Cha Ming bit his lip. “Then why haven’t you joined the City Guard or groups of adventurers? It would be easy to find blood vitality out there while fighting demons.”
“I’ll shoot that question right back at you,” Yue Bing said. “You could make a lot of money by hunting demons with Uncle Huxian. Why don’t you do that?”
“I just don’t want to hurt demons,” Cha Ming said. “Call it a silly, idealistic thing to do. I just don’t want to hurt anyone unless it’s necessary.” He felt thin white hands land on his.
“I’m the same,” she said. “I might be a brutal killer, a bloody angel on the battlefield, but I hate hurting others. I hate killing people. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t. But sometimes you just do what you have to. There are evil people out there, and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.”
In that vulnerable moment, Cha Ming realized she was no different than he was. Many called him a hypocrite: How could a lover of peace kill so many people? But sometimes being kind to the many meant being cruel to the few. And cruel to yourself.
“All right,” Cha Ming said, summoning a bloodred cloud of vitality from deep within his marrow. The process was visibly draining as opposed to Yue Bing’s effortless display, but it would do the trick. He willed the vitality to assume the first shape he could think of: the vitality sigil. “Your power is great, but let’s work on your delivery, shall we?”
Yue Bing smiled. It was the first real smile she’d shown him since his return.
Chapter 12: Transcendent Tribulation
Cha Ming massaged his temple as he read through a stack of applications. There were hundreds of them, some on plain white paper and others colored and scented. While he was surprised that he’d received so many resumes, he was more amazed that resumes even existed in this world in the first place.
They exist, all right, Cha Ming thought. Along with all their problems and drawbacks. He sighed as he scanned through a hundred-page document. Admittedly, it was short compared to many of the others. Cultivators did many things, studied a lot and fought a lot. It was difficult to stand out in such a competitive marketplace.
As he read, other applications trickled in like a never-ending flood. His Grandmist seal pills were apparently a huge addition to the knowledge base, as were his runic arts. Herbology was less in demand, but a surprising amount of spirit doctors and alchemists found it to be a very useful secondary occupation.
“Wait, who actually puts this on their resume?” Cha Ming exclaimed, startling his disciples, who were helping him with the tedious task. They weren’t looking for personal disciples, but applications for the classes they would soon be holding.
Zi Long walked over and looked at the resume. “I don’t see anything glaring,” he declared.
“Jin Huang?” Cha Ming called.
The young man hustled over from his own pile and picked up the ten sheets of paper. He broke into a grin when he saw what Cha Ming had his finger on.
“Blood vitality donation—contributes daily to the Haijing City blood vitality pool,” Jin Huang said. “It’s a funny but shameless way to sell yourself.”
“Too shameless,” Cha Ming said. “Yue Bing, are you interested?”
“In blood vitality donations?” Yue Bing asked, quirking her eyebrow. “If I started harvesting from hundreds of cultivators, not only would it only be a drop in the bucket, but even my terrible reputation would take a dive. I’ll pass.”
“Rejected it is,” Cha Ming said, tossing it onto a Grandmist flame he kept in the middle of the room. It was difficult to maintain the flame, but that was what made it good training. The paper was torn up by the flame in a converging whirlpool. It evaporated into nothingness by the time it reached the center.
By the end of the day, he’d reviewed ten thousand resumes. He kept one hundred of them and scheduled interviews over the next few days. Teaching disciples was troublesome, but he had to keep up his end of the bargain. He refused to let Zhou Li win, especially when the man was doing so much to sabotage him.
Huxian’s report about his interference with the Water Source Marrow had both frustrated and chilled his blood. Just like that, what was likely the only Water Source Marrow existing on the plane had been reduced to ashes. He wouldn’t have taken it so personally if someone had wanted it for a legitimate reason, but what Zhou Li had done was spiteful sabotage at its finest.
There’s nothing I can do about it, Cha Ming thought, breathing deeply and calming his mind. All he could do now was get this disciple recruitment over and done with and practice alchemy. Only one path was barred, and another remained. Crafting a transcendent-grade pill might be tough, but if anyone on this plane could do it, he could.
“Tell me about yourself,” Cha Ming said, sipping on a black beverage Jin Huang had concocted. It wasn’t strong for a body cultivator, but he appreciated how the burnt-tasting drink gave normal cultivators jitters for days. Apparently it was now a popular staple in Haijing. His junior disciple had signed some very savvy business deals and was now effectively printing money. Though the young man had said it was more about acquiring real estate than the actual product, Cha Ming found the parallels to earth very entertaining. Conquering the world with a single beverage. He doubted the tea market would sit still in response.
“I’m a mid-grade-marrow-refining cultivator, a proud member of the Haijing nobility,” the young man with white hair said. “I fight demons and fiendish demons to protect the city.”
“I hear you’re good at formation arts,” Cha Ming said as he reviewed the man’s resume.
“Yes, I find they’re very useful when fighting demons and fiendish demons to protect the city,” the man said excitedly.
“What do you
