Chapter 100
Preparing to Leave
As Autumn came to an end, Tobias was meditating outside a tent. Inside, Xu Ling was recuperating from her tribulation. She was no longer his first disciple, so it was entirely inappropriate for him to be by her side while she recovered. Instead, Elder Mist had sat with her throughout her initial recovery.
The long gap between their ascensions was due to their research into golden cores. Dozens of Xu Ling’s scholars had willingly assisted them, and they had managed to establish the bare minimum requirements for successfully creating a golden core. They had also established whether there was a difference between a golden core that was barely successful and one that was created through Tobias’s extreme actions.
To everyone’s surprise, there wasn’t a difference. The golden core’s effects were nearly identical. The only difference was the size of the core they formed, which was determined by the size of the spiritual droplets the scholars used to form it.
So, Xu Ling’s tribulation had been much safer than his.
Tobias opened his eyes as the tent flap was pulled aside. He began slowing the chi as it moved through his energy meridian network, scanning his surroundings to gauge how much time had passed while he was cultivating. It had been over a week since Elder Mist had left.
Tobias gave Xu Ling a playful smirk. “I expected you to have finished your initial recovery ten days ago.”
Xu Ling smirked back. “I’ve been busy reading.”
They both laughed at the lie.
Xu Ling had taken a tribulation bolt to the face, and Tobias’s timeframe only accounted for physical recovery, not cosmetic recovery. He had known she probably wouldn’t leave until she was fully recovered, but there was also the chance she would leave early and try to scare him with her scarred face.
Tobias finished slowing his chi and expanded his aura, looking around. Most were making final preparations for their ascensions, with a few exceptions. “Lingling is preparing lunch if you’re hungry.”
Xu Ling’s aura swelled as she scanned their surroundings.
While Xu Ling was recovering, Elder Xi had taken his companions and returned to Cloud Sect. All but one of the disciples of Mist Sect had left at the same time. After several years of badgering, Disciple Shen had given in to his cousin Chow’s advances and married him. They had conceived a son while they were infected. He was one of many children who had grown up trapped in their hidden realm, unable to leave because he was born infected. Disciple Shen’s sect sisters would explain her absence, and if Mist Sect didn’t accept it, they were welcome to try to take her back. It would mean the end of their sect, but Tobias didn’t believe it would come to that.
The only ones that were left in the hidden realm were Tobias’s clan, their servants, Majordomo Wo’s extended family, Magistrate Chi’s extended family, and the Twelve Wandering Minstrels that Xu Feng had brought with him. Tobias’s other guests had all returned to their homes and the hidden realms his servants had built for them.
Creating hidden realms was a simple matter once you understood the process, so there were now hundreds of them scattered across The Three Kingdoms. Most were created to nourish cultivation resources. Only a few dozen were actual cultivation realms with the proper balance for someone to reach immortality.
Tobias had done as his grandpa had asked and used the plague to rebuild The Three Kingdoms’ cultivation foundation. Many of the natural resources which had once existed had now returned, and those who had spent centuries helping his clan would benefit from this more than any other.
Tobias’s servants would maintain their hidden realms, and his guests would provide their clan and the Cultivation Academy with cultivation resources for research. It would make his guests fabulously wealthy and would have ruined the balance of power in The Three Kingdoms if everyone hadn’t already agreed to live separately from the mortal world.
They had not reached immortality, but they were no longer a part of the mortal world. Influencing events would cause too many problems, and there was little need to do so. They had what they needed to make their own way.
Xu Ling frowned at Tobias. “Why haven’t you finished stabilising your core?”
“Golden cores behave differently from regular cores. Internally, my core is entirely stable. Externally, it’s unstable. The external section seems to provide additional protection and stability, which is only required when your core is put under extreme pressure. I don’t plan to do anything like that in the near future, so I’m in no hurry to speed up the process.”
Xu Ling relaxed and smiled. “I think you said something about lunch.”
Tobias smiled and rose to his feet.
He led Xu Ling to where Lingling had begun preparing a celebratory meal. As they sat down at the table, Yin Hao discreetly contacted his clan and servants, and then the celebration truly began.
Friendly faces came from all directions, bringing small gifts and well-wishes. Cultivation did not come before celebrating one another’s successes in Tobias’s clan, and Xu Ling was his closest friend and his only disciple. How could his clan possibly treat her like an outsider?
***
As the sun rose the following morning, everyone returned to preparing for their ascension, and Xu Feng said goodbye. Tobias’s clan’s hidden realm was not an appropriate place for him or the Twelve Wandering Minstrels to cultivate. They could not walk the conscious dao path, which would allow them to cultivate anywhere, so they needed to leave to advance their cultivation.
Tobias stood before the Twelve Wandering Minstrels, cupped his hands and inclined his head. “Thank you for entertaining my clan over the centuries. Your music brought joy to our monotonous existence. I’ve had my servants prepare a small hidden realm for you as a gift to show how much your actions mean to me.”
Mistress Ying showed no surprise as she stepped forward, cupped her hands and bowed. “Patriarch Finch, your generosity humbles us. We will endeavour to become worthy of it. The Twelve Wandering Minstrels are always available to entertain you and your clan.”
“I will not trouble you often. To provide you with the environment your cultivation method requires, force me to place your the hidden realm in another state. I’m told it overlooks the sea and is both tranquil and lively. My servants will show you the way.”
Accepting the dismissal, the twelve minstrels bowed one last time and followed the waiting core realm servant.
As far as Tobias was aware, his clan was the only one in The Three Kingdoms with core realm servants. The spirit herbs for a core compression pill usually took centuries to mature and could not be wasted on servants. Tobias’s family had raised hundreds of thousands of such spirit herbs through their tribulations, and there were thousands of surrounding spirit gardens devoted purely to their production, with tens of thousands of core realm servants attending them.
Keeping them hidden from The Three Kingdoms ministry had required constant effort, but without nascent soul realm cultivators roaming about, it was possible until now. Tobias was not looking forward to paying the pill taxes he owed The Three Kingdoms. The extent of what his clan’s achievements while in seclusion was going to cause shock throughout the nation.
And now that he was no longer trapped in his clan’s hidden realm, Tobias had no legal reason not to deliver their pill tax during next year’s tax collection.
Xu Ling and her father wandered over as the minstrels left.
Xu Feng gave Tobias an amused smile and flexed his aura to give them privacy. “I cannot be an effective spymaster without improving my cultivation.”
Tobias smirked. “I’ll leave you to track down where I’ve hidden your cultivation garden.”
Xu Feng gave him a bored look. “It’s near the Wandering Minstrel’s hidden realm, benefiting from the higher chi saturation.”
Tobias gritted his teeth as his smirk vanished. “My servants spent decades acting in secret to create that garden for you. How did you figure out where it was so quickly?”
Xu Feng raised an eyebrow. “Gathering information is all about finding the point of weakness that you can exploit. You are the point of weakness in this case. I know how your mind works, and you would not weaken my cultivation garden to increase the challenge. So, hiding my cultivation garden near the hidden realm that my cultivation method emulates makes the most logical sense. There is a clear dao connection.”
Tobias groaned because his answer was so obvious, yet he’d failed to consider it. “I’d make a terrible spy.”
“You would.”
Xu Feng had come clean to his daughter about his cultivation path a few decades after becoming infected. He only did so because Tobias made it a condition for him to act as his spymaster without oversight.
Xu Ling patted Tobias on the shoulder. “I hope you made sure it’s hard for him to reach undetected.”
“I’m not as confident as I once was about that,” Tobias replied.
Xu Ling laughed.
Tobias turned back to Xu Feng. “I don’t expect to see you until you’ve formed the fourth layer of your core.”
Xu Feng frowned. “Why four layers?”
“I’ll let you discover that answer for yourself.”
Tobias had created dozens of techniques and spells for his spymaster over the centuries. They were all sitting on a bookshelf in Xu Feng’s cultivation garden, waiting for him to study. Xu Feng’s unconscious dao path gave him the ability to do something other cultivators couldn’t. He could create a clone that was in the same realm as him. The requirements to do so were extremely high, but Tobias was certain the man would think about nothing else once he discovered it.
This discovery also led Tobias to understand how to create a clone in the same realm. The requirements of doing so were just as steep, and he doubted he would attempt it until he reached the nascent soul realm, but the opportunity was there.
Tobias cupped his hand and inclined his head. “I’ll leave you to finish saying goodbye.”
Tobias and Xu Feng had spent so much time together that a few decades apart would barely be noticed. Especially when they were both going to be cultivating and could eventually reunite through their clones. By comparison, Xu Ling had spent far less time with her father, choosing to watch over her academy and scholars rather than remain by his side.
Tobias went for a walk to find the ideal spot where he could cultivate to finish stabilising his core in peace. Tobias was making his choice based on the aesthetics of the places, not their chi saturation. He was looking for a view he wanted to open and close his eyes to. He could filter out the wood chi because of his dao enlightenments, so anywhere would suit him.
Yin Hao appeared beside him while he walked.
“Have you come to say goodbye?” Tobias asked.
“No,” Yin Hao replied. “I’ve come to ask a favour.”
“What do you need?”
“I’ve received word that the khans’ heirs are still hiding in my decoy garden. They received word of what Peace Master So is doing to their khans and are remaining in place to grow their cultivation.”
“You can’t remove your spirit herbs from our realm at this time.”
“I cannot.”
“There is no issue leaving them here. It’s not worth a favour.”
“That’s not the favour. Dozens of your sage realm spirit herbs appear to have experienced lucky ascensions just before the plague ended, along with hundreds of lower realm spirit herbs. They are heavily influenced by my dao and will greatly assist with my cultivation.”
Tobias didn’t care, but there was something he wanted from his friend, so he needed to play his card right. “That’s not a small favour.”
“I’m aware.”
“I assume removing them will not negatively affect our realm?”
With the man’s luck, it was unlikely that there would be any reason to deny the request, but Tobias had to ask.
“None which cannot be easily corrected.”
“Then you may have them if you answer my question.”
Yin Hao frowned. “This must be deeply personal for you to have not asked it already.”
“It is.”
“Then I fear I may not answer it, but you may ask your question without giving offence?”
“How did the first cultivator to walk your path successfully recognise the dao of luck? I can’t fathom how it could naturally occur, and I’ve spent centuries wondering.”
Yin Hao roared with laughter.
Tobias sighed, annoyed by the man’s amusement. “I take it this question is not taboo.”
“No. But everyone who walks my path thinks it is. Myself included. It was nearly one thousand years before I asked my immortal master that very same question.”
“And what did he tell you?”
“A sage realm cultivator near the end of her life was once wandering through a village when she fell in love with a mortal man. In that moment, she set aside all thoughts of immortality and took the form of a mortal woman to gain his affection. They married and led a humble life together. However, the powerful cultivator quickly discovered that her mortal life was anything but normal when her husband frequently returned from hunting in the mountains, carrying bouquets of sage realm flowers to aid her cultivation. While delivering grain to the next town over, he would return with trinkets that turned out to be treasures. Assuming that she was somehow being toyed with by another sage, she began to follow her husband. However, these gifts he brought her just appeared by random chance. He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. After nearly a decade of watching him, she caught her first glimpse of the dao of luck. That very same day, her husband experienced a fortuitous encounter that opened his stomach meridian, which shouldn’t have been possible because of an injury in his youth. He eventually reached the peak of the foundation realm, and the two of them died of old age on the exact same day. He is considered to be the luckiest man who ever lived. The cultivation method he and his wife developed is the one I still practice.”
Something clicked in Tobias’s head. “You were lucky before you started cultivating this method.”
Yin Hao nodded. “The dao of luck must favour you already for you to walk this path, and I’ve never lost a bet that I needed to win. Disciples only appear during times when we cannot progress or when we reach the end of our natural path. My immortal master found me in an orphanage three thousand years ago. He had just enough time to teach me what I needed to reach the sage realm before he ascended to the heavens.”
“Why can’t I recognise your dao?”
“The dao of luck is hard for even sages to perceive. And they can only perceive it around mortals. You can easily see the results, but the cause of those results is shrouded from your awareness. You are always looking for it in the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time.”
“It’s always lucky enough to not be comprehended.”
Yin Hao nodded. “It’s why you need to be lucky to walk this path. Without that luck, you will not catch the dao insights you need to progress. Without that progression, you cannot increase your luck. Without that luck, you cannot get lucky enough to achieve a lucky dao enlightenment.”
Tobias sighed. “So, there is no hope for me?”
“In my experience, you are one of the few people who make their own luck, so I wouldn’t consider it a loss.”