Light clouds drifted across the sun, casting shadows on Tetra Blessing City.

Once Sa Min walked out of his usual inn, having satisfied his hunger, he promptly set forth to do his task.

Though Tetra Blessing City was at the bottom among the nine cities of Shaanxi Province, it's still not small by any means. And since he's not allowed to set foot within Sa Clan's territory, he had to take the long route through the forbidden area to reach his family’s house on the mountain.

So if he wanted to make it home on time, he needed to begin distributing his supplies without delay.

The street was bustling with people and wagons. And from time to time, Sa Min would spot a bike. If he had one of those, life would be much easier. But those things were rare in the city.

All the nations of the Eastern Plane, especially the Xi Empire where he'd found himself, prohibited the making, trading and the use of any kind of technologies. Except for bikes and anything that didn't need electricity, of course.

Having a technological device here was pretty much a treason act.

Violation of tradition. A taboo.

Just last month, an official in the Tax Bureau had been found with an MP3 Player, and he'd been sentenced to be crucified naked by his shoulders in public after cutting his limbs.

This place was everything the heavenly union despised, clinging stubbornly to traditional values.

Sa Min, however, loved it. The heavenly union had no control here, and that made it perfect for him.

After a while, Sa Min arrived at a cultivation store called Long Zhang in a quiet part of the city. Without hesitation, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The small, unassuming shop had only two customers: one was haggling with the shopkeeper at the counter, while the other waited patiently for his turn.

A familiar moral attendant quickly approached Qi Xiu. “Lord Sa Min, welcome back,” he said with a respectful bow.

Sa Min gave him a nod. Noticing that the shopkeeper would be occupied for some time, he set down his heavy bag and began to browse the store.

The shop mostly stocked basic 1st-grade powercubes, which kept it running. Business wasn’t great, but the steady trickle of customers brought in enough to keep the place afloat on this busy street.

It wasn’t long before the shopkeeper called out to him. “Isn’t this the Heaven's Miracle himself?” he said with a genuine smile. “What have you brought for me this time?”

Sa Min returned the smile and placed the bag on the counter. “You flatter me, Senior Sheng. I haven’t even opened my sea core yet…”

After exchanging pleasantries for a moment, Sa Min decided to get straight to business. He opened the bag and pulled out about 20 small, blue cubes. Each cube had the same symbol on its surface.

The energy radiating from them made it clear they were powercubes.

1st-grade, low-tier Body Cleansing Powercube.

Powercubes were small magical items packed with all sorts of abilities. They were in high demand among cultivators of all ranks because, unlike Kas, they could only be used once before vanishing.

Another advantage they had was that they didn’t need any Yantra crafting to work—just the cultivator’s pure force.

This made them quite pricey, even though their effects were usually less powerful than those of Yantra.

The shopkeeper examined the Body Cleansing Powercubes one by one.

Five years ago, when Sa Min joined the outer circle of the city academy, he understood that he needed to gather as many force apples as possible. Even though they weren’t useful to him yet, since he hadn’t opened his sea core, he believed that having a solid stash would give him an edge when he eventually did, making his cultivation start smoother.

So whenever he spotted an outer mission offering decent Contribution Points, he’d take it, either alone or with a group. Once he had saved up enough points, he’d exchange them for cultivation materials at the academy’s Treasury Pavilion.

The academy’s resources were cheaper than those in the city, giving Sa Min a good business opportunity to make force apples. However, simply buying items from the academy and reselling them in the city was against the rules—though he had done it secretly a few times.

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Instead, Sa Min found a more practical solution: refining the materials into Body Cleansing Powercubes and wholesaling them to cultivation shops.

He chose this specific powercube for several reasons.

Firstly, the Body Cleansing Powercube was one of the most commonly used powercubes among cultivators. No cultivator with an open sea core could go without it.

As the name suggested, its ability was simple—it instantly cleansed the body.

Since cultivation mostly left cultivators drenched in sweat, unless they wanted to waste time constantly washing themselves, they needed these powercubes. And a cultivator’s time was valuable.

The second reason Sa Min favored this powercube was that, despite not being a skilled refiner—refining had not been his path, and he had no experience with it—the process for this particular powercube was quite simple that everyone could make it, even mortals, if they had the recipe and materials.

It didn’t need much time or effort either.

Moreover, the materials required to refine it were common and cheaper than those for other powercubes of the same grade, making it the right option for him.

After inspecting the powercubes, the shopkeeper beamed at Sa Min.

Not only had this young man provided top-quality Body Cleansing Powercubes each time, but he also offered them at a price far below what the shopkeeper typically paid from other wholesale suppliers.

The shopkeeper disappeared inside for a moment, then returned with a simple pouch. “Here’s your payment,” he said.

Sa Min took it, checked it over, and found everything in order—6 force apples, just as promised.

With the transaction complete, he tucked the pouch into his chest pocket, grabbed the large bag, bade farewell, and left.

He still had 30 Body Cleansing Powercubes in his bag, which he needed to deliver to two different stores.

…..

By evening, Sa Min finally arrived at the house. The door was open, and he headed straight for the ancestors' room.

In the hallway next to the room, a young woman knelt, wearing a red upper garment with long sleeves and a red skirt. Her head was deeply bowed, arms tightly clutching a book—one that was illegal to read in other planes. She was nervously muttering, “Our ancestors in heaven, please, please, please. I ask the Higher One to bless me with a good sea core, please…”

She was so absorbed in her prayers that she didn’t notice Sa Min squatting down beside her.

Sa Min glanced around to see where his father was before turning his attention to his ‘big sister,’ Sa Juan.

How convenient it would be if we can simply pray for a good aptitude, Sa Min sneered in his heart. The sea core is formed within us from birth, and no amount of supplication or tears can alter its nature.

He watched her for a moment before loudly clearing his throat.

Sa Juan looked up, and her face changed instantly as though she’d seen a demonic beast. Hastily, she stood, adjusting her elegant robes. “Greetings, senior brother,” she said with a forced smile, despite him being her younger brother.

Sa Min narrowed his eyes. "Why do you keep bothering me in the academy?" he asked coldly.

“I didn’t— I tried to stop her…”

Sa Min’s gaze landed on her lips; a brown, unsightly pimple stood out on the side.

Embarrassed, she quickly pulled her red veil back over her lower face, trying to hide them.

With a slight frown, Sa Min sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t call you Big Lips to insult you; I call you Big Lips because your lips are big, just like I call Sa Wen Egghead. If I wanted to insult you, I’d call you Ugly Pimple, but I don’t,” he said, a little frustrated.

He wasn’t lying; it was simply how he was. He’d always named people based on their most obvious traits—whether it was Two Faces or Big Lips, they were just nicknames. When he first saw Sa Juan as a child, the name just came to him, without any ill intent.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t even bother him, but with everything weighing on his mind, the last thing he needed was to deal with these two women and their petty grievances.

Even though he had managed to get rid of the body tracker by taking over this body, there was still a tracker on his Borned Ka and his Ba. The heavenly union still knew he was alive.

And they were most certainly looking for him.

Hearing Sa Min's words, Sa Juan’s big lips trembled beneath her veil, and she gave a stiff nod. “Thank you… I suppose,” she murmured, her voice a mixture of embarrassment and anger. She quickly turned and walked away.

Sa Min shook his head. "Getting upset over how people talk about you is the lowest mindset a cultivator can have," he thought to himself as he cleared his mind of the trivial matter.

Sa Min watched her go, shaking his head. How pathetically weak does a cultivator have to be to get upset over a name?

He quickly pushed the thought aside and sank down against the wall, letting out a sigh. After all that walking around the city with that heavy bag, he felt a bit tired.

After a little while, Sa Huiqing, his “father,” finally showed up.

Sa Min stood up calmly, noticing that Sa Huiqing was alone. Where’s the Elder? he wondered.

“Sorry I’m late. I had some matters to attend to,” Sa Huiqing said, clapping Sa Min's shoulder and flashing his usual fake smile. “But I didn’t think you’d be waiting for me. Are you excited?”

“Of course, Father,” Sa Min replied, faking a smile in turn. “It's an important day. How could I not be excited?”

Sa Huiqing glanced around. "Where is your sis—" But before he could finish, a voice called out from behind him.

"I'm here, Father. I'm comi..." Sa Juan shouted as she hurried to stand beside Sa Min, her voice trailing off when she noticed her father's smile twist into a scowl.