Instead of things cooling down after the tournament, a frenzy had been kicked off. While Ren had somewhat expected it after the announcement of an inheritance trial, he wasn’t prepared for this level of excitement. It was only after talking with others that he found out just how unusual it was.

  Inheritances of worth were extremely rare and usually monopolized. While there were stories of cultivators stumbling onto lost or hidden inheritances, they were unverifiable, as they inevitably kept them for themselves. The only ones shared were those too well known to hide or happened to repeat every set number of years. In which case, they were treated as a resource.

  Controlling such resources could be hugely profitable by themselves or even be traded for benefits with other sects. How many a sect controlled was often the direct measure of their wealth or power. The Heavenly Sword sect had one other trial that opened every 50 years and was reserved purely for the core formation realm. Only the upper echelons of the sect could even use it, so they would trade seats in this trial for the ones controlled by Celestial Instruments and the Golden Light Monastery sects. They had trials for the qi gathering realm and the foundation establishment realm, respectively.

  Unfortunately for their generation, the qi gathering trial had already concluded 5 years ago and wouldn’t open for another 5 years. It was unlikely that Ren would ever see that one. The foundation establishment realm trial was held every 27 years, but no one he spoke to had any idea when the last one had been held. Ren figured it was a matter more for the inner sect disciples.

  With such a dearth of trials, a new one was very welcome news. Furthermore, the vice sect leader had announced it at the outer sect tournament, so they must be able to participate. Thus the entire sect was ablaze with enthusiasm. His friend Hu Yan had completely leaned into his chatty personality and had been acting as an information broker.

  He and Ren would sometimes meet at the library at the Hall of Learning while trying to find out more information. Eventually he made Ren an offer to work together for a cut of the profits. Ren had agreed to bring him any information he encountered.

  They had found other such stories of the Moon elder and had been exploring it in relation to the trial and the blood moon. It had frustrated Ren to no end when he realized the library was only slightly better than the Hall of Scripture had been before he had rearranged it. Eventually they had stumbled across a tattered journal that referred to an elder called Frost Moon.

  It barely had 2 lines about this elder, but it had mentioned the blood moon and a mysterious event after which he was no longer seen. They had both gotten excited reading about the “Mysterious Event” but immediately ran into a dead end. While not explicitly written, Ren had the impression that tone had been disapproving. Hu Yan and Ren had disagreed on the matter, but Ren felt that the reason such little information was available was because it had been intentionally erased.

  Hu Yan couldn’t believe the sect would do that and thought it was because it had taken place so long ago and records hadn’t been kept properly. This led to them both trying to find out how exactly books were added to the library. And both were appalled to find out that these books were only rarely submitted and usually by hobbyists. Only occasionally was a task given out by the sect, such as recording the noteworthy events of a year or things like that. Ren couldn’t deny Hu Yan’s theory outright after that.

  More importantly, after this, Ren resolved to begin writing down his own discoveries, theories, and even just stories. His days were still full with cultivation, chores, and interactions with his sect mates, but he still tried to find time to write of his experiences so far. Since his classes on basic weapon forging and plant care had already ended and he had chosen to hold off before joining the more advanced classes, he had a little more time than usual. He had only taken the advanced class for formations because he needed it for his future plans.

  His first book was about his experiences growing spiritual herbs and plants. He added sketches and descriptions about the ideal environments he had discovered. He even included smaller ideas about the best mixture of qi and formations that had worked or failed him.

  Two months after the tournament had concluded, he had finished writing about all the plants he had raised successfully and even those he had failed at. It barely had 25 entries, but with all the anecdotes, he felt it was enough.

  Ren had been very nervous submitting it, but to his surprise, it had been accepted without a fuss. Even more strangely, it had turned out to be rather popular. He found out a few days later that Hu Yan, wanting to help him, had recommended it to a few of his clients seeking information, those who were interested in herbs. When they learned that Ren had written it, his reputation as a successful herb cultivator had been enough to generate some interest.

  The readers claimed that the simple language, easy-to-understand characters, and detailed notes were actually really helpful. When the library started getting more requests, the enterprising Hu Yan paid some scribes to make copies and started selling them as part of his information packages. “A lesser compendium of spiritual herbs and their care by Zhao Ren” only made small ripples but was well liked by novice herb cultivators.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Ren was pleased enough that he resolved to write more such books. He had decided the next one would be based on his other interests. He hadn’t done any serious weapon forging after his class had ended since he didn’t have a forge of his own. He would occasionally rent out space at the sect's forges but had grown fond enough of smithing that he decided to build his own.

  He was wealthy enough nowadays, with his next batch of spirit herbs having already turned out a steady profit. He bought the tools and the specialized bricks needed for a cultivator’s forge. He planned it out and decided to improve his courtyard's qi alignment and place the forge as the node of the fire attribute. It had previously been his cooking fire but it hadn’t worked well. His own notes had revealed that the fire attribute plants he grew had been more average than not.

  Bao Hua had shown up to help him set up the basic shed and the forge.

  “You helped me build the wine shed,fire, so I would obviously return the favor, right?” Hua laughed off his protests.

  His friend had decided on brewing wine as his chosen craft. Their first attempt at making rice wine had inspired him. It didn’t need constant care after the initial effort and left him plenty of time to go on hunts. Ren had to admit it was also perfect for his friends' qi alignment. Water, wood, fire, and earth were all represented in winemaking.

  After many months and some help, Bao Hua now possessed a large variety of wines. Some of the initial batches hadn’t sold well, but as he improved, he started making some money to supplement his income. Like Ren, he could then afford the qi boosting pill once every 10 days. It was how they had pushed ahead in their cultivation so steadily. Money really was the answer to most problems.

  Ren and Mei Ling had even worked out deals of their own. They provided Bao Hua with some of the herbs they grew in exchange for qi enriched wine or medicinal wine. They had all found out that wine made from qi rich herbs could act as a milder form of the qi boosting pills and was almost as enjoyable. Still, nothing beat the rush of qi moving through one’s meridians.

  It was one of those wines they drank after the grueling labor of setting the heavy fire qi enhanced bricks.

  “In honor of your aid, the first blade forged from this smithy will go to you. Tell me, what do you desire?” Ren proclaimed, acting the role of benevolent young master.

  Bao Hua was cradling a cute tortoise hatchling and sipping his wine as they relaxed. He smiled and said, “You know, I had been thinking of getting a new sword. I’ve been using mine since we started here. There’s this one technique I’ve had my eye on recently that requires a heavy blade. I can then refine it to wield devastating strikes. It would be perfect for hunting those stone quill crocodiles in the northern mountains.”

  “With that technique I could even crush those obsidian shell tortoises there.” Hua said while petting another tortoise.

  Aghast, Ren stole the hatchling back. “How could you talk of crushing… you know?!” Then to the hatchling he cooed, “The big bad man didn’t mean it. Tortoises are the best.”

  Hua was laughing so hard he fell to the ground. “I can’t believe how quickly you’ve gotten so close to them.”

  Then, to tease Ren some more, he said, “You know our family has this dish for making tortoise soup that was perfect for the winter!” Then he laughed even louder as Ren struggled to cover the oblivious hatchlings' ears. Teasing a drunk Ren had become a hilarious bonus to becoming a brewer.

  “I’ll make you the sword, so stop already. Give me the dimensions and whatever metal you want me to make it from, and you'll have your heavy blade.” In his head, Ren had already resolved to name the blade the “Tortoise Defender.” The image fit even better as he watched Hua scoop up two more little hatchlings to cuddle.

  The Myriad Path Tortoise hatchlings were all in excellent health. His courtyard had over time developed really well. His formations and qi gathering nodes had enriched the atmosphere of his little courtyard to the point that the tortoises were a little ahead on their growth scale. His research had led him to specific days, hours, and astrological events that were said to have an effect on qi.

  Ren had elected to set up formations that activated at those times for specific elements. While uncertain of the results, it must have been having some effect, as the tortoises sensed and gathered at those nodes on their own. He still had a lot to learn and struggled to find extra time with all his scholarly pursuits. Not to mention his planned actions in the coming months.

  Ren was satisfied with his pace of cultivation. He had already broken through to the 6th layer of qi gathering. He had almost a year before the trial and only three more layers to go. With the reward of spirit stones from the tournament and his efforts since then, he already had enough wealth to spare.

  He calculated that in the months to come, if his spirit plants continued to sell so well, he would have more wealth than he needed. He already had enough to send some spirit stones back home. Of course, all his family’s teachings told him to leverage money into earning more wealth or power. So given all this, he had decided the time was right to implement his first challenge formations.

  Ren was going to set up these challenges that he had devised across the mountains and would leave some of his spirit plants or the weapons he forged as the rewards. Ideally, the challenge would be in the best environments to enhance the prizes over time, so the longer they went unfound, the more they would be refined.

  Even though he knew this method of throwing away wealth was not what his family meant by gaining power, this was in accordance with his dao, so he wanted to see if it would pay off in the long term. The mysterious dao wasn’t something to underestimate. It was a well-recorded fact that even those with terrible talent or spirit roots could occasionally break their limits by comprehending a dao.

  Even sword cultivators of their Heavenly Sword Sect were famous for this very reason. Advancing by comprehending Dao led to enlightenment and heavenly impartations that were extremely valuable. It could break past bottlenecks in cultivation or erase heart demons and even enhance techniques or cultivation manuals along new paths.

  Since Ren wanted to leave a legacy, his plan was to slowly craft a legend. He wanted to do it anonymously at first. If the challenges gained popularity, like his book on herbs had, the reveal would have more impact. On the other hand, he just didn’t want to be pestered by those who failed challenges.

  His plan for the next few months set up, Ren cherished this small break with his friend. Before he began setting up the challenges, he still had one thing he needed to do first. Tomorrow he would finally be purchasing the manual that had started it all, “Causality of Karma.”