The Empire of Asho was the largest in terms of landmass in the Central Island Union, with several islands and areas occupied by them or their vassals.

Located mostly in the eastern parts of the region, their holdings were diverse, with their large sky fleet and army well known and respected. Not the most technologically advanced empire in the Union, they were still more advanced than nearly all of the larger kingdoms, let alone such a small place like Yura.

With a very militaristic tradition and the various important people all holding a high position in the empire's army, it was no surprise to see a commander of the sky fleet selected as the representative to visit the Earthly Treasure Pavilion's auction.

Aristocrats and nobles, even royalty as long as they held no power in the military, were not really taken seriously in this empire and the idea of might makes right was stronger than anywhere else in the Central Island Union.

The large Asho skyship carrier, along with several smaller vessels was heading south across the ocean, on a direct course to Yura Kingdom.

"Commander, according to the information we gathered about this southern region and their kingdoms, we should arrive at our destination in about two weeks."

Kita Ihito, commander of the third sky fleet of Asho was about 90 years old, a veteran of many battles and both an expert in military strategy as well as personal battle.

As a late core stage cultivator, with his life span far exceeding regular people, he was still in the prime of his life. His scraggy short beard and weather-beaten skin along with his sharp and rough facial features, made the formal clothes he was wearing now seem a little bit out of place.

"Blasted political foolishness again. Why did the council send us to such a place?" he grumbled once more.

If he were sent there to wage war on the kingdom, he would not have minded at all, but sending him as some foppish dandy to spout sweet words and niceties? It conflicted quite a bit with his usual approach.

"I think the council wanted to make sure to make a good impression. Sending someone without proper skills or backbone might make us appear weak. Don't forget that the other empires and even the Grey Order will have representatives there as well and each of them will likely try to get the largest piece of the cake."

Commander Kita raised an eyebrow at the answer his captain offered to his question. When it was about dealing with politics, his captain was far better than him, always able to say the right words and keeping tricky situations from escalating.

Not that his explanation was wrong, commander Kita simply did not expect an answer to this question in the first place.

"What are we going to expect?" he brought up the question that he wanted to ask for a while now. This time it was not just some mumbling to himself.

"Well, from what I've heard about the recording crystal, I'm pretty confident about this Empress' acting skills. The scholars said there was not even a hint of this young empress not being anything else than a sweet and kind girl."

"If the division leader of the Grey Order wasn't extremely unsettled for some reason, they would never expect her to be a danger to anyone. We shouldn't let some sweet attitude lull us into some false feeling of security."

With the captain's explanation about this 'Empress' even commander Kita had to think it over once again. He did not take this kingdom seriously before, nor did he really feel that the title of empire would be justified for some overhyped merchant shop.

"It would be nice if we saw this thing ourselves, rather than just hearing about it now like this." He grumbled, but there was nothing to be done about it. The message crystals that were sent to them only worked once and it was not as if they could just replay it as much as they wanted to.

"If this thing about her acting is true this will get complicated. I hate these kinds of two-faced snakes. Telling you one thing and holding a dagger behind their backs ready to stab you when they get the chance. What is this Earthly Treasures Pavilion anyways? I've never heard of it."

The captain looked at some documents and sighed.

"I don't exactly know sir. Even the information we have got from the scholars doesn't tell us much. All I can say is that it seems to be extremely old and extremely well hidden, disappearing from time to time only to be heard of hundreds of years later once more."

He flipped through a few reports but there was not much more to be found, no matter how many times he looked through it.

"The last time we heard something about it was several hundred years ago and even then, just tidbits of some sort of strong merchant business remained."

Kita Ihito nodded. It was not much to go with, but it was not the first time that they had to confront an opponent without a good idea of their strength.

"If they call themselves an empire, we have to expect at least some peak stage core cultivators. Perhaps they have none of their own, but if they are business focused, they might have enough resources to hire some people. Not exactly a real empire if that's the case, but who would argue in this backwater south region?"

"Commander, I'm not sure why a division leader would behave in such a way if that was the case. The Grey Order has more than a few peak core stage experts. They might be wary of a strong merchant group, but there seems to be more to this we don't know about."

"We won't know for sure before we reach the place. Let's just make sure not to get into trouble before we know more." The commander decided, before heading back into his cabin.

-

Yui's aim was still horribly off when compared to a skilled archer with cultivation strength, but with the help of all the spiritual power enhancing her senses, even a beginner like herself would be more than enough to make her arrows fly somewhat true.

The gap between a regular person and someone with spiritual power was simply extreme. She might not be able to hit a target miles and miles away, but against someone close by trying to attack her, aiming was much less important than raw power anyways.

It was not just Yui herself who did her best to improve her skills though.

In the beginning, no one really noticed but over time, it became more and more obvious that all of the people who were part of the Earthly Treasure Pavilion increased their strength and skills quite drastically.

Excellent resources to help them improve their bodies, enough materials to work with to improve their skills and the best training methods to improve their minds and cultivation.

It was not just their physical skills or their skills with their cultivation that improved. More than anything their mindset and confidence got a large boost.

When the first sky ships and carriages from other kingdoms and empires arrived for the auction, the small group of people in the Earthly Treasures Pavilion, seemed more like a gathering of experts, rather than the simple regular workers they were not too long ago.

Yui herself, having to deal with various customers on a daily basis also got a lot more relaxed when interacting with others, but she still worried about the upcoming auction. Dealing with a dozen people in the shop and being confronted with thousands of people at an auction was quite different after all.

"Miss Yui, miss Yui, yet another group has arrived in the capital for the auction. I would have never thought that there will be so many people coming just for this auction."

Everyone seemed excited, not just her own people, but also the people of Yura Kingdom. The whole town was preparing for the auction as if for some kind of festival.

Inn's and other places where people could stay were soon filled and the streets were filled with the various banners and symbols of kingdoms from far away. Even the smaller kingdoms from further away were gathering in Sume city without an invitation. They heard about the auction from others and simply decided to come as well.

Yui was happy with all the various forces who had arrived. At least she was happy for the progress of the pavilion. Personally, she'd still rather hide in the shop, but there would be no hiding during the auction.

"Ryoma will be our auctioneer. I don't have to worry so much." She told herself, but all the people coming and going made her nervous.

-

"Commander, I think we are the first to arrive here. With our superior sky ship forces, it was to be expected though."

Kita Ihito looked around the small city and could not really see anything special. The various representatives of this kingdom welcomed him with a lot of fanfare, but he could see no one from this Earthly Treasures Pavilion.

"I heard it was an open auction, right? It's not like we got an invitation. Only the Grey Order had an invitation after all."

"I don't think it should be a problem. We only have to pay a small fee to enter the auction, there seem to be no restrictions of any kind, just some strange rules." his captain replied.

"Strange rules? What kind of rules?"

"Basically, people are not allowed to threaten others with their status during the auction. I'm not really sure if they would act if someone does, but it seems like a strange rule to me. Large sects and factions suppressing smaller ones with their status rather than their wealth is quite common everywhere else."

"I keep it in mind. We don't lack funds if there really is anything useful to be found here. It's not like we are here for the items, we're here to find out what this Earthly Treasures Pavilion is all about."

He told most of his men to guard the ships while he headed in the direction of where this Earthly Treasures Pavilion was supposed to be with the remaining small group.

"Let's take a look at this place first, before the other forces of the Union arrive."

The people gathered into a carriage before they headed through the city's southern edge.

When they arrived at the property of the Earthly Treasures Pavilion, they all disembarked and made their way through the alleyway of red leaved trees following the small stone stairs up the hill until they finally arrived and the pavilion.

Some might call the building a pagoda perhaps, with the several tiered floors and the sloped shingles on each floor, with the smallest forming a tipped roof at the very top.

The color of the trees and the pavilion itself, was rather impressive and gave a special atmosphere, though the building itself was a lot smaller than Kita Ihito had expected.

How would all the people fit in there for an auction? Was the actual auction held outside or at some other place?

His eyes scanned the surrounding area, all tinged in red as even the garden was filled with the fallen red leaves of the trees. A few benches here and there to sit and relax, a little pond and some stone gardens. It looked like a regular garden area, with young kids of varying status playing around.

It was the first time he had seen noble born kids play with commoners. A rather strange sight.

Perhaps the only other strange thing about this place itself, was the stone steps leading through the sea of red leaves in the center of the garden to a big metal archway of some sort.

There was no door, no decorations, just a metal archway with various engravings. Never having seen anything like this, Kita Ihito expected it to be some sort of religious or ritual place and didn't worry about it anymore.

The commander entered the shop itself after finding nothing special outside. Perhaps there would be more interesting things to see inside?