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The facts were simple. Martial Disciples cannot fight a Grandmaster. Ignoring everything else, a meridian-strengthened body can handle anything an average disciple can throw out.

I walked to where the leader was lying on the ground. He was big and burly, but he couldn’t have been older than eighteen or nineteen. I did my best to loom over him.

“Are you ready to talk now?” I asked.

“You better pay the toll and compensate us for our injuries!” he shouted. “You don’t know what you’ve done. We are Boss Hong’s men. If you touch us, Boss Hong will make you regret it.”

“And who is Boss Hong?” I asked.

“Hah! What are you, a bumpkin? Boss Hong is the master of this territory. He is a Martial Disciple 9! You might have been able to defeat me, but you’ll never be able to touch Boss Hong. Kowtow and admit your mistakes or Boss Hong will teach you what it means to be mortal.” The boy’s face showed a confidence I couldn’t understand. He was lying in the dirt, covered in wounds, and he was still threatening me.

I wanted to use these kids to show me exactly where to find the technique hall and other hidden caches of knowledge, but since Boss Hong was their leader, he should know more.

“Alright, take me to see Boss Hong,” I said with a smile, “I will apologize to him personally.”

“You think you are worthy of seeing the Boss?” the kid laughed.

I stepped on his right arm and broke it. “Take me to see Boss Hong. I need to apologize to him for breaking both of your arms.”

“Fool, only one of my arms is broken!”

I sighed. Was this the cultivation technique they gave the nominal disciples here? It was like the Earth Heart Mantra, but it seemed to also give them a strong belief in their leader, not just themselves. These guys were destined to be nothing more than foot soldiers for the rest of their lives.

Knowing I had to play out the entire scene, I stepped on his other arm.

“Now, take me to Boss Hong so I can apologize both for your arms and for miscounting earlier.”

He began trying to scurry away. “You’ll… You’ll regret this!”

I picked him up by the nape of his neck and set him on his feet. “Move! Take me to Boss Hong.”

I followed the three men through the wasteland until we arrived at a small village of broken buildings. There were only half a dozen buildings here, and all of them showed signs of battle damage. Walls that had holes blasted into them had been patched up, and roofs with cracked and broken tiles had been covered by waxed canvas. Remnants of broken wood and bamboo littered the ground.

“This is Boss Hong’s place?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” answered the leader. “Just you wait.”

He led me to the center of the small settlement and began shouting. “Boss Hong, someone’s here looking for trouble! We need help to put him down!”

I almost laughed, almost, but the aggression circuits in my mind kept me from it. I wanted to slap the fool back to the ground, but I decided to wait for the main character in this charade before making a move.

“Oh?” said a voice from the largest building. It was still little more than a shack, and the door had been broken off at some point, but it was still the most impressive one here. “Let’s see who dares to cause trouble in my territory.”

A young man, younger than the thugs I had been dealing with walked out. He looked maybe seventeen, had long hair tied behind him in a queue, and was wearing pristine nominal disciple robes. Looking at him in qi sight, I saw he was a Martial Disciple 9 with a perfect foundation of earth qi.

The moment the man saw me, his eyes widened in shock. He ran forward in a rage and slapped the trio’s leader to the ground.

“How dare you!” he shouted at the prone figure.

I mentally flipped off my aggression and reengaged my friendliness circuits.

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“Lord disciple,” Boss Hong said, bowing to me, “please forgive me for the impertinence of these fools. They will be taught a lesson for their behavior.”

“No need,” I said lightly. “They brought me here to talk with you, and that’s all that matters.”

Boss Hong hesitated a bit but mustered his courage to speak. “Lord disciple, I must punish them. If I do not, it will only cause more problems in the future.”

I waved my hand. “Handle your affairs as you see fit. They don’t need to be punished on my account, but your family business is not my concern.”

“Thank you, lord disciple,” he said.

Boss Hong looked in the direction of a couple of houses before shouting, “Take them away!”

Three men walked out and hauled the trio somewhere else. Their fate was no longer my concern.

“Lord disciple,” said Boss Hong, “how may this one be of service?”

I smiled. “Let’s find a place to sit down and talk.”

Boss Hong led me into a small sitting room in one of the dilapidated houses. There wasn’t much inside, and the walls and floors showed signs of wear and damage, but there were two chairs and a small table. After we were seated, one of Boss Hong’s men brought in a pot of tea and served us while two more stayed stationed near the door. The idea of sharing tea in this situation almost made me laugh.

“Boss Hong,” I said, “as you may be able to tell, I am from the Alchemy Peak, and I’m new here.”

Boss Hong\'s eyes widened a bit, and he began sizing me up. Was he going to try to attack me now that I revealed I wasn’t a fighter?

I looked at him. “I had planned to travel alone, but your men decided to show me around.”

Boss Hong winced at the memory of his men attacking a Grandmaster.

“I decided it might be nice to have a guide,” I continued. “I am looking to visit your technique hall, and I’m also wondering if there are any other techniques that might not be available there. If so, I would love to read them. And, I would be interested in gathering any other information you would be kind enough to share.”

“I can help with that,” he said. “I’ll send my men to gather anything you want.”

“I’ll let you decide what’s important,” I said with a smile. “My main focus is on any technique manuals, but any extra information is appreciated.”

Boss Hong glanced at someone who had been standing just outside. After a nod, the man disappeared.

“It will take him some time to prepare.”

“Of course,” I said.

Working with Boss Hong seemed to be going smoother than I expected, but I knew a clear exchange of benefits was expected. If he didn’t see any return for his kindness, there might be problems later. Not with Boss Hong directly, I doubted he could do anything to me, but if he had strong connections with a deacon, it could become problematic.

“Boss Hong,” I said, “why did your boys attack me earlier?”

“They didn’t—”

I waved my hand, cutting him off. “I just want to understand the situation here. Why were they sitting by the road, and why would they stop people?”

“They… They need to earn contribution points, like everyone,” he began. “Here, there are only two ways to earn points. The first is to take a mission to leave the sect and collect resources such as wood or bricks, simple things like that, then bring them back to the sect.”

I nodded. They couldn’t concoct pills, so this was the way they contributed.

“The other way to get points is robbery. When a group is returning resources, we can rob them, taking resources or contribution points from them.”

“But I wasn’t delivering anything. That should have been obvious.”

“They thought you were an outer sect disciple,” he said, shaking his head. “Groups in the outer sect will send their weakest members here to collect things from our mission halls. We make them pay a toll or beat them up. The group leaders in the outer sect could stop us, but they blame their newbie for being too weak, not us.”

“Your boys can stop a Martial Master?” I asked. “They didn’t seem that strong.”

“Not a powerful one, no. Only the ones who get sent on messenger runs.”

So, the messenger runs were some type of hazing ritual, a way to punish the new guy through proxy.

“What kind of toll do they pay?” I asked.

“Usually, a pill,” he said, “we get one Qi Gathering pill a week, but that isn’t enough for most people. If we capture an outer sect disciple’s jade token, we can turn it in for another. Instead of losing their token, they will hand over the pill directly.”

It was all about cultivation resources in the end. This was something I could deal with.

“Do you have one of the pills they give you?” I asked. “Let me see it.”

Without hesitation, Boss Hong went to the side, retrieved a pill bottle, and handed it to me.

I took out the pills and examined it. “Mid-Purity Basic Qi Gathering pill?” I asked surprised. “This is what they give you?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Boss Hong again in qi vision. His foundation was nearly pristine.

“You’ve never taken one of these pills yourself, have you?”

“No,” he said, a little shocked, “I haven’t. How did you know?”

“Your qi is too pure. These pills will mess you up quickly. They aren’t too effective at your level, and the toxins in them will mean they do you more harm than good. If your boys have been taking these, that’s the reason their growth has slowed so much.”

“I understand,” said Boss Hong with a solemn nod.

I placed two pill bottles on the table in front of us.

“Here is my offer,” I said. “First, five Perfect Superior Qi Gathering pills. If you take one, it should be enough to reach Martial Disciple Peak without introducing any pill toxins. The rest can be spread around. Second, three High-Purity Meridian Builder pills. They will help you reach into Martial Master.”

Boss Hong stared at my pills with greed in his eyes. However, he was in control enough to not try and grab them.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“As I said before, information. Anything that might be valuable. Tell me about any notable events that have happened, or about important people, or discoveries people have made. I don’t need secrets you don’t want to share, but the more you can tell me the better.”

“Yes, yes, I can do that. Some guys have been here a long time. They should know a lot of what you want.”

“Also,” I continued, “techniques. You and your boys are using different cultivation techniques. That is clear enough. If they are available in the technique hall, I can grab them from there, but if not, I would like to read through a copy.”

“They’re using the standard sect cultivation technique,” Boss Hong said. After a pause, he continued, “It is available in the hall, but mine isn’t. I won it in a competition. They keep a copy in the outer sect library for disciples to reference, but you won’t find it here. I only had a few weeks to study it and wasn’t allowed to keep a copy.”

“No worries then,” I said, “I can get it later. While your men get to work gathering and writing down information, why don’t you take me to the technique hall?”