After a few weeks of harassment, the routine finally changed.

The foxy woman didn’t arrive alone this time. Instead she brought two other strangers with her. The first had a small and flat nose like it was barely there. The man was thin and wiry with a bald head. The bare scalp made it easy to see that there was a strange green sheen to his skin. As he moved closer Sage had an idea of what sort of person it was. The man’s eyes were vertical slit pupils, and when he smiled, his teeth were strange. His canines were unusually shaped, looking like they were tilted backward. The bald man wore a suit of blackish green armor made of overlapping scales. Each of the scales was slightly serrated, making it look like if you ran your hand over them in the wrong direction they would shred you to ribbons.

My money is on folding fangs.

The other man didn’t carry any animal traits like the others he’d seen since being imprisoned. Instead he had long silky black hair, violet colored eyes, and multiple robes that looked like they were worth a fortune. Sage wasn’t an appraiser, but the materials that made up the man’s clothing would likely bankrupt a small city to purchase. Even more distressing was that the man was absurdly handsome. So much so that Sage mistook him for a woman at first glance, but then he saw the man’s chest where he left the top of his robe open. Such a fellow looked like he could have a sea of women worshipping wherever he walked. The only problem was that he was sloppy. His clothing looked haphazardly thrown on, and his hair was a mess like he’d just rolled out of bed. His eyes were also somewhat red and he had a large bronze pipe between his lips, puffing little clouds of smoke as he walked.

The woman stepped forward and with a precocious smile, like she hadn’t been insulting Sage every day, started to introduce the newcomers.

“This is Baqi Luchih, from one of the top bloodlines in the Shou Empire. The Baqi line has a flawless pedigree and Luchih’s list of accomplishments is so long it would take me all day to read them all out to you. You should feel a shiver deep down in your bones at the honor of merely being in his presence.”

While speaking, she made a very dramatic flourish and bowed low at the waist making it very obvious her deference to the bald headed man. Then after a long period of silence to let Bai Luchih’s importance sink in, she seemed to remember the other man. She waved a hand nonchalantly, “Oh, and that’s… uh. Let me think. Oh, right! Guan Zhenyan. He’s here too.”

The introductions seemed very skewed, and Sage was curious how these people were associated. It sounded like the bald man was quite important, but then why is the unkempt underwear model here too? Contrary to Sage’s concerns the man with the two foot long pipe seemed unaffected by the woman’s unbalanced enthusiasm. Instead he just took a long drag from his pipe and waited patiently. The armored baldy ignored him and took a step forward. Baqi Luchih gave the woman a pat on top of her head to which she smiled and then stepped back.

“Forgive us for confining you. We wished to test your temperament. Being in such an abysmal situation and faced with constant ridicule is a stressful situation. We wanted to see if you could handle the pressure and how you responded.”

Oh really, and how did I do, ugly?

Sage held back from voicing his thoughts, not wanting to get on their bad side now that it seemed something may be happening. While this might just turn out to be another trick, it might also be a chance to turn things around and it wasn’t like he lost anything by hearing them out.

“Still worried this is a trick, huh? Hah. I understand. Well, I shall tell you. We were pleased with your demeanor. Certainly not perfect, but it suits our purposes. You must be wondering to what end we are testing you, right?”

This man just kept on talking, answering his own questions and presuming to put words into Sage’s mouth. Of course, he was actually pretty perceptive, so there really wasn’t much Sage could say.

“I’ll just cut straight to the point. Anyone that has managed to sprout the Seed of Life is very valuable to any organization. Nobody in the Shou Empire needs to know that you were originally a human. All you have to do is manage your World Core as we request. We’ll give you guidelines on the plants and animals as well as assign personnel to manage them. You’ll also need to babysit some of the younger generation for training in the accelerated time, and you’ll need to assimilate a few Heavenly Materials from time to time to create the proper conditions to grow certain resources.”

Luchih’s vertically slit pupils were fixed upon the three limbed serpent. He’d not wasted any time in laying out how they would be using him in the future. He let the list of duties sink in for a moment, giving Sage just enough time to contemplate.

“Don’t worry, being a farmer for the Shou Empire isn’t without its rewards. You’ll be showered in riches. You can eat all the delicacies you wish. We’ll even provide you with many females to choose from. Your duties won’t take much time to manage and the rest of your time is yours to do as you wish.”

The caged dragon finally had a response, “So, basically you want me to be a groundskeeper?”

“Heh, that’s a good way to put it, but you’ll be more in a management position. We’ve got other Farmers and specialists who will manage the actual ‘crops’. Sounds great, right? You’ll have to make a few Oaths, but that’s a small price to pay for such great benefits right? Money, women, treasures, and protection. Are you ready for your new life?”

It didn’t sound so bad. Unless there was a pile of restrictions they weren’t telling him about, but it didn’t seem like it. From the sounds of it, the Seed of Life was far more valued than he imagined. It irked him how they’d discovered it, but given that he’d been captured and knocked unconscious for a time, there was no telling what they might have done to him. It was actually pretty simple for a person to insert their Qi into another’s body to get a feel for their cultivation, both level and strength, as well as other details about their body. It was pretty standard practice for doctors, but it couldn’t be done without a cultivators consent unless their levels were very far apart. It seemed likely that they were familiar with the cultivation technique that came along with the Seed of Life and just a simple check had revealed another of his deepest secrets.

He was wondering how many concessions he might be able to squeeze out of the coming negotiations when a cloud of smoke abruptly flew over in front of his face. A gust of air shot from his nose to push away the smoke with a snort, but surprisingly the smoke was unaffected. It clouded his vision for a moment and then slowly faded away. At which point Sage looked over to its source. The lazy and slovenly fellow smiled, a look that could likely get teenage girls to scream, “Mmm, have you all forgotten about me?”