High Lord Shi Wen left the meeting feeling strange. He had first taken the man for a gloating rival, wanting to show off that the Holy Flame Sect had gained another Nascent Soul. Then the man had the bold claim of being a Gardener and wanting the secrets of their sacred arts. He had thought then it was not just posturing, but insults. The man was here to make fun of them and pick a fight.

Then his whole world was turned upside down when this Lang Sheng casually pulled two women out of nowhere. In the time it took him to blink, the women had transformed into Demonic Plants and no matter how he checked them they seemed perfectly genuine.

It was only at that time that he realized that this Lang Sheng was not looking to show off or pick a fight. The ridiculous claims that were made turned out to be true. He realized his mistake and hurriedly apologized. Now that Shi Wen left the room he had a moment to reflect and realized there had been a hint of killing intent that he’d overlooked in his eagerness to examine the Demonic Plants. Not only was it lucky for him to leave with such a valuable gift, but there was also a chance he might have never left that meeting at all. Of the two Demonic Plants, one of them was more powerful than he was while the other was only slightly weaker. Even so, the weaker one, that vicious looking vine with the brilliant white chrysanthemum flower, made him feel a great threat.

Shi Wen met the City Lord in a study and the two shared a look of commiseration. They realized that neither of them could get the upper hand over this foreign guest. A look and a nod was shared before they put on their polite public personas and exchanged greetings and a pot of wine. Then Shi Wen detailed the situation, “I am going to arrange a meeting for Lang Sheng with one of the Supremes. I will send a messenger to you when the details are secured.”

“A Supreme is going to come here?”

The two of them shared another defeated look, “This Lang Sheng truly has the capital to get a Supreme to come here to meet him.”

The City Lord immediately put away any ideas he had on getting revenge upon this ‘guest’ of his. Lang Sheng’s status, and threat, immediately rose a few notches and he resolved himself to do everything in his power to keep his guest appeased so he’d leave without incident and as quickly as possible. Shi Wen reached out and patted his old friend upon the back, “It’s good you understand. It’s not all bad. Weren’t you rewarded handsomely already? This Lang Sheng isn’t stingy.”

At this point the City Lord remembered the hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones he received and wondered what gifts were given to the Cult Elder to make him so agreeable. Then he remembered Shi Wen’s serious look and he decided not to wonder any more. The City Lord had made it his business to be as uncurious as possible, as those who wondered too much always seemed to wander themselves right into a problem. He was quite pleased with his position, and as long as his cultivation didn’t miraculously rise a few levels, this was the highest place he could reach in life. He knew his place. There were those he could step on and those he would only be stepped upon by. Better to be a gilded footstool than the dirt and mud.

The thoughts of the two men seemed to align once more and then the High Lord rushed off, wanting to put some space between himself and this confusing person. He enjoyed the rewards, but he resolved to put this matter into someone else’s hands. Shi Wen returned to the Cult of the Woodlord and headed directly to the temple of the Supreme that he had the greatest relationship with.

Back in Daggerguard, Sage no longer had to deal with the gentle attempts of the City Lord to kick him out. Since the City Lord knew that a Supreme would be coming for a meeting he decided the matter was completely out of his hands. The servants were already instructed to treat this guest as extremely important and not to be offended, so there was nothing else for the City Lord to do. He put this whole affair out of his mind and let it resolve itself. Even if he was constantly sending extravagant meals to the man, such a small cost was nothing for a City Lord.

On Sage’s end, he merely set up an array formation to hide the energy fluctuations in his room and started training with his Heavenly Materials. The Soul Clone was unable to practice much with them, as they made up the world he was in. The power of the Heavenly Materials were all around him, so while he could use them it was nothing like how he had to use them in his true body. Developing methods to control the Heavenly Materials on the Inner World was very different than how it was for him in his true body.

It was now one of the few things he could only train while on the outside world. Now that his two bodies were a much closer match his strength had already risen by leaps and bounds. A month passed by in a blur before a Supreme finally arrived for a meeting. Sage was introduced to a surprisingly young looking man by the City Lord.

“Lang Sheng, this is the Supreme Arborist Lin Muzhi.”

Then, the City Lord bowed deeply to them both and then left fast enough to be called an escape. Sage looked this man up and down finding that the fellow wasn’t anything like how young he looked. Sage could only assume this ‘Supreme’ had been a super genius and broke into a high rank at a young age. This Lin Muzhi was a Nascent Soul and compared to a lifespan of ten thousand years, a cultivator might not even look thirty until they were over three thousand years old. That was without considering any techniques to appear younger, or that Cultivators aged like the healthiest of humans. There was also the chance that the man was extremely vain and spent a fortune to find a Face Setting Pill. Usually, they were coveted by women, but maybe this man had taken one to freeze his physical appearance.

After some time for the two to examine each other, Sage waved his hand to bring out the two women as he had for Shi Wen. The two knew what they were supposed to do this time so they transformed, returning to their original bodies and filling the chamber with their vines and leaves. The Supreme examined them for a while and then nodded, at which point Sage sent them both back to the Inner World where they were given rewards for their performance.

“What do you think? I’d like to trade my services as a Gardener for Arborist techniques. I will sign a contract to guarantee the knowledge you trade won’t make it back to the Holy Flame Sect.”

Sage’s offer was met with a shake of the head, “That won’t do.”