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This made Su Heng look at me with a tinge of envy.

“Prince Fang, my father would like to speak with you before the blessing ceremony. Would that be possible?”

“Of course. Bring him to see me whenever he is ready.”

“Thank you, Prince Fang.”

Su Heng gave me a quick bow and departed.

Once he was gone, I went around and prepared the rest of the house. Aside from arranging various pieces of furniture, I also set up several defensive formations, including a privacy formation that covered the back half of the house where I had previously trained Liang and Mo.

I did not, however, install any formations or other training tools in these rooms. Mount Jiang was only four hours away by horseback, so I saw little reason to keep anyone here. It would be far easier to just ship them back to the mountain and let them learn with the others. This privacy formation was just to keep anyone from the Su Clan from learning what I was doing.

A few hours after everything was in place, a maid announced the arrival of the Grand Elder. After greeting each other and sitting down together, he got right to business.

“You should be aware that the Patriarch is… conflicted about your presence here. He was not entirely satisfied with how our last meeting ended.”

I waved a hand, brushing aside his concerns. “Su TaiZong’s opinion of me is of little consequence. As long as he doesn’t offend me, he can remain the clan’s Patriarch, but he should be careful about pushing me too far.”

A glint of desire appeared in the Grand Elder’s eyes at my words, but the emotions he gave off were a bundle of contradictions. He didn’t seem overly happy with the Patriarch, but at the same time, he didn’t want to see the destruction of his clan.

“I understand, Prince Fang. However, I am here to inform you that the Patriarch and his council of elders have reached a consensus on how much to charge you for the use of Rosehill Hot Springs. Their… dissatisfaction with you has affected this price.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

I was glad they wanted to discuss the price of leasing Rosehill. My intention had always been to pay for everything I took from the Su Clan. I had no desire to feel indebted to the clan in any way.

My power play at the end of our last meeting left things a bit unfinished in this regard. I had thrown a bundle of pills at them, but the clan never officially agreed to the price I had paid them. I was more than happy to clear the books.

The Grand Elder nodded solemnly. “They are requesting 10 Perfect Rank 3 pills and 100 Perfect Rank 2 pills for each year you maintain possession of the hot springs. As you have occupied this land for a year without their consent, they are asking for an additional 50% in compensation. So, in total, if you wish to stay there another year, you will need to pay 25 Rank 3 pills and 250 Rank 2 pills.”

I blinked at the elder. “Do you know what you’re asking for? The market value of that many pills is over half a million gold, and you’d need a deep connection with a highly skilled alchemist to get them at that price. Perfect Rank 2 pills aren’t cabbages you can pick up on the side of the road. 250 of them to lease a single broken cottage for only a year? Are you insane?”

“Prince Fang…”

I held up a hand to stop him. “I am interested in working with the Su Clan, but I have no desire to be cheated by you. Be careful with what you say next.”

“Prince Fang, these are the Patriarch’s orders. I cannot contradict them. You have proven yourself more powerful than our clan, so we cannot stop you from taking whatever you wish, but that will cause the elders to request support from the powers surrounding the Wastes.”

I looked at him with narrowed eyes. The monetary value of the pills was of little import to me. I would gladly just hand them a spirit stone if that were all it would take to satisfy them, but making 250 pills was far too much of a hassle, even for me. Not only would I need to source the herbs, but I would also need to spend several days tediously refining them.

“I will pay you 5 Rank 3 pills and 10 Rank 2 pills a year. You can consider the pills that I have already paid you as compensation for requisitioning your land without consent over this past year.”

“Pri—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “This is my limit. In exchange, I will be granted full rights to the areas I currently occupy as well as their surrounding territories. Your nobles may continue to manage these lands as they do now, and I will not interfere, but the land and its resources will belong to me for the duration of this lease. Go back and discuss this deal with your Patriarch. If it is unacceptable, then I can only pursue other options.”

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The Grand Elder ducked his head. “I understand, Prince Fang.”

After the elder left, I sat back down and drummed my fingers on my armrest.

I had certain suspicions about what might be hiding underneath the Rosehill Hot Springs and Mount Jiang, but I had been a bit hesitant to do anything since there was a chance my actions could significantly impact the Wastes as a whole. However, if this deal went through, that land would officially belong to me, and I could do anything I wanted with it.

Of course, while this satisfied my Legalist impulses, I still needed to be careful. I couldn’t allow my recklessness to bring serious harm to the ordinary people who lived in the Wastes.

The blessing ceremony took place the next day, and afterward, I entered the room where the Grandmasters were discussing which Disciples they had high hopes for this year.

There were two slight changes from the previous year. First, the Grandmaster who had been intent on sentencing Liang to death was missing. Second, unlike last year, this time, the Grandmasters warmly gestured for me to take a seat alongside them. It was clear that they had devised some kind of scheme, but I wasn’t yet sure what it would be.

Like the previous year, they spent a lot of time talking about the advantages of various scions, but this time, it felt less like they were proud elders bragging about their juniors and more like they were used car salesmen trying to offload an overpriced junker.

After all the testing was complete, YuanFei and the Second Elder came up and laid a stack of papers on the table, but they didn\'t begin introducing this year’s prospective elites. Instead, everyone just turned and looked at me.

YuanFei cleared his throat and gave me a brilliant smile. “Prince Fang, before we begin, there is something we would like to discuss with you.”

I said nothing and simply motioned for him to continue.

“Well, you see, we understand that you are here to recruit powerful cultivators for your personal retinue. We also know that my brother and father have been reluctant to part with our clan’s most talented Disciples.”

I nodded slowly.

“This is a true shame. Joining you would no doubt be the best thing that could happen to them, and it is heartbreaking to see their futures ruined by shortsighted fools.”

I held up a hand. “Please, speak directly. What do you want?”

YuanFei grinned. “If there are any potential elites that catch your eye, we would be more than willing to… set them aside for you and give their positions to someone else.”

“And what would you want in return for such… considerations?”

He gestured around at the other Grandmasters. “You may not know this, but everyone here has reached the limit of what they can achieve on their own, and we have all found it difficult to advance our cultivation any further. As my brother has significant influence over the clan’s resources, it has been difficult for us to change this situation. If you could help us with this, we would be extremely grateful.”

Looking at everyone in energy vision, I saw that he wasn’t wrong. The low-level Grandmasters had dantians that were shoddy at best, and even YuanFei’s had been severely damaged from the pressure build-up during his previous ascensions.

I tapped the table in thought. “Your problems aren’t simple. Even if I give each of you a dozen Perfect Rank 3 Qi Gathering Pills, it won’t make any difference. You will still find it nearly impossible to ascend any further.”

They all dropped their eyes, knowing the truth of my statement.

“However, I am aware of a few pills that may be of use to you. Notably, the Calm Seas Pill. This pill will make the qi in your dantian less chaotic for a brief period, and it should be enough to help you to rise another level or two.”

The mood in the room changed instantly, and YuanFei was about to say something, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“However, if you want to be safe, if you want to reach Peak Grandmaster in the best state possible, you must raise your earth affinity.”

The Second Elder gave me a wry grin. “Prince Fang, we know such things are possible in the outside world, but not here.”

I took out a piece of paper and copied down an image from Emperor Li’s book on Rank 3 alchemy.

“This is an Earth Dragon’s Tongue Fruit. It is an extremely rare Rank 3 herb. Finding it may be impossible, but if you can locate it, I can concoct a pill that will temporarily raise your earth affinity.”

In the distant past, I had come in contact with a Fire Dragon’s Tongue Fruit and used it to temporarily boost my fire affinity. I had never encountered another such fruit since then, but I knew they had to be out there somewhere. If someone in the Wastes had been able to acquire the fire fruit, finding the earth fruit might be possible as well. If it was, I wanted its seeds.

The Grandmasters all looked at the image of the fruit with greed, and YuanFei carefully stored it away.

“Thank you, Prince Fang. We will look for this herb. In the interim, we would be grateful if you could provide us with the Calm Seas Pills. In return—”

“In return, I only request that you stop killing your Disciples during training. I understand that you see value in doing so, and I am aware that the Su Clan can only support a limited number of cultivators. So, if there are any Disciples who you feel are not suitable for your clan, you can allow them to join me directly. I will not force anyone to join me, though, so if they are not suitable for you, and they do not wish to join me, we will simply cut them loose and allow them to fend for themselves.”

My stance seemed to worry YuanFei a bit.

“But Prince Fang, the elites—”

“You are wrong about one thing. I do not need powerful elite warriors. I need numbers. The more the better. Last year, without a base of operations, I was reluctant to recruit too many Disciples at once. This year, I will take as many as I can get. If you want to give me all fifty, I will take them, though fifteen to twenty seems more reasonable. If your elites truly wish to join me, I will accept them and bear the consequences of doing so, but I see no need to recruit them discreetly.”

By accepting all the Disciples the Su Clan planned on killing, I was opening my new clan up to a multitude of new problems, and it would give the Su Clan plenty of opportunities to plant spies and traitors within our midst. This, however, was what I wanted. If everything proceeded too smoothly, people’s hearts and loyalties would never be put to the test.

“Let’s do it this way. If there are any Disciples you feel will be disruptive to the normal training environment, I will take them away directly. However, barring extraordinary circumstances, I would like everyone to stay here for the full three-month period. Give them the same experience you would normally give them. Just don’t kill them. Then, at the end, cut loose anyone you don’t want, and I will then offer them a place in my retinue. I will also accept anyone else who wishes to join me at that time.”

YuanFei nodded in agreement, not seeing anything wrong with this proposal.

“In exchange for these considerations, I will give everyone here one Calm Seas Pill every year.”

This made everyone grin in delight, and YuanFei pounded the table.

“It’s a deal.”