Chapter 29 – Restored Reputation

  The cultivation great realms were broken into three simple stages: Early, Middle, and Late Stage. Due to Deacon Hu’s kind teachings, Diyuan learned that level 1 through 3 were lumped together as the Early Stage. He figured level 4 would be Middle Stage and level 5 would be Late Stage.

  All this time he had felt rather proud that he could punch up and fight against level 3 Spiritweave cultivators—not that Deacon Hu counted, as he was probably the weakest level 3 Spiritweave cultivator Diyuan had ever faced. Perhaps a result of a poor foundation? In any case, Diyuan’s ability to punch up to level 3 Spiritweave was still the same as simply saying he could fight against the Early Stage Spiritweave cultivators. It was interesting that they didn’t differentiate between the levels. Then again, the first three were rather relatively close in power compared to the other two levels, which escalated up quite a bit. Level 4 was closer to level 1 than it was to level 5, for example.

  The next few days had Diyuan continue to use his own resources to refine some pills. He was stocking up on energy pills that could boost a person’s cultivation. The spiritual energy in the air was thin, but alchemy could bring out quite a bit of it from plants and herbs with proper refinement. He intended to speed up the Black Brigade’s cultivation using pills. He’d have to teach them how to keep a stable foundation all throughout.

  The Black Brigade remained in lockdown mode. Some people wandered outside the gate, hoping to experience healing as soon as the doors opened. Diyuan half-expected the Infinite Wealth Auction House to come early, but after nearly a week, he thought he would need to visit them again with a bit of a heavy hand.

  The time was not wasted, however. He split the guards into three different groups and trained them in different styles. One group was specialized in team combat, similar to the Watchers back home. Diyuan decided to name them Sable Watchers.

  Another group was specialized in memorizing and capturing the basics in a manner that could be replicated. This group consisted of nearly all the female guards who didn’t have the same capabilities for martial arts as Feng Xueying, but they could memorize things quite well. They were so good that they could even teach others how their postures were wrong before long, despite they themselves not being capable of applying this knowledge in any real combat. The men decided to call those moments “nagging,” but quickly stopped when Feng Xueying went three times as rough on them during the next training session.

  The support team had additional help from Yibei, who would come around sometimes at the joy of one of the female guards. Him being there at all confused Diyuan, as they were on lockdown, but he let it slide since Yibei would show them the proper way to capture the martial arts information into a manuscript using his scholarly knowledge.

  While the second group was the support team, it didn’t seem right to name them Shapers, who were known for formations back home in the Zhengyi clan. He would put an official name on hold for now until he felt something matched.

  The last group would be those who had higher individual skills and would act as the “heroes” when it came to conflict. Diyuan would name this group the Sable Vanguard.

  Diyuan taught the Sable Vanguards the different stances he knew or had absorbed through the Reflects Pagoda. Every time someone’s stance was wrong, he would correct it and the second group would capture on paper what it was he corrected so that they could keep an eye out for it themselves in the future. They did have a good eye for detail, he’ll give them that. Each of these heroes would specialize in one thing specifically. It worked out since they could teach each other when Diyuan was occupied with other things.

  The biggest advantage to all the learning was how willing Diyuan was when it came to injuring them by breaking their bones; they sure did fight in a manner desperate for survival. While they knew they would get healed afterwards, they still felt the pain. And if the performance was left wanting, Diyuan would delay the healing.

  There was a bit of hesitation from them early on in their sparring. But that ended quickly when Diyuan called Feng Xueying to stab him with all her strength. Though she did so, he wasn’t sure how to interpret her willingness. Either she has strong faith he would catch her blade with his bare hands without getting wounded, or she really just wanted to stab him.

  Seeing as how even a level 5 Foundation cultivator’s attacks did nothing against him, they came against him with their full might. They questioned how his skin was harder than armor, wondering if they’ll experience that too.

  The overall training wasn’t the same as the Reflections Pagoda, but some of its concepts were there.

  Feng Xueying was another beast entirely. She absorbed everything with relative ease and she comprehended his teachings and stances quickly. Now that she had proper strength, with her core fully mended, she practiced her artes in secret, utilizing the lessons he had taught her.

  They were doing a mock exercise, where the Sable Watchers all joined hands to fight against Diyuan with the goal to simply touch him, when they received news that the Infinite Wealth Auction House had arrived and was waiting outside their closed gates.

  Diyuan was about to lead the way with Manager Fanjian when he sensed something off inside his storage ring.

  “Go without me and handle it,” he instructed to the manager, “I need to continue…healing, I guess. Give them that excuse.”

  Diyuan went to his private chambers, sensing inside his ring to see what had triggered the unusual feeling. It took him a few minutes before he saw what it was: movement.

  The torso-sized egg.

  A small amount of time had passed since he obtained the egg. Or rather, instead of “obtained,” it could be said he created it. Di Guilin was the name he had given to his Avatar Incarnation, something he created inside the Carcass Grotto—by accident, no less. He never intended to make it; it was just something that came about when he was learning about the pure spirit energy threads using limitless Mesmer’s Echo, an arte that was both useless and full of use; after all, not once had Diyuan successfully used the non-limitless version of Mesmer’s Echo, which was supposedly the ability to dodge an attack he knew was coming.

  Diyuan didn’t know what an Avatar Incarnation truly was, he only knew that was the name the Holy Qilin Beast had called it, where the Netherwind Crane was its own Avatar Incarnation. Originally, Di Guilin was a floating bone puppet construct, shaped as a long serpent. It was also ghostly in a sense, where the bones would glow white. As it had continued to eat spirit artifacts, it shaped some horns out of its head, as well as structuring that same head into something more…draconic, in a sense.

  After it had advanced to level 1 Spiritweave, it enclosed itself into a heavy egg the size of his torso. The egg had been dormant and unmoving. But now it shook a little, like the thing inside was soon ready to break free. He felt like it shouldn’t take too long before it fully hatched. Perhaps a couple more days, or maybe just a few weeks.

  When the egg stopped moving, Diyuan got up and started to make his way down the hall towards the front courtyard. He heightened his senses to hear what was happening.

  Carts were being brought into the courtyard. They contained jade tablets of artes, armor and weapons, and other resources. There were also gold and silver coins in chests that were delivered. A lot of these could have been delivered in a storage pouch, but it seemed like the Infinite Wealth Auction House wanted to make a show of it, to reveal to the public that they were making amends.

  Deacon Hu and a level 1 Spiritweave cultivator from the auction house were proceeding over the exchange. They didn’t lord their realm difference at all.

  “Please, accept this as our apology,” Deacon Hu said as he looked around trying to find Diyuan. He subconsciously rubbed at his reattached hand. “While we were eager to protect the city from demonic cultivators, that is no excuse for our actions.”

  They saluted to the Black Brigade’s Foundation realm members and were gracious and polite. A very stark contrast to the auction house’s previous visit.

  The gates were wide open for everyone to see. The commoners talked amongst themselves about how much face the auction house was giving the Black Brigade and they were wondering why. But everyone understood that this was an apology from the previous antics.

  Some miscellaneous items were also part of it all. Those included pills, some of which excited the women, while another had caused Feng Xueying’s eyes to widen. Whatever pill she was looking at, she was most pleased.

  Once the auction house people left, Diyuan walked out and examined the goods on the ground himself. Manager Fanjian approached him.

  “Leader Diyuan,” Manager Fanjian said with a bit of excitement in his voice. “We are now richer than we have ever been since the creation of the Black Brigade. The Infinite Wealth Auction House sent all this as an apology, along with some of the rare Beautification Pills that could only be bought at the Golden Auction every six months.”

  “Beautification Pills?” Diyuan looked at the women who were huddled together and talking with joy with a pill in their hands. Those pills had three lines and were tier two. Pretty decent considering what he’d seen so far in this lower world.

  Manager Fanjian explained to him that these pills helped change some physical features in a way that the cultivator wanted. Changing the structure of the face, such as with the nose, ear, jaw, eye shape, and so on were examples that he gave. But it could also apply a size change to other body parts, such as hips and busts. Typically, these pills would slowly transform any woman into the desired look of a Jade Beauty.

  The pill couldn’t make all these physical beauty changes at once, so multiple pills would be needed if someone wanted to reach perfection. The recipe was unknown to all except the Infinite Wealth Auction House.

  Feng Xueying walked up to them during this conversation. “But the real reason our women are excited is because of this.” She pointed the two scars on her face, one on each cheek. “Those pills can also remove scars as part of the changing process. In some cases, it can even make a barren woman fertile again, regardless of age. They gifted each of us one pill,” she looked at Diyuan, “so you were right about them apologizing.”

  But she didn’t seem pleased about the Beautification Pill for whatever reason. Did he misread her earlier happy reaction? “Will you be taking it?” he asked.

  Feng Xueying shook her head. “I won’t use it. If I take it, I feel like I will doubt the permanence of any future choice I make. For now, I’ll save mine for someone else.”

  Diyuan couldn’t help but nod at the commitment, which made her confused. Her confusion was understandable, because he wasn’t thinking about her scars at that moment. Feng Xueying had firmly stepped on the path that could open the doors to her Dharma great realm. One person’s path may not be appropriate for another, but having conviction was required. Her cultivation wouldn’t be limited.

  “But while I don’t care for that pill, this one does interest me.” Feng Xueying held up a pill in her hand. It was a mid-grade tier two pill. “This is a Spiritweave Consolidation Pill. If I ever get a breakthrough pill, I can consolidate my realm right away by using this. I wonder if we’ll find one at the Golden Auction.”

  Which prompted Manager Fanjian to present a golden ticket. They were also gifted the right to attend the Golden Auction in a few weeks, along with normal access to the markets inside the auction house whenever they wanted. Considering the price of the Beautification Pills, the total value of everything they received was equal to the one hundred thousand spirit stones.

  Diyuan had the recipe to make the tier two Spiritweave breakthrough pills, something that was largely unused in the Tribulation Shroud since it caused great instability, which could take longer to resolve compared to simply preparing the Foundation core for a year. The consolidation pill wasn’t a recipe he knew of.

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  He would have to check his resources to see if he had the resources to make the breakthrough pill for her. If he did have some, he decided he would refine it, but with a delay. He wanted her to get used to her current jump in strength before he presented her with the gift. At the same time, he could use the other two duplicated pills that came out of the Supreme Perfect Pill Refinement to sell during the Golden Auction. Perhaps he should consider how much he wanted to flood the market with his other high-grade pills.

  Those were the types of things he was considering in order to make him look like an appealing prospect. When the Golden Auction came, several higher level cultivators would arrive with it. Whoever had the best chance of helping him create a Spiritweave core would likely get the main benefits on what he had to provide.

  While people continued in their excitement, Manager Fanjian whispered something to Diyuan.

  “One thing to be…watchful for, would be the owner of the Infinite Wealth Auction House,” Manager Fanjian said. “They aren’t neutral in this city because they don’t want to take a side. Rather, they see themselves above mortal concerns. The owner has been known to be petty at times, so when other immortals come during the Golden Auction, if she feels like she loses face towards them because of her actions towards you, she might find a way to humiliate you. Something to remember when you attend the auction.”

  Diyuan nodded in acknowledgement. He wasn’t too concerned about all that.

  Diyuan gave new instructions to the Black Brigade. Their isolation would come to an end, but their selfless healing was also going to end. It was now reserved only for those that belonged to their territory. And it would only be used for important matters, rather than simple cuts.

  As the days passed, new applicant requests to the Black Brigade arrived. It had become a respectable place to be part of once again and it hadn’t taken much time for their reputation to change. Talks about demonic cultivation died down for the moment.

  With the wealth and resources they now had, Diyuan turned them all over to Feng Xueying and Manager Fanjian. They can decide what to do with the Black Brigade.

  After all…

  “My stay was only temporary from the very beginning,” Diyuan said to the two of them privately. “The Black Brigade will be yours when I leave, but I want my etiquette and values to persist. Especially the non-cultivator bits.”

  Feng Xueying wasn’t surprised. Her actions made it clear that she intended to learn what she could from him while he was here.

  But Manager Fanjian was a bit more emotional. He stood taller as he inhaled deeply. He gave a deep salute. “You are our benefactor. We would never want to hinder you and your walls are as wide as the world. Still, if you would permit me a selfish request, I ask you carry us in the corner of your heart during your travels, so that you may remember us wherever you go. Whenever you return, you will not be treated as a guest, but as the master you are.”

  Diyuan then had to remind Manager Fanjian he wasn't leaving just yet, so the emotional goodbyes could wait.

  With more freedom to reign over the wealth, Manager Fanjian decided to assist in some of the local businesses with the brigade’s coins. He believed tribute offerings would increase as the people grew in gratitude and wealth, rather than a forced protection fee. They also understood that providing the option to avoid tributes all together wasn’t really an option. Other factions, like the Niu family, would come and attempt to claim those territory spots.

  Which reminded Manager Fanjian that the Black Brigade was due to offer a tribute to the Niu family. They should expect someone from their family to come collect in the next week or two.

  One day, during the small administrative meetings in the main hall, which usually consisted of just Manager Fanjian, Feng Xueying, and Diyuan, he was informed of a visitation notice.

  Someone named Yao Luchen was planning to visit.

  Diyuan knew that there was a bigger family in the city with the surname Yao. They separated themselves from faction troubles, but rumors stated that they were looking to connect with the Niu family. He had heard the name of Yao Luchen before, but no one talked about him when it came to current events.

  “That’s because he’s known as a waste,” Feng Xueying said. “He was considered a prodigy in the Yao family, but his core shattered completely, crippling him permanently. Yao Luchen is coming because he hopes you can restore his core after hearing that you’ve mended mine.”

  “What is considered a prodigy around these parts?” Diyuan asked. Afterall, they had people in their forties who were still at level 3 Foundation. Not even Yunya was that bad.

  Manager Fanjian answered. “He had reached Perfect Harmony last year, when he was only 16 years old. But once the Niu family gained their Martial Grandmaster, some members of the Yao family plotted against him, since he had a grudge against the Niu family himself. But now at 17 years old, he’s considered trash due to never being able to cultivate again.”

  Diyuan was tapping a finger on the patriarch’s char while his mind translated what level Perfect Harmony was. Level 5 Foundation. So this Yao Luchen had hit level 5 Foundation when he was… “16 years old!?” Diyuan’s finger froze mid-tap. When they had said this Luchen person was a genius, he hadn’t expected that.

  Afterall, Diyuan was considered a genius because he had hit level 5 Foundation at 16 years old, when most cultivators with resources would be around 20 years old. But that was inside the Tribulation Shroud.

  “How is that possible in this spiritless air?” Diyuan asked.

  Feng Xueying raised a brow, not fully understanding his comment. “How he managed it is what he wants to trade with you for the restoration of his core. Yao Luchen showed me what it was, when he wanted to trade my core mending recipe for it, but I couldn’t in good faith make the trade since I already knew it wouldn’t work for him. My recipe mends cracks, not shattered cores.”

  He continued to sit and thought for a moment. Feng Xueying wouldn’t divulge further what this tangible item was that had helped Yao Luchen cultivate faster than his peers. She said it was due to its unsuspecting nature. While Diyuan was curious, he didn’t know for certain he could actually heal a shattered core.

  His own Foundation core shattered years ago, inside the Craigshatter Upheaval domain, summoned forth by Gu Guoxiong. There was no lower world medicine that could bring back a shattered core. However, his restoration came about due to Ancestor Tianxuan giving him the Limitless Elixir, an upper world elixir that had granted several other boons.

  His limitless Benediction Balm was able to mend cracked cores, as he had healed himself of his core when he first stepped outside the Shroud. Could it repair a shattered core? Perhaps Benediction Balm now had properties of the Limitless Elixir since his own core was transformed from it. Or maybe, the full power of the Benediction Balm could always restore shattered cores, but using the full power of the Yuhan’s healing arte on someone else wasn’t possible, and using it on oneself wouldn’t be possible since an intact core was needed in the first place.

  All this thinking didn’t matter; he simply would need to try.

  “Since he was kind enough to send a visitation notice, let’s prepare for his visit,” Diyuan said.

  A small conversation buzz followed when news reached the training grounds. People started to get excited, wondering if a restored Yao Luchen would be part of their ranks. Their enthusiasm was strange over someone so young, so Diyuan asked his officers to give him more information.

  The short history lesson of the Yao family reminded Diyuan of the conflict between his Zhengyi clan and the Gu clan.

  The Yao family was big enough to rival the Niu family back in the day. Two upcoming future patriarchs of each family had been friends, where the Yao family’s prodigy was Yao Luchen’s father, known as the Phantom Sword. When the Virtuous Wind Sect came to recruit the Phantom Sword, jealousy spurred the Niu family into action. The Phantom Sword agreed to a match with his friend to determine which of the two would go to the sect. The match ended in disaster, with the Phantom Sword dying.

  Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible, as the Phantom Sword outclassed the Niu family’s heir. Foul play was presumed, but it didn’t matter. The Niu heir entered the sect and eventually became an immortal by reaching the Spiritweave realm.

  With Yao Luchen’s swift progress and cultivation, everyone assumed he would take the mantle of the Phantom Sword and become the patriarch in the future. That didn’t last long as he then had his Foundation core shattered. That was a more recent event, as the current Yao patriarch came up with some excuse about how Yao Luchen would invite disaster to the Yao family after learning about the Niu family’s new level 7 Foundation cultivator.

  “So this grand-uncle, the current Yao patriarch, he was the one who poisoned the Phantom Sword’s spiritual essence, preventing him from being able to properly use artes,” Diyuan concluded.

  “Huh?” Feng Xueying blinked in confusion. “Everyone assumes it was the Niu family who did it. I don’t think anyone thought it was the Yao family…?”

  Diyuan shrugged. “A prodigy of the family gets killed but only the son wants revenge? This grand-uncle may have worked with the Niu family, but I’m willing to gambit that he was at the forefront of it all.”

  Yao Luchen crippled from his grand-uncle—the very same person who should be in charge of the vengeance against the Niu family. But that uncle was now the patriarch and seemed to want to be on good terms with the Niu family, so it didn’t take a genius to piece things together.

  Diyuan wondered if such a selfish split of unity would one day happen to the Zhengyi clan.

  Yao Luchen ended up arriving two days later. It was only Diyuan and Feng Xueying who awaited him as the new recruits were being organized elsewhere by Manager Fanjian. They would need new officers before long.

  Yao Luchen was a 17-year-old young man. He had a sword on his back and his hair tied up, bound with an ornament. He was elegant, but had a fierce preparedness to him. Diyuan had learned that despite being considered trash in his Yao family, he still lived with them in a side house, where his peers continued to torment him for whatever glee they found. Yao Luchen didn’t always lose, as he kept his martial skills up, hoping to one day restore his core. He was apparently a sword fanatic as well, collecting the swords of his defeated foes and blaming his opponents for not using them to its fullest capabilities.

  It was strange looking at him. Diyuan saw himself in this person, who was about three or so years younger.

  Yao Luchen saluted and bowed. “Lord Yuhan Diyuan, I have heard of your miracle healings and how even the Infinite Wealth Auction House must pay respect to you. If you are willing to show me mercy, I would consider it a life debt and would be eternally grateful.”

  “I won’t waste any time,” Diyuan said. “Whether or not I can heal a shattered core is not something I know for certain, at least not until we give it a try. Sit in a lotus position, I will see if I can do anything.”

  Yao Luchen did as he was told. Diyuan sat behind him and poured in some of his spiritual power. It would dissipate the second it entered, which was evidence of the shattered core. Next up, Diyuan used limitless Benediction Balm. Yao Luchen straightened his back further as he felt something. But that was not evidence that it was working; only that he was feeling the healing in general.

  Diyuan continued to heal Yao Luchen when his limitless Benediction Balm broke. It entered into a three-day exhaustion period, rendering the limitless arte unusable. The same thing had happened when Diyuan healed his own cracked core.

  Once more he poured his spirit energy into Yao Luchen. But this time, it didn’t vanish instantly. It lasted for maybe three seconds before the energy dissipated. During those three seconds, Diyuan saw what had appeared to be the bottom part of a newly formed cracked sphere, recently put together.

  “Do you sense it?” Diyuan asked.

  Eyes closed, Yao Luchen took a deep breath. “Like a whisk of fire that dies instantly. Before I couldn’t even sense anything. I don’t understand, what happened? Is it better?”

  Diyuan stood and smiled. “It’s only the first session, but I managed to piece together some parts. My spirit energy lasted for three seconds now, instead of nothing before we started.”

  Yao Luchen spun on the ground, his head turning so fast it looked like it could have snapped. “Really!? You’re able to restore it?”

  “We’ll see, but its promising.”

  “Ha!” He jumped up, pumping his fist into the air. He collected himself and saluted. “I’ll do whatever it is you want. Please tell me what you desire. I could even join the Black Brigade…though, I’m sure you’ve heard how I’m not fond of the Niu family.”

  “First things first, let’s see what made you a genius in the eyes of others,” Diyuan said.

  Yao Luchen complied, fully trusting him, and reached into his storage pouch attached to his hip. He pulled out a parchment paper that was rolled up. He unfurled it and handed it over to Diyuan.

  “That is the Sword Saint’s signature,” Yao Luchen said.

  Diyuan raised a brow and looked at the writing on the parchment. It had symbols that represented the word Sword. He looked from it to Yao Luchen. “An…autograph?”

  Yao Luchen laughed. “Look deeper into it. Most people don’t feel anything, but some people can. Feng Xueying was able to.”

  Diyuan looked over to Feng Xueying, who had been standing guard. She nodded and looked at her thumb for some reason.

  He looked back at the parchment and the symbols that represented Sword. It reminded him of a talisman in a sense, which used similar symbols, though this parchment was far bigger and the symbols were larger.

  As he kept looking, he sensed something tug at him, like it was drawing him in. The surrounding world darkened, as if to allow him to focus on this parchment alone. The symbols started to shake. His vision blurred. It was almost like the symbols were coming out of the parchment.

  Then, a sword cut his thumb. No, the symbol of Sword was what had cut him! His Bonegrit Dreadflesh arte, which was supposed to absorb some of the damage and share it across his body, barely did anything against it. The symbol bypassed his defense.

  Diyuan dropped the parchment paper, looking at his thumb.

  “I figured you could sense it!” Yao Luchen said, picking it up. “The Sword Saint made several of these. Anyone who could sense his Sword Intent meant they had talent when it came to the Intent Realms. The cut you have is the Sword Intent he imbued into this. It’s shallow, like a papercut.”

  Diyuan looked at this thumb again, then at Yao Luchen and Feng Xueying. “I’ve never heard of Sword Intent. It’s supposed to physically cut me?”

  They both nodded.

  “Yeah,” Yao Luchen said. “Sword Intent can do all sorts of crazy things. This signature is the reason why I was able to advance as quickly as I did. Absorbing spiritual energy in this thick energy era became even easier the more I cultivated with that.”

  Diyuan turned his thumb for them to see.

  There was no physical cut like they were expecting.

  Feng Xueying walked in and took a closer look. “Odd. It had cut me. Did your defense block it? But then why did you drop the paper?”

  Yao Luchen frowned. “No, the Sword Saint’s intent cuts through even armor. Trust me, I’ve tried it. I’ve never seen someone…I don’t know, dodge this Sword Intent before. Unless you have foresight, it’s not something you’re supposed to be able to dodge.”

  But Diyuan knew why they were confused. He also knew how he “dodged” the intent. In some other reality, it was like he had been cut, where this strange parchment paper cut through his defenses with ease. But he snapped out of it and dropped the parchment paper before the symbols could actually cut him in the real world, like it had intended to do.

  For the first time since obtaining the arte years ago, the real Mesmer’s Echo had activated.