Chương 145: Grand tour

The grand tour wasn't so grand as it was tedious and often boring. We visited about 20 small sects nearby, most of them even smaller than Autumn Leaves, since they lacked even a single Sage. The small places were my favorite, as I didn't need Green Willow to suppress them, and could simply use them as stepping stones for my heroic reputation. Beat up a dozen Elders and Core disciples, scan their members for rare meridians or talent, then have Willow recruit the women I selected.

All too often, we found demonic spies and various plots going on, something which has been a constant in my cultivator life. Every sect and clan I visited in my life had demonic problems of some kind, from the baby spies in the Blue Lotus Sect, to more sexy spies in the Frozen Pavilion, the demonic duo which ambushed Zhen and Mei, and later the Gu ant plot to corrupt Yue Huang, the demonic ambush on Siao, the sexy spies in the Autumn Leaves and the Million Flowers... demonic cultivators were everywhere!

Even Willow was getting annoyed as my Heavenly oaths kept burning demons every place we visited.

"Pef Tian! There must be something we can do, on a wide scale. Sifting individually for spies is so tedious!" Sadly, there wasn't much I could do, not without becoming a Tier 8 Formation Master.

"For now, we can only sell and spread the Tier 4 Demonifuge pills and the recipe to every Alchemist and auction house we can find. Yin-aligned spirit fruits are not that rare, especially near deserts and damp marshes." I answered with a shrug, and kept examining my loot. Of course, part of the loot was material, as in spirit stones, rare herbs and artifacts, and the other part was human resources, as in new recruits for the sect or milk maids for me.

Sadly only two women qualified to become my maids, both peak Unity Realm fairies with Three-Yin meridians. Zumi and Ayin were their names, and both seemed quite eager to join a big sect.

"Are you interested in joining the Million Flowers and gaining an easy path to become a Saint?" I asked in a gentle voice.

"Yes!" they both answered directly. I thought it would take more than this... oh well. Who didn't want to become a Saint, after all. Sadly, the better type of meridians were too rare, and I couldn't find any. Nine-Yin meridians were quite rare, and Sacred Bodies far more rare. Plus, the big sects almost always detected and snatched the Sacred Bodies as soon as they manifested. Then again, having their hair change color was indeed a big giveaway.

In a world where most people had long black hair, being different was noticed rapidly. On the other hand, Willow was an exception too, having her hair far too long, over 10 meters now, and kept in a big wrap unless in the bath or in combat, where it served as... willow hair of sorts. And don't get me wrong, a Dao King bending her body and whipping her long hair at hypersonic speed was a deadly weapon, especially against Sages or lower realms.

Green Willow still had a lot of work to finish her Willow style, so it wouldn't do anything against another Dao King, yet. The first clan that we visited did in fact require Willow to let her hair loose, perhaps because she wasn't famous and scary yet. A hundred flayed corpses later, the situation changed, and we continued our investigation and forced recruitment, having the entirety of this Han clan take Heavenly oaths and just watching half of them burn.

Out of about 2000 clan members, we recruited 300 women who were decent enough to count as disciples, and flew away with their clan treasury and lots of eyes and herbs for my pills. I did find another Tier 7 whip, so the trip wasn't wasted. Some guy, that Pef knew of, called Genghis said it best: The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.

We stopped in the Clear Sky City for a day of rest and to visit their famous auction, where I could buy several Tier 6 pill recipes and sell my own pills, making quite a splash with my pure-grade pills which were in fact extremely rare in this world. Only a dozen old Alchemists could make pure-grade pills, and of course they didn't bother to make Tier 4 or Tier 5 pills.

"Why are you buying thousands of sets of lingerie, Pef Tian? You don't have that many... oh. Nevermind." Willow muttered as she read the answer in my mind. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I smirked and winked at the Unity realm salesman, who winked back as a fellow man of culture.

"Too bad I don't have any stock in black, Young Master. The proud scion of the Di clan bought all of it, and all the black heels too. Maid uniform, he said" the salesman spoke in a sad voice. I raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.

"Increase your color range, Mister. I might buy a million sets if you had a few thousand colors." I threw over my shoulder as I walked out, and Willow blushed around her ears while reading my surface thoughts. A million flowers should have many colors, after all.

"Di clan?" Willow asked to make sure.

"I don't know, fellow Daoist. Five Great Sages, I think." I mused with Tian's memories. This wasn't an easy target, even if they lacked a Dao King. Willow was only in her 1st level of Dao King realm, which was good enough for most stuff, but not yet ready for a life-and-death fight. Just as I was thinking of leaving the city, a young master appeared in front of us, and dismissed me with a superior glare before bowing politely towards Green Willow.

"Pretty fairy, I couldn't help but notice your beauty..." the Azure Sword disciple spoke in a honied voice, while I checked the sky by habit. A Core disciple must have a Dao protector, and most likely a peak Great Sage if not another Dao King. At least Tian did, for the short millennia he was an Azure Sword disciple.

"What is up there? A Dao King swordmaster!" Willow realized as I shifted my thoughts back on the Di clan and their demonic ways. An old man appeared beside the sword disciple and pressed his head into the ground.

"Apologies, Flower Elder. My little disciple didn't see Mount Tai." the swordmaster spoke politely, and glanced at me with a curious eye.

"My name is Pef Tian, alchemist and fairy doctor. Currently employed by the Million Flowers." I said in a polite voice, since I didn't want my path to end by accident.

"Alchemist... and sword adept too. Let's have the young generation spar a little, Daoist Green Willow." the old monster proposed in a mild voice, but it was actually not an offer we could refuse. I knew his type well, since Tian had been a Sword idiot too. Oh well, time to finish up my future Sage Sword technique, and test it against a peer. Well, against a moron who was still learning the sword.

Willow nodded, and we vanished from the Clear Sky City and re-appeared on a distant mountain top, already sliced and abused by thousands of similar duels. Most big cities had this kind of sword arena nearby, just to spare millions of innocent lives when the sword idiots fought.

"I am Sword Adept Tan Wujie, from the Golden Sword Peak. Prepare to be defeated!" the idiot yelled at me, and I dug out some wax from my ear.

"Good, good. So what is your bet, little Wujie? Don't expect me to fight for free." I asked with Pef's scamming voice. The Azure Sword disciple began to glow red in anger, when his Dao King protector held up a Tier 7 spirit fruit, prefect for my future ascension into Sage realm. Now this was indeed a worthy prize for a duel.

"Will this Myriad Flavors Apricot do, Pef Tian? You're both Saint Kings, and could use this fruit to become Sages, much sooner than by regular cultivation." he explained with a honied voice. It was of course, a trap. So I smiled gently and looked at the sky.

"If the Heavens approve, I don't mind, Dao King. Will you take a Heavenly oath not to harm me or Green Willow when I win?" I asked with a curious voice. His face fell, in more ways than one. I was in fact doubting his face as a cultivator, and by extension his entire Azure Sword sect reputation. Willow clenched her fist, while the Saint idiot stared at me like I spoke a blasphemy. This was also true, since cultivation sects were quite basically, religious sects.

In theory, the sects worshiped the Dao and in this case the Sword aspect of the Dao, but in practice they worshiped their Founder, Daoist Azure Sword himself, a Quasi-Emperor of huge renown.

"If the Heavens approve, you say? Never heard someone use this turn of phrase to insult the honor of the Azure Sword before." the Dao King growled with an angry voice.

"Well, the ones who won a duel without the Heavens' approval are most likely dead, and cannot complain. Many of them died on this exact mountain top. So, what will it be, Swordmaster? Do you dare defy the Heavens?" I asked in a teasing voice. The Dao King trembled in anger for a second, then looked up and took the oath. I nodded politely and went to face the other Sword idiot.

"Thank you for letting me win..." I said in a mild voice, then sliced three times. The first strike was of course aimed at the ground, exploding the mountain rock, for shock and awe, the second strike was a feint at his eyes, while the third sliced his dantian and severed his spine. Willow collected the Tier 7 fruit and sighed aloud.

"You crippled the boy, Pef Tian. Why not simply kill him?" she asked in surprise.

"I crippled the idiot because he wanted to pluck your flower, Green Willow. And I didn't kill him because the guilty one is his Elder, who should know better. There are enough demonic rapists on this continent, no need to raise more among the Daoist disciples." I explained with a casual voice, and ignored the Dao King who didn't dare to provoke the Heavens to strike me down.

"You!" the Dao King muttered angrily and collected the injured disciple inside his Dao Grotto.

"What do you think, Swordmaster? Is my Three-Yang Strike good enough? I am still working on it, to be fair. I think it needs the Sage realm to become good, but a Dao King focused on the Sword should know more, right?" I asked the old monster in azure robes.

"... It needs a bit more work. You could join the Azure Sword and replace that idiot boy you just defeated." he proposed in a sneaky voice.

"Nah. Swords are cool, but I am focused on medicine and alchemy. Just need to know enough to protect myself." I answered with a careless shrug.

"Swords are cool?" the man grumbled and vanished in an instant. Willow took my hand and flew in the opposite direction. At least nobody died, right?