After looking at each other, Master Ming quickly opens his mouth to explain the Senior level contract.

“The focus for this contract was protection, training, and secrecy.

“The protection aspect will be focused on any threats from core formation experts and above. Your ability will catch quite a bit of unwanted attention… and already has. With our power back and the networks that we’ll have access to, we will constrain most unsavory movements. Though we have our work cut out for us. Not only that, but we will need to make sure elements that critically shouldn’t be involved won’t be.”

I give a glance at the others to see their thoughts, revealing grim faces all around.

I’d be a fool not to understand the ramifications of my ability.

Instantly refilling qi. Able to easily restore broken cultivation bases. Healing fatal and long-lasting injuries with a wave of the hand.

In this cultivation world, while there are many cultivators who have had their cultivations unjustly broken, there are that many more ones that truly deserve not to have that level of power again.

The only issue with this is that they’ll be deciding who deserves it or not.

…

… I don’t know these elders. These seem nice, but who wouldn’t after seeing and receiving such things from me?

Except for Sister Nuan, I don’t trust them fully. And the only reason I trust Sister Nuan is because I get a strong feeling that she actually cares about me as a person, rather than a resource. Adding to that, I’m her only disciple, which has some far-reaching implications I’m still grasping.

So, everything is predicated on who is the ones that can allow people into the contract. Obviously, me. But who else?

It’s almost as if they can read my mind, as the next words from Master Ming’s mouth ease my growing tension.

“No need to worry, Disciple James. Only you and your Master will have the ability to add others to the contract. We will have suggestions and introduce others, but you two will have to approve them to be added.

“To be specific, she can add people into the contract, but you will have the ability to veto it within a few days. Depending on what they learned during that time, the person may have their memory of secret things wiped. Their cultivation won’t be touched, though.”

He adds in a brief note, as if as an afterthought.

“Regarding people under that level, we believe it would constrain your potential to take care of threats at that level. Not only that, but we wouldn’t have the time to do so, with the sheer amount to handle at the levels above.”

Understandable. I also wouldn’t want them hovering around all the time. There are still some secrets I’d like to keep away from their curious eyes.

Elder Li, the defensive techniques master, speaks up next.

“Regarding the training aspect, you can expect regular training from anyone who accepts the contract. The only requirement is that you have to ask for it and have it done reasonably. Your Master will moderate the reasonable aspect. We mean no disrespect, but most elders will know her and her judgement more than yours, giving you a better chance of bringing an elder on.”

He can see my train of thought on this and quickly expounds on his words.

“You should consider one large thing with this clause. You can ask them to train you on anything that they know. Regularly.

“This includes their secret techniques, if you know of them. For some elders, they will teach you such things to pass them on, even if you didn’t know of them.”

He takes this chance to push out his chest.

“Of course, I’m one of them.”

“No one wants to learn your shitty techniques, Li.”

Senior Tian’s voice floats over with a quip. Elder Li gives him a scowl before continuing.

“Nonetheless, we believe this is fair in terms of what both you and the seniors in question will be receiving.”

Ah, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? They still haven’t said what the Senior contracts will be getting from me.

Despite the obvious question in the air, they move on, with Senior Tian speaking next.

“And as could be expected, any senior signing onto the contract will follow the same rules as for the other contract. And with similar penalties.

“… except these penalties will have a bit more of a kick than most would.”

His demeanor shifts slightly, as I can feel a rush of excitement from him.

“Besides the death, memory, and cultivation dispersal, I’ve had it deal more than a little damage to the cultivator soul. More than I think anyone at my level has done before. While it won’t cripple a nascent soul state, it will buy more time to make moves against such a soul.

“And my crowning achievement is this, with both of the contracts. You can contract as many as you want with this. Built into the contract, is a need to infuse a certain amount of qi into it for every person who joins, some of which will go to you. Nothing permanent, just the same way that a qi sharing stance would do. But with your ability and Little Song here, you can fulfill that qi requirement for seniors as much and as often as you want.”

He seems to calm down after speaking all of this pretty quickly.

“Ah… right. You may not know, but the normal way to have contracts is to have a certain number of allowed contractees or to have the contract be done all at once, with anyone participating part of that one event.”

Right. The demi human contract was like the last type, where everyone had to be there at once. Otherwise, it would have been so much easier to just add people over time.

… with this guy here, maybe I can have more like it.

Or even better, learn how to do it myself.

It seems like he can tell my train of thought, as he gives me that strange crazed grin.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to make contracts again, so with this, if you want to know anything, ask me anytime.

“Hehe, it’ll be quite fun seeing those geezers faces. And this time, I won’t be caught in the same way.”  

His disturbing mutterings, with some slight giggles, bothers me. So, I look at Sister Nuan instead.

She’s shaking her head.

… Revenge fantasies are something, huh?

I really hope I never fall into something like that.

…

…

Why did that feel like a flag?

Ah well.

 

But things quickly fall silent.

There’s one last thing to talk about.

What I need to do for them.

Sister Nuan is the one that says this part.

“In exchange for those benefits, when convenient, you will need to heal the contractees to the best of your ability. To the same or greater extent that you had done for us.”

…

She doesn’t say anything else.

…

… Is that it?

Ah, right.

I forgot the state of healing techniques in this land.

That there are many alchemists, but few true healing technique cultivators.

Alchemy is the one size fits most solution. While taking a lot of skill and dedication, you don’t have to focus your fully focus your cultivation on it to receive the benefits of the craft. If you are skilled enough, you can treat even the toughest conditions with enough time, resources, and knowledge. So, many cultivators will opt for alchemy to pursue something else in cultivation.

But there are situations where that isn’t enough. Where time, resources, and possibly knowledge aren’t enough. Not only that, but there may not be another solution, other than to dig deep into a person’s body to fix them.

That’s where a healing cultivator comes in.

To put it simply, it is like the difference in my world between a physician and a surgeon.

A physician tries to encourage the body to heal itself, while surgeons act directly on the body to fix things. If the situation is favorable and you have time to treat a condition, a physician can take care of most of your needs. But, in the most critical, urgent ones… you need a surgeon.

All surgeons are physicians, while not all physicians are surgeons.

Successful healing cultivators have to have a wide and deep knowledge base, encompassing alchemy as well. Built into many of the techniques are ways to interact with the body in different ways, depending on the situation. Knowing the different healing items and additional ways to induce healing is extremely helpful in lightening the load on their cultivation techniques. This doesn’t even include the poison aspect of alchemy and how to combat it.

But the breadth and depth of the healing cultivation field is too deep for most people. One wrong move with your technique and you cause irreparable damage.

So, it is a realm left to the masters and experts in the field.

A critical and respected one, but one that is not taken lightly.

The only reason that groups like the Yellow Sashes and other people allowed me to heal them, with my obvious ‘young’ age, is that I was working on those who were almost lost, anyway. And had made a name for myself as an alchemist, who already proved my knowledge of the body.

With that said, even being healed like this once is a debt that can’t be pushed away easily.

And having casual access to a healer that’s been shown to pull off impossible procedures like this? It would definitely be worth its weight in spirit stones.

Either way, her words stand on its own. All the seniors here believe that this is a reasonable trade.

I find it strange that they didn’t mention that I have to keep their secrets… but I won’t say anything about that.

 

As I think this, everyone looks towards the Senior contract.

They’re ready to start.

And almost as if they coordinated it, they reach towards it together.

It shines stereotypically in response to their actions. I follow their lead and do the same, and I have a similar feeling to when I signed the contract with the demi humans. A vibration and a feeling of something slotting into place within myself and others.

A connection.

 

And then it’s done.

I can clearly feel that Sister Nuan and I are in control of things, and if necessary, could release them from the contract.

Someone lets a breath out.

As I turn towards the sound, I can see it's Elder Li.

Ah, right, I need to heal them as well.

This shouldn’t take long. And then it will be off to grab my new soon to be ‘contractees’.