Zahar was ushered into the room, Sana, led the way.
"Zahar greets the City Lord Eshtar." Zahar said as he walked in. Since Sana was a harem target, naturally he was nicer to family. It was just reality of things. The City Lord eyed him warily, there was absolutely energy or aura commonly seen in cultivators, so he was curious why was Zahar so highly rated.
"My daughter claims great things about you. Greeting, Zahar. Tell me, what is it that you wish to speak to me about?"
"I find your daughter attractive, and it is my intention to have her share my bed. Sana shall be my concubine, the first of many to come." Zahar said without skipping a beat, and immediately took a sense of the City Lord's cultivation. He was stuck at the peak of the 4th realm for quite a while.
"-and why would I agree? She is nobility, and soon an outer disciple of the Roaring Dragon Sect, one of the great powers of the Empire." The City Lord was shocked. He had expected some flowery language, but this immortal just went for it.
"Six Bloodfire Pills." Zahar said without skipping a beat. Sana's eyes darted to Zahar when he mentioned the pills. "With the ingredients you have in your mansion, and one alchemy cauldron, I will concoct six Bloodfire Pills, and you will be able to break through to the 5th realm. With that, your hold on the city is enhanced, and the threat of the other nagging sects will be pushed back."
It wasn't hard for Zahar's immensely strong senses to detect what sort of materials were available in the city.
The City Lord's heart skipped a beat. A part of him already wanted to say yes, because the services of a master alchemist able to brew the Bloodfire Pills was expensive. The City Lord's instincts told him this young man clearly could do it, but still, it wasn't a good look for a father to trade her daughter for pills! "My daughter is not to be traded for six pills. And I do not believe there is sufficient ingredients in this city for it."
Zahar smiled. "Sana, would you think it's a fair trade?"
"-No." Sana said honestly. "I have an entire future ahead of me, I'm worth more than six pills."
"That entirely depends on the path you take." Zahar said. "You walk the path of the flame, and you would likely plateau at the 5th realm, like your father. If you encounter great fortune along your path, perhaps the middle 6th realm. Your father, frankly, has better natural talent than you, though your instincts are better, so, perhaps the middle 6th realm is where you would be in perhaps- another 50 to 100 years. You would likely end up as City Lord of a large, prosperous city about three to four times the size of this town."
Both father and daughter shared a glance. Was this man talking out of his ass?
"You sound incredibly confident for a young man." The City Lord countered. "Then, tell me, how far can I go?"
"You will have more bottlenecks, City Lord. The middle of the 5th realm, and the end of the 5th realm, even if you break through the current one. Based on your natural disposition, you shouldn't have problems with the 1st and 2nd stages of the 5th realm. Your daughter is likely to struggle through the entire 4th and 5th realm."
Sana couldn't believe it. She? Struggle through the 4th and 5th realm? Her path has been smooth so far, why wouldn't it be so later? The City Lord eyed the man, his own instincts somehow believed him. Did this young man have some kind of ability to manipulate instinct?
Zahar smirked. "You lack resources, City Lord. You could go further, the peak of the 6th realm, perhaps even the early stages of the 7th. But in the sects, you didn't stand out, and thus, couldn't get the resources you needed. And unlike the true heavenly geniuses, you'll need way more resources just to walk the same steps."
"I require proof." The City Lord said. "Brew me the six pills. If it is truly as you say, I shall let you have my daughter's hand."
"Father!" Sana wasn't sure what she expected, but she was not the only daughter of the City Lord, merely the eldest of them. She had two younger sisters, and a younger brother.
Zahar nodded. "Let us walk to the alchemy chambers."
***
The City Lord's alchemy chambers was sufficient for their city. It was the best in the entire city, with all the materials found and even some rare ones. But nothing compared to the things produced by the great alchemy masters.
Zahar's cultivation had risen to the 2nd realm overnight, though none of them detected it because of how little it leaked.
He grabbed the materials he needed, as both father and daughter watched him work.
"That's not the formula of the Bloodfire pill." The City Lord countered.
Zahar merely nodded. "I believe you've got some suspicions on my origins." He didn't need to say who he really was, that was overkill. It was enough they suspected he was a reincarnator of some kind.
"We do." The City Lord answered with firmness.
"Then watch. There are other ways of achieving the same things. Many societies go through different paths." The materials were different, and in different quantities. The process was different too. "This will take two days. Make yourself comfortable."
Zahar first started with the leaves of the Thousand Fire Berries, and he crushed them with a mortar. This would normally serve as the base.
Then, the City Lord's eyes widened as Zahar's qi, as fine as it could be, shredded the leaves into a fine powder. He watched as Zahar's incredibly dense qi bonded with each and every powder.
"You're substituting the Bloodfire Heart with your own heart energy!" The City Lord had never seen it happen, but Zahar merely chuckled at how the City Lord misunderstood his dense qi as his heart energy. He didn't need to correct him, as he continued to work.
The fine powder glowed as they turned into a burning red color, the intense energy bound itself with compounds of the Thousand Fire Berries, turning it into a liquid quite similar to molten fire.
Sana didn't know what to say. Who was this man?
Next, was an extremely slow process of adding the rest of the components into the liquid without destabilizing the balance. The other components were mainly accelerators and amplifiers. Except for the last one, the Marrow of the Wildland Lizard. In some worlds they were referred to as the Small Land-Dragon.
The marrow was sliced into seven parts, and a small hole was made in each one. Then, the burning liquid was poured into each of the seven separated marrows.
Then, the cauldron was lit, and the seven marrows was thrown inside. Zahar held the cauldron, and swirled his qi.
They had never seen the cauldron glow so brightly, as the marrow and liquid compressed and bonded. It took hours, but at the end of it, what was left was seven beautifully condensed Bloodfire Pills.
"There. Six for the City Lord, and One for my concubine, my gift before I take her to bed."
If the city lord had any doubt, now there was none. The six perfectly formed flawless pills shone in his hand.
This man was clearly some kind of alchemy reincarnator, or inheritor of some kind of divine prodigy. His daughter may be successful in her own way, and would even do reasonably well in the Roaring Dragon Sect, but the City Lord had seen geniuses back when he was just an inner disciple, and could recognise that this man had potential to be one in a billion geniuses.
The type that would go on to be a contender for Sect Master. No, he could even see him as the leader of the great Sect Alliance.
A concubine or a maid to such a man was a great honor for his daughter. Hell, he'd be able to brag if he ever meet anyone else. In every sense of the word, their family got out ahead!
Sana stared at the single pill. "-what- what should I do with it?"
"Eat it, of course. Prepare a room for us? I shall need to help her grow her cultivation properly."
The City Lord snapped back to reality, and immediately shouted. "SERVANTS!"
A small army of servants immediately rushed to the alchemy room.
The City Lord coughed, and then declared. "Lady Sana is this man's concubine from today. Treat him as one of the Masters of the family, as my equal. Prepare a proper bedroom and chambers for them to consummate their relationship now. If Master Zahar demands it, see that you all carry it out, on my direct authority."
The maids and aides couldn't believe their ears, but it came from the City Lord himself. Sana stared at her father, unable to believe what had just happened. Her father continued.
"Next, I will need to speak to my wife, AND I intend to be in secluded cultivation for the next week."
The maids all knelt as the City Lord walked out with a small case. Within in the six Bloodfire Pills.
Sana could only stare and then complained to herself. "Father didn't even ask for my opinion."
Zahar smirked. "What, you would reject me?"
Sana was, in every sense of the word, a practical woman. She knew someday, that her father would try to arrange her to be married to another young master, a son of another city lord of similar rank and power. She just didn't expect it to happen so quickly. She sighed, and accepted that was fate for women in a cultivation world. Hell, even men were traded that way, if the female was from a stronger family and had an eye on someone. She just sighed, because she knew she wouldn't refuse her father's arranged marriages. She'd just accept it.
One of the maids looked afraid to approach Zahar, but then eventually came over to inform that their chambers is ready for use.
"Come, Sana. You have a pill to eat. I'll help you get the most out of it." Zahar laughed, as the maid led the way.
Sana was too stunned to react, so Zahar walked over, and pulled her hand.
"Let's get to it."