Immortal Freeloader 108 (Patreon)

When Aisnam arrived at Spring Palace, I was ready to meet her, but I was wearing my apothecary disguise. “Your Highness, you’re lucky. The higher-ups decided to support you,” I said even as I gestured to her. “Follow me, please.”

She didn’t look convinced, but considering the situation, she didn’t complain even as we moved toward the tunnel. As we moved, I activated the formation to create a fake presence for her. I hoped that the cultivators would avoid the building, but even if they did not, the defenses were in place.

“Won’t they notice my absence?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. We have already solved that issue,” I answered.

“And, what about Arthanum?” she asked.

I barely held back a chuckle, impressed that she thought about my safety even under the circumstances. “He will be brought up to your location later. You’ll need a servant there,” I answered, giving a reason for my current absence and future appearance. I didn’t say anything else, and neither did she, at least for a while.

She gasped in shock when she reached the other end of the tunnel, only to see a sleek, perfect flying boat burst out. “W-who are you?” she asked in shock.

“Just as we said, a small organization trying to get a foothold,” I said. “However, the latest development allowed us to get some support from the headquarters. You won’t be able to see where we’re going next,” I added as I gestured for her to step into the flying boat.

She was hesitant, but the presence of her cousin, who looked ready to murder her, forced her hand. Obediently, she stepped on the boat and put on a blindfold. I put a small formation around her just to be safe, blinding her even further, then started moving.

The boat not only moved with a shocking speed, but it also did so without revealing any obvious presence. Even without the formation of the region allowing me to completely conceal the presence, I doubted that anyone weaker than Golden Core would have noticed it.

The speed was fascinating. It took us barely a minute to arrive at Markas. I directed the boat to the small cabin where Pearyin disappeared, but stopped outside. Before asking Aisnam to remove the blindfold, I added another formation, which created a sphere of fifty feet where she could practice. At the same time, I placed the Tsunami Palm into another formation, which would allow her to read but not take.

It was not ideal, but giving her a stronger technique, hopefully in a location that would allow her to practice further, was the best I could do.

“You can remove the blindfold,” I said. She did so, and when she did so, she gasped in shock. “This is…” she muttered.

“A blessed land, where you’ll practice,” I said.

“Did we teleport,” she asked.

I nodded, acting like it was a reflexive move, before frowning. “Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask,” I growled, acting like she had just touched a secret. It was better for her to think that we had teleported than to realize that we were still in her kingdom. “You can practice here. I have already arranged a technique for you. Depending on how much time we have, I’ll try to arrange more,” I added.

Then, I created a circle. “Anything that appears here, you can take with you, or gift as you wish,” I added. “Arthanum is a good kid,” I added, giving her express permission to do so. Also, by giving that hint, the appearance of some broken techniques and other stuff that she might treat as garbage would suddenly make sense.

It was a risky move, but from everything I had seen, it should still trigger the System.

With that, I moved away, leaving her to practice the technique. As much as I wanted to stay and practice with her, I had another task to complete. I wanted to visit the cultivator market.

I had been looking for an opportunity to visit that place again, this time without fearing for my life, but the distance had been a problem. However, now that I had a flying boat that allowed me to move at a shocking speed, the situation was different.

I cut through the mortal kingdoms with great speed. However, as I moved, I had a big frown. Even without searching for it, I had seen many armies currently moving, not just at the surrounding kingdoms, but all of them.

I realized that, in my efforts to conceal what was going on, I might have accidentally triggered a bloody regional warfare. I wanted to feel guilty … but then, I wasn’t the one who decided a war between mortal kingdoms was a perfectly acceptable way of competition.

“Fucking cultivators, and their pointless bloodshed,” I muttered even as I continued toward the cultivator market, circling widely until I entered the Misty Mountains. Once there, I put the flying boat back in place — its reserves noticeably lower thanks to the journey — changed my disguise into a well-dressed cultivator, and placed my talisman brush noticeably on my belt.

This time, I wasn’t afraid of revealing some of my talisman abilities.

However, before leaving the mist, I spent a few minutes refining the boat Aisnam had gifted me, erasing the emergency command she had left in the device — which she did because she still thought of me as a martial artist, therefore unable to use an artifact.

The boat was about the same size as my own, and still a decent quality. However, just like I had suspected, it was damaged, barely strong enough to handle one or two trips. Still, good enough to extract me from the market if needed.

Still, I moved to the market on foot.

As I entered the market, the people had been already gossiping about someone displaying his craft talent openly. I ignored them as I muttered repeatedly. “Just one step, just one step,” I muttered repeatedly even as I walked through the opening. I didn’t buy anything, just glanced. “I almost got it, I just need an inspiration.”

Then, I opened a stall at the corner, and to a paper that I pulled from my storage ring — using it as an excuse to display my riches — I wrote a list of pricing, much to the shock of people, giving people a list of exchanges, giving a list of talismans for techniques, including ones that were damaged, with missing pages and everything. It must have been a perfect deal for anyone.

“Hey, are you really exchanging Yellow Grade Talismans for damaged manuals,” someone asked. “Do you even have—” he started, only for me to throw a stack of talismans there. “Yellow-Peak,” he gasped.

“Yes,” I growled even as I pulled a dagger and sank it on the table. It was an artifact. “I don’t have time to waste. I’m about to break through, and I need inspiration,” I growled, acting as manic as a drug addict looking for his fix. As I did so, I pulled ten strands of Qi from my Inventory and radiated, acting like I had lost control.

That was enough for the cultivators around me to pull back. Yet, rather than attacking me, people actually started to line up and actually start exchanging their technique manuals based on my prices.

What I was doing looked absurd at first, and shouldn’t work, but I had some advantages. Cultivators were famous for getting somewhat … irrational, when it came to their power, and getting slightly mad due to the possibility of a breakthrough was acceptable.

That madness also made my threat more believable. While there was supposed to be no violence at the market, there was no guarantee about the actions of a crazed cultivator when pushed.

Of course, above everything else, the most important factor was that I was seriously overpaying for the techniques. A Yellow Peak talisman was a luxury, but to the right buyer, it would easily go for hundreds of spirit stones — at least, the broken variants with one Qi strand. People lined up, as no one wanted to miss such an excellent deal.

A few people asked for offensive talismans, but I refused, limiting myself to shield talismans and other auxiliary benefits, not willing to enhance their offensive capabilities. After all, soon I would need to escape them.

I pulled more and more talismans from my storage ring, while it slowly got filled with many broken technique manuals. Some were about gate construction, some were about combat techniques, and some were even about various craft techniques, making them even more valuable.

Just like that, I had made a fortune. Of course, the more fortune I revealed, the more cultivators started watching me, ready to free me from the burdens of riches. Hundreds of cultivators, spread around widely.

Cultivators liked to say wealth above one’s strength equaled sin. It looked like they were ready to give me an applied display of it. Luckily, it looked like no one wanted to be the first to start fighting.

As the line came to an end, I shouted. “Is there anyone else?” There was no answer. “I’ll visit again if I can’t attain a breakthrough,” I shouted as I moved away from the market.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, activated the damaged flying boat.