Chapter 214

  Spirits Blossoming (III)

  Okay, two questions.

  One, who the hell is Zhu Jiang?

  And two, how the hell can we be of any help?

  ... no, wait, the quest! It mentioned the Zhu Clan, so it's probably the daughter of the Matriarch. Still, how the hell can we help?

  "I'm not quite sure how we can be of help...? Neither I nor any of my Disciples are versed in the art of Alchemy, I'm afraid."

  "Ah, sorry, let me explain a bit," he chuckled. "One of the prizes for the Gathering is a 10,000-year-old ginseng. Possibly the rarest medicine this side of the world had ever seen. All our previous attempts to concoct a pill to help Zhu Jiang have failed, but mainly because we were trying to substitute the main ingredient with lesser versions of it."

  "That being old ginseng?"

  "Not necessarily ginseng," he said. "Any extremely aged herb with vitality-restoration properties. Though we aren't yet certain of the exact nature of young Jiang's illness, it is draining her vitality, and even using every single stopgap that we have to restore it, it doesn't change it. In fact, it just makes it worse. However, if we can completely overcome the drain and 'outpace' it, as it were, I am confident that the Young Lady will be cured. We looked everywhere, and there are no appropriately aged herbs to be found. Not in nature, not in the auction houses. If someone has them, they are keeping them secret.

  "Two weeks ago, however, an announcement came, detailing that the Immortal Sword Haven Sect will be supplying a Heaven-Tier Sword as a reward, Soul Sanctuary will be supplying a Soul Orb, the Immortal Spear Sect will be supplying a Sky-Tier Spear Art, and the Heavenly Star Sect will be supplying the 10,000-year-old ginseng. Despite the rarity, it is actually considered the least impressive of the rewards, as it has practically no use for cultivation." Hm? Really? Ginseng has no bearing on cultivation?

  "So, it's not necessary to win it?" I said.

  "Yes. It's a reward for sixth place, actually. Though I love my Disciples and consider a good number of them extremely talented, we don't select kids for their combat talents. Even our strongest would pale in comparison to even weaker Disciples of other sects."

  "Can you not buy the ginseng off of whoever wins it?" I asked.

  "That was the plan, yes," he said, sighing. "One of the reasons why our Alchemists are running on the last remnants of their strength is because we've been trying to both supply the demand for pills and also create a stock that we can use to barter for the ginseng. It's no secret that we want it, so the price wouldn't be cheap, but we were willing to pay. Until yesterday, that is."

  "Hm." I took a sip of the jasmine tea. It was sweet, with a bit of a bitter aftertaste as though they'd added a few drops of lemon. Definitely the tastiest tea I've had in this world, and it's not even close.

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  "Madame Zhen--matriarch of the Zhu Clan--had summoned a Soul-Grand Alchemist. I don't know how, to be honest. She must have sold all of her clan's possessions, though even that wouldn't have been enough. Nonetheless, the Alchemist had publicly announced that he'd buy it from whoever won." Wow. As I thought, there's absolutely nothing simple in this world.

  "I understand the risk involved," he said. "Offending a Soul-Grand Alchemist for me is... well, I wouldn't do it. And I can't offer you a better payment than he could. But," he seemed to grit his teeth as he reached into his robe and pulled something out--it was a small mote of light pulsating in a faint, crimson hue, almost like a heart. And within it... there was a tiny blade. "This is my most prized possession, gifted to me by my late wife when we first got married. It's a Soul-Sword Embryo," he said. "Condensed by a master at the Shedding Mortality Realm. I noticed that two of your kids contain traces of Sword Qi, and this is something that you could probably spend a lifetime searching for without ever finding."

  ... I'll say.

  Especially because, right now, there's a voice in my head. That annoying voice.

  Whatever he wants, do it.

  Though he always did manage to contain his excitement, if he ever had any, this time around, it was palpable in his voice. Whatever this tiny, pulsating thing was, he wanted it. No, it was more like he needed it.

  "... very well," I sighed. Once again, I am being dragged into business that will likely have me cursing out something (or someone) soon enough. "I'll arrange for one of my kids to enter and secure the sixth place."

  "O-one...?" he stuttered.

  "Trust me, Sect Master Zhao," I said, finishing off the tea and standing up. "Even one is one too many..."

  Though it probably didn't make any sense to him--or possibly anyone else who would have heard it--it made sense to me.

  It's one thing to ask the kids to enter the tournament--they'd do it in a heartbeat. But to ask them to get to the sixth place and no further?

  Wan Lan is probably my best bet, but even that is... well, what if she gets up in her feelings, turns super angry, and just decides to go all Hulk and shit on the others?

  Xi Zhao's sword is based on winning--there was no way in hell I could ask him to throw a fight.

  Dai Xiu, maybe? I don't know. Even she hates to lose. She'd probably do it just because I asked, but...

  Light?

  Ha ha.

  Funny, Jake. Real funny.

  ... no, wait, can't I just send out Long Tao? He's the bastard that wants that thing, so he should work for it.

  Speak of the devil--he was actually waiting for me outside the Greeting Hall, just barely containing his excitement.

  "And...?" he asked.

  "I agreed," I said. "Now it's your turn."

  "My turn for what?" he asked.

  "Enter the tournament, get the sixth place, and secure the reward for it. That's the deal."

  "Hm. Very well."

  "... you're willing to lose a fight just to secure it? What is it, anyway?"

  "It's... hmm," he mulled over it for a moment before replying. "I'm not too sure myself. But, I remember, some time ago, my sister mentioned it to me."

  "Your... sister?"

  "Yes."

  "Your family is rather impressive, Long Tao."

  "And I the most impressive of them all," he grinned. "Regardless, she mentioned a form of sword energy--when a Swordmaster approaches the end of their life with no means of progressing any further, they have three choices: ritualistic suicide, returning to the Dao with both body and spirit; trying to defy the odds to the last minute, in hopes of ascending further; and, lastly, condensing the lifetime of understanding of the sword into a spirit lacking sentience."

  "And that was that?"

  "If my sister's words are to be trusted."

  "Is she less trustworthy than your mother and father?"

  "A bit. My mother and father are always certain of their teachings--she, well, she likes to theorize a bit more."

  ... okay. So, if I'm understanding this damned metaphor that I should have never indulged, he's saying that whenever he mentions mother or father, he's certain of whatever it is that he's saying, and whenever he says it's his sister, he's postulating?

  Haah.

  "I wonder whether I should share my sister's wisdom?" I mumbled, catching him wince from the corner of my eye. "No. I'll keep it to myself."

  "..."

  Ah. Look at that. He wants to hit me a little bit, doesn't he?

  A victory!

  I'll take 'em when I can get 'em; I don't care.