Zhang Ping was momentarily at a loss for words at Lee Hyun's question.
"It seems you truly have come from a very distant place, fellow Daoist."
"I only arrived in Yunze Kingdom recently."
"Then it is no wonder you did not know."
Zhang Ping explained as he neatly gathered the Water Root Grass on the mat to one side.
"The Fengtian Bureau is an institution established by the Yunze royal family to recruit rogue cultivators as Retainers."
"They recruit rogue cultivators as Retainers?"
"That's right. Yunze Kingdom has almost no worthwhile spirit veins, as you know. There isn't a single proper cultivation sect, and most clans that produced Foundation Establishment cultivators left for other places in search of better spirit veins. I heard that even counting the Fengtian Bureau's high-ranking Retainers, there are only a handful of Foundation Establishment cultivators currently staying in Yunze Kingdom."
Zhang Ping glanced toward the capital.
"But poor spirit veins don't mean that nothing involving cultivators ever happens. Demon beasts sometimes descend from the mountains, and spirit insects sometimes breed in the rivers. Bandit cultivators may target members of the royal family or wealthy merchant companies, and rogue cultivators from other countries sometimes cross the border."
"Do the Fengtian Bureau's Retainers deal with such matters?"
"For the most part."
According to Zhang Ping, the rogue cultivators affiliated with the Fengtian Bureau were broadly divided into Retainers and guest retainers.
Retainers stayed at Fengtian Bureau offices in Yunjing or the provinces and received a monthly stipend. The royal family guaranteed them a residence and official status, and sometimes provided them with spirit stones and pills or granted them the right to gather spirit herbs on mountains owned by the royal family.
In return, they had to carry out assigned duties, such as guarding the royal family, subjugating demon beasts that appeared near Yunjing, or escorting valuable goods.
Guest retainers, on the other hand, were rogue cultivators whose names were entered on the Fengtian Bureau's rolls but who otherwise lived freely.
They received no monthly stipend, but upon completing missions, they could be rewarded with spirit stones, spirit herbs, pills, talismans, cultivation arts, techniques, and the like. Nor did they need to swear loyalty to the royal family or remain in Yunjing.
Naturally, the reward for completing a single mission was modest compared with the benefits enjoyed by Retainers. The quality of the rewards offered by the Fengtian Bureau also fell short of what a proper cultivation sect could provide.
"So guest retainers are basically mercenaries."
"More or less."
"Then... if you're going to join the Fengtian Bureau anyway, wouldn't it be better to become a Retainer? It doesn't seem like there would be many dangerous jobs in the mundane world."
Zhang Ping laughed.
"Not necessarily. If you're taking the royal stipend, you may be called upon for dangerous work."
"You mean subjugating demon beasts?"
"That too, but there is another, more important reason the Fengtian Bureau is recruiting Retainers and guest retainers on such a large scale."
Zhang Ping lowered his voice slightly.
"Qianyang Kingdom."
"Qianyang Kingdom?"
"It shares a border with the south of Yunze Kingdom. Its territory is at least four times the size of Yunze Kingdom's, and its population and military strength are greater beyond comparison."
According to Zhang Ping, Qianyang Kingdom also had poor spirit veins, preventing cultivation forces from establishing themselves there.
However, the martial path had developed to an exceptional degree in Qianyang Kingdom.
Martial sects and clans with traditions stretching back hundreds or even thousands of years could be found throughout the country, and even the royal court taught its soldiers internal energy methods and combined-attack formations.
Not only did it have far more Transformation Realm experts than Yunze Kingdom, it also had many more who had reached the Profound Realm. There were even rumors that someone within the military directly under the royal family had surpassed the limits of the Profound Realm.
"That certainly sounds dangerous. I've heard that a Profound Realm expert can contend with a Qi Refining cultivator."
"More than merely contend with one. If a Qi Refining cultivator with little combat experience is ambushed by a Profound Realm expert, he could die on the spot. Qianyang Kingdom has also spent many years developing group combat methods specifically designed to fight Qi Refining cultivators, such as the Interlocking Sword Formation. They truly are not to be underestimated."
Zhang Ping gave a bitter smile.
"Qianyang Kingdom was always a land where the martial path flourished. But until several hundred years ago, they also welcomed cultivators as Retainers, much like Yunze Kingdom does. Then a few cultivators behaved so outrageously that the royal family's dignity suffered a severe blow. After that, the court began reducing its reliance on cultivators and started training martial artists on a massive scale. By now, the results have been remarkable, and they have been using martial artists to push the border northward little by little."
Qianyang Kingdom had raised large armies and invaded Yunze Kingdom several times. However, Qianyang's forces had been bogged down by Yunze Kingdom's river- and marsh-filled terrain, while even its martial experts were kept in check by the Fengtian Bureau's Retainers, resulting in heavy losses each time.
Afterward, rather than wage full-scale war, Qianyang Kingdom adopted a strategy of gradually seizing border fortresses, mines, and strategic points along the waterways. Even recently, clashes large and small had continued throughout the borderlands.
"I see. But if Qianyang Kingdom is four times larger than Yunze Kingdom and has a much greater military, why is it called a kingdom rather than an empire?"
Zhang Ping burst out laughing.
"Haha! How dare a dynasty of the mundane world claim to be an empire?"
"Would someone actually stop them if they declared their ruler an emperor?"
"All of this lies within Kun Kingdom."
"Kun Kingdom?"
"More than ten mundane kingdoms, including Yunze Kingdom, Anling Kingdom to the north, and Qianyang Kingdom to the south, all lie within Kun Kingdom, a Tier 4 cultivation nation."
It was a concept Lee Hyun had never heard of before.
"A cultivation nation? Don't tell me... the borders of countries founded by mortals and the cultivation nations spoken of by cultivators are different?"
"That's right. Mortals generally divide countries using mountains, rivers, cities, and highways as borders. When a kingdom prospers, it expands its territory, and when it declines, neighboring countries seize its lands. But cultivation nations are divided according to spirit veins and the spheres of influence of sects, and a single cultivation nation encompasses a far greater area than a mundane country."
"Then what forces govern Kun Kingdom?"
"The Biluo Sect and the Danxiao Sect."
Zhang Ping pointed east.
"About thirty thousand li (about 12,000 km) east of Yunjing lies an enormous mountain range called the Biluo Range. A Tier 4 spirit vein runs through it, and the Biluo Sect, where a Nascent Soul great cultivator resides, is located there."
"Where is the Danxiao Sect?"
"If you travel another ten thousand li east from the Biluo Range, you'll reach the Danxiao Range. A Tier 4 spirit vein runs through that place as well, and the Danxiao Sect occupies it. From Yunjing, that puts it roughly forty thousand li to the east."
"Does the Danxiao Sect also have a Nascent Soul cultivator?"
"Yes. As far as I know, the Biluo Sect and Danxiao Sect are the only sects in Kun Kingdom with Nascent Soul cultivators."
Zhang Ping lowered his voice for a moment.
"There are also several sects and cultivation clans below them led by Golden Core cultivators, but I hear that most major matters concerning Kun Kingdom as a whole are decided according to the wishes of those two great sects."
"What sort of major matters?"
"For example, deciding the taboos cultivators must observe. If demonic cultivators massacre mortals on a large scale or conduct blood sacrifices, they may send enforcement cultivators after them. And if forces from another cultivation nation invade Kun Kingdom, I hear the two great sects step forward to deal with them."
Lee Hyun organized the relationships in his mind.
"I see. If a mundane country proclaimed itself an empire, the great cultivation sects really would laugh at it."
Zhang Ping stroked his beard.
"So even if Qianyang Kingdom swallowed every other kingdom within Kun Kingdom, it would still be difficult for its ruler to proclaim himself emperor without at least the tacit approval of the Biluo Sect and Danxiao Sect. No matter how vast a mortal army might be, it could never stand against a Nascent Soul cultivator."
"Then in the eyes of the two great sects, the war between Yunze Kingdom and Qianyang Kingdom must be nothing more than a quarrel between mortals within the same enclosure called Kun Kingdom."
Zhang Ping nodded.
"Exactly. It isn't something worth the involvement of the two great sects. In fact, cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above do not recklessly interfere in mundane wars. If they killed mortals by the thousands or tens of thousands, enforcement cultivators from the Biluo Sect or Danxiao Sect might come looking for them."
"Are Qi Refining cultivators allowed to?"
"Not unconditionally. Naturally, even a Qi Refining cultivator would offend the two sects if he slaughtered mortals indiscriminately. If someone killed countless mortals to conduct a blood sacrifice, or practiced demonic cultivation arts using human essence blood and souls, he would be hunted to the ends of the earth. But as long as they do nothing of the sort, I hear the great sects do not concern themselves with every Qi Refining cultivator."
"So that's why mundane countries can hire Qi Refining cultivators."
"That's right. Serving as a Retainer of a mundane country, fighting martial experts, and even participating in wars are generally not considered problems. In the eyes of the great cultivation sects, perhaps Qi Refining rogue cultivators and the martial experts of the mundane world are all equally mundane beings."
'Mundane beings....'
Lee Hyun felt a little strange.
To him, a late Qi Refining cultivator was an immensely powerful expert. Yet to the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Biluo Sect and Danxiao Sect, the entire Qi Refining realm apparently seemed to belong in much the same category as martial artists of the mundane world.
"Is Great Yan Kingdom also part of Kun Kingdom?"
"Great Yan Kingdom? You mean that backwater north of Anling Kingdom?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe it belongs to Kun Kingdom... I heard it falls under another cultivation nation to the north. But I don't know much about affairs over there either."
"I see."
'Hmm... Is that why I never heard anything about the Biluo Sect or Danxiao Sect when I was in Qinghe Valley....'
At that moment, an old man wearing a conical hat stopped in front of Zhang Ping's stall.
"How much for the Water Root Grass?"
"Three coins per bundle."
The old man carefully examined the condition of the roots before picking up two bundles. Six coins dropped into Zhang Ping's palm.
"Next time, shake off a little more of the dirt before bringing it."
"Hmph. The dirt keeps the roots from drying out."
After the customer left, Zhang Ping tucked the coins into the worn pouch at his waist. Lee Hyun suddenly grew curious.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, you're a cultivator, yet you sell medicinal herbs from the mundane world."
Zhang Ping smiled bitterly.
"I've been stuck at Qi Refining Stage 3 for more than fifty years."
"Fifty years?"
"I'm eighty-four this year, so there's almost no chance I'll ever make another breakthrough. I've grown tired of spending all day shut away in my cave abode cultivating."
Zhang Ping looked at the people in the street.
Peddlers carrying packs shouted loudly to attract customers, while children ran around spinning wooden tops at one side of the market.
"So these days I gather medicinal herbs by the river and bring them to the market to sell. It's less about making money than coming out to see people. A day feels far too long when I sit alone in my cave abode, but time passes quickly when I come here."
"I see."
Lee Hyun felt a sense of affinity toward Zhang Ping.
It was regrettable that the man had nearly given up on cultivation, but judging from how thoroughly he had explained everything to a rogue cultivator he had only just met, he seemed to be a genuinely kind person.
"Thank you for explaining everything so kindly."
"If you're grateful, buy a bundle of Water Root Grass."
Lee Hyun thought of the low-grade spirit stones inside his storage pouch.
He would not have minded giving Zhang Ping one as thanks for the explanation. Considering that spirit plants already several decades old continued to grow in Tunnel No. 1, a single low-grade spirit stone might not seem like much money to him in the future.
But Lee Hyun quickly changed his mind.
'If a Qi Refining Stage 2 rogue cultivator hands over a low-grade spirit stone after hearing a simple explanation, instead of feeling grateful, he might start wondering how many spirit stones I have.'
Zhang Ping might look good-natured, but there was no telling who nearby might be listening.
Lee Hyun bought several bundles of Water Root Grass with mundane coins.
The Water Root Grass was nothing more than a mundane herb, but if he planted it near the aquifer in Tunnel No. 1 and left it there for many years, there was no telling what changes it might undergo.
"Do you happen to know when the Fengtian Bureau recruits Retainers?"
"The Fengtian Bureau welcomes cultivators at any time, so there is no need to worry about timing."
"I see."
"And if you're looking for Cuiyun Market, follow the highway outside the South Gate for about five hundred li, then find Cuiyun Mountain. Infuse spiritual power into the green stele at the foot of the mountain, and the entrance will appear."
"Thank you."
Lee Hyun bid Zhang Ping farewell and stepped away from the stall.
'He's a kind man. If I meet him again, I should bring him some of the Qinghe Rice I have left.'
...
Lee Hyun headed to a quiet spot on the outskirts of Yunjing.
After confirming that no one was nearby, he was about to head to Cuiyun Market when he suddenly remembered the spirit field in Tunnel No. 1.
'Ah, right... I need to use the Spirit Rain Art every ten days. Should I go straight back?'
Lee Hyun calculated the date when he had last cast the Spirit Rain Art. There were still about five days before he needed to use it again.
'No, Cuiyun Market is practically right nearby anyway. Since I've come all this way, I might as well stop by the cultivator market before going back.'
Tunnel No. 1 was more than eight thousand li northwest of his current location. Cuiyun Market, on the other hand, was only about five hundred li south of Yunjing, and if Lee Hyun ran at full speed, he could reach it in under two shichen (about four hours).
...
Cuiyun Mountain was not as tall as the surrounding mountains, but long banks of blue clouds lingered beneath its peak.
When Lee Hyun channeled spiritual power into the green stele at the foot of the mountain, a narrow path appeared where there had seemed to be a sheer cliff.
At the end of the path lay a small valley that appeared to be roughly the same size as Songyun Market.
Wooden shops stood in rows along both sides of the valley, while several tents and stalls occupied the open area in the center. A little over ten rogue cultivators browsed goods or haggled over prices.
The cultivator guarding the entrance looked Lee Hyun over once before speaking.
"Private fighting is forbidden inside the cultivator market. If you sell anything, you must pay one-tenth of its price to the Cuiyun Society."
"I'm only here to buy."
"Go in."
Lee Hyun entered the cultivator market. The first thing that caught his eye was a shop selling magic tools, but he forced himself to look away.
'I came here today to buy spirit plant seeds.'
Lee Hyun slowly browsed the area where spirit plant seeds were sold and first purchased seeds of a spirit herb called the Yin Water Lotus.
The Yin Water Lotus grew in cold, lightless water, and the lotus seeds produced by mature plants were said to be popular among alchemists. Its drawback was that it took at least fifty years before the first flowers bloomed. Because of that, it was difficult to find Qi Refining cultivators willing to grow them.
As he continued looking around, Lee Hyun finally stopped in front of one stall. Dried roots, seeds, and small pots were packed closely together across it. The owner was an elderly Qi Refining cultivator who had lost nearly all his hair.
"Do you have any spirit plants that can be grown somewhere without sunlight?"
The old man rummaged through his goods for a moment before taking out a small wooden box.
"These are Stone Honey Peach seeds."
"Peaches?"
"They look similar. But unlike ordinary peach trees, they dislike sunlight. They grow by absorbing water qi and earth qi that have seeped into the ground, so they can even be cultivated inside caves."
Lee Hyun's eyes lit up.
"When do they bear fruit?"
"I'm afraid that even under the best circumstances, it takes thirty years."
"Then I suppose they're not very popular."
"Well, that's true. Qi Refining cultivators like us don't have enough lifespan to spare thirty years carefully raising something like this. Even after thirty years, they'll only produce one or two fruits a year for the next few decades. I'm told that the older the tree becomes, the more fruit it bears and the better the flavor gets. The flesh of a hundred-year-old Stone Honey Peach is said to be sweeter than honey while still cold and crisp."
"Have you tried one yourself?"
"Where would someone like me ever get the chance to eat a hundred-year-old Stone Honey Peach? I read about it in an ancient text."
"What medicinal effects does it have?"
The old man shrugged.
"It absorbs spiritual qi, so it certainly qualifies as a spirit fruit, but the part of my ancient text describing its effects was damaged, so I don't know."
Lee Hyun gazed at the Stone Honey Peach seeds and imagined what they would look like a hundred years from now. He pictured himself sitting beneath the tree, plucking and eating one honey-sweet peach after another.
"I'll buy them."
...
Lee Hyun spent two low-grade spirit stones on several Yin Water Lotus and Stone Honey Peach seeds.
After leaving Cuiyun Market, an idea suddenly occurred to him.
'If I collect the rainwater from the Spirit Rain Art in a reservoir beforehand and find some way to release it into the spirit field at regular intervals while I'm away....'
Before heading to Tunnel No. 1, Lee Hyun returned to Yunjing first.
...
Once he reached Yunjing, Lee Hyun asked around until he found a district in the outer city where craftsmen lived. Workshops that made waterwheels, watermills, farming tools, and similar equipment were clustered there.
Displayed in front of the largest workshop were water clocks of various sizes and intricate wooden gears.
When Lee Hyun entered, an old craftsman missing two fingers stopped sanding a wooden board and looked up.
"What brings you here?"
"There's something I'd like to have made."
"Tell me."
Lee Hyun considered it for a moment before asking.
"Could you make a device that stores water in a large container beforehand, then releases a fixed amount into a field once every ten days?"
The old craftsman frowned.
"Once every ten days?"
"Yes."
"Without anyone touching it?"
"That's right."
"How large is the field?"
"It's two zhang (about 6 m) wide and sixteen zhang long, roughly half a mu (about 330 m²)."
"Where will you get the water?"
"I can collect it in a large reservoir beforehand. I only need the water inside to be released into the field in a fixed amount at intervals of around ten days."
The old craftsman rubbed his beard in thought.
"If the water is already prepared, there would be no need for a complicated mechanism."
He picked up a brush and drew a large reservoir on a wooden board, with a water container beneath it. A horizontal axle ran through the middle of the container.
"You make the water drip slowly from the reservoir into this container. After about ten days, once a certain amount has collected, the front becomes heavy and tips over on its own."
The old craftsman added a drawing of the tilted container and a channel running beneath it.
"Then all the collected water pours into the field at once. Once the container empties, the stone counterweight at the back returns it to its original position."
Lee Hyun looked down at the drawing.
"Simple."
"The simpler a device like this is, the more reliable it will be. Does it need to operate exactly once every ten days?"
"A little variation is fine."
"Then this method is best."
The old craftsman asked how many furrows there were in the field and how much water needed to be released each time. Lee Hyun explained the layout of one of the spirit fields he managed.
"I'll make a small test device first. Come back in a month."
"How much will it cost?"
"Do I need to make the reservoir and channels as well?"
"I can make those myself."
"Then fifteen liang of silver for the test device, bronze tubing, and axle."
Lee Hyun paid part of the silver as a deposit. It was quite expensive for something from the mundane world, but obtaining silver was not difficult for Lee Hyun.
"I'll come back in a month."
After leaving Yunjing, Lee Hyun ran back toward Tunnel No. 1 at full speed.
...
Three days later.
He reached Tunnel No. 1 safely.
"Phew... I really ran my heart out."
There were still nearly two days remaining before it was time to use the Spirit Rain Art.
After confirming that he had plenty of time and feeling relieved, Lee Hyun suddenly realized something felt strange.
'I've never actually tested the Spirit Rain Art's interval in detail.'
Lee Hyun had spent more than a hundred and fifty years in Tunnel No. 1, yet he did not actually know how many days the spirit plants could last without the Spirit Rain Art.
The reason he had never wondered about it before was that he had never intended to go on any long journeys.
While living in Tunnel No. 1, using the Spirit Rain Art once every ten days had been no burden at all for Lee Hyun.
During the rest of his time, he cultivated the Primordial One-Qi Art or practiced techniques and read novels and miscellaneous books bought from the mundane world. If there was nothing else to do, he lay down and slept.
A cultivator's body did not develop an aching back or waist from lying down too long, nor did the skin develop sores from prolonged pressure. Whether Lee Hyun slept for one day or three while circulating the Primordial One-Qi Art, rather than harming his body, it actually made him healthier.
He would occasionally open his eyes, eat a few nuts, and pick up the next volume of whatever book he had been reading, and ten years would pass in the blink of an eye. Lee Hyun truly knew how to pass the time.
Because he was not being chased by the limits of his lifespan, he never bothered worrying about things that were not necessary. As a result, he had never even thought of improving the way he managed the spirit fields.
But once he wanted to be away for extended periods, the situation changed.
'I'd like to join the Fengtian Bureau and interact with other cultivators.'
The fact that the Fengtian Bureau had endured for so many years and consistently provided rewards to rogue cultivators meant that it must possess its own accumulated traditions and foundation of research.
Of course, joining the Fengtian Bureau was not entirely without risk.
The Yunze royal family would not want to be pushed around unilaterally by cultivators recruited from outside. That meant there were surely late Qi Refining cultivators or Foundation Establishment cultivators within the Fengtian Bureau who had maintained ties with the royal family for many years, and they would keep the other Retainers and guest retainers in check.
But Lee Hyun had no intention whatsoever of antagonizing the royal family, so there was no reason for them to dislike him.
If he simply registered as a guest retainer and completed a few missions, he might gain opportunities to exchange basic knowledge on alchemy, artifact refining, talisman crafting, formations, spirit plants, insect control, and other fields.
'And martial experts probably come and go from the Fengtian Bureau too.'
The Retainers alone would not be enough to subjugate demon beasts or fight martial experts from Qianyang Kingdom. There were surely military officers and martial artists who cooperated with the Fengtian Bureau. Yunze Kingdom must also have at least a few experts who had reached the Profound Realm.
'Could I learn how to fight for real from them?'
The Azure Steel Sword Art he had practiced had already reached Minor Attainment, but the only opponent Lee Hyun had ever swung his weapon at was the empty air inside the training cavern.
As Lee Hyun saw it, his greatest weakness at present was his lack of combat experience. But accumulating that experience safely was not easy.
He could enter a cultivation sect and learn combat there, but it was difficult to predict what kinds of situations might arise.
There could be trouble if his abnormally vast amount of spiritual power was discovered, and he might suffer a serious injury during sparring. Most importantly, there was no guarantee he would even meet a master or Senior Brother willing to teach him how to fight.
By contrast, if he joined the Fengtian Bureau as a guest retainer, he could choose which missions to accept, and there seemed to be little danger in gaining combat experience by sparring with martial artists.
"Hmm. Sparring might actually be pretty fun. Better to move around a little than spend every day holed up sleeping...."
For a moment, Lee Hyun imagined himself engaging in an impressive sword duel with a Profound Realm expert.
He pictured a spectacular exchange of attacks and defenses across the training cavern, thrusting out his Earth Shovel Sword and deflecting his opponent's deadly counterattack.
'Heh....'
The total spiritual power of 101 shown on his handmade status screen was quietly filling Lee Hyun with confidence.
In reality, the Qi Sphere Barrier and Spirit Light Shield he cast by pouring enormous amounts of spiritual power into them were far sturdier than the techniques of an ordinary Qi Refining Stage 2 cultivator could ever hope to be.
On top of that, his body-protecting spirit light was also extraordinary.
Body-protecting spirit light was a barrier naturally formed by a body containing spiritual power. If the Qi Sphere Barrier was an applied technique created in imitation of it, then body-protecting spirit light was closer to the cultivator's spiritual power itself. It clung tightly to the body and could not be resized, but its defensive strength increased along with the cultivator's realm and spiritual power.
With defensive power like this, Lee Hyun felt he would not be easily defeated even if he sparred with a Profound Realm expert.
After grinning to himself while lost in fantasy for a moment, Lee Hyun suddenly shook his head and came back to his senses.
'Wait, though... There's no reason I need to go to the Fengtian Bureau right now, is there? I may have more than fifty times the spiritual power of a Qi Refining Stage 2 cultivator, but in the end, the quality of that spiritual power is still only at Stage 2. It would be much safer to start venturing outside after my realm rises further, wouldn't it?'
According to Zhang Ping, a Qi Refining cultivator with little combat experience could die on the spot if ambushed by a Profound Realm expert.
Even if he became a guest retainer rather than one of the Fengtian Bureau's Retainers, could there possibly be nothing but safe work in the world?
Lee Hyun realized that his intention to join the Fengtian Bureau immediately had been somewhat hasty. It was not because there was something he absolutely needed to do there. Rather, after spending more than a hundred and fifty years holed up inside a tunnel, he had simply started wanting to see more of the outside world.
'I let my guard down again! My lifespan is infinite, so there's no need to rush, is there? I can go to the Fengtian Bureau later. For now, let's start with what I can do inside the tunnel.'