With access to a steady supply of herbs, I returned to my life as a recluse. Technically, as a city lord, I did have official duties to attend to, but everything seemed to be functioning well without my input. I was certain that my ministers were more than happy for me to leave them alone and not create more work for them.

I spent my days slowly working through the book left to me by Emperor Li. It outlined a robust sequence of pills that one could use to train their abilities as a Pill Lord, with many options at every stage of advancement. This was important because, even though Mei had been able to give them advance notice, the Situ Clan still found it difficult to produce a large number of any given herb. So, I had to constantly reference the book’s information to know what pills would work best with whatever herbs they had on hand.

Unfortunately, the effects of the boost that I had purchased for my alchemy comprehension were noticeably less pronounced as I worked on Rank 4 pills. So, even with access to the knowledge in Emperor Li’s book, my progress wasn’t exactly impressive. It was progress, though.

The fact that I had to sell the pills I made to the Situ Clan at 40% of their market value hurt me, but after a few months of work, the value of the pills that I was concocting was equal to the cost of the herbs. After ten months, I was even making a small profit. And, since that profit was from Rank 4 pills, a fraction of it was even in spirit stones.

In this slow process of advancing my alchemy skills, there was one important event that pushed me forward more than anything else. Eleven months after I entered seclusion, my store of karmic energy reached the point where I could break through to the next stage.

As soon as I had the karmic energy I needed, I locked myself away in my cultivation chamber. Then, I braided my qi and karmic energy together and forced it into my core. The combined energies shot through my core and slammed into the wall that blocked me from ascending.

I formed the energy into battering rams and slammed them against that wall one after another. When half of my stored karmic energy was used up, small cracks in the fabric of reality had started to appear, but I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough energy stored to complete my breakthrough.

This was a problem. If I paused my breakthrough for even a moment, then the cracks would begin to heal, and all my efforts–and all the karmic energy I had used—would all be wasted.

To prevent this from happening, I rushed to empty my storage bag of the few spirit stones that it contained. I hadn’t been able to save many, but I could only hope what I had would be enough.

I mentally attacked the stones, ripped the energy from them, and forced it into my central dantian.

While the energy in spirit stones was far more potent than qi, it lacked the true might of karmic energy. It was a middle point between the two.

I used the energy from the spirit stones to dilute the karmic energy I had remaining so that I could throw as many battering rams against that wall as possible.

When only about five percent of my karmic energy stores remained, reality split apart, and the energy in my core pierced through the veil.

The world shattered, and another chain forged from the Laws of Heaven and Earth crumbled to dust. I was a Martial Lord 2.

The main perk of this advancement was that it significantly strengthened the power of my will-lock, and herbs that I had previously found challenging to work with became trivial. Of course, this only meant I had to start working on new herbs that were even more challenging, but that was good. I was advancing.

After a year of seclusion, I stepped outside to check in on the status of my domain. From the increasing amounts of karmic energy that I was gathering, I was certain that everything was going well, but I still needed to check. I was an absentee city lord, but I still had to play my part.

To gain a quick overview of the situation, I called for a full council session.

I again entered the main hall to see Mei, her Seeds, and my ministers waiting for me. After I took my seat, I started the session directly. “I have been secluded for an entire year. Since no one has requested my presence, I can only assume that everything is progressing smoothly. Flower Mei, are there any urgent issues that we need to address?”

Her gaze stayed fixed across the room, and she flinched when I addressed her. “No, Lord Su. North Lake City is prospering, and no major matters require your involvement.”

I nodded at this. “Thank you, Flower Mei. Ministers, is there anything the council needs to address?”

The first to step forward was Minister Tang. “Lord Su, I am happy to announce that the island expansion project has been completed. The land and roads are all in place, and we have started constructing workshops for artisans who wish to move to the new area.”

“Has the pill factory also been completed?”

“Yes, with Flower Mei’s assistance, all our tasks have been completed ahead of schedule. The factory is both furnished and decorated, and the Nutrition Pill lines are all fully operational. However, installation of the other production lines has yet to begin.”

The Seed who acted as my intermediary with the Hu Clan stepped forward. “Lord, the Hu Clan has completed the formation designs for two more types of pills, but they are waiting for your approval before deploying them.”

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“Understood,” I said, nodding to both the minister and Seed. “I will discuss this further with the clan.”

With no more issues to bring before me, Minister Tang stepped back, and a man I barely recognized stepped forward. Quickly flipping through my mental notebook, I remembered he was Minister Mo, my Minister of Justice.

“Lord Su,” he said, bowing, “there are no immediate issues that require your involvement. However, a couple of young scions from two minor clans recently got into an argument. At the moment, this is well within our ability to manage, but both clans have Lords. If the Lords become involved, we will need you to step in and mediate the situation.”

“Understood, Minister Mo. Inform me if things take a turn for the worse.”

He seemed to hesitate, but after glancing at Mei, he stepped back into line without further comment.

Next, Minister Jin, my Minister of Rites, stepped forward. “Lord Su, we have a problem. While it is normal for Rulers to enter seclusion for extended periods of time and miss important events, during your seclusion, a new queen was selected, and you did not participate in the ceremony.”

I raised my eyebrow. “If this was an issue, why was I not informed?”

Mei stepped forward and looked at the minister. “I instructed her not to interrupt you. While it is considered proper for all current city lords to attend such a ceremony, I deemed it unnecessary, so I handled the situation personally.”

I looked at Mei in surprise before turning back to the minister. “I will accept Flower Mei’s judgment. In any case, this issue is in the past. Why have you brought it up during this meeting?”

“Lord Su,” she said, trying to maintain a proper demeanor. “Missing the Queen Selection is a serious issue, but as you said, it is in the past. I bring it up now to impress upon you the importance of attending the upcoming Thunder Groom Selection. Missing two such events in a row… would not be good.”

“Understood, minister. I will make an effort to attend.”

“Thank you, Lord.”

Next, it was Minister Lu, my Minister of Revenue. “Lord Su, I do not have any issues to report at this time. I wish only to tell you that your pill factory has benefited our city in numerous ways. While we lose money when selling its pills locally, the increased production from a healthy citizenry has more than made up for that cost. And because of the Flower’s guidance, the profits from selling the pills abroad are far greater than we had expected, allowing us to move forward with many projects that would have otherwise been impossible.”

Minister Lu stepped back, and the final minister, Minister Bei, my Minister of Personnel, stepped forward.

“Lord Su. Unfortunately, I must report an issue similar to that of Minister Jin’s. As the Water Groom, it is your duty to assist in nurturing the people of our kingdom. We are capable of handling the training of most regular craftsmen, and Flower Mei has done an admirable job of nurturing numerous talents in your stead, but as Lord, I must request that you train a group of cultivators personally. The number of people and type of training is at your discretion, but it is improper for the Lord of North Lake City to not have any students.”

I nodded. “I will begin such lessons once my current work is complete. Please prepare a list of those you think would be suitable.”

The minister looked unhappy, but he still bowed and stepped back.

No one else stepped forward, so I decided to end the meeting.

“That will be all for today. I thank you for your efforts in ensuring the city runs smoothly.” I turned to Mei. “Flower Mei, I would like to have a private discussion about certain matters. Please come with me.”

Mei and I sat down at a conference table while a servant stayed in the room to serve tea.

“Mei, you’re studying beast taming with the Ouyang clan, correct?”

I noticed that her eyes were fixed on a point over my right shoulder, where the servant was standing.

“Yes, Lord Su.”

A genuine smile crossed my face. “Excellent. How far have your studies advanced?”

“I have only reached the level of a high Master Tamer. While I have worked to study the craft, I have not yet been able to devote the time and energy necessary to take it further.”

“Right, right,” I muttered. “How much can you tell me about low-level beast taming? How do you take control of them?”

Her eyes drifted toward mine, but with a sudden jerk, she once again focused on that point over my right shoulder.

“It isn’t taking control, Lord. Tamers use a series of techniques to connect with beasts on an instinctual level and influence them to behave as desired. At low levels, this means only giving them basic commands, like ‘attack.’ However, the more powerful a tamer grows, the deeper the connection they can form.”

I bobbed my head up and down as I thought. “My water affinity is decent, and I have access to a spirit fire with water energy. Do you think you could teach me some of the basics?”

“Sorry, Lord, but if that is possible, it is beyond me. I only know how to interact with beasts through water qi. Water is important because it acts upon the blood of the beast. I do not know if becoming a tamer is possible without cultivating water qi.”

“Alright,” I said, setting the issue aside. “Can you tell me anything about using herbs or pills to help beasts grow? I talked with Ouyang MengYao some time ago, and he seemed to suggest that using normal pills was impossible.”

“We have been instructed to never give a demon beast any alchemic concoctions, as they can have severe deleterious effects. Instead, the Ouyang clan uses formations to improve things such as a beast’s cultivation rate, healing rate, and growing speed. To my understanding, however, this isn’t necessarily a fixed rule. Certain pills, such as those that restore stamina, can be used in limited quantities. However, even this is rarely done since, as with cultivators, the buildup of pill toxins will quickly become problematic.”

“And herbs?”

“There are a variety of herbs that we feed our beasts, but we have to be careful. Too many, too quickly, can also cause a buildup of toxins. As it was explained to me, since the herbs retain their natural form, the vast majority of their toxic energies will be expelled through the normal digestive process. So, toxins from herbs are only an issue when too many are ingested at once.”

I hadn’t heard of this before, but I had also never looked into consuming herbs directly. Was there a trick here that I could use?

Mei continued, “While feeding herbs to beasts is expensive, herbalists will offset a portion of this cost if we provide them with our beasts’ manure.”

“Manure?”

“It is supposed to help them grow their crops.”

“Manure…” I muttered.

I looked down at the table in thought. Mei seemed to slightly shift her glance when I was no longer looking at her. “Fan—”

I suddenly stood up and raced out of the conference room.

The beasts were eating herbs, and a substantial portion of the physical herb–along with some part of the energy body–was being excreted. If manure could be used in herbalism, then it had to contain some form of energy. I just didn’t know if it was the beast’s demonic energy or the herb’s medicinal energy. It could potentially be a mix of both.

I needed to get my hands on some manure.

I got in my carriage as quickly as I could and raced to the Ouyang clan.