Morning brought Wei Shao's mother to his room, her face a careful mask of maternal concern.
"Your father wishes to see you," Lady Wei said, her tone suggesting this wasn't a request. "He's in the Eastern Garden."
Wei Shao nodded, donning the simple robes of an outer disciple. In his first life, this meeting had been a humiliation—his father stripping him of his monthly cultivation resources, reassigning him to menial clan duties. The Wei family head had no use for a son who couldn't bind even a Lesser spirit.
This time, Wei Shao would play his role perfectly.
The Eastern Garden was a display of the Wei clan's wealth—spirit plum trees whose blossoms never faded, a koi pond where fish with golden scales swam in lazy circles. Each fish was worth more than a mortal family earned in a year. Wei Shao's father stood by the pond, his back turned.
"Father," Wei Shao said, cupping his hands respectfully.
Wei Patriarch turned. His face bore the weathered look of a man who'd reached the Soul Condensation realm through relentless effort rather than talent. "Two days to recover from a failed contract ceremony. Are you truly that weak, or simply dramatic?"
Direct as always. Wei Shao had forgotten how much his father valued efficiency over sentiment.
"Neither, Father. I was contemplating my path forward."
"Your path?" The patriarch's laugh was bitter. "You have no path. The ceremony revealed what I'd long suspected—you lack the soul depth for cultivation. Even your sister, two years younger, has already bound a Lesser Wind spirit."
Wei Shao kept his expression neutral. In his first life, these words had cut deep. Now they were merely predictable.
"I've decided to reallocate your resources," the patriarch continued. "Your monthly spirit stones will go to Lin. You'll assist Elder Chen in the archives. Perhaps scholarship will suit you better than martial cultivation."
"I understand," Wei Shao said.
His father's eyes narrowed. "That's all? No protests? No tearful pleas?"
"Would they change your decision?"
"No."
"Then they'd be wasted effort." Wei Shao met his father's gaze steadily. "I've learned that resources should flow where they'll generate the greatest return. If you believe Lin will bring more glory to the clan, it's a sound investment."
For a moment, something flickered in the patriarch's expression—surprise, perhaps, or suspicion. Then it was gone.
"You've matured," he said slowly. "That's... unexpected. Very well. Report to Elder Chen tomorrow. Dismissed."
As Wei Shao left, he felt his father's gaze boring into his back. Good. Let the old man wonder what had changed. Unpredictability was a weapon, especially when everyone expected you to be weak.
The next two days passed in a performance of dutiful mediocrity. Wei Shao assisted Elder Chen—a dried-up scholar who'd reached the middle Soul Condensation realm and stagnated there for decades. The archives were extensive, containing cultivation manuals, spirit binding techniques, and clan history dating back four generations.
More importantly, they contained records of the upcoming spirit auction.
Wei Shao found what he needed on the second evening, when Elder Chen had dozed off over a particularly boring genealogy scroll.
Item 47: Grief Shade (Corrupted)
Current Realm: Unbound
Condition: Severely damaged, missing 40% of core essence
Origin: Recovered from the Weeping Vale massacre
Starting bid: 50 spirit stones
Note: Purchase not recommended. Corruption may spread to binder's soul.
The Weeping Vale massacre. Wei Shao remembered it well—a demonic cultivator had slaughtered an entire village, using their collective anguish to birth a Grief Shade. The righteous sects had destroyed the cultivator, but the Shade had escaped, wounded. The Wei clan had eventually captured it, but no one wanted to risk binding such a corrupted spirit.
In orthodox cultivation, spirits were categorized by purity. Clean spirits granted power without side effects. Corrupted spirits offered greater strength but came with risks—madness, soul degradation, karmic backlash.
What the orthodox cultivators didn't understand was that corruption was simply another price. And prices could be managed.
Wei Shao had spent a hundred years in his previous life studying the Demonic Scripture of Broken Chains—a forbidden text that taught how to bind corrupted, damaged, or incomplete spirits. The technique was considered evil because it required the cultivator to willingly damage their own soul to create "space" for the corruption.
Most cultivators would rather die than deliberately harm their soul foundation.
Wei Shao had learned that sometimes, controlled damage was more valuable than pristine weakness.
The auction would be held in three days. He needed fifty spirit stones minimum—probably more, though he doubted anyone would bid against him for a corrupted spirit.
The problem was that he had exactly zero spirit stones.
Wei Shao spent that evening in the outer disciple quarters, observing. Cultivation wasn't just about personal power—it was about understanding social systems, identifying opportunities, exploiting information asymmetries.
His target was Zhou Feng, a boastful outer disciple who'd recently bound a Lesser Flame spirit. Zhou came from a merchant family and had more wealth than sense. More importantly, he had a gambling problem.
"Brother Zhou," Wei Shao approached with a respectful smile. "I heard about your binding ceremony success. Congratulations."
Zhou preened. "Indeed! A Lesser Flame spirit—my soul depth reached 15 after the binding. I'll probably reach the Soul Awakening realm within the year."
Unlikely, but Wei Shao nodded encouragingly. "Impressive. I'm envious, truly. After my own failure, I've been relegated to archive work."
"Ah, yes. I heard." Zhou's sympathy was transparently false. "Bad luck, that. But hey, at least you'll be well-read!"
Wei Shao laughed at the joke, letting Zhou feel superior. "Say, I've been cataloguing the auction items. There's some interesting pieces this month."
Zhou's eyes gleamed. He loved anything that might give him an edge. "Oh? Like what?"
"Several spirit refinement pills, a soul-nourishing jade..." Wei Shao paused, as if reluctant. "And a technique manual I found fascinating. The Ember Step—a movement technique specifically for fire-type cultivators."
This was true. The Ember Step would appear in the auction. It was also completely unsuited for someone at Zhou Feng's level—too advanced, requiring a soul depth of at least 30 to execute properly. But Zhou wouldn't know that.
"The Ember Step?" Zhou leaned forward. "How much is the starting bid?"
"Eighty spirit stones. But I've studied the manual—it's only effective for cultivators who've reached the Soul Condensation realm. I thought about mentioning it to Elder Wei, but..." He shrugged. "Not my place."
Zhou's face showed transparent calculation. He was thinking that if he could acquire an advanced technique now, he'd have an advantage when he reached that level. He was also thinking that Wei Shao, relegated to the archives, was just a failed disciple making conversation.
"Thanks for the information," Zhou said, already distracted. "I should go cultivate."
Wei Shao watched him leave. Zhou would bid on the Ember Step, probably overpaying. That was fine. What Wei Shao actually needed was information about Zhou's finances.
Over the next two days, Wei Shao played a careful game. He mentioned to another disciple that Zhou was planning a major auction purchase. He casually noted to a third that Zhou had been seen visiting the spirit wine house frequently. He let slip to Elder Chen that several disciples had been discussing ways to profit from the auction.
None of this was actionable intelligence on its own. But information, like essence, accumulated.
On the evening before the auction, Wei Shao made his move.
He found Zhou in the training yard, practicing flame manipulation with the enthusiasm of someone who'd recently gained power. The Lesser Flame spirit hovered near Zhou's shoulder—a basketball-sized orb of flickering fire, weak but present.
"Brother Zhou," Wei Shao called. "Do you have a moment?"
Zhou extinguished his flames, looking annoyed at the interruption. "What is it?"
"I wanted to apologize," Wei Shao said humbly. "I gave you incorrect information about the Ember Step."
Zhou's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I was reading through the manual again, and I realized I misunderstood the requirements. It's not for Soul Condensation—it's for Soul Integration realm cultivators. The technique would be completely useless to someone below that level." Wei Shao's expression was earnest. "I felt terrible about potentially misleading you."
Zhou's face went through several emotions—confusion, anger, then relief. "Ah. Well. I appreciate you correcting that."
"Of course. Though..." Wei Shao hesitated. "I did notice something else in the auction catalog that might interest you."
"What?"
"There's a set of three Spirit Accumulation pills going for starting bid of thirty stones. They're specifically designed for early Soul Awakening cultivators—they could cut your advancement time in half."
This was also true. What Wei Shao didn't mention was that the pills would probably sell for sixty to seventy stones once bidding heated up.
"Thirty stones?" Zhou perked up. "That's... actually affordable."
"Indeed. I only mention it because I know you've been working hard. You deserve an advantage."
After Wei Shao left, he allowed himself a small smile. Zhou would bid on the pills, driving up the price. He'd spend most of his available funds. And he'd never bid on Item 47.
Not that anyone else would either.
That night, Wei Shao did something he hadn't done in three hundred years—he prayed.
Not to the Heavens, which were indifferent. Not to the Sovereign, who'd find it amusing. But to the memory of who he'd been in his first life—that naive, hopeful boy who'd believed in fairness and justice.
"I'm going to do terrible things," Wei Shao whispered to the darkness. "I'm going to use people, betray trust, cross lines. I want you to know I remember that it's wrong. I'm choosing it anyway."
The boy he'd been would have been horrified.
The man he'd become had stopped caring about horror long ago.
Tomorrow, he'd bind a corrupted spirit and take the first step on a path that would either lead him to heights the cultivation world had never seen, or destroy him completely.
Either way, it would be interesting.
And Wei Shao had learned that in cultivation, interesting was far more valuable than safe.