Cha Ming cursed inwardly when he heard the king refer to Zhou Li in such an endearing manner. Evidently the man he stood beside was one of the king’s sons, and this son was addressing him as brother.
“My apologies for the delay,” Cha Ming said. “I was in seclusion, slowly but surely raising my rank in alchemy.”
The Emperor nodded. “We have heard you can create Grandmist seals on alchemical pills. Not unobtainable by us by any means, but still rare. We would be interested in discussing your services should your grade increase to the level of an elder.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Cha Ming said. He didn’t miss the implication that his occupation, while respected, wasn’t too valuable to the royal family. He didn’t have the qualifications to use it as a bargaining chip.
“As you both know, we have been crafting a treasure for our most talented daughter in preparation for the Sea God Trials,” the Emperor said. “As such, we require an additional large spatial fragment. Both of you possess one, and one of you has already stated they require Waters of Life, a treasure we are loath to part with. Elder Cha Ming, what do you wish for in exchange for your fragment?”
Cha Ming winced at the mentioned waters; it seemed that Zhou Li had already beaten him to the punch. “I regret to inform Your Highness that I, too, require Waters of Life,” Cha Ming said. “I require them to craft a complex pill that is very important to me and my cultivation.”
“I see,” the Emperor said. “Then we are at an impasse. Both parties require the same thing, with no way to differentiate between themselves. What do you say, my empress?”
“Perhaps they could provide some additional treasure to compensate Your Highness?” the empress, who’d been silent until now, said. “It is perhaps the only fair way to break a tie.”
“It is fair but below us to hold an auction,” the Emperor said, shaking his head. “A spatial fragment’s value is equivalent to the Waters of Life we possess. As their request is reasonable, I will not gouge them.” He sighed and looked at Cha Ming. “Your reputation precedes you. My friend Lu Tianhao has spoken well of you, and you have a great future ahead of you.”
The prince, who’d been standing beside Zhou Li this whole time, suddenly stepped forward. “Father, I ask that you favor me by trading with Brother Li,” he said, bowing at a forty-five-degree angle. “He might not have an illustrious reputation like Cha Ming, but Brother Li is an academy elder in two disciplines. He is definitely worth the favor.”
“I also agree with the third prince,” the empress said from the side. “Nephew Li has gifted our halls many fine paintings, and his foretellings have been useful in making big decisions.”
The Emperor sighed. His look was conflicted, and Cha Ming could tell that while he was looking for an excuse to trade to Cha Ming, his family wasn’t making it easy. Cha Ming didn’t know how to alleviate the situation, and it seemed like offering his services wasn’t enough. Just as Cha Ming was about to excuse himself, another voice sounded in the throne room.
“Royal Father, I heard an interesting guest has come in to see you,” the voice of a young lady said. “Brother and I were interested in meeting him.”
“You may enter,” the Emperor said, waving her inside.
Cha Ming heard two sets of footsteps walking in from behind him, and soon a young woman and a teenage boy walked up beside him. They bowed, though he noticed that the woman didn’t bow as deeply as the younger boy. They both had white hair like their brother and were also covered in blue-gold runes. Moreover, the young woman, who couldn’t be any older than sixteen, looked familiar.
“I’m so happy we decided to indulge in our curiosity,” the woman said, smiling toward Cha Ming. She then looked back toward the Emperor. “Do you remember the incident a year and a half ago?”
The Emperor frowned. “We should not speak of embarrassing events in front of unrelated parties.”
“Fortunately, he’s not unrelated,” the princess said. “This man, Cha Ming, was the one who saved me back then.” The princess bowed toward Cha Ming, bending her brother down with her at a forty-five-degree angle. Almost as deeply as she’d bowed to the Emperor. “I, Gong Shuren, thank Brother Cha Ming for his lifesaving grace.”
The Emperor looked startled for a moment, but then he broke into peals of laughter. “Good! Great! Our tight-lipped daughter had refused to divulge who’d saved her, lest she implicate him in our court politics. Who could have known that it was you, Nephew Cha Ming, who’d saved our most gifted child, the crown princess?”
“I was just helping in passing,” Cha Ming said humbly.
“Since that’s the case, there’s no point in arguing over this,” the Emperor said. He summoned a small golden receptacle from his spatial treasure. “Would you still be willing to trade your spatial fragment for these Waters of Life?”
“I would be honored, Your Highness,” Cha Ming said, summoning the crackling black spatial fragment from his Clear Sky World. He kept it carefully coated in transcendent force as he sent it toward the Emperor, who sent the golden receptacle back toward him in return.
“We would invite you for dinner, but unfortunately, we must make the best use of our time and finish our daughter Gong Shuren’s treasure,” the Emperor said. “Why don’t we invite you some time in the future to properly thank you?”
“I would be happy to attend to Your Highness at your earliest convenience,” Cha Ming said, bowing once more.
“Good, let us be on our way,” the Emperor said. “Shuren, Yuhan, you will remain with us.”
“As you wish, Royal Father,” the two siblings said.
Cha Ming, understanding that he’d been dismissed,
