Cha Ming could barely contain his excitement as he opened the transparent case. He reached out for the Gold Essence Core and grabbed it, allowing its primal energies to course through his fingers and rampage through their sensitive flesh. He took it into his Clear Sky World and placed the replacement onto the pedestal.
Then he went back to where the concealment formation had him currently rummaging, superimposed himself, and banished the formation. He picked up a jade-colored metal and grinned. “This should do nicely.”
Five minutes later, Cha Ming trotted out from the vault. He walked over to the quartermaster’s office and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Wang Bo said.
Cha Ming entered the room and saw the man hunched over and brooding.
“Is something bothering you?” Cha Ming asked, placing a sheet of paper listing what he’d taken from the vault. He then placed a ring on the desk containing some materials he hadn’t needed in the end.
“There’s always something bothering me,” Wang Bo said gruffly. He took the ring and scanned it. He nodded and placed it on a shelf beside him containing other inbound items. “Not everyone is like you, taking only what they need and bringing back what they don’t. We’ve run another deficit this month, unfortunately, and I think a lot of it has to do with senior managers taking liberties.”
“Can’t you just suspend their vault access?” Cha Ming asked.
“They don’t even enter the vault,” Wang Bo said. “It’s all over and above board. They justify their expenses, and their superiors approve them. Everyone’s so worried about Grand Vizier Zhou’s inspection these days, so these managers are fishing in troubled waters. I’m sure they’ll think up some reason or another they needed funds, and how they managed to squander them, lining their pockets in the process.”
“Don’t they have contracts in place?” Cha Ming asked, surprised. He recalled his own contract, which was rather strict with regard to embezzlement.
“There are loopholes everywhere, if you know where to look for them,” Wang Bo said, raising his hands up in the air. “But who am I to complain? I’m just a lowly quartermaster. I just guard this vault with my life, and the rest is beyond my pay grade.”
“It’ll all work out in the end,” Cha Ming said. He felt a pang of guilt, given that he’d just done exactly what the man was complaining about. He’d done it using an artifact Wang Jun had given him to hide his contractual obligations. He felt even worse for what he would do just before he left. Traitor to the North or not, Wang Bo had come to the South out of loyalty for his family. He was just doing the best he could for those he cared for.
“I sure hope it does,” Wang Bo said. “Regardless, I’ll be relieved when this pet project of the vizier’s is over and done with. Management will finally get some time to pay attention to the bottom line, and we’ll get to coast again for a while.”
“I’ll work hard to make it happen,” Cha Ming said.
Wang Bo nodded and looked back down at his documents, leaving Cha Ming to see himself out. As he walked through the vault’s corridor, he heard a soft hum.
A message? he thought. He scanned the orb Prince Shen had left him.
Can you come to the Trueblood Tavern to meet me? Prince Shen had sent. There was no context to the message, no additional details to go by.
Cha Ming didn’t think twice before replying. I’ll be there in an hour.
Did you use the item? Prince Shen sent back. He was, of course, referring to the second item he’d given Cha Ming, the Royal Seal of Notwithstanding. The item, a contract override seal, was a rarity even for the Ji royal family. It was a one-time use item that would allow a cultivator to override any Spirit Temple contract without dissolving it. These seals were an important component of the peace agreement between the Spirit Temple and the Ji Kingdom, for it allowed the crown to keep its advantage in any and all contractual negotiations.
I did, Cha Ming answered. He hadn’t, but what Wang Jun had given him had worked just as well. He hadn’t wanted to waste the dissolution seal so readily, as the ability to ignore almost any Southern contract, even if only once, was invaluable.
Good, Prince Shen replied. Meet me at the Trueblood Tavern. Alone.
See you then, Cha Ming replied. He’d thought he’d need to work his way into the prince’s good favor. Now, it seemed it was quite the opposite. Though he itched to use the Gold Source Marrow to break through immediately, that could wait until he heard what the prince had to say. Zhou Li was coming, and no one wanted to be caught unprepared.
The crown prince was no exception.
The Trueblood Tavern was a rowdy place. The customers here, mostly foundation-establishment cultivators, gambled, drank, and fought away their hard-earned spirit stones as attractive ladies and men served them drinks, putting in not-so-subtle efforts to sell their other services. Men and women from all corners of the city drank here. It was a clear sign that, regardless of station, you weren’t special in this establishment, and you’d better not cause any trouble.
Not too much trouble, at least. As Cha Ming entered, a brawl erupted at the back of the main room. Blood sprinkled through the air as an arm flew up and landed amongst the cheering crowds of spectators. A few strong men in white, bloodstained shirts watched as two bloodied men fought in the middle of a ring of patrons. They constantly looked at the clock, counting away the minutes before they were forced to intervene.
They didn’t, in the end. One of the
