After the incident involving the prince with a pinecone up his ass, I finished my meal and got my new robes. They fit perfectly, surprisingly enough. Well, it’s not really that surprising, I did spend half an hour shivering in my underwear getting measured for them, so they’d better have fit well. I changed back to my casual wear, as it was still quite hot, and made some more Spirit Liquid.
Once I had enough for a few weeks, I stopped and made a few batches of the well known and aptly named “Mute or Truth” pill. The only thing that changing the purity of it does is what levels it affects, but for our purposes, even a 35% pill is enough, as that’s enough for a level 35 to be forced to speak the truth or nothing at all. Once I finished with that, I put on my red robes, left my room, and noticed that it was midnight already. Time flies when you’re refining pills, it seems.
“I’ll get some food and go to sleep... I’ve got a long day tomorrow”
“Did I just hear eight words in a row?”
“Gah!”
I jumped, because Master Chen’s voice came from right above my head. Quite literally jumped, like a startled cat. Wait, I am one.
“OW!”
Unfortunately, I jumped right into his chin. That hurt him more than it hurt me, but my head still hurt nonetheless.
“Sorry... but, don’t startle me like that. My poor old heart can’t handle the stress”
“Okay, first off, that’s eight again. However, your heart isn’t that old, you’re only thirteen years old”
“I never said that I was... saying my age in years... you know”
“Oh, piss off with your bullshitting, any other unit of measurement would either mean you’re barely over a year old at most or that you should be dead by now, given your cultivation level”
I turned and walked away wordlessly, got myself a heaping platter of cooked animal carcasses once again, ate it quickly, and returned to my room to sleep. I woke at dawn, maybe four hours after I went to bed, and got dressed for work, in my thin red robes, covered by a set of thin blue robes, black sandals, and black socks going up to mid-calf underneath my loose, floor-length robes.
My long black and white hair was tied back, but still reached to the middle of my torso, and my hands were covered by thin white gloves. Without stopping to eat, I went to the Association’s public sales hall, whereupon I was immediately set to work at the bulk purchase desk by Master Antonius, which was the opposite end of the room from where Geirian was working the special orders section.
“I’d like to purchase 350 Spirit Replenishing pills and 50 Spirit Condensation pills”
“That’s 1750 spirit stones... for the Spirit Replenishing pills... and 1500 for the Spirit Condensation pills... for a total of 3250 spirit stones. Will that be all for today?”
“What? The prices are-”
“I know what the prices are. I have a list right here. It’s 5 per Spirit Replenishing pill... and 30 per Spirit Condensation pill”
“No, it’s 20 per Spirit Condensation pill!”
“The materials alone... cost 65 spirit stones... for a batch of three. That’s a little over... 21 per pill. I’d be selling at a loss... if you stated the correct price. It’s 30 per pill. Pay or leave”
“Grr... I thought-”
“That you could cheat the newbie, right? Too bad. I know pills... like the back of my hand. 3250 spirit stones, please”
“Fine! Take your damn money!”
He threw a spatial bag at me and snatched up the spatial ring containing the pills he’d requested. I quickly checked the contents of the bag in my hand, and stopped him before he could leave.
“There are only about... 1200 spirit stones in this bag. Pay the rest, please”
“I... fuck off!”
He bolted for the door. Why’d I have to have this guy as my first customer ever? I vaulted over the counter, slipped past a few people, and tripped the man before he got halfway to the door. I then grabbed the ring from his hand and turned to go back to my post.
“I’m keeping the bag now. You are banned from entering... the premises of the Association”
I vaulted back over the counter, and helped the next few people in line. None of them tried any funny business, and it stayed that way for several hours. Then, just before my lunch break, a woman spent half an hour trying to convince me to sell her pills for under half price through various means, including by hinting that I might be able to sleep with her, and when that didn’t work, with threats. Eventually, I threw her out of the building, or rather, I had security do so for me. In the time I’d wasted on her, I could have helped ten other people with their purchases, were there that many in line.
After my lunch break, the day continued on uneventfully. Three days passed like that, and it was the start of a new month, the month of Majorsummer, and the hottest month of the year. I mention this because suddenly we had to open two more bulk purchase counters, because all of the large families and sects were replenishing their pill supplies at the same time, even the imperial castle was doing so. Oh, guess what? I had an incident pop up. A major one.
“Sorry, but I do not wish... to serve you. I wish for you to leave”
“Do you know who I am? I am-”
“I know exactly who you are. That is why I wish... not to serve you”
“What’s going on here?”
Of course, my refusing to serve someone caught the attention of the manager on duty.
“Oh, Master Adon, I see. I apologize for this brat, he’s new and inexperienced. I’ll reprimand him later, probably booting him down in rank. Come, allow me to handle your purchases”
Yes, it was the groundskeeper, Adon. The one who’s killed me twice.
“New, yes. Inexperienced, no. Brat, also no. And you can’t boot me down in rank... I outrank you. Furthermore, I don’t wish to have anyone sell... to someone who has tried to kill me... multiple times”
“I’ve never met you, brat”
“You have. Here, these pills? They force someone to tell the truth... or to say nothing at all”
I held up a bottle of the “Mute or Truth” pills. I consumed one myself, and then proceeded to reiterate my claim that he’d tried to kill me on multiple occasions.
“Brat, that-”
“You have stabbed me on two separate occasions... and kicked me plenty more than that. You try to do the same... to others who were like me... those with no fixed place to live... who live off of whatever food scraps... we can beg from others... and the rats and birds we catch... on our good days. You’ve succeded... in killing several others... that I know of. I will not sell to you, and I hope... no other alchemist will do so either!”
“You lie! I’ve never tried to kill a person-”
“You never saw us as people. You saw us as mindless beasts... no doubt. And who remembers kicking a beast... out of the way?”
His face turned red as I interrupted him again and again. At the same time, the crowd began to pull away from him like he had the plague, leaving him alone on one side of the counter, me getting glared at by Geirian on the other side.
“Please, tell the emperor to send somebody else. You are not welcome here... at least, not so long as... I work here. Perhaps longer”
“Well then, you no longer work here. Go back to being a lowly Pill Apprentice, you lying brat”
“Very well. I no longer work here. I guess I have to take off... the blue over robe then?”
As I spoke, I pulled the blue robe off, to reveal a red one underneath. Geirian’s face paled momentarily, but he smoothed his expression over quickly.
“I’ll be sure to mention this... to my friend and neighbor... two doors down. The name’s Tama, by the way. Rank 3, first tier Pill Master. Oh, I’ll take away the items that... I’m letting the Association sell... based off of my formulae. That’s the Jade Spirit pills... the improved Spirit Harmony pills... and the simplified Spendthrift’s Fast pills. And several others. After all, I’m not welcome, so why... should my wares be welcome either?”
I left, taking all of the remaining pills of those types with me, and went to find Master Antonius. Thankfully, he was giving a lesson to one of his disciples, and could interrupt it to listen to me. When he did, he was livid. He stormed out to the sales hall, grabbed Geirian by the collar, and pulled him into a back room as I followed. Geirian was struggling and trying to escape, but Master Antonius was having none of that, and so slapped him across the face three times.
“Hey. Guess what? You are a blundering idiot. You pissed off and fired a Pill Master, and not just any Pill Master. You pissed off my friend, who is also the one who has made the most contribution to the Association anyone has, in several CENTURIES! You know where those Jade Spirit pills came from? HIM! Why do we suddenly have way more Spirit Harmony and Spendthrift’s Fast pills? HIS FORMULAE! Same for over a dozen other formulae. HE MADE THEM. You know how you made over a hundred thousand spirit stones by selling Jade Spirit pills? He made more than that off of your sales! And now. NOW. What would you do if he wanted us to completely and permanently stop selling Jade Spirit pills because YOU pissed him off? HUH? You’d probably have to pay all of that back, and then some, and then you’d get kicked out of the Association! You’d be RUINED! Give me one good reason - JUST ONE - as to why I shouldn’t kick you out of the sales hall for good right now!”
“Because I’m in the middle of a several hundred million spirit stone sale-”
“With someone who’s been blacklisted by a Pill Master! Firing that Pill Master doesn’t change that! Dealing with him is cause for a suspension in and of itself! You’re GONE!”
Geirian was obviously panicking, his arms moving restlessly as he stammered out something to the effect of “It’s not my fault, blame the brat who blacklisted him for no reason”
“NO REASON?! Attempted murder of a Pill Master evidently is not a reason, according to you. What is? Failing to kiss your ass? And who’re you calling a brat?!”
The tongue-lashing continued for several more minutes, and then Master Antonius went out with me (leaving the pinecone prince crying in the corner) to inform Adon that the sale was canceled, and that he was blacklisted for life. He offered to cancel my firing, but I refused, saying that I’d quit if that happened. After all, Prince Geirian was still not permanently out of a job, because he didn’t quite reach the realm of a fireable offense. A pity.
The next morning, while I was returning my pills to their previous locations in the store, someone in gaudy robes showed up at the Association, demanding to speak with a representative. He wanted to know why Adon had returned to the imperial palace empty-handed and blacklisted. When he heard Master Antonius’s curt response of “Attempted murder of a Pill Master” he blanched, evidently not having heard anything about it beforehand, and then when he asked which honored figure he’d tried to kill, I raised my hand and said “Twice”.
“This child is a... yes, I can see that he is a Pill Master, but...”
“But he’s more than an ordinary Pill Master. He... no, you don’t need to know that”
“By my authority as the third prince, I-”
“Third prince or emperor, it wouldn’t make a damned difference. On the grounds of the Alchemist Association, all outsiders are equal to one another, and the only difference is rank as an alchemist”
“I... fine. Can I complete the purchase of the pills that the imperial palace needs?”
“You may. If the order hasn’t changed, it’s 764 million spirit stones. Payment due up front”
He blinked, checked his spatial ring, then sighed.
“I don’t have that much on my person at the moment. I have about 114 million right now, can I give you those as an initial payment and give you the remaining 650 million later?”
“Payment in full... due up front”
“Fine. I’ll be back shortly. In the meantime, prepare a spatial ring with the requested pills”
I was tempted to remind him to mind his manners and be more respectful, but decided to give him some face, as most of it had been wrecked by the pinecone prince and Adon. He left, and Antonius turned to face me.
“Now, how about you explain to me what happened to make you hate Adon that much, or rather, how he came to dislike you enough to try to kill you twice”
“I have no clue. He must have an allergy... to homeless or something. I’ve seen him... successfully kill a few others like me... and kick plenty of others out of his way... in fact, going out of his way... to do so. And it wasn’t just twice that he tried and failed. He successfully stabbed me on two separate occasions... but he tried to kill me... more times than just those two. A lot more.”
“Ouch. How many times... no, you’re still here, obviously you didn’t die. How’d you survive getting stabbed like that? You were poor enough that I’d doubt you could afford a healer, so what gives?”
Shit. He had to ask that while I was still under the effects of my Mute or Truth pill. How can I explain it...
“I... from my master... got a life-saving treasure... that lets me heal from almost anything... hurts like hell... and is a part of my body now. It can’t be replicated or removed... and has drawbacks. It reduces my cultivation speed a lot. On the plus side... it’s hard, if not impossible, to annihilate me... and it allows me to solidify my foundation a lot. To the point that... one puddle had the strength... of ten. Eventually... I had 10 puddles that each were... as strong as a pond, if not stronger. Then, when I managed to fuse them into one pond... I still had lots of energy left over. I used that energy to... expand my spirit realm, strengthen my meridians, and... to open up some of my pores. In other words, that energy was used to get a headstart on the changes... that most people experience in the 30s, 40s, and 70s. Hence why I’m able to use more spirit when refining pills... and why I have such good control of it. And why I don’t need as much time to recover it”
He looked surprised, then he remembered something and sank into contemplation, murmuring as he thought.
“Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about the benefits of cultivation on your body. Below level 10, the Foundation Establishment, it’s negligible, mostly just removing impurities from your entire body. Between 11 and 20, in other words, in tier 2, it’s Tendon Transformation, increasing your strength significantly. 21 to 30, tier 3, you’re in Skeletal Surge, increasing your body’s durability drastically, then tier 4, levels 31 to 40 is Meridian Mastery, where you open any closed meridians, or spirit veins as some call them, and strengthen them, allowing for greater output of spiritual strength, and letting your body be passively strengthened by spirit, allowing for even greater strength and speed”
That fits with what I know already... and that’s why I didn’t focus on either my tendons or bones, as the former would be easy enough to work on while I was stuck in Tendon Transformation, and the latter doesn’t matter to me, as I’m immortal, so why would I care about being able to survive more hits? I’d much rather be able to produce, store, and control more spirit in the early stages than increase capabilities that I could work on in said early stages.
“41 to 50 brings us to what is colloquially known as Aperture Aggravation, although it’s really Aperture Advancement. The more pores you can open, the faster you can absorb spirit from your surroundings to replenish your own, as well as the greater your control over your spirit becomes. Beyond that is the realm of the Celestials, the ones we know little to nothing about. Actually, you said your master was level 80? Did he say what comes after level 50, in terms of bodily transformations?”
“Uh... 51 to 60... I don’t know the name, but... it focuses on your senses. Your sight, hearing, and so on... will all improve dramatically, as well as your thinking... and reaction speeds. Something to do with nerves... anyways, 61 to 70 is Core Condensation... wherein you condense your soul core. As soon as you reach level 61... you create a core, with a number of cracks... depending on how solid your cultivation base is... the more solid, the fewer cracks”
“What do the cracks do? I assume that they’re bad, but what specifically does it impact?”
“As soon as that happens, you can’t avoid progressing rapidly... as the core converts part of the spirit you produce... into large quantities of spirit drops automatically... which then leak through the cracks and grow your spirit waves without limits... and it will do so until you can fix all the cracks in it. If you don’t fix it completely before you reach level 70... your core will shatter, and you’d be forever stuck there”
He winced, and I continued giving him information he’d likely never need, relishing the feeling of being able to speak with far less frequent pauses due to the pill loosening my tongue.
“From 71 to 80, your core forms the center of your spirit realm... allowing you to easily expand its limits further in a process known as Realm Reforging... hence the name of the 8th tier. That allows you to dramatically increase the size of your new maelstroms... beyond the limits imposed on the seas and the waves. The maelstroms also serve to suck in the spirit from your surroundings... like your pores do, but much more efficiently and effectively. However...”
I choked up a bit, but continued on even as tears ran down my face. After all, the tears wouldn’t stop until I got out the words that were stuck in my throat, so I might as well say it all.
“However, bigger is not always better, as my master found out. The larger your maelstroms, the harder it is to condense them into a storm. He made his far too large, and then his spirit companion couldn’t... condense them into a storm, before he died of old age. From 81 to 90, my master found this out by consulting ancient texts, but... it doesn’t affect your body at all, besides removing all natural limitations on your lifespan. Instead, your storms have to be formed alongside experiences of life and death”
It’s not quite accurate, but it’s close enough. The two are mostly independent, but it gets easier to do one the more you’ve worked on the other. Therefore, most people try to do both concurrently.
“You need to comprehend the circle of life and death, the cycle of samsara, and find a way... to remove yourself from it, and find or make one of your own to follow. Once you do, the final step is Samsara Severing... or Moksha, as the easterners call it. Once you do, you’ve broken through to level 91, the Immortal 10th tier. Once you’ve reached that level, you can only die if you are intentionally killed by others... who are equal or higher than you in the 10th tier. Reach the peak of that tier, level 100, and you can’t be killed... except by those who’re also at level 100. I mean, you can be killed by others... in theory, but you wouldn’t stay dead. You’d be brought back by your own cycle of life and death, and that... can only be broken by those wielding the power of a stronger cycle”
I stopped when I noticed my audience seemed to be entirely lost in thought, not paying attention to anything at all. After a few minutes, he woke up from his contemplation, and saw me staring intently at him, a trace of irritation barely detectable on my face.
“Huh? What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m wondering when you stopped listening, what I need to say again. And also I'm somewhat curious about... what exactly it was you were thinking about. What revelation clicked into place in your mind”
He scratched his head sheepishly, but quickly spoke when my gaze sharpened.
“I heard up until you said that those who are level 100 can’t be killed by anyone who isn’t level 100 as well, as well as the bit about stronger cycles and those who wield them. As for what I was contemplating, it was how one would go about comprehending and experiencing life and death. It’s not like you can kill yourself and be reborn over and over again to understand what death and life are, right? Your memories would be wiped each time, and so would gain nothing from that, right?”
“Not unless you were willing to burn through countless priceless artifacts and pills... that allow you to experience death without actually dying for good, but even that... generally wouldn’t be enough, as you’d also have to comprehend life to an astounding degree. That’s accomplished by nurturing life, be it through raising crops or fields of herbs... or through watching over countless generations of animals raised for slaughter and consumption... or by being a parental figure to hundreds, if not thousands of children from the day they’re born”
The more you comprehend life, the harder it is to internalize the intricate ways in which death pervades all existences, and the opposite is true as well, the more familiar you are with death, the harder it is to find the trace of a new life born from the end of another.
“Watching over all stages of life time and time again is needed... to form an insight into the life portion of samsara. And even comprehending both life and death isn’t enough... you have to realize and actually know, the sort of knowing... that’s also something you feel within your soul... that where there’s life, there’s death... and where there’s death, there’s life. That’s how you understand samsara”
“So, that’s all that you need to become immortal? That’s... okay, that’s actually a lot... who’d have the patience to do all of that?”
He looked intimidated by the prospect of spending hundreds of years, if not a few thousand, on simply watching and actively participating in the cycle of life and death. I hated to do it, but I had to break the truth to him.
“No, that’s only half of what’s needed to Sever Samsara. The other half is a unique method of existing outside of samsara... be it your own cycle of life and death, or a way to outright avoid death itself. Or perhaps a method to be both dead and alive, as dead things can’t die... and living things can’t be reborn as a new existence. Regardless of the form that it takes, it has to be unique to you, to an extent. If someone has used that method before, it can’t be used again... until that person has been slain, completely erased from existence. Only then can such a method be used to sever samsara by someone else”
“What about Phoenixes? They’re immortal, and they all have the same method, right?”
He raises a good point, but even so, it’s a point everyone would raise if given some time to think about it.
“Phoenixes are the only known exception to this rule... as the first one somehow created an entire system of reincarnation for their species... a system wherein they are reborn from their own ashes, as a new lifeform... but with the memories of their past life. Because they’ve managed to create a system, somehow... they can create new souls within it, allowing for their descendants to be immortal as well. As that system is separate from samsara... if one could figure out a way to move your soul over to their system, you could, in fact... sever samsara that way, or you could just make a new cycle mimicking theirs... one that’s not a new system but is only for yourself”
“That’s not too hard for an alchemist who creates new things from the old by means of manipulating flames”
“Yes, however, there’s probably someone out there in the nine realms... who is using that method already, so don’t try to go for that... if you do somehow make it to level 90. Come up with something that likely nobody has thought of before... or use a method from someone you are sure truly died recently. Then again, don’t think about it now. You’re a long way off from needing to consider it”
I paused, then inserted a portion into my near-monologue that I hadn’t planned to add.
“Of course, if you find a method you think would work for you, you could always work towards it earlier. There’s nothing stopping you from preparing. It’s just that the majority of methods to remove yourself all require you to have enough spirit... to influence the laws of the 9 major realms. The only ones I can think of that can be done before you’re at, or at least nearing, the threshold of the tenth tier... are joining the phoenix clan’s system, or utilizing the alchemical path”
His face brightened when I uttered the last few words, so I quickly shot him down, lest he spend years, if not decades, trying to make the immortal salve.
“Sorry, I know what you’re thinking, but that path is in use... and won’t be freed up for a while, I think. Probably not until long after you are dead. My Master actually managed to create the immortal salve... a bit over a thousand years ago, but... someone consumed it before he could. Assuming that person hasn’t pissed off... any true immortals, he should still be alive... and thus preventing anyone else from creating more of the immortal salve. I know the formula, but there’s no point... in either of us knowing it. I won’t ever make use of it... or any other method of severing samsara... while you likely also never will, and if you do... the one who used the immortal salve... will almost certainly still be alive”
At almost exactly the same moment I stopped speaking, I felt the effects of the pill fade entirely.
“Oh... well, do you know of any other paths, as points of reference?”
“Several. But... it wouldn’t do you much good... to continue thinking about this”
He noticed how I shut him down, so he quickly changed the subject, asking why Master taught me all this.
“Simply put, Master thought... that it might help me... to figure out a way... to cultivate past level 10”
“Oh yeah, h-”
“Don’t ask, I won’t answer”
Another shutdown, but I felt like the spread of that information would attract unwanted attention, perhaps even from an immortal looking to prevent the birth of an immortal with a Void Spirit Realm, even if it meant razing an entire country leaving no survivors. Leon did say such things had happened before, after all.
“What will you do now, since you’re not going to be working the sales department anymore?”
“Well... continue what I’d done before... probably. Refine pills, cultivate, improve formulae”
“Only you would put the third on the same level as the other two. Do you know how hard it is for the rest of us to improve a single formula? It takes dozens of people working ceaselessly for years at a time to make a slight improvement. Then, you breeze in, change it drastically, and offhandedly produce a formula that gives a better result using fewer materials, as well as requiring less time, effort, and luck”
“I’m benefiting from a prehistoric legacy. Master survived the Dusk of Ages, so...”
Oh how glad I was that the pill’s effects were gone, otherwise I might’ve let it slip that I too had lived through the latter part of the Dusk of Ages.
“I’ll ask about that later. First, you should be aware that there’s a large group of Pill Masters and even Grandmasters who hate your guts for making their hard work obsolete, and yet have no choice but to suck it up and begrudgingly let you do as you please, for the benefit of the Association. Do you know what they’re doing now? Trying to figure out what the theories behind your formulae are, so they can do the same thing as you to other formulae”
I snorted, eliciting a surprised chuckle from Antonius.
“A foolish endeavor, I’d think. I have the knowledge of over a millennium... of constant trial and error... as the basis for my innovations”
“I mean, they’ve figured out how a few of them work, but just because you can understand the workings of something doesn’t mean you can apply that understanding elsewhere. Oh, that’s right. If you could... wait, that’d be a LOT of talking... I was going to suggest that you share some of your insights with them, which would count massively towards your quota, but it’d be harder for you than just working through that quota yourself, and wouldn’t provide any other benefits to you, I think”
Just then, the third prince came back, handed over a spatial ring with the correct quantity of spirit stones inside, and received the ring containing the pills in exchange. Before he left, however, he chose to talk with Master Antonius a bit.
“Oh, that’s right... I don’t see my little brother working here. How’s he doing?”
“He’s been suspended for trying to deal with someone who had already been blacklisted. You can guess who, right? Anyways, he’ll be back to work in a month or two”
“What will he be doing in the meantime? If he’s not put to some task, he’s going to just spend his time stirring up trouble, if you recall”
“He’ll probably work in the mess hall, serving food and cleaning up, I guess. It’s a task often given to those who’ve broken the rules, and it’s engaging enough that he’ll not stir up much trouble, while being simple enough that he won’t be able to screw up much at all”
“Sounds like a good way to handle him and his antics. Again, I appreciate the Association being willing to take care of him, because it’s the one place he could be that wouldn’t let him throw his weight around and also wouldn’t be too hard for him to stay in”
With those as his parting words, he left, and I finished putting my pills back soon after, thus, I had no reason not to go back to my room and cultivate.
