While the crescent moon staff that Emperor Chan presented me was of a simple design, the materials that had gone into its construction were powerful enough to make a legendary weapon of immense power. However, upon closer examination, I found that it was a basic, mortal weapon, entirely bereft of energy.

The grain of the wooden staff was perfectly straight, and the crystalline structure of the metal ends was unusually regular, telling me that a skilled refiner must have had a hand in this weapon’s 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. “Lord Tuguldur destroyed your previous weapon, so I went ahead and procured a replacement. Made from Rank 7 materials and crafted by an Artifact Sovereign, this is the best crescent moon spade that my clan was capable of acquiring.”

I studied the weapon with interest, but I didn’t reach out to take it. The moon spade itself might not have weighed too much, but I was worried that this gift would be far too heavy for me to bear. As a Pill Emperor, Chan had to have a sizable hoard of spirit stones, but it would be difficult to purchase a high-quality Rank 7 artifact with spirit stones alone.

“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 recipe is widely available, 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’s 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 powering 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 that there is also 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 the importance of such stones in powering large-scale, high-Rank formations, these values are mostly theoretical. High-grade stones are bartered like every other valuable material, with their values 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 so 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 a person 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 improves the quality of one’s breakthrough and helps to ensure that the breakthrough is a success.”

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, since King-level energy was fundamentally different from Lord-level energy.

Chan continued, “Zero- and one-patterned pills can only aid in the ascension to False Lord. With a two-patterned pill, a cultivator will be able to make a true ascension, but they’ll be stuck as a low-level Lord for the rest of their life. If one wants to retain their ability to advance to Martial Emperor, then they have to use pills with at least four patterns during the major breakthroughs to Lord and King, and they need to use pills with at least three patterns during all of the minor breakthroughs within these realms.”

Pills. Back in the elder’s audience hall, Chan had said that 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 purchased from the System a few lifetimes ago, 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 extra 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 that 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 is reasonable to do so.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

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. 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-Ranked pills, I believe that you will find improving your martial abilities to 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. While I’ve been able to procure you a suitable weapon, you still need to bond with it, and then, you need to spend some time with it. To create the best bond possible, you need to fight a series of near life-and-death battles with nothing to rely on but the weapon in your hands.”

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, every 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, leaving these meridians inactive, but they will remain in place. When you advance to Martial Master again, you will just need to reactivate them, not reconstruct them from scratch.”

“Alright… But, if I need to use an Expulsion Pill anyway, then 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 into 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 that 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 for your 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 either the Cicada Pill or the process of imprinting 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 and implants 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 the 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 origins 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 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. If I didn’t create a bond with my weapon, I would be at a severe disadvantage when facing others who had. 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 available to me. “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 weapon’s imprint, I want the connection to automatically break.”

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 that were connected to this world’s four 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 compatible with a moon spade. So, I shifted my focus to my inner garden.

There, I found a wide assortment of plants and flowers that had connections to anything and everything 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. The white petals of these flowers were cupped such that their cross-sections formed a perfect crescent, and they had long, straight stems, with one end planted firmly into the ground, and one end reaching toward the sky, connecting the heavens to the earth.

Feeling a tug from the Cicada Pill, I willed these flowers to flow into my energy body.

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

Nearly everything that I poured into my 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 remained lodged within the weapon, 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 to eradicate any lingering 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 rules that bar cultivators from entering cities no longer apply 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 Palace’s internal competition.”