Lu Qingshan emerged alone from the darkness and stood in a moonlit clearing across the group of twelve white masks. Above the trees, two more white masks remained hidden.

  “That’s more than you said you’d bring,” Lu Qingshan accused. A veil of smoke concealed his face beneath his sturdy mask of bone.

  “Wrong,” the mask at the front said. This one didn’t even bother hiding his voice. It was uniquely soft yet still masculine. “Three people per box along with two leaders. Surely you would’ve expected at least this much.”

  “I’m not talking about them.” Lu Qingshan turned his head upwards to stare deep behind them. “Why did you bring twice the numbers with you?”

  “You’re more well informed than I thought,” the lead white mask said. “Just a precaution. Having this much treasure can be nerve-wracking, as you’d know.” The man nodded towards the other ghost masks, who turned to stare behind Lu Qingshan. Through his Bloodseeker Flies, he saw some of his Elders tense up slightly. They had been discovered.

  Still, Lu Qingshan didn’t call them out. Instead, he returned to the shadows and dragged out the box containing the Divine Crossbow. “Is this what you wanted?”

  “You have the crossbow! Perfect, that’s all we wanted. Bring him what we have to offer.”

  The people Lu Qingshan called out earlier emerged dragging two boxes with them, while the leading white mask walked forward himself. Like they had promised, there were four in total. Lu Qingshan forced them to place the boxes down and return back to where they were standing. He silently had his flies crawl on the skin of his Seven Mysteries Gate Elders — the signal to retreat. Something didn’t feel right.

  Now it was just him and the leading white mask standing far apart in the moonlit clearing. “This one carries the medicinal materials to create whatever you want,” the voice smoothly said. “It can cultivate three Viscera Tempering experts or one at the peak. Would you like our people to make them for you? We’ll have to take a cut, of course.”

  "No thank you. What are our other options?" The other box appeared very heavy, but it could've been filled with rocks or wood for all he knew. This was beginning to seem more and more like a trap. Behind his mask, Lu Qingshan let a grin emerge as he prepared himself for a feast.

  The white mask took out a bottle. "What about this bottle? This is a poison deadly enough to kill an Innate expert, provided you get past their defenses."

  "What's an Innate expert?" Lu Qingshan tried to put on a face of confusion. He didn't know if he succeeded.

  "A martial artist with more power than the Viscera Tempering stage," the man said. "Surely you've heard of the realm after that? Rumors, at least?"

  "I've never heard of it. Why is that? Are you lying?"

  The white masked man made a noncommittal noise. "Then consider this instead," he said, almost teasingly, pulling out a scroll.

  "What is that?"

  "A map of a forest," the man said. "Don't you like insects? Legend has it there are mysterious insects living inside, vastly different from what we've been sending you." Lu Qingshan could almost feel the smirk behind the white mask. "Would you like to try it? We haven't been able to explore much."

  Lu Qingshan was highly tempted. He admired the exotic insects. But he knew they could be better. Spiritual insects were his best chance at raising the proficiency of his Insect Harmony Mantra as quickly as possible. In terms of spirituality, the Bloodsense Bug and the spiritual earthworm were far ahead, with only the human-faced spiders having some potential.

  "What's the catch? It has to be dangerous, or you would have found everything you needed already."

  "I won't lie, everyone we've sent in has not survived. The outskirts were all we managed to figure out. With everything going on, we've become too busy to handle it, so we... want to offer other powerful experts like yourself a chance."

  The white mask stared at him. "What will it be? These are all you're going to get."

  "You haven't shown me the other box yet."

  "It's nothing," the man said. "Sounds suspicious, doesn't it? You'll just have to trust me on this one."

  Lu Qingshan didn't press the issue. "The map, did you get all the insects you brought me from there?"

  "No. Only the human-faced spiders were from the outskirts. Other than that, the location does contain some useful herbs, but we've already harvested those. We don't know anything past a certain point."

  "I'll take the map then." He had already made up his mind the moment he heard the human-faced spiders came from there. Whatever force was present in that forest was able to elevate mundane spiders into a quasi-spiritual insect, which might help solve his problem of slow proficiency gain from practicing the Insect Harmony Mantra with his current stock.

  The white mask nodded. Instead of having Lu Qingshan come over and get it himself, he showed some sincerity, stepping back and giving it to another white mask. That person slowly stepped forwards and placed it onto the ground. A sharp whistle blew through the air. All of the ghost market white masks began to disappear back into the forests, taking the two boxes with them.

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  Lu Qingshan watched them go, waiting until they were well beyond the range of his flies before he went to pick up the paper. On it were magnified details about where to find the mysterious forest they mentioned — located somewhere far from the mountain ranges, past a few other cities, and into a dense patch of woods.

  "Divine Crossbows might not be worth much after all," Lu Qingshan muttered, his thoughts racing. The ghost market had put up a lot of fanfare for mere Viscera Tempering stage materials. Then they had just given him the map and left? What was in that box? He became suspicious towards their true goal.

  But it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it, now that the trade was complete. They hadn't even bothered to retrieve the crossbow. It was as if their sole purpose was to force him to take the map. Any other choice likely meant he'd be treated differently.

  A shame, too. If they forced him, he would be able to accumulate enough inner force through sheer slaughter to reach the Innate realm. Now that they'd retreated, he wasn't eager to provoke the ghost market.

  Lu Qingshan reunited with the others at a certain distance away from the clearing. He made his suspicions known to everyone there.

  "It could be anything," Li Fanghua muttered. "But I think they want you to go explore that forest."

  "Agreed," echoed four voices — Liu Yingting, Qin Ye, Meng Zhang, and Jin Teng.

  “I remember my master telling me about a similar thing happening with some ancient tombs,” Meng Zhang said. “They sell the locations of dangerous places and send others in to clear the way. Looks like they’ve found another.”

  Lu Qingshan stared at the others as well, but they didn’t have a concrete answer. “We just thought it was a reasonable guess,” Qin Ye said.

  Lu Qingshan sighed. At least he didn’t have to worry about losing a trading partner yet, though with the spiritual earthworm, he would vastly prefer having those metals back. He needed to return to the city and make plans for the future.

  Entering was easier than leaving. They encountered no one when slipping back into their isolated neighborhood. At the main house, Jin Teng put down the large jade box and breathed heavily, having carried lots of meat for the entire distance.

  "What is it you wanted to talk about, sect master?" asked Miao Mei.

  "The stage above Viscera Tempering." Lu Qingshan had already done a scan of the area and detected nobody listening in on this conversation. This place was as good as any to discuss such a sensitive topic. "It's not just the Innate realm."

  "What do you mean?" A few of them who had studied historical records looked confused. Some brightened up, thinking he had discovered a path beyond for martial artists.

  "The fifth stage of Mortal Shedding," Lu Qingshan said, "is called Aperture Tempering. My current realm. Liu Yingting, this is for you most of all, but the rest of you approaching the Viscera Tempering stage will also want to know this information. The first level of Aperture Tempering requires you to push your body, blood energy, and blood essence to a point far beyond the peak. Drive that energy into the lower aperture, and you will break through."

  Lu Qingshan let them digest that information. Liu Yingting was the first to ask, "Does that mean there are no technique requirements?"

  "It helps to have more," Lu Qingshan said. "But no, I believe there's no hard requirement. Unlike the opening of the second — or middle — aperture."

  “How do we sense the lower aperture?”

  “Innate realm techniques naturally have this ability. Otherwise, you’ll need to know your body well enough to know how to channel that force into the aperture. This takes careful skill which can be acquired through practice. Once your body is strong enough, you can practice a lot.”

  “So it all starts with a strong body,” Liu Yingting muttered. “Is the Hundred Poisons Body strong enough?”

  “It might.” Lu Qingshan had not yet recorded that technique onto his stone slab. The next batch of Hundred Poisons Elixir wasn’t yet ready, though it was becoming really close after they had begun investigating the Hundred Venoms Centipede.

  “Then the Innate realm. Does it correlate with the opening of the second aperture?” Wu Ruoling asked.

  “It does,” Lu Qingshan said confidently. He began to explain, “reaching the Innate realm is a matter of driving enough inner force into the middle aperture, opening up a place to convert, store, and channel primordial qi. These steps aren’t too difficult since these are all beginner stages.”

  He continued, “theoretically, one doesn’t have to temper their apertures in the same order. The middle aperture unlocks stronger internal energy while the lower aperture enhances the physique which can often make one’s chances of entering the Innate realm easier.”

  “There’s a third aperture as well. The upper aperture. I haven’t gotten a chance to explore this one in detail, but I will after a while.” Lu Qingshan stared deeply into all their eyes.

  “So there is a path after the Innate realm,” Wu Ruoling said. Her voice sounded…excited. Then she broke into a laugh. “There is a way forward!” she shouted.

  It was the first time anyone had heard this type of emotion from her. She quickly calmed down, returning to her stoic face.

  Lu Qingshan grinned at the sect's enthusiasm. “I’m telling you all this to give you a goal to work towards. You might think the Innate realm is the end of your journey. You would be wrong. I assure you, I will not rest until I reach a realm able to stand against Qi Refinement with my head held high.”

  Wu Ruoling smiled as well. “You are the most worthy bearer of the title, sect master,” she said. “I will never regret my decision to follow you.” Beside her, Meng Zhang nodded solemnly.

  Jin Teng gave a deep bow. “This will save me years of hard work.” His mind deep in thought, he turned to Feng Ranran and they began a quiet discussion together.

  Liu Yingting's eyes glinted. He constantly took glances towards his house outside, where the Hundred Poisons Elixir was brewing. It was clear he wanted to enter secluded cultivation as quickly as possible, so Lu Qingshan called an end to the meeting.

  "If you don't have any questions, you can leave. I wish you all the best in your practice."

  As they rushed out of the room, Qin Ye fell behind, scratching his neck. "Should I start my martial arts training again?" he whispered to Miao Mei who was walking next to him.

  "Probably not," she whispered back. "You'll be years behind. Better to focus on one path at a time. How far along are you to reaching Heart Clarity?"

  "Hopefully, it won't take me too long."

  Lu Qingshan watched them go with a deep smile. He had seen the fire light up in Qin Ye's eyes, and a renewed rush of enthusiasm in the others too. No longer did the martial artists feel inferiority to the path of immortal cultivation. Now, there was real competition.