Death... and me

"Payment?" Kihin was surprised to hear that. "Are you charging to help me? For real?"

Roan nodded as he replied, "100% real. Or could it be that you don't have Merit Points at hand? I don't believe it as you're the great-grandson of Core Elder Tumao, aren't you?"

Kihin then laughed out loud even more after that. "Hahaha! I apologize, but you couldn't be any wronger. Do you know what Core and Legacy Disciples have access to in exchange for Merit Point in the Core and Legacy Sectors?"

Roan shook his head in response. "I just joined your Sacred Land a few days ago. How would I know?"

Kihin had to admit Roan was right. "Well, that's true." He then took a piece of Divine Stone from his spatial ring. However, the area immediately began to fill up with Divine Energy to the point Roan compared it to the Divine Stream Lake. Kihin noticed Roan's interest before continuing, "You can feel and even see it too, right? There's so much Divine Energy that it becomes visible. This is a Rank Three Divine Stone, a very rare item in our Huring Continent. However, Core and Legacy Disciples can get access to them with Merit Points."

Kihin then put his Divine Stone away as he continued, "I had to put it back into the Spatial Ring as it would lose its energy if kept in the open for too long. Anyway, it's not only me. All the other cultivators in the Core and Legacy Sectors use their Merit Point to buy these little guys. Your cultivation can improve much faster that way. Look at yourself and me. You should be able to tell that I'm slightly younger than you, right? But here I am, a Late Stage Elemental Transformation Realm cultivator. That's because I joined the Core Sector and worked to gain as many Merit Points as possible to exchange for these stones. That's why I reached this level so quickly."

Roan was impressed by that. Kihin opened his cultivation for Roan to see. Well, Roan could already see it anyway, thanks to the Divine Sense bending skill. Roan already judged that by the strength of Kihin's Divine Sense when he tried to check his body. Nevertheless, directly seeing it made it even more obvious. "How much is each Rank Three Divine Stone worth?"

"50000 Merit Points," Kihin replied straight away. It wasn't a secret, after all. "However, do you think it's not worth the price?"

Roan immediately shook his head, saying, "It's absolutely worth the price. To be honest, I think it's too cheap. The Sacred Land must not have many Core and Legacy Disciples if they can exchange it for this price."

"Smart!" Kihin nodded in agreement. "That's exactly the case. The Core Sector only has 500 disciples. Well, the majority didn't come from those who passed the recruitment but were born or had connections to the Sacred Land. Otherwise, it would have been even less."

Roan wasn't surprised by that at all. A power of this size would definitely rely a lot more on those it already knew about than the new disciples who came from different powers.

Kihin also added, "As for Legacy Disciples, to be honest, even I don't know how many of them exist. After all, you can only become one when you reach the Transition Realm, and you must be accepted by one of the higher elders as a direct disciple. It's normal for some of them to keep a low profile. Then again, I don't think there are more than 30 or 40. That's why the Sacred Land can afford to let us cultivate with Rank Three Divine Stones in exchange for 50000 Merit Points. There's a very limited number of disciples here and above."

Roan then asked what really mattered. "I did tell your companions that it would cost 30000 Merit Points per day to have me as a helper. However, since you don't have Merit Points to spend, how will you pay me back? I might as well tell you this. I won't work for free, even if you have a Core Elder as background." Rean and Roan wouldn't stay in the Sacred Land for much longer, so there was no need to care about the power struggles inside it.

"Payment, huh?" Kihin would be lying if he said he wasn't expecting Roan to work for free. Usually, bringing out his great-grandfather's name was enough to move the Inner and Outer Sect Disciples. He then looked at Liberf, who nodded back at him, confirming that Roan indeed would not work if there was no payment. "Is there something you're in need of at the moment? If it's not Merit Points or Rank Three Divine Stones, I might be able to help you with it. However, you will have to prove that you can really help me as a helper once you decide what it is."

Roan nodded in response. That made things a lot simpler. "In that case, do you have any body cultivation techniques that aren't available in the repository? I believe people like you should have some special ones from your families."

Kihin narrowed his eyes in response. As a Core Disciple, he obviously cultivated a body cultivation technique. Without it, it was almost impossible to make it into the Core Sector. Even his great-grandfather wouldn't allow him to enter it, whether it was through the backdoor or not. However, his family's techniques were obviously not supposed to be shown to outsiders.

After pondering a bit, Kihin offered, "Let's do it like this. Help me first with the development of my new skill. If it turns out to be successful, I will allow you to choose one of the techniques I have as long as you sign a Soul Binding Contract. Obviously, the contract is to impede you from sharing information regarding the technique."

"Deal!" Roan immediately agreed with Kihin. He wanted to see just what kind of technique someone with such a background would have. "So, what type of technique are you trying to create?"