Chapter 382 – Life 104, Age 19, Martial Master Peak

At first glance, the moon spade that Emperor Chan had taken out looked like it could be a legendary artifact of immense power. However, upon closer examination, I saw that it was a basic, mortal weapon, entirely bereft of energy.

Upon even closer examination, I found that the grain of the wooden staff was perfectly straight and that the crystalline structure of the metal ends was unusually regular. From this, it was clear that a skilled refiner must have had a hand in its creation. But why hadn’t they charged it with energy? Made from high-Rank materials, the spade looked impressive, but without being charged, it was little more than a fancy stick.

Ignoring my unvoiced question, Chan placed both the pill bottle and the moon spade onto the table between us. “Since Lord Tuguldur destroyed your previous weapon, I went ahead and procured a replacement. It’s made from Rank 7 materials and was crafted by an Artifact Sovereign. It is the best crescent moon spade that my clan is capable of acquiring.”

I studied the weapon with interest, but I didn’t reach out to take it. The moon spade itself might have been light enough, but I was worried that the weight of this gift would be far too much for me to bear. As a Pill Emperor, Chan almost certainly had a sizable hoard of spirit stones, but that didn’t mean he would easily be able to purchase a Rank 7 artifact.

“Why? I doubt even your clan’s prodigies have something like this. Why give it to me?”

“I told you before: my clan needs pills.” Chan pulled a second jade bottle from his storage bag and handed it to me. “This is a Rank 4 Ascension Pill. Its basic recipe isn’t much of a secret, but few alchemists on the Western Island are capable of concocting it. And, of those who can, only a select few are capable of imbuing it with more than three patterns. I, myself, am only capable of concocting two-patterned versions.”

Opening the jade bottle, I examined Chan’s pill.

High-Purity Rank 4 Ascension Pill, 86% Medicinal Efficacy, 2 Patterns. Value: 1 mid-grade spirit stone.

First, the simple question: “What are mid-grade spirit stones?”

Chan furrowed his brow at my non-sequitur. Caught off guard, he seemed unsure how to respond, so I pulled a couple of stones from my storage bag.

“What is the difference between mid-grade spirit stones and these?”

Chan still looked confused, but now, he at least understood the question. “Those are low-grade spirit stones, which are only useful for small-scale Rank 4 and 5 formations. Mid-grade stones contain substantially more energy, making them useful for city-scale Rank 5 formations and small-scale Rank 6 and 7 formations. Each mid-grade spirit stone is worth 10,000 low-grade stones, but they are rarely traded, since they are an important strategic resource.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Mid-grade implies a high-grade.”

“Yes. High-grade stones are, again, worth 10,000 mid-grade stones. There are also top-grade stones, which are worth 10,000 high-grade stones. However, considering their importance in powering large-scale, high-Rank formations, these values are mostly theoretical. High-grade stones are bartered like other valuable materials, with their value fluctuating based on the needs of both parties.”

Nodding, I turned back to the more important question–one that I was fairly sure I already knew the answer to. “And what is an Ascension Pill?”

Chan took a deep breath before responding. “Rank 4 Ascension Pills allow cultivators to ascend to Martial Lord without the use of karmic energy.”

Based on the pill’s name, I had been expecting this, but I was still surprised that such a pill was readily available. “What do the patterns do? Do they help people break into higher realms? Could a two- or three-patterned pill allow someone to advance to Martial King?”

Chan shook his head. “No, Rank 4 Ascension Pills can only assist in breaking through to Martial Lord. To break through to Martial King, you need a Rank 5 pill. Instead, using a pill with more patterns gives you a greater chance of a successful breakthrough. It will also increase the power of your core once your breakthrough is complete.”

So, breaking through with Ascension Pills wasn’t too different from other Ruler Tier advancements. No matter how much Lord-level karmic energy a person had, using it to make a true breakthrough to Martial King was impossible. King-level energy was just fundamentally different from Lord-level energy.

Chan continued, “If someone uses a zero- or one-patterned pill, then they’ll only have a 10% chance of breaking through, and they’ll be stuck as a low-level Lord for the rest of their life. If you want to retain the ability to advance to Martial Emperor, then you have to use at least a four-patterned pill during your initial breakthroughs to both Lord and King, and you have to use three-patterned pills for each advancement within these realms.”

Pills. Back in the elder’s audience hall, Chan had said he wanted me to make him Rank 4, 5, and 6 pills. With enough of these pills, he could create an army of Martial Emperors. But was that all?

Based on knowledge that I had previously purchased from the System, I knew that using anything other than karmic energy to advance to the Ruler Tier would prevent a person from ascending to Martial Sovereign. So, unless Ascension Pills used some type of karma-based herbs, anyone who took them would never be able to advance beyond Peak Emperor.

That said, how much Bloodline Tier karmic energy could a clan generate by creating hundreds of Martial Emperors? With enough Ascension Pills, could a clan produce Martial Ancestors without needing to rule over kingdoms and empires?

If this was Chan’s ambition, it was no wonder the Palace’s elders had been so shocked.

Interestingly, this presented me with an opportunity. How would the Saint of Heroes react when a new Ancestor-level force suddenly popped up in the middle of her domain? I wasn’t sure, but I definitely needed to find out. If Emperor Chan was willing to help me with this, then I would owe him a larger debt than he knew.

After taking one last look at the Ascension Pill, I returned it to its bottle and passed it to Chan. Then, I reached out and picked up the Rank 7 crescent moon spade. “Very well. I accept your offer. I will assist you and your clan for as long as it’s reasonable to do so.”

Chan gave me a relieved grin. “Thank you. However, there’s no rush. Laying a solid foundation is more important. Master nine-patterned Rank 1 pills first. Then, work up to nine-patterned Rank 2 pills. Trying to jump straight to the higher Ranks immediately will only waste time.”

I moved to place the moon spade into my storage bag, but Chan held up a hand to stop me.

“As we discussed earlier, it’ll be a few years before you can access the herbs needed for nine-patterned pills. While you could use this time to explore higher Ranks of six-patterned pills, I believe that you will find improving your martial abilities will be far more beneficial.”

“Right,” I said, remembering our previous discussion. “Are you suggesting we spar?”

“No. Regular sparring might improve your combat skills, but your biggest problem is your lack of a bonded weapon. You need to spend time with nothing to rely on but your weapon.”

Chan picked up the jade bottle that he had originally placed on the table next to the moon spade. “You need to undergo a Return to Simplicity. This is a Rank 2 Cicada Pill. It will strip away your cultivation base, turning you back into a Martial Disciple who has never cultivated a day in his life.”

Accepting the jade bottle, I opened it and examined its contents.

High-Purity Rank 2 Moon-Cicada Pill, 99% Medicinal Efficacy, 1 Pattern. Value: 1,200 gold.

“Is this different from a regular Energy Expulsion Pill? Also, my pill qi meridians were formed from toxic energy. Won’t that cause problems?”

Chan nodded. “Yes, any form of multi-element cultivation causes problems with these pills. This Cicada Pill will only target your moon spade qi, so you will have to disperse your pill qi manually, and you’ll need to do it at roughly the same rate that the Cicada Pill disperses your moon spade qi. Then, once you’ve done as much as you can, you should take a regular Expulsion Pill to clean out whatever remains.

“As for your toxic meridians, I know of no way to remove them, so consider them a boon. The combination of a Cicada Pill and an Energy Expulsion Pill will reset you back to Martial Disciple 1, making these meridians inactive, but leaving them in place. To advance to Martial Master again, you will just need to reactivate them, not reconstruct them from scratch.”

“Alright… But, if I’m going to be using an Expulsion Pill anyway, what’s the purpose of the Cicada Pill?”

Chan smiled and withdrew his saber from its sheath, showing it to me. “The Cicada Pill does more than just reset your cultivation base. It tears off a small piece of your soul and mixes it with the energy it expels. As this energy flows out of you, you need to send it into your crescent moon spade, causing a small fraction of it to become lodged within the weapon permanently. Then, because this energy is connected to your soul, the weapon will become bonded to you, making it far deadlier, and allowing you to channel power through it much more easily.”

Chan gestured to the spade that he had given me. “This is the reason I wanted you to have a Rank 7 weapon. Ideally, you will perform a Return to Simplicity whenever you reach the Peak of a new Rank. And, each time you do, your weapon will become stronger. A Rank 3 weapon would have been easier to procure, but you would have needed to discard it shortly after ascending to Martial Lord. This weapon will last you until you are ready to Return as a Peak Spirit.”

I stared at the weapon in thought. “And, while a Rank 7 weapon might usually make me a target, with it being bonded to my soul, its value to others will drop significantly.”

Chan gave a hesitant nod. “Yes, but… acolytes of both the Saint of Liberation and the Devil Saint have ways to cleanse weapons of their soul imprints. They typically aren’t interested in moon spades, but they might consider stealing it to sell to others, so you still need to be careful.”

Nodding, I connected to an avatar within my inner world. “System, does the Cicada Pill and the process of implanting my soul onto a weapon carry any dangers that I need to know about? For example, will enemies be able to damage my true soul by damaging my weapon?”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 5 credits.

The Cicada Pill extracts a piece of the user’s soul to implant it into an external object. The effectiveness of this process is dependent upon compatibility between the section of the soul used and the object into which it is implanted.

Soul imprints are independent of the souls that created them, so destruction of an imprint will have no effect on the original soul. However, there are techniques that can use the resonance between an imprint and its origin to target its creator.

“System, if I use the Cicada Pill to implant a piece of my soul into my new weapon, how much would it cost to remove the resonance between this imprint and my soul?”

The cost of this information is not possible to calculate at this time.

Relevant information available. Cost 1 credit.

Was the Earthly Dao trying to point me in the right direction?

“Purchase”

Purchase confirmed.

The cost of destroying such a resonance is dependent on the amount of one’s soul used to create the imprint. For Host to destroy the resonance created by his own use of a One-Pattern Rank 2 Cicada Pill, the cost would be 1 credit. However, the destruction of the resonance between one’s imprint and soul removes all beneficial effects of being bonded to a weapon.

This was a problem. Unless I created a bond with my weapon, I would be at a severe disadvantage when facing others from this domain. However, if I did create such a bond, I would potentially be opening up my soul to unknown attacks.

While less than ideal, I did have a solution to this. “System, I’m planning to use this Cicada Pill to bond to this moon spade. After I do, if anyone attempts to target my soul through the resonance it shares with the weapon’s imprint, I want the connection to break automatically.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 10 credits. 1,387 credits remaining.

Refocusing, I turned my attention back to Emperor Chan. “Alright, what do we do?”

He gestured to a cultivation mat. “First, sit down with both hands firmly gripping your weapon.”

Once I was in position, he opened the jade bottle and fed me its pill. “Focus on your soul, and allow a piece of it to flow away, into your energy body.”

Doing as told, I turned my gaze inward.

In the distant past, my soul’s landscape had been turned to ash by the Three Thousand Flames Fire, but it had long since recovered. My soul’s outer fields were once again blanketed in the four flowers distinct to this world’s philosophies.

With so many flowers, sending a few of them into my weapon wouldn’t be much of a loss, but I doubted they would be very compatible with a moon spade. So, I focused on my inner garden.

There, I found a wide assortment of plants and flowers that had sprouted based on everything that I had taken an interest in over the years. There were flowers for each of the nine professions, plants that represented each of my close acquaintances, and so much more.

I focused on a bed of silvery-white flowers that glowed with the light of the full moon. Then, feeling a tug from the Cicada Pill, I willed these flowers to flow into my energy body.

I had been expecting to spend several flowers in this effort, but to my surprise, the Cicada Pill only absorbed a single petal before becoming overwhelmed. So, following Chan’s instructions, I immediately began sending my moon spade qi into my weapon while simultaneously expelling my pill qi into the surrounding environment.

Nearly everything I poured into the crescent moon spade simply flowed through the wood’s grain, passed through the metal on either end, and dissipated into the environment along with my pill qi. Only a fraction of a fraction became lodged in the weapon itself, but this was enough to take it from a mortal stick to a true Rank 2 refined artifact.

Finally, I placed an Energy Expulsion Pill in my mouth, eradicating any remnants of my cultivation base.

Once my task was complete, Emperor Chan gave me a wide grin. “Congratulations. You’re no longer a cultivator. As such, the rule that bars cultivators from entering cities no longer applies to you. Go spend the next couple of years exploring the City of Selfless Courage. Just make sure to come back in time to reach Peak Master before the first round of the competition.”