Everything was easier ever since I advanced. Though I made a mistake. All liquid qi in my meridians, new or old, inevitably fell into my dantian, and the event horizon of the black hole. Which made it unusable until I advanced to the third realm.

Well, I decided just to circle normal qi through my meridians instead, which worked just fine. Probably better even, as the high amount of qi in my meridians meant some qi diffused out into my body. And as my meridians wound all throughout my body the spread was decent.

And, now being only a few dozen metres from the ocean meant I had wondered something for the first time ever since waking up in the world.

What about floods and climate in general? I mean, the tides made sure the ocean retreated a few metres every other hour, but other stuff?

I had not seen a single flake of snow in the fourteen and a half years of my life. Stuff didn't seem all that dry, even though it rained only rarely most of the year, and we had no river.

Well, we were right next to an ocean, and the wetter was generally sunny and warm, so the season of rain probably was what counted as winter here.

Good for me, my house may be isolated, at least a little, but winter would get really uncomfortable regardless. Well, I’d survive it. I was pretty sure I would survive just about anything to be honest. Well, I didn't know about a flood, or other cultivators, but just about everything else.

I felt I could break through into the third realm right now too, if I really had to. First I had to purify all my qi of foreign qi intent. Which would take quite some time, and called for a change in my aura again, something that luckily was much less of a problem now, just three hours downtime usually.

I concentrated, and changed my aura. Now my qi would once again cause other qi to avoid me completely, though on a very tight orbit around me, just a few millimetres from my clothes.

Which also meant my cultivation would come to a standstill until I cleansed all qi within my body. Well, it would still advance, but not in the amount of energy in me, just its purity. I didn't know if I would ever get a better opportunity to do that though, after all, all those cultivators did get an intent in the second realm for a reason.

Cleansing all the qi I accumulated in my life took long. Long enough for me to get some bamboo from my favorite merchant, lay a very leaking, and long, pipe to my house. Long enough for me to reach sixteen, the age you were generally seen adult as in this world.

And long enough for the town to grow ever bigger, though the forest's edge moved not a single millimeter.

Anyways. My business was thriving. The added protection my goods offered led to my customers finding more cultivation aids, and riches, in the forest.

Which meant they outperformed their competitors in similar towns, who in turned moved here, to catch up.

I thought it was great. After all, all those guy gave me the chance to drive up my prices to unseen levels. Having a monopoly on certain goods was just great.

And, seeing as there were a bunch of cultivators running in and out of the forest all day long meant an opportunity for me.

A small bribe had one of the people handling new cultivators tell them about me, and that I would buy all kinds of different stuff. Stuff potentially interesting to work with.

I'm the end I mainly bought different fibres, though I had a lot of qi filled bark waiting in my cellar too. I told the guy he'd get a robe if he brought me something equally interesting, and fully intended to keep that promise.

Anyways. Cleansing my qi was tiring work, so having some experiments to do was always quite the welcome pastime.

Currently I skipped along, on my way to the town hall. The mayor had called me to a meeting, and while I didn't know what it was about I wasn't worried. After all my shop was a goldmine for him.

A very good goldmine considering the taxes I had to pay.

"I am here to attend to a meeting with the mayor." I told one of the clerks.

"Ah yes. Miss Triss. Please follow me, I will show you the way." He said.

Leaving the counter with one of his colleagues taking his previous spot.

"So what's this meeting about, I was only told to come, not more." I probed.

"It's a normal meeting, all cultivators important to the town are invited, though not all chose to come. I am surprised you came to be honest." He answered. "Your business is booming after all, and someone could break in."

"I don't need to worry about that. A word to all my would be customers and the thief will be found in no time. And all cultivators know that too, and are not conceited enough to try." I explained.

"I see. Good to know. We are here." He said.

I nodded in thanks, knocked and entered. I took in the room, and noticed I didn't know any of the cultivators in here. Well, I knew both the mayor and the captain of the guard, but apart from these two? Not a single one. Yet somehow everyone of them wore one of my more expensive robes. And I only sold a few of those, ten. And considering six people were in here that meant something.

Idiots. Those robes must be really uncomfortable, seeing as I made them to the measurement of someone else.

I shook my head, chose a random seat, and sat down at the empty table, waiting for this meeting to be over. Why couldn't I know it wasn't mandatory? This was going to be so boring.

"You!" Screeched and angry, shrill voice from behind.

It was quite obviously addressed at me, but I ignored it. I knew I didn't look like I had eyes on my back after all.

"Don't ignore me." The voice continued.

Heavy footsteps approached me from behind, so I turned around to see a fat man stomping towards me, his face angry.

"And you are?" I asked. "Haven't seen you before."

"How dare you disregard me. I am a powerful second realm cultivator and will not grace you with my name until you cede your evil poaching!" He yelled.

I looked up at the puffing tower of fat and anger, and shrugged.

"Fine." I said.

I turned around, and went back to ignore the pest behind me. I could hear his mouth snap open and shut, as he fought for words.

Well, good for my ears.

"And please, be a little quieter when you speak again, my ears are still ringing." I added.

"I will not have a mere first realm cultivator dismiss me like that! Turn around and face your betters." He yelled.

I stayed right where I was, but raised a single hand, turned it around, and mimed a mouth.

"Speak to my hand, perhaps it is interested in what you have to say." I said.

A murmur passed through the small crowd of onlookers as my opposite was once again visibly searching for words to say. And failing, as he proved, considering he just started screaming obscenities at my hand. I held it up for a moment. He stopped, so I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and cleaned it.

"Please scream at something else this is disgusting." I said.

He continued before my hand was back up, so I didn't bother returning it up. Before the situation could further deteriorate a single clap passed through the room, silencing everyone.

"Now that we are all here, please take a seat." The mayor said.

After a little while to sort out seating arrangements around me - the screamer got the short end of the stick again, and was now glaring at me with eyes promising eternal vengeance. I didn't care. After all, I never willing offended him before now.

---

Lady Chela's eyes crinkled in amusement. The show the new addition to their circle had proven to be was great.

Romain was a merchant, and apparently the little minx had been directly buying materials from cultivators. Materials he thought she should buy over him.

Many had wondered how she would handle him in the meeting, if she would shrink under the red headed man or not, considering her subbar cultivation and young age.

But the casual disregard she seemed to hold for all of them, though Romain in particular, was amusing. He even gifted all of them one of her robes, under the condition they'd wear them today. She could certainly say his plan backfired, after all he got completely humiliated in front of the mayor.

Well, on all of them. The look in the girl's eyes after she saw her robes on them didn't seem impressed, or intimidated. It spoke of them being idiots.

All in all it was a great day. She'd have to visit the girl for a proper woman's talk, and some proper clothes sometime.

Perhaps even the secret to her hair, because that looked great.

"Let's begin." The mayor called.

"We have a problem." He stated. "Too many new cultivators come to our town, there're a lot of factors to that, but it boils down to two. One, we have a successful craftswoman they can afford. And two, we produce more cultivation resources and spirit materials than the other towns do because of that." He explained.

Chela couldn't help but agree, the town had been getting lively over those months, a little too lively for her tastes, but that was neither here nor there.

"We need to do something, or our town will soon be unable to handle and support the influx of new materials a large part of our population can neither use nor afford." He continued. "Any suggestions?"

"We should export our wares into nearby towns." Romain said, greed filling his eyes.

"That will only delay the problem, not solve it. You can make some investigations though, perhaps we will need some delays. Anything else?"

Chela's eyes scanned the room, but did not expect to find anything. Most of them had someone to handle business for them. They would ask their advisors, and send their advice to the mayor as their own.

"Perhaps the newcomer has a great idea." Romain said suddenly.

Sadistic glee filled his hateful little eyes. Chela thought about speaking up, when the girl's soft voice filled the room.

"I don't see the problem." She started. "Have you ever heard of supply and demand? If you only buy the stuff you need you will find out those that can't find it or supply different things will move to a different location and buyer."

She had a sound take on economics. But while that would address the problem, it would do so in the wrong way.

"The mayor wants all of them to stay though, because more cultivators mean more protection and thus more mortals and a bigger town." She explained.

"Then I still don't see the problem. Just hire some of them for the watch. I recently made some interesting discoveries with spirit bark, and am sure we could come to an agreement for its use." She said.

"It is not that simple still, though we do need more guards." Tiger said. "They crave for battle every minute of their life, and the forest doesn't offer enough of a challenge. They will get rowdy soon."

"Then clear a patch of beach, put a rope around it, and have them go at it. Anyone who loses has to sleep outside for a day, and can't sell his stuff in town. Everyone who wins can stay for a day. If one kills another they are banished." She explained. "Most are dumb muscle heads, no shame losing a few to other towns. We will have the best after all."

Could it really be that easy? Not the girl's idea - it wouldn't work - but the basis. She looked around and see it in everyone's eyes.

Yes. A tournament was needed. With appropriate rewards, but they were getting more than enough raw materials to supply a tournament. And like she said, no one would miss the few losers that'd leave because they couldn't bare the shame.

And tournaments had a way of attracting all sorts of people. Another spirit craftsman was just what they needed. After all they all knew the girl would soon start selling a new collection of robes, considering how much materials she was buying.

"Well, it seems everyone here has the same idea. A tournament." The mayor said. "Great idea little Triss."

A quick glance at Romain showed him fuming, his idea having backfired specteculary.

"Let's talk rewards then." The mayor said. "After all what's a tournament without proper rewards? Nothing."

Immediately everyone in the room spoke up, but Chela knew how it would end. They'd buy lots of raw material from cultivators, demand a seemingly small entry fee, and enrich the few that managed to win while still netting the mayor a nice limp of money.

Well, and perhaps the girl, she looked like the only one who didn't plan to participate.

"So that's how it is going to go." The mayor said, and explained what she had thought. With a little exception. He threw a medium spirit stone towards the girl, who inspected the gem couriously.

"What can you make with that?" He asked.

A good question, after all most crafters like her were only gated by the qi they had acess to.

"That depends on what you want. I can make one very good robe. Or a dozen crap ones." She explained.

"Very good. We will see how it turns out, and offer it as part of the first place price." He said.

The girl tilted her head for a moment, nodding.

"I will agree to that. On one condition. If one of the Waid Clan takes part and wins, they don't get my work!" She said resolutely.

She stared right at the mayor, her eyes filled with fiery hate.

"That's fine." He agreed.

A wise move. One did not get between a cultivator and their grudges. Especially one that you needed more than they needed you.

"This meeting is finished. How long do you need to complete the robe?" He asked.

"About a month, if I start from scratch. Longer if I need to import material." She answered.

"Very good. The tournament will take longer to organize anyways." The mayor said, got up and left the room, followed by the captain of the guard.

"I demand satisfaction!" Romain cried. "I demand a fight against you!" He yelled.

The girl really looked at him for the first time, her green eyes scanning his form.

"I refuse." She said brazenly. "It wouldn't be fair after all. And I have nothing to gain from a fight."

"I don't care about fairness! You insulted me brat, now take responsibility for the consequences of your actions." He screeched.

"That's not what I meant. It wouldn't be fair from me, after all you can't even lift your arm enough to hit my head. Much less do so often enough for it to matter." She said dismissively.

"If that is all, I'll be off. I have work to do after all. You should really work on your body." She said, leaving the room.

Chela left soon after, having enjoyed watching Romain raving madly for a few minutes. The slimy bastard deserved to be taken down a peg!