Chapter 62

My Dantian ached, empty and hungry for power. I absorbed an unending and tortuous trickle as we negotiated with dozens of cultivators, squeezing every last benefit out of them we could. We sold Blood Cleansing Pills nearly as quickly as Yexiang could create them.

I stole one of the Blood Cleansing pills for myself, as well, of course.

Once the line finally cleared up, I visited The Emperor. I had heard he was up to trouble in the stables.

Ming found me in the halls and led me through the sweeping complex to the underwater pens.

Thanks to our work, they were rapidly filling with dozens of Omen Alligators. Most of them were small.

The Emperor had been assigned to one of the first pens — one we quickly passed by. He was no longer there. Three much smaller alligators occupied it in his place. That pen had an open top; only well behaved or tamed Spiritbeasts would be there. If they were unruly, they could climb right out.

As we walked further down the hallway, it darkened. Smaller cages featured thrashing Spiritbeasts soaked in disorienting darkness.

“Many will spend more time sleeping in the dark.” Ming said. “Less danger to us caretakers.”

The ground was embedded with spiritstones lighting a clear path through the dark section of the pens.

They grew larger as we went further in.

Spiritbeasts thrashed against the cages, gnawing and clawing at the walls or doors against enchanted and protected metal and stone. They were completely impotent to break free, possessed only of animalistic intelligence.

I poked at the bond between The Emperor and I. He radiated contentedness, more so than even his initial arrival or his frequent feedings here. That connection had stopped me from investigating any further.

The lights came back on as we reached the end of the darkened section, and we stopped before the largest pen I had yet seen, complete with lighting so bright it mimicked the sun, fake sand beaches and a heated lake that steamed. The Emperor lounged within the lake, staring smugly at me behind broken and mangled iron bars.

The Emperor had completely destroyed the door to the enclosure, leaving it a mangled mess inside of the cage. A half dozen smaller Omen Alligator’s huddled around him.

Ming took a step back when The Emperor stood up.

The Emperor greeted me with a massive smile of bladed teeth and a smug expression, eyes half lidded. The Alligator’s beneath him slivered back in the pen as he rose to greet me. I extended a hand.

He bumped his nose against it. I rubbed his scales. Then he shoved my hand away, sniffing at my broken arm with curiosity.

“I got into a little fight.”

‘Territory fight?’

I shrugged.

“Sort of.”

The Emperor transmitted dozens of thoughts along our connection of what he had been up to, along with several images of eating a cultivator who hurt me.

“Probably better you don’t, buddy.” I said to him. Then I turned to Ming. “Sorry about the damages.”

“It’s quite alright, Young Master Sai. Your pet started quite a ruckus… we’re just glad he didn’t kill any more Spiritbeasts. Though… we’re not sure why. They’re usually quite territorial.” Ming looked over at me, clearly hoping for an answer.

“Those are all… The Emperor’s Consorts” I said. The Emperor had collected a harem by rampaging through the cells.

The Emperor… laughed. Ming looked disturbed. I sighed, exasperated. I had picked quite a pet. I still needed to make good on my promise to find a better meal for his next Tempering. But I didn’t have a real plan for The Emperor after. I hardly needed a personal mount… though a Third Realm Spiritbeast was very valuable.

I could probably get a saddle fitted, but I had a feeling The Emperor might grow to a monstrous size eventually. I would have to invest heavily to accommodate him in Sandgrave.

I thought back to Flynt’s wagon. Maybe I could use a personal mount. And I could probably find The Emperor a meal there too.

Curiosity stretched across our bond as The Emperor looked at me.

“You want to go on an adventure?” I asked him.

I wondered how much stronger he could be with a few levels in him.

“Ming.” I said. “Can you prepare a saddle for me?”

“Of course, Young Master Sai.”

***
Everything went phenomenally well. The Boodcleansing pills sold to the last one.

I even attended dinner on the third day. This time I sat far away from Jin. Bai and Wen were still nowhere to be seen, but I wasn’t going to call attention to myself by asking the Elder for information.

Once the dinner wound down, the servants presented the names of each cultivator who had passed the trial, bringing forward a gigantic line of boards. I risked a glance at the Elder’s face. He seemed irritated so many had passed.

Most of the cultivators looked glum rather than proud. More than a few directed angry stares at us. I sat near Yuhai’s cousins. Yexiang didn’t attend the dinner tonight.

When they announced the next trial, there was no surprise in the room. We had sold that information as well, after all.

One cultivator stood up in his chair, lifting the Spiritherb in his hand up. It smelled of torrential rain over muddy earth, and the powerful qi infused aroma filled the entire chamber almost instantly. It must have been in his spirit-ring.

“I’ve completed the Second Trial!” He said. “I have the Dead Sea Lotus.”

“Very good.” Elder Grim Shui said. “Now sit back down.”

I guess there wouldn’t be a repeat of the reward for finishing the previous trial early.

The attendants telling us about the Second Trial went on to give details about what Dead Sea Lotus was and where to find it; it grew almost exclusively within the Stormwall, and was useful in many Spirit-medicines exclusively for the Darkwind paths, rich with Storm qi.

The dinner concluded after. Cultivators moved unhurriedly; many probably wouldn’t attempt the trial today.

I walked slowly out of the hall, keeping pace with the Shui cousins.

“Should we gather a flower for you too?” Yuhai asked me, walking astride me. “I’ll charge you… seventy-five percent, for all your help.” She directed a smug smile at me.

“You wouldn’t charge me.” I said. I rolled my shoulders, feeling the dull ache that answered on my skin and in my muscles. “I should be okay to gather it on my own. It will be a good test of my new saddle.”

The next morning, on the fourth day of the trials, I sat atop The Emperor on a saddle. It had been custom crafted; the leather was made from spirit beasts. I gripped onto the horn in the center of it while using my legs to hold myself.

We stood in the ruined terrain from Wen and Bai’s clash where the waves of the lake softly poured over the ruined shore. There were signs of other cultivators diving this part of the lake, but I wouldn’t be going straight down from here.

“You ready?” I asked The Emperor.

Then we dove.

The Emperor was fast on land when using his techniques, but it didn’t compare in the slightest to his speed and power under the water. Despite all my preparations, he nearly threw me aside as he shot into the water. I struggled to regain my grip as his body waved back and forth, shooting down into the water.

Muck and dirt from the lakebed exploded around us as The Emperor skirted along the bottom of the water. He let out a great gurgling roar as he accelerated even farther, joy and exhilaration roiling across our bond.

I tapped his side and pointed upward, trying to signal to my bond to surface for oxygen, and we shot up out of the water with a massive splash. I sucked down air, blinking water out of my eyes and staring around. We were far, far from the complex of the Storm Tournament, with rain pouring down around us.

“Let’s check that bank!” I said, pointing. The Emperor roared again and we shot back down through the water, more slowly this time.

I tapped the side of The Emperor, signalling him to stop, and departed from his back toward the glowing Dead Sea Lotus I could see growing. It glowed slightly in the water, a silvery-blue color, and it emerged from the top of a mud pile situated on bricks. I pulled it from the sediment roots and all; it came out easily, growing entirely in the silty lakebed mud. Then I swam back to The Emperor and we surfaced again.

It was just in time to see a wave of water the size of the Storm Tournament Complex splash down in the distance, overpowering the rain. We bobbed in the water from the after shock waves.

“What the hell was that?” I asked. The force of whatever detonated in the water was equivalent to Wen and Bai’s clash. “Let’s go back!” I shouted over the rain.

The Emperor carried me forward atop the water. I kept my eyes peeled at the surface, looking for some kind of attack or fight in the air or atop the water.

The glint of an eye the size of the Emperor coming from beneath the water caught me totally offguard.

[Little Lady, Fifth Realm Water/Life Spiritbeast]

A wave the size of a house crashed into me as she lifted her head above the water.