Immortal Freeloader 128 (Patreon)

The Fortuitous Encounter with the cultivator that might very well be in the legendary Nascent Soul Realm had been significant.

The biggest impact was to confirm my earlier guesses about fate and providence. I had already been suspecting that some kind of mystic energy was manipulating some of my encounters. That ephemeral sensation driving me to the stall had just confirmed it.

However, while the encounter had been beneficial, it hadn’t been without its risks. I had no doubt that, if the cultivator had caught even a portion of the secrets I had been hiding, I wouldn’t have met with a fortunate end.

It confirmed the existence of providence, but it was too early to assume that it was a completely benign one.

However, regardless of its nature, fate forced me to change my plans in many ways. Some of those ways were practical. I readily abandoned the desire to check the stone gate, not just at the capital of Linnass, but all of them.

While fear had played a role in the decision, it wasn’t the only reason. The newest treasure I had in my inventory played a big role as well. A heaven-rank ginseng could enhance my already high martial talent even more.

It created some new options.

If it was just a couple days ago, I wouldn’t have cared about increasing my martial arts talents slightest. It was already high enough that I could master them to the limit by working a few days, not to mention their benefits had been limited when compared to Qi cultivation.

The secrets of Everdawn Martial Arts had changed that equation. Not only did they have a growth potential enough to potentially rival Golden Core, but also they were not recognized by the System, meaning they had the potential to grow without jeopardizing my returns.

Just a possibility was enough to make me work hard.

If I just wanted to learn them, my talent was still more than enough. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just learn Everdawn Saber, as everything I had learned about them was shouting that there was a huge trap buried in it.

I either needed to understand and decipher the techniques enough to remove that trap, or develop new martial arts relying on similar principles that wouldn’t trigger the System.

“Like I didn’t have enough to do,” I muttered even as I returned to Markas, and created multiple formations, testing the merits of visiting the alchemists I had learned from my prisoner, to see if I could improve my abilities. While I could consume the ginseng directly, its effectiveness would be far higher if I could refine it to a pill before.

Looking purely from a time investment perspective, devouring the Heaven High-Grade ginseng made sense. It would probably transform my talent enough to solve the challenge in front of me. But, one fact stopped me.

Even if I could learn the technique, would it be enough? While I didn’t have any conclusive evidence, I had enough supporting evidence to know that the number and the general strength of the practitioners were important for Everdawn Arts — and possibly the other martial arts — so I might need to raise a great number of martial artists of Second Grade, maybe even the First Grade to really benefit from it.

A tempting idea, particularly since I still had no idea about the true nature of the brewing disaster. When presented with a choice,, I much rather help the ‘brave warriors’ to defend their homelands while I hung around like a wise old wizard.

Then, thanks to my spiritual plant-tending knowledge, an idea popped into my mind. There were certain techniques that could use the aura of a stronger plant to boost the growth of plants of the same type. While it had certain drawbacks, those might be somehow limited by spending an excess amount of Qi … which I had in abundance.

“But first, let’s see if the idea is viable,” I muttered even as I stopped by the spiritual plant garden, harvested enough essence plants and Qi plants to act as a fertilizer, and moved to the spirit vein.

Only after arriving next to the spirit vein, and creating a shocking amount of formations both geared to cut any kind of aura and fill the garden with an excessive amount of Qi. Then, I used my extensive apothecary and budding alchemy knowledge to create a very nutritious farmland. Only when the preparations were complete, did I pull it from my inventory.

I didn’t want to take any risk for my first Heaven Rank treasure, even if it was an ugly root plant.

A good choice, as the moment I pulled it out, a soft, comforting growth radiated from the spiritual plant. The difference was hard to describe. It was somehow … more. The effect wasn’t as strong as the glow that occurred whenever pushing above Perfection, nor it was exactly the same, but it was nonetheless fascinating.

I was glad that I was patient enough to keep it in my inventory until I was under formations. I had no doubt that its presence would have triggered another commotion. And, this time, I wouldn’t have the time to create another fake mystic land, because a lot of cultivators were already here.

“Fascinating,” I muttered even as I planted it at the center of the garden. It devoured nutrition out of the ground hungrily, but luckily, the formations were in place to replace it. Soon, it was radiating Qi to a great degree.

Nice, as I wasn’t entirely sure if it was a Spirit plant or an essence plant. But then, maybe the distinction wasn’t as strict when it came to plants. Even with all my knowledge, I was still scratching the depths of the truth.

The next was the Black Rank ginseng which had been my original gift. Instead of planting it, I put that in a special formation, forcibly maturing it. In most circumstances, it was not a smart decision, as not only did it affect the seed quality somewhat, but also it destroyed the vitality of the original plant, making it useless.

For me, it was a necessary sacrifice. Instead, I had carefully planted the newly acquired seeds, carefully setting them across the huge garden I had prepared. Just like that, I had hundreds of potential ginseng seeds, that would reach at least Peak Yellow-Grade.

As the glow from the Heaven Rank ginseng spread, they started germinating even faster than I expected them to. “No, Black Low-Grade at a minimum,” I corrected my assumption. They were devouring Qi even more hungrily, but I was happy with it. It wasn’t like I was using most of the Qi that the spirit vein could generate, wasting its potential.

A hypercharged garden specialized for the plants that supported Martial Arts talent was exactly what I needed. It had many strategic implications. And, since they were new plants, they wouldn’t count as gifts, and I might actually find a way to recycle through the System.

I just needed to find someone who would generously gift me a few Black Grade ginsengs. But that was for the future.

First, I needed to find a way to enhance my Alchemy. Sitting down and learning was not an option. Studying like that required years to improve even if I had the talent … which I did not. Not only I needed to find someone who was not only competent in Alchemy, but also gullible enough to help me enthusiastically.

It was even more important than their strength. With my current resources, I could easily help them rise to the top of the Ninth Grade Qi Gathering to ensure a decent benefit, but they needed to be softhearted to the point of being gullible.

Luckily, the list given to me by my prisoner had provided me a good list of targets to leverage. Eight different alchemists of Qi Gathering rank, each open for business. I visited them one by one, which, even with my flying boat, took a day. Most of the time had been spent observing.

Admittedly, it might have taken a lot longer, but luckily, their defensive formations and other measures meant nothing.

Every alchemist had a similar setup. A small village that was located in a very obscure location near the misty mountains — usually depths of a valley or a mountaintop — with a large garden to supply them with Qi. Though, they were rich enough that they wouldn’t miss a broken cauldron or two. Not to mention, copying their available knowledge.

All of them had defensive formations, but calling them amateurish was a compliment. Mostly, they relied on old formation disks to support a basic concealment and detection formula, and nothing else. Some of them lived alone, while others had a team of martial artists working for them as farmers.

 Observing them, I was able to see that none of the lead alchemists was a good candidate for the operation I had in mind. Not because they were violent and evil, but because they were cunning. It was inevitable. All eight of them had been able to survive while operating an alchemy business serving rogue cultivators, somehow managing to stay in operation.

Amusingly, even the information I had received from my prisoner hadn’t led me to the correct location most of the time, instead leading me to some kind of hidden store. Only with my abilities, I was able to track their home base.

Soon, however, I found a candidate. A young woman called Janassa…