After deciding on his plan, Yu Tian took a bunch of herbs from the treasury and started preparing them.
According to the information he received from Liu Meihua, they had three neighboring sects.
The Misty Peak Sect were their neighbors from the north, Eastern Valley Sect from the east, and Righteous Sword Sect in the west. The reason they didn’t have any neighbors in the south was because that direction led to the Black Forest.
Apparently, the Black Forest extends endlessly with seemingly no end, and gets more and more dangerous the deeper you go in. He had thought that it was just something they feared as a small-time sect, but it turns out that it was actually quite the big deal. This content belongs to n0velfire.net
Him and Xueling were quite lucky.
Even so, he felt a little uncomfortable being so close to the Black Forest. What if something like a beast tide happened? It was said that in some seasons, beasts would become agitated and would charge into human territories.
After doing some calculations, he calmed down. It seemed the next beast tide from the Black Forest would be in two years. This should be enough time to grow their power or find a new home.
He switched his attention back to the surrounding sects.
These three were all seventh grade sects, unlike them who were just eighth grade sects. This meant they had either one or more Golden Core cultivators. They needed to make sure not to offend them and cause trouble for themselves.
Another thing he had heard was that these sects were also part of the righteous faction.
In the world of cultivation, there were two paths of cultivation. The first was the righteous path, and the second was the demonic path. The righteous path was referred to as the normal cultivation methods, and the demonic path was that which relied on committing evil deeds like refining people to advance. Kinda like the method Su Qing had used.
This didn’t particularly matter to Yu Tian. After all, there was no wrong or right in cultivation.
Even the so-called righteous faction also had their own tolerance point. Just because they weren’t as bad as the demonic faction didn’t mean they were good, just the better alternative.
Even so, he wouldn’t join the demonic faction as being labeled a demonic cultivator by the righteous faction would be a death sentence.
In that case, he supposed they should join the righteous faction.
Since their sect was a newly formed sect, it was bound to attract some attention.
Before, the group of sects in their region was seen as weak, but now that there is a power able to unify the entire region, others will suspect that a new power is rising here and might possibly be a new seventh grade sect in the making.
With this, they will probably begin sending delegations to test the waters. He predicted they would receive offers from both the demonic and righteous factions.
This was a really bad position to be in as no matter what they chose, they would be in trouble either way. This was one of the reasons he chose to do the whole alchemy thing.
It wasn’t all for the money (though most of it was) - they also needed protection.
After rejecting the demonic faction, the demonic faction wouldn’t play fair and would decide to destroy them so the righteous faction couldn’t have them.
That’s where his skills came in.
If the righteous faction realized that a seventh grade alchemist was actually in such a sect, they definitely wouldn’t let the demonic faction destroy them so easily and would protect them.
After all, secondary professionists were quite rare.
A few hours later, Yu Tian finished up making the seventh grade pills.
He made three for each sect, so nine in total. "These should be enough," he thought.
He let out a sigh - their herbs were over now. Although each of the sects had some seventh grade herbs, they were just a little and could be considered sect treasures.
Not to mention that none of them were related, so he had resorted to creating nine different pills, each with its own strange effects. Thanks to his calculation, he was able to see the best path and managed to utilize the herbs to the maximum. He hoped those guys got back to him soon so he would have money to buy herbs and begin his business.
At the same time, Xueling returned.
"You’re back," Yu Tian spoke as he got up, turning to face her as she descended.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"What do you think?" she asked as she touched down.
"From the smile on your face, I’m guessing it went well," he said.
"That’s right, everything is under control now. I’ll soon start deploying them beyond the region to gather information on the royal family and the status of the other heirs," she said.
Yu Tian nodded with a smile. "That’s good," he said.
"Follow me, I have a task for you," he said, turning around.
She quickly caught up to him and walked next to him as she recapped what had happened.
The two then reached Xueling’s study room.
"Study room? Do you want me to write something? A new sect rule?" she asked.
"Well, you’re half right," he responded as he sat and she sat opposite him. "I want you to write a letter of introduction to our neighboring sects," he explained.
"Introduction? Why?" Xueling asked. "Won’t they think lowly of us if we do this?" she asked.
Usually, the neighbors would come to greet the newcomer and even bring some gifts to form good relations. If they were the one going out of their way to greet others, and so soon too, wouldn’t that just scream desperation?
Yu Tian just calmly explained his worries and she slowly nodded in understanding.
"Indeed, this is a huge problem," Xueling said. "I’ll write a letter and ask one of the sect masters to send it right away," Xueling said.
Yu Tian merely smiled. "No need," he said. "Even if we are a little desperate, putting on airs a little isn’t bad. Otherwise, others will walk all over us," he said.