As we walked, the young woman began writing some things in a notebook.

“So,” she asked happily, “what do you know about cultivation techniques?”

“Not much, I guess. I’ve never actually seen one. I’ve only just heard about a couple.”

“Oh? Which ones have you heard about?”

“Well…” I said stumbling, “I heard of the Earth Heart Mantra. You know, for earth qi.”

“Yea! That one is excellent! It’s a best seller. Whenever a new family comes into a bit of money, the Earth Heart Mantra is one of their first purchases!”

“What? Really? Doesn’t it make people, like, crazy?”

“Crazy? No, definitely not! It’s a great technique. Grade-A.”

“It doesn’t affect people’s minds and make them believe they can do anything?”

“Eh, not anything. They just think they are invincible warriors. Doesn’t make ‘em crazy though. It’s more, it gives them boundless confidence. ‘I don’t care who you are, I can step on you!’ type thing.”

“Why would someone want that? It’s suicidal.”

“Yep, that’s why it’s so great. They don’t buy it for themselves of course. It’s a technique passed to guards and the like. If some high-level thug tries to stop you, you need guards that will fight back, even when they are completely outmatched. The Earth Heart Mantra cultivates that mindset!”

“Still…”

“What other techniques have you heard of?”

“The, uh, Guided Flame Mantra?”

“Ouch, now that is a nasty one. Slave mantra. We’re willing to sell it, but even we have to be careful with something like that.”

We kept walking for a few minutes before finally reaching a set of stairs.

“Let’s go,” the woman said, placing her notebook down on a small table.

She led me up a couple of flights of stairs and out onto a balcony that overlooked the grand emporium of the pagoda’s main floor.

“Don’t worry, they can’t see us up here. A formation blocks their view of the balcony. This place just looks like decorative wall panels from down there. Here, let me show you around.”

She took me on a tour around the balcony, pointing out the various counters and discussing what they sold. The tour lasted at least another half hour. Finally, she brought me to a decoratively carved wooden door.

“Ah, here we are,” she said, “the boss’s office. Let’s go in.”

Without knocking, she pushed open the door and pulled me inside.

“Hey boss man, got a kid here. He wants to make a deal with ya!”

A man who looked to be in his late twenties stood up from behind his desk and walked over to me. He held out his hand. Without waiting more than a beat, he reached down and grabbed my hand, which was still down at my side, giving it a firm handshake.

“Welcome!” he said with a hearty laugh. “My name is Chen WuJing. I’m the floor manager of this branch of the Blue Wind Pavilion. Call me WuJing. What’s your name?”

“Um, Su Fang?”

“Su Fang, great name. Mind if I call you Fang?”

“No… not at all.”

“Excellent, Fang. Come on in. Take a seat.” He did not take me to the desk but to a few armchairs off to the side.

“Fang, you said you want to make a deal. From what Mei told me, you are looking for a cultivation technique, right?”

“Mei?”

“Oh, that’s me!” the young woman said blushing, giving a small bow. “Pei LiMei, call me Mei.”

“Yes, um, hi, yes, I do want a cultivation technique.”

“Great!” said WuJing. “I look forward to working with you.”

This wasn’t right. None of this was. Ever since I entered the building things had been so… off. There was no way Mei should have talked to me like she did, and there was definitely no chance a manager of this kind of store would be so deferential to a guy who looked like he spent last night sleeping on the streets of the slums. This was not how this should be going at all. Something was wrong.

“Ah, there it is, I see that look in your eye,” said WuJing with a slight grin. “Not everyone gets it, but, of course, in your situation, things are quite obvious, no?” He gave a hearty laugh. “Before we talk about our deal, let me level with you, okay?”

“Yeah…”

“Alright, so, let me tell you about us. The Blue Wind Pavilion is one of the largest organizations on the continent. We have branches in every major city and most minor ones. Many powerful cultivators work for us, and a Martial Sovereign is our leader.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He reached to the side table and poured tea into two small cups, took one for himself, and passed me the other.

“This city is, quite frankly, poor. Our main pavilion earns as much wealth in a second as this place earns in years. There is no profit to be made here. However, there are still a few reasons we have a branch here. For you, the most important one is that we value talent. One of our biggest motivations is to dig out any talents we can find lying about.”

He swirled the liquid in his cup a little before continuing.

“Look at Mei here,” he said with a gesture, “she completely lacks any affinity. She is completely unable to cultivate and was actually kicked out of her clan, if you can believe it. But do you know what? She is my most valued worker by far. She is priceless.”

“Why?” I asked simply, allowing him to elaborate.

“Blessings are interesting things. We say ‘blessings can be anything’, but people rarely think deeply about the implications of that. Some blessings are fascinating.”

WuJing held up the small notebook Mei had been writing in earlier.

“Mei here has a very interesting blessing. When she meets someone, she gains unnatural insight into how to best interact with them. She knows exactly how to talk and behave to achieve the best result possible. She may not even know what result she is working towards, just that it is the ‘best possible’. It makes her an excellent saleswoman. Don’t trust her for a second though. That girl is a wolf. You sold some things to her before, right? Bet you didn’t even haggle. You probably could have gotten at least 10% more out of anyone else.”

“Boss!” Mei shouted, stomping her foot. “Stop it! I’ll have you know I gave him an excellent deal. Far more than you would have, that’s for sure.”

“Alright, alright. Now, take a look at this,” he said, opening Mei’s notebook and handing it to me.

As I read it, I kept glancing at Mei.

Careful with this one, personality is very unique

Be completely open and honest, lies will be self-defeating

Don’t ask about his background

Give direct pricing, won’t haggle

Use given names with speaking

Always act like everyone is equal

Behavior should be close to a commoner in a restaurant

The writing continued, but I stopped reading.

“These are the instructions Mei gave me for dealing with you, what do you think?” he asked.

“Why are you telling me this? This feels like something you wouldn’t say to just anyone.”

“Ah,” he said, tapping the book, “nearly the first thing she said. Completely open and honest. I trust Mei, so I do my best to follow her instructions. I’m not even concerned how you react to my behavior. Mei told me to act like this, so I am.”

He smiled at her then turned back to look at me.

“Now,” continued WuJing, “let me tell you about my blessing. It’s nowhere as crystal clear as Mei’s. I only get vague impressions. To put it simply, I get a vague sense of how important people are. Maybe it’s better to say… I get an impression of how much benefit I can get from someone. Mei’s and my blessings complement each other excellently.”

He raised both hands and clasped them together meaningfully.

“Mei brought you up here because she believed you had a powerful blessing in alchemy. This could, of course, be very valuable to us. When I met you though, my word… Where my Blessing shows most people as a candle, you are a raging bonfire! Working together would be extremely profitable.”

A sly grin crossed his face, and I saw a bit of greedy glint in his eye.

“So, let’s make a deal. I know nothing about you. Not a clue what your actual goal is. And no, I won’t ask. She told me not to,” he said, gesturing at Mei. “If you want, you can give me some details, and we can work something out, but anticipating your needs, I prepared a few options for you to choose from.”

He took me over to a side table. On it were three scrolls and a piece of paper.

“This,” he said, pointing at a scroll, “is the Flickering Flame Mantra. It is the weakest Rank 1 fire qi cultivation technique I have ever seen. No warrior would even consider it. However, it can be great for alchemists. The low strength means controlling your energy is easier. We usually sell it for 50 gold. For you, it will be 100 gold since you are going to need to pay with a loan. You will then spend however long it takes concocting pills to pay off this loan. This is a simple transaction with no additional benefits to either side.”

I nodded. The price was steep, but if the technique were safe, it wouldn’t be a terrible deal for me.

“This,” he said, as he gestured at the second scroll, “is the Bright Candle Mantra. It is a bit better. It’s a Mid-Yellow Rank 1 technique. The normal cost is 100 gold, and I will sell it to you at that price, the same price and payment scheme as the last scroll. The difference is you will become a guest alchemist of our pavilion. You will prioritize us above any other organization, and we will have the right of first refusal for purchasing any of your pills. We can talk through the exact details if you wish, such as minor benefits when buying and selling.”

He moved to the third scroll and placed his hand on it carefully.

“This is the real beauty of the lot. It is a Low-Profound technique. It is not for sale, and even if it were, I don’t think you would be able to cover the cost. I am willing to give you this scroll for free. No debt needed. However, you will then become a full member of the Blue Wind Pavilion. We can talk about what that means later if you wish. Unfortunately, right now you don’t qualify for this. You would need to tell me exactly what your blessing is and how it will help you in alchemy. We will test it, of course. If we deem it valuable enough, you get the scroll. We can even see about finding you a master to study under. This would be a great option, but I don’t know if you want to tell us what we need to know.”

After explaining all of the technique scrolls, he tapped on the lone sheet of paper that remained.

“Finally, we have this option. I really don’t want to offer it because I can guess what will happen. This is not a technique. It’s a recruitment notice. The Twin Mountains Sect is located not too far from here. In two months, they will be having their annual recruitment. We will sell you a room, food, and transport to the sect. During this time, you can buy ingredients and concoct pills for us while you wait. We will buy them all at the same prices Mei quoted earlier. Normally, joining a sect would require a decent cultivation level, and you would almost certainly have to give them the same information that you would us. The Twin Mountains Sect, however, has a special recruitment for alchemists. The only criterion is the ability to concoct pills, which you have proven you can do.”

WuJing had me pegged as someone with a powerful alchemic blessing. I did not have that, and I could not tell anyone about my blessing, so option three was out. I could try to bluff a blessing, but I doubted I could pass any test they threw at me.

One and two were possible. I could take the scroll, cultivate it, and just live my life. The thing was, I didn’t really know much about alchemy. Getting any better on my own would be nearly impossible. I needed techniques, recipes, and ideally a decent teacher. With options one and two, I would be on my own trying to find these things.

The other problem was that I had no idea where to go from here. I knew nothing about the world, so taking a technique and leaving with it would leave me lost and adrift. Was everything on the up and up with these deals? Maybe, maybe not, but all I would waste was time. If I followed his advice and found it trustworthy, it could create a foundation for a future partnership.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I gotta go with joining the sect.”