Makino Shigeyoshi remained silent for quite a while after finishing the records on Amasuzu.
His initial delight was still there, but when his gaze shifted from the papers in his hand to Kurose Nobumasa, his expression gradually grew complicated. To Makino, those pages could be turned into money for years to come. In contrast, what he was about to hand over had lain untouched in storage for generations, yet it was still a relic left behind by the only person in the clan who had ever set foot on the immortal path.
At last, Shigeyoshi reached inside his robes and took out a small bundle wrapped in moisture-resistant cloth. He carefully unfolded each layer, revealing a gray-green jade slip just a little longer than a finger, its surface dulled by the passage of time.
“This is what you wanted.”
Shigeyoshi placed the jade slip on the table but did not release it immediately.
“Our ancestor Makino left it behind along with a few other items. Most of the rest were lost or damaged long ago. This is the only one that survived to the present. The name of the technique is the Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method.”
Nobumasa looked at the hand still resting on the jade slip and said, “If you’ve changed your mind, we can still stop the contract here.”
Shigeyoshi looked up. “You think I’m reluctant to part with it?”
“Yes.”
The answer was so blunt that Shigeyoshi choked for a beat. Then he laughed, though there was little joy in it.
“Of course I’m reluctant. On one side is money that can be earned, and on the other is something passed down by one’s ancestors. It’s easy to settle accounts with the living. It’s the dead who make things difficult.”
Nobumasa understood that feeling better than Shigeyoshi realized.
He had just handed over part of a technique he himself had spent years developing. It was not yet a legacy passed down through generations, but if the Kurose continued keeping it secret, his descendants might well regard it decades later as part of the family fortune—something that could not be casually brought out and given away.
Nobumasa placed his hand on the Amasuzu documents in front of Shigeyoshi.
“Makino is handing over the inheritance of his ancestor. Kurose is handing over something that could become the inheritance of future generations. Neither side is giving up something less valuable.”
Shigeyoshi looked at him for a moment, then finally withdrew his hand.
“We said we’d trade. So let’s trade.”
Nobumasa accepted the jade slip. The jade was slightly colder than the room, and something inside it felt faintly different from an ordinary object. When he focused his mind on it, lines of writing and a few simple illustrations gradually appeared in his consciousness.
It was not a memory forcibly stuffed into his head, nor a voice reading beside his ear. It was more like a text placed directly before his mind’s eye. As long as he paid attention, each section became clear.
The first page contained the name of the technique.
The Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method.
The opening section explained how to regulate one’s breathing and sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. After that, one used a Fire spirit root as a point of guidance to identify the spiritual energy compatible with one’s own body. Once the initial sensation took shape, the cultivator could gradually guide the energy along the meridian routes shown in the diagrams, eventually gathering it in the Qi Sea and attempting to open the first vessel capable of holding spiritual power.
The contents were not long.
Nor was there anything that sounded like a world-shaking secret art.
But to Nobumasa, every word weighed more than all the money he had ever earned from the Amasuzu orchard.
He read it from beginning to end twice. The progression from breath regulation to initial sensing, qi guidance, and opening the Qi Sea was seamless, and the diagrams had corresponding annotations. At least as far as an introductory cultivation method was concerned, there was no sign that any middle section had been deliberately removed.
More importantly, it belonged to the Fire element.
Of the three spirit roots Nobumasa had just awakened, one was Fire.
He opened his eyes and set the jade slip down.
“There’s no problem.”
Only after hearing those words did Shigeyoshi truly let out the breath he had been holding.
The Kawase steward, who had been sitting beside them, had not interfered in valuing the two items. He merely required both men to confirm one last time that the exchanged items matched the agreed terms, then had someone add a statement confirming the completion of the transaction to the end of the contract.
Nobumasa and Shigeyoshi signed their names in turn and stamped them with their clan seals.
From that moment on, the Amasuzu cultivation package officially belonged to Makino for use within the limits specified in the contract, while the Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method became Kurose property.
Shigeyoshi tucked the papers into his robes much faster than he had taken out the jade slip. He drank only half another cup of tea before taking his leave, clearly eager to return as soon as possible and summon people to study the procedure he had just received.
Nobumasa did not stay long either.
Before leaving, he bowed and thanked the steward for serving as witness. The older man merely waved his hand and said it was his duty, but after the Kurose carriage had departed, his gaze remained fixed on the gate for a while longer.
Kawase’s most recent register of innate aptitude did not record a single member of the Kurose household as possessing a spirit root.
Even Nobumasa himself had once been confirmed to have no connection to the immortal path.
So what did he want the cultivation technique for?
The steward thought about it for a moment, then let the matter go. A clan keeping a cultivation method for future generations was not against the law, and certainly not something he needed to interfere with. He simply recorded the transaction according to procedure and moved on to the next matter of the day.
Elsewhere in Mizuhara, Chiyo had just stepped through the gates of Takamine Martial Hall.
The place was far larger than the small martial schools around Kawase. A sand-covered training yard stretched out front, with wooden racks on either side holding long staffs, wooden swords, and various strength-training implements. Groups of youths practiced to their instructors’ shouts. Some ran around the yard with sandbags tied to their legs, while others held horse stances beneath the sun. Inside stood a row of buildings for the students and a spacious martial hall with a wooden floor.
Miyake Takanori met his younger sister in a room beside the training yard.
Compared with Chiyo’s memories, her brother seemed to have grown even larger. His shoulders were broad, his wrists thick, and every step was solid. Even in a simple training uniform, his entire body seemed packed with a vitality that ordinary people could hardly imitate.
After Chiyo explained the purpose of her visit, Takanori did not immediately agree.
“Munetaka is only seven?”
“That’s right.”
“Has he trained in anything before?”
“Nothing formally. He just likes running around and fighting the neighborhood children with wooden swords.”
Takanori frowned. “Liking to fight doesn’t mean he’s suited to martial training.”
Chiyo knew her brother’s temperament and did not rush to argue.
“That’s why I came to ask you. Nobumasa wants to check his aptitude first, then decide.”
At that, Takanori’s expression softened slightly. He poured his sister a cup of tea, then clearly explained everything a family needed to prepare if it truly intended to send a child into the martial path.
Tuition was only a small part of it.
Children who trained in martial arts consumed qi and blood faster than normal, so their meals needed enough meat, fish, and body-nourishing food. After the introductory stage, they would also need medicinal baths to reduce damage to their muscles and bones, salves for bruises and soreness, and later weapons, clothing, and many other expenses.
If a child had poor aptitude and the family still tried to make up for it with resources, the money spent could become a bottomless pit.
“The Kurose family has the Amasuzu orchard. I know your business is doing well.”
Takanori looked at the clothes Chiyo was wearing, his tone practical rather than contemptuous.
“But your family also has a whole group of people to support, and the farmland needs working capital too. If you pour most of your yearly surplus into the martial hall just because a child likes swinging a sword, in the end both the child and the household will be exhausted.”
Chiyo had expected her brother to say that.
She did not handle all the accounts as Nobumasa did, but years of managing the household had given her a clear understanding of what Kurose could afford. Serious martial training was indeed very expensive, enough to consume a considerable portion of the family’s yearly savings, but not enough to force the clan to sell land or borrow money.
“Nobumasa knows martial training costs money.”
Chiyo lifted her teacup, her voice firm.
“We’re not planning to throw silver into the water. Just check Munetaka’s aptitude first. If he truly has no talent, our family will make other arrangements. If he’s suited for it, then we’ll pay what needs to be paid.”
Takanori studied his sister more closely.
“He agreed?”
“He was the one who told me to come ask you.”
That surprised Takanori somewhat.
He had met Nobumasa a few times before. His impression was that his brother-in-law kept a very tight grip on money—not stingy when something was necessary, but inclined to calculate and recalculate every major expense. For a man like that to take the initiative and suggest that his son learn martial arts meant he had thought it through seriously.
Takanori nodded.
“Bring the boy tomorrow morning. I’ll examine him myself.”
Chiyo finally smiled.
“Thank you, Brother.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Takanori set down his cup, his voice turning more serious.
“If he passes the first step and enters Takamine, he’ll have to follow the rules here. I may be his uncle, but I can’t reduce his training just because he cries that it hurts. When children train in martial arts, the thing to fear most is family coddling them too much.”
“I understand.”
“There’s one more thing.”
Takanori lowered his voice.
“Takamine isn’t merely the master’s private martial hall. It has the Takashiro clan’s backing. Many of their guards, martial instructors, and other workers have trained here.”
Chiyo had heard the name Takashiro but knew little about them.
“Are they very powerful?”
“In Mizuhara, they’re powerful enough that no one causes trouble for them on a whim.”
Takanori paused before adding, “I’ve also heard some seniors say that the Takashiro clan has someone who has crossed the threshold of the immortal path. I don’t know whether it’s true, so don’t go repeating it outside.”
Chiyo committed that to memory.
A martial clan connected to cultivators—even if it was only a rumor—stood on a completely different level from the ordinary wealthy families of Kawase.
If Munetaka could truly establish himself in Takamine, his future might involve more than learning a few punches and kicks.
She did not let her thoughts go any further.
The boy’s aptitude had not even been tested yet. For now, everything was only a possibility.
After leaving the martial hall, Chiyo boarded a carriage back to Kawase. At the same time, Nobumasa had already brought the Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method back to the Kurose residence and gone straight into the study.
He instructed Sakuma Genbei not to let anyone disturb him unless it was urgent.
As soon as the door closed, Nobumasa took out the jade slip again.
He sat at the desk, placed blank paper beside him, and copied the entire formula from the memory he had just received. It was not because he feared the jade slip would immediately break, but because he wanted to personally go through every line once.
This was the first immortal cultivation technique Kurose possessed.
It was also the first method in his life that he truly had the right to cultivate.
The general outline of the Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method was not difficult to understand on a literal level. A cultivator first had to stabilize his breathing and eliminate distracting thoughts, then use his spirit root as a point of resonance to seek out the spiritual energy compatible with him between heaven and earth. Only after grasping the initial sensation could he guide strands of spiritual energy along the prescribed route, gradually accumulate them, and attempt to open the Qi Sea.
Reading it was simple.
Doing it was an entirely different matter.
Nobumasa closed the window, sat upright on the cushion in the study, and adjusted his breathing according to the formula. His first rhythm was too hurried, so he started over. The second was steadier, but his mind kept unconsciously drifting toward images of the jade slip, the contract, and the Amasuzu orchard.
He continued.
After several attempts, his breathing finally began to settle into a steady rhythm.
The room was so quiet that Nobumasa could clearly hear birds on the roof and servants passing through the courtyard outside. He tried to push those sounds out of his awareness and focused on the three streams of spirit-root power within his body, especially the red glow representing Fire.
According to the technique, when the Fire spirit root and one’s thoughts resonated together, the cultivator had to search for an extremely faint sensation, like warmth that did not belong to the body.
Nobumasa searched for nearly an hour.
There was nothing.
He changed positions, reread the formula, and tried again.
Still nothing.
By midafternoon, both his legs had gone numb and his back hurt from sitting too long, but the thing called spiritual energy remained just as distant as before. At times, he thought he sensed a trace of warmth, but the moment he focused on examining it, the sensation vanished. It was difficult to tell whether it was genuine spiritual energy or merely heat produced by sitting for too long.
Nobumasa was not overly disappointed.
If someone who had just obtained a cultivation technique could sit down for a few hours and immediately open the Qi Sea, then the immortal path would hardly be worthy of being gazed up at by tens of thousands of mortals for their entire lives.
He stood up, stretched his legs, and returned to the desk to review the diagrams.
What drew Nobumasa’s attention most was that the first three steps of the method all required considerable precision. If the breathing rhythm was wrong, the thoughts scattered, or the qi was guided off course, the process had to be started over. To open the Qi Sea, he first had to truly understand what spiritual energy was.
And right now, he was still stuck at the very first gate.
“Having a spirit root only means you have eyes to see with.”
Nobumasa murmured in the room.
“It doesn’t mean opening your eyes will let you see clearly at once.”
He recorded the time he spent trying to cultivate and his own sensations in a separate notebook. Only then did he remember the other experiment he had left in the Thousand-Leaf Family Hall the previous day.
Ten Amasuzu seeds.
Nobumasa set down his brush and closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into the Family Hall.
The Thousand-Leaf Jade Stele still stood motionless in the dimly glowing space. The layer of clan vitality gathered around the Spirit-Nurturing Field had not changed significantly, but what lay on the ground made Nobumasa’s consciousness widen its eyes.
Ten pale-green points had broken through the soil.
Not a single seed was missing.
The seedlings were tiny, their stems still curved and their two cotyledons not yet fully open. They looked completely ordinary, but simply appearing at this moment was enough to make Nobumasa observe them for a long while.
The seeds had not been soaked.
Their shells had not been treated.
They had undergone none of the sprouting preparations he usually performed in the outside world.
And yet every one of them was alive.
Nobumasa immediately remembered the Family Hall’s doubled-time mechanism.
But even if time moved twice as fast, this result was still far too early.
He looked at the ten seedlings growing fairly close together, and a string of conjectures immediately arose in his mind. If the Spirit-Nurturing Field did more than accelerate time—if it directly stimulated vitality—then the plants’ growth rate might be much faster than expected. If the trees could tolerate a higher density than they could outside, this small plot might produce an astonishing yield.
As soon as the thought appeared, Nobumasa forced himself to stop.
The fact that the seedlings were alive did not mean mature trees would survive as well.
The ten plants were still young, so their roots were not yet competing for soil and their canopies were not yet competing for light. They were even farther from the stage of flowering and fruiting. At present, he could confirm only one thing.
The Spirit-Nurturing Field allowed Amasuzu seeds to break through the soil extremely quickly, with an effect that could not be simply explained by the doubled-time mechanism.
How much faster they grew, why they grew faster, and whether the effect would continue later were all unknown.
Nobumasa opened his eyes and immediately added another entry to the notebook titled “Family Hall Experiments.”
Ten seeds.
Ten seeds sprouted.
No preliminary treatment.
Observation period.
Seedling condition.
He also wrote a separate line beneath it.
“Do not infer mature-tree density from seedling density.”
After finishing, Nobumasa looked at the sentence and laughed to himself.
If he did not remind himself, he really could easily be swept up by the sight before him and start imagining a small plot of land supporting an entire pear forest, then calculating how much money it could earn each year.
But even without dreaming that far, the result of this experiment was still excellent.
The Spirit-Nurturing Field was more valuable than he had expected.
He simply needed time to discover where that value lay.
As evening approached, Nobumasa tried the Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method one more time. The result remained unchanged. He had not even truly achieved the initial sensation of spiritual energy.
He did not force himself to continue for too long.
Cultivation required time, and there were still other matters to handle that day.
Chiyo returned just as the Kurose kitchen had begun lighting the fires for dinner.
She had been on the road all day, and her fatigue was obvious, but her spirits were quite good. After changing out of her outer clothes and finishing a cup of water, she called Nobumasa over and recounted her entire conversation with Takanori.
Munetaka was also permitted to sit in and listen at dinner that evening.
When Chiyo mentioned the cost of martial training, the excitement on the boy’s face faded considerably, even though he did not truly understand the figures involved. Nobumasa understood them very well.
Medicinal baths.
Food.
Tuition.
Equipment.
If Munetaka truly entered the martial path, the yearly expense would consume a large portion of Kurose’s available surplus.
It was not a cost that could be taken lightly.
After Chiyo finished speaking, she looked at her husband for a moment before asking, “Takanori said we can bring Munetaka for an aptitude test tomorrow. But if he really starts training, the expense will be higher than we expected.”
Nobumasa nodded.
“I heard you.”
Chiyo hesitated slightly.
“If you think it isn’t suitable, we can wait another year or two.”
Munetaka immediately raised his head at that, but when he saw his father glance over, he did not dare interrupt.
Nobumasa did not answer at once. He served Ieharu some food first, waiting until the child stopped poking at his bowl with his chopsticks before returning to the main issue.
“Kurose can afford it.”
Chiyo still did not look completely reassured.
“Being able to afford it is one thing. Drawing that much from the surplus every year will slow the household’s accumulation considerably.”
“I know.”
“And you still want to try?”
Nobumasa looked at Munetaka.
The boy immediately straightened, placing both hands on his knees as if a more proper posture could prove he deserved to learn martial arts.
“First, we’ll have him tested tomorrow.”
Nobumasa said, “If Takanori thinks he isn’t suited for it, then it ends there. If he has the aptitude, I’ll let him try for a while.”
Munetaka could not hold back the question. “Father, really?”
“Really.”
“I’ll work hard.”
Nobumasa raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know what training involves, and you’re already saying you’ll work hard?”
The boy scratched his head awkwardly.
At that, Chiyo finally smiled.
Nobumasa did not tell her about the Spirit-Nurturing Field, much less use a few seedlings shorter than a finger as the basis for a financial decision. Kurose already had enough strength to let Munetaka try the martial path if they reduced the pace of their savings, while the Family Hall merely gave him greater confidence that the clan might open up new sources of resources in the future.
He had no intention of turning an unproven possibility into money already sitting in the granary.
But there was one thing Nobumasa was more certain of than before.
Money had to be used for people.
Keeping money locked in a chest might allow Kurose to remain stable for a few more years, but if Munetaka had the potential to go far and Nobumasa refused to invest resources in him, that money would be no different from fertile land left to waste.
Chiyo continued by mentioning the Takashiro clan.
“You said Takanori heard that family had a cultivator?”
“He only heard it from someone at the martial hall. He wasn’t sure.”
Nobumasa considered it for a moment.
“Then for now, treat it as a rumor. Don’t go asking around.”
Chiyo immediately understood.
“I thought the same.”
Nobumasa now had spirit roots and a cultivation method, but he was even less willing to let outsiders know that Kurose was secretly reaching toward the immortal path. A clan with an actual cultivator behind Takamine Martial Hall was all the more reason to observe carefully before approaching.
The meal ended later than usual.
Munetaka was so excited that Chiyo had to remind him twice before he agreed to go to bed. Before leaving, the boy even turned around to ask when they would depart the next morning, forcing Nobumasa to promise that he would wake him as soon as the sky grew light.
After the dining room grew quiet again, Nobumasa returned to the study alone.
The Scarlet Breath Qi-Guiding Method lay on the desk.
The Thousand-Leaf Family Hall occupied his mind.
In the room behind him, Munetaka was looking forward to having his martial aptitude tested the next day.
Three things that had originally seemed unrelated were gradually connecting into a single line in Nobumasa’s thoughts.
He himself had spirit roots but had not yet entered the path.
His son had no spirit roots but could try the martial path.
The Spirit-Nurturing Field had just revealed a capability he still did not fully understand.
One man.
One child.
One patch of land.
Everything was still only at the beginning.
Nobumasa did not think Kurose’s fate had changed because of this. An introductory cultivation technique had not created a cultivator, one examination had not created a martial artist, and ten pear seedlings had certainly not created a mountain of gold.
But foundations were always like this.
At first, they were merely things so small that others would not even consider them worth noticing.
A cultivation method exchanged for an agricultural technique.
A child brought to a martial hall to have his aptitude tested.
Ten seeds breaking through the soil in a small spirit field.
Nobumasa placed his hand on the cool jade slip.
Tomorrow, he would continue learning how to sense that first strand of spiritual energy.
Munetaka would also have to prove for himself whether he was worth the clan’s investment in the martial path.
And the ten Amasuzu seedlings would continue growing, showing him what the Spirit-Nurturing Field was truly capable of.
No path produced results immediately.
But for the first time since taking over the Kurose family at the age of fifteen, Nobumasa felt that what he was building was no longer aimed only at next year’s harvest.
It had begun to reach toward the lives of the generations to come.