Chapter 101
Pill Tax
Even the 1st Emperor found taxing pills difficult. Forcing cultivators to hand over something so valuable was enough to start wars. In the early days of The Three Kingdoms, many clans and sects had rebelled against the 1st Emperor for this very reason. None of them existed anymore, having been executed en masse for their rebellion. However, it was only when the last clan chose to destroy the contents of the 1st Emperor's Sword Garden during their opening salvo that the 1st Emperor took the issue seriously.
The result was the rule of eleven.
The eleventh pill, a clan or sect made, had to be handed over to the Imperial Family. This rule, of course, did not work, because why would anyone need a bunch of pills that did not match their cultivation? Instead, the eleventh pill would be a realm-appropriate pill that followed specific formulas that were laid out in the tax codes.
Pill Tax was universally hated because it affected all core realm pills and below. Thankfully, even the 1st Emperor had recognised that asking a cultivator to hand over something that had taken more than a millennium to create was asking for rebellion.
Through their hidden realms and other spirit gardens, Tobias's clan had raised 100,000 core realm servants. Using the Senate's ambiguous wording for cultivator servants and guards to justify their actions. A fifth of these servants practiced variations of the lesser version of their clan's cultivation method, so they could maintain the numerous hidden realms they created, while the rest followed the original path. His clan's grand formation and commercial gardens throughout the Three Step Hills produced so much wood chi that it was impossible for his clan to maintain the chi purity without their servants' assistance.
However, this meant each servant required a core condensing pill to form their core, and another for each subsequent layer they formed. The best of them now had five layers to their cores. And The Three Kingdoms Republic now required their Pill Tax.
Tobias had been putting this off like everyone else who had gone into seclusion.
The legal transfer of pills required the patriarch of a clan or the highest-ranking member of a sect to be present. Since every patriarch and highest-ranking member of a sect had been infected with the plague until a few months ago, none of them had paid taxes in centuries.
This wasn't a major issue for The Three Kingdoms. The Civil Realm and the Civil Sect had been working together to produce a steady supply of pills to make up for their losses, and Tobias had instituted a system that allowed them to expand production. Tobias's clan and many others had also established commercial spirit gardens that sold their pills and paid taxes on their earnings. Taxes which could be used to purchase the pills they sold.
If Tobias had been concerned about hampering The Three Kingdoms' growth, he would have sent his servants with the pills. However, The Three Kingdoms had prospered without him.
Tobias took the long route to the Capitol just to be sure.
He passed through hundreds of villages that hadn't existed centuries earlier. All of them contained a few dozen people who had opened and cleansed a handful of body meridians. Cultivation was not yet universal, but a fifth of the population had access to the basic resources needed to improve their lives. Tobias saw thousands of small, private spirit gardens. Each one contained low-quality spirit herbs, but they were enough to increase the chi saturation in the area over time.
Then there were the spirit beasts that had returned to the wilds. Wild spirit boars, snakes, birds, rabbits and others could frequently be found. Many were mortal realm beasts, but they each protected the wild spirit herbs that grew in their habitat.
The spirit beasts in The Three Step Hills had begun to enter the core realm. Tobias's servants frequently visited them to check on their progress. The spirit herbs they protected were all marked so that anyone who took them would know it would be a death sentence. This constant interaction had tamed many of the spirit beasts, but not all, and those that did not have a good disposition towards humans found themselves invited to visit Lingling's kitchen.
Tobias slowed to a stop. He was outside the crowded eastern gate to the Capitol.
The senate had reestablished the Imperial City as the Capitol shortly after he'd gone into seclusion. The presence of the Civil Realm and Civil Sect was the main reason. It was also the fact that it was the only location not under the influence of any of the Great Clans or sects.
The one hundred core realm servants Tobias had brought with him landed their swords behind him and returned them to their sheaths, forming into a ten-by-ten grid, before raising his clan's banner and then his personal banner. The crowd waiting to get into the city immediately parted, but unlike in the past, they didn't drop their gaze and remain bowing.
The Senate had changed the laws around blood prices nearly two centuries ago, after one senator used the law to remove his rivals. He and his allies had then been assassinated in return, causing the following senate to recognise the foolishness of a law that allowed them all to kill each other legally.
Murdering a mortal could still be settled with a blood price, but it was no longer possible to kill cultivators this way without murder charges. Once Tobias was finished handing out his clan's horde of stomach meridian opening pills, a full half of The Three Kingdoms would be protected.
The foundation realm officer in charge of the gate turned pale as he sensed their cultivation, but brightened as he recognised their banner.
He cupped his hands and bowed, projecting his voice for everyone to hear. "The Capitol welcomes Sage Knowledge. May his journey to immortality be a peaceful one."
The eyes of the crowd bulged.
Many cupped their hands and bowed, repeating the blessing.
Tobias sighed internally.
He'd been gone for centuries, and his reputation and influence had only grown. His role in establishing the republic was now taught in schools as part of their history lessons. The younger generations considered him a hero, not a villain like the older generation, having always lived in a world where the weak could overcome the strong with numbers.
Tobias enhanced his voice. "Thank you for the kind welcome. I have been gone for many centuries, and it warms my heart that I am remembered fondly."
Tobias began walking forward.
His servants followed in lockstep.
Tobias would have preferred to go directly to the Ministry of Taxation. However, there were now laws against flying over the Capitol without a licence. The licence could also only be applied for in person at the Capitol. And Tobias needed one even to be carried as a passenger.
Tobias stopped before the officer. "My clan and I have been in seclusion. I am here to deliver the Pill Tax that we accumulated during our absence."
The officer swallowed. "I cannot allow so many core realm bodyguards to enter the Capitol with you, Sage Knowledge. It's against the law."
"These are not my bodyguards. You cannot sense my bodyguards. These are my servants. Each of their storage rings is filled with pills. I would have brought the entirety of the tax my clan is required to pay, but I cannot travel to the Capitol with more than one hundred servants. You may investigate their storage rings if you wish."
The officer did as Tobias suggested, checking each servant's storage rings. His eyes bulged every time, but once he was done, he waved them through.
Tobias wandered through the city, taking note of the changes.
In the past, the Capitol had been a place of luxury for the rich and powerful. Now it was a commercial hub. Stores lined every street, selling all sorts of cultivator goods. Tobias sensed core realm cultivators in many of the buildings, former members of the Civil Sect who had gone into business for themselves. Spirit stones were once again the currency of the cultivation world. However, prices were still significantly higher than before the Great Plague due to a lack of supply.
The storekeepers watched Tobias and his servants pass, not daring to call out to sell their wares to someone who travelled with so many powerful cultivators. Many cupped their hands and bowed, offering a blessing when they recognised his banner.
Nothing the cultivators offered intrigued Tobias. He had access to the Cultivation Academy's research, and many of their discoveries or creations found their way to his clan decades before the Civil Sect began selling them en masse. His clan also had the skills and resources to produce the same goods at a higher quality.
However, he stopped at a tea shop to sample an interesting flavour he'd never tried before. It was refreshing and gentle and would intrigue his grandpa greatly, so he purchased a third of their stock and went on his way.
Tobias's clan was far from the only clan in The Three Kingdoms unable to pay their taxes due to seclusion, and the courtyard of the tax building was extremely crowded with the republic's elites. The patriarchs and matriarchs of the second and third-tier noble clans stepped aside as Tobias entered, allowing him to move ahead.
Tobias had financial ties to all of the smaller noble clans in The Three Kingdoms, but only a fifth of them were present. The rest had all tried to cheat their way out of his contracts when he went into seclusion. Two centuries ago, Tobias decided on a whim that those who had remained honest deserved a reward and sent each of them a dozen sage realm spirit willows, along with other sage realm spirit herbs. This required his servants to keep them alive, but Tobias didn't regret the investment.
Loyalty needed to be rewarded, and those around him would be loyal in this life and the next.
Senator Lee saw Tobias and walked over, leaving his entourage near the entrance. His clone had managed to maintain his seat despite his seclusion, so he was The Three Kingdoms' longest-standing senator.
Senator Lee gave Tobias a hug, ignoring etiquette around public displays of affection, before holding him at arm's length. He chuckled. "You look like the arrogant young masters of my youth."
Tobias chuckled with him. "They're just here to deliver my clan's pill tax."
Senator Lee's eyebrows rose. "Isn't this still a little excessive?"
"You would think so, but I wasn't allowed to bring as many as I needed to make the delivery."
Senator Lee sighed. "You're going to terrify the senate with this. The pills I have to deliver are already going to send them into a fit, and I only had to bring thirty elders."
Tobias had been trading his friend sage realm spirit herbs for common fire-aligned ones for centuries, so the Lee Clan had had far more members in seclusion than other clans. Senator Lee had prioritised anyone who looked like a good candidate to replace him as patriarch, hoping to be free of his responsibilities, allowing him to leave The Three Kingdoms to live with his son.
Tobias was waiting for him to step down as patriarch before sharing the rest of his discoveries, so his friend was only slightly closer to immortality than he was three centuries ago.
"I'm going back into seclusion," Tobias replied. "The senate have a century or two to think of a solution. I'm sure they're more worried about the Divine Council than they are about me."
"You haven't heard?"
"Haven't heard what?"
"They're dead."
"Since when?"
"Since the day after they could safely leave the Civil Realm. Three hundred years of violent vomiting can leave you in a foul mood, and they returned to their clans and sects to challenge for the right to lead."
"And they all lost."
Senator Lee snorted. "The clan heads and sect leaders' replacements may not be sages, but they were able to figure out that they could grow their cultivation while infected. It was more than enough to ensure they won."
Tobias frowned as he realised the most likely way they had made the discovery. "They got bored, didn't they?"
Senator Lee howled with laughter. "That was my assumption. None of them will confirm it."
Tobias noticed Matriarch Chow leaving the building and flicked his fan to get her attention. Other than Senator Lee and the leader of Mist Sect, she was the only one who had waited for the plague to end before becoming infected.
She walked over with her bodyguards.
Tobias cupped his hands and bowed. "Sage Knowledge greets Matriarch Chow."
Matriarch Chow cupped her hands and returned the bow. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Sage Knowledge?"
"I wish to inquire about Elder Chow's health. She was the first core realm cultivator infected in The Three Kingdoms."
Matriarch Chow smiled. "Her divinity is exceptional, and she is quickly reestablishing her foundation. She will be a core realm cultivator within a year, and I expect that she will continue on to the nascent soul realm if she cannot convince her husband to give her children."
"She's married? When did this happen?"
"They met while trapped in the Civil Realm. They could only speak to one another from a distance at first. It was quite romantic considering the situation."
"Do you have any thoughts on a gift she would like?"
Matriarch Chow laughed. "Can you make her young and beautiful?"
Elder Chow had not been a young woman when she was infected, and while the plague prevented ageing, it didn't reverse it.
Tobias removed an ornate box from his storage ring. "This is a pair of divine beauty pills. Would you please deliver them on my behalf with hope for their long, happy union?"
Matriarch Chow's eyes twitched as she accepted the gift. "May I enquire where you got these from?"
"I traded with Peace Master So for the spirit herbs a few centuries ago. They are part of my clan's new pill line. I was going to register them with other new pills at the Ministry of Alchemy before putting them up for auction."
Matriarch Chow accepted the gift. "I will make sure that the happy couple receive this and pass along your blessing. May I enquire how many of those pills you will be auctioning?"
"That would lower the price you are willing to pay, Matriarch Chow. However, there is a list of spirit herbs that my clan still wishes to acquire for breeding and study. Any breeding pair can be traded for any type of pill from the auction beforehand. Many of them are not as valuable as one would think, given what they can buy, but only exist in private spirit gardens, so my clan is willing to offer a lot for them."
"Have your servants send the details to mine."
Tobias cupped his hands and bowed. "Thank you for your time, Matriarch Chow."
"Why don't we have tea when you reach the nascent soul realm?"
"I will bring my grandfather's finest."
Matriarch Chow walked off with her bodyguards.
Senator Lee flexed his aura. "That was too much for a gift."
"Elder Chow was very helpful during the early days of the plague. She even hid the fact that the infection was improving her divinity from the Divine Council when I explained why it was necessary. I also have thousands of those pills to sell."
"My son never mentions this."
"Your son has no interest in commerce. His realm exists solely for the purpose of allowing him and his disciples to ascend to immortality. He places great value on anything that can assist them and little value on anything that cannot."
Senator Lee folded his arms. "Have you been taking advantage of my son's good nature?"
"No. The spirit willows he provided my family are saturated in his dao of peace. This occasionally mutates the spirit herbs in our clan's hidden realm, causing them to be influenced by the dao of peace. I've been trading those spirit herbs to him for ones that have failed to integrate his dao."
Senator Lee sighed. "He's been trading rare herbs for common ones, hasn't he?"
"No. He trades based on how much of his dao has been integrated and how much potential remains for further integration. A mortal herb that gains some of his dao when it reaches the initiate realm has the highest value to him so long as it has the potential to raise more realms."
"That's as bad as I thought."
"Only because you don't know how to build a proper hidden realm. Visiting our hidden realm would be an enlightening experience for you and make you rethink what you just said."
"Is Yin Hao still there?"
"Yes. He'll be there for a while longer."
"I'll stop by before going into seclusion."
A pair of upper magistrates exited the building.
They spotted them together and hurried over.
One stopped before Senator Lee and bowed. "Patriarch Lee, I am ready to receive you at your convenience."
The other one stopped before Tobias but did not bow. "Sage Knowledge, it is a crime to bring so many core realm bodyguards to the Capitol. Please explain yourself at once."
"They're servants, not bodyguards, and they're delivering my Pill Tax. Are you the upper magistrate who will be tallying my taxes?"
"I am."
Tobias flicked his fan, and servants unloaded the twenty chests they had stored in each of their storage rings. Tobias removed a bookcase with over three centuries of detailed accounting information from his own storage ring.
"These are my clan's records, and that is the first shipment of pills. Ten of my servants will remain with you to answer any of your questions while the rest collect the second shipment."
Tobias's servants all wore ten rings, which meant that each carried two hundred chests of pills. The chests had filled the courtyard, forming a small mountain. Storing so many pills wouldn't have been possible without borrowing a storage treasure from Peace Master So. Many of the greatest treasures of the old world had found their way into his care, and he was more than willing to loan them out to friends for a price.
The upper magistrate shuddered. "How many shipments are there?"
"Ninety-three. For obvious reasons, I will not remain while you are performing your inspection."
Senator Lee stared in shock, but not for the reason Tobias thought. "We don't have to stay?"
Tobias shook his head. "You don't have to be here for the inspection. Only the delivery. But staying allows you to argue with the upper magistrate about the pill classifications his assessor gives. They won't find fault with anything I brought, and if they do, it is simple enough for me to replace them, so I don't consider it an issue."
The upper magistrate came to his senses. "We don't have enough space to store this many pills in our vault, Sage Knowledge."
Tobias turned to the man. "The delivery has been made. Your inability to store my taxes is not my problem. If you do not wish me to continue with the deliveries, you must supply me with a tax postponement form sealed by the Minister of Taxation."
"I will have that form prepared immediately."
The upper magistrate raced off.
Senator Lee stared at Tobias. "Did you just get out of paying pill taxes?"
Tobias scoffed. "I would never make a system so flawed that something like that would be able to happen. The form merely shifts how the tax is collected."
"In what way?"
"Because they've refused to accept my next delivery, they now have to tell me when they can accept it and if it is inconvenient for me. If it isn't convenient, I can ask them to collect and assess my taxes at my home."
"With how many deliveries you have to make, there is no way it will not be inconvenient for you."
"They can also wait until next year to receive their taxes."
"Which they won't do once they realise there is an entire stack of chests with core compression pills sitting in their courtyard. Even with the formations on their storage boxes being bulky, that still means there are four hundred of them in one place. To have so many in one place usually requires an army."
The Sung family had taught Tobias a far more effective way of storing pills, so there were actually twenty times as many pills in those chests.
Senator Lee glanced at Tobias's servants and decided that while they were servants, they did have the cultivation potential of an army. The upper magistrate, who was supposed to be attending him, leaned to the side to figure out which one contained the core compression pills.
"It's the ones with gold leaf," Tobias clarified.
***
Having the Ministry of Alchemy assess so many higher realm pills after having caused chaos at the Ministry of Taxation earned Tobias a visit from the 1st Minister.
Tobias inclined his head to the 1st Minister Yun as he entered the assessment hall, before returning to the tea he'd prepared from the shop he'd visited. The flavour was quickly growing on him. With a little sugar and some ice, it would make a fine iced tea. Once his grandfather got hold of the original plant, it would be exceptional.
The Minister of Alchemy didn't notice the 1st Minister's arrival as he combed through the ancient tomes, trying to figure out how to assess the pills. Nascent soul realm pills hadn't been sold openly in The Three Kingdoms since before the Great Plague, so no one knew how to assess them.
Tobias invited the 1st Minister to join him and poured him a cup. "I take it my presence is causing a disturbance."
"One can only assume that was your intent, Sage Knowledge."
Tobias sighed. "It wasn't. However, there was no way for me to move unnoticed, given the extent of what I have to do to act within the bounds of the law."
1st Minister Yun smiled.
"This is centuries late, but congratulations on becoming a core realm cultivator."
"Most would congratulate me on becoming 1st Minister."
"Your ascension to your current position was never in doubt. You are too good at your job to be ignored by the Senate because of our past relationship."
"I have been told you intend to return to seclusion."
Tobias nodded.
"When will you exit?"
"When I enter the nascent soul realm. I have reached the limit of what I can understand as a core realm cultivator, and the world no longer needs me as it once did. Those I care about are also going into seclusion, so there is little reason for me to remain in the outside world. We will interact through clones for the next few centuries, like we have these past centuries."
"And should The Three Kingdoms need you?"
"We will be there to help."
"I'm concerned what will happen now that so many powerful cultivators are free to interfere."
"Am I among those who concern you?"
"You are the only one who does not."
They shared a smile, remembering past conversations about letting him live a life of obscurity.
"I see no reason for concern in the immediate future," Tobias said. "Immortality has never been closer for those who went into seclusion. There is little reason to interfere in a world that provides their clan or sect with safety while they are absent."
"And when they fail to ascend to immortality?"
"You greatly underestimate how beneficial this seclusion has been for everyone. Many have what they need to succeed, and those who don't will only know in the last moments. The older generation will be leaving this world to a younger generation that is ready for change."
"You speak as if this is all foretold."
"When you know a disciple's divinity, talent, and access to resources, you know how far down their path they can travel. This is no different. I expect in the future that I will unravel the secrets of the nascent soul realm as well as I have unravelled the secrets of the core realm. The sage realm will likely be harder and the immortal realm harder than that, but I do not see either as impossible. They will merely take time. Time which I now have."
Tobias did not want The Three Kingdoms to know the extent of his understanding, so he lied through his teeth.
"Time where you will not interfere in The Three Kingdoms."
"No. I'll be interfering the entire time. Once I've paid my taxes, I intend to turn the rest of the mortals who live near my clan into cultivators. The pills will be distributed based on their divinity."
"To what purpose?"
"Cultivators cause chi toxicity, which feeds spirit herbs. Spirit herbs cause chi toxicity, which nourishes cultivators. The more you have of one, the more the other is encouraged to grow. Then there are the improvements to the world as cultivators open meridians and ascend through realms, and the improvements when spirit herbs do the same. Finally, when both reach their natural end, their cultivation is returned to the world, which nourishes it further. Their growth as cultivators will nourish my clan's hidden realm. It will increase the chi saturation of the Three Step Hill and allow us to thrive. I need no more reason than that to offer them cultivation resources freely."
1st Minister Yun stared at Tobias. "That is a cold way to look at your generosity."
"The road to immortality takes millennia. A cold answer is one that others will accept for that length of time. A kind answer will eventually raise doubt."
1st Minister Yun frowned. "And what is the kind answer?"
"When you have experienced life as the lowest of the low in The Three Kingdoms, it can give you unimaginable joy to prevent others from having to experience the same hardships. Explaining your generosity in a cold, calculated manner might allow those who are cold and calculating to imitate your actions, which can only bring more joy and prosperity to those who are suffering."
"And what is the purpose of these pills that our Minister of Alchemy is struggling to authenticate?"
"You cannot merely give someone cultivation and expect them to prosper. The money from the pills will go to educating them in cultivation trades and helping them to establish businesses as the natural resources around our hidden realm grow."
"The land around The Three Step Hills is the most prosperous in The Three Kingdoms. How much further do you expect this land to improve?"
"Have you seen my servants?"
The 1st Minister nodded.
"They practice my family's cultivation method and have been restricting their actions to our gardens for the past few centuries. They have not taken part in improving the land beyond preventing it from coming to harm. There is much that they can do."
"I see."
"Then there is our hidden realm, which has been balanced so that it can enhance its own growth to take advantage of the miasma that contaminated the immortal realm above us. That now needs to be rebalanced to boost regional growth. The same is true for our grand formation."
"Why would you give up something so beneficial?"
"Because my clan's dao path requires it. They are the trees that shelter the forest floor. The one who watches over all beneath them and encourages them to grow."
"I spend little time in the forest, but I do not believe that is how trees work. They normally starve out those under them."
"Mortal trees perhaps, but spirit trees can have many odd behaviours, and the one which inspired my clan's cultivation method liked to help those around it."
"This is a matter of their dao path."
Tobias nodded.
"Should we expect your clan to deliver such large tax contributions in the future?"
"Only if you aren't willing to collect the taxes yourself."
"How frequently will you be delivering core compression pills?"
"Five or six times a year if you are not willing to wait until the appropriate time."
The 1st Minister needed a moment to recover. "That is more than everyone else combined."
"The Great Clans and sects have no interest in commerce. If they did, they would find it much easier to progress their cultivation."
1st Minister Yun nodded. "When something is produced for profit, you are incentivised to find the fastest and easiest way to produce it. The Minister of Commerce frequently pulls his hair out over cultivators devaluing their own goods."
"And yet The Three Kingdoms prospers despite this."
"To everyone's surprise except yours, I imagine."
Tobias smiled and sipped his tea.