For all of Meng Yi’s teasing and ribbing, Xiuying is actually a pretty good teacher.

She does the anime beat-me-black-and-blue-in-the-name-of-learning-martial-arts thing of course, but it’s clearly more than just a sadist getting her fix by smacking me around.

She’s methodical and precise in how she goes about it; attacking me from directions that make me aware of openings in my guard, leaving openings in her guard that almost seem to highlight themselves to me, and pulling her punches just enough to push me to my limits without being dominating.

Well… too dominating, I amend, as I end up on my ass for what feels like the millionth time this morning.

“You always hesitate to attack,” Xiuying says as she helps me up. “We need to work on that.”

Personally, I don’t think an eagerness to attack would realistically stop her from whooping my butt, but I know she’s right; I do hesitate to attack.

“Sorry,” I say, “I just don’t really like violence.”

“And yet you asked me to teach you to fight,” she points out.

I shrug. “It’s like I said, better to be a—”

“Warrior in a garden, than a gardener on a battlefield,” she finishes for me.

I nod. “Exactly.”

“Are you done beating up my Young Master in the name of training yet?” Meng Yi asks, approaching us from the house. “Because I’ll remind you, he still hasn’t had breakfast.”

She’d left earlier to go see to her responsibilities, and her mention of breakfast makes me aware that I am hungry.

“What time is it?” I ask, noting the height and intensity of the sun in the sky.

“Late enough that breakfast will soon become lunch,” Meng Yi says.

“We can stop here if you want,” Xiuying says, leaving the decision to me.

“Yeah, let’s,” I say.

I’m tired and hungry, and while neither feels bad enough to warrant concern, likely due to my superhuman physique, I see no reason to push it.

Perhaps a truly dedicated person would keep going, push till they drop and do it every day hence, but that’s not me. I want to do something with my day besides avoiding blows to the head.

“Come, Young Master,” Meng Yi says, “breakfast is waiting, but I can run you a bath first if you prefer.”

“I prefer,” I say, eager to wash my stink off. Then, in a spur of the moment decision, ask; “Hey, Xiuying, why don’t you join us?”

The woman splutters.

“What?” she asks.

“Uh, it’s fine if you don’t want to,” I say, more than a little confused by her reaction.

Is my asking her to stay for breakfast so strange? Or have I committed some social faux pas I don’t know of?

“To be clear, Young Master Xian is asking if you would like to stay for breakfast,” Meng Yi says, “not that other thing your dirty mind is thinking.”

Other thing? What other thing?

I review the last minute in my head again and… oh, that other thing.

Xiuying meanwhile has gone red with embarrassment and is spluttering even worse now.

“Well, what was I supposed to think? One second, he’s talking about taking a bath and then he’s asking me to join him, of course I thought…”

“You thought or you hoped?” Meng Yi asks.

Xiuying splutters some more, to Meng Yi’s obvious delight.

“Oh, fuck off,” the other woman states finally, not at all putting a dent in Meng Yi’s enjoyment. Though, I suppose her pout and the colour on her cheeks aren’t doing her any favours.

“So, will you join us?” I ask, remembering to tack on a belated “for breakfast.”

Xiuying sighs, then nods.

“Okay, good. I’ll bathe quickly and we can start.”

“What about you, Vice Commander?” Meng Yi asks, with wiggling eyebrows. “Do you also want a bath?”

If looks could kill, I’m certain Meng Yi wouldn’t live to see sunset today.

Actually, scratch that, literal death stares or not, something tells me that if Meng Yi keeps going the way she is, she might not live to see sunset today.

I do know though, that if Xiuying kills her, Meng Yi will definitely be going out with a smile on her face.

“Thanks,” Xiuying bites out. “I’m good.”

Jokes aside, I have to admit that she is; despite the hours of intense (for me) physical activity, there is neither a speck of dust nor a drop of sweat on her.

I’d describe her as not having a strand of hair out of place if her hair ever stayed in place to begin with.

My bath doesn’t take long, and after it we have breakfast, which turns out to be a surprisingly enjoyable affair.

I’d likened the two women to sisters yesterday, and the truth of my words is even more evident today with how easily they swap stories.

In truth, the swapping is heavily weighted on Xiuying’s end. It seems like for every story Meng Yi has, the soldier has a dozen more to share; tales from her time in bootcamp, from her time living on the streets, even from her time here in Silver Springs. The woman is just bursting with entertaining, often hilarious tales that make for good conversation over a meal.

The conversation carries on for long past the end of the meal, and the longer it goes on, the more I realise that I have no stories of my own, certainly not any that I can share.

I mean, I can’t exactly talk about the time when my family went to the beach, and I wandered off with a pair of adventurous twin sisters I made fast friends with and we got lost in a cave, can I?

Even ignoring the fact that Xiuying knows nothing of the truth of my personality change, and it wouldn’t be the best idea to clue her in, Meng Yi has made her stance quite clear on what she thinks I should do with the memories of my old life.

I need new memories. Memories in this world. And I can hardly make them stuck in this house, huge as it may be.

In the next lull in the conversation, I say; “I would like to go out today. See more of the town.” An idea comes to me. “Or maybe I could do some shopping,” I say.

Xiuying looks at me weirdly. “Shopping?” she asks.

“Yes, for cultivation supplies and stuff,” I say. “There are stores that sell those, right.”

There must be. It’s not like cultivators order from Amazon or something, right?

“There are,” Meng Yi says.

“They’re not gonna sell you anything good this close to The Auction though,” Xiuying says.

Already anticipating my question, Meng Yi explains; “It’s an auction that’s held annually two weeks before the Red Moon festival. The three suppliers of cultivation materials in town started it sixty-three years ago and it has only grown since then.”

Xiuying adds; “About fifty years back, they made it so anyone can put up items for sale for what? Ten percent?”

“Twelve,” Meng Yi corrects.

“Right, twelve, and since then everyone and their aunt spends the year looking for shit they can sell for a ton of money.”

“Uh-huh,” I say slowly. “And when is this auction?”

“In six days,” Meng Yi says. “If you’re interested, I can get you the list of items on sale.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“They’re not gonna have anything that’s useful for you, you know,” Xiuying says. “You’re the only person above peasant rank for like a million li. That’s as niche as it gets.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “I was actually thinking about putting up some stuff to sell.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. All your peasant rank treasures won’t do anything for you now,” Xiuying says.

Meng Yi, on the other hand, gives me a meaningful look.

She’s my manager, she knows I don’t, or rather shouldn’t have anything worthwhile to sell at such an event. Saying I do is basically admitting to her that, yes, I have a steady supply of things that I really shouldn’t have.

I really should come clean to her one of these change days. It feels a little scummy not trusting her fully when she’s cast her lot in with me.

Turning to Xiuying, I shrug in a manner that suggests that she’s right and leave it at that.

Her I don’t have much of a problem lying to.

“I’ll contact the auction board,” Meng Yi says. “Have them send an appraiser over.”

“Thanks,” I say. “But before that I still need to go shopping so, do you know a good place?”

The trek to the store takes a few hours, and the only thing of note that happens during it is that people stare at me just as much and with as much fear as the last time.

I guess it will take more than a single walk around town to fix a two-year-old bad reputation.

Actually, considering some of the terrible shit that Qigang did, it’s more than possible that some, or maybe even most, people will never be able to bring themselves to fully trust this new me.

Honestly, it’s a constant surprise to me that Meng Yi seems to.

The store the women lead me to is sizeable and rather fancy.

A sign over the door reads HONG’S CULTIVATION EMPORIUM.

A beautiful woman in a green cheongsam who my qi sense tells me is only in the Ignition phase bows to us as we come in, an obviously strained smile desperately trying to hide her surprise and nervousness at the sight of us.

No, not us, me.

Guess Qigang’s reputation strikes again.

Hoping to make her feel calmer, I hang back, looking around the large interior of the shop and observing the items on display.

I stretch out my qi sense, picking up the numerous beast rank signatures of the items on display, as well as two human ones in the back; a beast rank in the fourth layer of the Weaving phase, and another Ignition phase cultivator.

There is something odd about these signatures though, they feel… excited somehow. Almost… agitated.

What’s going on back there? Are they having an argument?

“Is something the matter?” Meng Yi asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

All three women are watching me. They must have noticed my distraction.

“Oh, no it’s nothing,” I say. “Something just caught my—”

The qi signature of the Ignition phase cultivator flares up suddenly, then it flickers, like a candle in the wind.

My eyes widen. Are they okay?

“Young Master, what’s wrong?” Meng Yi asks, some urgency in her voice.

“There are two people back there,” I say, pointing. “I think one of them is hurt. Their qi feels… excited.”

“Oh, um… I’m sure they’re fine,” the attendant who’d welcomed us says. “Please, don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it? Is she for real?

I stare at the woman, and only then do I notice her mounting nervousness.

What the hell is going on here? I wonder. Is the store getting robbed? Has she been threatened?

The qi signature of the Weaving phase cultivator flares up too, then it flickers, almost exactly like the first one had.

I blink. “What the hell?” I ask aloud, utterly confused.

Xiuying bursts out laughing, only adding to my confusion.

“Um, what’s so funny?” I ask uncertainly.

The Vice Commander looks at me, an expression of complete disbelief on her face.

“Are you fucking serious, right now?” she asks.

Okay?

I look from the attendant, who looks like she very much wants to crawl under a rock and die, to Meng Yi, who looks amused and like she can’t quite figure out if I’m being serious.

“Is there some sort of joke here that I’m not part of?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Xiuying says. “It’s you.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, utterly confused.

Before Xiuying can reply, two people enter the store from a door in the back, a man and a woman.

The woman is beautiful, and wearing a green cheongsam much like the one the attendant with us is wearing.

Her clothes are in order, her hair and makeup perfectly done, but the flush reaching up from her neck to her cheeks, her unsteady gait, and the somewhat dopey smile on her face give her away; this is a woman who has been satisfactorily shagged.

The man who steps out with her, a young, frat boy looking individual in nice powder blue robes, spots us, and he immediately hurries over, bringing with him the smell of his recent activity.

“Whew!” Xiuying exclaims dramatically. “For Heaven’s sake, man, take a bath or something.”

The young man and both attendants go red with embarrassment, as do I, by association, loose as it may be.

In hindsight, it’s so obvious what was happening back there.

Like, seriously, a robbery? What was I thinking?

The guy clears his throat a little awkwardly. “Um, welcome to Hong’s Cultivation Emporium,” he said, bowing significantly. “I’m Hong Delan, third born and second son of the Hong family. How may I serve you?”

“My Young Master is looking to do some light shopping before The Auction,” Meng Yi says. “Do you have anything worthwhile?”

The woman says I’m looking to do some light shopping and then asks if he has anything worthwhile.

Funny thing is, I’m not even looking for what’s worthwhile, I’m looking for trash.

My power works best with trash. I literally can’t miss when rolling for beast rank; worst case scenario I end up with a spare, and best case, I get a divine rank item.

Although, maybe that’s not such a good scenario, seeing as, according to Meng Yi, even looking at divine rank stuff is punishable by death.

“I assure you, Manager Meng,” Hong Delan is saying, “our catalogue has, and will forever be the finest in Silver Springs. Even with The Auction just a few days away, we still have some peasant rank—”

“Only beast rank,” I cut in, and when all eyes turn to me, I say; “Let’s save the real spending for The Auction.” Which really needs a better name than The Auction.

“Of course, Young Master Xian, brilliant idea!” Hong Delan says in a tone of voice that convinces me that he would say the exact same thing if I suggested we boil up a three-month-old and serve them as a stew dish.

Hong Delan quickly leads us to a display that showcases a pair of white fur slippers.

“These are slippers made with the fur of a Core Formation Realm South Tundra Fox. They’re as soft as the—”

“Um, Delan?” I say, cutting him off as gently as I can. “I’m actually more interested in supplements; things to aid cultivation. Do you have those?”

“Oh, uh, yes, of course, right this way.”

He leads us to a different display, this one showcasing a perfectly ripe mango.

It practically glows gold.

“This is a fifteen-year-old Golden Mango,” Hong Delan says.

Huh, apt name.

The age of the fruit means a lot. It means that this mango was left to ripen on its tree for fifteen years before being plucked, which makes it a beast rank item.

Not all cultivation plants work this way, most, like the Goldendew Mint tea Meng Yi had ordered for me during the breakfast in which I made Xiuying force advance, are what they are regardless of age.

No amount of ripening or aging will make them better, they’ll simply go bad.

For some others though, like Celestial Plums and Golden Mangoes apparently, age makes all the difference.

From one to a hundred years, that’s beast rank. A hundred to two-fifty is peasant. Two-fifty to five hundred is sage. That to a thousand is noble, and past that is divine.

When I’d asked Meng Yi how anybody grows anything for a thousand years, she’d told me about artificial realms, pocket dimensions with time dilation created and maintained by humans at immense cost.

According to her, some of these artificial realms have time sped up to a factor of fifty, making fifty years within a year outside.

Meng Yi had also said that the cultivation crops that go up in rank as they age are the best kinds, because they usually have stronger, permanent effects, and because they can be eaten by cultivators of any rank, including those in the Ignition phase.

“What does it do?” I ask and Hong Delan hurries to answer.

“Oh, a lot, Young Master,” he says. “But mostly it strengthens a cultivator’s sensitivity to qi. Sharpens the qi sense like nothing else.”

I nod interestedly. “May I see it?” I ask and Hong Delan agrees without hesitation.

He lifts the glass, and I pick up the fruit, and, as soon as I try to roll for it, I receive a message that is definitely not the one I was expecting.

Failure.

Cannot roll for item you do not own.

Are you kidding me, right now?

“Meng Yi,” I say in annoyance, “pay the man for the fruit.”

My manager blinks at me. “Beg your pardon, Young Master?”

I sigh. “Nothing,” I say, then to Hong Delan; “I’ll take this one.”

Just to be sure, I try to roll for the fruit again, but I only get the same message.

Guess it will only work when it’s actually mine.

I sigh again. What a petty power.

I end up buying fifteen items, and when Meng Yi and I return home, I immediately begin to roll for everything, acting like I’m inspecting them all before we keep them in the vault.

Things go great right from the start; my first three rolls, the Golden Mango, the South Tundra Fox fur slippers which I ended up taking, and a bag of Goldendew Mint tea all come out at noble rank with rolls of 989, 951, and 977.

The next five are all beast rank, but I can hardly bring myself to care.

A sage rank comes after that, making my mood climb even higher, then another beast rank.

As I roll for the eleventh item though, I get a message I’ve never gotten before.

Failure.

Cannot earn more than ten rewards in a day.

What? I blink at the message.

Confused, and with some dread growing in my heart, I try to roll for the item again.

The message changes.

Failure.

Cannot roll for an item more than once.

Wait, what? I stare at the new message in horror.

Needing to be certain though, I pick up another item and try again.

Failure.

Cannot earn more than ten rewards in a day.

No. No.

I try to roll again.

Failure.

Cannot roll for an item more than once.

“Young Master, are you okay?” Meng Yi asks, staring at me oddly.

I sigh, an excuse ready at the tip of my tongue.

But then, right before I say it, I just don’t.

If I can’t trust Meng Yi with this, then I’m several shades of screwed.

“I’m okay,” I say, “but there’s something I need to tell you.”