"Young master Yang! It is good to see that you are fine"

I held an amused smile as the round young man that was the same age as me gave me a hug while laughing.

This was Teng Hu, the eldest son of the Teng family and my childhood friend. His family is one of the three families that control the entirety of the Merchant alliance in the empire.

As far as I can remember, he has always been a loyal friend and even risked his own health and status for me a lot of times.

It was one of the reasons why I decided to go directly to him to acquire the materials I need instead of going to his father. He is one of the few people outside my own family that I am willing to trust in this fucked up situation I found myself in.

We walked deeper into the local branch of the Merchant Alliance, walking past the many people that arrive at the branch daily to either buy or sell goods.

The life of people in this world is quite similar to that of medieval people from my old world. Farmers grow crops to sell, miners mine ore, hunters hunt for game, and fishermen fish for food.

But the biggest difference here is that the civilians only had one place to sell their goods in this empire which was the Merchant Empire. Of course, they could trade or sell things amongst themselves but if they wanted a good price for their hard work and not cheated out of their money, then the Merchant Alliance was the only option.

This was one of the reasons why the Merchant alliance, along with the Mercenary guild, the Formations pavilion, and the Alchemist Alliance are the few organizations that neither the Royal family nor the sects are willing to mess with. Because with the exception of those in the Qi core formation or above, everyone else still needed food provided by the Merchant Alliance, the various third-party spies, and mercenaries provided by the Mercenary Guild, Formation masters from the Formation guild to protect their homes and sects, and the powerful elixirs and pills produced by the Alchemists of the Alchemist Alliance.

It was because of this reason that I came to this place. With how wide of a network the Merchant Alliance has and how often they have to buy and sell rare items either from or to Sects and the noble families of the empire, they are bout to have the materials I need, if not, at least know the location where I should search.

We continued to chat as we slowly walked into an isolated room in the branch and I felt the Qi pulse from Teng Hu activate the silencing and defensive formation of the room.

"So, Yang. What can I do for you today?"

"…Cant I have just come to catch up with you?"

Tang Hu laughed again as he looked at me with mirth.

"Yeah right, as if the Huoshan Yang I know would ever waste his precious cultivation time with something as trivial as catching up with his friend"

I felt a surge of guilt as my memories showed that what he said was true. I rarely ever talked to my friends outside of the sect if it was about anything other than Cultivation and trade.

He must have caught my guilty look because he started to shake his head and poke in a gentle voice.

"Yang, we have known each other since we were five years old. At this point, I know that it is not your intention to slight me or ignore me when you only ever speak to me about cultivation or things related to trading. I have long since realized that it is simply your nature and I accept it for what it is. That does not mean that I do not value our friendship"

"Still, I think I owe you an apology-"

"Yang, whatever slight you caused me by simply being you, you already paid it back in full when you saved my brother from being captured by the enemies of our family all those years ago"

At his words, a memory came to mind.

It was more than ten years ago when I was only 18 years old. It was my first expedition into the dangerous parts of the Empire. It was my mission to escort a group of people from the Merchant alliance through the dense forests between the empire capital and Gale city, a small city that is built around the Heavenly Winds sect.

While the Empire claimed to control the entire continent, the truth was that it simply controlled all the human settlements on the continent. Everything outside of the cities, towns, and villages is wild and untamed lang filled to the brim with demonic beasts, rogue cultivators, bandits, and other undesirable elements of civilization. While the cities, towns, and villages are very large, the untamed land on the continent is thousands of times larger than the combined area of all the settlements in the Empire.

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During this mission, a group of bandits hired by the enemies of The Teng family tried to attack and kill the younger brother of Teng Hu, Teng Ju. Thankfully, I was already in the final stages of Qi refinement, allowing me to take care of the bandits easily. But it was only later that we found out that even the personal guards of the Teng family were compromised. It was only through luck that I managed to take Teng Ju with me and escape successfully with our lives.

Ever since then, the Teng family, and the Teng Hu in particular, have been grateful to me.

I shook my head to dispel the images of the many innocent merchants that were killed on that.

"You are right in that I need your help with acquiring a few things"

"Haha, just tell me what you want and I will have it delivered to you within a day"

"….You might not be so confident after you hear my request"

As I slipped him the piece of paper with my requirements, his eyes bulged and his mouth hung open.

"You were not kidding about the confidence thing, why do you even need the Thousand-year-old Lotus anyway? It is the very antithesis of your cultivation technique"

"…..So you don't know yet?"

"Know what?"

At his worried gaze, I simply held my arm out for him and asked him to check my cultivation.

With a confused gaze, he held my arm as his wind-type Qi reached out to feel my Qi in the Dantian. But instead of finding the mist-like form of my Qi, he found nothing. His face slowly contorted with shock and horror as he stared at me.

"w-wha?"

"yeah, I was crippled by a certain someone during the previous expedition. I need these things because I have found a way to restore my cultivation"

"Who? Who did this-"

"Hu, forget about it. Don't get yourself and your family in trouble because of this matter. Now about the materials?"

"……I will have someone look into it. The Thousand-year-old Lotus is something that you will have to get yourself during the auction next year. I can get you the Divine Jade in a month since there are three pieces of those the size of an incense stick back at the headquarters in the capital city. As for the Qi core, you will have to contend for it with the Heavenly wind sect in the auction next month. You should have a decent chance considering the fact that the only people aside from you who know about the Qi core being auctioned this time are the patriarch of the Heavenly Wind sect, the Royal family, and the Mayor of the Volcanic Edge City "

I ignored his bad attempts at concealing his anger at my situation and thought about his words.

So, it all boils down to how much money I can spend in this auction next month and how much I manage to acquire before the auction next year.

I nodded as I waved my hand on the table and poured out enough raw spirit stones to cause even an elder from my sect to go green with envy. I also poured out all the gold I got from under the Sect and put it on the floor so as not to break the table with its weight.

I chuckled at the dumbfounded look of my friend.

"Hu, can you get these spirit stones minted for me? I need those before the auction next month. Also, exchange all that gold into spirit stones as well"

"…..Yang, which sect did you rob to get this? You do know that even if I were to use all of my resources and call in a few favors I will not be able to shield you from the fallout of robbing an entire sect blind"

"Heh, don't worry about it, Hu. I did not rob anyone, I simply 'found' it"

At his flat look, I simply looked away as he sighed tiredly.

"…..Fine, I will get it done in a week. Any more mind-blowing things you want to show me?"

I shook my head as he waved his hand and stored all the raw spirit stones and gold in his personal storage ring, showing that he would take care of this personally.

We talked a bit more before I decided to head back to the sect to prepare myself for the auction next month.

The fact that I am unable to cultivate is really starting to grate on my nerves the more I am forced to wait.

I need to get rid of my problems quickly and get the fuck out of dodge before shit hits the fan.