The High Elder was so surprised by his request that he directly insulted him. Sage didn’t take it to heart. Instead he waved his hand and two women appeared beside him. One of them was a tall woman, large bodied with an even larger chest. Her long black hair was streaked with brown. Beside her was a young girl with bright red hair. She was clutching onto the tall woman’s waist and looking around curiously.
“This is Pang Jiangbei and Hong Xiaxue. They are not only lovely ladies, but Demonic Plants.”
The tall woman gave a little bow to the old man and then the young girl saw this and copied her. Sage just let the two women be the living proof to his ability. The High Elder was confused by his strange claim, but then he remembered that the background information they’d gathered on this Lang Sheng mentioned Seals and a Human Seal that could hide a monstrous body and make beasts look human.
Sage anticipated this strange look and he nodded to the two women. Pang Jiangbei and Hong Xiaxue seemed to ripple and then their human bodies were gone, replaced by their natural forms. Pang Jiangbei was a twenty foot tall Cauldron Plant, she had a sort of barrel shaped dark green body with red leaf vein patterns. Beside her, Hong Xiaxue had turned into a huge patch of thorn coated vines. A large white chrysanthemum blossom was the center of her main body and these two large Demonic Plants spilled out of Sage’s Windscreen bubble. Even so, they couldn’t talk physically while they were in their true shape.
These two large plants filled up the whole chamber they were in, Jiangbei took up most of the free space behind him while Xiaxue’s vines spread out to cover the rest of the room. In just a few seconds the large and formal meeting room had suddenly turned into an indoor jungle. Sage waited a few moments for the Elder to come to terms with what he was seeing. Then he chimed in to break the stunned silence, “The proof is right in front of you. Unfortunately, I can not impart my own Gardening techniques to the Cult as they require unique capabilities, but the Cult of the Woodlord can make use of the services of a Gardener, right? Shall we begin discussing terms?”
High Lord Shi Wen was unconvinced. Sage felt him extending his Spiritual Sense and manipulating his Qi in various ways to interact with the two Demonic Plants that had just appeared before him. The two plants tilted towards Sage, and he looked at the Elder, “Please restrain yourself. If you go too far, they will not spare you.”
The old man was startled and he realized how overtly he was probing the two Demonic Plants. He was so caught up in trying to prove their authenticity he completely overlooked the idea that they were genuine and could lash out at him.
This guy’s lucky we are trying to make a deal. Otherwise, after the pat down he just gave them with Qi, these two would rip him to shreds.
Realizing his mistake, the old man was far more subtle this time, using less invasive techniques to finish his examination of the two plants. Sage saw the look on the man’s face change as he must have come to terms that this situation was genuine and. The Elder immediately bowed and gave a salute, “Forgive me for my presumptuous attitude. We suffer from many trying to take advantage of us. Even Nascent Souls have tried to hoodwink the Cult of the Woodlord in the past, please punish me for my mistake.”
Sage felt a little disgusted, but this was of course the same tactic he had used so many times in the past in an attempt to be left alone. It was pretty easy for him to pretend to be magnanimous and lift the man out of his bow, “Don’t do that. I admire the High Lord’s earnesty and commitment to duty.”
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The man seemed relieved that he hadn’t offended Sage. Even if he was only a Nascent Soul, the High Lord wouldn’t want to be on his bad side, but it was even more important not to offend a rare Gardener. It was another of the rare professions, but unlike the Seal Master it was not banned, only lost. The Cult of the Woodlord was very prideful of professions involving plants, just as the Holy Flame Sect was very proud of their flames. The Cult of the Woodlord’s Arborists competed with the Holy Flame Sects Blacksmiths, and the competition between their Alchemists was especially fierce. The Holy Flame Sect did business with the whole of the Kingdom and positioned themselves as a mecca for professionals. On the other hand, the Cult of the Woodlord was very insular. Their Arborists were some of the best in the Empire, let alone the Kingdom, and this distinction along with their excellent Farmers gave them enough power to remain rivals with the far more friendly Holy Flame Sect.
The High Lord was put at something of a loss. On the one hand he knew the Cult of the Woodlord greatly desired to recover the secrets of the Gardener. While the services of a Gardener was far from reaching the same value as gaining the knowledge for themselves it was still very important to them. On the other hand, this Gardener was actually a nominal member of their neighbor and rival. Any knowledge they passed to him would get sent directly to the Holy Flame Sect.
Sage could sense a bit of indecision and he went for a harder push, “I come to you to do business as a member of the Lang Clan, not the Holy Flame Sect. Any knowledge I trade for will not be shared with the Holy Flame Sect. I would be very grateful to the High Lord if you could arrange a meeting for me with one of the leaders of the Cult.”
Since he wasn’t sure what sort of position this ‘High Lord Shi Wen’ had within the Cult of the Woodlord he decided to just jump over his head and get him to arrange a meeting with someone who could make big decisions. Sage made sure to add a little extra sweetener, handing a Storage Bag to the High Elder. This one wasn’t full of Spirit Stones, but natural treasures from the Inner World. They weren’t particularly valuable species, but they were thousands of years old. They were some of the plants he’d purchased when he didn’t have much money and merely purchased all the plants and herbs required to make the most common pills and tools. Since they were so commonly used, it was still rare for them to be aged so long.
In fact, just a glance was not enough to tell the Elder much as there were many techniques to speed up the aging of plants. It was only after he felt the potency of the herbs and plants that he smiled brightly. Large parts of the Inner World were devoted to raising Spirit Plants like these, letting them age naturally as they would have much greater potency than those with accelerated growth. Certain recipes required specifically aged plants, but those that were artificially accelerated to those maturity levels only barely met the requirements. Those with higher potency were able to improve the strength and power of the pills and tools that were refined from them. In fact, the plants from the Inner World seemed far more potent than even normally aged plants. All of the waters of the Inner World benefited from the Green Lifewater, bestowing higher potency to all the plants that grew there.
The Seed of Life ensured that all Demonic Plants would be able to thrive within the Inner World, while the Green Lifewater is what made it a heaven for them. There was a reason these two ‘ladies’ were so respectful of him even without having offered them other benefits. Living on the Inner World was truly a paradise for them and as long as he didn’t demand too much of them they’d work hard to secure such a home.
Realizing the value of the gift he’d been given so casually, the Elder nodded and saluted, “I will arrange a meeting with one of the Supremes.”
Sage smiled, “Excellent. Then I’ll stay here for now and you can have someone relay the details to the City Lord.”