"So you want us to search for a good spot to make a new facility? What kind of facility?" Velgo asked.

"New headquarters. They're mainly meant for our cultivators to get stronger, for me to get stronger and test new arrays and ways of producing robes," I said.

"So a smaller facility. I'll send some people to look around. Is there anything you'd like to have access to?" he asked.

"A river would be great, I want to test some things. Other than that, an easy way to get quality material, so near a forest would be best," I said.

"That complicates things a bit," he mused. "Rivers are very much sought after to build towns."

"Don't worry about it too much, it doesn't have to be a big one," I said. "Anyways, you know our people better than I do, send everyone you want to send to me, I'll outfit them with a proper robe."

"Will do," he said.

I nodded towards my chief of guards, and moved towards Trisa.

"What can I do for you mistress?" she asked.

"I will need to do some meditation and self reflection, so make sure no one bothers me unless absolutely necessary," I commanded. "On that note, Velgo will send a few of the guards up here, outfit them with some of the special robes, they have a different job to do for now."

She nodded, and I left her to her own devices, moving up into my own apartment.

I retreated in my meditation room, and couldn't help but sigh. I only knew a single way to feel my own soul, which was carving meridians. Which was still painful, even after carving a whole network of them through my own skin.

Even worse, I now needed to actually pay attention while doing so, not ignore the pain as best as possible.

Still, it had to be done. Now, a single question remained though.

What kind of meridian did I want to add? My network of meridians was intricate, deliberate and didn't actually need any additions. Once again, I had to wonder who made the cultivation system as it was. Most cultivators I met seemed to embrace pain, even the pain of effectively mutilating your own soul for power.

They didn't know they'd need perception of their own soul to advance further, but whoever created these realms did. I really hoped I'd get to meet the sadist once, just to give them a piece of my mind.

Anyways. Did I know any other way to perceive the soul? No. And I sadly did not have the time try and find one too.

I sighed, what you did for life.

Liquid qi flooded my meridians, circulating through my whole body. Pain flooded my mind as I carefully controlled my qi, enlarging my main meridian by a fraction of its diameter.

Instead of fighting the pain, I embraced the pain for the first time and carefully tried to follow it to the origin.

I failed, but my meridian network was the most extensive I had seen so far. I had lots of meridians to widen and more than enough qi on my hands to do so until I succeeded.

I left my self isolation a week later, disgruntled, hungry and a little frustrated. This would take some time. I'd have to set aside a few hours to meditate per day. My soul had proven frustratingly elusive.

I knew my path would lead to success eventually, but barring any unforeseen breakthroughs that success was far in the future.

Absentmindedly, Minx flew in my arms with only a small application of gravity as I walked into my living room, falling down into my custom couch with a loud sigh.

I needed to do something else for a change. The first thing was visiting the mayor, and tell him I broke into the third realm. Not because I really wanted to, but if I wanted to sweep my aura over a large area every now and then, searching for an aura as powerful as mine, he'd notice and angering another third realm expert wasn't in my interest.

Especially after I got my ass handed to me by someone whose only strength was being too angry to be affected by hostile qi.

Which was still stupid, if obviously entirely within the possible. I sighed again, and went to dress in something proper. A robe or something else?

A robe, I felt generous today. And I didn't want to use the energy to dress in something else.

After dressing in one of my expensive protection robes and filling it with qi and spirit stones. Once done, I opened one of my windows and jumped down, bending light to hide my form and restricting my aura into a bubble with three metres diameter around me.

The trip towards the middle of the town was fast, even if I walked and soon enough I entered the mayor's own aura. His control was impeccable, probably even better than mine. Moments later, he appeared in front of me. I undid my invisibility, appearing in the middle of the street and causing the cultivators around me to jump up in shock.

"Young Triss, I see we have much to talk about," he said. "Follow me."

"Mayor," I said, inclining my head.

He moved towards the edge of the town, swiftly running out into the plains. I followed, ready to fly off should this devolve into a fight. Well, should he be able to fly at least. Anyone that couldn't fly was fair game after all.

We moved for about half an hour at full speed, the town vanished on the horizon long ago.

"So you broke into the third realm," he stated. "I suppose congratulations are in order."

"I did, and thank you," I agreed. "Why are we here?"

"I assume you want to take control of the town now," he said. "Our fight is between us though, with no need to involve mortals and our followers."

"WHAT? NO!" I denied. "I don't want to take control over the town. Controlling my business is tedious enough already, doing so for an entire town doesn't sound worth the minimal gains I could get."

"Leading a town is quite profitable," he disagreed.

"Leading a business empire is more profitable," I said.

"I'll have to take your word by it, considering you don't pay any taxes but the equipment for my guards," he said. "So you don't intend to challenge me for control?"

"I do not. I just wanted to warn you that I'll scan the area for third realm cultivators from now on, after my last, unfortunate run-in with one," I said.

"She went against me? How'd you survive?" he asked.

"I broke into the third realm years ago," I admitted freely. "I have no clue how you didn't notice until now, I wasn't all that subtle at first."

"A few years ago? That does explain some things," he mused. "You wouldn't know, never having been part of an established sect or clan."

"I wouldn't know what?" I asked.

"There are some unwritten rules all cultivators follow," he explained. "The one I am referring to mainly means you don't seek out hidden cultivators of similar or greater power unless you seek guidance or a fight. Naturally, I need neither so I left the new third realm cultivator in my town to their own devices. Especially because you didn't seem to cause any trouble for yourself, which does make even more sense now."

"So you knew I was there, but not who I was and didn't bother me because I didn't bother you?" I asked.

"Exactly," he agreed.

"Good to know. So, can I finally get your name? Now that I'm in the third realm myself?" I asked.

The mayor thought for a few moments, before nodding.

"I suppose you can. I am Vegaro, a pleasure to meet you young lady," he said.

"Same. Why do you hide your name normally?" I asked.

The mayor laughed a little, before answering. "It just turned out that way. When I moved into the town, a which was a small fishing village back then, none of the mortals dared call me by my name. The first cultivators to emerge were locals as well. When the first cultivators moved here, I introduced myself as the mayor of the town, forgetting my name. These days, I'm more The Mayor than I am my chosen name."

How fascinating.

"So," I started. "Seeing as you came here expecting a fight, and I came here ready to defend myself how about a little spar? Recent events did show me I need to work on my fighting skills considering another cultivator nearly killed me by being very angry."

"It would be a pleasure to spar with you young Triss," he answered with a polite smile. "It has been sometime since I had someone to spar with myself."