Chapter 92
Life During the Plague
Tobias used his iron tongs to pick up the piece of crystalised miasma sitting in his large, red-hot iron cauldron, then placed it in the smaller iron container he carried. He stored the tongs in his storage ring and wiped the tears from his eyes before continuing his heartbreaking work.
Putting down infected children was never easy, and every time he had to do it, he cursed Yin Hao's luck and ability to balance his clan's cultivation realm, allowing the mortal population to return to the region. It had been so much easier for him to confront the plague when it was just numbers on a piece of paper. When those numbers were people's lives and broken stories, it was hard to do anything but feel heartbroken for them.
Tobias summoned an urn from his storage ring. He poured what was left of the little girl who had once called him pretty inside, before placing her urn beside the urns of the rest of her family. The urns were a testament to his failure.
None of them had survived.
Tobias buried the urns around the back of their house under the roots of a tree where their father had hung a stick on a rope for his children to swing from. Then he burned their house down.
Three years of living with the plague had not removed people's superstition. No one would ever set foot in that house again. If he didn't burn it down, the villagers would do it themselves. The houses in this village were so close to one another that they might burn down the village without him there to control the flames.
Tobias channelled his chi into the flames, accelerating the destruction while the villagers watched in silence. There was no condemnation in their eyes. He'd arrived much sooner than they expected or hoped.
Tobias didn't tell them that they had gotten lucky. He'd been inspecting the chi saturation across The Three Step Hills and just happened to be nearby.
Tobias watched the flames burn out as the sun rose, wiped his eyes one last time, and called over the village chief. This wasn't his patrol area, so he didn't know the man. "What was the name of their youngest daughter? She called me pretty once as I travelled by, and that is all I know about their family."
The village chief cupped his hands and bowed deeply. "She did not have a name yet, Patriarch Finch. She was still too young."
The answer didn't surprise him, but it added to the burden weighing down his heart. She had seen so little of life's possibilities. Not even old enough to be given a name.
"Do you know what happened here?" Tobias asked.
He shook his head. "We were asleep. We woke to screaming. We barricaded ourselves in and activated the talisman your clan gave us. We did not have a chance to see anything."
"You did what you were supposed to. Collect the talismans, and I'll recharge them for you."
The village chief did as Tobias instructed, and Tobias went on his way. He spent the next few days finishing his assessment of the chi saturation across The Three Step Hills before going home. It had noticeably improved over the years as the spirit herbs that could no longer ascend continued to produce chi. In a few more years, it would be back to how it had been before they created his clan's realm, and from then on, the chi saturation would only increase.
Xu Ling was painting in his garden when he arrived home.
Tobias walked over and took a seat beside her, glancing at the painting. It showed the view from his garden, but in a far more favourable light than had ever truly existed. Tobias could already tell it would become cultivator art. She had captured what the view would look like when his clan's realm reached its peak. It was already inspiring him to bring her vision into reality. "I'm sorry for not meeting you when you arrived."
Xu Ling gave him a gentle smile. "Servant Ho explained the reason for your absence, but not the reason you have summoned me here."
Tobias smiled back. "I didn't summon you. I invited you."
Xu Ling rolled her eyes. "Your invitation was so unspecific and lacking details that it could only be a summons."
Tobias laughed. "How have you been?"
"You would know if you bothered to leave the Three Step Hills to see the chaos you have caused."
"The Three Kingdoms is doing surprisingly well considering most of the Divine Council is locked away in the Civil Realm."
Xu Ling glared at him. "Did you do this?"
"I may have shared a few opinions with friends about what choosing to improve your divinity at a time like this would have to mean about your character."
"What about this absurd republic idea that my father can't track the source of?"
"I may have also shared a few opinions on a better way to govern The Three Kingdoms with your father."
Xu Ling's eyes widened. "Are you two working together behind my back! Are you the reason his cultivation is progressing again! Did you figure out what his actual cultivation method is?"
"If your father was working with me to institute a new form of government in The Three Kingdoms in return for a cultivation method that allowed him to progress his cultivation, I could not confirm it. That would be the sort of information that would get us killed."
Xu Ling groaned. "He lied to my face about not being able to find the source."
"You can't find something you've already found."
"Don't you take his side!"
Tobias laughed. "Would you like me to tell you why you're here?"
"Can I strangle you first?"
"That would make it difficult for me to tell you after."
"Then I'll strange you after."
Tobias laughed again. "I've missed you."
"You could have sent your clone to visit me."
"You don't like it when I send my clone."
"I like not seeing you for years even less."
"Then come and visit or send your clone if you can't make it."
"My clone is watching over the people in Peace Master So's realm."
Tobias frowned.
"Why are you giving me that look?"
"My clone is also watching over your people in Peace Master So's realm while he researches cultivation. He's never mentioned yours is there in his letters."
Xu Ling's eyes widened. "Mine hasn't either. How long has yours been there?"
"A little over a year."
Xu Ling frowned. "You don't think they're scheming against us."
"I think that is exactly what they're doing."
Xu Ling cringed. "I'm going to have so many embarrassing memories."
Tobias chuckled. "She won't do anything you wouldn't, so it's entirely your fault."
"Yes, but your clone will encourage her."
Tobias nodded. "And your clone will encourage mine. It's going to be quite amusing to find out what they've done."
Xu Ling pouted. "The sooner this is over, the sooner I can collect my clone. So why am I here?"
"I've discovered that your foundation can be improved while you are infected and that pills and tonics are significantly more effective while you are if consumed correctly. The reason you're here is that today my grandpa is going to attempt to form his core with three spiritual droplets and undergo a tribulation."
"I don't see why that requires me to be here?"
"I don't think it's going to work. I think the sage realm spirit herb will protect him from the tribulation and use the miasma to feed the surrounding garden. I think all that will happen is that he will lose the spiritual energy he's gathered and rapidly accelerate the growth of our garden."
"Why are you having him initiate his ascension with the minimum amount of spiritual energy required to form a core?"
"Because it gives him the highest chance of success if I'm wrong. He can also exit the garden and allow the infection to destroy the core so he can try again."
"I still don't understand why I need to be involved?"
"If this works the way I think it will, I need to find out if it will work for those trying to ascend to the nascent soul realm."
***
Tobias and Xu Ling sat in the gazebo his servants had built for him. It overlooked his clan's cultivation realm, giving them the perfect place to take notes on his grandpa's failing ascension. The sky was covered in black clouds, and miasma bolts slammed into the spirit herb's sage realm barrier as his grandfather hurled insults at the heavens to prolong it.
The blocked miasma was nurturing the surrounding spirit herbs, no different from when the realm was first formed, suggesting that Tobias might have found another way to shorten the plague.
Xu Ling motioned to what was happening. "Those gardens surrounding him seem less than ideal. Were you concerned about them being destroyed, so you replaced them with younger spirit herbs?"
"Those gardens are filled with all the spirit herbs my family needs to complete their foundation. I was hoping that the tribulation would accelerate their growth so they can be used to refine the pills we need, allowing more of my clan to assist my grandpa."
"I thought only sage realm spirit herbs were immune to the effects of miasma?"
"How do you not know this already?"
"Some of us have jobs which keep us busy. You're also much better at this sort of research than I am, so why bother trying to keep up?"
"The answer to your question is in the research papers I gave you, which you decided to read later."
Xu Ling smirked. "I'll read them later."
Tobias decided not to explain. He held out for less than a minute. "There is a difference between the miasma that comes from a tribulation and the miasma that comes from infection. Miasma that comes from a tribulation can be absorbed by other spirit herbs."
"You're certain of that?"
"Absolutely. After the formation of this realm, there were so many nascent soul and sage realm spirit herbs that Yin Hao had to create additional gardens to balance. This is only a quarter of my family's collection of higher realm spirit herbs."
Xu Ling's eyes widened at the possibilities. "Why did they never figure this out during the Great Plague?"
"Apparently, core realm ascensions used to be a public spectacle. This is likely how they discovered tribulations had changed to miasma tribulations during the Great Plague. After that, some might have attempted to breakthrough in the presence of spirit herbs. However, without a pseudo-sage or sage realm spirit herb to change the nature of the miasma from the tribulation, I doubt they would have survived."
"What's a pseudo-sage realm spirit herb?"
"It's a nascent soul realm spirit herb that is undergoing its sage realm tribulation. Peace Master So tested if core realm spirit herbs could survive a miasma tribulation alone and discovered they couldn't. We eventually worked out that having either a sage or a pseudo-sage realm spirit herb nearby was necessary."
Xu Ling nodded. "So, the goal of this tribulation is to nurture the younger spirit herbs in order to increase your supply of pills so you can finish laying the foundation for your clan to become core realm cultivators, so they can initiate more tribulations."
"It's a self-perpetuating cycle that will accelerate the removal of miasma from the immortal realm, which is how I think this was all intended to work."
"Do you want me to replicate this with the scholars and professors in Peace Master So's realm?"
"How many of them have laid a proper foundation? I don't want any accident if we can help it. This may not always work."
"Only the disciples who were natural cultivators, but the rest will now be cultivators, so we can deliver the pills they need."
"Give me a list of materials, and I'll get you the pills as soon as I can."
Xu Ling smirked. "No need. I've been collecting the pills needed to lay the foundations for the different cultivation methods you created for the academy as part of a large research project. There are over eight hundred of these collections ready for use."
Tobias groaned. "I had you investigated for tax evasion."
Xu Ling's smirk grew. "And your investigators failed to find a trace of wrongdoing."
"My investigators also failed to find the horde of pills you somehow acquired."
"Not for lack of trying."
"Clearly, they should have tried harder."
Xu Ling's smirk vanished, replaced by indignation. "You tried hard enough. I hate that stupid rating system for alchemist's pill efficiency that you created?"
Tobias smirked because he knew it would annoy her. "Was creating a system where it was easier for cultivators to recognise the alchemists that were more likely to succeed at making their pill problematic for you?"
Xu Ling rolled her eyes. "How would any system that made it harder to lie about how many pills had failed to be produced make it harder for me to gather the resources I needed for my academy's research? As far as the Ministry of Commerce is concerned, my academy has always paid its fair share of taxes. While you have used the tax-exempt status of Cloud City to build a fortune."
Tobias raised an eyebrow. "I've been paying taxes on my earnings in Cloud City since the Divine Council appointed me 1st Minister."
Xu Ling looked offended by his statement. "Why?"
"You can't have a 1st Minister not paying taxes while everyone else is. It looks bad for the ministry's integrity.
"What about the fortune you made off building manors, Cloud Sect?"
"I paid that too. And the money I made from selling my insights. Until the ministry collected the first year's taxes, I was technically funding The Three Kingdoms."
"All of it?"
"Yes."
"But it was over a year before they collected taxes."
"The price of my core realm understanding was not low. And Cloud Sect bought all the finished manors from me the moment the war ended."
Xu Ling shook her head while scrunching up her face at his actions. "I always thought it strange that you never checked on the academy's accounts."
"I did early on, but it wasn't enough to make a significant difference, so I left it alone."
Xu Ling sighed and turned to the garden before changing the subject. "You're really creating a true cultivation clan, aren't you?"
"Only if this works as wells as I think it will. Money isn't a concern for us, but we can still only take small steps forward in our cultivation while the plague remains."
Xu Ling threw her head back and laughed. "Your clan has its own cultivation realm."
"And in a few hundred years, that will mean we have all the spirit herbs and time we need to become a Great Clan, but currently, despite our extensive collection, we are at best a second-tier family when it comes to cultivation."
Xu Ling pointed down below. "That spirit herb just ascended to the initiate realm before my eyes, so don't pretend you're some minor clan. You have more resources than any clan in The Three Kingdoms' history."
"And only one honorary elder to protect it all."
Xu Ling rolled her eyes. "Patriarch Lee and Peace Master So will die before they let anything happen to you."
"That's what I'm worried about. They might just whisk me away and leave my family to their fate."
***
Tobias and Xu Ling followed Yin Hao as he walked around assessing the progress the spirit herbs had made. Tobias's grandpa had passed out when the tribulation ended, and the spiritual energy he'd gathered erupted from his body. The old man was fast asleep while the family celebrated his failure.
Yin Hao raised his hand, and blue ribbons shot from his storage ring and surrounded a third of the spirit herbs. "These have all exceeded the necessary realm to be turned into pills by one realm." Yellow ribbons appeared around another third. "These have exceeded it by two realms. I suggest you replant these to nurture the next generation of spirit herbs for the next tribulation."
"What about the others?" Tobias asked.
"They haven't reached their full potential. They need to experience another tribulation, but the first group should be turned into pills."
Tobias nodded. "Did you observe any negative effects on my grandfather's cultivation during the tribulation?"
"Other than wearing himself out to hold on longer, there were no adverse effects. I think it might have even been beneficial. Your family has beaten into me how important it is to practice cultivation exercises, so having a chance to practice compressing his core will make it easier when he faces his tribulation."
Tobias already knew this. "Then you see no reason we shouldn't continue?"
"None."
Tobias turned to Xu Ling as Yin Hao walked over to his cluster of spirit herbs. As the barrier dropped, he raised his hands and released miasma from his palms. The projectile vomiting that had been his existence in the past was no longer an issue. They had fixed this by shoving copper pipes through his body to his core. It was a crude way of dealing with the problem, but the cultivator did not have enough control over his body while the miasma was trying to escape, so nothing else would work. And he refused to allow a pipe to be attached to his navel, because of how indecent he looked from behind or side on.
Xu Ling sighed. "I'll take the pills to Peace Master So's realm and instruct my disciples to do what your family is."
"And?"
"And I'll attempt to ascend to the nascent soul realm."
Tobias stared at her, confused. "Why would you do that?"
Xu Ling frowned. "You said you needed to test if this worked for those trying to ascend to the nascent soul realm."
"Yes. So, I want you to try to convince Peace Master So's disciples to do so while you're there."
Xu Ling blushed.
"Did you think I was asking you to go into closed-door cultivation for decades just to test a theory?"
"Ah."
"I can't believe you were going to do it. Do you know how ridiculous that request sounds?"
Xu Ling blushed brighter. "I do, but you frequently make ridiculous requests."
"I guess the potential benefits of this ridiculous request did outweigh the cost."
Xu Ling gave a vigorous nod. "Yes. I was thinking of The Three Kingdoms."
Tobias smiled. "I'm sorry for the miscommunication."
Xu Ling returned the smile while bright red. "No. It was my mistake."