It felt familiar.


    I had the urge to pull the energy from the cup and try to absorb it, but even if that didn’t get me killed, I was certain it would ruin this potential business relationship.


    Instead of absorbing the energy, I simply studied this stone. I had spent years learning to analyze simple rocks made from granite and sandstone, but this one truly baffled me. I had no idea what type of stone it was.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    It was pale gray with a tinge of green hue. No striations or lines marred its surface. At this point, my ability to analyze a stone’s crystalline structure was only rudimentary, but I could find no flaws in it. If I carved a formation into this cup, I felt that I wouldn’t need to worry at all about the stone’s integrity.


    I don’t know how long I spent fixated on that small teacup, but my inspection was eventually interrupted by the opening of the sitting room’s door.


    Grandmaster Ning walked in and took the only remaining chair. A maid followed shortly behind him to make tea.


    After sitting, the Grandmaster gave me a short bow of his head.


    “Apologies. That was my father’s way of testing new potential partners. He wants to know how people will react when kept waiting like that. People driven to madness by a mere wait make poor business associates.”


    I smiled and dipped my head, showing that no insult was taken.


    As I did, I quickly examined Grandmaster Ning in energy vision and realized that I was wrong to still refer to him as such. He had ascended to Martial Lord, though I couldn’t tell how far he had advanced in this new realm. I would have congratulated him, but making note of such an examination could have been taken the wrong way.


    As was his place, Lord Ning started the negotiation.


    “My father has provisionally agreed to your offer. He will give you enough karmic energy to ascend to Lord along with 100 portions of herbs for Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. If you return 80 pills to us before the end of the month, he will grant you the energy needed to ascend to King.”


    I was sure that a look of surprise showed on my face at this point. Even if they had someone track me, handing me 100 sets of Rank 4 herbs felt like a large gamble.


    Lord Ning simply smirked at my reaction. “Don’t worry. We don’t have much reason to fear that you would take the herbs and run away.”


    That statement definitely made me worry.


    Lord Ning ignored my reaction and continued. “This energy will be given on the proviso that you continue supplying us with a modicum of pills for the foreseeable future. My father indicated that you are allowed to use this energy however you see fit. If you find that the energy allocated to raise yourself to King would be best spent establishing a firm foundation as Lord, a new agreement can be reached regarding Rank 5 pills and further energy allotments.”


    He looked me in the eyes with deep intent. “My father made it very clear that he would be extremely interested in developing a better relationship with Elder Li.”


    I froze. I didn’t expect that lie to catch up to me at this moment.


    Ning smiled. He took my reaction as confirmation of his suspicions. “My father has informed me of the Elder’s condition, and it is well known he has been looking for a disciple. While his choice seems… odd, it does help explain a few things.”


    I refused to speak in response to this probing. If I did, they might have a way of detecting any falsehoods. Instead, I changed the topic.


    “One month might be difficult. The concoction process won’t start until after I have ascended to Lord.”


    Lord Ning gestured to the servant with one hand. A moment later, a tidal wave of energy slammed into me.


    The surge lasted only a few moments, but when it was done, my dantian was filled with far more karmic energy than I needed to reach Martial Lord. I could feel that I had enough energy, but looking at it, the space it took up was much less than I expected.


    Probing it, I came to a simple conclusion: This wasn’t Lord-level energy.


    “Use that sparingly,” said Lord Ning, looking at me with a bit of envy. “You should only need about two-thirds of it to form your core. The walls will be much thinner than your cultivation technique calls for. The rest can be used on your breakthrough.”


    Still in a bit of shock at the quality of the energy I was given, I looked back at him. “Do you have a cultivation technique I should use?”


    “Do you need one?” he probed.


    I shook my head. “No, but as I understand it, most Rulers would wish me to use one of their choosing so that the domain’s karma isn’t tainted.”


    He just found this funny. “Use whatever technique you like. A Lord-level cultivation technique will have little effect.”


    Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I made my plea to leave. “I look forward to our future cooperation. In one month, I should have everything ready for pick up.”


    Lord Ning nodded and waved me off.


    <hr>


    Ascending to Martial Lord was more difficult than I had expected.


    The karmic energy I had been provided with was far more difficult to shape than the Lord-level energy I had used before. I still maintained my belief that since it was unlikely many people had karmic affinities, cultivation techniques reflected this reality and were usable without it.


    However, this belief was being challenged by the reality in front of me.


    I knew what I needed to try, but first I had to make sure I could handle the obligations I had already agreed to.


    “System, raise my water, fire, and metal affinities to peak six-star.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 48 million credits. 34,467,645 credits remaining.


    Now to see what was possible.


    “How much to raise my affinity for karmic energy to low nine-star?”


    Cost 100,000 credits.


    A thousand times more than the basic affinities. If it helped, it might be worth the price, but how much of an advantage would a low-level affinity give me?


    I sighed. At this point, I didn’t have any choice other than to try it out.


    “System, permanently raise my affinity for karmic energy to peak eight-star.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 17.6 million credits. 16,867,645 credits remaining.


    I hadn’t felt much when I raised my basic affinities to peak six-star. I had become used to the sensations of boosting affinities, but raising this affinity to only peak eight-star gave me a tingly… ineffable feeling.


    Refocusing, I decided that while I was boosting affinities, I might as well take care of another one that I should have looked into earlier.


    “System, how much for a permanent low nine-star space affinity?”


    Cost 10 million credits.


    I felt my mind go blank for a second.


    One hundred thousand times the cost of a basic element. A low nine-star affinity required all the credits I would get from dying as a Martial Lord 1. If the pricing was consistent with others, gaining enough credits to boost a spatial affinity beyond six- or seven-star might be completely impossible.


    Having a new thought, I asked another question.


    “System, how much for a permanent low nine-star time affinity?”


    Cost 10 million credits.


    The same, as I expected.


    I grimaced. It might be a waste… But I did have the credits to get one of them…


    “System, permanently upgrade my space affinity to low nine-star.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 10 million credits. 6,867,645 credits remaining.


    I felt my insides twist. I felt a sharp pain in my soul. I fell to the ground unconscious.