When she saw me casually tossing ten of the golden spirit stones onto the marble table, Zheng Yan’s eyes widened in shock. I wondered why. She’d asked for this many, hadn’t she?

  Ah, it was a test.

  I smirked. Either she hadn’t expected me to have ten on hand, or perhaps she simply didn’t think I would throw them out so casually. Whatever the case, I had her hooked and now she had to live up to her promise.

  Clearing her throat, she stood up and motioned for Kuang Mei to clear away the tea and pastries. Then, she made her way out of the room and waved for me to follow.

  I grabbed the ten spirit stones with a wave of my hand and stood up to leave. Then, I turned around and doubled back, grabbing the cake I’d tasted earlier. It was too delicious not to finish it.

  With a final wink at Kuang Mei, which made her freeze in her motions, I walked after Manager Zheng and shut the door behind us. The woman made her way to the opposite side of the lobby, where a staircase leading up and down was hidden from the view of most patrons of the consortium.

  Rather than head upwards as I expected, she took the first step going towards the basement. Curious, I followed after her.

  The railings of the staircase were just as ornate as the rest of the building. When we reached the bottom of three flights, the decor faded and we entered a completely plain stone tunnel lit only by occasional candles set in sconces in the stone.

  “You’re quite fortunate, Sir Zhao,” Zheng Yan said, turning to face me as we walked. “The item I’m about to show you was only discovered a few days ago and I was preparing to send it off the main headquarters, but I believe it may catch your eye.”

  That piqued my curiosity. Discovered? I wasn’t sure what that meant exactly but perhaps it was a rare artifact of some kind.

  Whatever the case, if I didn’t like it I could always keep my spirit stones. I felt that for the rest of the things I requested only one would be a reasonable price. Perhaps two to cement a relationship.

  Even if the item offered wasn’t worth my time, the fact she was showing it to me solidified that the Golden Leaf Consortium were worthwhile business partners. At that moment, the tunnel ended as we reached what looked like a dead end.

  I frowned at the back of Zheng Yan’s head. There was nothing but a rough stone wall in front of us that matched the walls of the tunnel. Had she led me into a trap?

  I didn’t sense anyone else in the tunnel with us, so I doubted it. There was no way she was confident in taking me in a one-on-one fight, so I was probably just missing something.

  Zheng Yan took out a small jade token and ran her hands along the stone wall until her finger suddenly slipped into the stone. A hidden switch that had seamlessly blended into the stone was pushed inwards, revealing a rectangular hole.

  She pushed her jade token into the hole and a series of geometric lines lit up on the surface of the stone. A security formation, most likely.

  The stone began to grind and then slid downwards into the floor, revealing that the tunnel continued further into the earth. Manager Zheng continued into the tunnel and I followed after her.

  It didn’t go on forever. The tunnel reached another dead end, but this time there was an obvious entrance to continue. Rather than stone though, it was made from solid steel.

  A large wheel-like handle was set into the steel, resembling a cliche vault from heist movies in my old world. I almost wanted to chuckle, but suppressed my laugh when I saw Manager Zheng’s serious expression.

  Clearly this vault was highly valuable to the Golden Leaf Consortium. The fact she was trusting me and taking me here was valuable to me and further cemented the group as solid business partners for the future.

  The woman had to cycle her qi as she grabbed hold of the wheel and pulled. At first it barely moved but the more she spun it, the faster it went.

  I saw that her qi was twisting and leaving her body in strange, flowing patterns before entering the door. I wondered if that was simply a consequence of her cultivation technique or if it was how one was supposed to unlock the door.

  Asking or attempting to figure it out might be seen as rude so I stuck to observing and when she finally swung the heavy door open, I allowed her to enter first and followed after. While I did trust her so far, I wouldn’t go in first—the idea of being trapped underground was slightly terrifying.

  When I saw what was inside the vault, I couldn’t help but be confused. There was almost nothing inside, except for three pedestals with glass cases on top of them.

  The pedestals were made of a strange alloy that I didn’t recognise. Even stranger, when my qi senses touched the alloy it vanished inside and wouldn’t travel any further.

  In fact when I observed closer, I realised that the three glass cases actually possessed the same strange trait of blocking qi. I wasn’t sure how much such a material would cost but I had to imagine it wasn’t cheap.

  The treasures stored inside such valuable cases were sure to be extremely expensive or rare themselves. Given what Zheng Yan had implied so far, I was going to be offered one of these three treasures in exchange for my golden spirit stones.

  I knew that they were valuable given that they were High grade and possessed a pure elemental affinity, but based on the security here I wasn’t sure they were getting their money’s worth. Then again, the consortium might be taking a loss here to cement a relationship with me, in hopes of getting more spirit stones in the future.

  “This is the most secretive area in the entirety of the Twisting Ridge City branch of the Golden Leaf Consortium, our void vault,” she explained, turning to me and waving her sleeve at the three pedestals.

  I walked closer to the cases, but when I got to the first pedestal I frowned. There was nothing inside. As I walked to the second case I once again found that it was empty.

  I turned to Manager Zheng with a frown, wondering if I was being made a fool of. However, she had the same soft smile on her face. She giggled and covered her mouth.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Check the third case.”

  I did as she instructed and finally I laid eyes on a treasure. However, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Zheng Yan giggled again and walked over to join me by the pedestal. She tapped her jade token against the case and I heard a hiss of air. Then, she lifted the glass case clean off and laid it on the ground.

  Immediately I was buffeted by a pulse of powerful spiritual energy. It had a distinct—flavour was the best way to describe it—flavour of grass and soil. Almost as if I was holding a handful of rich fertiliser in my hands and taking a deep sniff.

  But it was a perfectly spherical, army green orb. My eyes suddenly widened in realisation. This was a beast core!

  The only reason I hadn’t immediately noticed was because beast cores usually had a subtle air of blood and wilderness about them, but that aspect was missing entirely from this core. Instead it had the aura of a spirit herb.

  “Is it from an enlightened beast?” I asked, furrowing my brow and rubbing a finger against my temple.

  I wasn’t some raving loony like peta, but given that enlightened beasts and beasts in realms above that possessed intelligence that approached or even exceeded that of humans, harvesting them for materials felt a little wrong to me. I supposed I hadn’t killed this one myself, so I shouldn’t refuse a valuable treasure for such a reason, but I had to wonder how I might react if faced with this kind of decision in future.

  Other cultivators might be able to cut down beasts like wheat to harvest endless resources for their own advancement, but I had already vowed not to kill those who didn’t deserve it. Then again, many beasts were violent and territorial. Self defence was fine.

  “Good eye,” Zheng Yan remarked, nodding in appreciation at my recognition of the beast core. “It is the core of a King Herbwyrm. They are false dragons, with an extremely diluted bloodline from true dragons. However, they live mostly in the ground, seeking out potent spirit herbs and natural treasures with their keen senses. They cultivate by devouring these rather than consuming other beasts, hence the peaceful aura of their cores.”

  That was a fairly concise explanation. My interest was piqued hearing that they possessed the bloodline of a true dragon, even if it was extremely thin. Did that mean that dragons were real in this world!?

  A tremor of excitement ran through me. If I could see a damn dragon someday that would be a childhood dream come true. Actually, forget childhood—wasn’t it everyone alive’s dream to see a damned dragon!?

  “Haha, everyone has the same reaction the first time,” she chuckled. “Unfortunately, true dragons don’t exist in our world. Apparently they exist in the higher realms, but getting there is a pipe dream for the vast majority of people.”

  I sighed. Of course that was the case. Then again, Grandpa Guan had ascended so why couldn’t I?

  All in due time.

  First I had to finish up my business here. To be honest I was fairly satisfied with our trade. I didn’t even know what I could use the King Herbwyrm core for, but the spirit stones weren’t exactly that precious to me. I had thousands back home.

  “I’ll take it,” I replied, reaching out and pulling it into my storage bag. However, it refused to move.

  When my qi reached out to touch it, the pedestal seemed to awaken and suck my qi inside. Manager Zheng laughed at my futile attempt and reached out with her jade token once more.

  After she tapped it against the side of the pedestal I heard a gentle hiss. She motioned for me to try again and this time the beast core slipped into my storage bag without any resistance.

  After that she replaced the glass case and we left the vault. Closing it was just as laborious as opening it but she managed without breaking a sweat. Once we’d exited the tunnel and made it back to the staircase, she stopped and turned to me.

  “It will take us a few days, maybe even a week to gather all the books you requested. We have most of the basic profession manuals on hand but the cultivation methods and more advanced manuals aren’t kept here,” she told me with an apologetic look.

  “That’s fine. Can I take whatever you have with me today and come back later for the rest?” I asked.

  “Oh don’t worry, you don’t need to collect them. We will have them delivered to you. You mentioned your sect is located on Million Flowers Celestial Peak, yes?”

  I nodded in assent and she smiled before ascending the staircase. That was great service. I suspected it might also be to send someone to build a closer relationship with me, but that was fine. I’d deal with it when it happened.

  Before I left, there was one last thing I wanted to ask her. “Manager Zheng, I was wondering if I might be able to get a tour of the spirit herb farms? I had some ideas about growing herbs that I wanted to try. They might benefit the consortium,” I added to tempt her.

  She seemed conflicted. “Hmm, that might be quite difficult at the moment. We are having a lot of problems with a local bandit troupe called the Azure Tigers. They have been attacking and burning our farms,” she replied with a frown.

  I couldn’t help but smile. When she saw my smile she grew annoyed, but I threw up my hands in apology. “I mean no harm, it’s just funny that you mention the Azure Tigers. I actually spoke to the guard captain about them earlier. You shouldn’t be having any problems with the bandits anymore,” I said with a wink.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” I chuckled. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

  At that moment a man walked over, dressed in the uniform of the consortium. He passed a ring to the manager before bowing and making his exit.

  She passed the ring to me. At my confused expression she explained, “It’s the books you asked for.”

  “Oh, I see. Thank you very much,” I replied. Getting a free storage ring along with the books was a surprise.

  I’d been under the impression that they were pretty valuable, but maybe that was a mistake. Then again, Golden Leaf Consortium was a foreign trading company and this branch was just a side branch.

  Perhaps to them, a storage ring really was nothing special. I placed it on my finger and sent a strand of qi into it to bind it to me.

  Inside there were dozens of piles of books, some ancient and weathered and some looking as if they’d only just been written. All of them had boring titles like ‘Artifact Refining for Beginners’ or ‘Common Herbs of the Jade Star Continent’.

  Actually that last one wasn’t that boring. It was the first time I’d learnt the real name of the continent that the Celestial Jade Empire was located on. Neat.

  I suddenly remembered something. “Excuse me, Manager Zheng, would you happen to know where I can get a talent stone?” I asked.

  “Talent stones? They aren’t that rare. I’m pretty sure we have a few here. Give me a second,” she replied, walking over to the main desk and whispering to one of the attendants on duty.

  They rushed off while she waited. A few moments later they returned holding what looked like a rough spherical crystal.

  She came back and handed it to me. It was a murky grey, like water that had some ink dropped into it. I wasn’t sure how to use it, but Wang Ren knew so I wasn’t concerned. I simply put it into my new storage ring and thanked Zheng Yan for the generosity.

  After that, I walked off while Zheng Yan pouted at my lack of explanation regarding the bandits. I flicked her a spirit stone and she smirked, raising an eyebrow. As I was leaving I passed Kuang Mei. She’d been the first one to serve me and her dealings had sort of been usurped by the manager.

  For all her snarkiness I had appreciated the teasing manner with which she dealt with me. Before leaving I took out another spirit stone and flicked it to her.

  She caught it, shock evident on her face. Glancing to me and then to Manager Zheng, who nodded, she pocketed the stone and bowed to me.

  Laughing, I made my way back into the streets of the city. All of my tasks were now complete and it was time to head back to Million Flowers Celestial Peak.

  I was curious what everyone had been up to while I was gone. Hopefully my devious little disciple hadn’t been causing any trouble. Although, Wang Ren was far stricter than me, so perhaps I would be in for a treat.

  I couldn’t wait.