Carriages were already slow for foundation experts, so Liam saw the trip toward the tournament’s location as nothing more than a stroll.

Still, since Grace was handling the logistics, Liam didn’t even bother thinking about the matter. Also, the slow travel by carriage offered some advantages.

Liam could spend his time meditating, smoking, studying his Master’s inheritance, and dealing with another project worth pursuing during peaceful times.

The more reliant on the rank 2 venom Liam’s concoctions became, the more of it he needed to be immediately available. He now had the Cloud Pills, the needles and arrows, the watered-down poison for blackmail, and the powder for the Alchemical Refinement that used it, and its applications were bound to increase.

As quickly as Liam’s venom glands refilled themselves, that pace barely kept up with his needs, and things would worsen, so he started stockpiling it when he had no immediate use for it.

Grace was in the carriage with Liam, her mind shrouded in calculations he couldn’t hope to fathom. They were under the tacit understanding not to disturb each other, but he ended up attracting her gaze often.

At least a few times a day, Liam brought empty flasks under his hood, only for them to be full of a yellow liquid once he lowered them.

Liam always stored the flasks quickly, but that brief moment in the open was enough to alert Grace’s perception. Whatever he was doing, it was dangerous.

Then, there was something subtler, which Grace had noticed more clearly during her rarer returns to the underground warehouse, but that continued to happen at that very moment.

Liam was growing stronger. Whatever he was smoking, it was advancing his cultivation, but the math didn’t add up. He was feeding his dantian nonstop, and Grace knew which ingredients he was using, so she could guess the quality of those nutrients, only to produce fewer results than she expected.

Of course, Grace couldn’t be sure about her guess. Alchemy had too many variables for her to conceive.

Moreover, nothing said that Liam was using ideal nutrients. That smoking habit might simply be a sideways method to feed his core until he had access to his main resource.

Yet, everything Liam had done to get a pipe suggested otherwise, and there was another point. Instead of just stronger, he seemed to be growing vaster, heavier, which Grace could only explain in one way.

’His talent must be greater than mine,’ Grace concluded. ’Once my finances are stable, I must resume cultivating. I can’t have him leaving me behind.’

Liam felt those looks, but Grace made sure to close her eyes whenever he glanced back at her. Still, he occasionally lingered in the inspection of her cross-legged figure, eventually reaching a conclusion.

’Qilin’s Idea,’ Liam decided. ’That’s what I’ll name the blackmail poison.’

Silent interactions aside, the trip was smooth, and, after several days, at lunchtime, the carriage stopped atop a beaten path that led into a vast valley, which had more than anything Liam could have been ready for.

The market had surprised Liam, putting into perspective how limited the services for cultivators in his previous neighborhood were, but the sight broadened his mind once more.

The tournament wasn’t exactly more crowded than the open market. It had more cultivators, but not by much. However, its extensive structure led Liam to dwell longer on its inspection.

Grace’s carriage wasn’t the only one atop the path. Many more had stopped there, leaving their coachmen behind, who were cultivators. Yet, they were foundation experts, likely unaffiliated and looking to score a few spirit stones, as suggested by the polite salutes that unfolded around Liam.

Instead, the valley’s bottom had a series of large white platforms put together from stone tiles. They were rings where cultivators could fight, with some battles already unfolding.

Meanwhile, on the valley’s slopes, tall steps had been carved into the ground, with cultivators already occupying them. There were even wooden structures in the higher spots, creating balconies or isolated rooms for the wealthier side of the audience.

The fights weren’t really interesting. They only featured foundation experts who exchanged blows without resorting to martial arts. Chances were they didn’t have any, at least not those fighters.

Instead, the audience had far more than caught the eye. Liam saw emblems belonging to the Recruiters, Mercenary, Enforcement, Merchants, and Messengers Guilds, as well as robes too well-made to belong to lone cultivators, but with no specific symbols.

’Sects,’ Liam understood, finding no familiar color among the crowd. He wanted to be wary of the Enforcers and Recruiters, but Isaac wasn’t there, and the latter might only know about a mortal kid from Krosstoen village, not a cloaked rooting expert under a different name.

The audience wasn’t just more colorful. The foundation experts were the vast majority, but Liam also sensed some rooting experts belonging to different factions, as well as something scarier.

On opposite sides of the valley, inside two wooden rooms with windows hidden behind curtains, presences beyond the rooting stage rested, their attention more on each other rather than on the battles below.

’Branching experts,’ Liam thought. ’Two of them. They must be from Sects.’

That alone highlighted the tournament’s superiority, but Grace didn’t hesitate to broaden Liam’s perception once more.

"It’s only the first day," Grace announced, also looking down at the valley. "More cultivators will come, especially once news of what we have to offer spreads."

The revelation left Liam speechless, but his attention remained on the two branching experts as he descended the beaten path with Grace. That was his first time studying their presence as a rooting expert, and he couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Branching experts could unleash the apocalypse through their battles and suffocate through their mere presence, but that was the perspective of a foundation expert.

Now, Liam could actually feel that superior stage, albeit that only made him shudder. Branching experts were great and vast in ways he struggled to conceive, in ways the very world seemed unable to withstand fully. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

In the past, rooting experts had felt stronger on an instinctive level. Liam had even been closer to their stage due to his complete foundation.

Yet, the gap between stages widened alongside the cultivation journey, and Liam finally had proof.

’This is ...,’ Liam gasped internally, ’Wrong?’

Truth be told, Liam wasn’t exactly sure of what he perceived. The world itself twisted whenever his senses got close to the two isolated rooms, as if bending under the weight of the cultivators inside.

The event was profoundly unnatural. Liam had started to see the world as brittle after his breakthrough, its secrets and frailty more exposed, but that was another level altogether.

Still, Liam had to cut his inspection short since he and Grace reached the valley’s bottom, where problems ensued.

There were other structures below the makeshift stages and fighting platforms. Most were praying mats belonging to lone cultivators, but there were also proper tents and stands from bigger forces.

Grace had gone for an area occupied by two members of the Merchants Guild, both men, rooting experts, wearing blue robes with their affiliation’s symbol, and standing between their booths and tents.

"If it isn’t Chief Grace," One of the merchants, seemingly in his forties, bald and with a messy, thick grey beard, a bit overweight, called. "It’s unusual for you to be this late."

"Chief Kent, haven’t you heard?" The other merchant, young, no more than thirty, quite dashing and slender, his long blonde hair falling softly on his shoulders, added. "Chief Grace stood up many of her clients. They all came complaining to me. Are you perhaps in need of wares?"

"Chief Kent, Chief Leo," Grace greeted, skipping salutes to stop at an empty spot beside the two merchants’ tents. "I appreciate your concern, but I’m merely rebranding. Someone among us has to make an attempt to climb the ladder."

Despite the insulting jab, Chief Kent and Chief Leo only smiled, but their far-from-happy gazes soon converged on the tall, cloaked figure at Grace’s side.

"Isn’t he the Fellow Daoist who called out one of your merchants?" Chief Kent wondered, cupping his fist at Liam. "I heard you possess great botanical knowledge. I’m Chief Kent of the Merchants Guild, and I’d love to discuss business with you."

"Fellow Daoist, I’m Chief Leo," The blonde rooting expert also introduced himself. "Merchants Guild. The Enforcers here are already spreading rumors about you. Young Master Isaac is a friend, and it would be my pleasure to smooth things out with him for you."

Liam cupped his fist but didn’t reply. Grace didn’t give him the chance to.

"My fellow Chiefs, I’m afraid you are late," Grace announced. "We are already partners in ways you can’t affect, and I shall use this opportunity to introduce him to the world."

Grace cleared her throat, stepping aside and half-bowing to point at Liam elegantly. "Meet Master William, a peerless alchemist who will grace you all with demonstrations of his skills."

The two Chiefs studied Grace before refocusing on Liam. Grace also straightened herself, joining her hands on her waist and donning a simple smile.

As for Liam, he turned, also searching for the peerless alchemist named Master William.