"Two thousand," I called without blinking. The talisman brush was useless for my purposes, but the whole point of my fake approach was to signal I valued cultivator items related to calligraphy. A complete set of talisman-making materials wasn't something that I could buy without raising all kinds of red flags, but things would be different if I could convince them to come to me directly.

"Two thousand five hundred," someone called.

"Five thousand," I immediately followed, deliberately letting my tone come out angrily.

"Five thousand five hundred," someone else called, but his voice was already tense, showing that he was at the limit. It was good acting, but ultimately, acting. They were trying to test me.

I used the bell that called an attendant. "How much for these?" I said carelessly as I threw him five more bottles of Skin Refinement Realm pills of Profound Peak Grade.

"Our auction house is willing to pay two thousand for each in advance, master," he said immediately. "We can auction them tomorrow, and even if they don't fetch that price, we're willing to take the loss," he said.

"Good," I said like I didn't know the brush had been deliberately put by them.

"Fifteen thousand," I said, and the crowd gasped. It was not exactly an incomprehensible amount of money for the others. There had been a few weapons that we had been sold for a much higher price, but that didn't make my purchase any less shocking.

There was a difference between spending a hundred thousand for a luxury car and for a decorative vase. A high-quality weapon improved combat potential, yet a broken brush did nothing.

After that commotion died, they added a couple other cultivation-related items to the mix, including some kind of burnt book, showing that, while intact cultivation items might have been too rare, the same didn't apply to the ones damaged to the point of uselessness.

I didn't show any interest in anything that wasn't related to calligraphy and talisman making, but bought another ruined brush for four thousand as well, throwing another two bottles of high-quality Skin Refinement Realm pills like they were worth nothing.

All to give them the impression that I was obsessed with Calligraphy. Combined with the elevated market for higher-grade pills — likely due to what was happening in Markas — I was hoping that someone would soon arrive to make a deal.

Of course, all that trouble could have been avoided if I had known where to go to purchase some talisman-making items, but the lack of information and contacts prevented that from working.

No one accosted me when I returned to the room that was arranged, but when I arrived at the room, there were several letters waiting for me, along with gifts out in the open. One of them was a calligraphy written by someone skilled enough to reach Perfection, a few valuable brush sets. In total, they could be sold more than what I spent at the auction, showing that scamming was a lucrative path of living.

I didn't close the door, but kicked all of it into the fire, acting like their presence in the room was an affront to me. "Don't let people litter my room, understood," I reminded to a servant, playing hard to get. By doing so, I made several enemies, but since I didn't want to stay long, I didn't care.

The more aloof I looked, the better it was for me. Ideally, I had two objectives. To receive proper talisman-making tools, and to be invited into the palace…

Of course, my sudden appearance and my generosity were suspicious, but what I was looking for was ultimately not prohibitively expensive. If it was, they would have taken Aisnam's talisman creation tools as well when stealing her other things. Combined with the ticking time clock I added to the situation by claiming I would leave in the morning, I was betting that someone would invite me to the palace.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

They had too much inner conflict to dare to miss such an opportunity.

As for forcing me to help them … they might have done that if I had acted like an expert in any other profession. But an apothecary was not the best target for it.

Unsurprisingly, barely after an hour, there was a knock on the door. "We are under the orders of the second Prince, great master. May we come in," a voice said.

"Come in," I said, more reluctant than enthusiastic. One of the black-robed servants walked in, followed by four guards. "Our prince believes that such a place is not fitting for an exalted master such as yourself, and invites you to join him in his palace," he said.

I grunted noncommittally, showing my impatience, which cut off the extended explanation that he no doubt prepared. "He is an admirer of the true art of calligraphy, and he would love to have an opportunity to discuss to most recent piece he had acquired, written by a cultivator…" he said.

I pushed a manic expression to my face, like nothing else mattered. "Lead me there," I said.

Once I left, accompanied by a high-ranking royal servant and four royal guards, people paid even more attention to me. Most just wanted to gossip, while some were too determined while watching me to be onlookers.

They were likely spies.

I was soon led to another palace, which was the residence of the second prince. He was a young man, barely in his twenties, even younger than me. He greeted me directly, and led to me a private feast … which followed was one of the most boring nights of my life.

The calligraphy he brought was made by a cultivator, and he was quite decent, but spending the whole night about the exquisite lines and ink thickness was not my ideal way of spending time. But, in the process, we drank a lot. I purified all but acted like I was drunk, lamenting on just how pitiful that I wasn't able to find a complete set of high-quality talisman-making equipment, which I could use as a gift to a talisman master I knew, hoping to get some calligraphy lessons from him.

The prince, already drunk, shared with me how much he needed high-grade Bone Forging pills, and I immediately gave him a bottle, and several Skin Refinement tools. Exalted by it, the prince ordered a servant to bring me the best talisman-making kit they had.

"I'm impressed. I didn't know you have some connections with the cultivation world," I said.

"Nothing impressive," the prince humbly bragged. "I'm just lucky to receive the grace of a fallen cultivator family. Luckily, we managed to get the support of another branch when one that supported us had lost their power."

I believed that he wouldn't be sharing the last part with me if he wasn't very drunk, but that didn't matter. After a few more questions, I managed to finally learn more about the predicament of Aisnam, the third Queen.

Apparently, she was supposed to be a strong cultivator with great potential, but after an injury ruined her potential, she was sent here for a marriage alliance instead. But, as her branch continued to lose more power, particularly after the disappearance of her brother.

Once I gave him the appropriate signals that I enjoyed listening to the story of how a cultivator had fallen from grace, he gleefully came and explained how the other branch came and essentially robbed the Queen before giving their approval to imprison her in a location that was supposed to kill her slowly.

But, he wasn't drunk enough to mention the 'mysterious cultivator' that protected her.

He was annoying to listen to, and it was even more annoying that there was no reward for listening to his drawling for the whole night. Annoyingly, using a fake identity and fake implicit promises didn't trigger the System.

I expected it, but it didn't make the experience any less annoying.

But I kept a pleasant smile on my face as I goaded him to talk more about the politics while we discussed calligraphy, until one of the servants came up and brought me the talisman brush and other materials I needed.

They were of higher quality than I expected, but I didn't miss the small leaves that were on the handle of the brush, the pattern recognizable from Aisnam's clothes. There was a high likelihood that they previously belonged to Aisnam before, and I doubted it was the other branch that gave it to them.

Well, it made me feel even less guilty about swindling them.

I even decided to create some trouble for them. Once I was led to a guest room, I set up several fire bombs, then changed into a servant outfit and left the palace. "Attackers. Everyone, to arms," I shouted before I disappeared, and a few seconds later, the flames went off.

Giving the royal family a bigger problem to deal with in the process.