The road stretched out ahead, dry and cracked under the afternoon sun. I kicked a pebble lazily as I walked, hands tucked into my sleeves, feeling pretty damn pleased with myself.
The faint pulse of the Starheart—Bao Qiu now, officially—hummed beneath my ribs, a steady thrum of energy still leaking from the excess Qi I hadn't fully digested.
"You should find a place to seclude yourself," Qiu said. "Your body is still saturated with excess Qi from the Thunderfire Boars. Seclusion would benefit your cultivation."
I waved a hand dismissively. "Nah. No rush. Besides, we've got business to attend to."
"...Business," Qiu repeated flatly. "You are not a merchant."
"Nope. But a true cultivator protagonist must go to the market. It's practically law."
Qiu went silent for a long moment, probably trying to figure out the best way to respond. Finally, he spoke again. "You did say you needed supplies. I can admit... obtaining a few cultivation aids would be prudent."
"Exactly!" I said, snapping my fingers. "See? You're learning."
"However," Qiu added pointedly, "you intend to sell the stolen goods from Mayor Zhao's estate. This action is what I believe is called... a dumb move."
"Maybe. But actually—" I tapped the side of my head. "—it's a super duper smart move."
Qiu somehow managed to sound both reluctant and curious. "Explain."
"If I show up early and loud," I said, "I reveal myself first. That way, anyone who wants to come after me... well, at least I'll know who they are."
There was a distinct pause.
"...Or," Qiu said very carefully, "you could simply avoid revealing yourself and offend no one at all."
I barked a short laugh. "Impossible!"
"Why not?" Qiu demanded, voice fraying at the edges.
"It's the law of the world," I said, raising my hands to show off my sagely insight. "If you're a cultivator, you will offend someone, get dragged into a blood feud, or stumble onto a treasure and piss off the local powers. All within, like, a week tops."
"This is not a law," Qiu said immediately.
I nodded wisely. "It was in the books, Qiu. I read it. Pretty sure it was in the fine print somewhere between 'trample your enemies' and 'marry a jade beauty you met five minutes ago.'"
"...I truly should not have let you read those texts."
"You say that," I said cheerfully, kicking another pebble, "but deep down, you know it was the best decision you ever made."
Bao Qiu made a sound suspiciously like static hissing.
I just hummed and kept walking, the village gates coming into view down the road, the faint buzz of market chatter already reaching my ears.
Red Cloud Town stretched out before me, a sprawl of stone buildings and timber houses, smoke rising lazily from chimneys, and the sharp scent of spices and cooked meat carried by the wind.
Compared to my own half-abandoned village, it might as well have been a shining capital. Red Cloud was one of the bigger towns this side of Thunder Fiend Valley, acting as the main junction for explorers, treasure hunters, and half-baked cultivators trying to strike it rich.
The old craze had mostly died down, but unlike my hometown, Red Cloud Town was still a lively place. Merchants haggled loudly in open stalls, cultivators in faded robes lounged near tea shops, and peasants moved with gusto to make their coin for the day.
It was... almost nice. In a grimy, chaotic sort of way.
"I hope you have a plan, User." Bao Qiu said dryly in my head.
"What do you take me for?" I muttered back under my breath, pulling out a skewer of pork from my travel bag.
The pork was still good. Damn good. I took a bite, savoring the greasy, smoky flavor. Heaven.
"A fool," Qiu said flatly. "An idiot. A buffoon."
I snorted. "An idiot? Me? Never."
Except I said that part out loud, and a couple of townsfolk gave me side-eyes, skirting a little farther away.
Qiu's voice sharpened immediately. "Try to be discreet, you imbecile!"
I waved him off mentally, still chewing. "Relax. It's fine. I've been here before."
I shoved another piece of pork in my mouth and kept walking, blending into the crowd easily enough.
"Sometimes, when my old man was lucid, he'd send me here to pick up supplies. I know a guy or two. Nothing suspicious about it."
"You are underestimating the risk," Qiu said. "I trust I do not need to remind you what would happen if you accidentally reveal a demonic technique in the middle of a populated town."
I made a lazy, reassuring gesture with my skewer, flicking a bit of pork juice onto the ground. "Yeah, yeah. No sudden crimson murder auras. Got it."
Qiu grumbled curses in probably a dozen different languages.
Sheesh. Who knew machines could be so grouchy?
I maneuvered through the outer market slowly, making sure to steer clear of the fancy stalls packed with silk-robed cultivators and their expensive, stuck-up airs. Can't have a dirty little peasant like me sullying the good porcelain now, could we?
The deeper I went, the thinner the crowds got. Eventually, the shouting and haggling faded behind me, the noise muffled by the stone buildings that hemmed in a little side alley.
Perfect.
I slipped into the narrow lane, the smell of dust and old wood hanging heavy in the air.
"Old Man Yu!" I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth.
A figure stirred from behind a rickety stall. Middle-aged at best, graying and bent just enough to pass for a kindly grandpa.
Of course, anyone who didn't know him might buy that act. I knew better.
Behind that wrinkled smile and slow shuffle was a fox—cunning, sharp, and quick to stick a knife in your ribs if it meant an extra coin.
"Welcome, welcome!" Old Man Yu called out, hobbling toward me. "It's been a long time, Jin! How's your father?"
I shrugged. "Ah, he died yesterday."
Yu stumbled over his own feet for a second, his smile freezing.
Honestly, I never understood why people got so weird about that.
Qiu let out a long, suffering sigh. "I believe you are the strange one here, User."
Old Man Yu finally recovered, clearing his throat awkwardly. "A... a shame. Truly a shame. I shall mourn and light incense for his soul."
"Yeah, yeah, cut the bullshit, old man," I said, waving him off. "You still deal in cultivator goods, right? I wanna offload some of my dad's stuff."
That snapped him right back into focus. His eyes sharpened, a greedy glint slipping through the thin veil of courtesy.
"What do you have?" he asked, voice low and eager.
I rattled it off casually. "A couple of cultivation manuals, some Thunderfire Boar meat, and a few random cultivation odds and ends. Nothing fancy, but not junk either."
Yu rubbed his hands together like a rat who'd just sniffed out cheese.
"Good, good. Show me the items, and I'll give you a fair price," he said, already leaning over his stall like he was ready to pounce.
I pulled a few things out of my travel bag, dropping them onto Old Man Yu's rickety counter one by one.
Honestly, I was grateful that Dad gave my bag one of those weird space-bending enchantments. Without it, lugging around Thunderfire Boar meat and random cultivation crap would've been a real pain.
Still... I probably needed to invest in one of those snazzy spatial rings soon. Wouldn't want to look like a country bumpkin forever.
Old Man Yu's eyes lit up as he surveyed the goods. Cultivation manuals, processed Thunderfire Boar meat, a few spirit herbs, and some assorted shiny trinkets. His fingers twitched like he was holding himself back from grabbing them all at once.
He steepled his hands together, furrowing his brow like he was in deep, painful contemplation. A full thirty seconds of pained silence passed before he finally spoke.
"Alright," he said, nodding solemnly. "I'll give you... fifty taels of silver. For everything."
I stared at him.
"Are you crazy?" I laughed. "Even a single Thunderfire Boar is worth fifty taels by itself!"
Old Man Yu gave an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh, clutching his chest like I had wounded him.
"Take the deal, young man! I'm offering this much only because of our long relationship!"
"Relationship, my ass. You're fleecing me," I scoffed.
He sighed again, even heavier this time, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "It's your fault for offending the Young Miss! You can't even recognize my kindness!"
He clapped his hands sharply.
Three burly men emerged from behind the stall, clubs in hand, grinning like wolves.
I blinked at them, then felt Qiu, who was practically vibrating inside my mind.
"Hah! Told you!" I said out loud, pointing at them as my proof of victory.
"How have you already offended someone!?"
I shrugged, "Hell if I know."
Old Man Yu scowled at me, clearly thinking I'd gone off the deep end.
"Who in the heavens are you talking to?" he demanded. "Did you inherit your father's sickness too?"
He snapped his fingers, and the burly men advanced with nasty smiles.
"Then I'll be merciful," Old Man Yu said, his voice mockingly kind. "I'll only break your legs."
The three burly men began to move.
And well... maybe I would've been more annoyed at the prospect of getting clubbed half to death before. But now?
I paced backward slowly, almost leisurely, hands still tucked in my sleeves.
I didn't say anything out loud, but I could feel my smugness radiating so hard it probably gave Qiu a headache.
"Just make sure to rein in your aura," Qiu said, annoyed. "Do not flaunt it too much."
The first guy rushed in, club swinging wide. His stance was rough—definitely not martial arts, but not street thug trash either. They had some experience.
Still. I could see the attack coming a mile away.
I stepped aside easily, the club whistling past my shoulder. The second one followed up immediately with a downward smash. I twisted my body, letting it graze past me harmlessly.
It was weird. I wasn't particularly skilled. If anything, my fighting ability was "swing hard and hope for the best."
But even so... it felt like the world had slowed down for me.
I got a little cocky, tried to sidestep a little too casually, and got clipped on the arm by the third guy's swing.
The club thunked against me with all the force he could put behind.
I blinked.
That was it?
It felt like getting hit by a kid.
"I told you," Qiu said. "Cultivation is a wholesale improvement. Strength, speed, endurance—all are exponentially enhanced. A single Qi Refiner can defeat a dozen mortal men with ease. It would take a trained squadron to have even a chance. A Foundation Establishment cultivator could probably slaughter thousands alone."
"I mean, I knew that logically," I replied, shaking my head. "But seeing it in action... yeah, it's kinda crazy."
I let myself enjoy it. Moving through them, weaving, countering their sluggish swings—it felt good.
The fight didn't last long after that.
Old Man Yu's face was already drained of color as he watched me. Somewhere in that greedy old brain of his, the math was finally clicking together.
"You—you—did you enter Qi Refining?!" he stammered.
"Ah, too little, too late," I said cheerfully.
I circulated my Qi. Crimson light flickered faintly around my hand, just enough to make the air shimmer.
The next swing that came my way, I caught the club mid-strike, fingers sinking into the wood like it was wet clay. I ripped it out of the man's hands and smashed it clean in two.
The shockwave alone made the other two brutes stumble back.
I didn't give them a chance to rethink things.
With a lazy flick, I swung the broken half of the club sideways, catching both of them across the ribs and sending them sprawling to the dirt.
The third guy tried to run. Mistake.
I stepped forward, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and yanked him off his feet. One sharp twist—
Crack.
He went limp.
The rest of Old Man Yu's hired muscle finally got the hint and bolted, tripping over each other to get away.
Old Man Yu was babbling now, stepping back, hands trembling.
For all his posturing about being "connected" and "knowing people," at the end of the day, he was just another skeevy merchant.
And I knew it better than anyone. Years of trading with him had taught me exactly how much bark and how little bite he really had.
"For the sake of our long relationship!" I said brightly, stepping over the broken stall toward him. "I'll make sure you only have to cry for your ancestors a few times."
His whimpering really tied the whole moment together.