Ishin contemplated perusing the various stalls in Central Square or maybe even entering one of the larger stores. Jai’s Emboldened Armory had caught his eye since his first day in the city—and he did need a new spear. However, Ishin knew it would be smarter to return to the Moonpetal Hotel for the evening and make a plan. He only had money for his lodging and didn’t want to risk being tempted to spend it on something else.

  Meng Yu was at the front desk of the inn when Ishin returned. “Welcome back, honored guest.” Ishin noticed that this time, the attendant’s bow was only a fraction as deep compared to when Lou Heng had been with him. “Have you returned for another night with us?”

  Ishin pulled out the silver kaan. “One more night and the usual meals.”

  “Very well.” Meng Yu took the coins. “Is it just you?”

  “Yes. And this will be the last night.”

  “Understood. Is there anything else I can assist you with?”

  Ishin was about to answer, “no,” but then he did think of something. “Actually, yes.”

  Meng Yu didn’t even try to conceal his disinterest. “How may I help?”

  It’s like I’m spiritually crippled again. “Is there anywhere in the city that I can sell spirit beast chakras at?”

  Meng Yu actually seemed surprised by the question. Ishin watched in amusement as the attendant considered it, noticeably stared at Ishin’s scarred face, then looked toward where Ishin’s chakra was stored before seemingly forming an acceptable story in his mind.

  “Certainly. The Three Crowns Exchange has a chapter house in the Southern Quarter. There are several alchemic and artificing enterprises who will also purchase your chakras, but the Three Crowns Exchange will offer you the fairest rate.”

  Ishin didn’t understand what any of that meant. “Thanks.” When he saw Meng Yu turn back to the ledger on the desk, Ishin quickly added, “Wait—can you tell me a little bit more about the Three Crowns Exchange?”

  With thinly veiled patience, Meng Yu said, “Of course. The Three Crowns Exchange is an enterprise that specializes in purchasing and selling harvested chakras across the Heron Empire.” Ishin got the impression that Meng Yu added the next part because it was clear he wasn’t from the empire proper. “Most reputable organizations and senior cultivators purchase any specific aspected chakras they need from the Three Crowns Exchange, along with selling those they don’t need, to save time from finding a prospective buyer or seller themselves. Does that help?”

  “It does. Thank you.” Looks like I know where to sell my chakras at. Given his own predicament, Ishin understood why such an organization would exist. It sounded extremely convenient. “And where, uh, is the Southern Quarter?”

  Meng Yu gave Ishin a flat stare. “It’s the quarter of the city that is south of the Central Combat Hall.”

  Ishin forced down his own irritation. “Okay, where is the Central Combat Hall?”

  “You’ve seen the large building in the center of the city with a yellow dome on top of it, correct?”

  Oh. Ishin’s cheeks burned crimson. “Thank you for clarifying. What does the chapter house look like?”

  In a completely professional tone, Meng Yu answered, “It is a tall, square bronze-colored building that has three crowns displayed above the front entrance.”

  That had been Ishin’s breaking point. He thanked the attendant before quickly heading to his room. Aside from eating, Ishin spent the rest of the night cultivating, trying desperately to forget his embarrassment.

  It turned out that the Southern Quarter was big. Very big. Ishin felt extremely foolish for not realizing this before he left the Moonpetal Hotel. Yellow Dome City was massive after all, so narrowing down a single building’s location to the southern portion of it was not actually helpful.

  Maybe if I hadn’t been so embarrassed last night, I would’ve asked Meng Yu for more specific directions. But now here he was, wandering the endless streets of a city he didn’t know.

  At least the yellow dome serves as a good reference point.

  Ishin found many exotic stores in the Southern Quarter. One was an oval-shaped structure covered in pure black drapes. Another was a brick of a building made of pure multicolored glass. All the pedestrians were dressed in fine garb, and Ishin was starting to realize that form-fitting silk robes were the current fashion in the city. It made him self-conscious of his frayed, loose-hanging green and silver hemp robes. Looking down at them, the silver appeared more like dull gray. It would be easy for anyone to tell he wasn’t from around here.

  Eventually, Ishin grew tired of wasting time exploring. He found a pair of guards surveying the road and speaking amongst themselves. They wore the same uniforms as those he’d seen when entering the city.

  “Pardon me,” Ishin said as he approached. He wasn’t certain if it was necessary, but he offered a short bow to the guards. No harm in making a good impression. “Could you help me find the Three Crowns Exchange Chapter House?”

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  The two guards gave him a quick look over.

  “Sure,” the female guard on the left said. “It’s in the Taelin District, on Nao Road.” She looked to her partner. “Nao Road, right?”

  Her companion nodded.

  She turned back to Ishin and must have noticed the blank expression he wore. “Do you know where the Taelin District is?”

  “I don’t,” Ishin confessed. “Sorry, I’m not from around here.”

  “Figured. Alright.” The guard gestured around them. “We’re currently in the Caraval District.” She pointed toward a street about a block north. “Take that road for about two miles. Go until you cross a bridge that runs over an underpass. Then take your first left for another quarter mile. Once you see a large sculpture of a set of scales, you’ll know you’re in the Taelin District. From there, follow the road that runs straight east from the sculpture. That’s Nao Road. Just walk along it until you see a tall bronze building with three crowns over the front door. Got it?”

  Ishin did not get it.

  He politely asked the guard to explain again. She did so, and then told Ishin to repeat it back to her for confirmation. He tried and failed. It was after the fourth time she explained the route that Ishin was finally able to successfully relay the directions back. He was impressed by the guard’s patience. She had been kinder than Meng Yu. It gave him hope that not everyone in the city would be frustrating to deal with.

  Thanks to the directions, Ishin found the Three Crowns Exchange Chapter House an hour later. It was an impressive building, ten stories tall and glimmering in the sunlight. Three golden crowns were arranged into a triangle above the front entrance, leaving no doubt as to what the building was. Ishin hoped this part at least went smoothly.

  When he walked through the polished oak doors, he was surprised to see two guards flanking the entrance. Unlike the city guards, these carried sabers at their hips and wore simple leather armor bearing the symbol of the three crowns over their chests. Ishin examined them quickly with his third eye and discovered they were both in the Adept Realm.

  He didn’t know if the power of the guards was meant to display the strength of the Three Crowns Exchange or if they truly needed the security. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

  Inside, Ishin found a wide circular orange and bronze-colored hall constructed from smooth marble. The ceiling was nearly forty feet high, with three chandeliers emitting dull orange light hanging above. On the far end of the wall were three windows stretching nearly the full height of the room. Each had a line at least a dozen people deep—no doubt eager clients waiting to conduct their business.

  Ishin moved to the line on the right, noticing that it was the shortest.

  He’d thought selling or buying chakras would be a fast activity. He was wrong. The line moved at a snail’s pace. He wasn’t certain how long it took to reach the front, but it must have been at least an hour. He’d been so bored that he even tried cultivating a few times, but the occasional movement made it too difficult to focus on the thin strands of lightning qi.

  When Ishin finally reached the window, he was met by a female clerk. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with smooth pale skin and dark hair tied back into a bun. Thin-framed glasses rested along her small nose. She wore pristine bronze and orange-colored robes, and a golden chain hung across her neck. A thick binder sat on the counter, beside an abacus, loupe, quill, and inkwell.

  “How may I assist you?” she asked curtly.

  Even the servants here look impressive. Ishin pulled his pack around to his front and began rifling through its contents. “I’m looking to sell six chakras that I harvested from Sun Tigers.”

  He pulled them out one by one. To his confusion, they all appeared dimmer and significantly smaller than he remembered. One of the five Initial Realm chakras even dissolved into powder the moment he set it on the counter.

  “You can leave it,” the clerk said when Ishin went to brush the powder off the surface.

  “Sorry,” Ishin muttered. There goes some money. He didn’t understand why the chakra had just disintegrated.

  The clerk withdrew a blue matted cloth and placed it on the center of the counter. She reached for the Adept Realm sun-aspected chakra first and examined it using the loupe. After about thirty seconds, she placed it on the cloth and jotted a note in her binder. She repeated the process with the Adept Realm light chakra, then with the remaining three Initial Realm light chakras.

  Instead of speaking, she moved several beads on her abacus.

  “I can offer you eight gold and seven silver taels for them all.”

  Ishin kept his expression neutral. Is that a lot or a little amount of money? He recalled that two rooms for two nights at the Moonpetal Hotel had cost three silver taels—at least for their cheapest room. He figured a gold tael had to be worth more than a silver one, but he didn’t know to what magnitude.

  Is there a way for me to tell if I’m being swindled?

  The clerk looked at him impatiently. “Is that acceptable?”

  Ugh, I don’t have time for this. “Yes, thank you.”

  The clerk collected the chakras and left briefly. She returned with a small dustpan and brush and swept the powder from the degraded chakra into a tray. She disappeared again before returning with a stack of coins—circular in shape, with a triangular hole in the center and a string running through them.

  “Eight gold,” she said, tracing a finger down a stack of fifteen coins. “Seven silver.” She handed the bundle to Ishin, who awkwardly stuffed it into his pack.

  “Thank you for your business.”

  Ishin muttered his own thanks before stepping aside as another customer approached. He walked out of the chapter house, unsure of what to make of the experience. At least he had money now.

  With that task complete, Ishin now found himself without an immediate purpose. Finding the Hidden Ring to avenge his mother was still his ultimate goal, but he needed both information and power to make that happen.

  Cultivation was his surest path to both. But how should he go about it?

  He pondered using his money to rent the cheapest room he could find until it ran out. Maybe I could stay in the cheapest inn for a whole year. But no—he knew that plan was flawed. He had been cultivating regularly for almost six weeks and was still only at the first layer of the Initial Realm, even after absorbing qi during a storm.

  Looking overhead, the sky was clear. No storm in sight.

  Each chakra required seven layers before progressing to the next realm. Ishin, like many people, would be stuck in the Initial Realm for years—maybe even decades—if he didn’t find a better method.

  There was one path every cultivator knew to speed up advancement: alchemy.

  Ishin turned around to find the yellow dome where it always stood. He began making his way toward it, certain that one of the extravagant shops near Central Square would sell alchemic elixirs. And he was going to see what his new wealth could buy.