The kitchen staff carry the entire cutting table into a separate room that does not look like it has been used in years. Though the staff has cleaned it regularly, it lacks the smell of processed beasts. Though, for me to judge something based in a sense I do not possess in a literal meaning seems a bit odd, but I am certain that my analysis is correct.

Hu Yan doesn’t bother explaining why this room exists and neither does Lan Xiaohui require an explanation. It is clear to even me, lacking in cultural context as I am, that processing beasts of this rank is something quite prestigious.

The beast Lan Xiaohui has to disassemble is of sufficiently high rank that someone like her could not kill it, as she is now, if it were alive. Therefore, the methods necessary to process a monster of such origin is something that would fall under the category of Trade Secret.

Lan Xiaohui’s Trade Secret is the Dao of Sword; she is by no means a professional refiner and unless she plans on stuffing the corpse of the Wyvern into my internal storage and allow my processes to refine it for her — likely over the course of a whole month — her only skill is her only Trade Secret: To cut it apart with her sword Qi.

And once everyone leaves the room, that is exactly what Lan Xiaohui does. Wielding just a butchering knife, she layers her sword Qi along the edge and dives the point of the knife into the beast’s belly and begins ripping apart its scales.

Those same scales capture the light in such a way that they resemble stars. This magnificent creature’s Physique is so immensely profound that even dead it exudes an air of pride and superiority, as if it was a mirror to expose my own inferiority. Not only do I find my sentient core in envy of the creature’s cultivation, but I consider the thought of what would have happened if I was born as this creature instead of a sword.

My conclusion as to that wayward thought is exactly as the reality is now: a rogue cultivator would be disassembling my corpse on a cutting table in the back of some kitchen in some city of some Kingdom another cultivator called small.

I am happy to be a sword; my lack of cultivation now is by no means a measure of my ability. My sub-routine, nevertheless, informs me of my immediate goal.

[ Emperor ] Black Jade Emperor Body (250,000 BP)

I understand immediately that the only reason that I am receiving such a hefty discount for an Emperor grade cultivation method is because it is a direct upgrade of my Black Jade Blood Refinement method — the same body cultivation method that nearly killed me the last time I practiced it.

Judging by the name, I suspect that this method will improve my basic body qualification from the Immortal grade to the Emperor grade.

However, I do not give in to the desires of my sentient core. Yes; I desire to improve my qualifications — I was created to evolve and to surpass all existences and that is true for this life and my previous one. However, improving my Physique now will not guarantee my future or Lan Xiaohui’s success.

Even the Red-Horned Wyvern, with its profound Physique, is dead and being torn to shreds by a collection of thinking carbon.

I must remain flexible to navigate this city and the coming Martial Meeting; anything I purchase with my blood points must be immediately useful to us.

Lan Xiaohui promises she can process the beast in ten hours, but she overestimates herself. In the end, it takes her twelve hours, but the beast’s parts are neatly arranged on the cutting table. When Hu Yan and Old Man Zhong come to inspect her work, they don’t seem disappointed by the fact that it took her longer than what she promised.

“Did I do it right?” Lan Xiaohui asks, stepping out of the way to allow the two to inspect her work.

Old Man Zhong inspects it more closely than Hu Yan, his finger tracing the cutting points while he wears an inquisitive, serious expression. “This was done by extremely sharp sword or blade Qi,” the man remarks. “I do not detect anything else. Such precision with brute force is very impressive.”

Hu Yan nods her head at Old Man Zhong’s words. “Zhu Xuelian is very impressive, yes.”

My owner smiles. “When can I start working?”

Hu Yan frowns. “Whenever you like, but you will not be working here.”

Lan Xiaohui blinks. “What?” The words leave her lips before she even has a chance to think about them. “What do you mean? We had a deal.”

“We made no deal,” Hu Yan says. “You showed me you can cut a fourth rank beast and it turns out that you can.”

“Then why…?” Lan Xiaohui asks. “I can’t guarantee anything, but if you want more, I could try fift—“

“It is because you can process fourth rank beasts,” Old Man Zhong interjects.

Lan Xiaohui looks at the man, her expression turning even more sour. I feel the betrayal swelling in her heart.

Old Man Zhong bows his head and leaves the kitchen, leaving my owner alone with the owner of the restaurant.

“What did he mean, Ma’am?” Lan Xiaohui asks.

“This is the fourth time I operated a restaurant during the Martial Meeting,” Hu Yan says, clasping her hands behind her back. “Every cultivator who walked into my restaurant and had comprehended sword Qi during their Foundation Establishment realm was either a Core Disciple or about to become one; and their sword Qi was so weak they wouldn’t be able to refine a third rank beast, let alone a fourth rank one.”

“I am not a Core Dis—“ Lan Xiaohui begins, but Hu Yan cuts her off.

“I am not finished,” Hu Yan says, lifting a hand to silence Lan Xiaohui.

“You have the qualifications to be a Core Disciple in any of the sects on this continent, but you said you are a rogue. In my experience, that means you either have extremely powerful enemies, extremely powerful secret masters, or an extremely dangerous hidden agenda. Which is it?”

Lan Xiaohui lowers her head. “All three,” she says, after a moment.

Hu Yan lifts her eyebrows at Lan Xiaohui’s reply — she certainly did not expect it to be all three.

“Can you promise me that none of those three things will cause me problems?”

Lan Xiaohui shakes her head. “I cannot.”

“Then why should I hire you?”

Here, Lan Xiaohui lifts her head and stares intensely at Hu Yan. “Because I can do the work.”

Hu Yan scoffs, but she cannot conceal the smile on her lips entirely. “So can any number of other rogues.”

“You said yourself that even Core Disciples would find it difficult to process even third rank beasts,” Lan Xiaohui says. “You also forgot to mention that no Foundation Establishment cultivator — rogue or not — would ever humiliate themselves and do this job.”

“But you will?”

“I will,” Lan Xiaohui says, her tone as sharp as the sword in her heart.

“Why would you ruin your future like that?”

“Because the man that betrayed my love took all these things from me; Dignity? Humiliation? I don’t know what these things are anymore. In the place where he left me to die, I sharpened my sword for the only future I have left: to kill him," Lan Xiaohui says, and then as if to accentuate her point in true sword cultivator fashion, she adds: "Now it can cut fourth rank beasts."

Hu Yan frowns. “Is that why you are here? He will be at the Martial Meeting?”

Lan Xiaohui nods. “Yes.”

“Okay,” Hu Yan says.

“Ma’am, I will do my best to even process fifth rank beasts if that is what it takes to convince you to give me a chance. I cannot guarantee that my past will not come to hurt your business, but if it does, I will take care of—“

“Stop,” Hu Yan says, lifting her hand again. “You had me at ‘betrayed by the man I love’.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes,” Hu Yan says. “I hope I don’t regret this decision. You will begin working tomorrow. If you make a mistake, I will fire you on the spot.”

Lan Xiaohui smiles. “Yes, Ma’am. Thank you.”

“Go,” Hu Yan says and waves dismissively at Lan Xiaohui.

My owner bows her head respectfully and hurries out of the kitchen.

Just as Lan Xiaohui exits the building and the feeling of pride swells in her heart after landing her first job, a voice reaches us.

“Sister Lan, is that you?”