“Welcome, come on in!”

WuJing’s cheerful voice was warm and welcoming as Mei and I entered his office. He walked up to me and held out his hand. Mei must have been preparing him while I had been walking around with SuYin, because this time, WuJing’s handshake was firm and confident.

“I’m Chen WuJing, the floor manager of this branch of the Blue Wind Pavilion. I’m glad you came to visit.”

Returning his handshake, I gave him a comfortable smile. “Thank you. My name is Su Fang.”

With our introductions complete, WuJing led me to the armchairs at the side of his office, and we sat down for a conversation.

Even though I knew that this was all an act, and that he was just following Mei’s instructions, it felt genuine. I had to wonder how long the two of them had been working together to have such a fluid working relationship. Mei wasn’t that old, though, was she?

After giving me a moment to get settled, WuJing pulled me out of my thoughts.

“How can I help you today? I heard that you were looking at our pills and herbs. Are you an alchemist?”

I nodded. “Yes, and I am hoping to explore what it might mean to cooperate more closely with the Pavilion—if you are interested, of course.”

WuJing’s face brightened considerably. “Wonderful, what type of cooperation were you looking for?”

I paused for a moment. I had thought about what to say, but I still wasn’t entirely confident.

The fact was, the people in this building had incredibly powerful social blessings, and bluffing my way through my interactions with them would be difficult. Hiding certain information would be necessary, but everything that I did tell them would need to be true. So, I felt that I should be direct and honest with my goals and allow the chips to fall where they may.

I looked WuJing directly in the eye. “I am an alchemist, and I need to advance to the level of Pill King as soon as possible. However, I will not stop there. I aim to become a Pill Emperor. To do that, I have to make true ascensions to at least Martial King. I want to partner with you to achieve this goal.”

WuJing looked at me in shock. “Do you know what this would entail?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a place to do it?”

“Not yet, but my goal lies in the Brilliant Sun Empire, in the south, so I plan to look for opportunities in the surrounding regions.”

WuJing stared at me for a long while. Eventually, he looked at Mei, and she only nodded. In any other place, with any other people, I, a Martial Disciple from the Wastes who hadn’t even started cultivating yet, would have been laughed out of the room for proclaiming that I would ascend to Martial King.

These two were different.

WuJing steepled his hands and gave me a firm nod. “Alright, I will help. What’s your plan?”

I chuckled sardonically. “I don’t have one yet. I don’t know how to convince the Brilliant Sun Empire to give me lordship over a city, let alone a kingdom, but I know that it is possible, and I know that it needs to be done.”

WuJing tapped his fingers on his armrest as he thought. “Does it have to be one of Brilliant Sun’s cities? If you become a member of the Pavilion, and if your alchemy skills are impressive enough, then you won’t need to worry about petty lordships. The Pavilion will take care of that for you.”

I tapped my chin in thought. “No, I don’t need to rule one of Brilliant Sun’s cities. I just need to establish a close relationship with their ruling family. My plan was to accomplish both this and my cultivation goals simultaneously by becoming an honored court alchemist.”

WuJing dipped his head toward me. “That could work, but there are other ways to accomplish your objectives. A Pill King is unheard of in the south. The best alchemists down there are usually just experienced Pill Lords. If you can become a Pill King, the imperial family will be falling over themselves to win your favor, so you don’t need to worry about that. Of course, that’s assuming you are already a Pill King when you meet them.”

WuJing poured himself a glass of amber-colored liquid before beginning again. “When you reach the level of Grandmaster Alchemist, before even reaching the Peak, you will need to be in a position where you will eventually be able to ascend to Martial Lord. After ascending, you will be able to start learning Rank 4 alchemy. Then, once you become a Pill Lord, you will need to put yourself in a position to ascend to Martial King.”

WuJing took a sip of his drink and let out a contented sigh. “That will be extremely difficult to accomplish in Brilliant Sun. I don’t know much about that specific empire, but every empire is notoriously tightfisted with its lands, so you would have to both be exceptional and be viewed as extremely loyal to get a city from them. I don’t see that happening in a short timeframe, no matter how good you are.”

I nodded in thought. “So, I can’t ascend through the empire. Any suggestions?”

WuJing smiled. “Of course, you’re already here, so why not work directly with us? Any member of the Pavilion who has made sufficient contributions can purchase ascensions all the way to Martial Emperor. Work for the Pavilion, practice your alchemy, and as long as you are talented, becoming a Pill Emperor won’t be any problem at all. We will provide you with everything you need.”

“The Blue Wind Pavilion sells empires for contribution points? That’s… absurd.”

WuJing let out a deep laugh. “No, not at all. First, we don’t use contribution points here. This isn’t a sect. It’s a business. We use gold. Money isn’t the problem here, though. To purchase a chance at ascension, you will need the approval of the higher-ups. After sending in an application, they will review everything you have done for the Pavilion, and if your contributions are sufficient, they will sell you the chance to ascend.”

WuJing tapped his glass. “Second, you aren’t buying an empire, just the chance to ascend. The Pavilion controls a peripheral empire. After your purchase, you will be crowned emperor for a year. During that year, the karmic energy of the empire will flow to you, but you will have no actual authority.”

“Can… Can you actually do that? You can just rent an empire for a bit, and that’s enough to ascend?” I sat there, dumbfounded that such a thing would be possible.

WuJing nodded. “Yes, and you don’t even have to step a foot inside the empire’s borders. Whatever forces control this world don’t care. It’s all just a matter of directing the flow of energy. Instead of going to the empire’s true ruler, it will be sent to you.”

By ‘the forces that control this world,’ I knew who he was talking about, the Earthly Dao. I could understand that, from that being’s point of view, the details weren’t important. An empire improved, a cultivator advanced. It didn’t care who.

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When thoughts of the Earthly Dao crossed my mind, I hesitated. Wasn’t this all a bit too… convenient? I needed a way to ascend to Martial Emperor, and there was an organization that was willing and able to help me right at my doorstep. Was this just a coincidence, or was it all a part of the Earthly Dao’s plans?

After taking a moment to settle my thoughts, I made my decision. I couldn’t worry about the plots of gods and demons. I could only push forward the best way I knew how.

“Let’s do that. I’ll plan to advance to Martial King through the Pavilion. How do we get started?”

WuJing smiled and clapped his hands. “Excellent! First, we need to get you set up as a full member. This will involve disclosing your blessing and, if at all possible, providing proof that your claims are true. Since you are looking to become a Pill King, I will assume that you already have some skill in alchemy. My recommendation will be enough to get you a position, but you will need to prove yourself before you will truly be accepted. Don’t worry too much about that, though. Just consider it part of earning money and contribution points.”

“How will I get to Brilliant Sun?”

“Getting there is easy, just earn enough money to pay for a carriage ride, but you don’t want to just travel there. You need to get promoted there. Otherwise, it will be much more difficult to establish a firm foothold in their imperial capital.”

“So, how do I get promoted there?”

“For me, as a low-level manager, earning enough contribution to get a promotion is difficult. I have to make good deals, and that’s more about luck than anything else. For you, as an alchemist, however, it’s simple. Just make good enough pills that they can’t be sold locally. Then, to avoid having to constantly ship out your pills all the time, they’ll ship you out instead.”

“So, as long as I make some pills, I can get sent to Brilliant Sun?”

For the first time, WuJing’s confident demeanor faltered. “Eh, maybe, but you’ll probably get sent to a smaller kingdom somewhere, possibly even just a city. Posts in imperial cities are a hot commodity, and there are plenty of skilled Grandmaster Alchemists out there. We just need to make sure that we are sent somewhere down south. Then, when you become too good for that place, we can aim to be sent to Brilliant Sun.”

“We? You’re going with me?”

WuJing let out a loud belly laugh. “Your contribution is alchemy. My contribution is you. I’m going to take shade under your tall tree for as long as possible. If you become an incredible enough Grandmaster Alchemist, then I should be able to use the credit I get for discovering you to get promoted to a position as a branch manager of a kingdom somewhere, and I’ll take you with me. That will allow me to advance to Martial Lord. After that, the further you go, the further I go. If you can get me promoted to branch manager of Brilliant Sun, I’ll be able to advance to Martial King.”

I smiled and nodded. A harmonious exchange of opportunities was what I needed. Pies didn’t fall from the sky, and I wasn’t going to get a chance to ascend without giving something back in return. I could only hope that this relationship would bear fruit, because the only other real idea I had for advancing to Martial King was to spend a long time learning martial arts and carving out a kingdom for myself through blood and war. I much preferred the mercantile route.

“On a related topic, will the Pavilion provide me with a cultivation technique?”

WuJing gave me a scrutinizing look. “You haven’t cultivated at all yet, right? Is that because you don’t have a proper technique?”

I shook my head. “No, I have a technique I plan to use. It has its drawbacks, but it’s sufficient. I just wanted to see if the Pavilion could provide me something better.”

WuJing swirled the liquid of his glass in thought. “We can certainly look at that. What Rank is your current technique?”

“Mid-Profound.”

He sucked a breath in through his teeth. “That’s difficult…very difficult. If we were at the main branch, it wouldn’t be a problem, but out in the Wastes? The techniques we have access to are somewhat… limited. The best I can authorize is a Low-Profound technique, and the Pavilion Master can only get you a Mid-Profound one. To do better, we would need to request it be delivered here from the main branch. The Pavilion Master has the clout to do that, but it would put you deep in her debt, and I wouldn’t recommend it if you want to keep firm control over your future.”

WuJing might be playing me. His words stank of internal politics, and I couldn’t help but feel that he wanted to keep me to himself instead of sharing with the Pavilion Master. His reasoning may have been skewed, but still, I was certain there was also truth behind what he said.

In any case, if possible, I wanted to avoid putting myself in debt to a stranger, so I accepted his recommendation.

“I’ll use the technique I have, then, but I will be able to purchase access to any of the Pavilion’s techniques eventually, including that Mid-Profound one, right?”

WuJing nodded without hesitation. “Yes. Profound techniques require requisite contributions, but as long as your alchemy skills are sufficient, that will not be a problem.”

“Understood. However, before I can do much alchemy, I need to cultivate. Should I do that now, or do we need to deal with my membership first?”

“Let’s go ahead and get your membership squared away. If we get that taken care of, you can stay in the Pavilion to cultivate, and you will get a discount on anything you need to purchase.”

WuJing and Mei brought me up to the eighth floor of the pagoda.

At the top of the stairs, there was an expertly carved dark wooden double door that had been inlaid with silver and gold. In the design, golden, snow-peaked mountains stood proudly as silver streamers of wind blew around them.

Without knocking, WuJing opened the door, and we walked inside.

The room we entered was simple yet elegant. There were no paintings or artwork, but the walls themselves were decoration enough. Wooden slats had been arranged in geometric patterns that encircled the entire room, and large windows had deftly been worked into the pattern along two of the walls.

The far wall held another elaborately carved door, but WuJing didn’t approach it. Instead, he walked over to where an older man in simple dark blue robes sat behind a long sandalwood counter.

WuJing saluted this man and bowed his head. “Secretary Jiang, this is Su Fang. He wishes to become a member of the Pavilion. I came to arrange everything.”

The man, Secretary Jiang, only gave me a brief glance before returning his eyes to the paperwork that was scattered around his desk.

“A Martial Disciple 1? Someone at that level was able to catch your eye? Interesting.”

Saying this, he made a couple of marks on the papers in front of him and then reached down to open a drawer by his side. However, he didn’t take anything out. He just stared into it.

“Your name is Su Fang, correct? What is your age?”

I cleared my throat, a bit discomfited by the fact that he was looking at something by his side instead of at me.

“Sixteen.”

The man nodded. “Affinities?”

This was a bit trickier. I could tell him my current affinities, but those were meaningless. They weren’t what I would be relying on. So, I might as well honestly tell him my future affinities.

The only problem was that I hadn’t fully decided what those would be.

However, I needed to be able to make Perfect Rank 3 pills. That would only be possible by pushing all my affinities to peak seven-star. Six-star would be better, but I didn’t have the points needed for that. I could raise a couple of affinities to that level if needed, but that wasn’t a decision I could rush.

After making my decision, I spoke with as much confidence as I could muster. “Peak seven-star in all five basic elements.”

Upon hearing this, WuJing and Mei looked at me in shock, but Secretary Jiang continued to focus on whatever was in this drawer. His only reaction was the slight narrowing of his eyes.

After waiting a moment, he reached over and tapped whatever was in his drawer. Then, he looked up at WuJing.

“It can be difficult to test for multiple affinities. Manager Chen, are you willing to vouch for the truth of this?”

After a short hesitation, WuJing nodded. “Yes, I will.”

Secretary Jiang’s gaze lingered on WuJing for a moment. Then, he looked back into his drawer.

“Acceptable. Blessing?”

A bit nervous now, I chose my words very carefully. “It is a somewhat comprehensive blessing that has benefited my alchemy in various ways. I have gained significant knowledge up to the level of a Grandmaster Alchemist, a spirit fire, and various improvements to my qi control. I also have reason to believe that my affinities are a result of my blessing.”

“What are the herbs needed to concoct a Rank 3 Fire Qi Expulsion Pill?”

I quickly recited them from memory.

“What is needed for a Rank 2 Creeping Death Pill?”

Again, I answered instantly.

Finally, Secretary Jiang was satisfied and closed the drawer of his desk. After making a few notes on a sheet of paper, he looked me full in the face for the first time.

“I will accept these answers as tentative proof of your claims. However, a practical demonstration will eventually be necessary.” A tight, thin smile appeared on his face. “Su Fang, you are now an official member of the Pavilion under the recommendation of Manager Chen WuJing.”

He looked at WuJing. “Manager Chen, he is your recruit, so you can get him settled.”

Then, he looked at me. “Welcome to the Blue Wind Pavilion.”