When the decision to separate from the rest of the group was made, I was Grandmaster 7 and LiTing was Grandmaster 4, but before leaving Mortal City, we both needed to reach Peak Grandmaster.


    We could have tried to rush through Yellow City as quickly as possible in an attempt to evade Lord Hao, but doing so would have been reckless. If we did that and found ourselves in a dangerous position, it would be hard to survive.


    Instead, I wanted us to advance as quickly as we could while still maintaining firm foundations. We were safe in Mortal City, and as long as we stayed within the sect, our strongest opponents would only be Peak Grandmasters until we reached Yellow City. With LiTing’s weapons, my formations and pills, and a bit of extra training, we should be able to handle any group at our level that tried coming after us.


    No matter how well we prepared, if we had to face down someone with an overpowering martial blessing, we would be in trouble. I just wasn’t too worried about this happening. We wouldn’t be facing the sect’s elites. We would be facing people who had decided to become Hao’s lackeys.


    To balance cultivating quickly with cultivating a strong foundation, I gave us two years to prepare before departing the city. For me, this was far more than I needed, but it would be barely enough time for LiTing.


    With an overcharged Rank 3 Qi Gathering Formation and sufficient pills, LiTing would have no trouble cultivating quickly enough to meet our deadline, but I was worried about stagnant qi clogging her meridians if she advanced too fast. Before each breakthrough, I met with her and did a full examination of her energy body to ensure that there were no lingering issues. She was a skilled cultivator and could have handled this on her own, but her internal qi vision wasn’t nearly as good as my energy vision, and it was best to be as safe as possible.


    During her downtime between advancements, LiTing focused mainly on cultivating her soul. She had wanted to practice refining, but since we were going to be using the Path of Soul on our way to Profound City, she needed to work on soul cultivation now so that she would be ready in time.


    As for myself, I smoothly increased my cultivation level once every six months. This gave the qi in my meridians more than enough time to normalize between each advancement.


    I didn’t need to spend much time on qi cultivation, so like LiTing, I used most of my free time to further improve my soul. I also completed a large number of formation missions to build up points to enter the Earth Peak Trial. As an inner sect disciple, I could enter twice a year, so that gave me four opportunities to harvest essence before heading up Dragon Peak. I wanted to do my best to maximize the gains from each attempt.


    For my first trip into the Trial, I wouldn’t be focused on gaining essence. I only had one goal: learning to use the crescent moon spade more effectively.


    LiTing made me a Rank 3 refined spade that was focused entirely on durability. It was designed to withstand as much abuse as possible. However, it would not do much damage to anything. For inflicting damage, it would be no better than a common mortal weapon. It was exactly what I needed.


    After she gave it to me, I didn’t jump into the Trial immediately. First, I set up a mission for a weapons master to train me on the proper way to use this unusual weapon. It took a few tries to find a teacher who I felt was competent, and when I did, his first suggestion was to learn to use a simple spear instead. It was good advice, but I was more interested in learning how to properly wield the spade.


    I had found that I learned best when studying topics I wanted to learn instead of ones that I was supposed to learn. This might have just been an excuse to ignore good advice and do what I wanted, but I was fine with that.


    After a few months of practice, I was ready to attempt the Trial. After I entered, I didn’t try to conquer it. I spent hours fighting against the golem on the first stage while consuming various stamina and qi recovery pills to keep myself energized. My weapon did almost no damage to the construct, and I took this opportunity to practice every different method of attack and defense the weapons master had shown me.


    While the shovel end of the staff wasn’t sharp enough to cut the golem in any way, it did prove effective as a tool for moving and repositioning myself. I was able to plant it into the ground, or into cracks on the golem’s body, and leverage myself into more favorable positions.


    The wide crescent moon blade was great for catching attacks or shoving at my enemy’s arms and legs. Because of the crescent moon’s inherent structural weakness, the weapons master had sternly advised me against using it as a double-bladed ax as I had in the previous fight. I followed his advice for the moment, but I hoped that LiTing would advance to the point where she would be able to make the outer edge of the crescent moon sharp while also improving the durability of the metal enough that using it in such a way wouldn’t be an issue.


    As I neared the edge of exhaustion, I sent out a quick burst of spirit fire to destroy the golem in an instant. After resting and cultivating to restore my strength, I stepped into the second stage and then did a repeat performance.


    During this run at the Trial, I didn’t even complete the fifth stage. Completing stages wasn’t the point. The point was that I gained a solid understanding of my weapon and how to use it against my opponents.


    After returning to Mortal City, I discussed the fights with LiTing and told her about what I had learned regarding my weapon. I needed the durability that came from her latest design, but I also needed something that could do real damage to a rock monster. A month later, she presented me with a brand-new staff.


    Like the last one, all its energy was focused into its durability. The difference was that the metal on both ends was made from a far denser material, and the spade end had been replaced with a large, solid ball. LiTing didn’t yet have the skills needed to make something both durable and sharp, so she had focused on durability and modified the design to put that trait to best use.


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    This weapon was far heavier than the previous one, and a mortal would find it impossible to even lift. While fighting, I would have to be careful to reinforce my muscles with qi properly. Otherwise, I might lose control of the heavy staff and hurt my friends or allies.


    During my next attempt at the Trial, I defeated the thirtieth stage and broke through to a high five-star earth affinity. The attempt after that, I reached the thirty-sixth stage before running out of time.


    At the end of two years, both LiTing and I were Peak Grandmasters, and we were nearly ready to head to Yellow City. Before we left, I had just enough time to take one last swing at the Earth Peak Trial.


    <hr>


    Soon after I appeared in the Trial, I tried something that had the potential to go either very well or very, very poorly: communicating with the elder in charge.


    “Elder, are you there?”


    No response.


    “Elder, I’d like to make a deal with you.”


    No response.


    There was no way I was going to get the essence I needed to reach peak five-star during this attempt by just doing the Trial normally. I needed some kind of bonus reward from the elder, and to make that happen, I first needed to get his attention.


    In the past, I had been careful about not intentionally damaging the Trial’s arena. Any walls and floor that got destroyed would have to be repaired somehow, and I didn’t want to cause the boss more trouble than necessary. But to get his attention, I would do what I had to do.


    Instead of attacking the golem, I began demolishing the arena.


    I couldn’t be certain, but I felt these walls had to separate the different stages from one another. I was hoping that there would be some form of alert formation to warn the elder if someone started trying to break them.


    The walls were infused with energy, so they could take a beating, but with enough perseverance, I was able to start doing some real damage. I didn’t want to use my wood-based spirit fire because doing so would consume far too much energy, so I instead relied on qi-infused blows from my new staff. After coating the metal ball with my qi, it was able to easily smash through these undefended walls.


    A minute after this demolition work began, I tried to reach out once more.


    “Elder, are you there?”


    No response.


    I return to smashing.


    A voice echoed out from the surrounding rock.


    “Kid, you should know there’s a formation to repair those walls automatically. You aren’t doing any permanent damage.”


    Wanting to show my respect but not knowing how best to do so, I turned to the center of the Arena and gave a deep bow.


    “Elder, I was just hoping to get your attention. I would like to make a deal with you. This is going to be my last attempt at the Trial as a Grandmaster, and I don’t think I’ll be able to push far enough to obtain a peak five-star affinity. I was hoping we could come to an arrangement.”


    The voice didn’t respond.


    “I was thinking, you could have the Trial not give me any essence at all, but if I can complete the 50th stage, you could give me enough essence to advance my affinity.”


    Again, there was silence.


    “You know, like a kind of bet?”


    I thought he had gone back to ignoring me, but after a few seconds, he finally responded.


    “Kid, dealing with your master has been enough of a headache. I don’t need you coming here and trying to extort extra benefits from me.”


    My heart froze a beat at the mention of a ‘master,’ but I did my best to not show any reaction to the comment. “Sorry, elder. I just hoped that there would be a way for me to get the essence I need.”


    He grumbled at me. “Stop cultivating the damn stuff and you’d be there already.”


    After a brief pause, the voice continued. “Fine. You want a chance to cultivate enough essence to reach the limit? I’ll give you that chance, but you also have to do something for me.”


    That made me hesitate. I had come to make a deal, but I didn’t expect whoever this was to actually want something from me. It was one thing for me to offer him something, it was another for him to actively desire something I could give him. Why would someone at that level believe I could give them anything in the first place?


    “I’m willing to consider it.”


    The voice laughed. “Kowtow three times and call me your master. From now on, you will consider me the equal of old man Li.”


    “What? Why?”


    “I know what he’s after and I want it just as much as he does. So, take me as your master and promise to treat me the same way that you treat him. After that, I’ll give you your opportunity to get a peak five-star affinity.”


    That… wasn’t too bad of a deal… Being his disciple might add another layer of protection against Hao or anyone else I might offend, and treating him the same way I treated Emperor Li just meant ignoring him until he randomly popped up near the end of a life to give me something.


    The fact that he not only knew what Emperor Li was ultimately trying to get from me but also wanted the same thing at the same time had me curious. It couldn’t have anything to do with Bloodline karma since I couldn’t join two different bloodlines simultaneously. I tried to think what these two old monsters could possibly be after, but I drew a complete blank.


    If they knew about the time loop, I could begin to understand this a little better, but they shouldn’t have any idea about it. Even if one of them did find out about it, would they tell the other one?


    I wanted to ask questions, but I felt that admitting my ignorance in this negotiation would be a mistake. In any event, I would rather hear the story from Emperor Li himself rather than hear this guy’s guesses.


    Even if I couldn’t or wouldn’t give him what he was looking for, I would still need to do my best to repay the debt I accrued from accepting any gifts, but without an oath, I could do that in a manner of my choosing based on his treatment of me going forward.


    So, all I had to do was figure out what he was willing to pay for such ephemeral promises.


    “An opportunity? I call you master and promise to give you benefits in the future, and you are only gonna give me an opportunity?”


    “I can’t just hand out essence for no reason. There are rules that bind me. I’ll extend your time limit in the Trial to three days and increase the amount of essence you earn on each stage. If you can reach stage 100 before you run out of time, you’ll have earned more than you need.”


    It would be tough, but it would be doable if I gave it my all. Still, a bit of essence didn’t mean all that much to me. It would just save me a few credits. If I was going to take a new ‘master,’ I wanted more.


    “Are you going to be some cheap master in the shadows like Emperor Li, or are you going to teach me something?”


    After a short pause, the voice burst out into a hearty guffaw. “Emperor Li? Fine then. You can call me Emperor Shen. If Emperor Li has been hiding in the shadows, how has he been teaching you?”


    Something about the voice’s tone was off, but I didn''t have time to think about it.


    “He gave me books with his insights on alchemy.”


    “Fine. You give the two of us the same treatment, and I’ll give you the same treatment that he does. I’ll go write you some books of my own and send them to you when I’m done.”


    Without knowing what Emperor Li or this Emperor Shen would be expecting from me, I couldn’t say if this was a good deal or not. But if he was willing to provide me with what I needed, I would accept it. I would take their knowledge, and if they expected too much from me, I could pay them back what I felt was owed and be done with them.


    I scanned the room in front of me. It was empty except for a solitary stone golem.


    “How am I supposed to kowtow to a disembodied voice?”


    The voice became somewhat playful. “Treat the golem as if it were me. Just kowtow to it and accept me as your master in your heart. We don’t need any elaborate ceremony.”


    After taking a deep breath, I got down on my knees and kowtowed to the golem three times.


    “All right kid, get to work. You have 100 levels to clear and only three days to do it in. Good luck with that.”