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My time at this inn lasted for two whole days. I hadn’t expected it to take so long, but it seemed that the Patriarch had decided to investigate me thoroughly before making another move. Since they couldn’t travel to the Proud Mountain Kingdom in anything less than a couple of weeks, I couldn’t imagine what they expected their investigation to reveal, but they would hopefully talk to the carriage driver who had brought me here. That would give them more than enough information to make the right choice.

When an envoy from the clan arrived and I opened the door to see who they had sent to treat with me, I wasn’t entirely surprised. I had shown favoritism toward the Grand Elder, but sending someone in his position out to negotiate with a junior would have been lowering his status. So instead, they sent the younger Grandmaster 6 man who had deferred to the Grand Elder in the previous meeting.

I nodded to him and opened the door fully, allowing easy entry.

“Please, come in.”

He gave a short bow and stepped inside. “Thank you, Prince Fang.”

I studied him as I guided him to the room’s sitting area. He looked to be in his mid-forties, so since he was a Grandmaster, I placed his age at somewhere around 120, but that was only a very rough estimate. He wore the same brown robes as the Grand Elder, but this man’s were much simpler and lacked any sort of embroidery. In a way, he almost looked more like a high-class servant than a noble.

Once we were seated, my guest took the initiative to introduce himself.

“Prince Fang, my name is Su Heng. I am the son of the Grand Elder. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend you today, so I was sent in his stead. After a lengthy debate within the clan, the Patriarch has decided that it is our duty to assist you with your goals, and we would like to discuss how we might best be able to do so.”

As he spoke, I could sense a faint nervousness in his posture and speech patterns.

After silently considering the situation for several moments, allowing my guest’s nerves to build even further, I pulled out a formation plate, placed it on the table between us, and activated it.

“We are now shielded from eavesdroppers. No outsiders will be able to listen in on our conversation. This might make them suspicious of you, but it will allow us to speak freely with one another, and it will help me trust what you tell me.” I gave him a sharp-eyed glare. “Let’s stop with the political speeches. Why are you here?”

Su Heng’s breath hitched. I could tell he wasn’t used to being questioned so directly, especially not by someone a quarter of his age. He would be far more used to talking around issues with flowery language.

“Prince… Fang. The clan wants access to your pills… And we want to deny them to others…”

I nodded but said nothing in response. This much was obvious, and we both knew it didn’t answer my question.

“I… My father sent me to evaluate the potential of cooperating with you… on a more personal level. He isn’t one to easily believe a person’s boasts, but he also isn’t one to immediately discount them either. He wants to know if you can do as you say.”

I gave him another moment to continue, but Su Heng fell silent.

“Very well. Then let’s begin by discussing my offer. As I understand it, the Su Clan will be inducting a new group of Disciples in the coming days. I wish to recruit any of them who are willing to follow me. The terms will be as I laid out previously. For each new Disciple that joins me, I will provide the Su Clan 11 Perfect pills. However, I won’t accept just anyone. I must personally evaluate each individual before they will be allowed to join my retinue.”

I allowed Su Heng a moment to process this before continuing.

“I will tell you this. I only desire to recruit a small handful of Disciples this year. If they prove themselves to be suitable for my needs, I would be willing to induct another group next year, and even more in the following years. This process will continue until I feel that the assembled force is sufficient.”

“I… see. And you only desire to recruit the new Disciples? Not any of the trained Masters or Grandmasters?”

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There was a mix of emotions in the man’s voice, but I sensed a tinge of disappointment. Was this Su Heng looking to escape from the clan himself? I wasn’t enthusiastic about recruiting anyone from the clan’s upper echelons. I didn’t entirely discount the idea of recruiting leaders for the clan who could revive with me across the endless time loops, but I would much prefer someone who wasn’t already tainted by an existing association with the Su Clan.

“If there are any who truly desire to join me, I will consider it, but they are not who I am looking to recruit. My goal is to pull in new Disciples and mold them into what I need them to be.”

Su Heng’s head dropped, just a bit, but it was noticeable. “I understand. However, the Patriarch and the elders also want to see if there is a way for them to acquire more powerful pills. While Rank 1 pills are nice, they only help the younger generation. They thought that since you had access to Perfect Rank 2 pills, you might have access to Rank 3 pills as well.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. I had been hoping that would be the case.

“I want the Rosehill Hot Springs and its surrounding territories. I am willing to purchase the land outright for a large one-time payment, or I am willing to lease it for a small fee each year. Your elders can decide how they wish to handle this and what level of payment would be appropriate. If this is not possible, there is another location I have in mind for my training grounds, but the price I would be willing to pay is much lower.”

Su Heng stood and gave me a deep bow.

“I understand, Prince Fang. I will inform the elders of your request.”

I walked him to the door, but before leaving, he turned and offered me a warning.

“I was delayed in coming here because of disagreements within the clan on how to handle this situation. Some have thoughts of capturing you and forcing you to hand everything over to them, and others are looking to strike deals with you on the side. For now, the Patriarch is playing things safe. He has forbidden anyone from contacting you directly without his permission, and he has sent a missive to the Rising Sun Empire regarding your presence here. He plans to extract what benefits he can from you, and then, if possible, he will sell you off to them. Be careful.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

The Su Clan took another few days to reach its final decision.

From Su Heng’s warning, I had expected them to quickly accept my purchase of the land so that they could snatch as many resources from me as possible, but they showed a bit more patience than that. While the Rosehill Hot Springs was within their ‘empire,’ the land was not directly controlled by the Su Clan, so selling it to me directly without first contacting the area’s current owner could have caused problems.

If they were certain the Rising Sun Empire would deal with me before they needed to fulfill any of their promises, they might have been willing to take that risk, but without first knowing the empire’s stance on my presence here, they were playing things rather safe.

Instead, they were only willing to agree to a short-term preliminary arrangement. I would be allowed to attend and participate in the training sessions for this year’s new Disciples. I would use this time to evaluate them. Then, at the end of this training, I would be allowed to recruit any who wished to follow me.

With this broad agreement in place, we then focused on hashing out a few important details. For example, the clan didn’t want me stealing their best talents, so I wasn’t allowed to actively recruit their elites. However, if one of those elites wanted

to follow me, the clan also didn’t want to stop them from pursuing their dreams. So, if an elite requested a position in my retinue, I was allowed to accept them, but I would also have to pay a higher premium that would be determined by the prowess of the individual.

In truth, I saw this for what it was. The clan didn’t care about blocking anyone from pursuing dreams. They were just attempting to wring as much out of me as they could. That was fine with me. If they wanted me to throw a few extra worthless pills at them then I would.

The more important concession I had to make was to accept Su Heng as my attendant during my time in the clan. He would both serve as my attendant and as a spy for the elders so that they could keep track of what I was getting up to.

When he presented me with this requirement, I had to ask about it. It seemed somewhat out of place.

“The Patriarch is willing to let the Grand Elder’s son serve as my attendant? Wouldn’t he want to place one of his own people in that position?”

Su Heng smiled wryly at that. “Yes, but my father willingly gave up any claim on the pills you will be providing the clan. In return for his faction not having any access to your Perfect pills, I was allowed to be the one chosen to serve as your attendant.”

“He is willing to go so far?”

Su Heng chuckled mirthlessly. “He believes that you will either achieve greatness, in which case I may be able to bask in your reflected glory, or you will quickly burn out, in which case very little will have been lost.”

I nodded. “Very well. You may attend me. I will not stop you from doing your job, neither as my attendant nor as the clan’s spy. However, you should be aware that while you remain a spy, you will only be privy to information that I wish the clan to know. If you desire to step beyond that role in the future, we can discuss it, but I must first gain a better understanding of you. Just as you are unsure if you wish for a place in my retinue, I am unsure if I wish to offer you one.”

Su Heng gave a deep bow. “I understand, Prince Fang.”

“Good, then shall we depart? I am interested to see the quality of the Su Clan’s Disciples.”

The carriage ride up the mountain to the Su Clan’s training complex took less than an hour, and when we stepped outside, we were greeted by two older men. The first was the elder who had always been the one to test my affinities, and the second was Su YuanFei.

Both men bowed fractionally when they saw me, and Su Heng introduced them.

First, he gestured to the older man. “This is Su HuaLong, Second Elder of the Su Clan and the head of our training complex.”

Then, he gave a half bow to YuanFei. “This is Su YuanFei, eldest son and heir of the Su Clan’s Patriarch.”

I raised an eyebrow at the latter title. It was one I hadn’t heard before, and it might explain certain future events.

After that, Su Heng turned to me. “Second Elder, Young Master, may I introduce Fang Su, Prince of the Proud Mountain Kingdom.”

The Second Elder stepped forward. “Welcome, Prince Fang. We are honored by your presence. I hope you will be able to share your knowledge with us so that we may better prepare the next generation.”

I gave him a faint smile. “We will see.”