Blood Moon

by Patrick Laplante

  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.

  Chapter 13: Trade Meet

  Cha Ming and company proceeded into the auction house after their registration. Once they were out of earshot, Cha Ming asked Gong Lan about the young man at the entrance.

  “Oh, him?” she said. “He is a professional inquisitor. They appear frequently in large cities, and their profession does not require any complicated materials or training. All inquisitors are required to cultivate light and have innate spiritual force.

  “From what I understand, their profession allows them a few minor abilities that are quite useful. They can determine the strength of cultivators or demon beasts within about three levels of their own cultivation. In addition, they can determine the veracity or falsehood of spoken statements. It is rumored that they can manifest additional abilities, depending on their talents. I heard my brother say that some inquisitors can ‘see’ the merit or sin of a person, and that some legendary inquisitors can also identify disguises and break illusions.

  “Overall, they are commonly employed as investigators, prosecutors in court, and police officers. They all have one thing in common—they abhor lies and deceit and are all morally upright. Deceit is the antithesis of their profession. In fact, excessive lying—even by omission—can lead to the deterioration of their profession and cultivation. As such, their statements are universally trusted.”

  “But why would an inquisitor need to verify entry into an auction house of all things?” Cha Ming asked as they headed toward a marble service desk.

  “Beats me,” she replied. “It’s not unheard of, but it seems unnecessary. That is, unless there are hidden details pertaining to the mission that we are not aware of. In addition, the organizers of this event incurred great expense in hiring a scribe to create the contracts.”

  “A scribe?” asked Cha Ming.

  “Yes, scribes are professionals that cultivate fate,” Gong Lan explained. “They use spiritual force to create contracts that are binding through karma. The stronger the scribe, the stronger the contract
they can enforce. I would imagine that they prepared many tiers of contracts, as the cost of a contract is proportionate to the strength of the enforcement. In fact, these contracts are very similar to talismans and could be considered a subset of the talisman artist profession.”

  At this point, Cha Ming felt overwhelmed by the massive amount of information he’d been exposed to since his arrival in the city. “There are too many professions. I naively thought there were only a dozen different occupations,” Cha Ming thought out loud, sighing. Huxian nudged his leg in agreement, which reminded Cha Ming of a question that had been pushed to the back of his mind.

  Huxian, why couldn’t that man sense your strength? He should have been strong enough to detect your cultivation. I also don’t remember you having strong spiritual force, Cha Ming asked mentally.

  Oh. Well, at first, his spiritual force washed over me, and my bloodline power burnt it. Then he got a little aggressive and increased the strength of his probing. It was annoying, so I ate it, the little fox explained nonchalantly.

  You… ate it? You mean, you ate his spiritual force? Cha Ming asked.

  Yeah, it was tasty. I wanted to eat more, but he stopped. Huxian’s mental voice was tinged with disappointment.

  At the service desk, a beautiful female attendant in a red dress was stationed. Judging by her expression, she was tired of the less-than-savory company in attendance that morning. Cha Ming couldn’t blame her. Mercenaries didn’t know how to dress, they didn’t wash or clean up frequently, and they often made crass and rude remarks. Seeing that she was distracted, he lightly cleared his throat. The attendant quickly snapped back to reality and shot them an overexaggerated smile.

  “My dear guests, I assume you wish to set up a stall for the trade meet?” the beautiful woman asked politely. The phrase seemed well-rehearsed. It was likely a canned expression she’d been using to save energy and avoid much conversation.

  “Yes, I would like to set up a talisman shop,” Cha Ming replied. This seemed to pique the interest of the lady in red. She straightened up a little and pushed a loose lock of hair back before continuing.

  “May I see the goods in question? Also, may I know what grade of talismans you will be selling? We are required to register the approximate value of goods, for tax purposes. Of course, the hosts will be covering the tax for this exchange, so you need not worry about paying a commission.”

  He neatly placed all the talismans he had produced on the desk. According to the Swiftwind Intelligence Agency, his talismans had a list price of 105 mid-grade spirit stones.

  “Two hundred and five sixth-grade talismans,” he declared.

  The lady in red’s face flushed as she heard his declaration. She then picked up one of the papers, which had been intricately decorated at the borders with ink matching the key character. While she had no idea what the talisman was used for, she couldn’t help but admire the exquisite calligraphy. The elegance in the brushstrokes could easily match the exquisite runes she had seen on goods produced by top-tier weaponsmiths.

  “Young master, may I ask if you absolutely insist on selling these at the trade meet?” Her form of address quickly adjusted itself to his perceived station; high-level artisans were practically worshiped in Fairweather.

  “Oh? Should I be selling these elsewhere?” Cha Ming inquired after understanding her meaning.

  “I believe there is the possibility of including your goods in the auction itself. Would you be available for a short meeting with my manager?” the lady asked in a hopeful tone. After all, there was actual commission at stake here.

  A quarter hour later, they were seated in a luxurious office in front of a man with long black hair. Wisps of silver flowed down his head onto his shoulders, giving the impression that it was intentionally dyed this way for decorative purposes. He wore a silk cultivation robe, which was dark blue and decorated with silver runic patterns.

  The office seemed more like a showroom than a place to fill out paperwork, due to the dozens of collectible items adorning the walls. Beautifully crafted weapons, armor, clothes, sculptures, and jewelry pieces had been carefully laid out, often inside clear glass cases. Not a speck of dust could be seen.

  The man in question was the manager of the auction house. He was currently observing the talismans Cha Ming had crafted one by one, nodding his head in appreciation.

  “Where did you learn your craft?” the man asked softly.

  “In Green Leaf City, sir. I was taught by Elder Ling, the best talisman artist in the city,” Cha Ming replied.

  The man continued nodding his head. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of Elder Ling. However, I have frequented many auction houses and spoken to many craftsmen. Regrettably, calligraphy is seldom used by talisman artists, as it substantially increases the difficulty. There are maybe one or two talisman artists in the kingdom that would bother, and they are both foundation-establishment elders. They usually wouldn’t bother themselves with mid-grade talismans like these.

  “That being said, I’m not mocking your talismans. Quite the contrary, your attention to detail and exquisite penmanship is exactly what people look for around here, particularly in noble and craftsman families. Coincidentally, we expect at least half of the guests at this auction with higher-level cultivations to be in this demographic.

  “Here is what I propose. I can give you a base price of twenty-five percent over list price. In addition, if this is insufficient, I offer to add these goods to tomorrow’s auction. If they don’t sell as I predict, I will buy them from you at said price, because I can eventually sell them at a hefty profit. The starting price at the auction will be a twenty-five percent premium, and I am confident in our ability to fetch a thirty to fifty percent premium. These goods are in short supply, especially just before the rescue mission. Combined with their artistic value, I think this is a fair estimate.

  “Normally, we would ask for a five percent commission on anything that we auction. In this case, I propose zero commission for the base price but a twenty-five percent commission on anything over and above the base price. This will give us plenty of incentive to fetch you the best price possible. What do you think of my proposal?”

  “How about twenty percent?” he countered. “In addition, I want a letter of credit for 125% of their face value so that I can shop around during the trade meet and at earlier stages of the auction.”

  “Deal,” the manager replied. They shook hands, and the trio walked out of the office with a stack of bills of credit. Each bill was redeemable for ten thousand spirit stones at the auction house.

  Lively. That was the only way to describe the trade meet. A total of three hundred mercenaries consisting of foreign and local cultivators had chosen to participate in the mission. Truth be told, half of them were little more than cannon fodder. Alas, their situation was akin to the employees of pleasure houses. Mercenaries usually chose the profession out of desperation. And just like their sister occupation, they did not live long.

  Of course, that did not stop them from somehow accumulating odd treasures from time to time. Three quarters of the stalls dealt with low-quality goods or unknown goods. These rubbish treasures were of little or no use to these cultivators. That or they were saving up for something important like a life-saving treasure or a better spirit weapon. While everyone had heard that there would be plenty of spirit weapons at the auction, no one knew the exact number. Many of the warriors did not possess even the lowest grade of precious weapons, not to mention their upgraded versions.

  Therefore, a young man, a young lady, and a baby fox decided to take advantage of the fire sale. Most of the goods were displayed on simple tables covered in black fabric, lest the tables draw attention from their glittering wares. What Cha Ming and company were doing now was akin to junk diving—sifting through the rubble in the hopes of finding a precious treasure.

  A few hours passed, after which they stopped at an interesting stall, where a grizzled veteran’s deep voice caught thei
r attention. His hefty mane was draped across a set of burly shoulders. A suit of black armor covered his torso, his upper arms, and his thighs. Such a suit of armor was commonly used by cultivators since it did not restrict mobility. Cha Ming evaluated that it was a mid-grade spirit armor, given the runes that were inscribed. Spirit armor came with a substantially higher price tag than spirit weapons. The man had a dozen items laid out in front of him.

  “This bottle of pills was obtained from an expert’s tomb. I lost five brothers to obtain it, but alas, I am unsure of its contents. Breaking open the seal on this glass bottle will cause the medicine to quickly lose its efficacy. Therefore, I haven’t had the heart to take the risk and open it.”

  Seeing Cha Ming was about to turn and leave, he tried again. “Young man, I’m quite desperate to obtain a mid-grade spirit weapon in this upcoming auction. Therefore I’m willing to part with this precious bottle for three mid-grade spirit stones.” The man looked deeply aggrieved, as though he was selling his firstborn son. Given the man’s professional-grade acting talent, Cha Ming would not have been surprised if he’d shed a tear.

  Gong Lan, being the hot-tempered one, scolded him immediately. “How could anyone ever buy this bottle of pills from you for three mid-grade spirit stones? That’s a small fortune! In addition, the pills in this bottle would need to be at least eighth or ninth grade for me to make a profit! Have you no shame?”

  This was the third stall they had stopped at. Try as he might, Cha Ming had been unable to convince Gong Lan to stop buying things. Her demeanor made her easy prey for the various shady characters who had set up their stalls. This battle-hardened veteran was more cunning than the last two, however, and he immediately laid out some bait, which she bit into with gusto. It was only a matter of time until she obtained her “victory.”

  He sighed. “But how am I to afford a sixth-grade spirit weapon at this auction unless I sell these possessions of mine for a hefty profit? Without a good weapon, I might very well die!” the man replied in a saddened voice.