Lan Xiaohui walks through the streets of Star City with an energetic hop in her step. Distant from her mind are thoughts of running into disciples from her former sect or enemies that she did not even know she had. There is a good possibility she might run into them — the Martial Meeting will be attended by many sects, including the affiliates of the Galaxy Sword Sect, one of which is her former sect.

Lan Xiaohui, today, is difficult to read and understand. There is something different about her.

The sheath her essence produced for me is much like her dress and the flower in her hair: black with red highlights, and gold embroidery. I am still not sure how essence can produce matter like this but I don’t feel the immediate need to question it. Intuitively, I understand that it cannot exist far from its owner or without a constant input of Qi and Essence; it truly is a part of the entity that produced it.

Whether the sheath has the intended effect is difficult to tell as heads still turn to regard Lan Xiaohui as she passes by people — though it is uncertain if they’re drawn in by my [Avarice] or Lan Xiaohui’s own curse of beauty.

Only time and results will tell, but even if it turns out to be ineffective, this new method of dual cultivation that we discovered would, without a doubt, have much better results than the method we used previously. Whether that will be enough to allow her to overcome the challenges of a rampant curse or if I will have to find a new owner is currently undecidable.

“This Jadeskin Serpent hide is very well processed,” the woman tells Lan Xiaohui. “I can give you 15,000 silver for it.”

My owner nods. She doesn’t haggle, which I find somewhat peculiar. Either the price matches her intention or she refuses to make the trade. No haggling.

The goods exchange hands and she stuffs the new pouch of silver into my internal storage and then makes her way to the next store.

Most of the morning was spent on this task — trading the materials we have obtained. A majority of them did not fetch a good price — Lan Xiaohui made a total of 20,000 silver selling the materials of the other beasts. The only exception was the spiritual wood and the Jadeskin Serpent, which brought her total amount of silver to 60,000.

She did, however, find several job opportunities.

I don’t understand the economy of Star City well enough yet to make a guess as to why these two are in such high demand, and the others aren’t, though I suspect it is related to rarity. Jadeskin Serpents are tough to kill, so materials are likely rarer. As for spiritual wood I assume it is the same case. In that whole forest, we only came across several trees that had become of a higher grade. When I recall that we were burning them for their thermal output, I almost regret it. Almost.

A part of me does regret that I did not collect the willows or their branches. Even Lady Yue stayed behind because of them, so they must be valuable if someone like her finds it is worth her time.

The tree and snake in my internal system are a different matter — they may be unique existences, at least on this continent — therefore selling their parts, if that were even possible, would carry risk of exposure and unwanted attention.

“Does Star City have a central market or bank?” I ask Lan Xiaohui. Now that she has sold all her materials, I don’t know what she is planning next.

“I am not sure,” she says. “I haven't seen one. Why?"

I assume that means that Star City does not have an organized market or a stock exchange to appeal to my desire to commit ethics violations.

“If there is a central entity with a high volume of trade, we could buy goods when their price drops, and then sell them later when the price increases,” I tell Lan Xiaohui.

“Like investment?”

“Correct.” I feel a glimmer of hope.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’ve never been to this city before. As far as I know, the only investment I am aware of is silver itself.”

Currency investments? I would need the total trade information of the entire continent, hundreds if not thousands of years into the past to benefit from that. Currency is rarely a volatile good, so it likely won’t produce short-term results either.

“It’s fine,” Lan Xiaohui says with a smile. “I can work at that restaurant and process ingredients. They were impressed I could process third rank beasts at my cultivation.”

I don’t think it is that impressive. My array has processed ten times the volume Lan Xiaohui has and at higher quality. Though the option exists to rent my processing capabilities, but it would have to be done discreetly.

The restaurant she is referencing is one of the first places we visited, and they bought some of the organs and bones from the demonic beasts that were processed. When the owner found out that my owner processed the beasts, Lan Xiaohui did not even have to ask for work opportunities but was offered the job on the spot.

Lan Xiaohui chuckles. “If I enter the Galaxy Sword Sect, we won’t have to worry about money,” she says. “We should have enough to last us a while. I am just looking for work to keep myself occupied. Being this close to my goal, I find it… distracting.”

Lan Xiaohui’s steps slow down and become more measured. The atmosphere about her changes. “I try not to think about it, and I know it won’t happen, but I could run into Yu Shun here, on the streets,” she says. “I am a bit scared, I think.”

“You are afraid of Yu Shun?”

She shakes her head. “That’s not it. It is difficult to explain,” she says. “Either I kill him, or he kills me. I don’t know if the result matters, as long as our pasts are severed from each other.”

I somewhat understand her sentiment. As long as she gets to face him, her objective will be complete. Her goal up until now was to kill Yu Shun; in strict terms, that means that her objective is to cross paths with him, as for what happens after, that is up to her ability.

“I would hate it if that is where it all ends for me,” she says and then shrugs. “I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of not being able to become immortal with you. It is silly, isn’t it?”

“It is not.” Not being afraid of death itself, but afraid of consequences that are worse than death itself is a reasonable and enlightened way to view one’s mortality. It is still being afraid of death, but recognizing what about it makes one afraid.

“I can’t even think about running away,” she says, after nodding. “I can’t live in a world where he exists and reminds me of…” — she trails off and shrugs — “but I don’t want to die either.”

I understand.

“You will kill Yu Shun. I will help you,” I encourage her.

She nods and rests her hand on my hilt. “I know.”

After the exchange, she heads into an inn where I get a taste of the purchasing power her silver possesses.

“One room for one week is 10,000 silvers,” the receptionist tells Lan Xiaohui.

My owner frowns at the price. “That is too much.”

The receptionist shrugs. “It’s the time of the Martial Meeting. There are cultivators from all over the continent and everyone wants a room. It is a miracle we have one available. Take it or leave it.”

Lan Xiaohui thinks about it for a moment, then sighs and slides over ten large coins. “I will take it.”

The receptionist smiles triumphantly and nods. “Name?”

“Zhu Xuelian,” she says.

The receptionist slides over a key. “Down the hall on the right. Don’t lose the key.”