Chapter 233 – Life 73, Age 35, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Green Leaf City was located in the middle of an expansive vibrant forest. Unlike the remote cities and villages that served as gateways to other sects, such as South Gate and River Rock, Green Leaf was a veritable metropolis. It wasn’t just a small town where the sect held regular recruitment drives. It was the capital of the Green Leaf Kingdom, the wealthiest kingdom-level power controlled by the Verdant Forest Sect.

As such, while there were many training centers and shops dedicated to preparing cultivators to enter the sect, there were also various shops and businesses that catered to a wide range of patrons. Of these, the ones I found most interesting were the carpenters.

Most carpenters were mortals, but mortals did not have the power necessary to work with high-Rank wood. So, if someone wanted furniture made from such materials, they had to turn to cultivators. While any wood cultivator of sufficient power could easily shape and manipulate wood at will, Green Leaf City had Masters, Grandmasters, and even Lords who specialized in making sturdy, elegant furniture from a variety of rare and exotic types of lumber.

From one perspective, a Martial Lord taking up a mortal trade could be seen as demeaning. However, there were always those who didn’t want to fight, and not all of these people would have a talent for herbalism. Being a master carpenter might not sound as impressive as being an Herb Lord, but there were enough people in the world willing to pay unreasonable sums of money for luxury furniture that was still a viable path to fame and fortune.

One of the slightly unusual features of the city was that instead of being surrounded by a stone wall, it was protected by a wooden palisade. Being made from high-Rank wood, the strength of this wall was not much different from what it would have been if it had been made from stone, but the problem was that wood was notoriously difficult to use in formations.

Setting up a grand formation and channeling its energies through a wooden palisade would have been nearly impossible. Therefore, the only conclusion I could reach was that the city lacked a strong formation specialist. Without anyone to set up a proper high-level formation, the city had opted to simply build fortifications from the most durable resource that was readily available, and being located in a forest, that was wood, not stone.

As for the forest that surrounded the city, it was an impressive sight to behold. Some of the nearby trees were over 100 meters tall and were at least 20 meters in diameter. Their canopies were so dense that hardly any light was able to reach the forest floor. Standing in the center of Green Leaf City, one would almost feel as if they were trapped at the bottom of a deep well.

Upon entering the city, we were taken to a large building abutting the western edge of the palisade where a constant stream of young cultivators could be seen entering one door and exiting another. Those who were entering had looks of hope and optimism. Those who were leaving wore expressions of loss and dejection.

While there was a long line snaking around the front of the building, Young Master Wang only needed to flash his sect token for us to be granted immediate entry. Once inside, he bypassed the front desk and took us upstairs.

The three of us were then split up and sent in different directions. SuYin was to be tested as a specially recruited herbalist, and Bao was to be tested as an assistant herbalist. After a bit of discussion with Young Master Wang, I decided to be tested for a position as a servant disciple under SuYin with the dual roles of guard and assistant herbalist.

I was first led to a room on the second floor where a middle-aged man stood behind an affinity testing orb. As I had done with Young Master Wang previously, I showed him a mid six-star wood affinity. This time, the man checked for any hidden secondary affinities, but I completely blocked them from showing through.

The disappointed look he gave me at this showed that it might have been a slight mistake. Most people who had a six-star affinity also had a couple of other low-level affinities, but not knowing what would be expected in this sect, I had been reluctant to show too much.

When he asked about my blessing, I only said that it had helped me learn martial skills. Even though I wanted to learn herbalism while in the sect, I still wanted to maintain the pretense of being SuYin’s guard, and this was a proper blessing for a guard to have.

After the man recorded my information, I was then taken to a room on the third floor where two people sat behind a long table that held a variety of herbs. As I approached, the woman on the left gestured to these herbs.

“What can you tell us about these?”

This was a rather open-ended question, so I just approached it methodically.

I picked up the leftmost herb which was a sprig of a green-leafed plant that held several small white berries. After examining it closely for several moments, I set it back down on the table.

“This is white nightshade. It’s a potent Rank 2 herb that can be used in any number of poisons. However, when used in certain pills, it will have a chelating effect that can help remove certain metal-based poisons. This plant appears to have been grown by a talented herbalist, and it looks to have originally had a decent level of medicinal efficacy, but excessive inept handling has caused it to deteriorate. I would estimate that it now only has an efficacy of about 53%. A skilled alchemist could potentially restore some of its lost power, but it would be nearly impossible to raise its efficacy much beyond 70%.”

This analysis surprised my examiners, and the woman on the left gave me a quizzical look. She seemed to want to ask me a question but held off and just gestured to the other herbs on the table.

I picked up the next one and gave it a quick examination.

“This is a red-veined ganoderma. It is a Rank 3 fire-based herb useful in a range of healing concoctions. Like the white nightshade, it looks to have been grown by a competent alchemist, but based on its current appearance, I would judge that this particular specimen is little more than waste material at this point. Its medicinal energy has already been all but destroyed.”

The man sitting on the right cleared his throat.

“Yes, but what can you tell us about the red-veined ganoderma? What is its natural environment? What does one need to do to successfully grow such an herb?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I can only tell you the properties of these herbs. I don’t know how to grow them.”

The two examiners looked at each other and then jotted down a few notes. Without waiting for me to identify anything else, they sent me away.

I was then taken to a large room on the fourth floor to have my combat abilities assessed.

There was no examiner in this room. It appeared to be entirely empty. However, I easily detected a couple of Rank 4 formations blanketing the entire space. The first was a defensive barrier designed to contain attacks and prevent them from damaging the surrounding building. The second was an illusion formation.

Only moments after I entered the room, both formations activated, and I was suddenly attacked by a Rank 3 demon beast. It was a huge bear that swung at me with viciously sharp claws. Without even thinking, I charged forward and slammed a qi-empowered fist into its head.

After defeating three such beasts, the formations powered down, the door of the room opened, and I was escorted out.

I was then brought to the fifth floor where an older, white-haired man in a dark green robe carefully looked me up and down. I couldn’t be certain, but I thought it likely that he was using qi vision to examine my foundation.

“You are qualified to become an outer sect disciple. Are you certain you wish to enroll as a servant? You should know that the restrictions that come from such a position are rather severe.”

“Will I be allowed to learn herbalism?”

The old man nodded slowly. “Yes. However, it is impossible for servant disciples to earn contribution points. You cannot accept missions, and you cannot sell items to the sect. This means you will not be able to purchase any techniques, lessons, or supplies. Anything you wish to buy must be purchased for you by your master. You will serve her, and she will provide for you. Even then, you will still only be allowed access to items and knowledge one Rank below what she has access to. This is far from an ideal situation, and considering your abilities, I would recommend becoming a normal outer sect disciple instead.”

I bowed my head to the man. “Thank you for your concern, but I would like to continue as the servant.”

The restrictions placed on servant disciples might be a bit annoying, but in truth, I wasn’t too interested in the benefits of becoming a true disciple of the sect. I only wanted access to a bit of their knowledge, and I could get that by acting as SuYin’s servant.

There were a couple of reasons I decided to follow this path, but the most important was that I had obligations in the Wastes that would require me to spend a significant amount of time outside the sect. If I were an outer sect disciple, vanishing for long stretches of time might be considered suspicious, but as SuYin’s servant, if she didn’t report me missing, who would even know that I was gone?

The old man let out a resigned sigh at my decision and handed me a small jade token marked with the symbol for ‘servant.’

“Very well. If that is your decision, then so be it. Place a drop of blood on this token to bind it to you.”

I did so and then attached it to my waist.

Finally, I was led to a small room on the seventh floor to wait for my master, SuYin.

---------------------------------------------------

After being tested, SuYin was directly given the token of an inner sect disciple. This showed that the sect not only valued her current knowledge, but also that it had high expectations for her future.

I had expected Bao to join me as one of SuYin’s servants, but after being tested on his knowledge of various herbs, the sect more or less conscripted him and directly made him an outer sect disciple. This created a bit of distance between my two disciples, but I was confident that it wouldn’t be long before Bao was able to advance to the inner sect.

As we sat and waited for Young Master Wang to join us, SuYin shared a little about what she had recently learned.

“As an inner sect herbalist, I’ll have access to all the sect’s information on herbalism up to Rank 3. I will also have access to Rank 1 information on other professions, but if I want higher-level knowledge, I’ll first have to prove myself.”

I nodded at that. Information was tightly controlled in this world, and if the sect made high-level knowledge available to everyone in the sect, it would be all too easy for a portion of that information to find its way to outsiders. While I didn’t share these concerns, I could still appreciate them.

“Did they tell you anything about what you would need to do to become a Lord?”

SuYin nodded.

“The sect controls 100 cities, and each city is run by a core disciple. Each year, at least five of these core disciples are replaced, and the inner sect disciples compete for the open positions. If I want to advance, I have to prove myself both capable and loyal.”

I didn’t doubt SuYin’s abilities, but proving her loyalty might be difficult.

We chatted for a few more minutes, but soon enough, Young Master Wang found us and led us up to the roof of the building. At first, I thought this was a bit strange, but when we arrived, we found a large rope bridge leading from the edge of the roof into the canopy of the forest that surrounded the city.

Young Master Wang guided us across this bridge and up into the canopy. After passing through a wooden archway, the boughs of trees parted, and we beheld a sprawling city built into the tops of the trees.

The young man gestured with open arms.

“Welcome to the Verdant Forest Sect.”