“Well, thank you both for coming. I hope it was advantageous enough for the both of you,” Taimei said and held out a small pouch to Mei.

  She frowned a little but took the pouch from him and slid it away in one of her pockets without looking. It would be rude, and she knew the sect Taimei backed would be good for it. The Moon Lotus Pavilion may not be one of the major sects in the empire, but they were known to have deep pockets. They’d have to in order to fund their various habits and debauchery.

  The Moon Lotus Pavilion was a sect that believed their path to immortality was through a life of excess. There were various paths of excess depending on the individual in the sect. Food and sex were the two most popular. There was one woman Mei had heard about who decided her path to immortality was through sleeping. Mei didn’t dare ask Taimei, but she heard the woman had been asleep for the last three years somehow. There was also a man who lived his life in excess of exercising. The ones who decided they would win through owning most of the world’s wealth funded the sect, which was why Mei didn’t bother checking what the cultivator gave her.

  “Thank you, Cultivator Taimei. My husband has loved feeding you,” she said, trying to hold back the bitter feeling she felt.

  Taimei grinned and nodded his head. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Mei looked at the cultivator and couldn’t help but give a soft bow of her head. “Sorry, Cultivator, it has been an honor. We both thank you for calling us.”

  “But I’m sure being able to sell your wares would also be good, yes?” Taimei said with a knowing grin.

  Mei wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just spluttered a little until Taimei held a hand up to stop her.

  “It’s alright, I understand. Selling your items is probably a much more lucrative business. Tell me though, and be honest, do you have any items that would interest those here? Or those in my sect?” Taimei asked the woman.

  Mei’s mind raced as she thought of the various items she had. The people in attendance here were all higher-tiered cultivators. They were among the highest in the Empire aside from the two alchemists.

  “Well, I have a few things…” Mei struggled as she realized she needed to get better items.

  “Yes, Mei, I’m-” Taimei was trying to let the woman down gently when she interrupted him.

  “I have an artifact made by Silas Zhao!” She looked up at him with her eyes wide. How could she have forgotten? Here they were in the village the man lived in and protected.

  Taimei stopped mid-sentence and stared at the woman with a raised eyebrow. “Is that so?”

  Mei grabbed this string the man threw him for dear life, looking for, hoping for her in. “Yes, made by The Anvil Saint himself. It’s an item known as the Twilight Veil. It’s a hat like the farmers wear that’s shadow enchanted.”

  Taimei seemed to think it over a little but finally shrugged. “I’m not interested in such an item, nor do I think I know anyone who would be.”

  Mei frowned and stared at Taimei for a moment but finally bowed. “Thank you for the consideration, Cultivator Taimei.”

  “You were supposed to come to the sect to host a dinner though,” Taimei said with a grin. He did a showy, exaggerated gesture of putting his thumb and finger to his chin in thought.

  Mei looked at him and shook her head with a mock frown. She even went so far as to put her hands on her hips. “You…”

  Taimei chuckled with her and nodded his head. “I’ll be heading back to the sect in the morning. I will send word for them to expect a feast when I return?”

  “Yes, yes. We’ll have to stop somewhere for supplies, but yes. We’re happy to come, of course.” What Mei didn’t say was that she was going to try to sell her wares at this feast.

  Taimei nodded. “Yes, I saw you guys having to scrounge around for things to keep us fed. Did you find anything good in any of the houses? I’m told there were a couple of other cultivators other than Silas.”

  Mei’s eyes went wide, and she stood straight. “No? Just food and such to cook with.”

  Taimei stared at her for a moment but eventually just shrugged. “Well, that’s a shame. I was hoping someone would find some sort of treasure here, but it seems like nothing was left after whatever happened.”

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  Mei smiled and nodded her head. “Well, that would have been up to you and the others. My husband and I were just here to cater.”

  Taimei nodded agreeably. “Yes, and you both did a marvelous job. Alright then, I need to go get my things together and get ready to leave in the morning. I’ll send word ahead to the sect to expect you.”

  “That sounds excellent, thank you,” Mei said as she backed away from him. She had to go tell Jin that they were still invited to join the sect. She bowed a couple of times while she walked away, and Taimei just stood there and watched her back away with a smile.

  When she finally turned away, Taimei just smiled a little more and then walked away. He had packing to do, and he did want the Chens to show up at his sect. He hoped they’d use more of that delightful soy sauce.

  While Taimei walked at a more leisurely pace, Mei practically ran to find her husband. She knew where he was. While she spoke to the sect representative, he was busy with the grunt work; packing their stuff. When she found him, he was placing the last of their equipment in the extra-long wagon. It was the tables and chairs that she was in charge of.

  “Jin, Jin,” she said eagerly.

  He smiled simply and looked over at her with his arms gripping some fold-up chairs. “Yes, my love? This wagon we got from Hisai is quite spectacular. We won’t have to trip over the table and chairs and extra cooking equipment anymore if we’re in the wagon.”

  “Yes, love, I’m very glad to hear that, but I have better news,” she told him. She couldn’t help but smile at the simple man she had fallen in love with. Literally the world would be on fire and this man would probably find a way to reassure her and then start cooking with the fire.

  “Oh?” He set the chairs and looked at her expectantly.

  She nodded. “We’re still invited to the Moon Lotus Pavilion.”

  Jin blinked, and his smile faltered a little. Mei wanted to scream, not in anger but in confusion. Didn’t he understand what this meant for them? As if they didn’t already make decent contacts just doing this, now they were going to a sect compound. “Don’t you know what this means? The money we could make. I might be able to sell some of the artifacts I have.”

  “No, yes, that’s great, my love, but…”

  “But… but what….” she didn’t let him finish.

  “We were already invited to begin with. Why wouldn’t we still be invited?” Jin stared at his wife with a bit of a confused expression.

  Mei staggered, but when she thought about it, she supposed he was right. Finally, she just put her head in her hands. “Yes, well, Taimei is sending word that we’re coming.”

  “It’s a good thing we still have all that soy sauce still. I think I used only a bottle? Maybe a little more?” Jin looked towards the wagon in thought.

  They had moved everything over to the new, longer wagon that Hisai had sold them over the last couple of days. Apparently, it came from that man with the ox spirit beast. Jin took a moment and looked over at his own ox, Ping. He thought that he had seen something grow in Ping’s eyes. A spark of understanding, but maybe not. Only time would tell. It was good they had two oxen though; they would need them with such a long wagon. Even if that man’s ox was a spirit beast, the fact she pulled it by herself was amazing. A female ox, ha.

  “Why would that man name his ox Betsy?” Jin looked over Mei with a furrowed brow.

  “Jin… what?” Mei raised her head and looked over at him.

  Jin’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head a little before he continued to pack things up. “Nothing, nothing. Sorry, my love.”

  The pair finished up in silence, and they were just getting ready to go back to the house they had been staying in. They walked together hand in hand, both excited and hopeful for the next part of their adventure.

  “Say, Mei?” He looked down at his wife just before he opened the door to the house.

  She looked up at him expectantly.

  “What about that hunk of mithril? Where do you th-”

  Mei jumped at him and squeezed her hand over his mouth. She pressed a finger to her own mouth and looked him square in the eyes. Jin’s eyes went wide, and he stared down at his wife with a small amount of hurt in his eyes.

  “Shhh, my love. We don’t know who’s listening.” Mei looked around nervously.

  “Oh, come now, no one is paying any attention to us. They’re busy investigating all of…” Instead of finishing the sentence, he just kinda motioned over to a rather big sticky puddle of the apparent mana.

  “I still don’t know if I believe that’s mana. A new kind of mana? I feel like someone would have figured out a new mana type before now,” Jin said a moment later.

  Mei closed her eyes. Her poor trusting husband. He didn’t know or understand cultivators the way she did. They didn’t care about anyone or anything other than themselves. The woman had seen fights within sects that almost destroyed the sect. Well, she heard about it anyway. She was never one to be joining a sect, and she had never been in a position to be invited into one either. While she always sold artifacts, they were never that exceptional.

  She had this piece by Silas Zhao, the so-called Anvil Saint, but it was a hat. Who the hell wanted a peasant hat that was shadow imbued? Well, actually she knew of some that might. Maybe she would have to find some assassins or something.

  She looked up at Jin and shrugged. “Who knows? Like the wise men say, the universe is vast and grand. Why not have another element we can cultivate?”

  They stepped inside the house, and Jin closed the door. The pair went through the same one-storied house to the back bedroom and got ready for bed. Soon enough, the pair were lying with Jin in his happy place, wrapped around his wife.

  “Good night, my love,” he whispered and kissed her forehead.

  Mei smiled and nuzzled into her husband and closed her eyes. “Goodnight, dudu.”

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