The jewelry shop's attendant was in an awkward position. If she could not protect the reputation of her goods, she needed to secure some official proof to present to the store's manager and avoid blame.

"Sir, if you'll please present your qualification jade, I will apologize and remove this product from our stock for inspection and verification."

This was standard practice in any city. The professions were self-regulated, therefore anyone making a complaint would need standing. Otherwise, someone who wanted to make a complaint had to seek the assistance of a qualified individual.

"I.. don't have a qualification jade," Cha Ming replied shyly.

This response shocked the attendant. How could someone be so daring to make such an accusation without a qualifying document? This sort of behavior was extremely frowned upon by all professionals, who mandated the registration of each of their members. Someone like Cha Ming, who dared to disparage the work of a registered professional, could easily be sued for unqualified slander.

"Then I'm afraid that I will be requiring your apology or the backing of someone qualified to make such an accusation," the attendant replied coldly. Her expression had lost every ounce of respect that she had previously displayed when she was under the impression that Cha Ming was a qualified expert.

"That won't be necessary!" the voice of a young man sounded out from the crowd.

The crowd parted to reveal a well-dressed individual. His frame was small and skinny. However, the presence he exuded caused Cha Ming to shudder. He could feel it—this man was strong! Not just in terms of qi condensation; the man's presence was oppressive, both in terms of physical body strength and spiritual force.

Without explaining anything, the man picked up the brooch and briefly inspected it. He then nodded and dropped a pouch full of spirit stones on the attendant's booth. "My apologies, this pouch contains five thousand spirit stones. I'll be buying my failed product from your stall. Such things are unworthy of making it to market, and I'm ashamed to have put my name to it."

This man was clearly Hong Lai, the famous artisan who had crafted the brooch. He didn't seem flustered or angry at being exposed, however. If anything, he seemed genuinely grateful. The man turned to Cha Ming's group, smiling.

"Might I ask if you are both available for supper tonight? I would like to compensate you for your bad experience. In addition, I'll craft a complimentary custom gift for the both of you. How does that sound?"

This.. is a little overboard, no? I basically slapped him in the face, but now he wants to buy me supper and compensate me? Seeing his befuddled expression, the young man laughed.

"My friend, judging by your clothes, you are new to the city. This is an old tradition that has been around for hundreds of years, so you'll need to indulge me. In return, since you were able to spot the flaws in my work, you'll need to compensate me in a different way. I'll be asking for your guidance on how to improve the final design."

Now Cha Ming understood the man's intentions. He only sought to improve his work! In fact, he could tell from this brief interaction that this man did not pursue popularity but perfection; his ranking was a mere consequence of this pursuit.

"Then I'll be asking you to take care of us," said Cha Ming while clasping his hands and bowing. Gong Lan followed suit.

And so, three people and one fox traveled to a nearby restaurant. This was, coincidentally, the most famous and expensive restaurant in the city, Phoenix Cry Pavilion.

***

A short while later, Cha Ming, Gong Lan, and Hong Lai were sitting at a medium-sized table. It was covered with a mauve tablecloth carefully embroidered in green and red floral patterns. A beautiful woman wearing a form-fitting black dress came in through a sliding door, which was expertly carved with depictions of various spirit beasts. The woman politely bowed to Hong Lai.

"Master Hong, what will you and your guests be having today?" she asked. Her red lipstick accentuated her beautiful smile. The pay at such an establishment was based on commission, so the waitresses would do everything in their power to impress their guests and cause them to loosen their belt pouches.

"Do either of you drink?" Hong Lai asked both his guests. They shook their heads in response. "A pity. The Phoenix Cry Pavilion has an exquisite wine called Fireblood wine. It's not actually made with blood. It's a clever mixture of herbs and fruit, fermented to create a wine that makes your blood boil from its spicy flavor.

"Speaking of which," he said, turning to the waitress, "please bring me a bottle of wine for myself, and your best tea for these two guests. And, er.." He looked toward Huxian.

"He'll take water," said Cha Ming. "He likes to eat roast meat, but he's never developed an appetite for any kind of drink. With respect to meat, I'm afraid to say that he prefers quantity over quality and is effectively a bottomless pit. No need to worry about that, however. I'll get him a snack later."

"Nonsense! I insist that he eat his fill here. Now then, any dietary restrictions?" Hong Lai asked.

"I'm a vegetarian, but she seems to be carnivorous," said Cha Ming. Gong Lan scrunched her face together, pouting, but she didn't correct him.

"Right, if you would be so kind, miss, please bring us a feast as they've specified, and I'll just eat whatever they're having. And make sure that you bring out a roast pheasant!" Hong Lai said, sending off the beautiful waitress.

"Thankfully you youngsters aren't the only picky eaters in the city. It's become a hobby of sorts, especially amongst renowned artisans. This city is all about fashion, you see, and that involves standing out and being different in various aspects. Now, I know you are both foreigners, but where are you both from exactly?" Hong Lai asked curiously.

Gong Lan was the first to reply. "I live in Green Leaf City with my brother, but I was born in Clearwood."

"Clearwood, eh? Rough crowd over there. Quite the gambling industry. I haven't been there myself, but my esteemed master has been there in the past. How about yourself, young friend?" He sounded more curious about Cha Ming's background.

"I've lived in Green Leaf City for the past half year while attending Green Leaf Academy. That is where I learned to craft talismans. My teacher is Elder Ling."

"Elder Ling.. I'm not in the field, so I can't say I've heard of him. Perhaps I should ask my cousin. He's also a talisman artist, though he's only a fifth-grade artist. Like any craft, the difficulty mounts exponentially."

"Right," Cha Ming replied. "It applies to all crafts and arts. A fifth-grade artist is quite something. Does he have a master in the city?"

"No, he doesn't. Unfortunately, there aren't many talisman artists in this city. My cousin is the highest-ranking talisman artist in the city. He travels to the capital city every year for instruction, and sometimes he'll make a lucky breakthrough. Still, his progress hasn't been very good compared to his cultivation. He's at the seventh level of qi condensation!"

"Oh? What is your rank as a spiritual blacksmith?" Cha Ming asked.

"Regrettably, I'm only seventh grade. It's very difficult to train as a spiritual blacksmith, you know. Not only do I need to train my qi, but I also need to train my soul and my body. Fortunately, the requirements for soul cultivation are not very harsh. Therefore, I'm at the seventh level of both qi condensation and body refinement," the man said proudly.

Cha Ming was impressed. Although the man was only in his midtwenties, he had pursued not only body cultivation, qi cultivation, and weaponsmithing, but he had also pursued the pinnacle of arts. Dividing one's attention was extremely taxing. The only reason that Cha Ming had found it easy was because he had obtained so many fortuitous encounters in the last six months in addition to his slightly elevated talent and peak soul force. Comprehension abilities were extremely dependent on soul force, so Cha Ming was particularly blessed in this aspect.

Their food arrived a short while later. Each dish was a work of art and extremely delicious. Cha Ming especially enjoyed the mushroom dish, which contained a combination of softer mushrooms and chewy mushrooms. With each bite he took, Cha Ming felt a warm sensation course through him that seemed to replenish his qi, body, and soul.

"I can tell from your expression that you've never had food like this before," said Hong Lai. Cha Ming shook his head, prompting Hong Lai to continue his explanation. "This type of food is called spirit food. Spirit food can only be prepared by spiritual chefs, which are very rare due to the requirements of their occupation. This is because they require triple affinity to water, wood, and fire. Most people would rather pursue alchemy or medicine. It takes someone who is truly in love with food to pursue this path.

"The chef at the Phoenix Cry Pavilion has pursued the culinary arts to the extreme, mixing in precious herbs, roots, and spirit-animal flesh to produce something both tasty and extremely nutritious. You likely felt like your cultivation was improving with every bite. That's because spirit food is much like a mild medicinal pill. Properly prepared spirit food comes from all-natural sources with minimal processing, and therefore their nutritional effect is weaker, but there is no chance of side effects. Plus, the taste is amazing. By the way, try this steamed taro dish," Hong Lai said, pointing to a white-and-purple dish. "It's amazing." Hong Lai helped himself to a generous portion, which was lightly sprinkled with what looked like onions and an unknown blue herb.

The food was so effective that Cha Ming felt the boundary holding back his qi lake weaken. Unfortunately, they were in the middle of a meal. It would be terrible etiquette to break through while eating dinner with someone.

After they finished their meal, Cha Ming and Hong Lai got to the heart of the matter—how to improve the runic engravings on the red lotus brooch. While Cha Ming was not familiar with the Shield Guard inscription, such a grouping of characters was well within his capabilities. He estimated that such an inscription could also be painted as a fourth-grade talisman. With Cha Ming's capabilities, his chances of success were one in two. He used gold elemental essence to paint the character two times. He didn't retract any spent ink, however. Only magic treasures could accomplish this, and revealing such an expensive treasure was tantamount to suicide in the cultivation world. No matter how genial Hong Lai seemed, he might be tempted by the appeal of a valuable treasure.

After two attempts, the base talisman succeeded. Hong Lai nodded approvingly.

"Yes, this is most definitely the basic form of the inscription rune. However, as I was carving the character, I naturally wanted to beautify it. That is why I carved it as it is now. I didn't notice anything wrong until you pointed it out, but now I can truly feel that the runes have each lost some of their functionality over the original I had carved into the prototype."

Cha Ming nodded. "Yes, your representation of the runic character is very beautiful, if judged by calligraphy's standards. However, there are certain conventions to runic calligraphy."

Cha Ming spent a good hour explaining a few standard conventions that would beautify characters yet not reduce their functionality. He also painted a much more beautiful representation of the runic character so that Hong Lai could use it for reference, which made him ecstatic. Having a simple diagram was very different from having an actual drawn character, where he could sense the thickness of the energy lines and essence.

During their conversation, Cha Ming learned many things about weaponsmithing. Spiritual blacksmiths were required to triple-cultivate body, qi, and soul. In addition, they needed to cultivate both fire and metal, a destructive combination. The combination was useful for their body cultivation, but more importantly, it facilitated the use of their primary crafting tools.

Blacksmiths needed to control fire to melt and purify the metals they used in their creation. Precise temperature control was necessary for melting, tempering, and quenching weapons. Fortunately, their creations could be reformed in the case of failure, unlike an alchemist's ingredients, where medicinal herbs could be burnt to ashes by excessive temperatures. This was why alchemy had such stringent requirements on innate soul force.

The control over metal was also a requirement, largely due to the need to condense their very own spiritual hammer. This spiritual hammer had to be imbued with rare metals and other materials, and a spiritual weapon could not be created without a hammer of the appropriate grade. This hammer was not restricted to a large smithing hammer; it could change shapes, becoming larger or smaller as required. In addition, it could be fashioned with a sharp end to inscribe runes onto weapons. These runes did not require any elemental essence while crafting but had to be energized with the appropriate elemental essence after the fact.

Weapon crafting, while expensive to practice, was not as prohibitive as Cha Ming had originally thought. Talisman crafting without high-level tools had extremely high rates of failure. Any ink used would be lost with a failed talisman. Spiritual blacksmiths, on the other hand, didn't need to worry about wasted material. Material could be recycled indefinitely, with some exceptions. Once a spiritual blacksmith failed an engraving, he had the option to melt down and reforge the item. Elemental essence would be used as a finishing touch to complete runes, and much less essence was required for a weapon than for a talisman.

Another key difference lay in the runes they used. Weaponsmithing runes were much simpler than talisman runes for the same grade of weapon. In addition, as they didn't have to handle liquid ink to paint the characters, they had no requirement to use qi as a guide for the inscriptions. As such, weaponsmiths were not restricted to crafting weapons of a particular element. This was an advantage in versatility over talisman artists.

The red lotus brooch, a fifth-grade weapon, only used a fourth-grade talisman rune. Cha Ming speculated that this was due to the materials used, which could support the runic inscription. Further, aside from some consumable items like the brooch, spirit weapons would be imbued with spirit-gathering inscriptions, enabling the weapon to borrow the qi of Heaven and Earth. For some reusable ignition-type inscriptions, the user's qi was often required to activate the rune and create a special effect.

While Gong Lan was bored, Cha Ming felt like he had discovered a whole new world. Gong Lan returned to the inn after the first hour, and Cha Ming and Hong Lai continued to discuss their respective crafts until four hours after sunset. If he had a chance in the future, Cha Ming decided he wouldn't mind settling down in a city like Fairweather.

***

The trio made their way to the auction hall the next morning. They were not accompanied by any of the ten mercenaries, as these men were technically one group of four and two groups of three. The mercenary company was a place to meet colleagues and obtain missions and news. Gong Lan's brother, the Blood King, took a small cut on every deal they were involved in.

Today's event, the trade meet, started early in the morning. The reason for the early start was because participants had to register their goods and verify their identities. Each participant had to be registered for the upcoming mission—no exceptions.

Cha Ming had full confidence that talismans would be in short supply. This was doubly so since his conversation with Hong Lai. He thanked his foresight for not selling them to the Jade Bamboo Conglomerate before leaving Green Leaf City.

After waiting their turn in line for a half hour, Cha Ming and Gong Lan proceeded to the registration counter with Huxian at their heels. They were greeted by a cultivator in his twenties with short black hair. He wore simple clothes. The man looked studious more than anything, though Cha Ming felt a shiver run down his spine as he was looked over by the young man, who greeted them with a smile on his face.

"Will you both be participating in the primary auction, the secondary auction, or both?" Following his question, Cha Ming felt an intrusive scan of spiritual energy wash over the three of them. He furrowed his brow in response to the rude behavior.

The young man quickly noticed his expression. "My apologies, dear guest. Due to the nature of the auction, my employer has instructed me to verify every guest in attendance. My profession is that of an inquisitor. Of course, you are both qualified to attend the primary and secondary auction." He quickly gave them both a bidding paddle, which was affixed with a number. The paddle was fashioned out of simple wood but inscribed with silver ink.

The man also brought out two contracts for both Cha Ming and Gong Lan. "As part of registering for the auction, you must sign this employment contract for the mission. You will find that the contract is quite fair. I have already filled out your names and cultivation level," the man politely explained.

Cha Ming was extremely surprised at this revelation. How did the man know his name and cultivation level? More importantly, his cultivation level had been filled out correctly at the sixth level, his body refinement level. Noticing Gong Lan's unsurprised expression, however, he hid his shock and proceeded to review the contract.

The terms of the contract were straightforward. They simply stated that to participate in the auction, the cultivator would need to participate in the search and rescue mission. The duration of the contract was one month from the start of the mission, and the cultivators would be compensated in full regardless of the result of the mission. The cultivator need only participate to the best of his ability, without being obligated to utilize costly consumables, though the use of such items was encouraged, as they increased the survivability of the cultivator.

Should the cultivator encounter life-threatening danger beyond their capability, they could withdraw from the mission and cancel their contract with no penalty, only keeping the 25% advance for the mission.

The contract also specified compensation levels for each cultivation level at registration, in addition to basic indemnity language for both parties. Overall, the contract was indeed fair. The penalty for unlawful termination of the contract was a Heart Demon Enforcement, which would hamper the cultivator's ability to advance and break through.

Just as Cha Ming was about to sign his contract, he was interrupted by the young man. "Might I give you some advice? I am unable to evaluate the strength of your contract beast, which means it must be rather strong, among other things. With an appropriate subcontract, the contract beast can be included as part of your strength. Would you like to consider this?"

After pondering for a few moments, Cha Ming shook his head and signed the contract. He instantly became aware of a karmic obligation in the back of his mind.

What a mysterious contract, he thought.

"I prefer to register with my own strength for personal reasons," he replied.

The man shrugged and ushered him into the auction house.