The day after Wu Jian’s meeting with Zhou Zu and Zhou Lihua found him traveling to the Zahn City marketplace with Hou Jingshu and Wu Meiying. It was a busy day with many people wandering through the streets.

That was the excuse Hou Jingshu used when she hugged his arm. He thought she was just doing it because Wu Meiying was.

“I really don’t like it when you see that fox without us,” Hou Jingshu said with a sigh.

“You mean Zhou Lihua? Why?” asked Wu Jian.

“Jingshu doesn’t like Lihua because she teases her,” Wu Meiying giggled.

It was indeed a busy day, though. A literal sea of heads filled his vision as he walked. They couldn’t go one li without bumping into at least twelve people.

Families were out for a stroll, young couples walked hand-in-hand, a group of men chatted enthusiastically as they carried building materials, and children ran through the street, their laughter echoing around him.

Hou Jingshu’s face turned a fetching pink. “That is not the only reason. While I am still too young and wish to accomplish many things before I marry, it does not change the fact that you and I are engaged. I don’t like how that fox woman seems to have set you in her sights.”

“Is it really that big of a deal? You are already sharing Jian with me,” Wu Meiying said.

“That’s completely different,” Hou Jingshu tried to say, but she wasn’t able to really justify what made Wu Meiying different from Zhou Lihua outside of “you’ve known Jian longer than me.” It seemed like a weak excuse to Wu Jian, but he didn’t say anything.

Upon entering the town square, the group directed their attention to the various Wu Clan operated medicine stalls. These simple carts were but one way the Wu Clan sold the alchemy pills made by none other than Wong Jiu. As always, there was a large crowd gathered around all the carts as people clammored to buy healing pellets.

“Seems our business really is doing well,” Wu Jian murmured.

Wu Meiying glanced sideways at him. “Were you worried?”

“Honestly? I expected the Ming Family to try and sabotage our efforts somehow.” He shrugged. “I’m glad to see my fears were unfounded.”

“Let’s go to Won Ju’s,” Hou Jingshu said after a moment. “I want to see if any interesting medicines or ingredients have come in.”

Won Ju’s Medicine was even busier than the medicine stalls. After Wong Jiu began refining alchemy pills, the Zhou Clan bought Won Ju’s Medicine and began using it to sell more alchemy pills. Of course, they sold healing pellets, but they also sold other pills as well like Soul Pills, Blood Clotting Pills, and Energy Pills. The Energy Pills were particularly popular among farmers and people whose jobs required heavy manual labor. Craftsmen and builders really liked them too.

The deal the Wu Clan made with the Zhou Clan was that the Wu Clan would allow them to sell healing pellets and earn sixty percent of the profits made. In exchange, the Zhou Clan would buy Won Ju’s Medicine and sell everything else as well. While they made one hundred percent of the profits from anything else, the Wu Clan still earned sixty percent for the healing pellets sold there.

“Ah! Welcome, you three!” Won Ju greeted from where he stood. An older man with large muscles stood next to him, his outfit the heavy kind someone who worked a blacksmith’s forge might wear. “Feel free to look around while I help this customer.”

They waved at him and wandered the store, looking to see if anything caught their eye, though of course nothing did. Anything interesting would be located in the back where it couldn’t be stolen. The only items out here was the cheap stuff.

Won Ju soon finished dealing with his customer, who left carrying several boxes of energy pills, then came over to them with a bright smile. He looked much healthier now than he had before. He walked straighter, his eyes were more vibrant, and even his hair seemed to be growing back.

“I am glad to see you three are doing well. Is it not a lovely day?”

“It is a pretty nice day. I’m glad summer ended,” Wu Meiying said.

“Has anything interesting come in?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Hm hmmm! I do actually have something that came in not long ago. It was quite the find. Hold on while I grab it for you,” Wu Jon said before heading into the back room.

He came back a few seconds later with a sealed box that had a lacquered finish. There were some seals located on the outside, which meant whatever was inside had enough value that Won Ju had used a precious seal to keep it from deteriorating. Seals were rare out here in the countryside. That meant they were expensive.

“What is this?” asked Wu Jian.

With a broad grin, Won Ju said, “I found this during my last trip to Xiaohon City. The street vendor who was selling it didn’t even know what it was. Quite the lucky find, if I do say so myself.”

The seals on the box began glowing as Won Ju channeled chi into it.

A little known fact about Won Ju was that he was actually at the first subrealm of the Hunger Realm. He used to belong to small sect called the Medicine Sect, which studied medicines (medicine was different from alchemy in that it did not involve refining pills), but he had never been able to raise his cultivation and was eventually expelled from the sect. He eventually found his way to Zahn City and opened this shop with the Wu Clan’s approval.

Won Ju opened the box, which released an odd hiss. Beams of light seemed to erupt from within, forcing all of them to look away until the light died down.

What lay within the box was something that looked like a root sitting on a soft bed of leaves. It was about the length of Wu Jian’s forearm, thick around the base and smaller toward the top. Tendrils extended from it like bristly strands of hair and the whole thing was a golden brown.

“What is this?” asked Hou Jingshu in a whisper.

“This is called a ten thousand year old sunroot. It comes from a sunflower. Sunflowers are quite common, especially up north, but they rarely ever reach such a ripe age. Most sunflowers only live for two to three weeks. They bloom during late summer and wither when fall comes around. However, there are some sunflowers that have mutated to absorb chi. When this happens, they form their own dantian located in the roots. Cultivators can eat this to reinvigorate their chi and help with their cultivation. There’s a rumor that says someone at the Hunger Realm can automatically jump to the Anima Realm if they eat one of these raw, though of course that’s just a rumor. Eating this raw would probably make you sick. Your best method for consuming it is to simmer it in water for several days until it dissolves and drink it like a soup.”

Hearing about this made the three of them very interested.

They always liked to discover new methods of increasing their strength, and even though they could not yet cultivate, learning ways to increase their cultivation now would only prove beneficial later.

“How much is it?” asked Wu Jian.

“Good question.” Won Ju hummed. “I really did get this for a very low price, and it’s not like I can sell this to just anyone since there are very few cultivators in the area. Your clan is also the reason my business didn’t go under. With all that taken into account… twelve hundred spirit coins.”

“Twelve hundred?! Didn’t you just admit the Wu Clan is the reason you’re not out of business? I would expect being able to continue working is worth a lot more than twelve hundred spirit coins,” Wu Jian exclaimed.

Won Ju shrugged. “This is true, but… what can I say? I am still a businessman, and I know twelve hundred isn’t much for you anyway.”

“Twelve hundred is daylight robbery! I think half that is much more reasonable…”

Wu Jian tried to haggle the price down a bit, but he was only able to make Won Ju agree to lower it from twelve hundred to one thousand. On the plus side, Won Ju threw in the box, which was probably what hiked the price up so much anyway. If an ingredient like this didn’t have something to seal it inside, it would eventually spoil.

Natural treasures like the thousand year old sunroot contained a very potent chi, making them incredibly valuable. However, chi was something reserved for the living. Once something died or was cut off from the source, the chi would continuously leak out until it became no different from a normal plant. That was why storage devices like this were necessary. Most people used storage rings, but Wu Jian could neither afford nor use a storage ring, which cost upwards of ten thousand spirit coins.

Leaving Won Ju’s Medicine, the group traveled through the streets some more, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells, but they were eventually forced to stop upon catching sight of Ming Shen and Ming—formerly Juishi—Meirin. Wu Jian didn’t know what the two were doing here. He planned to have them turn around and leave, but Ming Shen spotted them before they could.

“I see you three are enjoying yourselves,” he called out to them.

Wu Jian sighed as the two walked over, but he plastered on a patently insincere smile and greeted them. “Hello, Ming Shen and Ming Meirin. Isn’t it just a lovely day?”

Wu Meiying giggled into her hand as Hou Jingshu snorted. A large, throbbing vein appeared on Ming Shen’s forehead while Ming Meirin glared at Wu Jian with intense vitriol.

“I see you’re wit hasn’t left you. That’s good. Let us hope you can keep that wit once fate turns on you,” Ming Shen said with a smirk. Wu Jian frowned.

I don’t like the way he said that. It’s as if he knows something is going to happen… should I question him? Ugh, but would he even give me an answer?

“Wu Meiying. Hou Jingshu. You two are dressed in such lovely clothes. I wonder how long you will be able to remain wearing such luxurious items,” Ming Meirin said.

“Was that supposed sound threatening?” asked Hou Jingshu.

Wu Meiying smiled. “I imagine we’ll be wearing nice clothing for many decades to come.”

While Ming Meirin scowled at the pair, Ming Shen looked them both over with an arrogance that made them lean back. “I still haven’t given up on either of you. You might not like me right now, but I believe you will come around sooner rather than later, once you see how pathetic the Wu Clan really is. Hmph. You’ll soon come to realize I’m the only one who can truly provide you with a good life.”

“Husband,” Ming Meirin said, her tone warning him off. She didn’t seem to like that he still wanted to wed these two.

“Don’t worry, Meirin. You will always be my number one. Well, we’re off. Keep your neck clean, Wu Jian.”

Wu Jian frowned as the two wandered into the crowd and disappeared. “I wonder what that was all about.”

“His words did sound rather ominous.” Wu Meiying agreed. “Do you think the Ming Family is going to try something? They must be getting desparate now that we have an alchemist who can compete with theirs.”

Wu Jian ran a hand through his hair and thought about it. “I don’t see how they could, but I wouldn’t put it past them either.”

“Do you think we should be careful from now on? Maybe they will make another kidnapping attempt,” Hou Jingshu suggested.

“Maybe…”

Wu Jian didn’t think they would attempt to kidnap anyone again, not after the last one failed. The Wu Clan had also strengthened their defenses as of late. It would take someone even more skilled at stealth than Wu Taohua to sneak into the Wu Clan compound. Still, it couldn’t hurt to be careful.

Since they still had a bit of time to kill before dinner, they traveled to the library and looked for any new books that might have come in. They had already read most of the books in the Wu Clan’s library. Since the Wu Clan didn’t travel all that much, they never got any new books, but the owner of the Zahn City library supposedly enjoyed traveling to different cities within the Shang Kingdom and occasionally found something new to add to the library’s catalog.

Sadly, they didn’t have any new books at this time, so the group was left disappointed.

The sun was beginning to set when they returned to the Wu Clan. They greeted the gate guards as they were let inside and informed that Father wanted them to prepare for dinner the moment they arrived. After a bit of a frantic rush to wash off the day’s sweat with a cloth, Wu Jian dressed himself in a simple black hanfu and joined back up with Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu at the dining room.

Most of the main family and the branch members who lived in the compound were all in attendance, including Father, Mother, Wu Taohua, and the three elders. They sat at the head table as always. Wu Jian sat in the same spot he always did as he ate with the two women in his life.

“How strong do you think we’ll be when we turn sixteen?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“If we keep training like we have been, we’ll probably hit our peak before we even reach sixteen.” Wu Meiying took a bite of her peking duck, swallowed, then sipped some juice before continuing. “No one in recorded history has had a strength above twenty thousand before breaking through to the Hunger Realm. Of course, it’s possible someone has and it was never recorded. However, there’s a theory that the human body can only get so strong before it peaks and becomes unable to gain more strength unless enhanced with chi.”

“Who was the last person to have a recorded strength of twenty thousand?” asked Hou Jingshu, hanging off Wu Meiying’s every word.

Wu Meiying pursed her lips for a moment. “It was… I believe it was Qin Shi Huang. He’s the current leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect.”

“Isn’t he a couple hundred years old now?” asked Wu Jian.

“Supposedly. The book I have on the Heavenly Sword Sect says he was born three hundred years ago,” Wu Meiying said.

“Dang. That’s really old. I guess that’s one of the benefits to reaching the Deva Realm.” Hou Jingshu sighed. “I wonder if I’ll ever get that strong.”

Cultivators who reach into the higher realms attain much greater longevity. The younger a cultivator is when they reach the Deva Realm, the longer they retain their youth and the greater their chances are of climbing to the next realm. According to Wu Meiying, Qin Shi Huang had reached the Deva Realm when he was twenty-five years old.

“Anything is possible if you train hard enough,” Wu Jian said. In order to stay beside Wu Meiying, he planned on reaching as high as he possibly could. He hadn’t forgotten his promise to become the strongest person in the world so she would never be taken from him.

A loud crash echoed around the dining hall just then, and the doors to the large double doors burst open with incredible force. A young man stumbled into the hall. He staggered several steps, then fell onto his hands and knees, breathing heavily as sweat dripped from his brow.

“What is the meaning of this?!” asked Elder Wu Jinsu, standing to his feet.

Father raised a hand to settle the older man down. He continued to gaze upon the young intruder, who Wu Jian thought he recognized from his time on the farm.

“Speak. What is wrong? Why do you look so disheveled?” Father commanded.

The young man took several deep breaths, stumbled into an approximation of a repenting bow, and said the words that caused Wu Jian’s face to drain of blood. “Lord… Lord Yōushì. It’s terrible… the farmlands… they’ve been tainted!”